I love writing. But if I’m honest, writing itself isn’t the thing that keeps me coming back.

What keeps me coming back is story.

Writing is the nuts and bolts that get the words down.

But story—story is the beating heart of writing.

Stories have given me so much: they’ve taught me how to be brave, how to get through hard times, and how to be a good human.

And the best kind of stories?

The sticky ones.

You know the ones I mean: the stories that leave you a little restless, a little sad they're over, and weirdly eager to talk about them with anyone who’ll listen.

With that in mind, here are 2 sticky stories from 2025:

Knives Out series

I'm super late to the game on the Knives Out franchise.

If you’re not familiar, all 3 movies are basically classic Agatha Christy mysteries set in modern day.

The thing that's stuck with me the most is the ineffable, southern gentleman detective, Benoit Blanc (#iykyk).

There's something about his southern accent, gentlemanly charm, and drawling courtesy that make this character so damn good.

Not to mention in the first two movies, he’s basically making the other characters do all the work for him--which I found endlessly entertaining.

The mysteries are twisty and fun too, but Blanc lives rent free in my head.

Project Hail Mary

I can't believe i haven’t talked about this book until now because I’ve literally been listening to it every single night since September!!

(I’m sure the booky-book is fine too, but the audiobook is sooooo good. Need proof? It has over 220,000(!) 5 star reviews on Audible).

Paraphrased (and butchered) from Wikipedia: In the near future, scientists observe the sun growing dim, the cause of which turns out to be an infection of alien microbes which feed on the light.

At the rate the microbes are devastating the sun, Earth has maybe 50 years left before it becomes an ice planet. This sets off a worldwide collaboration to figure out how to fight the microbes.

When a possible solution presents itself, Ryland Grace, a middle school teacher and former biologist, finds himself alone in space lightyears away from home: humanity's last hope.

I’m not a science fiction fan and this is hard science fiction, so why do i like this book so freaking much?

Because it's just a good ol' fashioned buddy story.

I don’t want to spoil it because you really need to go listen to it--but you should know it’s sweet, funny, playful, and unexpectedly full of heart.

(and, yes, there is a lot of math in it, but it never feels...mathy. Which in and of itself is quite the accomplishment 😄)

It's seriously become one of my all time favorite books.

Here's the link again -- go listen to it, then let me know what you think so we can start a fan club!

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