What I read this month: May 2025

This month I read some really great books. I purposely chose literary fiction this month because I've been thinking about reading like a writer; reading pulpy romance or mystery is fine, but it doesn't offer me much in the way of instruction. I wanted to read some stuff that would get my brain percolating. 

I was mostly offline the last week of the month because of the cruise, during which time I managed to read two books, bringing this month's total to four and doubling my yearly total.

Read this month: 4

Read this year: 8

Devil in Winter by Lisa Kleypas

I started this month with a historical romance. I've found HR tends to be more well-written and less formulaic than contemporary romance, and I'm realizing that I generally prefer HR to CR. This novel is one of the "Wallflowers" series; I haven't read any of the others but from what I picked up from context clues, each book follows one of four shy/quiet friends on the marriage market in the Regency era. 

I enjoyed this book. The FMC takes her life into her own hands, proposing marriage to a known womanizer in need of money in order to protect her fortune and escape a worse prospect. The "devil" MMC finds himself unexpectedly taken with this brave young woman and falls in love against his will. The sex scenes weren't cringey and the character growth was earned.

I'm not sure I'll read the others in the series, since they follow different tropes and I was specifically looking for a "marriage of convenience" sort of read. This one was fun, though.

Living Dead Girl by Tod Goldberg

I found this book by accident, and was surprised to realize it was written by the same author who wrote the Burn Notice books. But it really couldn't have been more different.

This novel is written in first person. Our very unreliable narrator, Paul, returns home to Granite Falls, WA to help find his missing estranged wife. We follow an unclear timeline as we learn about why their marriage fell apart a year prior, and we're left wondering if he had something to do with her disappearance.

I loved the way this novel is written. I couldn't put it down. Goldberg did a masterful job getting Paul's broken memories onto the page, so that you feel as lost and confused as Paul does. As you learn about his marriage, you feel just as affected by its demise as he does. Despite not knowing which memories are real or fake, I found myself wanting to trust Paul, wanting the best for him. He felt so real to me.

I'm so glad I stumbled on this one. A very good read.

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

This book has been on my list for ages; I'm only a few years late to the party! It follows Nora Seed post-suicide attempt as she enters a liminal space between life and death and is given the opportunity to try out all her different possible lives, if only she had made different choices.

I've heard some people complain that this novel doesn't deliver on its promise; that its premise is fantastic and the execution is wanting. I'd disagree. The sparse writing style is very British; there aren't many literary flourishes, and it's true that the theme and moral are obvious from the beginning and you're pretty much hit over the head with the lesson. But so what? I actually enjoyed how obvious it all was.

This is a book about facing regret, moving forward in life, and coming to terms with your past. It's not original stuff, but it doesn't try to be more than it is. We, the readers, don't need to learn the lesson; Nora does. And I think the blunt messaging is just what she needs. I'm not going to be snooty about the lack of finesse; it didn't bother me at all.

I really enjoyed this one and highly recommend it.

Rouge by Mona Awad

Now for a truly weird one. I saw this recommended in a Slack channel at work and I'm so glad I picked it up. I always forget how much I like horror!

Rouge explores themes of beauty, societal standards, generational trauma, mothers and daughters, aging, and cosmetic treatments with a heavy dose of Snow White undertones. Our main character, Belle (or Mira, or Mirabelle), is frustrating and untrustworthy in the way overly self-critical women are. I was never sure if she's actually ugly or if that's just her own dysphoria. I never knew if her memories of her mother were honest, or if the perceived sarcasm and lies were figments of her own self-hatred.

The gist of the story is that Belle's mother dies in a questionable accident, and Belle finds herself swept up in the cult her mother joined shortly before her death.

I found Belle incredibly frustrating because—like in most horror stories—she makes terrible decisions and puts herself in danger; but the difference in Rouge is that Belle's history and characterization make it so very clear why she has no power to make better choices when presented with the opportunity to be beautiful.

This book was so weird. It was also gripping, thought-provoking, and deeply visceral. It's a must-read.

Ali