My last book recap was in the Fall, and since then, I’ve read six books! One of them has the makings of a new classic, it was that good. I had some thrillers, some fluff, and some memoirs. So, let’s get into it! And tell me in the comments if you’ve read any of these, too! I’d love to know what you thought of them.

The Housemaid by Freida McFadden

“Welcome to the family,” Nina Winchester says as I shake her elegant, manicured hand. I smile politely, gazing around the marble hallway. Working here is my last chance to start fresh. I can pretend to be whoever I like. But I’ll soon learn that the Winchesters’ secrets are far more dangerous than my own…

Every day I clean the Winchesters’ beautiful house top to bottom. I collect their daughter from school. And I cook a delicious meal for the whole family before heading up to eat alone in my tiny room on the top floor.

I try to ignore how Nina makes a mess just to watch me clean it up. How she tells strange lies about her own daughter. And how her husband Andrew seems more broken every day. But as I look into Andrew’s handsome brown eyes, so full of pain, it’s hard not to imagine what it would be like to live Nina’s life. The walk-in closet, the fancy car, the perfect husband.

I only try on one of Nina’s pristine white dresses once. Just to see what it’s like. But she soon finds out… and by the time I realize my attic bedroom door only locks from the outside, it’s far too late.

But I reassure myself: the Winchesters don’t know who I really am.

They don’t know what I’m capable of…

I could not put this down. That is, I was looking for every last single free spot in my day to pop in my AidPods and see how this would go down. And wow, I did not see it coming. Not at all. After finishing it, I immediately added the next two books to my want to read list!

A Killer’s Wife by Victor Methos

Fourteen years ago, prosecutor Jessica Yardley’s husband went to prison for a series of brutal murders. She’s finally created a life with her daughter and is a well-respected attorney. She’s moving on. But when a new rash of homicides has her ex-husband, Eddie, written all over them—the nightmares of her past come back to life.

The FBI asks Jessica to get involved in the hunt for this copycat killer—which means visiting her ex and collaborating with the man who tore her life apart.

As the copycat’s motives become clearer, the new life Jessica created for herself gets darker. She must ask herself who she can trust and if she’s capable of stopping the killer—a man whose every crime is a bloody valentine from a twisted mastermind she’s afraid she may never escape.

If you’re a thriller lover, this is another GREAT one. (Am I thriller book lover now?!) I was so caught up in trying to figure this one out. The main character was so interesting to me: her backstory, the way that she acted, her strength. I was very very into it. Until we found out who the killer was, and then it got a little boring for me. The trial part of the book was just mediocre, in my opinion.

One in a Millennial by Kate Kennedy

One In a Millennial is an exploration of pop culture, nostalgia, the millennial zeitgeist, and the life lessons learned (for better and for worse) from coming of age as a member of a much-maligned generation.

Kate is a pop culture commentator and host of the popular millennial-focused podcast Be There in Five. Part-funny, part-serious, Kate navigates the complicated nature of celebrating and criticizing the culture that shaped her as a woman, while arguing that great depths can come from surface-level interests.

With her trademark style and vulnerability, One In a Millennial is sharp, hilarious, and heartwarming all at once. She tackles AOL Instant Messenger, purity culture, American Girl Dolls, going out tops, Spice Girl feminism, her feelings about millennial motherhood, and more. Kate’s laugh-out-loud asides and keen observations will have you nodding your head and maybe even tearing up.

I’ve listened to Kate Kennedy’s podcast (Be There in Five) on and off for a couple of years. While the ability to properly articulate how millennial culture shaped my world view and view of myself has evaded me for years, Kate seems to have a knack for analyzing our collective millennial upbringing and bring order and words to its impact on why millennials are the way they are. From the desperate need to fit in, navigating mental health with mental health illness was really just starting to be discussed as a legitimate thing, and the all importance of American Girl dolls, I LOVED this book. I found myself remembering things about my childhood that I had forgotten, and nodding along and having ‘aha’ moments along the way for some of our shared experiences. Her book sounds just like her podcasts, and I adored it.

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

Set in the mountains of southern Appalachia, Demon Copperhead is the story of a boy born to a teenaged single mother in a single-wide trailer, with no assets beyond his dead father’s good looks and copper-colored hair, a caustic wit, and a fierce talent for survival. Relayed in his own unsparing voice, Demon braves the modern perils of foster care, child labor, derelict schools, athletic success, addiction, disastrous loves, and crushing losses. Through all of it, he reckons with his own invisibility in a popular culture where even the superheroes have abandoned rural people in favor of cities.

