On My Shelf: Books I Read in May 2025

I read lots of great books last month. Let’s discuss!

BOOKS I READ IN MAY – THE SHORT VERSION

• The Yada Yada Prayer Group — Neta Jackson ★★★★☆
• The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot — Marianne Cronin ★★★★☆
• Aftermath — Terri Blackstock ★★★★☆
• The Glucose Goddess Method: The 4-Week Guide to Cutting Cravings, Getting Your Energy Back, and Feeling Amazing – Jessie Inchauspé ★★★★☆
• This Is Big: How the Founder of Weight Watchers Changed the World — Marisa Meltzer *not rated
• This Is Our Story — Ashley Elston ★★★☆☆
• Beautiful Ugly — Alice Feeney ★★★★★
• My Good Life in France: In Pursuit of the Rural Dream — Janine Marsh ★★★★☆
• The Clockmaker’s Daughter — Kate Morton ★★★★★
• My Sister’s Grave — Robert Dugoni ★★★☆☆
• The Woman They Could Not Silence: One Woman, Her Incredible Fight for Freedom, and the Men Who Tried to Make Her Disappear — Kate Moore ★★★★☆
• One Good Thing — Georgia Hunter ★★★★☆
• Under the Harrow — Flynn Berry ★★★☆☆
• The Story of a Heart: Two Families, One Heart, and the Medical Miracle That Saved a Child’s Life — Rachel Clarke ★★★★★
• The God of the Woods — Liz Moore ★★★★☆
• Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivor — Piers Paul Read ★★★★☆
• Dear Writer: Pep Talks & Practical Advice for the Creative Life — Maggie Smith *not rated

BOOKS I READ IN MAY – THE LONG VERSION

The Yada Yada Prayer Group — Neta Jackson (Christian fiction) ★★★★☆

This was a tough one to rate, but I’m settling on 4/5 stars. It felt very original, and I’m torn between continuing the series or letting this one stand alone. Stay tuned.

What I liked:

• The authenticity of the faith woven into the story.
• The realistic, varied voices — it felt like you were “in the room.”
• Sharp, witty writing, especially for a faith-based novel.

What I didn’t enjoy:

• The portrayal of race was uncomfortable at times. I think the discomfort was intentional, but I couldn’t decide whether it was racially insensitive or honourably representative.
• The rushed ending — it felt abrupt.

• Summary. An unlikely assortment of ladies meet at a women’s conference and forge an even unlikelier friendship. Within days of meeting they’ve formed the Yada Yada Prayer Group. The members come from wildly different backgrounds — there’s a former drug addict, an ex-con, a widow, a student in college) — but over time they learn to love and care for each other through unexpectedly challenging times.
• Trigger warnings. Racial discrimination, death of a child.

Thanks to Jana for recommending this series.

The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot — Marianne Cronin (fiction) ★★★★☆

Beautifully written and deeply moving — but emotionally heavy (see trigger warnings below)

• Summary. Seventeen-year-old Lenni is dying. While in a hospital’s terminal ward she befriends Margot, an eighty-three-year-old patient. They realize they’ve lived a combined 100 years and decide to memorialize their lives — one long, one much shorter — by creating a piece of art for every year of they’ve lived.
• Trigger warnings. Terminal illness, mental illness, infant death, child abandonment, some profanity.

Aftermath — Terri Blackstock (Christian fiction; thriller) ★★★★☆

There were a few plot holes and several of the storylines didn’t seem to fit the overall arc. On an unrelated (and irrelevant?) note, I found the title incredibly vague and non-representative.
Quibbles aside, this was a solid thriller. Absolutely no profanity. Faith elements were woven in subtly and sincerely throughout.

• Summary. Three friends are at a concert when a bomb goes off — only one of them survives. Minutes later, Dustin Webb is pulled over by police who find his trunk full of explosives. How did they get there? Framed and desperate, he contacts the one person he hopes will believe him — Jamie. Together, they work to uncover the truth before more lives are lost.
• Trigger warnings. Bombing, drug abuse, cancer, parental loss, mental illness.

The Glucose Goddess Method: The 4-Week Guide to Cutting Cravings, Getting Your Energy Back, and Feeling Amazing — Jessie Inchauspé (non-fiction; health/wellness) ★★★★☆

This was less engaging than her original book, Glucose Revolution, but I think it’s still a helpful resource. I appreciated the repetition of the “hacks” (she only explored four in-depth) and bookmarked several recipes to try.

If you’re interested, I’d start with Glucose Revolution before using this 4-week guide as a reference tool.

