Episode 53: Trust your Gut and Read What You Want PLUS our Best Books of the Year

Hello, hi, and “Welcome back to Medium Lady Reads! This is Episode 53, “Trust your Gut and Read What You Want PLUS our Best Books of the Year.” As always, Erin and Jillian have new book recommendations to share!

We’re so happy you’re here—especially in this cozy, end-of-year stretch. Whether you’ve been listening all along or you’re finding us for the first time, thank you for choosing to spend a little reading time with us. Today we’re settling in with fresh book talk, comforting reads, and a few titles that might be just right for this quiet in-between week.

In This Episode:

• It’s time for a check-in! The ladies check in on how their reading and life are going.
• After the check in, the ladies jump into their book reviews. Tune in to hear what books they’re recommending this week. 
• Instead of Hot Takes, this week the ladies are sharing the books that stuck with them throughout the year.
• The ladies wrap up their last show of the year by sharing what’s on their holds list and what’s coming next on their TBR. 
• The ladies will be taking a winter break for all of January, but will be back in February.

Books Mentioned In This Episode:

• Alchemised by SenLinYu
• A Merry Little Life by Sarah Morgan
• Half Spent Was the Night by Ami McKay
• Mate by Ali Hazelwood
• The Irish Goodbye by Heather Aimee O'Neill
• Girl Dinner by Olivie Blake
• The Will of the Many by James Islington
• The Strength of the Few by James Islington
• Sweet Heat by Bolu Babalola
• Honey and Spice by Bolu Bablola
• Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese
• The Dirt Beneath Our Door by Pamela Jones
• Lovelight Farms by B.K. Borison
• The Sun Does Shine by Anthony Ray Hinton
• Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy
• Can’t Get Enough by Kennedy Ryan
• The Heartbreak Hotel by Ellen O’Clover
• Weyward by Emilia Hart
• The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon
• The Unseen World by Liz Moore
• Women Who Work Too Much by Tamu Thomas
• One Perfect Summer by Carley Fortune
• The Gift by Danielle Steel
• The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow
• An Academic Affair by Jodi McAlister
• Meet Me Under the Mistletoe by Jenny Bayliss

Transcript

MLR 53 Trust your Gut and Read What You Want PLUS our Best Books of the Year 
[MUSIC PLAYING] Hello, hi, and welcome to Medium Lady Reads. This is episode 53, and we're so happy you're here, especially in this cozy end of your stretch. Whether you've been listening all along or you're finding us for the first time, thank you for choosing to spend a little reading time with us. Hi, everyone. I'm Jillian, and Instagram content strategist for Bookish People, a mom of two based in Buffalo, New York. And I'm Erin, a mom of three, a hospital administrator in Ontario, Canada, and the host and founder of the Medium Lady Community and Medium Lady Talks podcast. And together, we're thrilled to bring you another episode of Medium Lady Reads, a podcast about reading a self-care, a passionate love for the public library, and all of our thoughts and opinions on book culture, having its moment. Hi, everyone, and welcome back to Medium Lady Reads. We're so happy you're tuning in for episode 53, airing the week of December 23rd. The days are short, the reading spots are extra cozy, and this feels like the perfect time to linger with a good book. We've got some wonderful reads to share today. So pour yourself something warm, settle in, and let's talk about the stories we've been loving lately. Hi, Erin, it's good to see you. How's your reading and life going? It's all going well. I'm in the middle of the holiday storm. I'm sure you're in the middle of it, too. I was joking to listeners. I was joking to Jillian before we started, 'cause I have a hat on. I have a blanket wrapped around me. We're in the middle of cold, cozy season. Like it's cold. It's really driving us to be cozy and warm wherever we can. My whole house just bounced back from a virus that knocked out most of my family, one by one by one. We just went down. I'm crossing my fingers that that means we're set until after Christmas. Honestly, it was really brutal. It was like fevers and sore throats. And I was giving out children's ad bill like nobody's business. My husband Nick fell last. And then I've not really had it hit me, but I kind of had like a stuffy nose for eight days, a scratchy throat, but never really kind of went full blown with it. So as for my reading life, I am currently working through a book hangover. I feel like the end of the year is a terrible time to have a book hangover. Yeah. But it is kind of like a satisfying feeling and a bad feeling. So on Monday, we're recording on Wednesday, I finished reading Alchemized by Sendlin' You. And my review will be later in this episode. I was buddy reading that with Steph and let me tell you, when you spend a thousand pages in a world, it is really hard to leave. Absolutely. So I'm kind of working through that. My current reads, I don't know. Am I reading any of these books? They're books in the script. I just don't feel like I care about anything. (laughs) I have a few on the go, but I don't know. I have a Mary Little Lie by Sarah Morgan. It's very late to the library. I actually might just DNF and return. I know there's people who probably would love to get that book. It's a perfect holiday season. And I'm overdoin' and I'm hoarding it and I feel bad about that. Steph reviewed that book in episode 52. I also have How Spent Was