illstoptheworldandreadwithyou's reviews
829 reviews

Food for Thought: Essays and Ruminations by Alton Brown

My husband and I were big fans of Good Eats back in the day and even watched Feasting on Asphalt on DVD, so when I saw that this essay collection was coming out, I knew I wanted to read it. 

In Food for Thought: Essays and Ruminations, Alton Brown provides insight into his childhood, seminal moments that led to his culinary career, highlights into his different shows, and food for thought moments for the reader to also ruminate on.

Told with his trademark wit, humor, and a dash of science, it’s an entertaining—and educational—read.

Highlights for me include
- The heartfelt stories behind favorite recipes (especially the biscuit recipe)
- The octopus story (that made me cry)
- “Son of Blob”
- And the meditations over how striving for perfection has impacted entertaining

This is an enjoyable read any way you consume it, but if you do like audiobooks, I highly recommend listening to this one. Narrated by Brown himself, it feels like being transported into one of his TV shows, with his cadencing, asides, and laughs. Please note that he does speak more quickly than most audiobook narrators, so I found myself not speeding up the audiobook as much as I usually do.

Note: The print version has fun sketches included, so maybe you should check it out on both print and audio after all.

I received a free copy of the audiobook from Simon and Schuster Audio and a free copy of the book from Gallery Books. All review opinions are my own.

You Between the Lines by Katie Naymon

3.0

 

In this debut, late twenty-something Leigh enters a poetry MFA program in North Carolina, only to discover that her high school crush-turned-rival is also in the program. 

 

Strap in for plenty of poetry, the pretentiousness that can be found in academia—the characters even admit to this, issues stemming from parental and parent-child relationships, longstanding grudges, fear of commitment, and imposter syndrome. 

 

This is told in single POV, so we get lots of Leigh telling us that she can’t be with Will. 

 

Throw in a highly coveted fellowship position that they both want, and Leigh’s distrust of Will grows even more. 

 

I did like the notes they make for each other in the margins on poems and appreciated that, in the end, Leigh does show growth and Will opens up more. Ultimately, though, this seems like a case of a book just not being right for my mood when I read it. 

 

Sarah Beth Goer narrates the audiobook, and I feel like she was well-cast for the character. Since this book is written in single POV, we have a single narrator situation here. 

 

I received an advance copy of the ebook from Forever and an advance copy of the audiobook from Hachette Audio. All review opinions are my own. 

Nine Month Contract by Amy Daws

4.75

Y’all, I’ve read this book twice in three months. It has quickly become a comfort read for me.

A mountain of a mountain man seeks a surrogate to make him a single father. 

A plus-sized woman with no desire to have a family is rejected by the surrogacy agency.

His (matchmaking) teenage niece brings the two of them together.

It’s only supposed to be a nine month contract, but when they get in close proximity up there on his mountain, sparks (and feelings that they continually deny) start to fly.

At a glance:
- Grump/Sunshine
- Small Town
- Age Gap
- Forced Proximity 
- Landlord/Tenant
- Pregnancy
- So. Many. Animals.
- Close-Knit Family
- Let’s do this without feelings. (Oh, sweet summer children, that never works in romance novels.)

Filled with plenty of humor, heartwarming moments, building tension, and heat, Nine Month Contract pulls on my heartstrings and gives me the warm fuzzies every time I read it.

Originally indie-published, this one is getting the pretty, sprayed and stenciled edge treatment with its release from Canary Street Press in March 2025. I will be adding a copy to my shelves.

Also, for you audiobook fans, the duet narration on this book from Erin Mallon and Teddy Hamilton is super fun.

I received a copy of the ebook from Canary Street Press and HTP Hive. All review opinions are my own.

Wild West Village: Not a Memoir by Lola Kirke

5.0

In Wild West Village, a memoir-in-essays, actress and singer Lola Kirke discusses her life thus far, from her unconventional childhood—growing up in a West Village brownstone with her siblings, British rock star father, and socialite/designer mother—to her life as an actor and her journey as a singer and musician.

My favorite parts were the “Wait, is she interviewing Joan Didion for her school research project?” moment (that is quickly confirmed) and her love story with the Cowboy.

If you are an audiobook fan, I recommend listening to this one—I typically do for memoirs—not only to catch her tone and inflection but also for the clips of her singing. 

In both audio and print, though, Kirke’s story is told with humor and vulnerability and is an interesting and engrossing look into someone’s life that is very different from the typical American experience.

I received a copy of the audiobook from Simon Audio and a copy of the print book from Simon and Schuster. All review opinions are my own.

I Got Abducted by Aliens and Now I'm Trapped in a Rom-Com by Kimberly Lemming

4.75

Let me preface this review by saying that I feel like this is the perfect book to just dive into without any prior knowledge. Skip that blurb. Ignore those reviews. If you like the vibes of the title and the cover, this book is for you. Go in blind, my friends. 

That being said, if you do want a little bit of a teaser, here are some of the thoughts/observations I had while reading this one: 
- Things really took off for me—no pun intended—once we landed on the other planet.
- We love a woman STEM. 👏🏻 
- Love strikes twice / who needs one alien when you can have two? 👀
- I was 🪢 expecting that, but I’m not mad about it. 
- Tails 👀 (Check out that particular appendage on the cover, y’all.)
- Oh so many grins and giggles
- 🫶🏻 Toto 
- Who would have thought that you can use science to solve problems??? 😉🙃

Y’all, I LOVED this one! It was the perfect escape, and I can’t wait to read the next book in this series!

