June Wrap-Up

 Hello Interwebs!

Today was a little less good of a reading month for me but I still finished five books for a total of 1910 pages and an average rating of 4.4/5 stars. My favorite book of the month was Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid and my least favorite was The Divines by Ellie Eaton. Mostly I was very pleased with my reading choices this month and don't regret any of my choices. 

In the order I finished them, the books I read this month were:

• That Summer by Jennifer Weiner (2021): read from 5.13-6.10 and given a 4.5 star rating. This is the story of a woman named Daisy who seems to have the perfect life but just isn't happy and a woman named Diana who befriends her but seems to have a secret about something that happened one summer years ago, something that involves Daisy somehow. This was a great book and I enjoyed it immensely. 
  
  
  
  
• The Kitchen Front by Jennifer Ryan (2021): read from 6.10-6.13 and given a 4.5/5 stars. This is a historical fiction about WWII Britain and four very different women who compete in a cooking competition to become the first female cohost on The Kitchen Front, a BBC radio program about cooking during rationing. It was a lovely story of friendship in the middle of hardship and I really loved this book. 
  
  
  
  
• Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid (2021): read from 6.13-6.18 and given a 5 star rating. This is also a historical fiction about the Riva siblings who are making their way in the world after the death of their mother and with their estranged father and  their annual end of the Summer party which gets out of control and ends up with the house burning down. This was my favorite book of the month and the perfect story for the summer. 
  
  
  
  
• The Divines by Ellie Eaton (2021): read from 6.18-6.20 and given a 3 star rating. This was about a woman in the present confronting the mysteries of her past from when she attended an elite girls boarding school, St. John the Divine. This wasn't a bad book but I was expecting more from it and the way that it jumped between the narrator's present and her past made the story feel clunkier than if it had just been all in the past as the events unfolded. 
  
  
  
  
• The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid (2017): read from 6.20-6.27 and given a 5/5 star rating. This was another historical fiction about a fictitious movie star, Evelyn Hugo, who enlists the help of a writer to pen her autobiography and the story of all seven of her husbands and reveal who the true love of her life was since she's now the only one left. This was a close second to Malibu Rising for my favorite book of the month and it was beautiful and fun and scandalous and I'm sorry I didn't read it sooner (plus husband number three was Mick Riva, the estranged father of the sibling group from Malibu Rising).
  
  
  
  

In addition to the five books I read I also bought 15 new books.

• Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid (2021) historical fiction, hardcover from Barnes & Noble
  
  
  
• Golden Girl by Elin Hilderbrand (2021) literary fiction, hardcover from Barnes & Noble
  
  
  
• Beth & Amy by Virginia Kantra (2021) The March Sisters #2, retelling, paperback from Barnes & Noble
  
  
  
• One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston (2021) romance, Kindle ebook from Amazon
  
  
  
• The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris (2021) thriller, hardcover from Book of the Month
  
  
  
• The Maidens by Alex Michaelides (2021) thriller, hardcover from Book of the Month
  
  
  
• House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski (2000) horror, paperback from Barnes & Noble
  
  
  
• The Troop by Nick Cutter (2014) horror, paperback from Barnes & Noble
  
  
  
• To Drink Coffee with a Ghost by Amanda Lovelace (2019), Things that h(a)unt #1; poetry, hardcover from Barnes & Noble 
  
  
  
  
• Fullmetal Alchemist Fullmetal Edition Volume 2 by Hiromu Arakawa (2011) manga, hardcover from Barnes & Noble 
  
  
  
• Spiral by Koji Suzuki (2005) The Ring Cycle #2; horror/thriller, paperback from Amazon 
  
  
  
• Loop by Koji Suzuki (2006) The Ring Cycle #3; horror/thriller, paperback from Amazon
  
  
  
• The Language of Flowers by Odessa Begay (2020) nonfiction/reference, Kindle ebook from Amazon 
  
  
  
• The Sixth Wedding: A 28 Summers Story by Elin Hilderbrand (2021) literary fiction short story; Kindle ebook from Amazon 
  
  
  
• All Systems Red by Martha Wells (2017) The Murderbot Diaries #1; science fiction novella; Kindle ebook from Amazon 
  
  So that's it: all the books I read and bought in the month of June. Now onto July with Summerween and Jane Austen July and many more surprises on the horizon!

