#7 [2026/CBR18] Awake by Jen Hatmaker

I think I may have first seen Awake (2025) by Jen Hatmaker on NYT's Best Books of the Year List. I'm a fan of memoirs, and the blurb caught my attention. So, I borrowed the Audiobook from my library and gave it a listen.

Jen Hatmaker woke up in the middle of the night in July 2020. Her husband was in bed next to her, declaring into his phone that he loved another woman. At this point, they had five children and had been married for twenty-six years. They got married when she was only nineteen years old. I cannot begin to imagine how she felt in this moment as well as the ensuing days, weeks, and months.

So, Jen Hatmaker is a bestselling author of fourteen books, a podcaster, and has her own book club. However, I had not heard of her until picking up this book. Hatmaker grew up very religious, and it seems that more of her earlier work was done in the religious field. I am very far from religious and generally do not have much to do with those circles.

Hatmaker jumps around a little in telling her story. She starts with a story about how the religious dress codes of her church made her feel as a young girl growing up--and even as an adult woman. She also recounted such a sad but relatable story from her tweens. Her friends ditched her and ran away from her when the boys didn't like her. And she described how she and her husband got married so young. Spoiler alert: they were very religious and they wanted to have sex.

Hatmaker describes how her husband left their family home immediately after she found out about his affair, and how difficult this was for her. She really leaned on her friends and family, and also used therapy and anti-depressants. I think for the sake of her kids (and probably even her husband), Hatmaker is pretty discreet when talking about her children as well as her relationship with her husband. She mentions that there were problems that she ignored or tried to cover up and they had been in an unhealthy, codependent relationship. She also mentions that after her husband left their home, she was virtually a single parent. I am not sure why he was MIA or how much interaction he has with his kids now. 

Because Hatmaker started out in religious circles, she got quite a bit of flak when she used her own mind to come to conclusions that the religious right doesn't approve of. There were shame-y articles written when her divorce became public. And there was a lot more censure when she stopped going to church and denounced Trump. Hatmaker also discussed how she became aware of Black Lives Matter and was disappointed that her white congregants could so easily turn away from the struggles and injustices she was trying to show them.

This book captured my attention and was easy to listen to. I found Hatmaker to be a good, persuasive writer and an engaging, if very animated, reader. 

#6 [2026/CBR18] Mate by Ali Hazelwood

Shortly after I finished Bride by Ali Hazelwood, the second book in this world: Mate (2025), became available. So, I quickly read that one as well. In many ways, Mate is very similar to Bride in that it is a love story involving weres, humans, and vampyres.

We meet Serena at the end of Bride. She is best friends with Bride's protagonist, and she'd been kidnapped because she was half-were and half human--something heretofore unheard of in this world. At the very end of Bride, Koen Alexander, the Alpha wolf of the Northwest pack runs into Serena, and it is immediately clear that she is his mate.

We discover Serena at the beginning of Mate as she runs for her life from a vampyre. It turns out that Serena had been feeling very ill, and after talking to some Were doctors, she thought she was dying. Instead of telling anyone (like her best friend), Serena decides her best course of action is to hide up in a cabin in the middle of nowhere and suffer through the night sweats on her own. Koen shows up just in the nick of time to save her, and he takes her back to his home. 

But now that Serena is back among the living with Koen, it is harder for her to hide her symptoms. The two primary things keeping Serena and Koen apart are Serena's belief that she's dying and the pack law that the Alpha remain celibate. Koen cannot be with Serena, even though they are mates. And if he steps down as Alpha, there will be a power vacuum that may destroy the pack.

I enjoyed Bride much more than Mate for a number of reasons. First, Koen acted disinterested in Serena for a big portion of the book. It didn't feel very romantic to me. Second, I couldn't understand why Serena was so secretive about her sickness. She didn't want her friend to worry about her, but her friend is going to suffer a lot more if Serena showed up dead with no warning.

I was pretty certain early on that Serena was in heat (or something like that). Although it's pretty funny that all the male doctors had no idea what was going on, how did everyone around her not understand what was happening? Once it was figured out, Koen seemed to know all about it and exactly what to do. Also, how often does this happen? Is Serena effectively incapacitated for months at a time every year? Twice a year?

I was also frustrated with the, "Koen can't have a romantic partner storyline". We already know this isn't necessary because the Alpha in Bride has a mate with no issues. And people can be used as bait whether you're officially sleeping with them or not. It felt like an artificial block in order to keep the story going.

This was still a quick read, and generally kept my attention. However, I preferred Bride, and I do hope that Hazelwood takes a break from paranormal and goes back to my favorite type of her books.