I received an advance copy of the book from Berkley. All review opinions are my own.

The Dagger and the Flame by Catherine Doyle

5.0

 

I absolutely adored this one! As is occasionally the case, I loved it so much I wasn’t exactly sure what I wanted to say in my review. I read it. I loved it. I told my friends to read it. And they have since read it and posted their own reviews. 

 

This is one of those books that I devoured and gladly would have read in one sitting if I’d had the time. It’s an awesome enemies-to-lovers romantasy, pitting 17yo Seraphine, who’s seeking sanctuary with the Cloaks, against Ransom, the heir apparent to the Order of the Daggers, the rival of the Cloaks and the very organization Sera wants to dethrone. There are even some twists in it that I didn’t see coming. 

 

I highly recommend listening to this one on audio! Freddy Carter and Emily Carey capture the back-and-forth push and pull between Seraphine and Ransom so well. 

 

I received a copy of the audiobook from Simon and Schuster Audio. All review opinions are my own. 

Wooing the Witch Queen by Stephanie Burgis

4.0

 

In this easily consumable fantasy tale of mistaken identity, filled with questions about who you can trust, Felix, Archduke of Estarion, seeks sanctuary at the castle of Queen Saskia, only to be mistaken for the dark wizard she seeks to organize her library. 

 

There’s an alliance between the three villain queens, secrets, and some traitors infiltrating the castle. 

 

Saskia is a strong female lead; Felix is a cinnamon roll; and I enjoyed the build of their slow burn romance. 

 

Amanda Leigh Cobb’s narration kept me engaged in the story, but a male narrator for Felix’s POV would have enhanced the storytelling for me. 

 

I received an advance copy of the audiobook from Macmillan Audio. All review opinions are my own. 

Codename Charming by Lucy Parker

4.0

This is such a sweet and fun royalty-adjacent, fake-dating, romantic comedy.
I found myself cracking up often, especially at the multiple mishaps involving Johnny.

Pet and Matthias’s chemistry is fantastic, and I adored how he pays attention and remembers details about her.

I especially loved the epilogue.

The Roommate Mistake by Pippa Grant

4.5

I always enjoy a reason to head back to Copper Valley, so when I saw that Pippa Grant was releasing her next book in the Copper Valley Pounders Rugby series, I jumped at the chance to read it early. Thank you to the author and Hambright PR for making those early reading dreams come true by providing me with gifted copies of the ebook, audiobook, and paperback! All review opinions are my own. 

 

At a glance: 

• Dual POV (+ an extra POV in the epilogue)
• Sports romance (rugby)
• Housemates
• Workplace romance
• She’s off-limits
• And she’s pregnant (but it’s not his baby)
• Caretaking
• Grief
• A French bulldog with a rather entertaining attitude 
• A team that is beginning to feel more and more like family

 
Read it for

• The hilarious take on a meet-cute (This ranks up there with the meet-disasters from Not My Kind of Hero and Jock Blocked for me.)
• The way Holt takes care of everyone
• And the way Ziggy and the team stand up for Holt
• The attraction and heat between Ziggy and Holt
• And how Holt loves the baby long before it’s born (Tater Tot 🥹)
• More time with Fletcher, Goldie, and their best friends

I thoroughly enjoyed the audiobook narration by Connor Crais and Kit Swann. They capture the book’s humor and the characters’ longing and vulnerability well.
 
4.5⭐️
 
This one is book 2 in a series, but while we do see many characters from book 1, it can be read as a standalone.
 

 

Finlay Donovan Digs Her Own Grave by Elle Cosimano

5.0

You would think that after all that went down in Atlantic City, things would finally be a bit quieter for Finlay and Vero, but alas, it seems that while they were gone, drama was brewing back in their own neighborhood.

A dead body has been discovered in Mrs. Haggerty’s yard—yes, that Mrs. Haggerty of the detailed notebooks and neighborhood watch—and while the busybody herself has been cleared by the police, her house is a still-active crime scene. With the aim of keeping an eye on her own home at all times, she forces Finlay and Vero to take her in. Pair that with a preschooler home on suspension and a potty-training toddler, and it’s never a dull moment in the Donovan household.

I just adore this series, y’all. This book was the perfect escape right when I needed it. Filled with the parenting moments, humor, romance, madcap sleuthing and screwball crime scenes that we’ve come to expect from this series, Finlay Donovan Digs Her Own Grave is another hit.

I especially liked the relationship development between Finlay and her cop beau Nick in this one.

If you like audiobooks, go that route with this book. I’m always entertained by Angela Dawes’s narration in this series. As I’ve said before, I adore the voice she uses for Nick, and the way she captures Vero’s attitude is always fun, too.

Honestly, though, if you’re a fan of Finlay, you can’t go wrong with either version.

4.75⭐️

I received an advance copy of the ebook from Minotaur Books and an advance copy of the audiobook from Macmillan Audio. All review opinions are my own.