Looking for Leroy is a light read about a teacher who goes on a summer adventure with a coworker and reunites with a childhood first love. This is a second chance romance about finding love later in life. This book was cute, but predictable. I wasn't as invested in the main characters as I could have been.

The Appies series from Jenny Proctor and Emma St. Clair is, overall, amazing. Romancing the Grump is the fourth, and newest, book from these authors featuring one of the Appies minor league hockey players. It was beautifully done. I loved seeing how the Appies have progressed as a team, catching up with my favorite couples from the previous books (they all had pretty prominent roles, including a "couples" night at Eli and Bailey's house playing Settlers of Catan). The comedy was there in Nathan and Summer's story, but there was also a poignant emotional undertone that elevated the whole novel. Additionally, Jenny wrote the fake dating trope in this book in a fresh way in that Summer goes into the agreement with her eyes wide open. She knows that if she pretends to date Nathan, she'll fall for him, and she gives her friends updates throughout - "I'm 65% in love with him". This really fit Summer's bold personality. She's not afraid to ask hard questions, admit hard things, or talk about things many characters would sweep under the rug. Seeing Nathan finally be honest with himself and open himself up was beautiful. Bonus: all four Hawthorne brothers make an appearance in a super amusing way.

A new sweet hockey romcom from Emma St. Clair, A Groom of One's Own is technically the third book featuring players from the Appies, a minor league hockey team in Harvest Hollow, North Carolina. I fell in love with Eli in this book - he was just the right blend of sweet, earnest, awkward, and protective. A perfect book boyfriend (or maybe book husband lol). I also really loved Bailey and related to her shyness with new people. The way they came together and complemented each other so well was wonderful. As a bonus, the side characters brought additional richness to the story, from Eli's family to his hockey team mates. This book is funny and sweet and well worth reading (maybe multiple times!).

This book, the third in the Love Tucson series, was the absolute best. While the other two books also tackle heavy emotions and topics while telling a love story, An Unexpected Roomie brought in unexpected feels as Rowan and Claire found their way to happily ever after. If you, like I do, enjoy romances where the characters grapple with their own baggage together, growing and strengthening their relationship, you will be totally satisfied with this book. Rowan is an amazing book boyfriend - I'm such a sucker for "he falls first" - and Claire is relatable and inspiring.

Cute story of a little girl with big ambitions who doesn't give up. Great representation for Black girls drawn to STEM fields! The rhymes are a bit clunky, but my daughter loves it anyway.

Eye-opening and perspective-shifting. Well written, well researched, and well argued.

Beautifully written, of course. But, I believe the reader is supposed to be rooting for Florentino and Fermina, and I was not. Florentino is a pretty despicable person, especially at the end with his so-called "charge", America Vicuna, as well as the accounts of him raping women. I certainly did not want to see Florentino happy, and thought Fermina could have done better. There are many complexities here that I have not dug into. The book is masterfully written, but like in most works of literary genius, you can't expect to actually like the characters.

I found this book unengaging and difficult to get through. The points made were interesting, but could have been communicated in a shorter and clearer format. I can see how this book would be useful for someone specifically looking for tactics and ways to help them manage severe and persistent stress, but since I am not in that category, I did not find it as useful.

The author starts her introduction with the sentences: "If you are like most adults, there may be a vast divide between the emotional life you long for and the emotional life you live. You may have a deep and ever-present yearning for more. You may be longing for inner and outer calm, for connection and a feeling of wholeness. You may long to feel grounded in your own core; generatively engaged with others, yourself, and your outside world; and fully blossoming in your potential and living the life you desire." Personally, these words did not resonate with me; I feel pretty content with my life and emotions. There are times I definitely need to learn to manage my emotions better, but I don't feel dissatisfied with my life in the way she describes here. Maybe if I did, I would have felt this book to be more worthwhile to me, personally. If the author's words above ring true for you, maybe this book will benefit you.

Beautifully written, poetic, dense, horrifying, and intense. This is not a quick read. The language is dense and the subject matter is dark and distressing. I give it four stars simply because of the beautiful writing, akin to poetry. Did I like it? Would I recommend it to others? That, I'm actually not sure.

