This Book Will Bury Me by Ashley Winstead. I really liked this one - the true crime/internet sleuth angle felt engaging but the case was different enough from the Idaho massacres that it didn’t feel like rehashing reality. My only issue was that I IMMEDIATELY knew who it was, and thought Winstead made it too obvious. Maybe that was because I’ve recently read several of her books and knew that the attractive male is always the bad guy. But I felt like the clues were a bit heavy-handed, and so it was frustrating that these other sleuths weren’t able to pick up on it.
The Future Saints by Ashley Winstead. This book felt like a Taylor Jenkins Reid book but I’m not mad about it. Everything I’ve read by Winstead to this point felt a bit grittier and more realistic, so this making me tear up in several sections was a bit of a surprise! I liked it though and was really pulled into the music industry storyline, especially with the idea of grief motivating people in strange ways.
Still the Eldest Daughter by Kaylin Weir. My poetry book for the month. I follow Weir on Instagram and like what she posts, and the concept behind this collection intrigued me. I relate a lot to the ideas of perfectionism and being what you think others think you should be, so it was really therapeutic to read.
That Night by Gillian McAllister. This book was not it for me, which is sad because the plot itself should be fascinating! Covering up an accidental death and everything that unravels… Unfortunately, the characters were cardboard and their overly close sibling relationship didn’t ring true to me. They didn’t seem like well-rounded characters that truly liked each other, even though the author repeatedly TOLD us how close they were. Again, if done well, that would have added so much suspense. I think the “twist” about the POV of certain sections was supposed to be a bigger “gotcha” - along with who the dead person actually was, though I think it was pretty obvious about ⅓ of the way through.
True Crime: A Memoir by Patricia Cornwell. The only Cornwell I know is her first Jack the Ripper book, which fascinated me as a high schooler obsessed with serial killers. However, I love reading about writers, so I was looking forward to this one. It jumps around a lot and is a bit hard to follow though, with more focus on her parents’ lives and her young childhood than the writing. I think fans would love to get to know more about her but it wasn’t what I was looking for.
The True Confessions of First Lady Freeman by Deesha Philyaw. I’ve been so excited to read this one after LOVING The Secret Lives of Church Ladies and recommending it to everyone when it came out. I loved getting to spend a novel’s worth of time with Philyaw’s new characters. They’re so complex and interesting and felt real to me. I loved the drama too, phew! As someone from the Bible Belt, all this megachurch mess was DELICIOUS. Can’t wait for more from Philyaw - she’s one I’ll read everything from.
A Very Novel Murder by Ellie Alexander. I wanted to give this spin-off series a try since I read all of the Secret Bookcase series (though it wasn’t my fave). Though I’m curious to learn more about Hal’s heritage (which is the overarching mystery for this series), I don’t think I’ll continue reading. The writing is SO scattered and inconsistent. Something mentioned early in a paragraph will be restated later, or something will be written that totally ignores what just happened, and it got frustrating - is the writer even reading what she’s putting on paper? Some of these even factored into the mystery the detectives were trying to solve, so what they were doing/thinking wasn’t always clear. It was just pretty messy overall - if it was an early draft, I’d have hope for the polished version, but meh. If the author doesn’t seem to care enough to make the story make sense, I don’t care enough to spend time reading it.
Big Little Truths (Big Little Lies, #2) by Liane Moriarty. I haven’t read or watched Big Little Lies in many years but this book does stand alone whether you’ve read the first, remember it, watched it, etc etc. It was an entertaining read but I think some of the pieces fell into place too early, too easily, so by the time the author “revealed” them, it felt obvious. Still kept me turning pages though.
Hollow Bones by Jodi Picoult. I really enjoyed this one. To me, 9/11 books and Covid books are similarly tough to write because they can be awful, but Picoult has done well with 9/11 (I didn’t like her Covid book much though). I think she nicely balanced the attack with characters, so the “hook” isn’t even that important - you care more about the characters. I also love how she addressed postpartum psychosis.
His & Hers by Alice Feeney. I read this in a day and while it kept me turning pages, it didn’t feel too twisty, suspenseful, or shocking. I also worried that it was going to be a bit too “Girl on the Train” with the drunk narrator, so that was a relief when it didn’t happen.
Fahrenheit 451 by Tim Hamilton. Graphic novel adaptation of the book. I think it has powerful art and was very well done, but my favorite part was Bradbury’s introduction. I value graphic novels for how they engage more readers, but I personally prefer to read descriptions and picture them myself - I find it more immersive, whereas it’s harder for me to see the picture and take that in along with the text/dialogue and still take away the same idea the book presents.
I Let You Go by Clare Mackintosh. This one was pretty slow at the beginning, but the twist halfway through shocked me! I was SO SURE it wasn’t possible that I had to go back to some previous sections to check myself. So well done! I feel like I can often see twists coming, but that one wasn’t it. The resolution was pretty satisfying and hopefully was just being realistic but I wondered if it was leaving things open for a sequel (I hope not!).
Tell Me Everything by Minka Kelly. I know Minka Kelly from Parenthood and was hoping for a peek behind the scenes, but this is more about her personal life, specifically her childhood and relationship with her mother. In that regard, it’s really interesting to know what she’s been through, but I feel like it’s more of a straight-forward memoir than a celebrity memoir (no dirt), so if you want gossip, it’s not here.
The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Writing the Lyric Essay by Heidi Czerwiec and Lee Horikoshi Roripaugh. I LOVE THIS BOOK SO MUCH. The “lessons” were so insightful and I wanted to stop in my tracks and try every exercise as I read it. The samples were gorgeous too, and I love that I now have so many new-to-me authors to read, plus lots of recommended reading. I’m diving into some lyric essay writing now and will definitely revisit this constantly - I have my own copy and it’s already so marked up and loved.
The Incredible Shrinking Woman by Athena Dixon. A re-read because I’ve been in an essay mood. I love how Dixon really captures what it is to be a woman, period, but also a bigger woman, and how people are so multi-faceted.
Into the Wild by Erin Hunter. My son LOVES this series and wanted me to give it a try. I’ve never been one for animal books (besides Socks by Beverly Cleary), but this one won me over and I want to continue the series! I really like the writing and the characters. The story arc in this book kept me turning pages, and the ending was intriguing enough to make me want to read more without it feeling like a cliffhanger.
Hostage by Clare Mackintosh. My second Clare Mackintosh and I liked this more than I Let You Go. The story was more straightforward, though there was a twist at the end that got me! I liked the suspense of the ticking clocks for both adults though, along with how everything tied together. Eager to read more from her.
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