Wrap-Up Archives - The Litertarian

Review Round-Up | January 2025

To all the readerly ones – I want to wish you the happiest of new years.

2025 has gotten itself off to quite a start! It’s been a busy one in my neck of the woods: school is back in for the little ones, work has been busy with end of the year to-dos, and we had a solid week of illness in our house as one after another of us succumbed like dominoes to a stomach bug that almost took us out! It’s been busy trying to get caught back up with all the essentials since then and we’re only now feeling back into our normal routines.

Even so, I’m feeling a great energy to 2025 so far. There is potential crackling in the air, and I’m going to try and harness as much of it as I can!

One of the things I’ve been using it for is re-imagining what I want this blog to be. Last summer I revived it as an outlet and a coping mechanism for my passion and creativity. And it’s worked! Now I want to broaden the scope of what this place will look like going forward…

We all know things in the digital age change fast, and nothing is as reliable as we might hope. We’ve seen people build up livelihoods reliant on online platforms that can change their rules on a whim, or disappear altogether, shaking the foundations of countless businesses, small and large.

It’s sad to say, but in the end, the only ones we can rely upon, ultimately, is ourselves.

That means I’m going to focus more of my attention here, on this webpage that I have full control over, and use social media to help drive traffic here for those of you who may be interested in what I have here. If you have happened to stumble into this space, I hope you might consider signing up for email updates. I don’t push out each individual review to my subscribers, only posts like these where you can navigate to whatever recent posts might interest you. I would appreciate that support and I hope to really build a valuable community here of like-minded book lovers.

My Month in Reading

I got a lot of reading done this month! I actually really like the balance I struck between reading arc books (obligations) and knocking some books off of my TBR Challenge list.

My copy of Wind & Truth finally came in, and I spent a good chunk of the month buddy reading it with my pal Naomi. That series is so incredible – if you love good, complex story, I really recommend Brandon Sanderson’s Stormlight Archive series. It’s a hell of a commitment, but so good it’s almost stupid.

I’ve been doing my best tracking my reading on both goodreads (ol’ faithful) and storygraph (the cool kid on the block). It’s a little difficult balancing all the tracking tools I use (I also use notion for my reading and blog tracking), but it’s been manageable so far. Hopefully it stays top of mind so I can keep it up. I’d really love to have some accurate stats at the end of the year that storygraph provides!

I’ve fallen so far behind on my physical reading journal, I’m considering something drastic to get caught back up with it. I really love the idea of having a place to leave myself some detailed notes about what I read in that format, and I have a wonderful notebook already for it…so I want to make this happen! Hopefully I have some better updates on this front next month!

Book Review Round-Up

5 Stars

Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney Book Cover

I'll Come To You by Rebecca Kauffman Book Review

Whale Fall by Elizabeth O'Connor Book Cover

Still Beating by Jennifer Harmann Book Cover

Finlay Donovan is Killing It by Elle Cosimano Book Cover

4 Stars

Only in Your Dreams by Ellie Wilde Book Cover

Where the Black Line Ends by Meagan Williamson Book Cover

The House in the Pines by Ana Reyes Book Cover

3 Stars

The Memory Library by Kate Storey Book Cover

All the Water in the World Eiren Caffall

February TBR

I have most of my reviews written for February already, which means I have a little more freedom in my reading (exactly the place I like to be!). I always have a lot of books I want to read, but lately I’ve been absolutely feral to get some of these knocked off my list. Have you read any of them?

The Favorites | Layne Fargo
Us Against You | Fredrik Backman
Wild Dark Shore | Charlotte McConaghy
The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot | Marianne Cronin
The DaVinci Code | Dan Brown (reread)
The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year | Ally Carter
Birding with Benefits | Sarah T. Dubb
Hello Beautiful | Ann Napolitano
Consider Me | Becka Mack
Variation | Rebecca Yarros
Famous Last Words | Gillian McAllister
Tilda Is Visible | Jane Tara

What About You?

How did January go for your reading life? What do you have on deck?
Start a conversation in the comments!

Book Review:: How to Solve Your Own Murder | Kristen Perrin

Buckle in for a yummy gothic mystery that is perfect for this time of year. How To Solve Your Own Murder is a fun and twisty whodunnit I couldn’t put down!

A fortune teller foretells her death, and Frances Adams dwells on the prophecy well into old age, becoming obsessed after the events one summer as a girl ended in tragedy. Eventually, Frances IS murdered. The conditions of her will say her kin will have to solve the crime before they can earn their inheritance.

