Everything I Read in March 2025

This was a really great month of reading. I read seven books in total and gave two of them an A+. In my opinion, Wild, Dark, Shore, and The Lion Women of Tehran are both no-miss A+ reads and will definitely be contenders for my best books of the year. I also read some solid thrillers. All The Other Mothers Hate Me had me on the edge of my seat as a young mom tried to solve a murder case, but it was also very funny! I’ve read very few funny thrillers, so that was a fun treat.

PS—Don’t forget that The Library has every book I’ve read in the past ten+ years. You can search and filter by genre!

PPS—Please tell me your recommendations in the comments section. You’ve given me so many of my favorite book recommendations.

Thrillers

A Girl Like Us, by Anna Sophia McLoughlin

This was good, not great. It was described to me as Succession meets Saltburn, but I’d say it also reminded me a bit of The Inheritance Games. It dragged a bit at times, but the ending was spectacular. Maya Miller is a former reality TV star and party girl. She’s now a bit of a mini mogul, with her makeup line and name all over the gossip mags. She’s managed to snag the most eligible bachelor, Colin Sterling. The Sterling family is equal parts aristocracy and media conglomerate. And… they are not nice. When Maya and Colin return from their wedding, they learn that their cousin Arianna (heiress to the whole fortune) has been brutally murdered. The entire family decamps to their English countryside estate, where they are told it is a lockdown for their own safety. But Maya is beginning to think it’s actually to keep secrets in vs. out. Maya is determined to discover what happened to this mysterious cousin she’d never met. All bets are off when the family learns that Arianna has left her entire fortune to Maya, of all people. It is a wild ride. I wish it were maybe just 50 pages less, but I still enjoyed it. Overall Score: B // Order on Amazon.com or Bookshop.org

Wild Dark Shore, by Charlotte McConaghy

Classifying this as a thriller doesn’t do it proper justice. It’s a literary, slow-burn psychological thriller with the most beautiful writing. Olivia Muenter recommended it, and I pre-ordered it immediately as I love her taste in books. A small family (Dominic and his three children, Fen, Orly, and Raff) lives on a small island off the coast of Antarctica. The weather is brutal, and they’ve lost a lot of their power + connectivity to the outside world. It is their job to care for the island (and its seed bank) until they eventually leave in six weeks (the island is slowly crumbling into the sea). When Fen finds a woman washed up on the shore, they are shocked to find her still alive. As they nurse her back to health, we realize she is keeping secrets… but so is Dominic. Like I said, this is a thriller, but it’s so much more than that. It’s a meditation on nature (especially plant life and seeds), a family story,and  a redemption. There are twists and turns, but it’s one of those rare thrillers where the writing is even better than the plot. I really loved this and think it’s probably my favorite book of the year so far. Overall Score: A+ // Order on Amazon.com or Bookshop.org

All the Other Mothers Hate Me, by Sarah Harman

This was one of the funniest thrillers I’ve ever read, probably because thrillers aren’t usually very funny, but in this case, it really works. Florence Grimes is a former girl band star, thirty-one years old with a ten-year-old son (Dylan), and can’t seem to quit her reckless, party-girl ways. She’s single, she’s broke . . . she makes ends meet by creating balloon arcs for birthday parties. Due to a series of events over the years, the other mothers (at her son’s very posh private school) can’t stand her. She’s a bit of a joke within the school community. But when Alfie Risby, who bullies her son, goes missing, Florence goes into crisis mode. Dylan becomes the prime suspect, and Florence has reason to suspect that Dylan may have done something terrible. Florence will do literally anything to keep Dylan safe. And with that, a series of misadventures takes place. This is twisty, fun, and something you’ll read in a couple of days. I’d pack it for a beach vacation! Overall Score: A- // Order on Amazon.com or Bookshop.org

