Hello, book lovers! Flor here, back with another book recommendation post after quite a long hiatus from my literary content. As some of you might have noticed, I took a break from my regular book review posts—the last one was way back in October 2023! But I’m excited to be diving back into sharing my reading journey with you all.
Before we get into my recommendations, I wanted to share a bit about why I took a pause from these reviews. I noticed they weren’t getting as much engagement as my other content, and I wanted to recharge and rethink how I approach talking about books with you all. I’ve mentioned books briefly in my get-ready-with-me and life update videos, but I’ve missed being able to really dive deep into the stories that have captured my imagination.
If you prefer watching over reading, here’s my video review of these books:
A Look Back at My 2023 Reading
Before I share my latest recommendations, I thought I’d give you a glimpse into my reading year in 2023. I read eight books total (not my best year, but quality over quantity, right?). My two absolute favorites were «Seven Exes» by Lucy Vine and «The Marlow Murder Club» by Robert Thorogood—both earned solid 4-star ratings from me and were the highlights of my reading year.
Now, let’s get into the five books I’ve been loving recently!
1. «Death Comes to Marlow» by Robert Thorogood
If you’ve been following me for a while, you might remember me raving about «The Marlow Murder Club» in a previous post. Well, this is the second book in that series, and it definitely lived up to my expectations!
The series follows three unlikely women detective partners in the small UK town of Marlow. What I love about these books is how they completely flip the script on the typical mystery detective trope. Instead of the usual male detective in his 50s or 60s (think Hercule Poirot or Sherlock Holmes), we get this amazing team of women—one in her 70s or 80s who’s incredibly smart, another who’s a single mom, and the third who feels somewhat neglected by her husband and kids.
In this second installment, they’re at Sir Peter Bailey’s birthday party when he ends up dead in a room locked from the inside—a classic locked room mystery! The three women must figure out if it was an accident or murder, and if it was murder, how someone could have done it with the room locked from inside.
I gave this one 4 out of 5 stars because it kept me guessing until the end. As someone who reads a lot of mysteries and thrillers, I can usually tell who the killer is by the 30-50% mark, but Thorogood always manages to keep me on my toes!
2. «The Queen of Poisons» by Robert Thorogood
Yes, I’m on a Thorogood kick! This is the third book in the Marlow mystery series, and one of the first books I read in 2024. This time, the mayor of Marlow dies at a council meeting, and one of our three amateur detectives happens to be there when it happens.
What makes these books so engaging is how Thorogood plays with your suspicions. You’ll be convinced you know who the killer is, only to change your mind two chapters later, and then again three chapters after that—and sometimes that suspect ends up being the next victim!
As a fun side note: the first book in this series has been adapted into a TV show! You can find «The Marlow Murder Club» on Prime Video (at least here in the US). They did such a wonderful job with the adaptation—the casting is perfect, and it’s so fun seeing the town of Marlow come to life. While I usually think books are better than their adaptations, this one is definitely worth watching after you read the series.
3. «The Woman on the Ledge» by Ruth Mancini
This was an advanced reader copy that I received earlier this year (which now feels like 500 lifetimes ago!). The story revolves around a woman who falls from the roof terrace of a bank in London. When this happens, the police arrest another woman who they believe is responsible for the death.
The woman who’s arrested claims she had just met the victim for a brief moment and that the victim was actually trying to commit suicide—she had talked her out of it and had nothing to do with the victim’s fall.
I gave this book 3 out of 5 stars. It’s a very original story with good twists that kept me engaged, but I did figure out the ending around the 60-70% mark, which is why I didn’t rate it higher. Still, the distinctive plot and interesting characters make it worth reading!
4. «The Stranger in the Mirror» by Liv Constantine
Here’s a fun fact: Liv Constantine isn’t one person, but actually a duo of sisters writing under a shared pen name!
This book follows two storylines. First, there’s Addison, a woman who seems to have a pretty great life—she has a nice job, she’s just gotten engaged, and she loves her fiancé and his family. But there’s a catch: she doesn’t remember anything about her life before meeting her fiancé. She has about 30 years of memories that are completely blank.
On the other side, we have Julian, whose wife mysteriously disappeared one day. He has a daughter who asks about her mom every day, and he’s torn between continuing the search and moving on with his life.
I gave this one 2 out of 5 stars, which is pretty harsh for me. I think these sisters are talented writers, but I found the characters in this book to be too twisted and almost unrealistically intense. I figured out the ending a few chapters before the reveal, and while the book was well-written, it just wasn’t quite my vibe. That said, if you enjoy intense psychological thrillers with some truly wild characters, you might enjoy this one more than I did!
5. «Here One Moment» by Liane Moriarty
This book holds a special place in my heart because not only did I enjoy reading it, but I also got to attend the launch event for it here in New York City at the TWA Hotel in JFK and meet Liane Moriarty herself!
I’ve read several of her books before—»What Alice Forgot» (which I absolutely loved), «Truly Madly Guilty,» «The Husband’s Secret,» and «Nine Perfect Strangers» (my least favorite of the bunch). I also watched the TV show «Big Little Lies,» which is based on one of her books. So yes, I’m definitely a Moriarty fan!
«Here One Moment» tells the story of a woman on a flight who suddenly stands up and starts walking down the aisle, pointing at different passengers, stating an age and a cause of death for each one. At first, people think she’s crazy, but when people start dying exactly as she predicted, the other passengers start to worry.
The book is told from multiple perspectives—we hear from the «psychic» herself and from about 20 different passengers on the plane. What I love about Moriarty’s books is that there’s always a deeper message beneath the main plot. In this case, it’s about mortality and whether we would live differently if we knew when and how our lives would end.
At the launch event, Moriarty shared how she came up with the story idea. She was on a delayed flight when a woman near her was trying to call her daughter to tell her to have her father pick her up later. The daughter kept saying her dad wasn’t responding, and Moriarty’s mind immediately went to «Is he dead?» (He wasn’t—he was just asleep!) Combined with her own experiences with her father’s passing and cancer diagnoses in her family, it got her thinking about mortality and how one day, someone could look at a plane manifest from the past and know exactly when and how everyone on that flight eventually died.
I found this concept incredibly original and thought-provoking, which is exactly what I’ve come to expect from Moriarty’s work.
A Thank You Note
I want to take a moment to thank all of you who have watched any of my book recommendation videos since I started making them in 2020. It’s because of your views, comments, and support that I had the incredible opportunity to meet one of my favorite authors at that launch event. Your engagement with my content means the world to me!
I have enough books to cover at least two more recommendation posts, so please let me know if you’d like me to make this a regular series again—maybe every 2-3 months or every 6 months? I’d love to hear what you think!
Also, I’d love to know which of these books you’ve read or which ones you’re interested in checking out. And if you’ve read any books based on my previous recommendations, I’d be thrilled to hear your thoughts!
Happy reading, everyone!
Love, Flor.
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