recent reads #2 of 2025

Some more quick takes on some recent reads!

Bleeding Heart Yard

By Elly Griffiths 

4⭐️

This is what I’ve been wanting from this series! Harbinder focused, a dense and twisty mystery, and really great pacing. From class and political divides to so much Brit slang and lit jokes to longing for life and love across characters and experiences… What a great read!

Kissed a Sad Goodbye

By Deborah Crombie 

3.75⭐️

I loved the mystery itself - jumping through time, the WWII setting, how it all fed the current mystery. Families and tea and heartbreak and lies. But, I was not as enthralled by the main character development. I’ve always appreciated where Kincaid has been messy and human. But, his handling of Kit did not ring true to who he has been portrayed as. And, Gemma. Gemma? Her musical (and more) exploration just felt like a plot device. Not my favorite, but still am all in on the series. 

The Secret Service of Tea and Treason

By India Holton 

3.5⭐️

Not my favorite of the series… I think what held me up was the strictness of Alice and Bixby’s characters; in the other books, Cecilia and Lottie both had a wild inner monologue that battled against the “requirements” of their societies; A’s “training” (or brainwashing) made this a different sort of thawing out that just wasn’t as effective to me. Still, the spy genre with household servants was fun and still fun to fly through and see how it all wrapped up.

The Ornithologist's Field Guide to Love

By India Holton

3.75⭐️

This was such a fun read with its take on birders and tenure and academia. Beth was a bit bland to me; her inner monologue and backstory were lacking for me.  Devon was delicious, if a little too easily whatever he needed to be in the moment. Where Holton’s Damsels series had such depth of world building that allowed the heroines to play against the rules or find themselves beyond them, this story felt a bit sketched and flighty (sorry, had to) in that sense. 

The God of the Woods

By Liz Moore

4⭐️

I know this was one of “the” books of last year and I have friends (blog and beyond) who both rave about it and who just didn’t vibe with it. I waited 30 weeks on the hold list to see what I thought… …and, I can see both sides, haha! A really well-thought out mystery; I truly enjoyed the jumps in narrators and years (something that isn’t always my favorite) and the mysteries themselves were twisty in mostly the right ways. I struggled with characterization and stereotypes; it’s an easy way into something when the well-off folks are cold and hiding things and the everyday folks are misunderstood. I wanted it to be messier. In talking to folks, I feel like it’s akin to how people felt about Meg Wolitzer’s The Interestings; either you were on the ride it was taking you in or you just had to slog it through. So glad I finally had a chance to read this and have my own reactions!

A Finer End

By Deborah Crombie

3⭐️

I’m so torn by this one. The mystery is pretty good; religion and mysticism and art and writing and families. But, I feel this series continues to fail Gemma. Obviously 20+ years after its release things have changed for women. (Not enough, but…) However, the sketched obstacles and experiences she faces are so frustrating when compared to how deeply Duncan’s world and inner life is delved into. This is no spoilers, but it lost 3/4 of a star from me for how Gemma’s plot is written. Grrr. 

I’ve had bad luck with my last batch of holds  where I borrowed mid-series books from series I haven’t started yet, sigh. 

Do you always read series in order? I have to. I can’t help it. I also like to read authors in the order they wrote books to see their style evolve.