Story for the Week
Every year, I join the Goodreads reading challenge. I always thought that I averaged a book a week, so I set a goal of 50, which theoretically allows life to get in the way a little bit. As I look back on my previous challenges, I realized that I’ve only actually reached my goal four times in ten years. 😲 Thank goodness for Amazon First Reads Bonus Shorts this year and one last-minute addition of a holiday novella, or I wouldn’t have made it this year either. 🤣 Apparently, I average eight days per book…but I’m still sticking with 50 for 2026.
If you like tracking what you read like I do, there are plenty of options. Goodreads is popular mainly because it’s been around a long time. Many readers dislike the tie to Amazon. Others complain about the fact that you can’t use half-stars. The interface hasn’t changed much over the years, and to be honest, I stick with it because I have so much history there.
Bookmory is the second of my three tracking apps. Last year, I toyed with the idea of getting rid of Bookmory because the ads feel intrusive, but I still really like their book calendar. It makes for a nice year-at-a-glance. So I’ve stuck with it for 2025. In 2026, we shall see if it gets better or worse. 🤷🏼♀️
Last year, I added the third app, StoryGraph. The appeal of StoryGraph is data…lots and lots of data. (StoryGraph is the app that informed me I average eight days per book.) You can import your Goodreads library when you first start with StoryGraph, which is a nice bonus.
It also offers the options for users to include information about the book—pace, mood, character development, diversity. I don’t fill in that information myself, so I’m definitely not using the app to its full potential. But my graphs pull in data based on other readers’ entries, and it’s a cool offering if you like that kind of information. And the app offers a multitude of statistics and graphs about your reading choices—lengths of books, genres, average time to finish, pages read by day each month. You get the idea.
I noticed this year that the number of pages read across Goodreads and StoryGraph appears remarkably different…like almost 1,100 pages different for the same 50 books. The only way I can see that happening is user-added data. StoryGraph seems to have a lot more books that are added by users. For example, the digital version of Parents Weekend clocks in at 320 pages on StoryGraph but 308 pages on Goodreads. That doesn’t explain a variation of 1,000+ pages, but I will not be going book by book to compare the two. I have better things to spend my time on…like reading my next book.
You can always find discussions on Threads about the best tracking apps. I’ve tried a couple others but always ended up deleting them for one reason or another. At the end of the day, they didn’t add anything to what I leveraged in the three apps that I use.
I read some fantastic books this year, and there were also quite a few snoozers and books that were just ok. If you haven’t yet read the books (and the blog posts) highlighted below, I highly recommend these 4- and 5-star reads. Next week, I’ll write about what I already know I’ll be reviewing in 2026. I have 32 books in the queue so far, scheduled out through August 16. 😲
Some people consider themselves mood readers. They pick up whatever happens to catch their attention. I never have to wonder what I’m reading next because I read based on the release dates of the ARCs I review. I just squeeze in some of my purchases in between. And I’ll probably have the rest of 2026 scheduled within the first few months of the year.
I hope you enjoy my book year in review. Bring on 2026!
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4-Star Reviews of 2025 (Includes 3.5-Star Reviews)
- A Long Time Gone by Joshua Moehling—general fiction, mystery, thriller/suspense
Ben Packard was just a boy when his older brother disappeared. Decades later, Deputy Packard finds himself with too much time on his hands. A shooting has him on leave and under investigation, and all he can do is dwell on the past. For the first time in years, new information about his brother has surfaced that may lead them to the location of a body. Packard will risk everything to catch a killer and reveal the shocking truth about his brother.
Featured in What Will I Binge Watch Without Her? 🤔 (February 2) - A Happy Catastrophe by Maddie Dawson—general fiction, women’s fiction
Marnie MacGraw and Patrick Delaney have been in love for a few years now, enough to realize that they are imperfectly perfect together. Marnie’s ebullient; he’s brooding. She thrives on change; he prefers stability. She sees marriage and parenthood in their future, but he can’t see beyond the shadow of an earlier tragedy. Then an eight-year-old surprise from Patrick’s past shows up on their doorstep, cartwheeling into their lives and spinning things in all directions.
Featured in 25 Years of My Favorite Snack (March 9) - Nobody’s Perfect by Sally Kilpatrick—family life, women’s fiction
Vivian Quackenbush enjoys a typical life. She has winesday evenings with her two best friends. Her son is in college. She and her husband, Mitch, are planning the next move for their empty-nester future. But to Vivian’s blindsided surprise…not together. After nearly twenty-five years of marriage, Mitch wants a divorce. What is Vivian to do but channel her anger, frustration, and pain into a video she posts online. Ill advised? Perhaps. Cathartic? Absolutely. Overnight, Vivian goes viral.
Featured in Reminiscing Over My Decade as a Girl Scout (March 16) - The Griffin Sisters’ Greatest Hits by Jennifer Weiner—general fiction, women’s fiction
Cassie and Zoe Grossberg were thrust into the spotlight as The Griffin Sisters, a pop duo that defined the aughts. Now, two decades later, Zoe is a suburban mom warning her daughter Cherry to avoid the spotlight, while Cassie has disappeared from public life entirely. But when Cherry begins unearthing the truth behind their breathtaking rise and infamous breakup, long-buried secrets surface, forcing all three women to confront their choices, their desires, and their complicated bonds.
Featured in Hold On (for One More Day) (April 6) - The Sublet by Greer Hendricks—mystery, thriller/suspense
A frazzled ghostwriter and aspiring novelist, Anne is about to give up on her dreams when she lands her biggest client yet: Melody Wells. The one thing Melody can’t manifest are the pages her publisher is demanding for her new motivational book. Enter Anne. When Melody passes along a lead on a spacious sublet, Anne can’t believe her luck. Melody seems to know just what her family needs. But as small, unsettling incidents begin to accumulate, Anne starts to wonder what price she’s willing to pay for the good life.
Featured in In Search of My Next Interesting Palate Cleanser (April 13) - What Not to Do on Vacation by Rachel Magee—humor, romance, women’s fiction
Savannah is on a mission to reconnect the Prestly sisters the best way she knows how: reliving their carefree childhood summers at the beach. She booked the same beach house, convinced her sisters to take the month off, and even made a bucket list to fit in all their favorite coastal fun. It’s going to be perfect…or else.
Featured in When Your Luggage Takes a Different Vacation (May 4) - Rewind to Us by Molly Morris—teen/young adult
Dixie Mulligan only has one plan for her annual California vacation this summer—to tell her best friend Sawyer that she’s in love with him. It doesn’t matter that things between them technically fell apart over spring break, and they haven’t spoken since—until Dixie arrives and realizes Sawyer has moved on (a fact made very apparent when she sees him kissing, um, someone else). Luckily, Dixie and her family have each been gifted with a Rewind. But when family secrets start pouring out, Dixie’s not so sure even her Rewind will be enough to save what she and Sawyer had.
Featured in The Thrill of Stealing My Daughter’s Friends (June 1) - Party of Liars by Kelsey Cox—general fiction, mystery, thriller/suspense
Today is Sophie Matthews’ sixteenth birthday party, an exclusive black-tie bash in the heart of the Texas Hill Country, where secrets are as deep-rooted as the sprawling live oaks. Sophie’s dad has spared no expense, and his renovated cliffside mansion—once thought haunted and shuttered for years from outsiders—is now hosting the event of the season. Then, just before the candles on the three-tiered red velvet cake get blown out, a body falls from the balcony onto the starlit dance floor below. It’s a killer guest list. Everyone is invited in. Not everyone will get out alive.
Featured in This is What Nightmares are Made Of (June 22) - Every Last Fear by Alex Finlay—thriller/suspense
After a late night of partying, NYU student Matt Pine returns to his dorm room to devastating news: nearly his entire family have been found dead while vacationing in Mexico. The tragedy makes headlines everywhere because this isn’t the first time the Pine family has been thrust into the media spotlight. Matt’s older brother, Danny―currently serving a life sentence for the murder of his teenage girlfriend Charlotte―was the subject of a viral true crime documentary suggesting that Danny was wrongfully convicted.
