Happy August! I’ve just got a quick reading catch up post today as I’ve become quite a bit behind (due to summer holidays) on…well just everything. I don’t truly remember all of my thoughts for these books, but I’ll do my best to give some brief opinions. I ended up reading a total of 9 books and giving an average rating of 3.875, so a quite good month. I did also DNF (Did Not Finish) some books, so I’ll talk about those at the end.
Red, White, & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston 4 Stars – I really enjoyed this contemporary novel, even if I found it to be a bit of wishful escapism. I’m kind of a sucker for royal family stories though.
The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo 4 Stars This was a beautiful and captivating story that just had me in a trance from start to finish.
Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert 4 Stars Yet another cute contemporary story that I really enjoyed.
Dial A for Aunties by Jesse Q. Sutanto 4 Stars I think this might have been one of my favorites for the month, this was just such a great romantic comedy of errors. I will most definitely be reading the next one just to see the family antics once again.
The Hollow Places by T. Kingfisher 4 Stars This is one of those horror books that I think will just live in my brain for a little bit, kind of like The Troop by Nick Cutter or maybe even The Hunger by Alma Katsu (I recommend the former, but maybe not the latter). I didn’t realize that it had truly gotten under my skin until we were on holiday and I saw something that was described in the book and it spooked me a bit haha.
When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain by Nghi Vo 4 Stars This is the second in what I think is just a companion grouping of stories following a “recorder of history”. Again, I found myself entranced in the story and swept away by the writing.
The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro 4 Stars This was my second Ishiguru novel and I did, once again, enjoy it. I liked Never Let Me Go a bit more, but it was a VERY different book to this. I found the conversation within our relationship to our work, to our employers, to our own morals and values and the relationship of those with our work and our employers.
The Maidens by Alex Michaelides 3 Stars Ah, this was a bit of a disappointment and the more I think about it, the more I talk about it, the more upset I get about it. It wasn’t BAD, by any stretch, but I also felt like it…had a lot of far reaching stretches for our main character and the twist made ZERO sense. I also wasn’t a fan of the main character, but that could just be a me thing.
Upstairs at the White House: My Life with the First Ladies by J.B. West NR A memoir of sorts, this book talks about what it is actually like working in and running the White House, on the family side of things. He doesn’t speak badly about any of the families, instead highlighting the differences and similarities and personal relationships of each family.
And finally, the books that I…gave up on: Reputation by Lex Croucher and The Binding by Bridget Collins. I have actually fully gotten rid of Reputation. It was a bit TOO spot on for what it was trying to be and the main character was obnoxious. The Binding I might try again another time as I didn’t feel strongly about it either way, which is why I stopped reading it.
And that’s it for July! I’ve got big plans for the rest of the year for reading and I’m very excited.
A Cuppa Cosy 