This Is Big: How the Founder of Weight Watchers Changed the World — Marisa Meltzer (non-fiction; memoir) *not rated

I heard about this book through Nicole and she was right — it was…depressing. Fascinating, but depressing. The pressure to conform to a certain body ideal leads to the sacrifice of so much: joy, relationships, dignity. And cake!!!

• Summary. Marisa Meltzer started dieting when she was just five years old. Now a prolific journalist, she’s intrigued when she comes across an obituary for Jean Nidetch, founder of Weight Watchers. This books offers a biographical look at Nidetch’s life, chronicling her struggle with weight loss and the rise (and fall) of Weight Watchers, including the many sacrifices Nidetch endured/inflicted upon herself. Concurrently, Meltzer weaves in her own story of trying to lose weight, including a year-long stint adhering to Weight Watchers guidelines and attending regular meetings…exposing both the promise and pitfalls of the weight-loss industry.
• Trigger warnings. Disordered eating, diet culture.

This Is Our Story — Ashley Elston (young adult fiction) ★★★☆☆

3.5 stars, rounded down to 3. This is marketed as a YA novel but it had quite a bit amount of profanity, substance use, and a disturbing sexual assault.

The premise was interesting, but the execution started to seem heavy and drawn-out mid-way through the book. The first “twist” took me by surprise, but the rest of them didn’t and it was a slow, plodding story by the end.

• Summary. Five friends are enjoying a weekend at a hunting lodge. One of them winds up dead. The surviving friends refuse to talk. Who pulled the trigger? Was it an accident or murder? Kate Marino is a high school senior interning at the district attorney’s office. Her boss ends up working the shooting case, and Kate soon finds herself caught in a dangerous game of secrets and lies.
• Trigger warnings. Sexual assault, drug and alcohol abuse, profanity.

Beautiful Ugly — Alice Feeney (fiction; thriller) ★★★★★

I couldn’t put this one down and finished it in a single day. A gripping, slow-burn thriller that kept me guessing until the final page. Huge thanks to whoever recommended it to me!

• Summary. Author Grady Green becomes a bestselling novelist the same day his wife, Abby, vanishes mid-phone call. A year later, grief-stricken and creatively blocked, he retreats to a remote island cabin. But then things get eerie. He’s sure he sees Abby, and strange clues begin appearing around the cabin. Someone is trying to send a message — but why?
• Trigger warnings. Suicide, infant death, profanity.

My Good Life in France: In Pursuit of the Rural Dream — Janine Marsh (non-fiction; memoir) ★★★★☆

A light, cozy read about the joys and headaches of renovating a crumbling farmhouse in northern France.

The Clockmaker’s Daughter — Kate Morton (fiction; mystery) ★★★★★

A slow start, but worth the patience (I almost DNF’d this book!). The overlapping storylines were beautifully woven together. If you enjoy layered narratives, this is for you — think The Dutch House meets The Picture of Dorian Gray.

• Summary. In the summer of 1862, a group of artists heads to Birchwood Manor, a sprawling house on the Upper Thames. But before long, their creative dreams turn into a nightmare. One woman is dead, another has disappeared, and a priceless heirloom is missing. Over a century later, an archivist in London — Elodie — uncovers clues that connect her to the long-hidden secrets of Birchwood Manor.
• Trigger warnings. No profanity. Sad storylines involving children separated from parents, child grooming, and references to grusome deaths.

• My Sister’s Grave — Robert Dugoni (fiction; thriller) ★★★☆☆

A gripping concept, but the alternating timelines felt clunky and confusing. It didn’t work well for me.

• Summary. Tracy has spent every day for the last twenty years mourning the abduction and presumed death of her beloved sister Sarah. Edmund House was convicted for Sarah’s death, but things don’t add up. When Sarah’s body is found, the evidence against House disintegrates and Tracy works toward finally solving the mystery of what happened to her sister. But someone wants the truth hidden and Tracy is in danger.
• Trigger warnings. Abduction, rape (non-graphic), torture, profanity.

The Woman They Could Not Silence: One Woman, Her Incredible Fight for Freedom, and the Men Who Tried to Make Her Disappear — Kate Moore (non-fiction; biography) ★★★★☆

This was a hard book to rate. I’ve settled on 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4. Elizabeth Parker’s story is incredibly powerful (and maddening — you will want to throw this book across the room) but the writing felt tedious. Was it just me? As a piece of historical research, it’s excellent. As an accessible glimpse into one person’s groundbreaking behaviours it felt weighed down with too many quotes that slowed the progression of the narrative.

