Gonna churn this out FAST:

#NidheyaReads

Shiver by Allie Reynolds
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

Another one in my favorite premise: a group of snowboarders reunite at ski resort for what they think is a reunion, when they start getting taunted about an event that happened in the past. First, this book had such vivid, interesting descriptions of snowboarding that I spent hours just watching videos on YouTube, totally in awe of what the human body can do.

Second, this was a deeply satisfying read. The build-up and pay-off were both really good.

I’m really slow with #NidheyaReads, so here’s the next one.

Reckless Girls by Rachel Hawkins.
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

This book has one of my favorite type of premises: a group of people stuck in a location & gets murdered one by one. In this case, Lux and her rich boyfriend Nico are in a off-the-beaten-path island with Brittany, Amma and a rich older couple, Jake and Eliza. The six bond instantly, getting closer, drinking, swimming & having the time of their lives. Their vacation, however,

#NidheyaReads

The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

A tale spanning 24 hours and 50 years, Eleanor Bishop muses about her life and choices after she hooks up with her childhood best friend Jonas, an incident threatening to ruin her marriage to her husband Peter.

The book unfolds slowly, making you really wait to get to the meat of it. Jumping between the entirety of Eleanor’s life and the 24 hours since she sleeps with Jonas.

Really like this article on @PipelineArtists. pipelineartists.com/designing-the-…

Lots to think about in regards to a great writing group. I've been meeting weekly with my grad school writers' group for almost 2 years now (it was twice weekly back in 2020), and we've really had a lot of these questions come up over the months. # of people, scheduling, frequency, type of content. We have switched it around a lot, but at least 2 people do present every week, even if it's the same people for a few weeks in a row when someone's working on a project, or

Here we go, my first read of 2022!

#NidheyaReads

Survive the Night by Riley Sager
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

My first Sager novel, a thrilling, heart-pounding novel about a 19 year old girl stuck in a 6 hour car drive with who she believes to be a serial killer. The protagonist, Charlie, is quitting and running away from college after her best friend Maddy is the latest victim of the Campus Killer. Unable to deal with guilt of knowing that she was responsible for her friend’s death, Charlie accepts a ride home with

#NidheyaReads

The Holiday Swap by Maggie Knox

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️.5

A Princess Switch type Christmas romcom, where twin sisters Charlie and Cass swap lives for a few days to escape the chaos in their own lives. Of course, both the sisters find new love interests and chaos ensues. One thing I liked was that it WASN’T that easy for the two to swap lives. There were obstacles after obstacles and they had to be really quick on their feet to convince people they were each other.

#NidheyaReads

Within These Wicked Walls by Lauren Blackwood
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

This atmospheric, spooky gothic romance would’ve been perfect for my HalloweenReads, but I got it from the library too late. Centering around Andromeda, a debtera (exorcist) seeking a patron and Magnus Rochester, the handsome, eccentric heir who has been afflicted by the Evil Eye, this book is about a lot more than what meets the eye.

#NidheyaReads

The Island of Missing Trees by Eli’s Shafak. ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

So many 5 star reads in the latter half of the year. I really loved this touching, moving tale about forbidden love, grief, the violence inflected on and by humans, and trees. Weaving in and out of timelines, the book tells the forbidden love story of Kostos (a Greek Cypriot) and Defne (a Turkish Crypriot) as they fall in love in 1974, when the island of Cyprus is rife with tension and violence. Their love story is witnessed by a fig tree

#NidheyaReads

The Neighbor’s Secret by L. Alison Heller.
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

Set in the idyllic Cottonwood Estates neighborhood, this book is about a group of suburban moms, their kids and all the secrets brewing in their lives. It’s a perfect fit for fans of Big Little Lies and Little Fires Everywhere. I love stories like this, in seemingly perfect neighborhood as these women mix and mingle while something simmers under the surface, bubbling until it reaches a boiling point. For fans of such

#NidheyaReads

Dune by Frank Herbert
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

An epic space odyssey that influenced the science fiction genre for decades to come.

I love how vivid and real the world felt, the themes of climate change, fanaticism, good vs evil, amongst other things. This is the first time I read a book in which each chapter actually went and back between different characters’ POV in the same scene! It took a bit of getting used to, but I think I still really enjoyed it.

The Bene Gesserict politics was easily the most fascinating thing, &

#NidheyaReads

Last Summer at the Golden Hotel by Elyssa Friedland.
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

Spanning generations, this fun, lighthearted book is about the Goldman and Weingold families, who ran the successful Catskills resort, the Golden Hotel. But as years past and air travel picks up, the tourist traffic to the Golden winds down, and the two families gather for a week to discuss possibly selling their beloved hotel to people who want to convert it into a casino.

#NidheyaReads

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia.
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
A scintillating, riveting final spooky book for October. I absolutely loved this book, and have read nothing like it before. Set in 1950s Mexico, the book is about Noemi, a spunky, charming young woman who receives a harrowing letter from her cousin & travels to check in on her in her husband’s spooky, gothic house. As she spends more time there, she discovers that all is not how it appears.

#NidheyaReads

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
Beautiful World, Where Are You?

I nearly screamed in joy when I picked this up from the library!! Another Sally Rooney book, sounded like the perfect October/Fall read despite the lack of spookiness to it. Like Normal People & Conversations with Friends, Beautiful World also follows a few millennials as they try to define love, sex, relationships and the world around them.

The book is centered around Alice and Eileen, long time best friends, and the slow

#NidheyaReads
A Slow Fire Burning by Paula Hawkins
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ .5

A Paula Hawkins book after FOREVER! I had to buy it the second I saw it at the bookstore!!

This one’s about the death of a young man (Daniel) and three women who were connected to him in different ways. I found the three characters - Laura, Carla & Miriam intriguing. Very deeply flawed characters, who stood out from one another.

The ending was good as well, but I just felt like most of the story wasn’t about how Daniel died, but about the lives of the characters as the

#NidheyaReads

All Girls by Emily Layden.

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️.5/5

After a faculty member is accused of sexually assaulting an alumnae years ago, we see into the lives & perspectives of young girls in the Atwater Boarding school, as they face this news, & also contemplate their girlhood. While this book is about sexual assault, imbalanced power dynamics between students and teachers and the establishments that fail to protect these young girls, it’s also really about girlhood. About being a teenage girl in a world that seems so much larger than her,

#SEXEDUCATION episode 4 thoughts:
Aaaah why did they end Ruby/Otis so soon? I was really enjoying their arc and dynamics. Also, I’m so glad that the relationship pushed Ruby to open up to Olivia and Anwar and deepen her friendships with them. This episode was so interesting to me. It shows us all the ways in people connect romantically (or do not) depending on interests, views etc. like Jean/Jakob: no common interest, yes connection. Maureen/Sr. Groff: yes common interest, no connection.
Ruby/Otis: no common interest,

LA Weather by María Amparo Escadon.
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️.5/5

An exploration of a year in the life of the Alvarado family, as they undergo divorce, separation, deception, disease and drought. Set in Los Angeles, this book goes month by month as the Alvarado’s lives are tested by the different conflicts thrown at them.

I found the bond between the family really good. Loved seeing adult children maintain & have such a close bond with their parents. The cultural bonds & nuanced elevated it for me.

What I absolutely love about #NancyDrew is how the Drew Crew interact EVERY episode and are involved in the A plot together. You can actually see that they’re really close friends and are involved in each other’s lives. I love it. Also Ace has a brother 👀