This is the first book in this series we've encountered. It is fun to read, with the kids yelling "Not yet!" along with me. A good lesson in patience. My kids (2 and 4) both enjoyed it.

This was a cute book to gift to my niece (who lives in GA) for Christmas. Some of the writing and rhymes seemed forced or just not very good, but still a cute book. The illustrations were well done, and the fun extra of finding the dog throughout was nice.

I will say up front that the book is written for parents with children older than mine (4 and 2), but much is still applicable. The first half of the book seems to have a more academic than popular audience in mind, but being an academic myself, I appreciated that and the many recent, scholarly source references. The final section gave practical examples of dialogues and how the adult can frame the dialogue to teach lessons about empathy and emotion.

I'm the kind of person that typos jump out at, and I found (without looking) at least five in this book - small things, I can understand why the editors missed them.

In all, a lot of great ideas here. I would have liked to see more practical examples in the earlier chapters. The "tip sheets" were kind of vague and theoretical rather than giving concrete examples of activities.

A useful book for leaders on how to get out of your comfort zone and develop some leadership traits that may not come naturally. Hull maintains that leaders generally fall into the following categories: cerebral type (thinker), empathic type (feeler), or somatic type (doer). However, a good leader needs to train him/herself to borrow traits from all three types depending on the situation. Hull gives lots of examples from the clients he works with as a leadership consultant. He also gives practical tips. This book was good, but not career-changing for me.

I'm NOT a cat person, but this novel was beautiful and touching.

Beautifully illustrated board book that focuses on feelings - so important for young kids! My favorite page says that "Anne is in the depths of despair". Very Anne. This book is a wonderful way to start passing down a love for Anne Shirley to children, while helping them identify their own emotions. Beautiful book.

Emily is a scientist studying DNA and searching for what strands of DNA control sense of smell. A lifelong loner obsessed with her work, she does not see her new position being any different. Then, she meets Aeden, who ends up being her partner in the project. From the start, their relationship is strange and unhealthy, and really it just gets worse as Emily gets closer to a major breakthrough that will make her career.

Definitely not one of the top books I read this year, but not the worst either. The writing style felt dry to me, but perhaps fitting considering that the narrator is a research scientist. As a reader, I definitely felt like Emily was keeping her distance, even from her reader. Clever, considering Emily's personality, but I'm not sure it worked. And even though I think the reader is supposed to like Aeden, just as Emily does, I never did or understood Emily's attraction to him. He's a pretty big jerk throughout. The main tension in the novel is supposed to be this choice Emily has to make between Aeden and what he represents (marriage, family) and her work and career. But, from my point of view, the choice should not have been difficult at all. To me, Aeden would not be very difficult to give up.

A dark and emotional story of a family (two brothers and a sister) who immigrated to Ohio from Ireland as children. The focus is on the sister, Olivia, and the story is told from her point of view, set in the decades before the American Civil War. As she navigates relationships with her brothers, sisters in law, and others, including the great thinkers of her day, Olivia develops her convictions and beliefs about Christianity, slavery, sexuality, and gender.

The story and character development kept me reading. The writing was clear and well-done.

A novel that focuses on character relationships over plot, A Weekend in New York is about the Essinger family as they come together in New York City for their youngest son/brother's tennis tournament. I enjoyed navigating the complex relationships throughout, and trying to better understand the characters and their motivations. The characters were realistic and complex to the point that the reader does not feel they can fully understand any of them by the end. Speaking of the end, the sudden ending left me dissatisfied. It resolved nothing and left me with a lot of questions about what was next for this family. With a more satisfying ending, I would have given it four stars, because I found it otherwise engaging and interesting.

A dark story of a teenage boy whose grand plan to escape his life goes awry. I felt that the story line could have been fleshed out more, and the ending was unsatisfying. The scenes leading up to the climax (from the point of views of the teacher, the principal, some other students) were well done, making me think that these were the scenes the author wanted to write, and everything before and the brief bits after were added to frame them.

Very cute. Merci is a sixth grader on scholarship at a private school in Florida. Merci must learn to navigate the changes in her family - like her beloved grandfather's (Lolo) worsening Alzheimer's disease - while trying to keep track of the confusing changes that are part of growing up - why are the popular girls so mean to her when the tall, new student, Michael talks to her? What does "maybe like" mean?

Merci's mishaps are relatable and amusing as she struggles to feel like she belongs in both her family and with her peers.

Quick, easy read. The author's style is minimalist, with only important details shared in the scenes and conversations. However, the relationships and personalities come through strongly without a lot of detail. I was a swimmer growing up, so I enjoyed the familiar competitive swimming situations. The ending threw me, leaving me thinking "that was weird" rather than "that was cute", which was my thought through the whole rest of the book.

Wonderful book! My three year old loves it. Beautifully illustrated with lots of details and limited words, Steve Light tells the story of construction workers who "break" down old structures in order to "build" new ones, through the eyes of two children taking their father the lunch pail he forgot at home. I'll be honest that when we got to the end, where the dad lifts the children onto a steel beam (and they are not wearing hard hats), my first thought was OSHA violation and serious liability. But, it's all in good fun in this cute book where you are not supposed to notice such things. ;)

Sure to be a controversial book because it takes on the polarized nature of our current political system. But, this is not a book solely about politics. The main topic is actually education. Egginton's claim is that "Our democracy is not functioning because we have lost sight of the community that grounds it. we are unable to repair community because of the persistent toxicity of economic inequality. And our education system, which was intended to thwart inequality by generating opportunity and disseminating the tools for democratic participation and empowerment, has instead turned into an inequality-generating machine." His primary answer to this conundrum is an increase of liberal arts education.

Though the author himself admits to being left-leaning politically, anyone reading this book will certainly find points with which they agree as well as points with which they disagree. The author's overall argument is perfect for the kind of constructive discourse our society sorely needs.

Lots of good points with research cited to back them up. This book talks about the partnerships that must occur in marriages to support two working parents. It also stresses the benefits of mothers who work and encourages women to be in the work force. Easy to read and segmented well. Not the best book of this type I have read, but I will be passing it on to my working sister who is about to have a baby.

Brilliant and interesting, this book discusses the recent trend of "helicopter parenting" and the effects it is having on children and society. Julie Lythcott-Haims bases her book on interviews with teenagers, parents, teachers, high school principals and guidance counselors, and college admissions professionals, as well as on her own experience as a parent and a freshman dean at Stanford. In addition to writing about the unintended consequences of overparenting (depression, drug abuse, stress, and young adults who are not capable of independence), she provides practical advice for how parents can overcome the trend in their own home and neighborhoods.

I particularly like the discussion about college admissions. She stresses that finding the right college is about fit more than about prestige. Ivy league and similar colleges are not the only choice, and often are not even the right choice for a particular kid.

This book does have a definite perspective that may not feel relatable to all parents - Lythcott-Haims is an upper middle class, well-educated, professional mother - but parents from other walks of life can certainly take the bits and pieces that apply to them.

A dark and poetic story of a group of young men enmeshed in the gang scene of South Central Los Angeles. When they are asked to road trip across the country to kill a prominent judge, the boys, especially East, are awakened to the world outside of what they've known. Plans and circumstances change, leaving East to take matters into his own hands, eventually contemplating creating a new life for himself.

The novel is well-written. The character development and plot twists superb. My only challenge was how authentic the voice of a young LA gang member could be written by a middle aged white man from Michigan.

A silly book that my 3 year old loves. The illustrations are colorful and bright. The rhymes are fun.

I hated everyone in this novel except for Carol.

Dense but very well done. The novel provided food for thought about surveillance in the United States. The book was driven by character development rather than by plot, and that is fine with me. The density of the writing makes sense considering that it is "written" by the main character who is an academic. Academics are the champs of convoluted writing. I thought that the at times convoluted writing in the novel was a nice touch to stay true to that detail.

A topic that is all the rage with the popularity of American Ninja Warrior. The book is a practical and well-laid out manual for those wanting to get started in the sport.