Happy Reading!

Richelle

July Preview

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So my July TBR is a little different from typical. I've got several books on my TBR, which is in two parts. The first part of this TBR are the books I plan to read as part of the Summerween Readathon and the second part of the TBR is for the entire month which is Jane Austen July. So this post is also divided into sections and I'll explain more about the these readathons and the prompts and what I'm planning for it. 

So first up in the month of July is Summerween which goes from July 2-8th. This is a horror/thriller/spooky readathon put on by gabbyreads and oliviareadsalatte. The point is to have Halloween for a week in July. So of course I'm going to participate. There are five prompts that can be combined and done separately as desired. 

1. Read a book in the dark
2. Read a paranormal book
3. Read a horror book
4. Read a book with Halloween colors on the cover (black, orange, green, purple)
5. Bake or make a treat or drink to go with your spooky read

So for this readathon I'm planning on reading three books for prompts two, three and four and I'll use them while doing prompts one and five. The three books I'm going to read for Summerween are:

• House of Leaves by Mark Z Danielewski: this is my paranormal book as it says its a paranormal horror on goodreads. This is a hefty book but I'm hoping that since it's kind of a found footage format it will go by quickly. 
  
  
  
  
• The Troop by Nick Cutter: this is my horror book. I've been meaning to read this for a while and I recently got a paperback copy of it and have the audiobook available to me as well since the first weekend of Summerween might be rather busy for me. 
  
  
  
  
• The Maidens by Alex Michaelides: this is my pick for a book with Halloween colors on the cover. This is a recent release thriller that I really want to read and although the cover colors are more black and gold it reminds me a little of a full moon night which I personally associate with Halloween. 
  
  
  
  

So those are my three picks for the readathon and I'll try to blog at least a couple times during the event. As for the treat/drink I have a box of Pumpkin Spice tea in my cupboard as well as an Apple Spice Scone mix and Pumpkin Spice muffin mix in the cupboard that I'll use to snack. Plus considering I work nights and tend to be rather nocturnal I will have NO problems with the read in the dark prompt. 

The other readathon that I'm going to participate in during the month of July is Jane Austen July which is put on by Books and Things to celebrate all things Jane Austen: her works, her, retellings of her works, the time period she lived and wrote during, and the movies based on her books and retellings of her stories. This readathon goes through the entire month of July and includes two read-a-longs of Jane Austen novels and seven prompts for both reading and watching. The prompts and what I'm planning on reading/watching for each are as follows:

1. Read one of Jane Austen's Main Six Novels (Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Persuasion, Northanger Abbey, Mansfield Park, or Emma): For this prompt I'm wanting to read Mansfield Park 
   
   
   and Persuasion 
   
   
   which are the two books for the readalong this month with Mansfield Park from July 1-21 and Persuasion from July 22-31. If I can't read both I want to read Mansfield Park first since it is one of the few Jane Austen books I haven't read yet. 
2. Read something by Jane Austen that is not one of her main six novels: for this prompt I chose her unfinished novel Sandition
   
   
    which I have on my kindle already. 
3. Read a nonfiction work about Jane Austen or her time: For this prompt I plan on reading Jane Austen at Home by Lucy Worsley
   
   
   This is a nonfiction book by one of my favorite historians (I've seen the television program that goes with this one) and I own it as both an ebook and an audiobook.
4. Read a retelling of a Jane Austen book: This prompt I have two options for: Pride and Premeditation by Tirzah Price
   
   
   which is a young adult mystery retelling of Pride and Prejudice or Ladies of the House by Lauren Edmondson
   
   
   which is a modern retelling of Sense and Sensibility.
5. Read a book by a contemporary of Jane Austen (i.e. 1775-1817): like many others that are participating in this readathon I think I'm going to be reading Lover's Vows by Elizabeth Inchbald
   
   
   which is the play that is put on by the characters in Mansfield Park (and I've got a lot of books I want to read in July so a play is a good choice).
6. Watch a direct screen adaptation of a Jane Austen book: I think for this one I'm going to be watching either the 2005 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice which I absolutely love or I'll read the 2020 version of Emma which was also a great watch. 
7. Watch a modern screen adaptation/retelling of a Jane Austen book: I'm not sure what movie I'm going to watch for this yet but maybe I'll rewatch Clueless or watch Bridget Jones Diary for the first time. We'll see how it goes. 

