Everything I Read in January 2025

Time of the Child by Niall Williams

About the Book: A baby transforms a small town in Time of the Child! Jack Troy was born and raised in Faha, but as the town's only doctor he's always been set apart from the community. His eldest daughter, Ronnie, grew up in his shadow, and having missed a chance at love, remains at his side. As the town prepares for Christmas in 1962, Ronnie and Doctor Troy's lives are turned upside down when a baby is left in their care. As winter passes, the Troy's lives, their understanding of their family, and their roles in the community are forever changed.

My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (5 out of 5 stars) This was such a lovely, beautifully written book, and a heartwarming portrait of a small town and the people that live there! The story is definitely as bit of the slow burn, but I never felt like it dragged, and the characters (the doctor, his daughter, the boy who finds the child, and others) are all so well developed. This is the first time I've read anything by Niall Williams, but he has written two other books set in Faha (This is Happiness and History of the Rain), which I now feel compelled to read, as well. Note: This book is set during the Christmas season, but it would make a great read anytime of year!

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The Golden Spoon by Jessa Maxwell

About the Book: A murder upends TV’s hottest baking competition in The Golden Spoon! For 10 summers, six awe-struck bakers have descended on the grounds of Grafton, an imposing estate that's the filming site for "Bake Week." The show is hosted by Grafton's owner, celebrated baker and best selling cookbook author Betsy Martin. Although she's known as "America's Grandmother," Betsy has always demanded perfection, and she isn’t as warm when the cameras aren't rolling. But something is off on set the minute the baking competition commences. At first, it’s merely sabotage—sugar replaced with salt, a burner turned to high—but when a body is discovered, everyone is a suspect.

My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4 out of 5 stars) If you're a fan of The Great British Bake Off, you'll enjoy this book! I loved the historic estate setting, and it was fun getting to know the contestants (the story is told through multiple perspectives), each of whom has their own reasons for being in the competition. Although there is a murder, the book is more of a cozy mystery than a thriller. I listened to the audiobook, which was really well done!

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Taiwan Travelogue by Yáng Shuāng-zǐ

About the Book: Taiwan Travelogue is a bittersweet story of love, language, history, and power! In 1938, the young novelist Aoyama Chizuko is invited to Taiwan by the Japanese government that rules the island. Chizuko is there for a lecture series, but she has no interest in official banquets or the imperialist Japanese agenda. Instead, she wants to experience real island life and to taste as much authentic Taiwanese cuisine as her famously large appetite can handle. Soon Chizuru, a Taiwanese woman who is younger even than Chizuko, is hired as her interpreter. The charming and meticulous Chizuru (who is also an excellent cook) arranges Chizuko’s travels all over the island and makes her dreams of experiencing local food come true. As Chizuko grows infatuated with her companion, something causes Chizuru to keep her distance. It’s only after a heartbreaking separation that Chizuko begins to grasp what the “something” is.

My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (5 out of 5 stars) I knew I was going to love this book from the minute I started reading it, and it didn't let me down! The basic premise is that the story you're reading is a novel written by a Chizuko after she returned home from Taiwain. This novel has been discovered years later and has gone through multiple translations. The story was wonderful and thought provoking on so many levels, from the evocative food descriptions to its nuanced look at colonialism, and I found it interesting from a historical perspective, too.

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Clear by Carys Davies

About the Book: A surprising bond develops between two very different men in Clear! John, an impoverished Scottish minister, takes a job to evict the lone remaining resident of a remote island, even though his wife has serious misgivings. Ivar has been living alone for decades with only the animals and sea for company. Shortly after arriving on the island, John falls off a cliff. Ivar finds him unconscious and badly injured, and brings John home to care for him. At first, the two men do not understand each other, but John soon begins to learn Ivar’s language, and Ivar sees himself reflected through the eyes of another person for the first time in years.

My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4 out of 5 stars) This short novel is a fascinating look at the Scottish Clearances, a time when whole communities of rural poor were forcefully evicted from the only homes they'd ever known. It's told through multiple points of view (John, Ivar, and Mary, John's wife), and I though this worked so well. The characters were well developed and you really get a clear sense of their differing perspectives. Ivar's loneliness was so moving, John was desperate for money (and a bit clueless), and yet the connection that develops between the two men was so poignant. Tip: If you enjoyed this book, or are looking for books with similar themes, don't miss miss Whale Fall. It was one of my fave books from 2024!

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The Night Guest by Hildur Knútsdóttir

About the Book: The Night Guest is an eerie story that will keep you up at night! Iðunn is constantly fatigued. She knows something isn't right, yet her doctors can't find anything wrong and dismiss her symptoms. Iðunn's friends have plenty of advice ... have you tried eating better? exercising more? creating a nighttime routine? She tries to follow their suggestions, buying everything from vitamins to a step counting watch, but nothing helps. Until one night, when Iðunn falls asleep with her watch on, and she wakes up to find that she’s walked over 40,000 steps in the night. What is happening while she’s asleep? Why is she waking up with increasingly disturbing injuries? And why won’t anyone believe her?

My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ (3 out of 5 stars) This short book was truly creepy! While I'm not a big horror reader, the story really hooked me right from the beginning. It's clear there's something seriously wrong with Iðunn, and the book cleverly mines the daily challenges of being a woman, alongside the terror of what's happening to her at night. As the story progresses, the sense of doom grows, and the plot gets increasingly dark. I didn't like the ending, but apart from that, I enjoyed the book ... or at least as much as you can for such a disturbing story!

