December Book Round Up

The end of the year! In books anyway. I managed to squeeze in 10 reads between all the end of year work and personal tasks, holiday celebrations, and travel prep. I ended at 123 books for the year which blew my 37/50 goal for 2024 out of the water (for reference, I did 100 in 2023 and 92 in 2022, and just 12 in 2021 – but I wasn’t as good at tracking before 2022, as I read a lot for both school and pleasure).

1. Ah, more KJ Charles – what can I say? I really really like M/M regency romance but this one was a bit odd, as a “paranormal romance” – that said, it still kept me engaged and I suppose I was wrong – I clearly have the rest of the series to read! Spectred Isle is the first in The Green Men series – and apparently part of an existing series world I haven’t started yet.
2. Back to another favorite with Murder on Harley Street by CJ Archer. Our witty Cleopatra is back to solving cases and getting more bold in her affections for Harry – which her uncle and family still don’t know about. I do find it interesting how this series touches on cocaine addiction which is a very current topic, but, as you know, not a very modern problem at all.
3. My next three reads were all by Marjan Kamali and have similar themes of living in a colonized nation, during time of violent cultural change and war. The Stationary Shop is Kamali’s second novel and shares a love story across generations, that began in a stationary shop in 1940s Iran and ends in…a stationary shop in modern day Boston. The thing that stood out the most to me from this novel and the other two, is Kamali’s descriptions of Persian food and culture – so much so, I immediately dragged my husband to a Persian restaurant for our December date-night meal. It was divine.
4. Together Tea is Kamali’s first novel and is a bit more post-colonial mother-daughter than the others, which are primarily set in Iran, with this one set primarily in the US and from that POV. It tells a sort of classic story of an immigrant mother desperate to find her daughter a husband. There is a definite arc for Mina of self discovery that I really enjoyed.
5. The Lion Women of Tehran is Kamali’s newest and most recent novel, published in 2024, and I had seen it on book lists for ages. I couldn’t get my hands on it as easily so it was the final one I read of the three. I loved the conflict and inner turmoil for Ellie in this one. Her friendship and tension with Homa absolutely make the story and their hopes of becoming “Lion Women” during the cultural turmoil of the Islamic Revolution in Iran is a fascinating story. Aside from the food, how little we are taught about Iran, Persian culture, and the United States’ role in actively destabilizing the Middle East, was most apparent to me. I was shocked and plan to seek out more historical fiction and memoir from the time period.
6. This book comes with a VERY heavy CW and TW – Saving Noah is a short read, and it’s blurb line “It will keep you up at night long after you’ve read the last page, questioning beliefs you once thought were true.” could not be more accurate. Noah is a teenager, with everything going right, he’s the town sweetheart, until he makes a shocking and heartbreaking confession to his mother, that changes the lives of everyone in his family. Noah’s big secret is that he’s been molesting little girls – and he’s horrified and ashamed of it, desperately wants to be cured of the urge that drove him to do it. I caution you to only pick this up if you can stomach a story like this – it’s not apologist, just hauntingly human.
7. I needed a palette cleanser after the difficulty of Saving Noah and Seas and Greetings by Sierra Simone and Julie Murphy was perfect! Part of their “Christmas Notch in July” series, Seas and Greetings takes place on a cruise and follows an influencer and her mommy bodyguard as she calls her in what felt like a modern day governess story. Addison is in need of supervision and Krysta brings that to her job. She also brings a vibe Addison can’t resist and together they break all of Krysta’s rules about not fraternizing with her clients. Thankfully, for us!
8. I can’t remember how I came across Red at The Bone, I think it was a Goodreads list or a recommendation in the Libby app. Earlier in the year I read Jacqueline Woodson’s other short novella, Another Brooklyn, and I liked this a lot better. It really dove deep into the life-long impacts of the decisions people make when they are really young, and how they ripple out.
9. Here comes the classic I mentioned. Can you believe I’ve never – until now – read any Jane Austen? A further confession, I don’t even think I’ve seen any of the many movies about her novels. However, I enjoy fiction set during this time period so I figured I’d give it a shot. The thing is, however, this isn’t historical fiction, it’s simply…fiction. It took me literal hours to become invested in the Pride & Prejudice storyline, but I eventually did and finished strong. A friend suggested this was her sort of hardest and I think I’ll try Emma for my next Austen.
10. I finished the year short and sweet with a collection of short stories and essays by Harper Lee, author of the beloved classic, To Kill a Mockingbird. I loved the short stories included in The Land of Sweet Forever and can’t believe I’d never come across them before. I really enjoyed the way she could delve right into a story seemingly in the middle of it and yet have you understanding what was going in and where it concluded.

2025 was a great year of reading for me. Embracing audiobooks and the understanding that not every book needs to be a literary masterpiece for me to enjoy it, really helped a lot. My only goal this year is to make a dent in my physical TBR, as much as my audiobook reads. I have also been thinking of a top books of the year for myself and if I had to pick, my top ten would be (and simply in order of when I read, not in order of 1-10):

1. Eddie Winston is Looking for Love by Marianne Cronin
2. Three Ordinary Girls by Tim Brady
3. Death in the Spires by K.J Charles
4. Wilberforce by H.S. Cross
5. The Wind Knows my Name by Isabel Allende
6. Mother Daughter Traitor Spy by Susan Elia MacNeal
7. The Phoenix Crown by Kate Quinn
8. Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall
9. This is Pleasure: A Story by Mary Gaitskill
10. Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy

I set my 2026 goal for 100 again and my first finished read was Margo’s Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe. I loved it and already see it as a contender for one of the best books of the year (for me, it’s not new).

What are you reading? What are you looking forward to reading this year?

-M