fiction – Stephanie Caffrey, Author

Book Review: The Art of Overthinking by Ellen Zheng

July 7, 2025Posted in Book RecommendationsTagged #books, ARC, Book Recommendations, Book Review, book-reviews, Books, Ellen Zheng, fiction, Reading, reviews, Rowan Prose Publishing, The Art of OverthinkingLeave a comment

The Art of Overthinking by Ellen Zheng

Release Date: August 5, 2025

I received an ARC from Rowan Prose Publishing, but the opinions are my own and unbiased.

The Art of Overthinking by Ellen Zheng is a YA Novel that deals with mental health and finding your place in the world. The main character, Isla Wu, is a sixteen-year-old high school Junior who has a lot of pressure placed on her by her parents to succeed. She doesn’t feel like she really fits in with her friend group, and she is spiralling.

Amidst all this internal turmoil, she meets a super cute new boy, Slater. He’s immediately welcomed into the popular crowd and yet, he is really interested in Isla. As they get closer, things with Isla start coming to a head. And what comes next is probably some of the most real writing about being a teenager in this day and age that I’ve read in a long time.

The Art of Overthinking is probably one of my favorite books I’ve read this year. Being inside Isla’s head felt super relatable and incredibly real. I couldn’t put this book down. I wanted to keep reading and find out what happened next with Isla. The relationship between Isla and Slater felt so real. It had all the awkwardness of first love and all that came with it, and I just wanted everything to work out for them.

The first generation American, child of immigrants aspect was so well done. And there are parts in the book, I won’t spoil them, where Isla found her voice, and I audibly cheered for her. The book deals with racism very well and very realistically.

Most of all, I applaud the author for how she dealt with the mental health of teenagers, and mental health in general. The message she sends is loud, it’s clear, and I love that she includes tools so that if a teen is reading this book and recognizes themselves in the characters, they can have an idea on how to start working on themselves.

I highly recommend that you read this book. You really won’t regret it.

Book Review – Simply to Die For by Maxine Douglas

February 2, 2025Posted in Book RecommendationsTagged #books, ARC, Book Review, book-reviews, Books, fiction, Reading1 Comment

Simply to Die For by Maxine Douglas

Release Date: March 11, 2025

Thank you Rowan Prose Publishing for the ARC. This is my honest review.

Simply to Die For by Maxine Douglas is a romantic suspense book about a former adult film star turned candy store owner trying to outrun a stalker. Even though it’s less than three hundred pages long, Douglas manages to pack in enough intrigue and romance to keep the reader wanting to turn the pages.

All Char wanted to do was forget about her life in LA and quietly make chocolate in her hometown in Wisconsin. When she gets word that one of her friends and former coworkers was nearly killed at her former studio, she rushes to LA and headlong into the investigation. What follows is a tale with twists and turns and a lot of romance.

It took me a while to get into the book. The love interest’s name is Jimmy, which is my husband’s joke name for everything, so it took me a minute. I also felt like the story read like a sequel for the first bit, I actually had to look Douglas up and make sure it wasn’t. I also had a hard time with how rushed everything felt, but because of the short page count, I was able to let that go.

What I really liked about the book was the suspense aspect. I honestly had no idea who was stalking Char. I thought I had figured it out fairly early, but I was really glad when I found out I was very, very wrong. The last quarter of the book had me on the edge of my seat, waiting to find out what happened next.

If you’re looking for a quick read that is jam packed with suspense, this is definitely the book for you.

October and November 2024 Reads

November 30, 2024Posted in Book RecommendationsTagged #books, Alex Trebek, Book Recommendations, Book Review, book-reviews, Books, Dinner for Vampires, Eleanore of Avignon, fiction, Her Knight At the Museum, James Patterson, Kelly Bishop, Leslie Jones, Love Of My Afterlife, Reading, Role Playing, The Lost City of Z, The Lost Story, The Spare Room, The Wedding WitchLeave a comment

I had this book on my TBR and in my Audible library for reasons I had already forgotten by the time I decided to read this book, but I’m really glad past me thought to add it to my library. Who knew I had a fascination (read: hyper fixation) on British Exploration? This book was incredibly fascinating. I was on the edge of my seat during the entire listen. I was also terrified to ever go into the jungles of the Amazon until I Googled and learned most of the jungles Percy Fawcett explored are now gone. Which is pretty depressing. If you like a good exploration tale, this book is for you.

