I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai was an audio book choice when I had my last free credit from ordering Spare last month. I don’t always listen so well to audiobooks and honestly wish I had read this one instead. “A successful film professor and podcaster, Bodie Kane is content to forget her past—the family tragedy that marred her adolescence, her four largely miserable years at a New Hampshire boarding school, and the murder of her former roommate, Thalia Keith, in the spring of their senior year. Though the circumstances surrounding Thalia’s death and the conviction of the school’s athletic trainer, Omar Evans, are hotly debated online, Bodie prefers—needs—to let sleeping dogs lie. But when the Granby School invites her back to teach a course, Bodie is inexorably drawn to the case and its increasingly apparent flaws. In their rush to convict Omar, did the school and the police overlook other suspects? Is the real killer still out there? As she falls down the very rabbit hole she was so determined to avoid, Bodie begins to wonder if she wasn’t as much of an outsider at Granby as she’d thought—if, perhaps, back in 1995, she knew something that might have held the key to solving the case.” (Amazon)

Never Never was the next Colleen Hoover I got from the library. This was also written by Tarryn Fisher. Amazon: “Charlie Wynwood and Silas Nash have been best friends since they could walk. They’ve been in love since the age of fourteen. But as of this morning…they are complete strangers. Their first kiss, their first fight, the moment they fell in love…every memory has vanished. Now Charlie and Silas must work together to uncover the truth about what happened to them and why. But the more they learn about the couple they used to be…the more they question why they were ever together to begin with. Forgetting is terrifying, but remembering may be worse.” While somewhat simple and beach-read-y, this story drew me in and I really liked it. Implausible? Yes. But a good read nonetheless.

Anyone who knows me knows I don’t like YA. When I requested All My Rage by Sabaa Tahir from the library, I didn’t realize it was YA. And, even when I did, I thought I would give it a try anyway. Amazon: “Lahore, Pakistan. Then. Misbah is a dreamer and storyteller, newly married to Toufiq in an arranged match. After their young life is shaken by tragedy, they come to the United States and open the Clouds’ Rest Inn Motel, hoping for a new start. Juniper, California. Now. Salahudin and Noor are more than best friends; they are family. Growing up as outcasts in the small desert town of Juniper, California, they understand each other the way no one else does. Until The Fight, which destroys their bond with the swift fury of a star exploding. Now, Sal scrambles to run the family motel as his mother Misbah’s health fails and his grieving father loses himself to alcoholism. Noor, meanwhile, walks a harrowing tightrope: working at her wrathful uncle’s liquor store while hiding the fact that she’s applying to college so she can escape him—and Juniper—forever. When Sal’s attempts to save the motel spiral out of control, he and Noor must ask themselves what friendship is worth—and what it takes to defeat the monsters in their pasts and the ones in their midst.” I LOVED this book. It was a great, absorbing story. Highly, highly recommend.

There’s been a lot of conversation around Spare by Prince Harry. I chose to listen to it, which was lovely since he reads it himself. However, I must say, while I am all about the royals and all the intrigue involved, most of this narrative was downright boring. I had to push myself to listen at all opportunities since it is SO long. Am I glad I pushed through? Yes. But, I am not sure I can recommend it unless you really want to know what all the hype is about.

The House of Eve by Sadeqa Johnson was a Reese Witherspoon pick and a great read. I loved the back and forth chapters of the different characters and loved how things came together in the end. Amazon: “1950s Philadelphia: fifteen-year-old Ruby Pearsall is on track to becoming the first in her family to attend college, in spite of having a mother more interested in keeping a man than raising a daughter. But a taboo love affair threatens to pull her back down into the poverty and desperation that has been passed on to her like a birthright. Eleanor Quarles arrives in Washington, DC, with ambition and secrets. When she meets the handsome William Pride at Howard University, they fall madly in love. But William hails from one of DC’s elite wealthy Black families, and his par­ents don’t let just anyone into their fold. Eleanor hopes that a baby will make her finally feel at home in William’s family and grant her the life she’s been searching for. But having a baby—and fitting in—is easier said than done. With their stories colliding in the most unexpected of ways, Ruby and Eleanor will both make decisions that shape the trajectory of their lives.” Great story based on historical truths.