I love summer reading! I love bringing my books outside, sitting on my back deck, watching the hummingbirds and getting lost in a book. I also love bring my books with me on our mountain escapes – whether it is sitting while my husband fishes or in a crazy chair in a cabin. It can be such a great time off year to slow down and rejuvenate. I had plenty of outside reading time in July and my list shows it. I did read and finish 12 books in July and had one DNF. The majority of my selections were devoured in a one week period that we escaped to a small lakeside cabin where I read almost a book a day.
I did have one 5 🍷 read this month, a handful of 4s/3.5’s but I have to say the majority were good/fine books but not a lot of wows. A couple of duds too.
I did try to get refocus on my 2021 reading goals and I will have to make much more progress on them in August. New shiny books distract me!
Here are the books that I read in July.
Project Hail Mary – Andy Weir
I finished this one late in the evening on the night of July 31st – so it is indeed a July book. Excellent! So much science – I was able to keep up with the science most of the time but occasionally got lost in it. Even with that, a 5 star read. Ryland Grace is teacher that finds himself alone in a space ship. It becomes clear that he is fighting to find a solution to an organism that is destroying the sun. Will he complete the mission in time? I rarely read Sci-Fi but I was glued to this book and loved it. It was indeed a little bit “The Martian-esque” (same author) but I didn’t mind. I kept picturing Matt Damon as Ryland but later googled to find that yes, there will be a movie and it will star Ryan Gosling.
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Local Woman Missing – Mary Kubica
I will start this by saying, if you have younger kids, you may want to skip this one. I could never read about missing children when mine were younger. With that said, I very much enjoyed Local Woman Missing. It is a suspenseful, domestic read that did unravel in a unique way. We’ve got a missing person’s case and shortly thereafter another woman and her daughter, Delilah disappear. Eleven years later, Delilah returns. And that’s when all the secrets start to unravel.
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Stolen – Tess Stimson
This was my first novel by Tess Stimson and I think I will try another. It is a suspenseful, quick, unputdownable read that draws you in very fast. Alexa is single mom who has recently been widowed. She attends a wedding of her best friend Marc at a luxury resort in Florida with her 3 year old, Lottie, a bridesmaid. While Alexa is occupied elsewhere, Lottie disappears. Alexa is portrayed as a “real” mom, her weaknesses and mistakes are raw and most seem believable. There is also an interesting spin on why Lottie’s case receives more attention than other missing children. The story is packed with misdirection – maybe a little too much? – but will keep you guessing until the end. There were a few parts that I found overall confusing that kept the book from rating higher for me, but overall, a strong, good read. Again, if you have younger children, it could be a harder story emotionally and you may want to skip it.
Thank you to NetGalley and Avon Books for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion. Stolen will be available on 8/5/2021.
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The Book of Lost Names – Kristin Harmel
This was my second Harmel book and both were read relatively close together. It is an excellent historical fiction telling of a unique story within WW2. There is a double timeline – we first meet Eva, a librarian in 2005 that spots a newspaper article with a picture of a book, one she hasn’t seen in 65 years. The article describes how this book seems to have a type of code and it is obvious Eva knows what it is. We then quickly switch to the earlier time line where we see Eva as a librarian assistant after escaping Paris following the arrest of her father. She finds herself quickly becoming involved in helping Jewish children escape to Switzerland as a forger. I found The Book of Lost Names deeply emotional and to be one of the best WW2 historical fiction books I have read.
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Just One Look – Lindsay Cameron
3.5 rounded up. As I suspected, Just One Look is a giant cup of crazy. Cassie’s life is a mess and she’s about to become a total stalker. She has lost her esteemed job at a high level law firm due to an “incident” that is teased throughout the book. She is now in a lawyer temp pool reviewing emails for a case at another firm. She is broke, damaged, lonely and pretty much drinks her meals with a chaser of Tylenol PM. What could possibly go wrong? She becomes obsessed with partner Forrest and his wife Annabelle after stumbling on multiple emails from Forrest’s inbox in the review queue. Her imagination is electrified by her mental state and off we go.