Many generations ago, Charles Dickens wrote David Copperfield from his experience as a survivor of institutional poverty and its damages to children in his society. Those problems have yet to be solved in ours. Dickens is not a prerequisite for listeners of this novel, but he provided its inspiration. In transposing a Victorian epic novel to the contemporary American South, Barbara Kingsolver enlists Dickens’ anger and compassion, and above all, his faith in the transformative powers of a good story. Demon Copperhead speaks for a new generation of lost boys, and all those born into beautiful, cursed places they can’t imagine leaving behind.

It feels too early in the year to call something potentially the best book of the year, but this may actually be one of the best books I have ever READ. Period. I wouldn’t be surprised if this book becomes required reading in high school English classes when Harrison is in high school. It was SO well written. I felt so deeply for this character and his journey through life. Through so many tough breaks, and still beautifully redeeming. Ugh. It was fantastic. Please, go read it!

A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Donald Miller

Full of beautiful, heart-wrenching, and hilarious stories, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years details one man’s opportunity to edit his life as if her were a character in a movie. Years after writing his best-selling memoir, Donald Miller went into a funk and spent months sleeping in and avoiding his publisher. One story had ended, and Don was unsure how to start another. But he gets rescued by two movie producers who want to make a movie based on his memoir. When they start fictionalizing Don’s life for film – changing a meandering memoir into a structured narrative – the real-life Don starts a journey to edit his actual life into a better story.

A Million Miles in a Thousand Years details that journey and challenges listeners to reconsider what they strive for in life. It shows how to get a second chance at life the first time around.

Given that just about every other book I had read up to this point was great or absolutely fantastic, this one just seemed ‘ok.’ I had a hard time getting into it. I appreciated the parallels he was trying to draw to really fully live life, but I struggled to really dive fully into it.

My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult

Anna is not sick, but she might as well be. By age 13 she has undergone countless surgeries, transfusions, and shots so that her older sister, Kate, can somehow fight the leukemia that has plagued her since childhood. The product of preimplantation genetic diagnosis, Anna was conceived as a bone marrow match for Kate – a life and a role that she has never challenged…until now. Like most teenagers, Anna is beginning to question who she truly is. But unlike most teenagers, she has always been defined in terms of her sister – and so Anna makes a decision that for most would be unthinkable, a decision that will tear her family apart and have perhaps fatal consequences for the sister she loves.

My Sister’s Keeper examines what it means to be a good parent, a good sister, a good person. Is it morally correct to do whatever it takes to save a child’s life, even if that means infringing upon the rights of another? Is it worth trying to discover who you really are if that quest makes you like yourself less? Should you follow your own heart or let others lead you? Once again, in My Sister’s Keeper, Jodi Picoult tackles a controversial real-life subject with grace, wisdom, and sensitivity.

Jodi Picoult can do no wrong, in my opinion. If I want a book that’s going to make me cry, I can pretty much guarantee that her books will do that. This one was no exception. What a heart wrenching story. I felt for the daughter. I felt for the parents. Oh my goodness. It was a wonderful, good cry.

It’s time to wrap my reads of 2023 in a bow, and crown my top three favorite reads of the year!

This year, I read 17 books. Every last one of them was “read” by listening them through Audible. And it’s time for me to narrow down what I’d recommend to a friend if she were to need a new book to pick up this new year.

-3- Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt :: I love a story the follows different characters that don’t seem inter-related only to find out that they do in fact have a connection. I loved this sweet Octopus. I loved Tova and her quirks, and the way that she grew to love Marcellus, the octopus. It was such a beautiful story, easy to follow, and just a fun little read.

-2- Sparks Like Stars by Nadia Hashimi :: I’m also a sucker for a book that let’s me flip back and forth between present day and the past. Trying to piece together what events made these characters act and behave in the ways they do in present day. What has shaped their thoughts, their lives. What has caused them trauma. I loved the way the main character had to grapple with the way her past came to meet her in her present. Great book!

-1- The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah :: Kristin Hannah does no wrong in my book. Her books captivate me. The writing, the characters, the way their stories interweave with each other. They break my heart and leave me endeared to them forever, and the Nightingale was no different. This book is set in World War II, and follows how women were able to assist in the war effort in Nazi held areas, risking their lives and flying under the radar because of their sex. It was simply fantastic and well deserved of my top spot for 2023!