Featured in The Best Documentaries are True Crime Documentaries (July 6) - The Judge’s List by John Grisham—thriller/suspense
Lacy Stoltz, approaching forty, is tired of her work for the Florida Board on Judicial Conduct and ready for a change. She meets a mysterious woman who is so frightened she uses a number of aliases. Jeri Crosby’s father was murdered twenty years earlier in a case that remains unsolved and that has grown stone cold. But Jeri has a suspect whom she has become obsessed with and has stalked for two decades. He is a judge, in Florida—under Lacy’s jurisdiction.
Featured in When Old Habits Become New Again (August 17) - Zero to Hero by Kathryn R. Biel—romance
Andi Nichols shatters barriers as the first female head referee in a United States Soccer League match. But when boisterous player Brandon Nix questions her call, she faces unexpected turbulence. Brandon Nix, the Boston Buzzards’ top scorer and notorious loudmouth, isn’t one to hold back, even against a female referee. Their clash ignites a viral firestorm, thrusting them into an unwanted spotlight. Forced to collaborate to salvage their reputations with the league, they share one common sentiment: mutual disdain.
Featured in Do You Watch Football…or Football? (August 31) - Little Pieces of Me by Alison Hammer—family life, women’s fiction
When Paige Meyer gets an email from a DNA testing website announcing that her father is a man she never met, she is convinced there must be a mistake. But as she digs deeper into her mother’s past and her own feelings of being the odd child out growing up, Paige begins to question everything she thought she knew. Could this be why Paige never felt like she fit in her family, and why her mother always seemed to keep her at arm’s length? And what does it mean for Paige’s memories of her father, a man she idolized and whose death she is still grieving? When Paige can’t get answers from her mother, she goes looking for the only other person who was there that night.
Featured in What Can a DNA Test Really Tell Me? (September 21) - Totally Fine by Nick Spalding—general fiction, humor, women’s fiction
Meet Charlie King. He’s doing great! Honestly. A fantastic job, two solid best mates and a girlfriend who might just be The One. Life is good. Perfect, even. So why is he waking up in a cold sweat? Why does his heart keep trying to punch its way out of his chest? Charlie should probably see a doctor. That’s what everyone keeps telling him. But it’s not that bad. He just needs a decent night’s sleep. Other than that, he’s Totally Fine.
Featured in Know What You’re Capable of Handling Yourself (September 28) - Innocence Road by Laura Griffin—general fiction, mystery, thriller/suspense
Leanne Everhart knows women have something to fear in her artsy hometown, especially so if they’re not rich, white locals. Returning to town after her father’s death, she sees the ugliest sides of an area that draws people for its severe, untamed natural landscape. While her department faces mounting backlash over a recent wrongful conviction in the long-ago murder case of a popular local teenager—which is now unsolved—Leanne is called to a fresh crime scene at the edge of the desert.
Featured in How Many Megapixels Make for Overkill? (November 2) - Made You Look by Tanya Grant—general fiction, mystery, thriller/suspense
Sydney Kent is the ultimate It Girl. Despite Caitlyn’s social media cunning, it’s impossible for her to step out from Sydney’s shadow. Even Lucy can’t escape her role as full-time photographer to the influencer. When the women are invited to post content for a secluded new retreat in the Catskills, alongside Sydney’s boyfriend Jeff, stylist Nash, and manager Brent, the weekend feels like it will be a fresh start. But an unexpected snowstorm traps the group together with no cell service, no Wi-Fi, and no way out. Then a killer strikes, and the dream trip becomes a nightmare.
Featured in The Closest I Came to Being Off the Grid (November 9) - Far From the A-List by Stephanie Burns—general fiction, new adult, women’s fiction
Former child star Michaela Turner is ready for her next big role—she just doesn’t know what it is yet. As someone whose days were once filled with bright lights, never-ending rehearsals, and adoring fans from around the world, Michaela now struggles to define herself beyond the glitz and glamour of her past. As her mother’s demands grow more draining and her love life takes hit after hit, she learns a few hard truths about the significance of self-worth and the beauty of letting go.