the Night by Amy McKay, which was Ali's recommendation. I do feel like I really got my seasonal reading right this year, but I've read a lot more seasonal books than I have. And maybe I'm actually a little bit like ready to move on. Although Christmas is right around the corner. So I don't know. What do you think, Jillian? How are you? How's your life in reading going? I think that if you feel like you're ready to move on, then you should move on. Trust your gut and read some books that aren't Christmas or holiday adjacent. Read something different. I know you were in our chat you mentioned, mate. You might wanna try that. I need to find something totally different. I do have, although maybe I should mention this and up next, the Everlasting by Alex E. Herro. Alex E. Herro is an amazing author. We all really, really enjoy. I should probably get into that. I should probably get into that. But I feel like going from fantasy to fantasy is a no-no. Anyway, I'm overthinking. I think that's the other thing is I'm overthinking my next choice. That's okay. I need to read a pamphlet. I need to read a pamphlet. And then-- And novella, maybe try another novella. Yeah, I'm gonna try that How Spent Was the Night, that Amy McKay book, you're right. Awesome. All right, we figured it out for you. Mm-hmm. So life for us has been good. Emmett made the basketball team, and he's been having practices and games throughout each week. We actually went to watch him this past Monday. And it was such a joy to see him play a game he truly enjoys. It's just something else. Watching your kid do something like that. Yeah, I love that. I love that. Esther had her holiday band concert last week. She plays the flute. And it was such fun to see her on stage playing her-- playing the flute. Yeah, life's been really great. I have no complaints. Mm-hmm. As for my reading, I'm currently reading the Irish goodbye. I actually finished it late last night. You'll definitely hear about it on a future episode, but here's a little synopsis for you. The Ryan sisters reunite at their Long Island family home for Thanksgiving, carrying secrets born from a tragedy that shattered their family 20 years earlier. As guilt forbid in love, strain marriages, and hidden identities surface, the grief they've never shared threatens to tear them apart. To save more than just the holiday, the sisters must finally confront the past and the way to forgive themselves and each other. It's OK. But we'll talk more about that in a future episode. OK, sounds good. All right, let's jump into our reviews for today. Jillian tells us about the books you have for today's episode. What are we in for? This week, I'm excited to bring some dark academia horror, some very sexy romance, and finally a memoir. That feels like a Jillian-- a Jillian, a flight of the Jillian reader. Like your dark academia, you do dabble in dark academia, your sexy romance, and your memoir. I'm like, yeah, Jillian, Jillian, Jillian, check the chat. I love it. OK, and what are you reviewing for today? OK, for today's show, I'm reviewing two chonkers and a holiday romance, a little bit heavy, and a little bit light. Nice. OK, Jillian, you're first. You have the first book. Tell us about your first review. The first book I'm bringing to the show is Girl Dinner by Olovy Blake. This book was a wild ride. I had no idea what this book was about. I tend not to read synopsis, but it was recommended by my favorite author, TJ Clune, so I decided to go in blind and read it. I ended up giving it four stars. Here's a synopsis for you. Every member of the house, the most exclusive sorority on campus in Oloz Salomni, are beautiful, high achieving, and universally respected. After freshman year, she would rather forget sophomore Nina Kauer, knows being one of the chosen few excepted into the house is the first step in her path to the brightest possible future. Once she's taken into their full, the house will surely ease her fears of failure and protect her from those who see a young woman on her own as easy prey. Meanwhile, adjunct professor Dr. Sloan Hartley is struggling to return to work after accepting a demotion toward her partner's new position at the Cutthroat Youth University. After 18 months at home with her newborn daughter, Sloan's clothes don't fit quite right. Her girl, dad, husband, isn't as present as he thinks he is. And even the few hours a day she's spent apart from her child's, feel her psyche with paralyzing on we. When invited to be the house's academia liaison, Sloan and B.S.C. drinks the way the alumni seem to have it all. Achieving a level of collective perfection that Sloan so desperately craves. As Nina and Sloan each get drawn deeper into the arcane rituals of the sisterhood, they learn that living well comes with bloody costs. And when they are finally invited to the table, they will have to decide just how much they can stomach in the name of solidarity and power. So the book does start out a bit slow, and I even contemplated DNFing it. Oh, wow. I stuck it out and wasn't disappointed. This is horror satire and Blake shares that the idea came partly because of the girl dinner mean that was going around at the time of her writing. I'm personally not familiar with the exact meme she's talking about, but I thought that was interesting anyway. It was so good. Absolutely worth the time I took to read it. And I definitely recommend it if you like horror, light on the horror. It's not that horrific, in my opinion. That's my review of Girl Dinner by Aloe V Blake. So does it