For my library’s reading challenge this year, I needed to read a book by James Patterson, and I honestly wasn’t looking forward to it. However, I then remembered I had this book on my Kindle, and then I was excited. I have read many books about The Beatles, I have even read Cynthia Lennon’s memoir, so nothing in this book was new information. However, the way it was presented was new. I really enjoyed the way Patterson (and his co-writers) laid out this story. The prose was easy to read, and the book read like a suspense novel. If you have an interest in Lennon, but don’t want to delve into a denser biography, this is a good start.

I read this as an ARC, and you can find my review here.

This book was hilarious and heartbreaking all at the same time. A woman dies, in a pretty hilarious way, and in her afterlife, she meets who she thinks is going to be her great love. Only, he was sent by mistake and is returned to earth. The woman is then given ten days to get him to kiss her and then she can have a second chance at life. What ensues is a lot of hilarious antics, and a lot about learning to live life to its fullest. This was a fun and easy read. And I couldn’t put it down. Warning: It did make me cry several times, but that may not be news to you, since if you know me IRL, you know that I cry at most romance novels.

This was recommended to me on Kindle Unlimited, and I thought, “Why not?” This was a cute and funny, easy read in a month where I read a lot of nonfiction books. I thought the premise was really cute, and I enjoyed the characters a lot. Nothing seemed too over the top about it. I am a sucker for “forced proximity” tropes. The only thing this one was missing was “there’s only one bed.” If you want a fun romance novel about two neighbors becoming roommates unexpectedly, then this is the book for you!

Nerdy forty-somethings falling in love? Yes. Please! This book was something I didn’t know I needed. I think I saw it on X shared by the author, and I bought it. I finally got around to reading it, and I couldn’t put it down. Grumpy Sunshine novel where the girl is the grumpy? Also, yes. I devoured this book. It was hilarious. They play an online game together and he thinks she’s eighty and she thinks he’s twenty. Hilarity ensues, and also so much love. Highly recommend this, especially if you’re tired of romance novels being about people in their twenties.

I listened to this book, which apparently means I read a completely different book that what was printed. This was a pick for my mom group book club, and half of us read it with our eyes and half of us read it with our ears. Those of us who listened to the audiobook (which is SIXTEEN HOURS by the way) had a much more positive opinion of the book than those who read the physical copy. I thought the book was hilarious, and interesting. Listening to the book was like having Leslie right in the car with me as she told me all these stories of her life. Warning: she cusses a lot, but if you follow her at all, you already know that.

This book was amazing. A reimagining of the Narnia idea, but for adults, this book follows two boys who were lost in the woods as teens and came back changed. Now that they’re adults, they want to return to the land they found happiness as children. This book is full of magic and love and found family, and it made me cry like a little baby. If you liked Meg Shaffer’s debut, The Wishing Game, you’ll love this one. I think I liked it better than the first one, and that’s saying a lot since I really liked the first one.

The only thing I really knew Kelly Bishop from was The Gilmore Girls, but when I saw she had a memoir, I jumped at the chance to read it. I’m so glad I did. Did you know she originated one of the roles in A Chorus Line and the character she portrayed was semi-autobiographical? I sure didn’t! She is very outspoken and I fell in love with her through this book. I also cried. But, if you’ve made it this far in this post, you’ll notice I dod that a lot with books. She loved her role on Gilmore Girls and I think that made me happy. This is the second memoir of someone on the show I’ve read, and I’ve listened to Scott Patterson’s podcast. Knowing that the experience was beloved by the cast makes me love the show even more. It may be time for a rewatch…

Picked for my book club as a replacement for a book we couldn’t find at the library, I was really excited to read this book. I love Jeopardy. My husband and I watch and sometimes we keep score of the questions we get correct and compare our scores. (He’s really good at Jeopardy and often wins.) I really liked the way this memoir was written. Short chapters, lots of photos. I especially loved that reading this memoir didn’t tarnish Alex for me. Sometimes I read a memoir and realize that the person I’m reading about is a worse person than I thought. Not Alex. He’s every bit the person you would expect.

This. Book. Easily in the top five books I’ve read this year, Eleanore of Avignon tells the story of a young midwife in 1348 Avignon, which is when the Plague arrived for the first time, decimating the population. Told through the point of view of a fictional character, but surrounded by historical figures, this book beautifully tells the story of life in the Medieval Papal States. It talks about the lives of women, the Jews, and how life in the city worked. When the plague hits, the descriptions about the toll it takes on the population will haunt you. If you’re a fan of feminist historical fiction, this is the book for you.

I love this series, and I was looking forward to this addition. However, there was something missing from this one that made me love all of the others. I think it felt rushed. It was a lot shorter than I expected. I think if there were about fifty more pages, and the love story was stretched out just a little longer, this book would have been amazing. That being said, I still really enjoyed this book, and I laughed and cried along with the characters.