Featured in Why are All Digital Media Kids Weird? (November 23)
5-Star Reviews of 2025 (Includes 4.5-Star Reviews)
- This One Life by Amanda Prowse—family life, women’s fiction
After years of hard work, Madeleine’s life is very nearly perfect. She’s about to move to LA to pursue her dream job―and there’s a new man on the scene too. But when her mother falls ill, pulling her back to the world she’s tried so hard to leave behind, the repercussions of a life-changing decision Madeleine made seven years ago resurface, threatening to jeopardise everything she’s worked for.
Featured in Recognizing the Value of Your “Sliding Doors” Moments (February 9) - Only If You’re Lucky by Stacy Willingham—psychological drama, thriller/suspense
Lucy Sharpe is larger than life. Especially for Margot, who meets Lucy at the end of their freshman year at a liberal arts college in South Carolina. Margot is the shy one, the careful one, always the sidekick and never the center of attention. But when Lucy singles her out at the end of the year and asks Margot to room together, something in Margot can’t say no. By the middle of their sophomore year, one of the fraternity boys from the house next door has been brutally murdered…and Lucy Sharpe is missing without a trace.
Featured in The Beatles Make a Great Backdrop (February 23) - Parents Weekend by Alex Finlay—general fiction, mystery, thriller/suspense
In the glow of their children’s exciting first year of college at a small private school in Northern California, five families plan on a night of dinner and cocktails for the opening festivities of Parents Weekend. As the parents stay out way past their bedtimes, their kids never show up at dinner. As the hours click by and another night falls with not so much as a text from the students, panic ensues. Rumors swirl and questions arise. Libby, Blane, Mark, Felix, and Stella come from five very different families. What led them out on that fateful night? Could it be the sins of their mothers and fathers come to cause them peril or a threat to the friend group from within?
Featured in New and Improved Texting Manners (April 20) - The Love Haters by Katherine Center—contemporary fiction, romantic comedy, women’s fiction
Katie Vaughn has been burned by love in the past—now she may be lighting her career on fire. She has two choices: wait to get laid off from her job as a video producer or, at her coworker Cole’s request, take a career-making gig profiling Tom “Hutch” Hutcheson, a Coast Guard rescue swimmer in Key West. The catch? Katie’s not exactly qualified. She can’t swim—but pretends that she can. Plus, Cole and Hutch are brothers. And they don’t get along. Next stop: paradise! But paradise is messier than it seems.
Featured in “Black is the Color of My Soul” (April 27) - Grave Talk by Nick Spalding—humor
The last thing Alice expects to see at her husband’s graveside on his birthday is a giant, talking frog. On closer inspection, it’s a grown man dressed as Kermit. Turns out Alice’s husband is buried next to Ben’s older brother Harry, who―as a parting practical joke in his will―insisted that Ben visit his grave each year, on this specific day, dressed in an as-yet-undisclosed pageant of embarrassing fancy dress. Alice and Ben form a very special, very strange friendship, meeting just once a year: same day, same time, same place―different silly costume.
Featured in Mother’s Day Hits a Little Different Every Year (May 11) - Finding Grace by Loretta Rothschild—general fiction, women’s fiction
Honor seems to have everything: she adores her bright and beautiful daughter, Chloe, and her charming, handsome husband, Tom, even if he works one hundred hours a week. Yet Honor’s longing for another baby threatens to eclipse all of it―until a shocking event changes their lives forever. Years later, Tom makes a decision that ripples through their families’ lives in ways he could never have foreseen. As the consequences of that fateful choice unfold, two women’s paths become irrevocably intertwined.