Count My Lies, by Sophie Stava

This is a classic domestic thriller. A beautiful couple and their sweet daughter . . . and a new nanny who has a crush on the handsome husband. But let’s back up. Sloane has a sad little life. She lives at home with her mother, was fired from her last job . . . and on top of that, she can’t stop lying. When one of her lies leads her to a new job, Sloane is living her dream life. She’s now the nanny to Harper, Violet and Jay’s cute little daughter- seemingly the perfect little family. As Sloane befriends Violet (and crushes on her husband Jay), she worries that her lies will catch up with her. She can’t mess this up! But Violet and Jay might not be who they say they are. Something much darker is at play. This one goes very far off the rails. It isn’t necessarily believable, but it makes for a fun and twisty read that you won’t be able to put down. I really enjoyed it. Because the plot got a little crazy, I only gave it a B+, but I still heartily recommend it! Overall Score: B+ // Order on Amazon.com or Bookshop.org

Literary Fiction

The Lion Women of Tehran, by Marjan Kamali

This was described to me as The Kite Runner meets My Brilliant Friend, which instantly grabbed my attention. The book opens in 1950s Iran, where seven-year old Ellie has lost her father. She and her mother are forced to move out of a palace and into a tiny home downtown. But when Ellie meets Homa, she finds a best friend. The two girls play together, learn to cook, and wander the Great Bazaar, with dreams of becoming “lion women.” When Ellie’s circumstances change in high school, she finds herself rich and popular. Just as her memories of Homa begin to fade, the girl reappears in her life. The girls become as close as ever, as Ellie meets her future husband and Homa organizes for the communist party. When Ellie accidentally commits an egregious betrayal, the young women’s friendship will never be the same. They go on to lead separate lives, but later, in the eighties, Homa finds herself having to ask a huge favor of Ellie. I don’t want to say anything more about the plot so not to give you spoilers, but this was unputdownable for me. I absolutely loved it. It’s a beautiful friendship story but it’s also about feminism, political activism, and wealth. Overall Score: A+ // Order on Amazon.com or Bookshop.org

Romance

The Love We Found, by Jill Santopolo

It’s really interesting. I read The Light We Lost ten years ago when it came out and loved it so much. It was one of those love stories that made me cry. In reading the (much-awaited!) sequel, ten years later, I had to wonder: am I a coldhearted monster? Because I found the book so annoying at times. I wonder if 43 year old me would even enjoy the first book (33 year old me loved it). I am trying to explain the plot without giving spoilers from the first book away, but the whole book is written like one big love letter to her ex-boyfriend Gabe. Some might find that romantic; I guess is found it a little bit cheesy/over the top? Lucy as a character is a bit annoying and self-indulgent. Gabe is gone now, and Lucy is now divorced from her husband Darren, co-parenting their three children in Brooklyn. One day, Lucy finds a piece of paper in an old box of Gabe’s things. An address in Rome. Soon, Lucy is on a plane, determined to learn more about Gabe’s life. Her trip leads her to Dr. Dax Armstrong, a New Yorker in Italy. They instantly have a spark, and Lucy finds herself wondering if she can love again. Meanwhile, Lucy and Darren have to decide whether they will tell their son Samuel the truth about his father. It’s all very melodramatic. It did make me tear up a little bit at the end so it still affected me, but this book was not for me. Overall Score: B // Order on Amazon.com or Bookshop.org

Non-Fiction

The Siren’s Call, by Chris Hayes

The longer title of this book is “How Attention Became the World’s Most Endangered Resource,” and that’s what the book is about: how attention has become a commodity, one that people and brands will do absolutely anything to capture. I thought it was particularly interesting as Hayes works in the trenches of the media world. Besides being a New York Times bestselling author, he’s also a podcast host. The book is ambitious. It’s very academic at times, but always interesting. It will change the way that you think, the way you view politics and media . . . it’s super interesting! Sirens are designed to compel us, but now we have sirens everywhere we look. In our bedrooms, on our commutes. Everywhere, all doing the bidding of media empires and tech companies that are built to do exactly that: harvest our attention. I really took a lot away from this and like that the way he advises us wasn’t as simple as “put down your phone,” or “take a social media detox.” Because it’s so much more complicated than that! Overall Score: A- // Order on Amazon.com or Bookshop.org