You're Getting Back into the Swing of Office Life

Want to embrace winter weather or are participating in Dry January

Hi friends,

Welcome to 2025.

I hope your year-end festivities were joyful and restful. I spent the holidays snuggling with my two-month-old niece, catching up with friends and family and devouring good food and good books.

I also had a few articles come out around the web:

• A piece on the rise of book tourism in Fodor’s featuring an interview with author Kristy Woodson Harvey.

• An interview with Jane Pek about her new book The Rivals and debut The Verifiers for Crime Reads.

And, now, what to read if…

You’re Getting Back into a Routine at Work

I Hope This Finds You Well by Natalie Sue

Almost everyone I know took at least a few days off at the end of the year — I was out from the 23^rd to the 1^st — and is now trying to get back in the swing of things at the office. It’s … an adjustment. If you’re looking for a book about someone feeling out of place at work — and in the world — grab a copy of Natalie Sue’s I Hope This Finds You Well.

Jolene, an admin at Supershops, Inc., manages her annoyance with her incompetent and irritating coworkers by including angry rants — in white font — at the bottom of her emails. It’s a great stress relief technique, until she goofs and one of her messages is visible. She’s sentenced to sensitivity training with Cliff, the suspiciously kind HR representative. On top of that, an IT mix-up gives Jolene access to her coworkers’ emails and other private communications. When she learns layoffs are coming, Jolene decides to use her one-on-one time with Cliff and insider information to protect her job. That mission grows more complicated as she learns more about her colleagues’ private lives and begins to develop feelings for Cliff.

I had in my head that I Hope This Finds You Well would be a wacky workplace satire, like Please Be Advised, or a straightforward office romance, but it’s more aptly described as Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine meets Attachments. It’s the story of Jolene working to overcome intense grief and depression and about the secrets we all keep. I Hope This Finds You Well does come with a few laugh-out-loud lines about the absurdity of office culture, but hits you with a surprise wallop of emotion.

You Want to Embrace the Winter Weather

The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon

As I write this, snowflakes are falling outside my window, and we experienced one of my favorite forms of weather — thunder snow — this afternoon. If you’re searching for a book with winter weather vibes, look no further than Ariel Lawhon’s The Frozen River, a historical novel about Martha Ballard, a midwife in Maine during the winter of 1789-1790.

As the book opens, Martha is summoned to examine a body found frozen in the Kennebec River. She quickly recognizes the dead man as Joshua Burgess, a prominent member of the community her friend Rebecca accused of rape, along with Joseph North, the community’s judge, months before. Martha fears North may have killed Burgess to cover up the crime, and her suspicion grows when a new-to-town doctor contradicts her conclusion that the death was murder. As Martha continues to deliver babies, raise her children and tend to patients, she also investigates Burgess’s death and seeks to find evidence of the two men’s attack on Rebecca.

The Frozen River is a tough book to describe because it spans genres. My blurb makes it sound like a murder mystery, but I think it’s more historical fiction/slice of life with a mystery arc. I really enjoyed learning about Ballard, a real-life midwife who delivered more than a thousand babies without ever losing a mother. That would be impressive now, but given the state of medicine in the 18^th century, it’s truly remarkable.

You’re Doing Dry January

Dry Humping by Tawny Lara

According to Time Magazine, “Dry January—a month-long feat to be sober—officially launched as a campaign in 2013 under the organization Alcohol Change UK, though the practice has roots that extend as far back as 1942, when Finland had their own “Sober January” to help in the war against the Soviet Union.” Last year, roughly 15% of Americans reported participating in the sober month. If you’re doing dry — or “damp” January — or are just “sober curious,” consider reading Dry Humping, Tawny Lara’s guide to sober dating.

Lara stopped drinking in 2015 and has remained sober since (Congrats Tawny!). After she cut out booze, she felt lost on how to date without her “liquid courage.” Dry Humping is a guide based on her experiences and expert interviews, complete with alcohol-free date ideas, scripts to guide awkward conversations and tips on surviving a breakup without liquor.

As the title suggests, Dry Humping is funny and cheeky, but it also provides real, actionable ideas for sober dating. I also think its audience goes beyond those who are sober — or dating —and I’m not alone. Emily Lynn Paulson, author of Hey Hun: Sales, Sisterhood, Supremacy, and the Other Lies Behind Multilevel Marketing (expect to see it in a future newsletter) said, “As a person with long-term sobriety and in a long-term committed relationship, I wasn’t expecting to learn much, but I was wrong! This is a must-read for anyone who wants to strengthen their intimate relationships.”

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