Featured in I Don’t Really Need a REASON for Wine Night 🍷 (May 25) - The Night Shift by Alex Finlay—thriller/suspense
It’s New Year’s Eve 1999. Y2K is expected to end in chaos. At a Blockbuster Video in New Jersey, four teenagers working late at the store are attacked. Only one inexplicably survives. Fifteen years later, more teenage employees are attacked at an ice cream store in the same town, and again only one makes it out alive. In the aftermath of the latest crime, three lives intersect: the lone survivor of the Blockbuster massacre, the brother of the fugitive accused, and FBI agent Sarah Keller who must delve into the secrets of both nights.
Featured in Who Here Had a Y2K Bug? (June 29) - Abscond by Abraham Verghese—coming of age, literary fiction
It’s a New Jersey summer in 1967, and thirteen-year-old Ravi Ramanathan has the makings of a tennis prodigy. His surgeon father encourages his ambition, while his mother dreams of their only child following his father’s path. Surrounded by his parents’ love, Ravi chafes a bit at their daily routines and little traditions. Then one unexpected day, everything changes. Realizing how much he took for granted, Ravi must grow up overnight and find a new role in the life of his family.
Featured in The Universe Has a Way of Reminding Us (July 13) - Battle of the Bookstores by Ali Brady—romance
Despite managing bookstores on the same Boston street, Josie Klein and Ryan Lawson have never interacted much—Josie’s store focuses on serious literature, and Ryan’s sells romance only. But when the new owner of both stores decides to combine them, the two are thrust into direct competition. Only one manager will be left standing, decided by who turns the most profit over the summer. Their only solace during this chaos is the friendship they’ve each struck up with an anonymous friend in an online book forum.
Featured in Bookstores are My Happy Place (July 20) - Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng—family life, literary fiction
In Shaker Heights, a placid, progressive suburb of Cleveland, everything is planned. And no one embodies this spirit more than Elena Richardson, whose guiding principle is playing by the rules. Enter Mia Warren—an enigmatic artist and single mother—who arrives in this idyllic bubble with her teenaged daughter Pearl, and rents a house from the Richardsons. Soon Mia and Pearl become more than tenants: all four Richardson children are drawn to the mother-daughter pair. But Mia carries with her a mysterious past and a disregard for the status quo that threatens to upend this carefully ordered community.
Featured in Last Kid Left in the Nursery (August 3) - Josh + Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating by Christina Lauren—romantic comedy, women’s fiction
Hazel Camille Bradford knows she’s a lot to take. Josh Im has known Hazel since college, where her zany playfulness proved completely incompatible with his mellow restraint. From the first night they met to when she sent him an unintelligible email while in a post-surgical haze, Josh has always thought of Hazel more as a spectacle than a peer. But now, ten years later, after a cheating girlfriend has turned his life upside down, going out with Hazel is a breath of fresh air. Not that Josh and Hazel date. At least, not each other. Because setting each other up on progressively terrible double blind dates means there’s nothing between them…right?
Featured in When You Wonder if the Third Time’s a Charm (August 10) - Forget Me Not by Stacy Willingham—general fiction, mystery, thriller/suspense
Twenty-two years ago, Claire Campbell’s older sister, Natalie, disappeared shortly after her eighteenth birthday. Days later, her blood was found in a car, a man was arrested, and the case was swiftly closed. When an unexpected call from her father forces Claire to come back home, Claire decides on a whim to accept a seasonal job at Galloway Farm, a place where her sister seemed truly happy in that last summer before she vanished. As soon as Claire starts to settle in, she stumbles across an old diary written by one of the vineyard’s owners, and what at first seems like a story of young rebellion and love turns into something much more sinister.
Featured in Happy Birthday (Early) to One of My Best Reading Buddies (August 24) - Other People’s Houses by Clare Mackintosh—mystery, thriller/suspense
The Hill is the kind of place everyone wants to live: luxurious, exclusive and safe. But now someone is breaking and entering these Cheshire homes one by one, and DS Leo Brady suspects the burglar is looking for something, or someone, in particular. Over the border in Wales, DC Ffion Morgan recovers the body of an estate agent from the lake. There’s no love lost between Ffion and estate agents, but who hated this one enough to want her dead—and why? As their cases collide, Ffion and Leo discover people will pay a high price to keep their secrets behind closed doors….