Ultimately I liked the book, but there were parts that fell short that left it in the “like” category and not “love”. First of all, my heart ached for Cassie. I wanted to pick her up out of the pages and bring her over for a cup of tea and a good home cooked meal. It is a page turner for sure, but the tension left me mostly sad for the main character. It is entertaining and will keep you up late at night flipping through but it is quite predictable. With that said, it’s a good beach/vacation read that won’t need too much deep thinking.
Thank you to NetGalley and Ballentine Books for my early release copy in exchange for my honest opinion. Just One Look will be released on July 27.
🍷🍷🍷1/2
What Comes After – JoAnne Tompkins
We know from the get-go that two teenage boys are dead. One murdered by the other and the second commits suicide. Shortly following these tragic events mysterious homeless teenage girl that is pregnant appears and seems intent in settling into the community. The entire books is not just “What Comes After” but What Came Before. It truly is not a happy book at all covering loss, tragedy but also hope and forgiveness and you really are going to have to be in the right place mentally to read it. With that said, very well written and hard to believe it is a debut novel.
🍷🍷🍷1/2
The Guilt Trip – Sandie Jones
The Guilt Trip was a character driven domestic drama labeled as a thriller that was a bit lacking. 3 couples are off for the weekend in Portugal for one of their weddings. We’ve got 2 best friends – Rachel & Paige, 2 brothers Jack and Will, Noah who has a history with Rachel and then lastly – Ali, Will’s new young bride to be. From the get go, the characters are mostly unlikeable and constantly suspicious of each others intentions and their own partner’s fidelity. I have to say the misdirection and twist was so subtle and probably the best part of the book. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an early release copy in exchange for my honest opinions. The Guilt Trip will be available on 8/3/21.
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Seven Days In June – Tia Williams
This selection received a lot of hype and it was just o.k. for me. Eva is a single mom author that pens erotica novels. She is unexpectedly reunited with Shane, an award winning author, at a literary conference. There is obviously a past with deep chemistry and we go back and forth between past and present. It is a steamy book at times which I wasn’t expecting. My favorite part of the book was Eva as a mom and her relationship with her 12 year old daughter Audre.
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Libertie – Kaitlyn Greenidge
Another just ok read for me. Libretie is the daughter of single mother physician in post slavery Brooklyn. This book examines freedom from many angles – black, women, lighter skinned vs darker skinned and the freedom from yourself and your own decisions. Libertie starts off reading like a YA novel for me, until it wasn’t.
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Survive The Night – Riley Sager
This was my third Sager book and I may be done. He is often applauded as one of the best current thriller writers out there, but it isn’t cutting it for me. I found Survive the Night entertaining enough (giving it 3 🍷s) but if I wasn’t drinking 🍷 with it, it likely would have been less. We meet Charlie, deeply depressed and dropping out of college and leaving her boyfriend following her roommate’s murder. She holds herself responsible as they had a (well deserved) fight and her roommate is left to walk home alone. She never makes it. Charlie makes stupid decision after stupid decision, starting with getting in a car to ride share with a stranger when a serial murderer is out there. After she suspects her driver, Josh, is the killer, she is presented with numerous opportunities to escape, none of which she acts upon. Overall I found the book obvious with unlikeable characters making bad decisions – yet addictive and page turning. A very quick read. Thankfully.
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The Perfect Ruin – Shanora Williams
This is a revenge story from the very beginning. We meet Ivy in her therapist office as she is given the name of the person who has ruined her life. Her inner narrative from the get go is a good glimpse into the completely unlikeable characters we will meet throughout the book. Sometimes that can work, but coupled with the horrible things they all do and the writing style, it didn’t work for me at all. If you enjoy drawn out revenge plots, maybe this will be a better fit for you. Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Books for an early release copy in exchange for my honest opinion. The Perfect Ruin will be out on July 27.
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Every Vow You Break – Peter Swanson
Very disappointing read. I’ve enjoyed his older thrillers in the past but not this one. 1.5, only because I finished it – mostly to see how bad it would get. On top of a terrible story, the writing and editing was not what I’ve come to expect from this author. I would say this is the worst book I have read this year (out of 60+) – excluding the ones I did not finish.
🍷1/2
DNF – Dark Roads – Chevy Stevens
Book of the Month: Project Hail Mary – Andy Weir
