Abe and Jane have been together for decades. The book opens with them reflecting on their marriage, remembering the idyllic early days, the tough ones in the middle, and cherishing their current moment. Jane is an artist and Abe is a writer. They're parents to Max. They're partners. They've walked through it all.

Lana Lord is famous. She’s been acting in Hollywood on a prominent drama that is produced like and often feels like a soap opera. No one even knows her real name is Meg Bryan. No one knows that she and her best friend, Aimee, had planned to study acting in Ireland but ended up staying in Florida. No one really knows Meg at all.

Annie is 37-weeks pregnant, belatedly buying a crib at IKEA on her first day of maternity leave when the hypothesized Cascadia earthquake hits. She does the only thing she can do, and tries to make her way across the decimated city of Portland, Oregon in search of her husband, Dom.

Eliza is a widow and she’s not even thirty yet. Her late husband has left her a fortune, but there’s a catch—a morality clause that means she can do nothing untoward. It’s a good thing that the new Earl of Somerset is her childhood love (is there any chance for them after how they left things a decade ago?) and he’s the one controlling those purse strings.

I've been sitting on a review for this for a while. There were portions of this that were hard to wrap my head around, but the format of the book as a conversation between a young man and an older philosopher helped.

Four strangers get the chance to go back in time for one hour and revisit a moment at random with Aeon Expeditions, or so they think. Once their sixty minutes begin, they realize they’re revisiting the week each of their lives changed forever. When the hour is up and they find themselves stuck in the past, they start to interact in the past and see their paths have been intertwined in more ways than one all along.

Ellis and Wren grew up together and had their son, Sam, as teens. A decade later, their marriage fell apart. Now in their 30s, they still can’t keep their minds off each other. A summer road trip to drop Sam at college is an opportunity to see whether forever might still be possible.

Two strangers meet at the Osaka airport and realize they have something in common. They've both experienced a loved one change, go nearly mad, and eventually die after encounters with a strangely seductive and seemingly timeless woman.

When James’s twin brother Johnny dies, she can feel it. It’s not just twintuition; she sees his final view of dappled light through the trees. She feels the bullet wound to the chest. Not too long after she drives from San Francisco, where she’s made her life for the past two decades, back to her hometown of Six Rivers in the mountains of northern California.

Katherine Center always brings the most joy-filled, zippy rom-coms that make me grin and swoon a little. This was no exception. Katie is asked to film a promo video for the US Coast Guard with her work superior's brother, rescue swimmer "Hutch" Hutcheson.

San Francisco has been slowly sinking for years. The population has adjusted with rooftop markets, bridges connecting high-rises, etc., but the population has also been dwindling as people move to safer places. Bo is one of those who have stayed. Her cousin is coming for her soon, but she can't bring herself to want to leave, not since the disappearance of her mother a couple years ago in a great flood. When a note comes from a resident on another floor, a woman named Mia in her 100s, needing caretaking, Bo takes it as a sign to stay even longer and misses the boat.

So you’ve always thought of yourself as a bit of a perfectionist, but you don’t fit in the “type-A” image of one. Rejoice! This book represents more than the stereotypes. See my results to the author’s quiz below. I’m a highly relational (albeit still introverted), messy procrastinator. Feels accurate.

This book is all about apprenticeship and formation in the Way of Jesus. The author makes a claim that I agree with: all of us are being formed and if we aren’t intentional about what those influences are, we may be shaped in ways we never desired.

Riveting.

I don't typically read history or biographies, but full disclosure, I am an ordained minister in the Foursquare Church, founded by Sister Aimee. When I saw this book, I immediately wanted to read an "outsider's" perspective.

I love it when a book surprises me, not because it had twists and turns I didn't expect (although I'll take that, too), but when I went in without high expectations and they are exceeded. I read Jilly Gagnon's rom-com of 2024, Love You, Mean It, and I had a good time with it, but there were a few parts of it that just didn't work well for me. It was a solid read, but I didn't find myself immediately wanting to read everything by this author.

Blake is a sideline reporter for the NFL. She's graduated from USC and landed her dream job back home for the team she grew up watching with her dad. The problem is, as a female, she's constantly questioned about whether she's there "for the right reasons." Does she even like football? Is she here to distract and flirt with the players?

Xavier is a veterinarian. He’s known for a gruff bedside manner, but he’s also very good at his job. When Samantha comes in with a kitten who has a life-threatening condition, he gives it to her straight; and she serves it right back.

Lillian went to high school with Madison, until Lillian took the fall for Madison’s bad behavior and got expelled. For years they’ve kept in touch through letters, Lillian staying stagnant and not achieving much while Madison soared: prestigious college, married to a senator, etc.

This was lovely. I'd intended to read Oliver's poetry and/or essays for over a decade, but never knew where to start.

Margot is a famous romance writer, but after several bad experiences with men, she’s started “screaming into her pillow” by writing alternate endings to each of her books in a secret file called Happily Never After.