Happy Monday and happy Labor Day! It will definitely be a day of labor for me, as I will be spending the day packing! I can’t believe my move is just a few days away now. WHAT.

Anyway, today I wanted to recap the books I read in August! I had a great reading month with 9 books read and I loved just about everything I read. My favorite book this month is Pointe (seriously – everyone needs to read this book STAT!) and my least favorite book was Hyperbole and a Half.

Book Riot Read Harder Challenge (a YA novel): Pointe by Brandy Colbert (5 stars)
This book broke my heart. It angered me. It saddened me. The characters and their struggle stayed with me long after I finished the novel. It’s a story about Theo, who is 17 and a ballet dancer. But this is not a book about ballet. At the beginning of the novel, we learn that Theo’s best friend, Donovan, who has been missing for four years has been found. It’s hard to say much more than that without giving everything away, but trust me: this book is amazing. The writing is incredible and it was a book I just sunk into with my entire body. Highly, highly recommend this novel.

Book Riot Read Harder Challenge (a book published by an indie press): More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera (4.5 stars)
So, a few weeks ago, Adam Silvera was a guest co-host on the Dear Book Nerd podcast and, as I’m wont to do, I immediately googled him to find out more about him. And I found out he recently published a book! And it was published by an indie press! And it was available at my library! Sold. I needed to read a book published by an indie press for this reading challenge, so I was excited to get my hands on this. And I really, really loved it. I’m impressed by this novel, as this is Silvera’s debut novel but it was so darn good. I loved the language because it was rough and gritty and authentic. I loved the vulnerability of the main character, the easy pace of the plot, the harshness of the realities the characters faced. There were parts that I thought could have been better fleshed out and I wasn’t thrilled with the ending, but it didn’t take away from the true power of this book. Definitely hope there is more to come from this author.

Book Riot Read Harder Challenge (a graphic novel or memoir): Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh (3 stars)
I liked this book. I didn’t love it, nor did I find it laugh-out-loud funny. I’m not a huge fan of over-the-top humor books, and this one, at certain points, went a little over-the-top for my tastes. I enjoyed the more poignant chapters, like when she talked about her depression and her thoughts and feelings on reality. All in all, an okay read.

Postal book club read: Beauty and Sadness by Yasunari Kawabata (3 stars)
I ended up enjoying this novel much more than I imagined. I wasn’t looking forward to reading it, only because it seemed like it would be a depressing read and a slow read. And I am happy to report I was mistaken on both accounts! It wasn’t a lighthearted read. It was sad and some it of felt a little hopeless, but it was also a beautiful exploration of love and devotion and family. The writing was exquisite and brought me to this calming, peaceful place whenever I cracked open the book. This is definitely a book I would have never picked up on my own, so I’m so happy I got the opportunity to read it through Kathleen’s postal book club!

Others (read for fun!)

Comfort & Joy by Kristin Hannah (3 stars)
I read this book in 24 hours, which is something I can rarely do nowadays! It was under 230 pages, so it was a super fast read. I wouldn’t say it was one of Hannah’s best novels (it was cheesier than I’m used to from her), but it was enjoyable. It follows a woman whose entire world has been shattered by her recent divorce from her husband. It’s Christmastime but she doesn’t feel like celebrating so, instead, she spontaneously decides to board a plane to the Pacific Northwest without telling a single soul. There’s some magical realism that lent a bit of charm to the novel. I think this would be such a comforting novel to read in December, that time when life is crazy and you just want to read lighthearted books that don’t make you think too much. This is definitely one of those books.

Notes from a Blue Bike: The Art of Living Intentionally in a Chaotic World by Tsh Oxenreider (4 stars)
I don’t read Tsh’s blog, but I have been a faithful listener to her podcast for the past year. So, while I know a bit of her story, I went into this book with my eyes wide open. I loved Tsh’s voice and I was really drawn to her story from the beginning. Some parts of the book were less interesting to me, like the parenting chapters, but so much of it I could relate to. I’m interested in a slower pace of life, one in which I prioritize travel and saving money and investing in deep relationships. I was truly inspired by this book, and I highly recommend it.

Slammed by Colleen Hoover (5 stars)
This was another book I finished in 24 hours – hooray for lazy weekends! Friends had been imploring me to read this book for years, and it was just a book that had been sitting on my Kindle until I was ready to read it. The novel is about 18-year-old high school senior, Layken, who moves to Michigan with her younger brother and mom following the sudden death of her father. It’s during her first weekend there that she meets Will, her next-door neighbor, and he asks her out. They have a perfect first date, but the fairy tale soon comes to an end when a shocking revelation comes to light. I devoured this book and it reminded me just how amazing Colleen Hoover is at developing characters and setting scenes. She’s easily one of my favorite authors!

The Perfect Play by Jaci Burton (4 stars)
So, I guess this book could be low-grade erotica? I wasn’t expecting there to be so much sex and so many vivid descriptions. Oy vey. Even so, I still liked the book! I thought it was well-written and I absolutely loved the characters, though the female could grate on my nerves with the way she would constantly jump to the wrong conclusions time and time again.