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The Arizona Triangle by Sydney Graves

About the Book: A hardboiled, queer private eye digs into her own past in The Arizona Triangle! Jo works for an all-female detective agency in Tucson, Arizona. While staking out a cheating spouse, she learns that Rose, her long-estranged childhood best friend is missing, and that Rose's mother wants to hire Jo to find her. Jo reluctantly heads back to her hometown, an hour north and a world away from Tucson. Once there, she learns that her high school boyfriend Tyler is the cop assigned to the case, and he's mixed up in it, too. If she wants to find Rose, Jo realizes that she must face the demons from her past that she thought she'd escaped.

My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ (3 out of 5 stars) I'm not big on detective stories, but I checked this book out from my library after seeing a review in the NYT. I liked Jo's character, and the look at the evolving friendships, between both Jo and Rose, as well as Jo and Tyler, kept me reading. The artistic community that Jo grew up in was also interesting. This wasn't a favorite though, and I felt like this book dragged quite a bit, was generally over the top, and the ending was wild (and not necessarily in a good way).

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The Perfect Marriage by Jeneva Rose

About the Book: A lawyer defends her cheating husband in The Perfect Marriage! At 35, Sarah Morgan's life is going exactly as planned. With a perfect case record, she's one of the best criminal defense attorneys in Washington, DC. The same can't be said for her husband Adam, who is a failed author. He's grown resentful of his wife's meteoric success, which he believes came at the expense of their relationship. Adam has been having a secret affair for nearly two years, but when his lover's body is discovered at Sarah and Adam's beach house, everything changes. With Adam arrested for murdering his mistress, Sarah is now facing her most challenging case yet when she vows to defend her husband.

My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ (3 out of 5 stars) Speaking of over the top, The Perfect Marriage was next up! Over the past few years, I've seen this book everywhere. I do love a thriller, so I finally decided to listen to the audiobook. Almost immediately, the character of Adam totally put me off, especially anytime he was talking about sex (which was frequently). He's obviously not meant to be a likable character, but he just seemed like an idiot ... which made it was hard to believe that he was married to one of the best lawyers in DC. The far-fetched story did keep me intrigued (though it was pretty predictable), but it felt overly (and unnecessarily) salacious. This definitely wasn't the book for me. Tip: This book's sequel, The Perfect Divorce, comes out in April! While I won't be reading it (ha ha), if you enjoyed The Perfect Marriage, you can pre-order it now.

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Chemistry by Weike Wang

About the Book: A young scientist comes of age in Chemistry! Three years into her graduate studies at a demanding Boston university, the unnamed narrator of this story discovers that her one-time love for chemistry is more hypothesis than reality. Tormented by her failed research, she's reminded of her delays by her peers, her advisor, and most of all, by her Chinese parents, who have always expected nothing short of excellence. Meanwhile, her devoted boyfriend—a fellow scientist whose academic path has been much smoother—has proposed marriage, but she can't bring herself to say yes before finding success on her own. One day, the pressure becomes so high, that she must leave behind everything she thought she knew about herself and her future. For the first time, she asks herself what do I really want?

My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4 out of 5 stars) Okay, back in more comfortable literary fiction territory after those last few books lol. I really enjoyed this novel, and I love Weike Wang ... Joan Is Okay is a favorite, and her newest book Rental House, is patiently waiting for me on my Kindle! This story is written as a kind of a stream of consciousness dialogue from the narrator's perspective, a grad student who starts to realize that she may not be able to (or want to) live up to the expectations of her school mates/ professors, boyfriend, and immigrant parents. Her struggle to find herself was so moving, and the author does a great job of mixing sadness with hope. The relationships in this book were also so well-developed, from her supportive relationship with her best friend to her challenging relationship with her parents, as well as with her students.

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Annie Bot by Sierra Greer

About the Book: A robot strives to be the ideal girlfriend in Annie Bot! Created to be the perfect girlfriend for her human owner Doug, Annie Bot strives to satisfy his every emotional and physical need. She makes dinner every night, wears the slinky outfits he buys, and adjusts her libido to suit his moods. She's not great at keeping his place spotless, but she's trying hard to please him. Annie's also learning, and Doug says that he loves how her AI makes her seem more like a real woman. So Annie explores human traits, like curiosity, secrecy, and longing. But becoming more human also makes her less perfect, which strains her relationship with Doug. Soon Annie starts to wonder: Does Doug really desire what he says he wants? And in such an impossible paradox, what does Annie owe herself?

My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4 out of 5 stars) I've seen many rave reviews for this novel, and I thought it was such an interesting book! Annie Bot really did seem like a real woman after a while, and her pain felt so real ... I found myself hurting for her (and ultimately, rooting for her). Doug's treatment of Annie was quite disturbing at times, which frustrated and angered me as I read along. This book has a strong feminist message, and I thought it was a realistic look at what a relationship between a sentient robot and a human man might look like, not to mention what it says about female agency in human to human relationships. I loved the ending!

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One Big Happy Family by Jamie Day

I received a copy of One Big Happy Family from NetGalley / St. Martins Press in exchange for an honest review.

About the Book: A family reunion turns murderous in One Big Happy Family! After their father's death, the Bishop sisters return home to claim the Precipice, their family's legendary hotel on Maine's rocky coast. Each sister wants what's rightfully hers, and 19-year old chambermaid Charley is stuck in the middle. Will they close the hotel? Fire her? Discover that she's been stealing from guests? Or worse, that she's using a guest room to hide a woman on the run? A hurricane is looming, the sisters are all harboring dangerous secrets, and everyone is trapped at the hotel. There's murder in the air, and not everyone who checks into the Precipice will check out.

My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ (3 out of 5 stars) This was an enjoyable read. The hotel was so well described that I could picture it in my mind. I also like the locked room trope with everyone trapped at the hotel during the hurricane, and the contrast between the rich sisters and the poor maid made you feel a lot of sympathy toward Charley. The story seems to drag on a bit too long though and parts felt implausible, especially the wild ending and the aftermath.

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