#5 [2026/CBR18] A Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandanna

I saw A Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping (2025) by Sangu Mandanna on NPR's Favorite Books List. Books with witches and whatnot are not usually my thing, but I've found some good books on NPR and I didn't want to be too close-minded. So, I got the audiobook from my library for a low commitment read while commuting.

If I had to describe this book in four words, I would say it is quiet, sweet, uplifting, and funny. At the beginning of the book, Sera Swan is a teenager with a promising amount of magical powers. She helps her great-aunt Jasmine run an enchanted Inn in Lancashire. But when Jasmine dies unexpectedly out in the garden, Sera desperately resurrects her with a forbidden spell--accidentally bringing back the skeletal remains of a long-dead rooster at the same time.

The resurrection spell Sera used sapped her of most of her magical powers. To make matters worse, Sera was kicked out of the witch's guild for breaking their magic rules. Fast-forward fifteen years, and Sera is now thirty years old. She and her aunt are struggling to keep the Inn from falling apart with the little dribble of magic Sera has left. She is desperate to find a way to get her magic back, but she can get no help from the Guild.

The Inn and its inhabitants gave me a strong Gilmore Girls vibe. The Inn is full of quirky characters who have found a home and support each other. These include a young man who dresses as a knight and Sera's young cousin--whose parents don't have much interest in him. In addition to the undead rooster, there is a sly fox--an old witch who was turned into a fox when one of her spells backfired.  Sera has an old spell that protects the Inn from people with bad intentions, but lets those in need come straight to her.

One day, Luke Larsen and his young sister, Posy, show up at the Inn. Posy has proven a challenge to their parents because she is both magical and autistic. She doesn't care to hide her magic, and her parents have sloughed her off onto Luke. Luke is a magical witch and historian, and he has some of the knowledge Sera needs to get her magic back. Luke is also good looking and so relieved to find a place that values Posy for who she is.

The antagonist in this book is a power-hungry older witch (wizard?) who has great influence in the Guild. He is the one who was behind Sera getting kicked out of the Guild, and he truly becomes evil as the story continues. He also comes from an old, established witch family and is very snobby about Sera's Indian heritage and her lack of connections.

Sera and Luke begin a quiet romance as they help each other. The book ends with the strong message that being yourself and caring about the people you love is more important than anything else. I found this book sweet and memorable. My only complaint, if any, was that I listened to this book on Audiobook, and I found it easy for my attention to drift off as I listened. However, on the whole, I enjoyed this book, and I loved what it stood for.

#4 [2026/CBR18] Bride by Ali Hazelwood

I realize that Ali Hazelwood does not write perfect books, but I find them highly entertaining and I usually go out of my way to read them. However, I've never had much interest in paranormal romance novels with vampires, werewolves, and the like. So, when I first heard that Hazelwood was branching out of her normal STEM romance novels, I figured I would skip them. But then I ran out of things to read, and I decided they were worth a try after all.

I started with Bride (2024) by Hazelwood because that's the one that became available at my library first. Fortunately, it also turned out to be the first book in this world, and I accidentally read them in the right order.

Misery Lark is a vampyre and a crack computer programmer who is living incognito in the human world. She had a pretty rough childhood. When she was only 10 years old, her father sent her off to be used as collateral to keep the peace between humans and vampyres. Having grown up with humans, and used by her father, she doesn't feel much connection to vampyres.

The one person Misery cares about more than anyone is her best friend, a human woman named Sabrina. Sabrina was thrown in with Misery when they were young girls--as someone who could ease her loneliness and perhaps help her behave. The two became incredibly close, but a couple weeks ago, Sabrina went missing without a word. Misery is desperate to find her friend, when she finds a scribbled note in Sabrina's place that says: "L. Moreland". It just so happens that her father asks Misery to marry Lowe Moreland, the Alpha of the nearby Were clan, as part of a peace deal. He obviously cares nothing for his daughter's happiness or safety, and only cares what he can get from her. But Misery thinks the L. Moreland must relate to Lowe, and he must have something to do with Sabrina's disappearance. She agrees to marry him in a desperate attempt to find her friend.

Weres and vampyres are lifelong enemies, and Misery doesn't have an easy time of it in the beginning. Fortunately, she's used to insults and being a loner, and Lowe is fair--even if he avoids her like the plague. As her time continues there, Misery makes herself useful, and she and Lowe start working together. Misery also grows closer with Lowe's young, half-sister, Ana.

There's a lot going on in this book. First, Misery and Lowe are falling for each other. Sabrina needs to be found. Killers are coming after both Misery and little Ana. And there is a lot of politics between vampyes, weres, and humans.

