It’s been a heck of a year, and with family medical issues, I’ve been remiss in getting out reviews for the many wonderful picture books I’ve received from publishers. So just before the new year, here are some that I think are important for different reasons. Some are just really funny, some have wonderful messages, and others will make kids (and adults) think.
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During Bookreporter.com’s end of the year event, a fellow reviewer named “Don’t Let Him In” by Lisa Jewell as one of his top two picks for 2025 — high praise indeed. I decided that I wanted to make sure to include this one in my 2025 book reviews, and boy, am I glad that I did. This novel is a masterpiece of suspense, and using different points of view and different narrators to provide us with significant insight into the characters. Her choice to make Nick Radcliffe, the man at the center of the novel, tell his story in first person narrative is brilliant as his narrative, at first seemingly rational, becomes more and more unhinged as the novel progresses.
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“The Snow Lies Deep” and perhaps nowhere deeper than in a small village in rural Vermont at Christmas. Paula Munier takes us right into the heart of the small, picturesque town of Northshire as the town celebrates the holiday season in grand style. The village is hosting the “Solstice Soirée,” “twelve days of eating, drinking, and making merry, beginning on the winter solstice and continuing through Hanukkah and Kwanzaa and Christmas right on to New Year’s Day.”
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With her debut novel, “The Wondrous Life and Loves of Nella Carter,” author Brionni Nwosu presents a stunningly beautiful story about a woman who makes a deal with Death. The result is that the title character, Nella Carter, evades her own imminent death and becomes immortal. Her quest is to prove to Death that there are enough worthwhile humans, humans who are kind and good and loving, that Death should not end all human lives and start the human race anew.
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Gordon Korman’s many middle grade novels are like juvenile addictions — kids can’t get enough of them. In fact, of all the book reviews I’ve written over the past decades, it’s Korman’s reviews that get the most views. They are beloved and popular for good reason. “Snoop,” his latest novel for middle grade readers, is no exception. Korman’s ability to combine a “normal” kid with circumstances that make him (or her) do the right thing, overcome obstacles, and help others, is brilliant.
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In all of Jenny Colgan’s books, the setting is truly as important as any character; whether it’s the seaside or a charming corner of Edinburgh, her settings never fail to enchant and charm us. “The Secret Christmas Library” is no different. The setting, in a castle in northern Scotland in freezing winter, is breathtaking as Colgan describes the huge heaps of brilliant white snow, the sparkling sea, the majestic stag, and the centerpiece: a massive, decaying, neglected, isolated estate.
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What does it take to have it all? And what does one give up in order to keep it? These are questions that Hank Phillippi Ryan explores in her newest mystery, “All This Could Be Yours.” There are many meanings in that seemingly simple titular phrase, and we see the many permutations along the way as we follow main character and debut author Tessa Calloway on her best-selling novel’s book tour.
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In this delightful historical fiction mystery series, the not-so-proper Lady Petra Forsyth must solve the mystery of the murdered chef. This was no ordinary chef, but one who had served as chef to the royal household and also, years earlier, to Petra’s father’s house. Who would have murdered Sir Rufus Pomeroy?
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