So that's my plans for July 2021. In addition to all of these I also have a book from the library that I want to read soon so it's ambitious but I think it's doable considering I have a number of these available to me on audiobook so I can listen to some while also doing other things. 

Happy Reading!

Richelle

Mid Year Book Freak Out Tag 2021

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Since it is now the end of June and therefore almost exactly the middle of 2021, I've decided to do the Mid Year Book Freak Out Tag. I love this tag because it gives you a chance to look back on the first half of the year and then look ahead to the rest of the year. So without further ado, let's get down to it. 

1. Best Book You've Read So Far in 2021: Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid. I love anything Taylor Jenkins Reid writes and this was the perfect summer read with great summer vibes and I both loved it and want to reread it. 

2. Best Sequel You've Read So Far in 2021: Crazy Stupid Bromance by Lyssa Kay Adams. I haven't read many sequels this year and I really loved this installment of the Bromance Book Club series. 

3. New Release You Haven't Read Yet But Want To: Golden Girl by Elin Hilderbrand; Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley. These are both books I am really looking forward to and are sitting on my shelf waiting for me to get to them. 

4. Most Anticipated Release For The Second Half Of The Year: Isn't It Bromantic by Lyssa Kay Adams; The Last Graduate by Naomi Novik 

5. Biggest Disappointment: The Divines by Ellie Eaton: I was so excited by the premise of the book and the preface and the recommendation from Elin Hilderbrand but it just fell so, so flat. That's not saying this was the worst book I read this year so far but this one was the one I was most disappointed not to like. 

6. Biggest Surprise: Outlawed by Anna North: I'm not into Western style books in general but I really, really loved this book. The characters and setting were so much fun and I loved the heist style from the end. 

7. Favorite New Author (Debut or New To You): Fredrik Backman: I read my first Backman book this year and I'm determined to read everything of his I can by the end of the year. His writing is so beautiful and his characters so colorful and memorable. 

8. Newest Fictional Crush: I don't usually get crushes on book characters but I really liked Orion from A Deadly Education and Benji from Bear Town by Fredrik Backman. I like complicated boys with a little bit of darkness to them. 

8. Newest Favorite Character: Britt-Marie from Britt-Marie was Here by Fredrik Backman. Britt-Marie was just so complicated a character. When I first met her in My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry I didn't really like her but when I read Britt-Marie was Here I realized that  every time you think you have her figured out, she shows a new side and unexpected depths to her personality. Rachel from Moloka'i by Alan Brennert was another book that I absolutely loved. You follow her from childhood to the end of her life as she is faced with hardship upon hardship and not only survives what's thrown at her but she also thrives despite it all. She is easily one of my favorite characters of all time. 

9. A Book That Made You Cry: Moloka'i by Alan Brennert: this book was beautiful and sad with all the hardships piled on not only Rachel but all the inhabitants of the leper colony there and the way they lived and died. And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer by Fredrik Backman made me cry big time, like majorly ugly crying sobbing. As a CNA who works with this population and who has worked a lot in Memory Care this hit very close to home and it was devastatingly beautiful. In fact, this is the only Backman book I have bought for myself so far. 

10. A Book That Made You Happy: The Kitchen Front by Jennifer Ryan: this book was just such a wholesome historical fiction about the home front of WWII Britain and cooking and friendship between women. I loved it and it made me so happy. 

11. The Most Beautiful Book You've Bought (Or Received) This Year:  Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley: this cover is a true work of art and I adore it so much. 

Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid: this is absolutely the most summery book I own with an ocean and surfers on the dust jacket and the most beautiful summery blue and yellow naked hardcover. 

