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Host of Maggie's Book Bites Podcast
156 books (3/week)

confession a 2× speed audiobook on a single day in effort to finish my Goodreads Goal for the year 🙃 but I was shocked how riveting it was!

After enjoying the Suitcase Sisters books in 2025 we had ornament show-n-tell at our December meeting and we made book ornaments full of mini versions of all of Robin Jones Gunn's fiction titles. Thanks for inspiring such a fun evening through your writing! ♥️

I underlined hundreds of parts because 1963-2025 hasn't solved gender equality progress. There are several sections that talk about how woman lose themselves to drink or food when all the household work is done and the kids are at school and they are restless in not knowing what to do since they left school to become wives & mothers. How technology would fit into these narratives. would they make it worse, or offer more opportunities?

I loved the premise but it just fell flat for me.

I've added several of these authors to my TBR shelf to read more in-depth narratives from them.

I wanted to love this book, stealthy library staff taking on crimes but it just didn't work for me. It felt like it could have been several different stories and then a publisher was like you should weave them all together and then give them access to crime solving technology and connections to detectives, computer hackers, ex military, art dealers, drug rings and so much more making all of it more and more out of the realm of believability.

Each time I thought I had it figured out something new is added to the storyline, keeping me guessing. Every Holly Jackson title is just the right amount of scary for me. This was the first one where the MC was trying to solve her own murder as opposed to being hunted. I did question how fast she was released from the hospital in the beginning- setting this story in to motion but it fits with the pacing of the story and is obviously fictional.

Heck yes! Kirsten Miller is 2 for 2 in 5 star ratings and I don't give those freely. This was amazing and hit all the marks of the gender equality books that have dominated my non-fiction selections in 2025. This book is the And Then There Were None (Christie) × When Woman Were Dragons (Barnhill).

extremely cute childhood friends to lovers with a not-so-fake dating trope.

grandpa qualifies as a lovable curmudgeon.

Dive is a double meaning title for this middle grade novel. #1 (13) is a diver, on a parochial dive team. #2 she meets a teen (17) who dumpster dives as a means of survival. The friendship is kept in secret and that leads to some tense moments and understandable concerns from her parents. I remember being that age and wanting some atomomy but also having zero understanding of the wider world and that not everyone has my best interests in mind.

A fellow OLBC member said it was one of their best reads of 2024 and I can honestly understand why. For over 600 pages, in over 250 chapters spanning decades a group of characters/friends/romantic partners/guardians/orbiting minor character bring this story, centered around a crime, to life. If you are a fan of Beartown (Fredrik Backman) get this book on your radar and you'll get all the feels but with an American setting.

Eludes to the #MeToo movement for teen stars and being left out of additional hiring opportunities for being a whistleblower. But the over arching story is of two very different teens from opposite sides of the world coming together and finding healing where they don't expect it, from someone they never anticipated.

This book has been on my TBR list since before it was published. Ashamed it too me this long to read it, but maybe it was for the best because I see correlations in today's American overreach that may be I wouldn't have picked up on had I read it sooner. This should be required reading.

This book was fantastic! Full of amazing photography and written from the perspective of a weather photographer. He's informative yet masterful in recounting his first hand experiences in the heart of storms of all kinds. I learned something new about the technology in supercomputer simulation that are becoming more and more accurate based on the science, photography, and videography aiding in time-stamping data more accurately than ever before.

I really struggled with the lack of patron privacy in the first book. In this follow up at least it's a little more honest in terms of patient privacy. Likely a dumb thing to get hung up on but something that goes against the grain of this library staff member. I also liked the correlations between salvation and feeling the need to 'pay back/pay it forward' mentality that comes with the guilt of being healed.

Middle Grade Novels in Verse are quickly moving up my list of genres I never turn down. The emotions match the pace and thought process of the characters. This one has history, climate issues, some suspense, and sense of belonging and/or being left out all tied into the story arc.

November 2025
Host of Maggie's Book Bites Podcast
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I stumbled on someone's unhidden spoiler for this book giving me information that kept me from being as objective as I would have normally BUT I do also know that I can't always rely on my initial character analysis coming from the minds of L.C.

Greedy people are awful, greedy people with zero recourse are worse, give them power or access to people with power and they believe themselves untouchable.

In general I tend to avoid WW2 storylines because there are just so many of them and I feel like all the stories have already been told in one capacity or another. But I was gifted this title and it ended up being amazing and one that I can add to my unknown American histories podcast episode in 2026. These women were amazing!

The title gives it away, but I definitely didn't have it all figured out- which I guess is the point.

What an incredible life she lived. To God be the glory.

A very cute novella set in Iceland, centering around the very first Jólabókaflóð during the occupation in 1944 in WW2.

Bawling. What a wonderful, wonderful book. I wish there weren't so many parallels to our current events dealing with ICE. These friends will live in my head and heart for a very long time.

Podcasting from the Nappanee Public Library, Sarah & Maggie are in discussion about time slip dual narrative books on "Maggie's Book Bites" listen all all major platforms!

https://open.spotify.com/episode/7zwsUll3XDMvjxUr78L3b4?si=dhxVs3j5RLeuuXAW7kiD3...