So, reading a memoir about a Christo Fascist Misogynistic Cult after this past election certainly was a choice I made, however, I loved One Tree Hill, and Haley was my favorite character, and I needed to read this. Highly recommend the audio, she has people come in and read their words. What Lenz experienced in her ten years in a cult was genuinely terrifying. I had to stop listening and give myself a break at times, especially near the end when she was trying to get her and her daughter out. Even if you weren’t a One Tree hill fan, I recommend reading ti. It’s a good read. She’s a great writer.

I read an ARC of this book, and you can find the review here.

Book Review – PS I Hate You by Lauren Connolly

November 29, 2024Posted in Book RecommendationsTagged #books, ARC, Book Recommendations, Book Review, book-reviews, Books, fiction, Lauren Connolly, Netgalley, PS I Hate You, Reading, Romance1 Comment

Title – PS I Hate You

Author – Lauren Connolly

Release Date – December 3, 2024

Thank you NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for the ARC.

PS I Hate You by Lauren Connolly is a book that will break your heart and piece it back together again slowly, just like the puzzles Maddie loves to put together. The story of Maddie and Dom is rich, full of layers, and as they all reveal themselves, you’ll find it impossible to put the book down until everything has been revealed.

When her brother dies, Maddie is devastated. They were close, she was all she really had. When his best friend, and the person who broke her heart at the age of 19, Dom, reveals that they’re to embark on a journey together across eight states to scatter his ashes, she is initially reluctant. There are many things she would rather do than be stuck with Dom.

But, as they take on this final request from her brother, Maddie finds she doesn’t hate Dom as much as she initially thought. Through saying goodbye to her brother, she and Dom find a connection neither of them thought was still there.

Connolly beautifully blends the romance between Maddie and Dom with the grief of losing a loved one. Not only that, she intricately weaves in a story of hope and fear of abandonment through the entire book.

PS I Hate You broke my heart, and I found myself reaching for the tissues often. At one point I had to take my glasses off and wipe my eyes. The prose is rich, the storyline complicated and Maddie and Dom are two people you can root for. If you enjoy a rom com with complicated depths, this is definitely the book for you.

July 2024 Reads

July 31, 2024Posted in Book RecommendationsTagged #books, Book Recommendations, Book Review, book-reviews, Books, fiction, Katherine Center, Reading, Romance, TJ Klune1 Comment

My best friend chose the movie “Home” for one of our family movie nights. When the movie was over, the credits stated that it was based on a book. So I had to read the book. And let me tell you, they use the phrase “based on the novel” very loosely. While the same concepts are here, the execution is vastly different. The book was a fun read, and I enjoyed it. It was excellent entertainment while I painted cabinet doors for the kitchen. It made me laugh out loud several times.

I don’t know what I was expecting when I picked this book as my January Book of the Month pick, but a book that was written so cinematically wasn’t it. It is a magical realism book, so keep that in mind, and be prepared to suspend your disbelief. However, the language and descriptions in this book were gorgeous. There is one scene near the end of the book where I could picture it clearly and I immediately decided I needed an adaptation of the book.

Meh. I think I wanted a little more out of this book. I felt some of the characters were underdeveloped and some of the storyline just felt rushed. The book definitely had potential, it just needed to go a little further.

I was able to get the last five Katherine Center books I hadn’t read from the library, so I binged them. Starting with this one. I really liked it. My favorite thing about Center books are the characters and how real they feel. And I felt that the problems these characters experienced were not as extreme as the ones her characters experience in her newer books, and that’s okay. The impact was still the same. I, of course, cried.

I really enjoyed this one, and I think this is definitely up in the top half of her books for me. Even though the romance was not front and center, I really loved how the heroine was the focus. About her overcoming her own internal obstacles through external obstacles was the focus instead. It felt really empowering. I even used some of the hiking knowledge from this book on a recent camping trip with my family.

This book was very cute, and a very good debut novel. I could see Center’s formula coming into play. But, these early books were very light on the romance. But I still liked them. This one was great, and I loved the LI. This book made my heart full.

I loved this book because it was different than other romances I’ve read. I LOVED that it was about a married couple falling back in love. I L O V E D that it showed the reality of parenting small children. And I LOVED that the mom was trying to find something for herself outside of motherhood. This book was so relatable and I ugly cried through out it.

