September 2021 Reads

I cannot believe we are 3/4 through 2021! This year seems to be flying by. But here we are starting a new month with my favorite post!

I read 8 books this month to get my total to 91! 100 will not be hard obviously, so I'm hoping to get to 120 - basically 10 books/month the rest of the year. This was NOT my most diverse month of reading, but I enjoyed everything I read!

The Brilliant Life of Eudora Honeysett by Annie Lyons - This was a little gem of a book that reminded me of A Man Called Ove. Eudora is a curmudgeon who is ready to be done with life, but meeting her new neighbors gives her some pause about those wishes. This book goes back and forth from Eudora's childhood to what made her who she is as an adult. I felt this one in my heart, it really tugged at me, and it was a good one!

The Bright Side of Disaster by Katherine Center - The more I read by Katherine Center, the more I like her books. This was about a new mom whose boyfriend leaves her when their baby is born and how she rebuilds her life. I loved how realistic Katherine described new motherhood, and I thought this story was good. Her books can be a little cheesy, and this one was, but that isn't always a bad thing! I'll keep her books in my rotation for sure!

Her Last Flight by Beatriz Williams - I liked, but didn't love, this story. The first book I read by Beatriz Williams, The Secret Life of Violet Grant, sucked me in within a few pages. This one took a LONG time for me to get into - a kind of Amelia Earheart mystery - and I struggled with it for probably 2/3 of the book. When it finally did pick up {with a DOOZY of a reveal I did NOT see coming} I was hooked and stayed up until 1:00 AM to finish. I just wish it hadn't taken so long to get me really engaged.

Invisible Girl by Lisa Jewell - This was the most non-thriller thriller I've maybe ever read. Lisa Jewell knocked my socks off with the first few books of hers I read, and while I liked this one, it wasn't my favorite. A girl is missing and we go back and forth from her therapist and his family to her POV to figure out why she is missing. The big reveal was different than what I expected but just not the most exciting of surprises.

Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley - We read this for BFBC and we all really enjoyed this! I haven't read anything from a Native American perspective, and this definitely makes me want to read more. The main character is a teenager helping solve a mystery for how meth is being trafficked through her reservation. It was a slow building story but I really got invested in the characters and story and thoroughly loved it by the end!

The Paris Library by Janet Skeslien Charles - A WW2 book with an alternating timelin AND it's set in a library?!?! Sign me up! This wasn't my favorite but it was good. I really liked the development in the present day storyline (actually in the 1980s) and figuring out how the character from the library in Paris ended up living in Montana.

The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave - Ooooh this is my kind of thriller! I struggle to connect with characters in thrillers but since the main character is the one who is trying to figure out what happened to her husband, it was just different enough to really hold my interest! I read this on the plane ride home from Florida and couldn't put it down!

The Duchess Deal by Tessa Dare - Very standard Regency romance but I super enjoyed it! Cheesy but had some heart to it and definitely great passion! This is a series, and I am for sure going to keep reading.

I'm excited to see how the last few months of the year go with my reading - I've got a lot of great books on hold, whoo hoo!