pass the lunch test? Yes, I would say yes. It's not that bad. That's a good measure. Got it. I didn't try eating lunch or anything while I was reading it, but I definitely could have if I wanted to. You think you could have. OK. Perfect. That's good. You're up next, Aaron. What's your first review? OK. The first book I'm bringing to the show is The Will of the Many by James Islington. This is book one. I think it's a planned duology. And I gave it four stars. But the ending pretty much bumped it up to a 4.5. The story centers around Vizz, a teenage orphan whose home is conquered by the Catanan Republic, which is also known as the hierarchy. Vizz survives through his intelligence, his education, and his very quiet but powerful desire for revenge against the system that destroyed his world. He's eventually approached by a Catan and official who adopts him with a very specific goal in mind. Vizz is sent to the Academy, which is an elite training school designed to shape future leaders of the Republic. Officially, Vizz is there to rise through the ranks of Catanan society. But unofficially, he's meant to act as an undercover agent, helping to uncover the truth behind the mysterious death of a student years earlier. What the official doesn't realize his adopted father is that Vizz has an agenda of his own. So this book does a really good job with the magical school trope. If you're a fan of that trope, you'll really enjoy this book. Everything is told from Vizz's point of view, which means he does a lot of heavy lifting as a main character. I find that's hard to write, but he is compelling enough to carry it. The magic system in this world is very interesting, kind of functions on a commentary on how power works. So how are we all complicit? How are we all actively or passively placing our will or our energy behind systems that allow others to climb and consolidate power? I found that aspect really smart and thoughtfully done. My one hesitation, and this actually might be a selling point for a lot of our listeners, is this book is very long. It's over 600 pages. I read it in hardcover. I didn't have any audio. I didn't have a digital copy, which probably influenced my experience. I think that being said, the ending absolutely delivers. You will, for sure, probably have to read the next book. If you read this first book, unless I guess maybe if you hated it, you wouldn't bother. No spoilers, but I think that this book really reframes a lot of what you've read in the first 600 pages and earned the book an extra half star for me. I'll definitely be making room on my 2026 TBR for the follow up, which is called The Strength of the Few. I think that recently published this fall. And that's my review of The Will of the Many by James Islington. Interesting. Is it-- you said it's magical school. Is it Harry Potter-like or-- I mean, I guess in the way that there's professors and there's students and there's-- there aren't houses, but there's levels within the school. And there's a lot of combat within the levels to make your way up or down. You can go up or down in the levels. There's different classes. There's different proficiencies. So I wouldn't compare it to Harry Potter, but I think definitely, if you like the at an academic setting, a huge portion of the book takes place in the school. Good to know. Yeah. OK, my friend, you're next to tell us about your second review. All right. The next book I'm bringing to the show is Sweet Heat by Bolo Babalola. I loved this book. The author did an incredible job writing every single word, and I gave it five stars. Here's a synopsis for you. Three years after their breakup, Kiki has worked hard to forget her first love. But just as she thinks she's got her life under control, jumping into the distractions of her romance by calendar invite boyfriend and plans for her best friend Amina is wedding, Kiki's career in clothes, the family business teeters on collapse and Malachi returns. As Malachi takes up his role as the best man, opposite her maid of honor, suddenly, Kiki can think of nothing but their simmering chemistry, what went wrong and why it is now impossible to act normal around each other. Juggling a new job, the prospect of her parents' restaurant being sold and keeping her best friend from going full bridezilla, dealing with the X is the last thing she needs. But somehow the spark between them is only getting hotter and threatening to ruin everything. This is one of those books where you want to read it again for the first time, it's that good. So this is the second in this honey and spice series. I enjoyed honey and spice, but I adored Sweet Heat. - Really? - Yeah, I thought it was much better. Now, I don't want to say that honey and spice wasn't good, but I really, really enjoyed Sweet Heat. - Nice. - Getting to connect with Kiki and Malachi again through this story was just pure love. If you love a slow burn that focuses on second-chance drill man's is, you're going to fall in love with this book. I can't wait to read more by Bolo Balola, and I'm hoping she has something new coming out soon, although Sweet Heat did just come out. That's my review of Sweet Heat by Bolo Balola. - Okay, so I have this from the library, it's overdue, but I think I might just like DNF everything, all of my Christmas reads and just start Sweet Heat. - Do it. - Based on this review. - I think you should. I think it's worth it. - Great. Can't wait to sink in. You saved me. - I've solved you twice now. - We solved the slump. Yay. All right, how about you Aaron? Tell us