New Girl in Little Cove: Damhnait Monaghan
I thought this was a cute read! Rachel takes a teaching job in the tiniest little village (population less than 400) to start over after a bad breakup and her father’s death. The coastal village of Little Cove becomes another character, it’s townspeople are full of personality and grit, and Rachel finds herself caring for them more than she ever expected.

The Rose Code: Kate Quinn
Can I read this again even though it’s only been ten minutes since I finished it? Am I weird for already missing the characters? Holy crap. I love this book. I can’t do a proper review because it was too much and too good and I want to sit in these feelings. Ugh I miss Osla, Mab and Beth. And I’m so proud of them.

A week later: I still can’t accurately portray how much I enjoyed this book. It took a bit to get into, but I trusted the process and was rewarded greatly. I found Mab to be unstoppable, Osla to be genuine, and Beth to be misunderstood, but her growth over the story was the most impressive. Each of their stories intertwined to create this nuanced account of the women of Bletchley Park and I could not recommend this book enough to every single person I know.

Call Us What We Carry: Amanda Gorman
“Let no one again
Have to begin, love, or end, alone.”

Cue tears. Gorman shares so many amazing words and ideas. Some are hopeful and some are heavy. Memorial and Pre-Memory were both really interesting. I found the journal entries of the soldier Plummer a fascinating illustration of how history repeats itself. I saw a lot of that theme in Gorman’s collection of words. Even if it only repeats itself two years apart… And that being said, I found it hard to read some of these poems right now in the height of Omicron, because a lot of them talked about the pandemic in the past tense and we’re still very “in it” now. But she did do a great job of grasping that initial shock/current of March 2020.