12. What Books Do You Need To Read By The End Of The Year: So many. I really want to read the Bridgerton series by Julia Quinn; Firefly Lane and The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah; and hopefully some more nonfiction as I just haven't been in the mood recently. 

So that's my Mid Year Book Freak Out Tag. I hope you enjoyed it and that you'll end up doing this tag along with me. 

Happy Reading!

Richelle 

The Divines review

 Hello Interwebs!

So here's another book review for you. This one is for The Divines by Ellie Eaton. I read this book from June 18 to June 20 and gave it a rather disappointed 3 stars. 

This book is one that I decided to read after my try a chapter decision making and the beginning hooked me very quickly. By the end I wish that the author had stuck with only the past parts of the book instead of Josephine's present as well. I'm still rather confused by the ending but it was still fine. Definitely a 3/5 star book. 

As always spoilers after the picture. 

So the Divines is about an elite boarding school for girls called St. John the Divine where our narrator, Josephine, attended as did her female relatives on her mother's side. You learn early on that something happened fifteen years before the present day that resulted in a girl falling (or jumping or being pushed) from an upstairs window and the school closing following a scandal. The novel splits between present day Josephine, called Sephine by her new husband, and the Josephine of fifteen years ago (called Jo by the Divines) as she reminisces back to her school days and what led up to the scandal. I was left feeling, unfulfilled. Teenager Jo was an awful person as were the rest of the Divines, they were snotty stuck-up self-important girls with no accountability to anyone. Jo starts up a friendship with one of the townies, a girl named Lauren who turns out to be a lesbian in love with her. Jo treats her as less than through the whole friendship and plays with her affections as well as her brother, who is in a relationship with a child he sees as his own. Present day Jo, you are led to believe, has moved past her time as a Divine and hasn't been back aside from the initial brief stop on her way through while on her honeymoon but as you get more modern day Jo you realize that she hasn't changed at all and it made me hate her all the more both asthe snotty teenager and as the adult who learned exactly nothing from her past. Then you reach the ending and realize that events didn't happen the way she is narrating them: that she was a ringleader among the Divines, not an outsider; that she was the main bully for her roommate who didn't die in the fall but was severely injured. You realize in a couple conversations with people from the past that she was the worst of the worst and rewrote her story to make herself the victim in her story instead of the villain. And there the story ends, no closure, no hope for a better person, no reconciliation with her estranged husband, and no indications that she plans to break this cycle with her own daughter. 

This story was unsatisfying in the extreme and I wish it had been written only in that past sections, maybe as a strict thriller framed by present Jo telling the story of her past without the drama in her present. I'm imagining the book written similarly to The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware where the meat of the story is the thriller in the past but it's written by the narrator in the present as letters to her solicitor. I wasn't very invested in adult Jo's story and I wish the story had been a normal thriller told in a single timeline when she was a teenager. 

All in all I didn't hate the book but it will definitely be far from my favorite of the year. I think I'll stay with my 3/5 star rating but that's probably actually more like a 2.5 rating. So that's my thoughts on The Divines, it could've been better but I've also read much, much worse. 

Happy Reading!

Richelle

Malibu Rising Review

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This is the third book I've finished in June 2021 and was also one of my highly anticipated books of 2021. This book is, of course, Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid which came out on the first of June. This book is by the same author as Daisy Jones and the Six, which was one of my favorite books of 2019. This book follows the four Riva siblings: Nina, Jay, Hud, and Kit and their end of the summer blowout party in Malibu. This is one of my favorite books so far this year and once again, Taylor Jenkins Reid did not disappoint. As always spoilers are a thing that exists following the cover pic so proceed accordingly. 