I know I am not big on fantastical creatures, but on the whole I liked this book. Did I sometimes wish we could just have normal people? Yes. But it wasn't too distracting. And humans don't have "mates" like Weres, which certainly helps push the romance forward. There was good chemistry between Lowe and Misery; I liked them together. However, my favorite part of the book was the humor, including Misery's sarcastic sense of humor. I found myself laughing a lot.

Was this a gateway book into more paranormal romance for me? Probably not, but it was a fun diversion.

#3 [2026/CBR18] The Favorites by Layne Fargo

I saw The Favorites (2025) by Layne Fargo on some year-end, best-of lists and decided it was worth a try. It is a story loosely based on Wuthering Heights, written in the style of Daisy Jones & The Six, and based on the the competitive sport of ice dancing. Pairs figure skating was one of my favorite Olympic sports to watch back in the day, so I figured a book about ice dancing could be interesting.

Katarina Shaw was obsessed with ice dancing ever since she was a kid, watching Sheila Lin win the Gold medal at the Olympics. And even though Kat lived on the outskirts of a small, midwestern town without all of the resources many ice dancers employ, Kat was determined to succeed. And then she met Heath Rocha, a loner foster kid, at the rink, and the two were inseparable. Heath learned how to skate for Kat, and their connection made them a great ice dancing couple.

Heath and Kat faced a ton of obstacles. After Kat's father died unexpectedly, Kat's drug addict brother made their lives difficult. They had no money for coaching, costumes, or choreography, but their talent got them noticed. When Sheila Lin invites Kat and Heath to Los Angeles for coaching at her private academy, Kat jumps at the chance and drags Heath along with her.

Sheila had twins back in the day, and her prodigy are now looking to follow in her gold-medal footsteps. Bella and Garrett are everything Kat and Heath are not. They have all of the privilege and pressure that come with being the children of Sheila Lin. And there are other ice dancing couples, too, all training together and fighting for supremacy.

This story is told as an unauthorized documentary, ten years after something "scandalous" had occurred in the ice dancing world, involving Kat and Heath. The book uses interviews and descriptions of footage from that time. This is interspersed with Kat's description of her side of the story.

I thought this was a fun book, and I had a good time with it. I have read Wuthering Heights, but it was too long ago. I don't remember it well enough to compare the plots. However, Fargo seemed to do a good job in capturing the intensity and drama of ice dancing, as well as the intensity of Kat and Heath's often unhealthy relationship. My only complaint is that it sometimes felt a little repetitive. Countless times, Kat and Heath came into a competition on top, only for something to go wrong during the final dance. I began expecting it.

I just started watching Glitter and Gold last night, Netflix's special on the top ice dancing couples going to the 2026 Olympics. I was interested in the show because of The Favorites, and what I've seen so far definitely fits with the drama in the book. Ice dancing couples are breaking up and switching partners constantly, including switching nationalities in order to compete. The last Olympic gold medalist ditched his partner to start ice dancing with the woman whose partner was banned from the sport because of alleged sexual assault. Two of the top couples train at the same rink. And because the judging is, in part, subjective, it increases the tension even more.

To sum up: I enjoyed the book, and I will probably be watching some Olympic ice dancing shortly.

#2 [2026/CBR18] The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab

My book club led me to yet another book I had not heard of and wouldn't have chosen on my own. Our latest pick was The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue (2020) by V.E. Schwab. It is long and a little slow in places (a couple of women from my book club gave up on it), but it was also well written and very original. We had a lot of good discussions about the characters and the world of the novel.

Adeline (Addie) LaRue is in her early 20's and lives with her parents in a small town in 1714 France. She loves drawing, and yearns to see and experience more of the world. But when a marriage is arranged for her with an older widow with young kids, she despairs that all chance for a life of adventure is gone. She makes a bargain with one of the "gods of the night" to get her out of her circumstances.

Addie did not really understand what she was getting herself into when she bargained with the god/demon she ends up calling Luc. Suddenly she finds that no one, including her own parents, know her. And any people she runs into forget her as soon as she is out of their sight. This bargain frees Addie from her marriage. Also, when she is hurt or injured, she quickly heals, and she can't die. However, the bargain is truly a curse and makes Addie miserable. In a matter of seconds, she loses her family and her town. Addie heads to the closest larger city and then on to Paris. But she is walking the streets alone. She cannot have any kind of relationship nor any kind of safety or stability. Her suffering is immense. Once a year, the demon/god Luc comes to visit her. He is waiting for her to give up so he can take her soul, but Addie is nothing if not stubborn.

