After finishing 2023 by reading 54 books, I am keeping my reading goal to 52 books, aiming to read one book weekly. I enjoyed reading 5 books in January, including a fantastic audiobook from my favorite historian. I read several books by authors that I have enjoyed in the past, so I was excited to kick off the year with those books. Keep scrolling for a synopsis of each book and my rating for each.
See my favorite reads from 2022 here, 2023 here, and check out what I’ve read here.
5 Books I Read in January 2024
The Other Mothers by Katherine Faulkner
Synopsis
When a young nanny is found dead in mysterious circumstances, new mom, Tash, is intrigued. She has been searching for a story to launch her career as a freelance journalist. But she has also been searching for something else–new friends to help her navigate motherhood.
She sees them at her son’s new playgroup. The other mothers. A group of sleek, sophisticated women who live in a neighborhood of tree-lined avenues and stunning houses. The sort of mothers Tash herself would like to be. When the mothers welcome her into their circle, Tash discovers the kind of life she has always dreamt of–their elegant London townhouses a far cry from her cramped basement flat and endless bills. She is quickly swept up into their wealthy world via coffees, cocktails, and playdates.
But when another young woman is found dead, it’s clear there’s much more to the community than meets the eye. The more Tash investigates, the more she’s led uncomfortably close to the other mothers. Are these women really her friends? Or is there another, more dangerous reason why she has been so quickly accepted into their exclusive world? Who, exactly, is investigating who?
Meghan’s Thoughts & Rating
- I picked this book in my Book of the Month because I really enjoyed this author’s first novel, Greenwich Park. I *loved* this book and feel very good about starting my 2024 reading goal off with this one. It was twisty, kept me on the edge of my seat until the end, and while it started out a tad slow, because a huge page-turner in the end.
- ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Fury by Alex Michaelides
Synopsis
This is a tale of murder.
Or maybe that’s not quite true. At its heart, it’s a love story, isn’t it?
Lana Farrar is a reclusive ex-movie star and one of the most famous women in the world. Every year, she invites her closest friends to escape the English weather and spend Easter on her idyllic private Greek island.
I tell you this because you may think you know this story. You probably read about it at the time ― it caused a real stir in the tabloids, if you remember. It had all the necessary ingredients for a press sensation: a celebrity; a private island cut off by the wind…and a murder.
We found ourselves trapped there overnight. Our old friendships concealed hatred and a desire for revenge. What followed was a game of cat and mouse ― a battle of wits, full of twists and turns, building to an unforgettable climax. The night ended in violence and death, as one of us was found murdered.
But who am I?
My name is Elliot Chase, and I’m going to tell you a story unlike any you’ve ever heard.
Meghan’s Thoughts & Rating
- This started out really slow for me and then picked up at the end to the point that I was flying through it. It was quite twisty and an interesting take on Agatha Christie (as he mentioned a few times throughout the book). I did find it a little confusing at times to keep up with who was talking/how the narrator interacted. I suppose that could have been the point after sleeping on it for a day or so. Either way, I enjoyed it and put it somewhere between like and love. The Maidens is still my favorite novel of his.
- ⭐️⭐️⭐️✨
The Mystery Guest by Nita Prose
Synopsis
Molly Gray is not like anyone else. With her flair for cleaning and proper etiquette, she has risen through the ranks of the glorious five-star Regency Grand Hotel to become the esteemed Head Maid. But just as her life reaches a pinnacle state of perfection, her world is turned upside down when J. D. Grimthorpe, the world-renowned mystery author, drops dead–very dead–on the hotel’s tearoom floor.
When Detective Stark, Molly’s old foe, investigates the author’s unexpected demise, it becomes clear that this death was murder most foul. Suspects abound, and everyone wants to know: Who killed J. D. Grimthorpe? Was it Lily, the new Maid-in-Training? Or was it Serena, the author’s secretary? Could Mr. Preston, the hotel’s beloved doorman, be hiding something? And is Molly really as innocent as she seems?