about your second book. - Okay, my next book is another huge one, and by huge, I mean 1,000, 1,030 pages. - Wow. - Oh my gosh. - This will officially, I don't even have to check, this is the longest book I read in 2025. This is Alchemized by Sennlin U, and it has been everywhere lately. So if you've heard about this book already, it's probably because of its origins. Alchemized began as Harry Potter fanfiction, specifically a beloved work called Manacold, which you can actually no longer find. Sennlin U later entered into traditional publishing agreement and worked with editors to build an entirely new world around the core story of Manacold, and that book Alchemized was published earlier this fall. So I read this alongside our resident fantasy expert and buddy reader Stephanie Cunningham. I haven't read Manacold, but Steph has. So it was really interesting to have those conversations in real time while we were reading together. So here's a bit of its setup. We meet Helena Moreno as she's yanked into consciousness. Her body's an excruciating pain and she's surrounded by enemies. The war is over. The resistance has lost and the city of Paladia is now ruled by a society of undying led by the high Necromancer. Helena's name barely appears in the Rebels documents, but that absence makes her suspicious. And the high Necromancer realizes she must have been valuable if she was protected. What saves Helena from immediate execution is a twist. Her memories have been completely sealed off even from her own mind. And so she becomes a prisoner under constant surveillance by the high reef, Cain Farron. And what follows is a high stakes propulsive story about war, power, loyalty, and survival. Very much operating in the gray space between good and evil. I did really enjoy this book. I gave it five stars. But I have to say it comes with significant content warnings. This book is being marketed as romanticy. I personally don't think that label fits. I would categorize this as fantasy horror. There is a lot of violence on the page, lots of different kinds of violence. And the magic system itself is also deeply violent. And once I reframed this book as horror, after reading about the first 10%, I felt much more grounded in what the story was asking for me as a reader. So if you are interested in reading alchemized, but you're not interested in reading horror, I would suggest that you pass and find another book. The writing here is masterful. There are some scenes I will never forget. And not necessarily, I think the ones that people are talking about online. The book digs into questions like, who matters when you're on the losing side? Why do people align themselves with the obvious winner? There are powerful themes around choice, autonomy, class, religion. And I found all of those threads really well written and very compelling. I think there is a little bit of a commentary here about the Harry Potter origins. They did leave me with a few questions, especially in terms of character development and the magic system. I will probably read Manacold in 2026 out of pure curiosity. But overall, if you love fantasy, if you're okay with horror and comfortable with violence on the page, and you're interested in stories about moral ambiguity, evil evil, maybe sort of evil, maybe good, with a bit of evil, this one is definitely worth immersing yourself in. And that's my review of alchemized by Sen Lin Yu. - Wow, I've heard so many different sides of this. I heard a review with somebody who was not with the expected. I can't imagine reading a thousand-page book and it's not being what you expected, but it happens, I suppose. Out of curiosity, did you read this in print form? Or did you? - No, I read it on Libby on my iPad. - Okay. - Yeah, so I could change the font size, which changes the page numbers. And so yeah, no. I think if I'd seen it a thousand pages in my hands, that's a specific kind of reading experience. (laughing) I still, I'm brought back to that, our trip to Hobart, where you pulled out. - Oh, covenant of water. - Covenant of water. And put it on the table is evidence. - I should try to read that in 2026. - I was thinking about reading it in 2026 as well. 'Cause-- - Oh, we should buddy read it. - Yeah, 'cause it's sitting on my bookshelf, I own it. - Oh, you do. - I do. And I'm like, you know what, it would be the perfect time. And you've inspired me with all the chancers you've been reading. So I thought maybe I would read it in 2026. - I think winter is my chancar season, which is good, 'cause winter is like half the year here in Canada. And so I do, I did. I really enjoyed having the chancar, the will of the many. I did enjoy having this massive book to immerse myself in. I, of course, then the thing that doesn't matter is your reading count. So like, it's almost the end of the year. I know I'm making my way towards a number of books in my head. And I'm like, damn it, a thousand pages is like three books. And this is only gonna count as one book. - Yep. - Which is stupid. That's stupid. And that's about vanity and ego. And that's not what a good reader life is about, but it is real. It's a real part of it. - It's very real. And it's usually a lot of, not maybe not all, but a lot of those 1,000 page, 700 page books tend to be tougher reads. - Yeah. - So they take longer that way too. - Mm-hmm. That's a good point. They do. They do take longer. Alchemized, I felt like it took me forever to get to 50%. And I hit 50% and I was like, oh my gosh. Oh my gosh, I've read 500 pages. And I, it does take