I put this summary off, thinking I’d get around to sharing 2025’s reads before writing up the books I completed during January. But if I wait any longer, I’ll be behind for this year as well. So, onward to the ten books I read last month (and here’s hoping March is a better month for wrapping up last year):

The Librarians by Sherry Thomas

Shortly after a young widow starts working at the library near her grandmother’s home, two patrons die in seemingly separate events. But it turns out they may not be, and the employees of the branch may or may not be good suspects for their demise. If you like your murders straightforward, this is going to rely on coincidence too much for you. If you like your characters to be realistic, again, probably not your cup of tea. If, however, you are happy to read your murder mysteries with your tongue in your cheek and not to consider the circumstances too closely, I’d joyfully endorse this workplace found-family mystery.

Paper. Library copy.

The Book of Doors by Gareth Brown

The description of this book — a young bookseller comes across a book that lets her open any door (anywhere in the world, at any point in time) she is familiar with, finds out there are other enhanced books in the world, and then is pursued for hers — feels less fraught than it turned out to be. It took me months to read because of the chapters that featured two ruthless characters. While it does feature a found family and a love of books, the audio narrator kept mispronouncing “library,” which feels like a pretty big oversight, given one of the characters HAS A LIBRARY and there were some pretty big groany moments toward the end of the book.

Audio. Library copy.

Brigands and Breadknives by Travis Baldree

Let me preface this by saying that this is the third book in a series and if you don’t read at least Bookshops and Bonedust (and preferably Legends and Lattes first), you may find some backstory confusing. That said, this features the ratkin bookseller Fern, who is having a midlife crisis which is definitely not solved by moving into the shop across the lane from Viv’s coffeehouse. However, when she inadvertantly finds herself on an adventuresome quest with a legendary elf warrior and her goblin prisoner, she may eventually figure out what she wants out of her life.

Paper. Library copy.

Grace and Henry’s Holiday Movie Marathon by Matthew Norman

A charming, sometimes sad, story about two Baltimore 30-somethings who meet while trying to get through their first Christmas season after being widowed. Grace’s husband (and the father of her two young children) died after a prolonged illness, while Henry’s wife died in a plane crash. After their mothers concoct a “meet-cute” of sorts, they agree to stay in touch, because, after all, who else understands what they’re going through? And if they decide to watch some Christmas movies to help them get through the crappy holiday season-to-be, that seems like a perfectly healthy approach to broadening their friendship. Except in between mouse-catching and art-creating and all the steps of grieving, maybe they’re starting to build something bigger. Well-written, well-set, and recommended.

Paper. Personal copy.

You Make It Feel Like Christmas by Toni Shiloh

After reading a Christmas romance set in Annapolis and then one set in Baltimore, it felt obligatory to read one set in D.C. And it was … meh. It includes the tree lighting (although the likelihood of just being able to add an extra person to your party for that seems far-fetched) and a concert at the National Cathedral and a dinner at Old Ebbitts. She references Union Station, and the characters take the bus at one point. Characters spend lots of time in Old Town and go on a date to National Harbor, so Virginia and Maryland folks can feel represented, too. But it was very Christian and very thin on plot and characterization and paled in comparison to the other local’ish books I read. It was the first in a series and I won’t be reading the rest.

Paper. Library copy.

Always Never by Jordi Lafebre (Translated by Montana Kane)

My first five-star read of 2026 was a graphic novel translated from French composed by a Spaniard set in what I think is supposed to be a village in Poland. It begins, confusingly, with Chapter 20, and tells the story, backwards, of Zeno, a Ph.D. student, bookstore owner, and sailor, and Ana, the former mayor. The illustrations are whimsical, the story charming, and when you get all the way to chapter 1 and the beginning of their story, you are going to be tempted to flip right back to the start of the book and read it through once more. Highly recommended to any and all readers.

Paper. Library copy.

Future Boy: Back to the Future and My Journey Through the Space-Time Continuum by Michael J. Fox and Nelle Fortenberry

Michael J. Fox reflects back on the year he was cast in Back to the Future. In 1985, with his Family Ties role taking off (Meredith Baxter Birney was pregnant, giving Fox’s Alex P. Keaton even more screentime), Fox is approached by showrunner Gary David Goldberg and asked if he can juggle another role at the same time — that of teen time traveler Marty McFly in a Steven Spielberg movie currently being filmed. (Eric Stoltz got the role first because of Fox’s Family Ties commitments, but after a couple months he didn’t have the vibes the creative team was hoping for. Can you even imagine … ?) Who says no to Spielberg? So Fox spent several months working on Family Ties during the day, immediately being driven to the set of Back to the Future where he worked until the wee hours of the night, and then being tucked into bed for a handful of hours before he started all over again. Fox reads the book himself and includes clips from interviews with fellow actors and production staff. Recommended for every Gen X’er — and anyone else who has loved Fox in any role ever.

Audio. Library copy.

The Matzah Ball by Jean Meltzer

The Jewish author of a series of successful Christmas romances is told by her publisher that they want a Hanukkah romance instead and that if she won’t comply, her contract won’t be renewed. As she frantically attempts to figure out how to salvage her career, she is thrust into contact with the man who broke her heart when they were both in middle school, who just so happens to be in town to throw a huge Hanukkah influencer bash. To write her story, she needs a ticket to his party, but he says the only way in is to volunteer. But because Rachel writes under a nom-de-plume (her father is a well-respected rabbi) and has kept her chronic fatigue syndrome diagnosis a secret from the world, more trials and tribulations ensue in addition to the ones you’d expect from your normal second-chance lovers story. It was a okay story, although I still remain mystified as to why Rachel needed the on-the-ground experience of the bash and couldn’t just imagine her way into the story.

Audio. Library copy.

Welcome to Murder Week by Karen Dukess

After an American optician’s estranged mother suddenly dies, she learns her mother had bought them tickets to a murder mystery week in the English countryside. With her ticket unable to be returned, she decides to go on her own. Paired up with two other single Americans (a divorced romance writer and a gay man having a quarter-life crisis), she must attempt to solve two mysteries — the one staged for their enjoyment, and the one of why her mother might have thought this was something they should do together. An enjoyable cozy. I’d read more by Dukess.

Paper. Library copy.

The Village Library Demon-Hunting Society by C.M. Waggoner

A library director turned amateur sleuth turns out to be solving cases for the amusement of a demon. When she decides she doesn’t feel like solving any more cases, the demon has the man she’s in a relationship with killed and forces her to solve it. She’s aided by the new village priest, the widow of the local art gallery owner (whose murder was what prompted this whole kerfuffle), and her cat, who is being possessed by the ghost of Lord Thomas Cromwell. I picked it up as a Halloween read after the series I’ve listened to the last few years ended, but it was as thin and as silly as it sounds.

Paper. Library copy.