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Out the gate, this bored me to tears, but I didn‘t want to bail on my first read of 2026. The mystery could not sustain the glacial pace, but my biggest gripe was the dialogue. It does not convey 1700s which took away historical authenticity for me. The Author‘s Note was really needed at the front, not the end. I could‘ve grabbed a Martha Ballard biography instead. I used to love historical fiction, but it has become my least fave genre.

After completing this exercise, I can definitely say that my very last book of 2025, finished in Dec 31, was my favorite read of the year.

December - The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon

#12booksof2025

#hasauthornotes #celebrate @Eggs @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

Here are my January reads for one Reading Event, One Buddy Read, & our indie bookstore book club—The Midway Murder Club put on by Folklore Bookshop.
Bottom Book—#USPresidents reading event 1776 by David McCullough about George Washington & the Revolutionary War. Middle Book—Marcel Proust‘s Swann‘s Way the 1st vol of In The Search For Lost Time #Proust2026 Buddy Read for January & February. Then the book club read—The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon.

My July selection #12booksof2025

It's fitting that my first and last reads of 2025 are both from @MeganAnn's #auldlangspine list. Apologies for taking so long to read this wonderful book. Once I started, I couldn't put it down.

Midwifery fascinates me, especially in older historical periods. I‘m also a fan of the series Call the Midwife. This book is slow burn but written very well. On an impossible winter night in Vermont, conditions are set that just happen to align for an unknowingly risky home birth. When the town midwife makes the best decision she knows, her life turns upside down. Here is a modern story of an old patriarchal ploy: controlling women‘s bodies.

I‘m not a fan of historical fiction generally, but this book is excellent! I was hooked from the start and enthralled all the way to the end. It‘s an intimate look at the state of being female in the 1700‘s in America. Powerful and well written.

This story held me in its grip the whole time!!!! I guessed a few of the twists and turns but not the whys, what a rollercoaster ( Santa bag #2 is done)

The Botanical Garden is finished so now it‘s time for Santa