So in Malibu Rising we're following the Riva siblings, the children of a legendary singer Mick Riva and his twice married wife, June (Mick Riva is one of the seven husbands mentioned in the book The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo which, full disclosure, I have not yet read). The first part jumps between the story of Mick and June and the preparations for the end of summer blowout thrown by the Riva siblings. Through these flashbacks you find out that June was Mick's first wife, Nina and Jay were born during the duration of that first marriage. Hud (short for Hudson) was the child of one of Mick's affair partners who dropped him off as a baby with June and raised as twins with Jay. The Rivas marriage is tumulus and he strays a lot before the two get divorced. After a few more failed marriages Mick Riva comes back to June and the children where they remarry and make another go of it, adding daughter Katherine "Kit" to the mix before Mick leaves again this time for good. Things are tough for the Rivas with June working at and eventually taking over her family's seafood restaurant that she hated and never wanted to be a part of before she finally drinks herself to death when Nina is in high school. Nina ends up dropping out to work at and run, Riva's Seafood, barely keeping her small family afloat before she is discovered and employed as a surfer and model. At the present time (the 1980s) Nina Riva is separated from her husband, a tennis pro who walked out on her for a fellow tennis star, and preparing for the annual summer party at her cliffside mansion. As the party kicks up it soon gets out of hand with a young woman showing up who claims she might also be one of Mick's kids, Nina's husband return (and subsequent blowout with his affair partner) and then banishment, Jay discovering his ex-girlfriend Ashley is dating his brother and pregnant with his child, and Kit coming to terms with her sexuality. Then Mick shows up. The family ends up having a heart-to-heart as Nina's friend and fellow model ends up breaking up the out-of-control party. As he leaves Mick flicks his cigarette into the bushes and unknowingly sets the place ablaze. The novel ends with the three younger siblings telling their sister they don't need her to take care of them anymore and Nina leaves on a whim to Portugal to live on the beach in a shack and surf, doing something for herself for the first time in her life. 

I loved this book just as much as I loved Daisy Jones and the Six. I loved the summer beachy surfer vibes and the setting. The party felt a little like living vicariously through someone else. I looved that the tragedy of the Riva siblings, especially Nina, had a good resolution and a happy ending. Nina finally gets to live her life for herself: no cheating husband, no siblings to raise, no hated seafood restaurant: just her and the ocean. I like that she especially got the catharsis of confronting her absentee father who left her as a high schooler to raise her siblings after their mother died. I loved that her younger siblings could pay her back by getting her away from Malibu and giving her the life she wanted and deserved. I liked that Jay came to terms with his heart condition that was going to stop his pro surfing career before it really got started and him and Hud, the photographer, deciding to focus their attentions on their extremely talented younger sister. I liked the sense of family that came out of this book. I can't wait for more Taylor Jenkins Reid and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo is definitely on my TBR for the near future. 

Happy Reading!

Richelle

The Kitchen Front review

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Welcome back to another book review, this one for the second book I read in the month of June. I read The Kitchen Front by Jennifer Ryan. This is a World War II historical fiction following four women competing in a cooking contest to become the first female cohost for the BBC radio program, The Kitchen Front, which discusses how to cook nutritious and pleasing meals with the wartime rationing. As always there are spoilers after the cover picture. 

So The Kitchen Front is told from the perspectives of four women: Nell, a kitchen maid who is dreaming of bigger and better things for herself, Lady Gwendoline, a women trapped in a loveless and abusive marriage, Audrey a war widow trying to eke by with her three sons and failing property, and Zelda a professional chef who is also an unmarried pregnant woman. The four start as rivals: Gwendoline and Audrey are estranged sisters: Audrey the elder who was favored heavily by their mother leaving Gwendoline resentful of her sister; Nell is the kitchen maid who works for Gwendoline's husband and is falling in love with an Italian POW working on a nearby farm, and Zelda works as a cook for the factory workers at the factory Gwendoline's husband owns and then is moved into Audrey's home as a displaced person of sorts. The book follows them as they come together: the cook that Nell works alongside, a woman like a mother to her, passes away; Gwendoline leaves her husband and both her and Nell join Audrey's household; Audrey's husband's body is finally found and she has the memorial service and Zelda has her baby and decides to keep it. By the time the contest is over the four women have purchased and plan to open a restaurant together in the village, raising Zelda's baby, and Nell wins the contest putting herself on the radio and their village restaurant on the map. 