How to Solve Your Own Murder Kristen Perrin Book Cover

Annie is an estranged great-niece of the Frances, and is summoned to the manor in Castle Knoll to review changes made to her will. It was supposed to be a meeting with Francis, but by the time Annie arrives, she’s dead. When the contest to solve her murder is announced (she believed the prophecy so ardently she planned it all out in advance), Annie is eager to help discover what happened to the great-aunt she was eager to meet, but never got to. The list of suspects is robust, and Annie is coming in with fresh eyes – but if she wants to inherit Frances’ fortune, she has to solve it before the police do.

I will admit I am new to the mystery genre, so when I say I feel like this book felt so unique, it’s possible it is my own lack of context. However, I was so engaged with our main character the whole time, and I was actively suspicious of everyone she encountered while having absolutely no idea where things were going to eventually end up. There were many unique surprises, and I felt so invested in what might happen next. There were a lot of motives and history between everyone – it is a lot to keep track of, but it also makes it all the more satisfying to follow.

The big gothic manor the novel is set in is right up my alley. The detective added a layer of suspense because I wanted to trust him, but working with him was risky for Annie, because she had to solve it before him to ‘win’. The prophecy aspect was an interesting layer to contend with, as Francis had been conducting her own investigation throughout her entire life, too.

There is also a duel timeline, as Annie reads through a journal left behind from Francis. She kept it during the summer her friend once disappeared. It gives us so much insight into the modern day suspects, and gives us a second crime to solve!

This suspenseful mystery novel was a hit for me, and I really look forward to reading the next one when it’s out. If you have any recommendations in this genre for me, I’d love to hear them! I can’t handle too much gore/true evil (I’m a whimp), but I love edge-of-your-seat suspense!

Details

Title:: How To Solve Your Own Murder
Author:: Kristen Perrin
Genre:: Thriller/Suspense
Publisher:: Dutton
Length:: 368 pages
Audio Length:: 10h 51m
Audiobook Narrator:: Alexandra Dowling & Jaye Jacobs
Audiobook Publisher:: Penguin Audio
Published:: March 26th, 2024
The Litertarian Rating:: 5-Stars

Linky Links!!

Goodreads
Author Website
Amazon Affiliate Links
[Hardcover] [Paperback] [eBook] [Audible]

If you liked this book, check out…

The Midnight Feast | Lucy Foley
The Reappearance of Rachel Price | Holly Jackson

The Litertarian | Book Reviews & More

Welcome to my bookish little corner of the internet!

I am a Litertarian, a term I invented for a (hopefully) catchy blog title. What does it mean? Well, similar to the way vegetarians consume vegetables and carnivores consume carne (that’s meat in Spanish), a litertarian consumes literature. Books. Stories. Legends. Because like Thomas Jefferson once said:

I cannot live without books.

I read a lot. More than most, probably. I used to keep casual book blogs years ago where I would post reviews, and I realized recently that I missed it. I love having something to look back on when I read a book I really enjoyed. It’s like a journal, you know? Looking back on the reviews bring me joy, and can remind me of what was going on in my life at the time I read them. It’s special.

I also love helping people connect with books they love. When someone asks me for a book recommendation, I take it seriously. When I recommend something someone truly enjoys, the satisfaction is immense. There is nothing better than a good book, and everyone deserves to have that feeling as often as possible. No one can read them all, and there’s nothing wrong with being selective.

So here I am, embracing the responsibility that is book blogging. I’m ready to have a place to record my reading in a more personal way again. I’m ready to have a place to rant and word-vomit about book nerdy topics that only other people who are as obsessed with books as I am will care about. I’m ready to commit myself to something I love, that also isn’t all that demanding. All I have to do is read books and jot down some thoughts after, right? That’s pretty much my favorite thing to do anyway.

So let’s do this, folks! Let’s grab a book from the top of our TBRs and dive into the pages! If you’ve read a book that pops up on my review list, I’d love to know your thoughts about them in the comments. Books are pretty much my favorite thing to talk about, so don’t be shy! Feel free to bookmark my site and check back periodically old-school blog style. Or, you can sign up for emails every time I post in the sidebar signup. Or, if you’d rather follow along on via social media, click the ‘Socials’ tab above to connect with me on Goodreads, Threads, or Instagram. And of course, if you know of a book I should read, just shout!

I want to help you find a new book you’ll love.

Happy reading, everyone.

-e.