Shoutout to Knox McCoy of The Popcast for recommending this novel. The Dearly Beloved follows two couples as they meet, fall in love, get married, and grow up. When a book is described as having ‘beautiful writing’ some people translate that to ‘boring’, but I disagree! This book explores faith, what it means to be a parent, and marriage. I loved it. It was Cara Wall’s debut novel, and I can’t wait to see what she does next.

This young adult book has been on my shelf for ages and I’m glad I finally read it! Comparable titles are Divergent and The Hunger Games, but I didn’t think this was as good as either of those. However, there was no love triangle , which I liked! Imagine eutopia: there’s no disease, no death, no famine. The world has solved all it’s problems with one solution, population control. A select few members of society are tasked with keeping the population under control, and this story follows two of those teenagers.

If you need a creepy, murder mystery that’ll make you sleep with the lights on, look no further than The Chestnut Man. It features a very smart serial killer and equally smart detectives fighting against the clock to save the next victim before it’s too late. This author created the TV show called The Killing which I feel weird saying ‘I loved’ but I did! And, if you can believe it, this book has a somewhat happy ending. But be ready for lots of gore in the middle. This was my first Book of the Month pick!

I started Michelle Obama’s book back in March and put it down for a few months! I knew I wanted to finish it, it was just really long. I switched to the audio version and it was so great! Michelle is so wise, kind, thoughtful, and strong. Her writing is vulnerable and honest. I learned so much and mourned her presence in the White House. I highly recommend this one on audiobook. She narrates her own words and that made it extra special.

This was another one I listened to on audio. Gladwell describes it as an ‘enhanced podcast’. Man, it has been controversial! I’ve read scathing reviews and reviews full of praise. It’s very thought provoking, yet some of the ideas Gladwell explores are not completely fleshed out. The book was too short in my opinion and tried to take on too many topics at once. If you’re interested in psychology and interpersonal communication, this one will make you think.