Books from December 2024

Mini reviews of everything I read in November.

Sundaze Book Café is the home of everyday magic, joyful living and conversations likely to be had over a hot drink with a friend in your favourite café, capturing the syrup-slow feel and glow of a Sunday. I’m Michelle, and I’ll be your host today.

After writing all about my year of not buying books and realising that I’d had a really average year of reading, December turned out to be great! I read five books that felt much more aligned to my ‘usual genres’ and really enjoyed all of them for different reasons. And I just had to include a screenshot of my Fable reader summary too, because I feel like it is incredibly accurate (and fun, too!). Although almost all of these were NetGalley advanced copies, I’m really excited to share my December reads – I think you’ll love a lot of these! Get that wishlist ready.

Here’s everything that I read, along with some short reviews:

Homeseeking by Karissa Chen

Rating: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

Thanks Sceptre and NetGalley for my advanced reader copy of this book.

When the war pulls teenaged Haiwen and Suchi apart, so begins this beautiful coming-of-age story of love, family, connection and unbreakable bonds. Haiwen and Suchi are best friends growing up together in a longtang in Shanghai. The war pulls them apart and Homeseeking is ultimately a story about how one small choice changed the course of our protagonists’ lives, taking us across several decades and countries.

Chen’s research for this book is clear to see: there’s war, politics, people and places to reckon with, not to mention the complexities of the multiple Chinese languages. I completely loved how the author brought this historical romance saga to life through environments, food (the ultimate Chinese love language!), clothing and language. Suchi and Suchan are the perfect characters to showcase the challenges of being a woman in the war in the 1950s. I completely adored this breathtakingly emotional story for its gorgeous balance of romance and historical fiction.

The Night Counsellor by L.K. Pang

Rating: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

Thanks to Chronos Publishing for my advanced reader copy. This is my honest review, with no obligation to post.

CW: child loss, abuse, homophobia.

Historical fiction with a dark edge is one of my favourite genres, and The Night Counsellor is a fine example of it. Set in the 1950s – in an asylum – across multiple timelines and POVs, Pang perfects the pacing on this story, unveiling the plot bit by bit as we the reader try to untangle what is happening in the current day. The entire first half is a near-perfect slow burn with gorgeous characters: a single working mother, a new wife, a kind neighbour, an absent husband.

Pang doesn't shy away from the darker aspects of life in an institution either. In fact, she delves deep into the unsettling way that women were demonised and institutionalised for things like, grieving baby loss and a marriage. The author seems to have conducted a great deal of research into this, which I appreciate, and it is a thoughtfully written thread throughout. Aside from the setting, this is also an engaging page-turner. The multiple POVs are well-plotted and, while I thought it was fairly predictable, it didn't take away from my enjoyment of the story.

I love that Pang isn't afraid to spend plenty of time setting the scene too. There's really beautiful, evocative descriptions of the asylum, Georgina's new home and deep inside all the characters' minds.

An enjoyable historical fiction laced with themes of love, betrayal, mental health, parenthood, trust and the treatment of women.

A Serial Killer’s Guide to Marriage by Asia McKay

Rating: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

Thanks to Headline and NetGalley for my advanced reader copy of this book.

True crime is my 'thing' so I was thrilled to be accepted for an eARC of this thriller. In A Serial Killer's Guide to Marriage, Haze and Fox are a married couple with baby Bibi – yes really – bonding them in suburban England beyond their initial interest-in-common: murder.

Through fun, witty dialogue, even funnier internal monologues from each main character, and a switching POV, this book becomes a page-turning mystery-thriller with a wild ending. I thought this would be a serious, dark book, but I'm glad that it was a racing mystery-thriller with humour, wonderful characters, style and adrenaline. The author brilliantly weaves in social commentary of what is morally right, and this was a great palate cleansing read. It has Mr and Mrs Smith vibes and definitely feels cinematic and compulsive in many ways.

Water Moon by Samantha Sotto Yambao

Rating: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

Thanks Random House and NetGalley for my advanced reader copy of this book.

Wow, what a book! I feel utterly privileged to have been accepted for a NetGalley ARC of Water Moon, because I am completely changed having read it. Water Moon is an ethereal, dreamlike magical realism story set in a backstreet in Tokyo. Here lies a magical pawnshop where the chosen ones – those that feel lost – can pawn life choices and deepest regrets. Hana Ishikawa wakes on her first morning as the new owner of the family pawnshop, only to find her father missing and the shop’s most precious item missing. But in walks a charming stranger and together they journey through ponds, puddles and night markets in the clouds to find her father.

Sotto Yambao’s dreamlike prose is thoroughly enchanting and beautifully evocative. Every sentence feels threaded with magic, and she conjures up theatrical dreamscapes and parallel universes with ease. Hana is a great protagonist with a real grip on her alternate world, making the world-building feel natural, easy but expansive all at the same time. Keishin plays a great antithesis to her, and the juxtaposition between Hana’s ethereal ways and his logical, scientific mind make a great running thread. I love the magic system and the simple, magnetic romance that blossoms. Perhaps I too could become a romance reader if all stories were like this.

Woven with Hayao Miyazaki-like eccentricity and charm, I completely adored this book and cannot stop raving about it!

Moat Hill Hall by L.K. Pang

Rating: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️.5

After reading The Night Counsellor, I wanted to look back at L.K. Pang’s debut, Moat Hill Hall. This was another enjoyable read, set in England and brimming with the same ambience as that in Rebecca and Jane Eyre. Architect Rosie Rudley has won a big job to remaster the historic and infamous Moat Hill Hall. There, she encounters the dark and brooding Ralph Evans, owner of the hall and widower to a missing woman.

I enjoyed this mystery book. It definitely felt very similar to Rebecca which detracted from my overall enjoyment, simply because I love the classic so much. The book has a slow-burning first half, then a fast-paced more predictable second half.

What’s the best book you read in December?