I can't believe it's August! Let my birthday month commence! And we'll start it off with my favorite post - book review! {grin}
I read 9 books this month bringing my total to 71, 14 ahead of my goal of 100 books this year. I'm so excited to see where I end the year. I'm consistently reading 9-10 books/month and having a blast.
Someone We Know by Shari Lapena - Very standard thriller about a murder in a suburban neighborhood. I didn't love it but didn't dislike it either. The twists were pretty good, and it kept me entertained, just nothing to get super excited about either. I think that's 3 Shari Lapena books I've read, and I've felt the same about them all. My bestie keeps buying them and loaning them to me, though, so I'll keep reading them, ha!
Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams - Oh how I loved Queenie! When this book started, I struggled with her decision-making. She kept making bad choice after bad choice and was hurting herself so badly. As we got to know her, learning about her trauma along the way, saw her hit her rock bottom, and climb out, I grew to love her so much. This was an excellent read.
The Soulmate Equation by Christina Lauren - What happens with the inventor of a dating app based on your DNA finds his perfect match...who happens to not be looking for love? This book. Very cute and fun, a pretty typical Christina Lauren book that I thoroughly enjoyed and read quickly. A month from now I won't remember anything about it, but I really liked it in the moment.
Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi - Gosh I was looking forward to this after reading Homegoing, and boy was I disappointed. This story just never felt like it took off or went anywhere. Then in the very end, something big happened, but we skipped over everything related to it, which I would have loved to have read after all the blah that happened the whole book.
The Lions of Fifth Avenue by Fiona Davis - Fiona Davis consistently writes good present/past timelines with a mystery between. I don't like her as much as Kate Morton, but hers always keep me engaged and enjoying. This one, about a family who lived in the New York City Public Library in the early 1900s was very interesting. I didn't see the big reveal coming at all and enjoyed the build-up to it a lot.
Internment by Samira Ahmed - We read this for Blog Friend Book Club - not surprising for us - a YA dystopian-ish story. {grin} Set in the not too distant future {allusions to Trump as president or someone very similar to him} when Muslims are considered the enemy and are rounded up and put in an internment camp like the Japanese during WW2. It felt very real and very scary, but at the same time, the main character got on my nerves. In the end, I enjoyed it, but it was a bumpy ride to get there.
Untamed by Glennon Doyle - I read this for a work book club. I'm not usually a fan of self-help/rah-rah books. I'm not saying we can't all use some help, I just typically feel as I'm reading that 'man, this author must be getting paid by the word'. {grin} I did have moments like that with Untamed, but for probably 2/3 of it I was eating up every word. Glennon was very open about her struggles in life and the things she's learned from them. She gave me so many good nuggets of things to think about that felt like light bulb moments. I could see myself buying this book to highlight certain parts to go back to. Yes, I skimmed/skipped some parts, but overall this was very, very good.
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou - Maya Angelou is a gifted writer. Duh, but this is the first book of hers I've read. I was so moved by reading her story {until the age of 17}. She overcame SO much, and reading about her early years made me really appreciate all that she accomplished so much more.
Devil in Disguise by Lisa Kleypas - Y'all know I love Lisa Kleypas novels. She mostly writes Victorian romance novels, but has a few contemporary romances as well. This is the last book in the Ravenel series {I read the first one when I was pregnant with Paige!}, and it was good, not great. I was excited to have one last story with this family, but the story was kind of a mess. I enjoyed it, but I didn't love it like I have some of her others.
I'm going to be at the lake this week with our family, so I'm really curious to see how many books I get read. I'm about halfway through a book right now that is so adorable, and I can't wait to share it with everyone.
1 comments:
Both Queenie and Transcendent Kingdom have been on my TBR for a while. I'll keep Queenie on there but given your review, I think it'll delete Transcendent Kingdom. I chuckled at your general feelings on self-help books. I do love certain self-help books because they do actually help; it's like therapy but without an appointment. I do think of G Doyle less as self-help and more like a memoir though, so I thought it was interesting you'd put her in the self-help category.
Post a Comment