Boy oh boy, September came in with a bang and left with a bang…and I still don’t know what happened during the month. Whew.
We had family visit at the beginning, my husband was in and out throughout the month, I started working. And volunteering and community events started ramping up. I feel a bit all over the place to be honest, so here I am, sitting down to write some posts in the hopes that it’ll ground me before I have to move on to the next thing.
With all of that- I somehow read 8 books this month! While I had some average reads in there, I also had some absolute winners and new favorites. I gave an average rating of 3.857, which might be the highest average in a while! I’m really hopeful about October too as I’ve picked some real good ones out, I think.
I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jeannette McCurdy NR One of the things I really enjoyed about this book was how frank she was. We share a semi similar history with traumatic childhoods through our mothers and it was nice to hear someone else discuss it with such frankness. You can tell she has been in therapy and is working through a lot of issues (which I love for her!) and therefore is able to now recognize certain issues or patterns. As someone who went through a lot of therapy, I can speak about certain life experiences with such frankness that it throws people off. This was a breath of fresh air in that sense.
Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid 5 Stars Boy does this live up to all of the hype! It was such a slow but beautiful story, and you can’t help but just fall in love with what exists between the covers. I will say, I recognize some people have some issues with the ending (and I’d love to talk them through with you if you do), but I found it to be exactly as I’d imagined and there is only one thing I’d change if anything.
Beautiful Things by Emily Rath 4 Stars Mia- you have a why choose book on this wrap up AND you gave it 4 stars?! Yes- I really loved this book. It has the best mix of social society and dynamics in regency England with smut. The fact that this worked for me (or at least this book) is fantastic and I cannot wait to read the second one.
Fall I Want by Lyra Parish 3 Stars This was “fine”. I learned that I really like to have that 3rd act breakup, even as ridiculous as it can be, it progresses things and gives a little drama. I found that things went a little too easy (and not because everyone was emotionally mature, but because it just went easy). I don’t have too much more to add to it.
Julie Chan is Dead by Liann Zhang 5 Stars When I tell you that I loved this book- I mean it. This was great, a mix between social commentary, social media, thriller, a hint of the horror…it had it all. This was such a great ride to read, and I would highly recommend it.
Spookily Yours by Jennifer Chipman 3 Stars Again, another OK book. This is actually a novella and a very cheesy one at that (which I expected based on the cover), but I wish there had been a bit more to it. Give me a bit more struggle, a bit more development and I might have rated it higher.
The Marigold Cottages Murder Collective by Jo Nichols 3 Stars I think the word that I can best use to describe my issues with this book is “lazy”. There was so much about this book that was lazy- from the character development to the actual makeup and twist to the story. There was also a bit too much performative diversity that ended up detracting from the story as a whole. I didn’t hate the story or book, but I definitely found some issues that could have been handled before publishing.
Love Arranged by Lauren Asher 4 Stars This was the third book in this sister series, and I really enjoyed this one! I loved the dynamic between our two main characters and the fact that they didn’t waste time. This was the first series of hers that I have read start to finish and I’m glad I did!
So, that was September! I’m really happy with the reading I did and the books I chose. What was your favorite book in the past month?
A Cuppa Cosy 