a while to get oriented to the magic system. At least that's what I felt. But then the last 50 pages, flew by. It was like a roller coaster. I actually went back and read some chapters 'cause I was like, I don't think I had enough cognitive bandwidth to absorb everything that just happened in this chapter. So yeah. All right, let's move on from Alchemized. - Well, congratulations on reading 1,000 page books. (laughing) - Thanks. - Thanks you. - Thank you. - You're welcome. - Congratulations. Okay, it's our final round of books, Jillian, what's your last book? - The final book I'm bringing to the show was a memoir called The Dirt Beneath Our Door, My Journey to Freedom, after escaping a polygamist Mormon called by Pamela Jones and Elizabeth Ridley. Oh my God. This book dives deep into what it is like to be part of a polygamist cult. It is a great book, super informative, but it is heartbreaking how the author was treated throughout her time in the cult. Here's her synopsis for you. 61 siblings, five sister wives, nine children, and one carefully hidden dream, to escape the violent misogynistic, fundamentalist Mormon cult that kept Pamela Jones perpetually pregnant, broken and brutalized. Today, Pamela Jones is a self-main millionaire and a successful CEO, but growing up, she never could have imagined her life would turn out this way. From a young age, she was told her only purpose in life was to be her husband's headmaid and bear him as many children as possible. While she endured fear, poverty, deprivation, and abuse, her family constantly moved between rural desert compounds in the United States and Mexico. One step ahead of the law, and one step ahead of herbal labyrinth, aka the Mormon Charles Manson, the cult's frightening leader, whose brutal blood atonement slept to trail the bodies in his wake. By the time she was newly married at 15, Pamela's husband forbade her any contact with outsiders, including her own family. She's been raised to believe that her throat would be slit and her blood sprinkled on the soil if she'd ever tried to escape. But in 2000, at age 34, she knew that if she and her children didn't escape, they would die. The author is a strong woman, full of determination. Even when things are hard for her family, she found ways to make ends meet. She even found a way out escaping with her children. I really enjoyed this book, as much as you can enjoy a horrible book like this. I really enjoyed it, and would definitely recommend it for those who like memoirs that go deep in our and all sunshine and rainbows. That's my review of The Dirt Beneath Our Door by Pamela Jones and Elizabeth Ridley. - We've talked about the celebrity memoir often on this, and I think that if you've always enjoyed a celebrity memoir, and you enjoy memoir as a genre, do you think this is a good, like just see what memoir can really bring to your reading life when you go kind of beyond the popcorn of a celebrity memoir? - Yeah, memoir would you recommend? Maybe this isn't the one you'd recommend, but you have a really good knowledge of memoirs. - I would say the one I last recommended, which I can't remember the name of, would be a good one to start with. Hold on, I'm looking it up really quick. I was gonna say careless people, but that's not, I don't think I would start with that one. The House of My Mother, yes. - House of My Mother. - A Daughter's Quest for Freedom by Sherry Frankie. I would absolutely recommend that one, as a starting point, if you're into memoirs, but you're sick of the ones with the famous people, writing them, not that there's anything wrong with those. Those can be enjoyable too, but sometimes you want a little more depth and-- - I feel like you're gonna write, yeah. - Yeah, I would start with that one, that's a good one. - All right, this sounds really difficult, really powerful. When you said she's a self-made millionaire, what does that mean? - She started her own business called, I wanna say my girls are the girls or something, she owns a cleaning business. - Oh, wow, okay. - Because she knew she could clean things better than anyone, she knew she knew how to keep things tidy, she knew how to clean things that were dirty, that most people didn't know, and she took that and she started as a cleaner for somebody else, and somebody recommended that she started her own business, and so she did. - Amazing. - Yeah, and she's done very well for herself. - Powerful. - Absolutely. Erin, you have our last review of the show, what are you sharing today? - Okay, this is a little bit of a coin flip. My final review today is Love Light Farms by B.K. Boris and Jillian, I know you've read this one. I'm not sure if you brought it to the show, but I thought if I wasn't sure there's enough time passed, I could bring it again. - Absolutely. - And definitely hits the top of my holiday reading stack. This is my favorite thing that I've read, holiday themed in 2025. I gave it 4.5 stars. I completely fell for B.K. Borison's writing style. I've never read her before, and I already know I will be reading more of her work in 2026. I did pick this up right after finishing our buddy read that left me with a solid two-star cringe factor. I won't name that book. It's not worth picking up, and you don't want to hear me event about it or Jillian, but it was not for me. So I picked it up right after, and I was extra grateful to kind of land in a book that reminded me how good romance can feel when it's done well. So "Love Light" Farms is a "Friends to Lovers" "Fake Dating Holiday Romance." Honestly, it