His Forbidden Touch by Shelly Thacker (4 stars)
This was the first medieval romance novel I’ve ever read, and I loved it so, so much! It was such a wonderfully paced story and I believed in the love story so much that I couldn’t put the book down about halfway through. I loved that the main characters didn’t conform to stereotypes and that the strife felt real and honest. The ending was a bit cheesier than I was expecting (based on how the novel had been written leading up to it), but I still thoroughly enjoyed this novel and can’t wait to read more from this author!

BOOK STATS // AUGUST

# of books read: 9
# of pages read: 2,649
quickest read(s): Comfort & Joy and Slammed (less than 24 hours!)
longest read: His Forbidden Touch (10 days)
diverse: 3
formats: ebooks (3), physical books (6)

It’s time for my monthly post of book reviews! July was not a great reading month for me because I felt very underwhelmed by most of what I read. Most of the books were pretty long (400+ pages) and didn’t grab my attention, so getting through them was a struggle. Anyway, here are my thoughts on what I read!

Book club selection: What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty (3 stars)
This was probably my least favorite Moriarty read by a long shot (her previous two I gave 5 stars). It follows a woman, Alice, who wakes up on the floor of a gym thinking she is 29, newly married, and due with her first child. When, in fact, she is 39, recently separated, and a mother of three. I found Moriarty’s exploration of family and relationships and marriage, and how their dynamics can change through the ebb and flow of life, interesting, but ultimately, I just found the characters to be unlikeable and the book to be way too long (nearly 500 pages!). I also think, being a single gal in my twenties, there was a lot I couldn’t relate to. An okay novel, but not the one of hers I would recommend.

Book Riot Read Harder Challenge (a book that takes place in Asia): The Pearl that Broke Its Shell by Nadia Hashimi (3 stars)
I really, really wanted to like this book, but I really, really did not. And, honestly, the only reason I finished it was because I was reading it for the challenge. (Side note: This is the one thing I don’t like about reading challenges. In a sense, it forces you to continue reading books you don’t like!) I’ve heard people compare it to a Khaled Hosseini novel, which frankly offends me because the only similarity is that they are both about the Afghan culture. This book wasn’t very well written, it wasn’t engaging, it didn’t grab my attention. I just found the book to be slow and it was one of those books that took me forever to read because I never felt like picking it up. I hate to give such a negative review since I know of a lot of people who loved this novel, but I have to be honest about my experience reading it.

Book Riot Read Harder Challenge (an award winner from the last decade): Room by Emma Donoghue (4 stars)
This was the only book I read in July that I actually liked! And it’s funny because it was the book I was least looking forward to reading, ha. I knew the subject matter would be heavy and I didn’t know if I would be in the right mood for it. In this book, you follow the story of Jack, a five-year-old who has been living in a tiny shack for his whole life. His mom was kidnapped when she was 19 (she’s 26 now) and is held prisoner in this shack. The language is somehow perfect – I felt Donoghue nailed five-year-old terminology and speech and syntax. The novel is haunting and poignant and sad and hopeful. It’s so beautifully written. I am so glad I finally read this book!

Others (read for fun!)

Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll (3 stars)
I read this because it was getting a lot of buzz and the wait list was short at my library. And I don’t get the hype. It took at least 150-200 pages until the book really grabbed my interest. Before then, I didn’t know if I wanted to finish. None of the characters were likable, and not in a Gone Girl “these characters are so crazy and psycho” way. Just… a boring way. I thought the main character lived an incredibly sad life and she’s someone I would never want to be friends with. The plot felt a bit contrived, and I felt that the author glossed over some plotlines that were more important than others. All in all, not my favorite read.

Why We Get Fat by Gary Taubes (2.5 stars)
In this nonfiction healthy living book, science writer Gary Taubes argues that most of the past decades of nutritional research is bad. Specifically, he says that the “calorie in, calories out” model of healthy living is wrong and that what we need to focus on is eating fewer carbs. I appreciate his opinion on this, and I’m not sure if it’s right or wrong (I honestly think it’s probably different for each person), but I want to experiment with this lifestyle soon. For me, though, I found this book to be way too science-y and a lot of it was difficult for me to process. (Which, yes, makes me feel super dumb.) There was only about 10-15% of the book that I found useful.

All I Ever Wanted by Kristan Higgins (3 stars)
This was an alright book. It’s a reread; I read it back in 2010 and had a rave review for it on Goodreads. But I guess my reading tastes have changed over the past five years (imagine that) because I found the main character to be annoying and the plot a little goofy. Also, I really, really dislike how this author continuously bashes online dating. The dates her characters go on are ridiculous and just further the stigma online dating has. It irks me. Anyway, it was a light, easy read, which I needed after reading too many books in a row with heavy subject matter.

BOOK STATS // JULY

# of books read: 6
# of pages read: 2,284
quickest read: Room (5 days)
longest read: Why We Get Fat (10 days)
multicultural: 1
formats: ebooks (3), physical books (3)

What was the best book you read in July?