This was by far the weakest of Center’s books, and I am so glad that I read it last. I didn’t quite like or buy the concept and I felt that the strains between the different relationships felt forced and contrived, and the romance felt sort of tacked on. Definitely ranked number 11 out of 11 in my ranking of Center’s books.

Why did I wait so long to read this book?! Reading this book, especially with having just lost my grandma, and the anticipatory grief of the inevitable loss of my young nephew, was cathartic. The way Klune talks about death and the afterlife, I don’t know. It really was beautifully written and really fililed me with a sense of hope. Klune has done it again. Even with a book that he merely described as a love story with a ghost.

This book circulates around my school, and my oldest has read it, and I figured why not give it a try for a reading challenge I’m doing. Friends. This book. The audiobook is only four hours, and in that four hours Brown told a beautiful story about friendship, motherhood, and found family. I asked my son if the book had a happy ending and he told me no. But, I would argue that while not the ending you would hope for, it wasn’t necessarily sad. It definitely leaves room for hope, too.

This is a book I had hoped would be better. I don’t know what I didn’t like about it. The plot was okay, the characters were okay, but something just didn’t resonate with me. Maybe after bingeing all of Center’s books the stakes just felt too low? I don’t know. The book was okay.

I read this for the ISDAR book club, and wow. This was very fascinating. I learned a lot about life as a woman in the 18th and 19th Centuries. I also learned a lot about the diseases that ran rampant. Thank goodness for vaccines! I cried a couple times. Eliza had a really hard life, but she persevered. And I learned that LMM took some liberties with the story when he wrote Hamilton. I guess insider trading and stock market speculation don’t make interesting plot points.

Okay. This book. I wanted to like it, but the plot just felt all over the place. Like it couldn’t decide what it wanted to do. I think if it cut a couple plot points out, focused in a little more on character development, and developed the relationship a little more, I would have liked the book a lot better. As it was, there were about five different conflicts and some resolved within two pages, and then whole thing felt disjointed and rushed.

April 2024 Reads

May 4, 2024Posted in Book RecommendationsTagged #books, Book Recommendations, Book Review, Books, Borrow My Heart, charles-dickens, David Copperfield, Emily Henry, fiction, Finlay Donovan Rolls the Dice, Funny Story, JR Ward, Matilda, Ncuti Gatwa, Reading, Romance, The Beloved, The Wishing GameLeave a comment

Willy Wonka for adults. This is what this book reminded me of. It was such a touching book, and I devoured it. I loved all the characters, and they were all so real. The experience was amazing, and it made me cry, a lot. I picked this from Book of the Month as my free Book of the Year finalist. I definitely see why so many people voted for it to be Book of the Year!

One of my favorite series, I’m so happy I put myself on hold right away because I was able to get the book on release day! This book didn’t disappoint. It had the same humor and mishaps as the other three books. I loved that we wrapped up some mysteries, and we added new ones. I hope when the series is over, our girl Finlay comes out on top.

Yes, I read David Copperfield last year, but when I discovered there was this brand new dramatized version with Ncuti Gatwa as Copperfield, I couldn’t resist. If you have ever wanted to read Copperfield but you were intimidated by the length, this is for you. Condensed down to eight hours, most of the book is intact, and this production is beautifully acted. I highly recommend!

April is the month of reading new entries of my beloved series. The Beloved was probably one of my most highly anticipated releases this year. The follow up after the major cliffhanger in last year’s Lassiter, The Beloved is set in the future, and follows Zsadist and his daughter, and it was beautiful. It was everything I had hoped it would be and more. And Ward has perfectly set up the next several books in the series. She never lets me down.

I saw this book at my kids’ book fair and fell in love with the cover, so I nabbed it. It was a cute YA Rom Com. I liked the premise and felt the characters were well rounded, plus there were lots of adorable animals. It was a nice quick read.

My book club celebrates Agatha April every year, and this was our first Miss Marple mystery, and I have to say, I was a little let down. Miss Marple was barely in it, and the mystery itself was kind of meh. Definitely not our favorite of the Christie novels we have read since starting Agatha April a few years ago.

For one of my yearly reading challenges I needed to read a book that has been turned into a musical, so I chose Matilda! I loved the book. It was magical and funny, and I will say, the musical adaptation was very faithful to the book. I found myself singing the songs as I was reading the book. I think this is my favorite Dahl book I’ve read so far.

Another highly anticipated release, I ignored my husband so I could spend all night reading this book. I immediately fell in love with Miles. He’s probably my favorite of Henry’s heroes so far. I’m pretty sure this is my favorite Henry book. Don’t be surprised if later this year you see this book pop back up on a monthly recap of my reads.