There’s always a point during these walks with Link where I stop thinking about whether I liked a book and start thinking about why it’s still sitting with me.

Not necessarily the perfectly plotted books. Not even always the highest rated ones. Just the stories that quietly linger. The ones that leave behind an emotion, a question, or a scene that randomly resurfaces while I’m making coffee or driving down the highway a week later.

And this reading week was full of those kinds of books.

Some worked for me almost immediately. Others took their time. A few frustrated me while I was reading them only to fully settle into my brain afterward. But almost every book I picked up this week was exploring some version of identity, survival, healing, or the terrifying things people will do in pursuit of control.

Which feels…accidentally thematic for one reading week.

Seek the Traitor’s Son by Veronica Roth

My love for Veronica Roth goes all the way back to my complete obsession with Divergent, so the second I heard she was writing an epic fantasy, I knew I was going to read it regardless of what it was about.

Thankfully, this absolutely delivered for me.

This is very much the kind of fantasy that asks you to fully sink into the worldbuilding. There’s lore, prophecy, political tension, shifting alliances, layered magic systems, and enough terminology early on that I definitely found myself flipping back through pages trying to reconnect dots. But once I settled into the rhythm of the story, I became completely consumed by it.

What really made this work for me, though, wasn’t just the scale of the world. It was the emotional core running underneath all of it.

Elegy became one of my favorite female characters of the year almost immediately. She’s fierce and protective, but also funny and deeply human in the ways that matter most. Watching her reclaim the prophecy tied to her identity instead of allowing it to consume or define her was incredibly satisfying.

And then there’s Theren, who honestly hurt my feelings a little.

I appreciated so much that Roth allowed his trauma and guilt to exist as something more nuanced than simply “sad backstory for emotional angst.” His healing felt gradual and messy and believable in a way that grounded the larger fantasy elements beautifully.

Also: the audiobook deserves its flowers. The full cast narration added so much emotional texture to the story and made the quieter moments hit even harder.

The Anniversary by Alex Finlay

This was my first Alex Finlay book and absolutely will not be my last because I flew through this.

The structure alone made this impossible for me to put down. Dual POVs, multiple timelines, intersecting lives, short chapters — it constantly created that perfect push and pull where I never wanted the current chapter to end but was equally desperate to see what happened next.

The story follows Jules and Quinn, whose lives were forever altered after one horrifying night in 1992, and I loved watching the ripple effects of that trauma continue shaping them over the next decade.

There’s something especially compelling about stories that explore how people become trapped in the gravitational pull of one singular moment. How lives continue moving forward while emotionally remaining tethered to the past.

And this book absolutely nails that feeling.

The suspense itself was addictive, but what surprised me most was how emotionally invested I became in Jules and Quinn individually. Their journeys felt dark, intense, and deeply human beneath the mystery elements.

I also just really loved the 90s atmosphere woven throughout this. It added such a distinct texture to the reading experience.

Make Me Better by Sarah Gailey

This is one of those deeply complicated reading experiences where I still don’t entirely know whether I “liked” the book… but I know with absolute certainty that it affected me.

Because while I was reading it, I often found myself frustrated.

There are a lot of timelines, POVs, and narrative shifts happening here, and at times it created a distance between me and the characters that made it difficult to feel fully emotionally anchored in the story. I also think this could have been significantly shorter without losing any of its impact.

And yet.

I cannot stop thinking about it.

There was a moment this week where I was literally driving down the highway replaying the emotional climax of the story in my head and just quietly went, “Damn. That’s actually horrifying.”

At its core, this is a story about belonging. About grief. About vulnerability. About the dangerous human desire to feel chosen by a community no matter the cost.

As someone who has personally experienced harm within community spaces, there was something deeply unsettling and emotionally recognizable about parts of this book, even when the actual circumstances were wildly different from my own experiences.

I think that’s why it stayed with me.

Not because it was perfect, but because it understood something uncomfortable and deeply human.

How to Find a Guy in Five Weddings by Cynthia Timoti

After several emotionally heavy books, this felt like exactly the kind of palate cleanser my brain needed.

The setup alone is delightful: Kimiko needs a boyfriend in order to keep her grandmother’s yarn shop, except she doesn’t actually believe in love. Then Rob (professional matchmaker, emotional golden retriever, walking green flag) inserts himself into her life with a plan to help her find a soulmate across five weddings.

And obviously things become complicated immediately.

What I loved most about this was the dynamic between Kim and Rob. Kim is trying so hard to keep everything controlled, logical, and emotionally contained, while Rob operates almost entirely from instinct, kindness, and emotional openness.