like "Check, check, check." It's a greatest hit setup. "Friends to Lovers" "Fake Dating Holiday Romance." You know, it's like a perfect sandwich combo of romance novels when it's executed properly, especially in this one really is. Here's the setup. Stella Bloom, what a name, is trying to save the Christmas tree farm. She's loved since childhood. Unfortunately, "Love Light" Farms is not exactly thriving. Think dead trees, missing shipments, and hostile raccoon takeover of the Santa barn. In a last-ditch effort, Stella enters a contest run by an Instagram famous travel influencer, hoping the publicity and the $100,000 prize will save the farm. There's just one problem on the application impulsively Stella lies, and says she runs "Love Light" Farms with her boyfriend. She's kind of looking for an angle to capture the attention of the Instagram. Influencer. The only problem is there is no boyfriend. So that enters Luca Peters, her best friend, and while she hates asking him, he agrees to the rules of fake dating Stella for the holidays. And honestly, as time goes on, neither of them seem all that mad about it. What I love most about this book was the yearning, capital Y. Yearning. "Borison does such a good job peeling back the layers of their decade-long friendship and asking that delicious question. What has this always been leading to ward?" The balance here, I think, is really hard to get right. Yearning has to feel a specific way for the reader. It has to feel charged. It has to feel intimate. Without making the reader scream, just talk to each other already. And I think Borison nails it here. There's plenty of flirting, quiet connection, glances across the room, flush cheeks, all the good stuff. I also love that the book pushes the friends to lover's trope a bit further. It's a little bit of a more grown-up take on friends to lovers. There's a friends with Benefit's Second Act, which keeps the pacing from feeling too slow-burning. And I wasn't mad about that at all. Adding in the cozy holiday setting, the found family vibes of Love Light Farms, and the emotional payoff, this book helped me slip right into the holiday spirit. Between this, cozy Christmas reads with Jillian and our buddy-read group, I could actually feel that festive glow starting to build. And that's my review of Love Light Farms by B.K. Borison, a warm, satisfying romance that reminded me exactly why yearning will always work as long as it's done right. - Oh, I love it. And I'm so glad that you loved it too. - Mm-hmm. - Such a good book. It was my first foray into B.K. Borison as well. - Yeah, so listeners, let us know. Like, have you read B.K. Borison? Is she on your list? What books do you love? I'm thinking I need to read first-time caller. I know she was a new book coming out maybe in February, a follow-up or a partner book to first-time caller. - Yep, it's the second in the series. - Awesome. All right, well that's our three books. I think that's a pretty good stack for folks. - Absolutely, especially if they're looking- - Especially if there's a thousand- - A thousand paid book recommendations. They're looking for chonkers. Have we got the book free? That's the title. If you're looking for chonkers, you've gone to the right place. If a girl walks in with an anybody wasting a round thing in your face. (laughing) - And a chonker inner bag. (laughing) Okay, Jillian, well let's get the back half of this episode on the tracks. It's time for Hot Takes. I mean our best books of 2025. So for this next part of the episode, instead of Hot Takes, we thought it would be fun to do a little roundup of some of our favorite reads of 2025. I'm saying so far because it's December 17th, but I think it's safe to start to put a closure on the 2025 year of reading. - Yeah. - These are not the best books. These are just our best books, the ones that stayed with us, the ones that surprised us, or kind of became sort of a part of our actual lives in some way. We're breaking this down into a very loose categories. That's how our brains are working. It's the holiday season. There's enough going on. And there's nothing worse than saying, what's the best book you read this year and feeling like, do I read? Am I do not know what books are? I don't know what my-- (laughing) Going completely blank. This gives us permission to love very different kinds of books for very different reasons instead of doing like a one through 10 ranking, although those are very fun too. Our first category, Jillian, you've got our first category. - The first category is for the book that just couldn't shake. The one you kept thinking about while doing dishes, driving the kids around, or lying awake at night. So for me, that book was The Sun Does Shine by Anthony Ray Hinton. I loved, it's a memoir. So I love this one because it's the story of Hinton being on death row for 30 plus years and his final release. It is an emotional book that's stuck with me throughout the whole year. I remember bawling my eyes out, listening to this, like the last 45 minutes of this book. 