On Reading in April 2025 (Best of)

It has been an absolute joy to watch spring springing this year and I’m soaking up all the time that I can get outside before it feels like we’re living on the sun. I planted mojito mint, cosmos, irises, relocated rain lilies and am trying to figure out what left me a garden crime scene of a trail of mostly destroyed water lettuces. So far the number one suspect is a raccoon which I also suspect is responsible for stealing multiple pool thermometers and may be the “pool pooper”. Nature, am I right?

In my reading life I’m still mostly only able to read via audiobooks unless it’s a graphic novel. When I’m reading with my eyeballs my brain can’t be trusted to not wander off to think about all the current horrors so it’s a great thing that there are so many amazing audiobook productions and that the industry is really booming.

In regards to genre and tone I was all over the place, which reflects in my list of standouts.

More Best of 2025!

Disappoint Me by Nicola Dinan

Nicola Dinan’s 2023 debut Bellies was one of my favorite books that year—so much so that I ordered a copy from a UK bookstore which was the only way to get a paperback copy (and it had my favorite cover design). I mention that so you understand the level of excitement I went into Disappoint Me with which always just sets one up for disappointment (pun not intended). Obviously, I was not disappointed and Dinan has immediately become a must-buy for me. Her voice is sharp, and funny, and very observant.

Great Crime Novels

The Death Of Us by Abigail Dean

I have become a big fan of novels that observe the long reach of trauma after a crime. In this case a marriage is explored after the wife is sexually assaulted in her home while her husband was tied up. It manages to be a page-turner without turning to trauma porn or sensationalizing but rather deeply questions how a traumatic experience changes you, your relationships, your life, and the way others view and treat you.

King of Ashes by S. A. Cosby

S. A. Cosby’s Blacktop Wasteland remains one of my all time favorite “one last heist” stories and I will continue to read anything he writes. Once again he has written a crime novel that will trigger every sense in making you feel like you are present in the story. This time readers follow Roman Carruthers who upon returning home finds himself protecting his little brother from a dangerous deal which immediately pisses off the local crime boss. What could go wrong? Literally, everything!

The Man Who Died Seven Times by Yasuhiko Nishizawa, Jesse Kirkwood (Translator)

The mix of the time loop trope with the family feuding over an inheritance trope in this Japanese translated murder-mystery makes for an entertaining whodunnit. (Oddly enough I absolutely hate the film Groundhog Day but love that trope used in like anything that isn’t that film.)

A Gem of a Book

Taiwan Travelogue by Yang Shuang-Zi, Lin King (Translator)

This book is about imperialism, prejudice, power dynamics, queer love in the ‘30s and it is absolutely delightful in the personality and humor of the main character—a Japanese woman with a bottomless pit of a stomach who is fascinated with Taiwan and her interpreter in the late 1930s. I am so glad this book crossed my path thanks to the Subtle Asian Book Club.

Fun

Phantasma (Wicked Games #1) by Kaylie Smith

I have DNF’d, or not really liked, many of the romantasies I’ve recently tried but since I don’t judge an entire genre by a few books I randomly keep picking them up and finally found a winner. This has a deadly game, a ghost, great banter, and a fast plot—so I inhaled the book in a day and it gave me exactly what I was craving in a fun read.

The Road to Tender Hearts by Annie Hartnett

Okay, so it’s weird that I’m putting this under “fun” because the book is about tragedy, grief, and death but Annie Hartnett is one of those authors that has a dark sense of humor and adds in quirky things that lightens things to a point that this was an enjoyable read from beginning to end. Quirky? Dark humor? One of the “characters” is a lovable cat that gets kicked out of a retirement home because it always sought out and spent time with the next person to die.

Memoir + True Crime

The Scientist and the Serial Killer: The Search for Houston's Lost Boys by Lise Olsen

This is an investigative journalist written true crime book that skips the hard-on for serial killers obsession in our society and instead reads like an exhaustive look at a case from before the term “serial killer” was coined and the decades it took to identify many of the victims. There’s a lot of history here in laws, procedures, forensic science, and also a stark contrast between society in the ‘70s vs today and how it played a large role in Dean Corll being able to murder so many boys without, at the very least, an alarm being sounded.

The House of My Mother: A Daughter's Quest for Freedom by Shari Franke

I recently talked about the 3 episode Hulu doc Devil in the Family: The Fall of Ruby Franke so when I saw that the oldest daughter, Shari Franke, had written a memoir to take back the narrative I patiently waited behind the 150 people before me on the library hold list.

1. I hate that this book had to exist.

2. I’m glad that Shari Franke has been able to take back control of her life, and was given the platform to speak for herself while keeping her youngest siblings' lives private.

3. She does a hell of a job narrating the audiobook.

Now I must rush off because I just got my hands on Tiffany D. Jackson’s upcoming The Scammer and I can’t wait to read it.