As the high-profile death threatens the hotel’s pristine reputation, Molly knows she alone holds the key to unlocking the killer’s identity. But that key is buried deep in her past, as long ago, she knew J. D. Grimthorpe. Molly begins to comb her memory for clues, revisiting her childhood and the mysterious Grimthorpe mansion where she and her dearly departed Gran once worked side by side. With the entire hotel under investigation, Molly must solve the mystery posthaste. Because if there’s one thing she knows for sure, it’s that secrets don’t stay buried forever.
Meghan’s Thoughts & Rating
- I really enjoyed this book, even more than I did The Maid. I liked the “before” and present-day storylines and I appreciated the evolving relationships present in this book. Definitely a good read.
- ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨
Only If You’re Lucky by Stacy Willingham
Synopsis
Lucy Sharpe is larger than life. Magnetic, addictive. Bold and dangerous. Especially for Margot, who meets Lucy at the end of their freshman year at a liberal arts college in South Carolina. Margot is the shy one, the careful one, always the sidekick, and never the center of attention. But when Lucy singles her out at the end of the year, a year Margot spent studying and playing it safe and asks her to room together, something in Margot can’t say no–something daring, or starved, or maybe even envious.
And so Margot finds herself living in an off-campus house with three other girls, Lucy, the ringleader; Sloane, the sarcastic one; and Nicole, the nice one, the three of them opposites but also deeply intertwined. It’s a year that finds Margot finally coming out of the shell she’s been in since the end of high school when her best friend Eliza died three weeks after graduation. Margot and Lucy have become the closest of friends, but by the middle of their sophomore year, one of the fraternity boys from the house next door has been brutally murdered… and Lucy Sharpe is missing without a trace.
Meghan’s Thoughts & Rating
- I enjoyed Stacy’s books before this one so I was really looking forward to this book. It’s completely different than the previous two she has published (A Flicker in the Dark and All the Dangerous Things). I found it waffling between slow and medium-paced; though towards the end, I couldn’t put it down. It reads a little more YA than I was expecting.
- ⭐️⭐️⭐️✨
Democracy Awakening by Heather Cox Richardson
Synopsis
In the midst of the impeachment crisis of 2019, Heather Cox Richardson launched a daily Facebook essay providing the historical background of the daily torrent of news. It soon turned into a newsletter and its readership ballooned to more than 2 million dedicated readers who rely on her plainspoken and informed take on the present and past in America.
In Democracy Awakening, Richardson crafts a compelling and original narrative, explaining how, over the decades, a small group of wealthy people have made war on American ideals. By weaponizing language and promoting false history, they have led us into authoritarianism — creating a disaffected population and then promising to recreate an imagined past where those people could feel important again. She argues that taking our country back starts by remembering the elements of the nation’s true history that marginalized Americans have always upheld. Their dedication to the principles on which this nation was founded has enabled us to renew and expand our commitment to democracy in the past. Richardson sees this history as a roadmap for the nation’s future.
Richardson’s talent is to wrangle our giant, meandering, and confusing news feed into a coherent story that singles out what we should pay attention to, what the precedents are, and what possible paths lie ahead. In her trademark calm prose, she is realistic and optimistic about the future of democracy. Her command of history allows her to pivot effortlessly from the Founders to the abolitionists to Reconstruction to Goldwater to Mitch McConnell, highlighting the political legacies of the New Deal, the lingering fears of socialism, the death of the liberal consensus, and the birth of “movement conservatism.”
Many books tell us what has happened over the last five years. Democracy Awakening explains how we got to this perilous point, what our history really tells us about ourselves, and what the future of democracy can be.
Meghan’s Thoughts & Rating
- I loved that this audiobook was narrated by the author, who is one of my favorite historians. Her daily newsletter, Letters from an American, is a daily favorite. This book alternated between enraging me and giving me optimism and is incredibly well-researched and written. Perfect for getting fired up for the next election cycle.
- ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Shop the 5 Books I Read in January 2024
