I always have the best intentions to get my monthly books read list out on the first of the month, but that rarely happens. And now that I am a week late, I’ll be brief here. September was a pretty good reading month. I have one
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Tom Lake – Ann Patchett
Ann Patchett is just one of those writers that has a very special gift. She weaves words together in the most beautiful way and they come alive on the page. I have to admit I was hesitant on this one due to taking place during the early days of the pandemic as those books haven’t worked well for me. Yet, this was done so gently, with spring 2020 serving as the reason this family was brought back together. So much has been said about this book, so I don’t need to say much more, it is just lovely. Bonus if you go with the audio – Meryl Streep narrates and wouldn’t it be wonderful if Meryl Streep could narrate every book? I did at first have trouble following the time jumps on audio, but caught on quickly. I did go back and forth between the book and audio and the timeline changes were much more obvious in writing with large, spaced out breaks.
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The Many Lives of Mama Love – Lara Love Hardin
This is an example of Bookstagram made me do it. At first glance the memoir of a heroin addict didn’t interest me much, especially when I have about 1629 or so other books I want to read. But I kept seeing it over and over and I grabbed the audio from the library through Libby. I immediately realized that Hardin is the ghostwriter for many acclaimed memoirs so I gave it a go. Lara went from teen athlete to soccer mom to identity / credit card thief and drug addict in a very short amount of time and was able to easily pave the way for me to be empathetic while taking full responsibility for her actions. She humanizes the drug epidemic in our society and takes us through her fight back to be a contributing member of society and the roadblocks that exist in every path. I do recommend on audio where Mama Love narrates herself.
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The River We Remember – William Kent Krueger
This was my 3rd book by Krueger and again he did not disappoint. He is simply an excellent writer. This is another deep character driven novel with a bit of suspense and mystery and even a bit of coming of age. The nasty Jimmy Quinn has been murdered and Native American Indian Noah Blackstone is arrested for the crime. Many secrets are uncovered in this small town and there are quite a few issues based on traumatic experiences from the war, racism and life in general that make the characters real and flawed. I did like Brody, the sheriff quite a bit and was very interested in his part of the story. Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for an early release e-copy in exchange for my honest opinion. The River We Remember is now available.
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Life’s Too Short – Abby Jimenez
While Abby Jimenez isn’t writing earth shattering literary masterpieces, she has mastered the world of the romantic rom com/women’s fiction/chick-lit while building her character’s universe around major real life issues. In the latest, Vanessa Price has been unable to seeing hope in the future as she believe she will die an early death, like other members of her family. A quick, sometimes spicy, read with substance.
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The Rebound – Catherine Walsh
Abby Reynolds returns home from NYC to her childhood village in Ireland after her world falls apart, losing her job, her fiancé and her apartment. Its a light romance with several tropes, and was a great palette cleanser between heavier reads.
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This Is How We End Things – R.J. Jacobs
3.5 This was my first book by R.J. Jacobs. It is a dark academia suspense novel centering around six students studying the “psychology off lying” theme, which I am not sure I knew when I requested it. I was very drawn in by the prologue, someone confesses a murder in the first pages. But I had a hard time transitioning to the rest of the book after that and it took me some time to get back into it. All of our students have secrets to hide and it was a quick read that kept me turning the pages. Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for an advance e-copy in exchange for my honest opinion. This is How We End Things will be available on 9/12/23.
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Happiness Falls – Angie Kim
3.5 rounded up. I found Happiness Falls to be a very slow burn with a slow pace, which isn’t a bad thing. It is a multi-layered portrait of a Korean-American family when the father, Adam, goes missing. The only witness is the son, Eugene who is non-verbal due to autism and Angelman syndrome and cannot tell anyone what happened. I found the examples and descriptions of how people with disabilities are perceived by others in regards to intelligence levels fascinating (and sad). Mia, the 20 year old daughter, is our narrator and at times the story line took my breath away as I though of the anxiety involved with this family and the stereotypes involved. There is a lot of very technical descriptions about the philosophy of happiness and was at times a bit much but I enjoyed the rest of the story enough to stick with it. Angie Kim’s writing is beautiful, but if you are looking for a high action missing person case read, this isn’t it. Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion. Happiness Falls is now available.
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Don’t Forget to Write – Sara Goodman Confino
I wanted to absolutely love this one, it has been heavily promoted on Instagram, Amazon (a first reads selection in August) and NetGalley. I did like it and I kept turning the pages, but it was a bit much. I did love Marilyn and her relationship with Ada but several items with both the style and the way the book wound up kept me from falling as deeply for this one as some others have.
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A Winter In New York – Josie Silver
I thought this was going to be a fun, light romance based mostly on the cover and a bit from the skimmed description. I was wrong, it is a heavier coming of age of sorts for Iris as she is reeling from a bad breakup and the loss of her mom – and it is all centered on vanilla gelato. There is a dual timeline too, and it didn’t work as well for me as it has in other books. It was a quicker read and I didn’t dislike it, but it was just o.k. I did very much enjoy the setting in NYC as I have just visited, that was fun! Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine – Random House Publishing for an early e-copy in exchange for my opinion. A Winter in New York is now available.
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My Best Friend’s Secret – Karen Clarke
My Best Friend’s Secret is a family suspense drama where we meet Rose, who suddenly has her old best friend Elise show up and beg her to kidnap her daughter. She agrees to do this way too fast in my opinion which set the stage for me that everything was unbelievable. Rose plants herself inside the home, getting Issac, the dad, to want to hire her as a homeschool teacher. There is a lot of who can you really believe and it all never really came together for me. It was a page turner and entertaining but not much depth after that. Thank you to NetGalley and HQ Digital for an early copy in exchange for my honest opinion. My Best Friend’s Secret is now available.
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