Watching those two personalities collide was genuinely so much fun.

I also absolutely adored Opa. Every scene with him added warmth and heart to the story in a way that made the emotional moments land even better.

This really does feel perfect for readers who love 27 Dresses-style wedding chaos mixed with slow-burn romance and emotionally guarded female main characters.

Soon By You by Dahlia Adler

This one completely surprised me.

I expected to enjoy it, but I didn’t expect to become so emotionally invested in Ari and Judah specifically.

The chemistry between them felt incredibly natural — sharp banter, emotional tension, genuine vulnerability underneath all the flirting — and I loved how much emotional intimacy anchored the romance itself.

Ari and Judah both felt flawed in ways that made them more lovable rather than frustrating. They’re messy. Guarded. Trying to figure themselves out while navigating complicated expectations around relationships, community, and identity.

And speaking of community: one of the strongest aspects of this book was the setting within New York City’s Modern Orthodox Jewish community.

It felt immersive without ever feeling inaccessible. The traditions, matchmaking expectations, family dynamics, and social pressures all added such richness to the story while still allowing the romance itself to remain central.

Also this book is genuinely funny. Like actually laugh-out-loud funny in several scenes.

The wedding chaos. The awkward encounters. The side character commentary. It all balanced beautifully against the more emotionally vulnerable moments.

The Mediator by Robert Bailey

This book stressed me out in the absolute best way possible.

Max Ringo was once a brilliant lawyer until addiction and personal tragedy completely derailed her life. Now newly in recovery, she’s trying to rebuild herself when her son is kidnapped, and the ransom becomes her cooperation in a vicious, high-stakes divorce mediation case.

This story moves FAST.

The entire thing unfolds over just a few days, and Bailey keeps the tension constantly escalating through hidden agendas, shifting loyalties, and perfectly timed reveals.

But what really made this work for me was Max herself.

She’s exhausted, flawed, desperate, brilliant, angry, and absolutely refuses to give up despite having every reason to collapse under the weight of what’s happening.

There’s something incredibly compelling about characters who have already hit rock bottom and are forced to keep fighting anyway.

Watching Max weaponize every legal skill she had left while desperately trying to save her son made this impossible for me to put down.

And honestly? I desperately hope this becomes a long-running series.

The Dorians by Nick Cutter

How do I even begin explaining this book?

Imagine Jurassic Park, The Thing, Frankenstein, body horror, anti-aging science, existential dread, and deeply questionable medical ethics all thrown into a blender together.

That’s basically the vibe here.

The premise alone is fantastic: five elderly patients who have elected medically assisted suicide are instead offered an experimental treatment on a remote island that can supposedly reverse aging.

And because this is a Nick Cutter novel, absolutely everything goes horrifyingly wrong.

This definitely starts slower than I expected, but once the horror elements begin creeping in, the atmosphere becomes deeply unsettling in that distinctly Cutter way where you simultaneously want to look away and keep reading.

The body horror here is VERY Cronenberg-inspired. Gross, invasive, fleshy, deeply uncomfortable horror.

But underneath all the gore, Cutter is also exploring genuinely interesting questions around humanity’s obsession with youth, scientific hubris, consent, mortality, and the terrifying pace at which technology evolves beyond our ability to ethically control it.

Also: I weirdly loved following an older cast of characters in horror. It felt refreshing and emotionally distinct from the genre norm.

Heir of Illusion by Madeline Taylor

I read this in basically one sitting.

The magic system hooked me almost immediately because it felt distinct without becoming overly complicated, which is honestly harder to pull off in romantasy than people give credit for.

Ivy was such an easy main character to root for. She’s resourceful, strong-willed, emotionally resilient, and trying desperately to reclaim autonomy from an emotionally abusive king who has controlled far too much of her life.

Then enters Thorne.

A shadow-wielding morally gray man whose deadly shadows turn into snakes.

Which honestly tells you everything you need to know about why the romantasy community is going to eat this up.

I really enjoyed the gradual progression of their relationship from reluctant allies to something much more emotionally layered. The pacing moves quickly enough that the tension never drags, and the ending absolutely leaves things positioned for chaos moving forward.

And yes, the cliffhanger did emotionally attack me.

Somehow this entire reading week ended up orbiting around people trying to reclaim themselves.

From prophecy and trauma to cults and community to legal desperation and experimental immortality, almost every story I picked up was asking some version of the same question:

Who are we when the world (or other people) try to define us first? Apparently that was my accidental reading theme of the week. And honestly? I’m not mad about it.