'Cause he was wrongfully convicted. - Right, that's correct. - I remember your review of that book. I remember your review. All right, a good choice, a memoir, okay. I love this category. I think for me, there are a few that are living rent free in my head. 2025 was a great, like, I feel like 2025 was a great reading year, Jillian. I don't know if you feel that way, but I feel super satisfied. But for me, the book that is living rent free in my head was Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaughey. This story worked for me because it's atmospheric. It felt urgent the whole way through. But the reason I can't stop thinking about it is because of the ending. And I can't stop mulling over the choices the author made. Wondering if there was any other way it could have turned out differently. - Don't you always love that one a book or even a movie, you always wish something have happened a little different to the two different outcomes? I haven't read Wild Dark Shore, but just in general, just I love that. - The characterization in this book is really, really special too. Like, I remember all the characters' names. They all feel very distinct to me. And I think I read that book in June. So that's my pick. - Nice. - Next up is a Medium Lady staple, which is the comfort read. The comfort read is a nervous system reset. It's low stress, it's high reward. It's the kind of book type that we love to reach for here on Medium Lady reads because our brains are already super full. My pick here is Can't Get Enough by Kennedy Ryan. This is a romance. It's the third in a trilogy. It totally delivered as the third. It still felt super original and fresh. This was telling the story of a beloved character from the first two books, a series of three best friends. Each book features one of the best friends and their own life arc and romantic arc and Kennedy Ryan's writing is just, she remains my favorite romance writer. Honestly, I think that whole trilogy is a major comfort read for me. Jillian, what about you? What was your comfort read? - My pick here is The Heartbreak Hotel by Eleanor Clover. This book was the kind that didn't cause me any stress. It simply brought me joy. And I just wanted to sit and sit my tea while I read it. So it was the perfect choice for comfort read. Next up, this category is for the book you didn't expect to love as much as you did. Maybe you picked it up on a whim or it sat on yourself for way too long. I honestly didn't think this would be a favorite but wayward by Amelia Hart completely won me over. (Jillian laughs) I was completely smitten with how the story was told and how much joy it can fit in, even when there's so much anger. My only word of warning is to save the book for autumn. It's the perfect companion to the cooler autumn weather. - And this is a book you had on your shelf for a while. I just don't remember you mentioning. - I kept holding on to it, waiting, waiting, waiting until autumn and it was perfect. - So I had a handful of books in this copy, but I thought I would mention two. The first is The Frozen River by Ariel Lawan and the second is The Unseen World by Liz Moore. I loved both the female protagonists in these books. They're both wildly different, but maybe I'll also call this authors. I didn't expect to love as much as I did. I really hope to read more Ariel Lawan and I read three Liz Moore books. They're always satisfying. (sighs) I should stop always looking at the next new thing and just go for these authors. The backlist is pretty rich with great books. They have great backlist too. And The Frozen River, I felt like it took me way too long to read that book and once I read it, I was like, "Oh my gosh, why did it take me so long to read this book?" So The Frozen River is also amazing to read between winter and spring. So if you haven't yet read Frozen River, Frozen River season is coming up. And Jillian, I know you love this book too. It's just like it's a masterpiece. - Mm-hmm. It's good. - All right, our final category is Book of the Year. We're not taking this too seriously. There's still a few days of reading left in 2025, but if we each could choose a mascot book for 2025 so far, this is the book we're picking. This is the book that makes you think, "Oh yeah, that must have been 2025 because I read blah, blah, blah, blah." So for me, this year, that book has to be Women Who Work Too Much by Tamu Thomas. This is Non-Fictions Personal Development Book. And why it work is this book found me right when I needed it most during a very stressful family crisis in January of this year. The combination of audio and print copy helped me to think about my well-being in a way that helped me keep my head above water and also set the tone for my entire year. Almost everything I feel proud of this year walks back to reading this book. I've gifted multiple copies. I won't stop talking about it. I'm even in the middle of a relic and of this book right now. The Book of the Year for Me, it has to be Women Who Work Too Much by Tamu Thomas. - Nice. This is what I haven't read yet, but I know I need to add it to my TBR very soon. The top of it, not at the bottom, not under thousands of different books, but at that top. All right, my book of the Year was One Golden Summer by Carly Fortune. I struggled to choose which was my number one book. I read a lot of good books in 2025 and I settled on this one because I adored the continuation of the story from every summer after which is one of my favorite books. - Totally agree. - And I've thought a lot about this book over the last year and it felt like the perfect fit for my book of the year for 2025. - I think that makes a lot of sense. You brought a lot of romance to the show this year. You really leaned into new authors and new tropes and the fact that Carly Fortune landed a satisfying follow-up to every summer after. She earned so much respect for me for being able to pull that off. - One Golden Summer is just so, so good. - Yeah, it's a perfect book. All right, those are our books. That's