It was a weird month of reading, quitting almost as many books as I finished. But hey, I keep trying! Happy Summer Reading, Friends!
Total Books: 8
Audio: 4
Physical: 3
Mix: 1
DNF: 6
Genre: Fantasy
Format: Audio
Rating: 4/5
Summary: A corrupt government is built off of a magical hierarchy and everyone has secrets and their own motives!
This was another recommendation from my husband, and I found it to be a solid boy-version of other books I enjoy: a magic system, a school with secrets, scheming politicians, and twisty quests. It was VERY lengthy with hilariously complicated fantasy-book names. I could have easily chopped out 45% of it and simplified things, however, I kept going back for more and will try the sequel after I recover.
Genre: Thriller(?)/Mystery
Format: Audio
Rating: 1.5/5
Summary: A nurse witnesses a shooting on a train and learns a lot of family secrets and can’t trust anyone.
This book wanted to be a lot of things, littering the pages with obvious red-herrings. She threw all the things at the plot dart board and hoped for the best. The original murder attempt didn’t even matter. It was not fun.
Genre: Train-Wreck Fiction
Format: Physical
Rating: 4.25/5
Summary: A ‘tradwife’ influencer wakes up to find herself in the setting of actual homesteading life.
This book is a wild ride of unsettling WTF-ery. I’m glad I read it, but it haunts me. I won’t say any more because this book should be a secret until read. Proceed with caution. You didn’t hear about reading it from me.
Genre: Thriller(?)/Mystery
Format: Audio
Rating: 2.75/5
Summary: Two best friends create a podcast and one of them goes missing.
This book would have been better if the main characters weren’t so icky. The production of the audio book was well done, making the clips of the fake podcast sound real, but that means you also had to listen to these insufferable people flirt with each other. The mystery was okay and I was compelled to keep listening, but a lot of the story was just unpleasant.
Genre: YA Fairy Tale Retelling
Format: Physical/Audio
Rating: 3/5
Summary: A brother creates fan-fic for his ill sister (The Princess Bride style), putting a new spin on the Disney version of Rapunzel.
It was a chance for series redemption after a horrible experience with the Aladdin retelling. And this one was: Fine! The idea was great, but the book was 200 pages too long and Flynn Rider was demoted to a much smaller role. Unacceptable. But it was still cute. I am about to give up on these books – but I hope to find a gem someday, as I’m a sucker for a fun twists on a fairy tale.
Genre: Middle Grade Fiction with Non-Fiction Flare
Format: Physical (and read aloud by a teen!)
Rating: 4.25/5
Summary: A group of peers come together to make comics and find friendship.
Blatantly checking off all the diversity boxes (SAID WITH LOVE), this charming graphic novel blends together non-fiction elements of comic writing into a fictional tale of persistence and building relationships. Mixing life lessons with tips on graphic design, my eldest read it aloud to me – automatically bumping up the rating.
Genre: Science Fiction – Novella
Format: Physical
Rating: 3/5
Summary: Four astronauts explore space.
Told from the perspective of a report sent back to Earth, the main character chronicles the exploration of four planets. It is a cozy/descriptive read, so don’t expect much plot. I found her worlds and characters interesting, but it was a very slow burn with not a ton of payoff.
Genre: Bummer Fiction
Format: Audio
Rating: 1.75/5
Summary: Depressed people get on a boat.
Lies from the book blurb:
“wisdom, heart, and laugh-out-loud reflections on fame, youth, nostalgia, marriage, and middle age”
“uplifting story about the magic of revisiting youthful feelings”
“the even greater magic of starting anew”
LIES. LIES, I TELL YOU. This is for fans of The Wedding People and other bummer fiction books that enjoy main characters being miserable and taking everyone down with them. A lady goes solo on a nostalgic boy band cruise and sulks about her job and divorce, only to meet up with a depressed staff member and lonely, aging members of a disgruntled boy band. I kept waiting to be uplifted. It did not happen.
The Quit List
Barely started. The casual voice of this book was going to drive me crazy. I cannot handle “TBH” in my stories, TBH. NEXT!
21% I like to play this game where I think I enjoy books with BIG FONT SPOOKY HOUSE covers. I usually don’t. NEXT!
6% Tracking over nine characters is a big ask for an audio book. I will not criticize this one, but I was not in the mood to follow all of the names or take notes. NEXT!
38% This one hurt. It was an interesting start, learning about Louisa May Alcott’s real life and the story of how Little Women impacted the times. However, I found myself only reading about three pages at a time and couldn’t keep picking it up. The author started getting really opinionated and snobby, which is not a good look for non-fiction. I could not let this one drag me down any longer. NEXT!
5% I thought my love for TJ Klune’s style would help me overcome the bummer of a plot. Turns out when the blurb says “heart-wrenching”, it means it. I did not want to face end-of-the-world emotions. NEXT!
21% I kept seeing the covers for this series pop up, so I thought I’d check it out. Someone please help me. What is this? Nothing was happening? Is that the point? General comfort read of coziness? Does it get better? NEXT!
Well, that was a weird month of reading. Here’s hoping August gets some winners as we wrap up summer vacation?!? I’m not ready. Summer forever!