SO MANY BOOKS this month you guys! Mostly audio. And! This is the first month of the whole year that I have only read 3 books on my Kindle, instead of the book-a-week rhythm I was going for. I actually had a disturbing feats and famine book cycle this month instead of reading a little bit every day, so I am going to try to get better at habitual reading next month.
Here are my reads, from worst to best:
Baddies in a bad way (7)
📚🎉Birding with Benefits by Sarah T. Dubb: Snooze. I read this light romance for the Pop Sugar challenge, and I did. not like it very much.
📚🎉Time to Burn by Ellery Lloyd. Meh. This should have been better, based on the plot about commercial time travel. This author is actually a husband/wife team, and I have liked their other books.
📚🎉Love You More by Emily Giifn: It's not just her politics that suck.
📚🎉Awake, Awake by Fiona Mozely: This was really bussy, but it just... didn't do it for me.
🎧Seating Arrangements by Maggie Shipstead: Anne told me the main character is really unlikable, but I went for it anyway.
📱🎉Start at the End by Emma Grey: NOPE. I usually really do like this author, but this (time travel! or at least multiple timeline) romance did not totally work for me.
📱🎉Forget me Not by Stacy Willingham: SNOOZEFEST.
Super solid back list titles you can probably get without a wait (3)
🎧The Float Test by Lynn Steger Strong: I saw this author blurb something else and remembered how much I liker her. This is a book about a fractured family and adult sibling drama, and it's excellent.
🎧Bug Hollow by Michelle Huneven: I loved her previous book about a Unitarian church searcxhing for a new minister, and this one was also great. Set in suburban inland CA, a family drama that had great characters and an excellent plot.
🎧Astonish Me by Maggie Shipstead: another CA book-- this one is about ballet dancers, and I looooooved it.
Not bad new books by old faves (2)
📚🎉The Witches of Caimbridge by Alice Hoffman: Spooky fall and dark academia. Liked it!
📱🎉Big Little Truths by Lianne Moriarty: Fun to revisit these characters and see how the show's popularity impacted her writing.
Best books of the MONTH (3)
🎧🎉Someone Else's Husband by Kimberly McCreight: COULD NOT PUT THIS DOWN.
🎧🎉Hollow Bones by Jodi Picoult: TRASH but GOOOOOD TRASH!
🎧🎉Pretty Dead Things by Kelsey Cox: YES-- a beauty pageant murder book? SIGN ME UP.
BEST BOOKS OF THE YEEEEEAR (2)
🎧🎉The Thoroughbreds by Elin Hilderbrand and Shelby Cunningham: This is the sequel to last year's The Academy, and it is fab. I think it's maybe going to be a TV show! I wish it were going to be another book, but, alas. SO FUN THOUGH YOU GUYS ad one of my favorite things I've read this year. Meeting these characters again was like reconnecting with old friends, and it is so fantastically escapist.
🎧🎉The Understory by Chloe Benjamin: OH WOW. This is a total masterpiece. I read some reviews that said you really have to suspend your disbelief, and I think this is absolutely true-- some things just do not make sense or hold up to rigorous scrutiny, but WOW OH WOW. I think you should read this right away.
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