Featured in When You Confuse Wales and Ireland 🤦🏼♀️🙄 (September 7) - Ever After by Amanda Prowse—family life, women’s fiction
Enya’s life has become small. Her husband’s death has left her bereft, and though she’s only in her early fifties, she’s happiest looking after her son, Aiden, his childhood sweetheart, Holly, and her beloved cat, Pickle. So the spark she feels for the stranger who bumps into her car in the airport car park is a complete shock. Then, when Aiden makes a life-changing decision, Enya suddenly finds her close-knit community thrown into chaos. Her best friend, Jenny, isn’t speaking to her, Aiden’s future hangs in the balance, Holly is devastated, and the stranger from the car park is suddenly in her life.
Featured in Five Years Sounds Like Forever…but Also Just a Moment (September 14) - Alive and Kicking by Kathryn R. Biel—romance, romantic comedy
Rachel Cramer prefers quiet nights, familiar routines, and absolutely no surprises. But when her adventurous sister Richie dies far too young, she leaves Rachel a parting gift: a bucket list of all the things she never got to do—and a gentle nudge from beyond to start living boldly. Enter TJ Doyle, midfielder for the Boston Buzzards and professional life avoider. He’s not sure what he’s searching for, but he knows it’s not more of the same. Number 8 on Richie’s list? Meet TJ Doyle.
Featured in What Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up? (October 12) - No One Aboard by Emy McGuire—general fiction, mystery, thriller/suspense
At the start of summer, billionaire couple Francis and Lila Cameron set off on their private luxury sailboat to celebrate the high school graduation of their two beloved children. Three weeks later, the Camerons have not been heard from, the captain hasn’t responded to radio calls, and the sailboat is found floating off the coast of Florida. Empty. Where are the Camerons? What happened on their trip? And what secrets does the beautiful boat hold?
Featured in Do We Need a Name for Our New Book Club? (November 16) - Merry Little Bookshop by Ali Brady—holiday fiction, romance, small town fiction
When her company sends her to tiny Azalea, Texas, to open a holiday pop-up bookstore for the month of December, Shira Schwartz knows the real reason she got the assignment—they figure she won’t mind missing Christmas. What they forgot? She’s also missing Hanukkah. From the moment she arrives on Thanksgiving Day, Shira is swept up in the town’s charm—and right into the path of Jonny McKay, a local who traded big-city dreams to come home and care for his dad. He’s cocky, flirty, and totally not Shira’s type…but he might be perfect for a no-strings holiday fling.
Featured in It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas (November 30) - Thirty, Flirty, and Forever Alone by Christine Riccio—general fiction, romance
When your name literally means “forever alone,” it takes a lot of positive self-talk to stay optimistic in the hellscape that is dating. But on the cusp of thirty, Rikki Romona is determined to find her person. Rikki is an overachiever who thrives on schedules. She can absolutely handle two weddings in two days, and lock down someone to drag along as a plus-one. And yet, spoiler: She doesn’t. Enter Reed Tyler. Surprisingly single with startling blue eyes, he seems perfect. The catch? He lives kind of far away, so dating him would be a bit of a hike. But as she braces herself for heartache, the universe, it seems, has other plans….
Featured in Maybe It’s Time for an Etsy Shop (December 7) - Dandelion is Dead by Rosie Storey—new adult, women’s fiction
When Poppy discovers unanswered messages from a charming stranger in her late sister’s dating app, she makes an impulsive choice: She’ll meet him, just once, on what would have been Dandelion’s fortieth birthday. It’s exactly the kind of wild adventure her vivacious sister would have pushed her toward. Jake is ready to find something real—and not least because his ex-wife’s twenty-something boyfriend has moved into their old family home. When he meets the intriguing woman who calls herself Dandelion, their connection is undeniable, and he can think of little else. As the lines between grief and love blur, Poppy faces a choice: keep her sister’s memory alive through her lies, or risk everything for a chance at her own happiness?
Featured in Learning from My Last Review of the Year (December 21)
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