The book jumps back and forth between 1714 when her bargain begins and 2014 when Addie is in New York City and runs into a man named Henry working at a used bookstore. When Addie comes back the next day, Henry remembers her. He is the first person to remember her in three hundred years.

***SPOILERS*** Addie has to tell Henry what's happening to her. But Henry understands. He tells Addie that he made a bargain with the devil as well. Despondent over his recent breakup and severe lack of connection with his family, Henry is ready to kill himself when Luc shows up. Luc gives Henry one year with everyone around him seeing what they want most in Henry. Suddenly, Henry is surrounded by more attention than he can handle. And he realizes that people fawning over him for the wrong reasons is not the panacea he thought it would be.

Addie and Henry make a wonderful, if odd, couple for many months. But Addie doesn't know that Henry's time is limited. When she finds out, she makes a bargain with Luc for Henry's life. She gives herself to Luc "for as long as he wants her." In some ways, this felt right, because after three hundred years, Addie is something more than human at this point, and Addie and Luc had grown closer after all that time. But the twist is that Addie is intent on making Luc miserable and letting her go. She is using Luc's own tricks against him. ***END SPOILERS***

Like I mentioned before, this book was slow in places. I kept getting frustrated and bored whenever Luc came back to Addie, and they would have the exact same argument once again. However, once I finished it, I realized the slow points in the novel were setting up plot points for later. This book is not at the top of my list, but I'm glad I read it. There was lots to talk and think about, and we had a good group club discussion. 

#1 [2026/CBR18] Say Everything by Ione Skye

I was probably about twelve years old when I first watched Say Anything with John Cusack and Ione Skye, and it made a deep impression on me. In fact, it shaped my goals for most of my teenage years. I still have a very clear memory of Ione Skye's character, Diane, marking every word that she looked up in her giant dictionary. I thought she was beautiful and smart, and I wanted to be just like her. In fact, because of Diane, I was intent on becoming my high school valedictorian and going to Harvard (neither of which actually happened).

So, when I saw Say Everything (2025), a memoir by Ione Skye, I knew I wanted to read it. Despite my obsession with Diane as a child, I knew virtually nothing about the woman who played her. I had never noticed her in any other movies, and I knew nothing of her career or her personal life.

Ione Skye was born in 1970, making her about nine years older than me. We are close enough in age that I am familiar with many of her contemporaries. In fact, I had a crush on many of her friends and boyfriends as she grew up. Skye has had a fascinating, challenging life, and I admire how openly she discusses aspects of her young-adult life in this book. With that said, Skye does not go into much detail about her life with her current husband and daughters. I imagine it's easier to talk about things farther in the past than current events. I also assume her life has stabilized some since her teens and twenties.

The simplest way for me to finish this review is just touch on some parts of the book that I found especially interesting.

    -Ione Skye's father was famous Scottish folk singer, Donovan Leitch, who left her mother before she was born and had no interest or contact with her for most of her life. This definitely influenced some of Skye's actions later in life. For instance, Skye dated primarily musicians and had some very unhealthy relationships.

    -When Ione Skye was hired for her first movie at fifteen, she was told she had to become emancipated so the studio would not have to comply with child labor laws on the set. This was apparently commonplace for teenagers in Hollywood.

    -Ione Skye made out with Keanu Reeves when she did a movie with him. She was young at the time, and Keanu very nicely rejected her advances for more. (I am so glad he wasn't a creep with her, but I would expect nothing less).

    -Ione Skye was friends with River Phoenix.

    -Ione Skye dated Antony Kiedis from The Red Hot Chili Peppers for years, beginning when she was sixteen and he was twenty four. He was also a heroin addict and cheated on her relentlessly. This relationship was not healthy, to say the least.

    -After Kiedis, Ione Skye married Adam Horowitz from the Beastie Boys. She talks about how she truly loved him, but she was pretty messed up and cheated on him constantly--often with Madonna's ex-lovers.

-This was fascinating because I also listened to Brooke Shields memoir, but Ione Skye was only six years or so younger than Brooke Shields. Skye watched Shields' controversial film, Pretty Baby, and was entranced by Brooke Shields. 

I found this book very interesting. I had no idea how entrenched in Hollywood and famous musicians Ione Skye was--even as a kid. I did find it somewhat difficult to read her story when she was still young and obviously struggling. She was lucky that she didn't end up with AIDS or other STD's after being with Kiedis. And her constant cheating despite her love for her husband was like watching a deliberate car crash. The inside look into what it was like filming Say Anything as well as some of her other projects was also absorbing. Finally, it was interesting to see how directly her father's rejection and indifference affected her, and I was happy to see that she was able to move past that and create what sounds like a good life for herself.

Recommended.