The Duke and I (Bridgertons #1) by Julia Quinn

Look, it was fine. It wasn’t my cup of tea and I have no interest in continuing with the series (or starting the show), but I’m not going to begrudge anyone their own personal taste in Comfort Fluff.

Red Sparrow (Red Sparrow Trilogy #1) by Jason Matthews

Looking for a story of romance and adventure in exotic European locations, written by a former CIA operative, and featuring delicious recipes?

Then I highly recommend My Life in France by Julia Child

Rich People Problems (Crazy Rich Asians #3) by Kevin Kwan

Look, I know what I said. I know that I wrote in my review of China Rich Girlfriend that I wasn’t going to continue with the series. All the fun and novelty of the first book had worn off, and I realized that I was just reading a story about people who had so much money it had turned them into sociopaths. I said I was done, but I don’t like to leave things unfinished. So here we are.

Next Level Basic: The Definitive Basic Bitch Handbook by Stassi Schroeder

“I’ve gone to therapy, but it was inconclusive.”

I want to make something very clear right off the bat: I am not giving this book one star just because it’s written by a reality TV star. I gave Holly Madison’s Playboy memoir five stars and I meant every single one of them, so I went into this book with a pretty open mind, and wasn’t prepared to dismiss it just because it’s written by someone who became famous for being awful on a Bravo show.

Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll

Ani FaNelli has the perfect life. She works for a fashion magazine, is thin and beautiful, has thin and beautiful friends, and once she marries her New York blue-blood fiance, she’ll become Ani Harrison and will have gotten everything she wants. Ani’s life is a carefully crafted performance – everything she does and says is specifically engineered to project the kind of persona she wants, and hide the person she used to be.

As a teenager, Ani was TifAni FaNelli (does the name make you grate your teeth? Then Jessica Knoll did her job), a middle-class girl living in a poor neighborhood in Philadelphia who, through unusual circumstances and luck, got herself enrolled in the prestigious Bradley School. Her desperation to fit in and be friends with her rich classmates created a sequence of events that led to a horrifying night – one that Ani is desperate to forget. But this night had further consequences, and culminated in an Incident at the school. Now, a documentary crew is making a movie about the Incident and what is being called “the Bradley Five” and they want to interview Ani to get her side of the story. Finally, Ani will have to tell the truth about what happened, and what she knows about the people involved.

Down the Rabbit Hole: Curious Adventures and Cautionary Tales of a Former Playboy Bunny by Holly Madison

Or, as I called the book in my head, Everyone is a Whore Except Me and Here’s Why. Better yet: The Truth About Kettle: An Autobiography by Pot.

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

When I started this, knowing that it was one of the big It Books of the year, I was pretty sure I knew what to expect. I had read the publisher-provided description, which goes like this:

“Rachel takes the same commuter train every morning. Every day she rattles down the track, flashes past a stretch of cozy suburban homes, and stops at the signal that allows her to daily watch the same couple breakfasting on their deck. She’s even started to feel like she knows them. “Jess and Jason,” she calls them. Their life—as she sees it—is perfect. Not unlike the life she recently lost.

And then she sees something shocking. It’s only a minute until the train moves on, but it’s enough. Now everything’s changed. Unable to keep it to herself, Rachel offers what she knows to the police, and becomes inextricably entwined in what happens next, as well as in the lives of everyone involved. Has she done more harm than good?”

The Bling Ring: How a Gang of Fame-Obsessed Teens Ripped off Hollywood and Shocked the World by Nancy Jo Sales

“Maybe, I thought, the Bling Ring kids felt they could just walk into the stars’ homes because stars no longer shined. Maybe the Bling Ring, for all its silliness, represented a turning point in America’s relationship to celebrity.”

*In which our reviewer takes a break from her usual intelligent discussion of Serious Literature to express her love of trashy reality TV shows*

Interview With the Vampire by Anne Rice

Damn you straight to hell, 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die, look what you made me do. You made me read a goddamn vampire book. Not only that, you made me read a vampire book with a cover made entirely of shiny ostentatious gold material that shouted to everyone in the library as I checked this out, “Look everyone! Madeline is reading a book about vampires! SHINY SHINY SHINY LOOK AT ME! I CONTAIN SEXY BROODING VAMPIRES AND I AM SO EFFING SHINY.”

(I cannot stress how shiny-gold this cover is. Like, the ancient Egyptians would look at this cover and say, “That’s a bit much.” It was awful.)

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

*WARNING: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS*

Trilogies, whether they’re books or films, are always tricky to pull off because they so often fall into the same basic pattern: Part 1 introduces us to the characters and the conflict, then gives us a simplified version of the Big Climactic Ending that’s being planned for Part 3. Part 2 might introduce some new twist or conflict, but mostly its job is to set up Part 3. Part 3 is where everything pays off and the trilogy ends in either a brilliant blaze of glory, or a godawful mess. (see: Godfather III)