I don’t really know how it happened, but I managed to read 9 books in June. I think I read a lot of easy reads that only took me a few days to finish because it’s not as if June was a low-key, boring month for me! Hmm. I am so pleased with my reading progress this year – I’ve read 48 books and I am on pace to read 70+ books this year. Wahoo! This month, my favorite book was Big Little Lies and my least favorite was A Deadly Wandering.

Book club selection: Flat-Out Love by Jessica Park (5 stars)
This book was just downright adorable. It followed a girl who moves to Boston to attend college and when her living situation falls through, she moves in with her mother’s old college roommate and her family. The main character, Julie, realizes the family is a little… strange… and she gets to work on figuring them out. It’s a book about family, love, and finding yourself. My favorite thing about this book was the dialogue. It was quick and funny and smart, and I was drawn into the story from the get-go because of it. If you like YA and novels that explore dark themes in a light-hearted way, I’d definitely recommend this novel.

Book Riot Read Harder Challenge (a book published this year): The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins (3 stars)
I liked this book, but I didn’t find it as gripping or engaging as I had hoped. It was one I could easily set down. It’s marketed as “the next Gone Girl” but I can’t compare it to that book. I loved Gone Girl and it was a book that gripped me from beginning to end. This book was different. It was still good. It was still intriguing. I found the characters incredibly infuriating, but also interesting and well-developed. I was engaged enough to where I wanted to keep reading and find out what had really happened.

Book Riot Read Harder Challenge (a romance novel): Mine Till Midnight by Lisa Kleypas (4 stars)
Romance novels are my favorite genre to read (it used to be the only genre I read until I started diversifying my selections), so this was an easy category to mark complete for the Book Riot challenge. I’m making my way through Lisa Kleypas’ historical fiction novels, and they are just such fun, easy reads. I like how much depth and personality the characters have; I genuinely felt sad when I finished this novel because I would miss the characters. (Thankfully, it’s the first novel in a series, so I’ll get to read about them again soon!)

TLC Book Tours Read: A Deadly Wandering by Matt Richtel (2 stars)
I reviewed this on my blog earlier this month and you can read my review here.

Others (read for fun!)

Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty (5 stars)
I am officially a huge fan of Moriarty. I had previously read The Husband’s Secret, which I thought was fantastic, and a friend raved about this book so I knew I had to read it. I’m pretty sure this book will end up as one of the top three books I read this year. It was just so good. I love the way Moriarty finds a way to talk about heavy subjects (in this case, domestic violence and bullying) in a light-hearted manner. Not making light of the issues, but writing in such a way that the topics don’t feel heavy or depressing. I loved this book from start to finish and I wholly recommend it. And I would like Madeline to be my BFF, please and thank you.

Off Balance by Dominique Moceanu (4.5 stars)
This book was eye-opening. I have been obsessed with elite gymnastics since I was a little girl and I remember how much I looked up to Dominique Moceanu (even though I wasn’t a gymnast, or even very athletic!) This memoir gave such a detailed perspective into the world of elite gymnastics and how a girl winds up on a gold-medal Olympic team at the age of fourteen. I am impressed by Dominique’s dedication, strength, and bravery because what she went through, both in the gymnastics world and in her personal life, was gut-wrenching. Definitely a must-read book for those who are as obsessed with elite athletes as I am.

The Perfume Collector by Kathleen Tessaro (4 stars)
This book gripped me from beginning to end. The only reason why I didn’t give it 5 stars is because I felt the ending was a little rushed, and it left me wanting a little bit more. But I loved the setting of this novel – Paris in the mid-1950s and New York in the 1920s – because I don’t read too many books involving that time period. It was an enchanting novel with an interesting plot and such likable characters. I also loved getting a glimpse into what it’s like being in the perfumery world.

The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown (4 stars)
I listened to this on audiobook and the reader couldn’t have been more perfect. She had such a pleasing tone to her voice, which made it easy to follow along. And this story was so charming! The setting was perfect, the sisters were so different and yet so alike. I loved their transformation throughout the novel; it felt natural and authentic. And I honestly couldn’t get enough of the father and his penchant for spouting wisdom through Shakespeare’s quotes. The plot might seem a little slow to some people, but I think that’s what made this book so special to me. It didn’t need to be fast-paced or super gripping – it was a story about change and growth and finding yourself, and most times, that happens at a slow and steady pace.

To the Limit by Cindy Gerard (4 stars)
So, romance novels are my favorite genre to read, but more than that, romantic thrillers are my jam. A good romantic thriller will have characters that aren’t too brooding or badass, a twisty-turny plot that keeps you guessing, and steamy love scenes. A novel by Cindy Gerard has all of that and more. This is actually my third time reading this novel (sorry I’m not sorry?) and I fell in love with the characters all over again.

BOOK STATS // JUNE

# of books read: 9
# of pages read: 3,317
quickest read: Flat-Out Love (4 days)
longest read: The Weird Sisters (13 days)
multicultural: 5
formats: ebooks (4), physical books (4), ebooks (1)

What was the best book you read in June?