For an inspirational fiction romance, I was a bit surprised by the quick and passionate kissing scenes. Don't get me wrong I know it's fine to kiss just not used to it (and neck, and earlobe kissing) in this genre. 🙃

Anyway, very cute but hard hitting self confidence theme that had me recommending it to additional readers that can relate.

Multiple perspectives with some memories from decades before made this a very enjoyable read. With the opening of the largest Egyptian Museum opening and being in the current events I brought this story full circle despite it being fictionalized it is still based on lots of known facts.

Wow. What a fabulous way to experience life in the shoes of a profoundly neurodiverse main character. May I always be associated with the most patient side characters that June shares interactions with rather than the quickly dismissive or those that take advantage.

Fantastic epilogue that answers questions I feared I missed, and a wonderful author's note explaining "why this story'

October 2025
Host of Maggie's Book Bites Podcast
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True crime.

The spellbinding tale of an epic international manhunt for a psychopathic con artist who exploited the dreams of creators to steal dozens of identities and millions of dollars.

I read and highly recommend the original middle grade chapter book Refugee by Alan Gratz frequently. This graphic novel version still brings a lot of the emotion but with using panels & speech bubbles paired with illustrations instead of descriptive paragraphs of text.

I'm my own worst critic when it comes to parenting, but Dr. Becky is reaffirming in reminding readers that it's never too late to course correct. I learned lots of new ways to approach different emotions, outbursts, or moments when my kids are deflecting or full of anxiety.

With so many flavors mentioned it was hard to decide which to make for our book club gathering but I had never heard of pear gelato before so that won out.

I felt like the ending, where the big character development is, was too rushed and then over. I would have liked to get to know the characters more. I did feel like I was there traveling with Grace & Claire though as the setting and sensory descriptions are very thorough.

A wonderful reimagining from the perspective of a little known Aunt Em, Dorothy of Frank L. Baum/Wizard of Oz fame.

Now I need to hunt down others from this author.

I considered myself well versed but golly this author gave me so much more to think about! Should be required reading for all humans.

So many parallels to what the media wants you to know and what they choose not to report. I feel like I'm going to have an inside joke with a book- chuckling when someone mentions bacon will make me think of Art for a long time to come.

Perfection in a standalone book with a tangent to another series (Riverbend Gap) that I adore. I don't always root for second chance romance but in this case it was well written and I was so invested I started to feel like the internal voice of Grandma rooting them on and to fight for one another.

Continuing where 'Home: A Memoir of My Early Years' left off this book follows the next three decades of motherhood, marriage to Blake, work career and I lost count of how many plain rides and moves as the family grows and criss-crosses the globe with a dual citizenship and active work life. I hope they are already working on another with some of her later work.

September 2025
Host of Maggie's Book Bites Podcast
Goodreads.com/MaggieCarr
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Jason Reynolds doesn't know how to write a bad story. Add in a full cast, sound effects, riffs & beats and NYC comes to life through the eyes of these kids. August Rush vibes, but with a storyline all its own.

Bailing just shy of half way. Not the book I need right now.

Only two problems, in my head a multimillionaire isn't going to use a cleaning service but would have someone on staff clean his house. Secondly surely he would have security cameras to know if the hired cleaner was sleeping over.

Otherwise cute!

Extremely good insight from the lens we opt to raise our family through. Mental health is just as important to care for as physical health and leaning into friendships and mentorships with those who have parented and supported younger generations is extremely valuable. We can learn techniques and habits as a family with a biblical foundation.

I usually stay clear of WW2 storylines, simply because they are hard to read emotionally and I felt like every prospective had already been shared in the thousands of similar storylines published every year BUT this one came highly recommended to me by a library patron and was fantastic. Shifting between the siblings of a wonderful Polish family you feel the significance of the war before it's declared until after peace is reestablished....

This book is light suspense × The Scent Keeper (Erica Bauermeister)

I liked it, nothing is what it seems.

Leaving unrated, I don't remember now why or what intrigued me to add it to my TBR list to begin with. I wasn't and remain not a fan of Kari/Michelle throughout the entire book. Owell. On to the next book.

Time-slip in the more recent past, the early 1980s and today, with the prospects belonging to parents and their child in the midst of the gay rights movement or blockage when it came to the judicial system deciding if it would interfere with the way they raise their children. The truth often does come out when one of the secret keepers is giving a health timeline and sets into motion the acts and conversations that begin to lead to healing.

I think I would have enjoyed this one more if I cared about political and technology oops, but I don't so I slogged through snafu after snafu anticipating ones that I found more enjoyable like how TY Beanie Babies came to fame.

4 years ago my daughter brought Madame CJ Walker to life in a living wax museum of famous Hoosiers (Indiana, USA). I had never heard of her but my daughter's research, and memorization intrigued me and obviously stuck because I recognized A'Lelia's name in the subtitle immediately. What a fascinating life they lived while both dying young. It was also interesting to learn of the culture and history around this time period.

The content wasn't new to me but just as heartbreaking as the first time I became aware. The author's mother survived but it impacted her for a lifetime and set off ripple affects within her relationships with family and friends. Told through stories and collected, well researched, data Medicine River is a journey towards finding answers, seeking redemption for those unable to fight for justice, and grasping for healing all at the same time.