🌼 Sunday Sharies: March 2025

3 upcoming movies, 4-star reads, and the easiest salted peanut butter cookie recipe

Happy Spring! The trees are officially in bloom and April is around the corner. There’s a lot of stuff we’d like to share that won’t fit in our usual Thursday TV newsletter. Some of that stuff is here. Read on for a special monthly peek into what your trusty Double Take duo has been watching, reading, listening to, and more.

— Jess Spoll and Jenni Cullen

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Jenni: My March reading can be characterized by an urge to catch up on a few recent buzzy titles.

The Favorites by Layne Fargo is a story about ambition and ice dancing and human relationships. It was much longer than I expected for this genre, but the slow burn of tension, drama, and sharp writing kept me turning the pages. (4/5 stars)

I also picked up The God of the Woods by Liz Moore—a beautifully written and well-structured mystery thriller about a girl who goes missing at a summer camp in the 1970s. I went in braced for a potentially lackluster ending after hearing some friends’ concerns, but I came out the other side feeling satisfied with the story overall. (4/5 stars)

Finally, I did in fact go back and read the end of Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros. Yes, last month I claimed I was DNFing this series once and for all, but it turns out, I really don’t like leaving books unfinished. (1.5/5 stars for sheer attempt at actual plot in the final 50 pages).

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Jess: This was a slightly underwhelming reading month, but not without its moments. I started with With a Vengeance by Riley Sager (publication date: June 10, 2025), which leans into the locked-room mystery trend with a 1950s train setting, six people with secrets, and one person out for revenge. Like all of Sager’s books post-Home Before Dark, I was disappointed. There are too many characters, too many plot holes, and by the end, I was more confused than compelled. It’s still readable—but at this point, shame on me for expecting more. (2.5/5 stars)

I also picked up Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors, which follows three sisters reuniting in the aftermath of their fourth sister’s death. It’s moody, character-driven, and full of self-destruction, with just enough heart to keep it grounded. I didn’t love it as much as I expected to, but I appreciated the ambition, and the writing is undeniably strong. (3.5/5 stars)

And then there was Victorian Psycho by Virginia Feito, which I read solely because I saw it’s getting an A24 adaptation starring Margaret Qualley. I’m not mad I read it—my curiosity was satisfied—but the violence was so over-the-top and detached from anything meaningful that it felt pointless. Still, I can totally see it working as a movie, especially if they lean into the camp, and Qualley is perfect casting. (2/5 stars)

Jess: I was in Austin earlier this month for the SXSW Film & TV Festival and attended five world premieres—Another Simple Favor, Drop, Death of a Unicorn, O’Dessa, and Holland—plus a midnight screening of Together, which premiered earlier this year at Sundance. While nothing totally blew me away, it was a fun, chaotic, movie-packed few days. Here are my quick reviews of each: