January’s Reads

I’m not gonna lie, January’s reading was spotty at best – between work woes, the weather, malaise, and, frankly, the fact that Wes and I got TOTALLY INTO WATCHING THE TRAITORS (omg so good!), I haven’t read much, but here’s what we DO have logged for the month…

The Future Saints by Ashley Winstead is a slight departure from her darker thrillers, this time centering on a band, their big breakthrough, and the grief that dogs them throughout. This was touted as sort of a Daisy Jones & The Six vibe, and while I didn’t see that as much (other than being about music!), this is more of a band-on-the-road, grief journey, a musing on sisterhood and an enemies-to-lovers romance mash up with a bit of magical realism tossed in. I was initally skeptical (due to all the comparisons!) but I enjoyed this one!

The Hitchhikers by Chevy Stevens was an audiobook listen, and I was engaged throughout! it’s 1976 and Alice and Tom are RVing around Canada when they befriend a young couple at a campground who are clearly down on their luck. Soon, Alice discovers they are on the run from a gruesome crime, and things begin to spin further and further out of control and into crisis and chaos as they are all forced to travel together. This is told from the perspective of both Alice and the female of the two hitchhikers, which I think definitely heightened the story. Recommended!

Little One by Olivia Muenter is yet another of the ever-increasing novels all about “young women who were in a cult and escaped”, which I seem to have found a lot of lately! Catharine has reinvented herself after escaping a wellness cult in Florida until a journalist comes knocking. The twist, of course, is that the cult was run by Catharine’s own father. I enjoyed this one, but need a break from the culty stories, since they are all blurring together!

So Old, So Young by Grant Ginder has been getting a lot of pre-publication buzz, so I was eager to pick up this novel that’s being described as The Big Chill for a new generation (which is totally an accurate vibe, in my opinion!). We have six friends and we spend 20 years with them (across 5 distinct gatherings they have) and learn about their lives, their entanglements, their demons, their fights, and their love for each other. This is at time hilarious and heartbreaking, and I LOVED how each chapter the perspective stayed in the timeline but switched to another character – it was so clever! This made me feel all the things (melancholy, entertained, you name it!), and I really liked it!

Sounds Like Love by Ashley Poston was an audiobook listen, and Poston never disappoints! You know there’s going to be a romance (check), some magical realism (check), some family stuff (check), a great setting (check), and lots of sparks flying between the two main characters (check check!). I really enjoyed this story about a songwriter, her family bar, her family itself, and the man who keeps intruding on her thoughts. Recommended!

Homeschooled by Stefan Merrill Block is a nonfiction pick, and it’s also been everywhere ahead of publication! This memoir is about Stefan and his mother, who decides to pull him from school and “homeschool” him (yeah, it’s exactly as lacking an education as you think). The twist, though, is that it’s more about how his mom just wanted to keep him close, treating him almost like a doll to play with, with no consequence, since homeschooling in this era is TOTALLY unregulated. When Stefan finally DOES go to high school, it’s, yeah, awkward and cringey, but then, so is his mother’s obsessive love for him. This was fascinating!