Well, the first half of August was insanely busy thanks to a few surprising late-season fires.
I didn’t have much time for reading throughout the first half of the month, but luckily, monsoons are here! Which means I’ve spent a lot of rainy weekend afternoons reading over the last couple of weeks.
Despite ignoring my Kindle for the first few weeks of August, I was able to finish four books this month — all fiction novels this time around.
(As a reminder: I always track my reading both on Goodreads and via Instagram stories.)
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“HOW TO DISAPPEAR” BY GILLIAN MCALLISTER
Zara lives an easy life with her mom, Lauren, as well as her stepfather Aiden and her stepsister Poppy. But, one day, Zara becomes the sole witness in a murder case. Once her identity is revealed online, Lauren and Zara uproot themselves for a new life in witness protection. But, is a new identity enough to keep Zara safe?
This book was advertised as a grippy suspenseful psychological thriller, but I thought it was just OK. I felt my attention fading a bit during the middle of it, and during some parts I was just shaking my head at a lot of the decisions that Lauren, Zara, Poppy and Aiden made. Gillian McAllister wrote in the author’s note that she wasn’t sure how witness protection worked in the United Kingdom so she had to make up a lot of the details, and felt like some of the uncertainty kind of came through in the writing. I liked this book OK enough, and it was easy enough to finish, but I wasn’t obsessed or anything.
“HOW TO MAKE FRIENDS WITH THE DARK” BY KATHLEEN GLASGOW
It’s always just been Tiger Tolliver and her mother June. They haven’t had a lot — some cobbled-together jobs, a cramped apartment in need of maintenance and an ever-growing stack of bills — but they’ve had each other, and it’s always been enough. Until the day June dies of an aneurysm. Then, what does Tiger have left?
This book made me cry. I didn’t love it as much as I loved “You’d be Home Now,” but I plowed through it and still adored it. This book does a great job of exploring all the ways that grief can affect a teenager, and I felt so bad for Tiger time and time again. It did feel slightly repetitive at times, and some of the phrases, like “girl-bug,” and “wet cement,” started to wear on me a bit by the end of it.
“PINEAPPLE STREET” BY JENNY JACKSON
Meet the old-money New York City Stockton family siblings: There’s mother-of-two Darley, who locked herself out of her inheritance to marry for love, Sasha, a middle-class New Englander who married into the family via Cord, and baby-of-the-family Georgiana, who works at a non-profit and has fallen in love with someone she can’t have. “Pineapple Street” follows along as Darley, Sasha and Georgiana navigate their way through money and family relationships.
This book is hovering at about 3.5 stars on Goodreads with a lot of commenters talking about its lack of plot, but I surprisingly actually really liked this book. After Darley, Sasha and Georgiana were introduced, each character faced a conflict and a resolution. Which… I don’t know, seems like a plot to me? It was a slower-paced family drama and while I usually hate slower-paced novels (especially about rich people), I really didn’t hate it. I liked the subtle character development and the internal contemplation.
“NORA GOES OFF SCRIPT” BY ANNABEL MONAGHAN
Nora is a recently-divorced mother-of-two who has found herself in the middle of a Hollywood movie set: Her own. Nora is a screenwriter, and her latest movie “The Tea House” — a break-up film about her recent divorce — is filming at her own house. And that means “Sexiest Man Alive” actor Leo Vance, who is cast as Nora’s ex, is about to play a huge role in Nora’s real life.
This book reminded me a bit of Emily Henry’s “Book Lovers,” but with a little less romance. I didn’t love it quite as much as “Book Lovers,” — NOBODY can write romance like Henry in my eyes! — But it was still a cute easy-to-read book about a very unexpected romance.
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I’m glad I was still able to keep on track with my annual reading goal this month. Looking forward to September reading!