• Summary. Elizabeth Packard dared to challenge her husband’s ideas and was institutionalized for it. Trapped in an asylum against her will, she began fighting for her freedom — and ultimately changed the legal and mental health rights of women across the country.
• Trigger Warnings: Psychological and physical abuse.

One Good Thing — Georgia Hunter (historical fiction – WWII) ★★★★☆

A compelling read. The characters didn’t pull me in enough to warrant 5 stars, but I’d still recommend this book to anyone who appreciates historical fiction, especially as it relates to WWII.

• Summary. Set during World War II in Nazi-occupied Italy, Jewish friends Lili and Esti — along with Esti’s young son, Theo — are forced to flee their homes. When Esti is injured, Lili must care for Theo while heading south toward Allied-controlled territory. Traveling through bombed cities and hostile villages, Lili has to summon incredible courage, encountering both unexpected dangers and moments of hope along the way.
• Trigger warnings. Wartime violence, references to concentration camps, and mild profanity.

Under the Harrow — Flynn Berry (fiction; mystery) ★★★☆☆

This book felt like it was trying too hard. I can appreciate an unreliable narrator but this felt like a few steps too many in the wrong direction. And the ending felt like it was conclusively inconclusive (and rushed).

• Summary. Plans for a lovely visit go horribly awry when Nora arrives at a house outside London to discover her sister — Rachel — and her beloved dog brutally murdered. Unsure of who to trust and frustrated by the police’s response, Nora starts to investigate matters on her own. But maybe grief has clouded Nora’s grasp on reality and it’s clear both sister’s were hiding a lot of secrets from one another.
• Trigger warnings. Sexual assault, alcoholism, some profanity.

The Story of a Heart: Two Families, One Heart, and the Medical Miracle That Saved a Child’s Life — Rachel Clarke (non-fiction; medical history; memoir ★★★★★

This book was heartbreaking but also beautiful and full of hope. It tells the story of one child’s death leading to the rescue of another. I highly recommend following it up by watching video coverage of Max’s Law, which changed the UK’s organ donation system to an opt-out framework.

In addition to the specific story of a pediatric heart transplant and the interconnecting stories and experiences of the two families involved, this book is especially interesting if you are keen to better understand the science and logistics of how organ transplants work, and the history of how we got to this stage in modern medicine.

The God of the Woods — Liz Moore (fiction; thriller) ★★★★☆

A great book and I definitely understand the hype. I’m giving it 4/5 stars because there was a bit too much misdirection which started to feel cumbersome by the end. And, as per usual, the ending felt rushed after such a long, meandering story. (Why so many rushed endings??!)

All that said I was left satisfied and highly recommend this as a compelling read.

• Summary. One morning in the summer of 1975 Barbara Van Laar goes missing from her summer camp. And it’s literally her camp — owned by her wealthy, dysfunctional family. And this isn’t the first time a Van Laar child has disappeared. Barbara’s older brother similarly vanished from the same area over a decade ago and has yet to be found. What’s going on and who can be trusted?
• Trigger warnings. Profanity (not excessive), physical abuse, mental illness, substance abuse.
  

Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivor — Piers Paul Read (non-fiction; survival biography) ★★★★☆

The story is unthinkable. Pilot error lead to a plane crash in the Andes in 1972. Many of the passengers died on impact or shortly thereafter, but for those that survived there was a months-long fight for survival that ultimately required them to consume the flesh from victims of the crash.

I found the book a bit overwhelming because of the level of detail and specificity. I think it got bogged down with a day-by-day recounting of what happened to the point the narrative started to feel tedious. But the core story is truly incredible and raises a lot of interesting questions.

I watched Society of the Snow as soon as I finished this book (it’s on Netflix) and the movie stayed incredibly close/true to the story. If you’ve read the book or are interested in this admittedly gruesome story, I definitely recommend this movie.

Dear Writer: Pep Talks & Practical Advice for the Creative Life — Maggie Smith (non-fiction)

Getting through this book sometimes felt like a slog, mostly because it reads a bit like a textbook — full of suggestions, prompts, and relevant reading lists.

It’s particularly aimed toward poets, though there is general (predominantly non-fiction) writing advice as well. Some parts of the book were engaging/inspiring, but it was a bit too technical for my interest level, especially since I don’t regularly write poetry.

Your turn.

• Have you read any of these books?
• What was the best book you read in May?
• How do you keep track of your reading? Journals, spreadsheets, apps, or good old-fashioned lists?