kind of the books we have and the categories we've picked. It feels kind of right to me. It feels more right than maybe saying, like these are my top 10 books of the year, although I might still for fun make that list because I think those lists are always fun. But yeah, readers, we want to know, we want to hear from you. What did you love this year? What do you think we haven't read that you love that you think we should read in 2026? We're gonna keep the book conversation going next year and yeah, I like this list. I feel good about it. - Yeah, I did too. It was fun. - Really fun. - All right, we're gonna wrap up with the holds list. Aaron and I are very passionate about the library and because we're both avid readers, we both have a very active holds list. And we feel like that's something we don't hear a lot about on book podcasts or book talk or even IG. So we know it's something we can offer the bookers community. Plus we'll also be sharing what's up next to let you the listener know what we'll be reaching for on our TBR. So Aaron, what's on your holds list? - Okay, so I actually will be able to walk to the library after this to return some of those books that are kinda weighing me down. What I have ready right now is the gift by Daniel Steele. - Oh. - Which is gonna be our buddy read for January, 2026. I've never read Daniel Steele before. Jillian, have you read Daniel Steele? - I have. I've used to read it all the time as a young reader. - Amazing. Okay, so this is gonna maybe feel a little bit nostalgic. I think the gift was published in 1986. So we decided we wanted to do like a vintage, a really vintage read. I think this is either gonna be a lot of fun or... - A train wreck. - A train wreck? But again, I'm so curious to read Daniel Steele's written over 200 books in her lifetime and... - Still publishing. - Still publishing. So Mad respect to Danielle, who's an icon. And I'm looking forward to diving into that. That's all I have on hold. I have a couple of books that are overdue. In terms of up next, I think I am gonna dive into the Everlasting by Alex Eharo as well as Sweetheat by Bolu, Babylonola. And I'm gonna try to make everything else is noise and I'm gonna just try to calm things down a little bit in terms of how I'm feeling about my reading count by the end of the year. All right, Jillian, what are you waiting for from the library and what do you have coming up on your TBR? - All right, so waiting for me at the library, I don't have anything currently waiting, but in transit to me, I have an academic affair by Jody McAllister, which I believe is a romance. I don't remember adding it to my TBR at the library, but I did. And then also in transit is the gift like you, by Danielle Steele, but that's it. That's all that I have coming in for me. As for what's up next, I have Meet Me Under the Missile Toe by Jenny Bayless. I'm excited to dive into this holiday romance just in time for the Christmas holiday to hit. Here's a brief synopsis for you. Bookshop owner, Nori Noel, is pulled back into her complicated past when she reunites with old friends for a wedding at the castle near her relief former school. Amid awkward encounters and lingering class tension, she unexpectedly falls for Isaac, the sharp, tongue-to-head gardener, who despises everything her old world represents. As feeling's deep in, Nori must decide which life and which love is truly worth choosing. So I'll be jumping into that. - I like this one a lot. I think this is a really good one. I hope it meets you where all the other Jenny Baylesses have. - You've read this one? - Yeah. - Okay, yeah, me too. No, I mean, not me too, I write it, but me too. I hope it meets me where all the other Jenny Baylesses have. - Imagine it's like two stars, Jenny Bayless. That one's two stars. No, it's gonna be great. - That would be so sad. - That would be great. - No, no, it's good. It's a really good one. It's a good one. - Awesome. - All right, well that, believe it or not, is a wrap on episode 53 of Medium Lady Reads. Rounding up our favorite reads of the year, always reminds me again of how much our books meet us where we are and how that changes over time. Thank you for listening and for sharing your recommendations with us, being in our DMs, being a part of this thoughtful little corner of the internet. It is our last episode of the year. Jillian, it's been an amazing year with you. - Yeah, you too. It's been so fun. I look forward to these recordings, almost more than anything. - Yeah, I'm totally with you. So because it's the last episode of the year, we will be having our winter hiatus for the month of January, but we will be back with the second half of season three, starting in February. We can't wait to see you then with more stories and more great reads. - Medium Lady Reads is a spin off of the Medium Lady Talks podcast and Instagram community. On Instagram, you can find me, Jillian, at Jillian Finding Happy, and you can find Aaron at medium.lady for more of our current reads and other shenanigans. And of course, you can follow the podcast itself on IG at Medium Lady Reads. If you like this episode, please share it with another bookish friend. It really helps us continue to grow the show to reach more readers. Thank you for listening. I'm your host, Jillian. - And I'm your other host, Aaron. Until the next time, we hope that your holds arrive quickly. - And your next book finds you right when you need it most. We'll talk to you soon. Bye. - Bye. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music)