This was a very sweet, heartwarming historical fiction that centered mostly around the burgeoning friendship between these very different women. In the end, you don't care who wins the contest because they all won in a way with their ambitions realized in the opening of their restaurant together but at the same time I was over the moon that the winner was Nell who can barely string a sentence together in front of anyone else when you first meet her and is an orphan who was destined for nothing greater than service but dreamed of more. 

I read this book from June 10th to June 13th and gave it a 4.5/5 stars on Goodreads. This book combined some of my favorite things in historical fiction: a more domestic setting where this takes place during WWII but was about the home front rather than the war itself, cooking, and friendship. I highly recommend this book and will probably read others by this author and along these lines. 

Happy Reading,

Richelle 

TBR-Try A Chapter!

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After finishing Malibu Rising I looked at my prospective TBR for June and couldn't decide what to read next so I took 5 numbers out of a random number generator and decided to try the first chapter of the five books that came up in order to determine which would be my next read (it should be worth noting that one book on this list was not on my June TBR post but was the book club pick for my Literati trial and one that I got from the library after my TBR was posted). 

So the five books that were randomly selected were the following:

• The Divines by Ellie Eaton (2021): this is a literary fiction about a British boarding school called St. John the Divine where the girls known as "Divines" are known for being rebellious and privileged. We follow Josephine who is 15 years out of school and hasn't spoken to or of her school days since the school closed after a scandal. She finds herself back in the area and ends up obsessed with her past. 
  
• All Boys Aren't Blue by George M Johnson (2020): this is a series of essays dubbed a memoir/manifesto by LGBTQIA+ activist detailing his youth on the East Coast as a black queer boy. 
  
• Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas (2020): this is a YA Urban Fantasy about a Latinx teenager who's transgendered and determined to prove to his less than accepting family that he can be a proper brujo despite being born female. His best friend helps him perform the ritual to become a brujo and then he tries to summon his cousin's ghost and set it free but instead he summons the school's bad boy and has to figure out what happened to him and how to help him pass on. 
• Stonewall by Martin Duberman (2019): this is a narrative nonfiction following six individuals who played pivotal roles in the Stonewall riots. This covers the lead up to and the riots themselves through these six lives. 
• Wilder Girls by Rory Power (2019): this is a young adult horror about a girls school that was put under quarantine after a plague infected the school. The plague has physical effects on their bodies and they've been left  to fend for themselves. As they wait for a cure one of their number goes missing and they venture outside their quarantine to find her and find out there's more to the story than they know. 
  

This list was a interesting mix of books: a literary fiction, a memoir, a YA urban fantasy, a narrative nonfiction, and a YA horror. I read the first chapter of each one (or the closest approximation of the first chapter for the given book). 

So here in the order I liked them are my thoughts about the books and my plans for them in the future. Warning there are minor spoilers for the books in here (at least the first chapters). 

1. The Divines by Ellie Eaton (2021). This was one of the shortest sections I read as the prologue was only 3 pages in length. It starts back in the 1990s figure skater and student at St. John the Divine is lying on the ground outside the dorm building broken adn perhaps dead. The rest of the girls, including the narrator, are dressed in torn dresses and black cloaks in some kind of secret society/initiation type situation. The beginning to this one was very intriguing and with just that short introduction I was instantly wanting to know more. 
   
   
   
2. All Boy's Aren't Blue by George M. Johnson (2020). For this one I read the author's note and the introduction to the book as they seemed to make a full chapter put together. This is a memoir/manifesto of black queer man growing up in both communities. This seems like an especially important book for both pride month and Juneteenth, especially with Juneteenth recently becoming a national holiday. I liked the premise and what I read of the book but I'm not sure if I'm in the mood for a nonfiction of any kind at the present moment. 
   
   
   
3. Wilder Girls by Rory Power (2019). This was also a short first chapter. It threw me right into the story of this post apocalyptic world with these girls who have weird things happening to their bodies due to the plague in the world. There are few explanations but a lot of teasing glances at what the world they're in holds for them. This one was also a very intriguing opening to a book. 
   
   
   
4. Stonewall by Martin Duberman (2019). I read one of the introductions. This introduced you to the concepts being covered by the book, primarily the lead up to and the Stonewall riots. It also introduced you to the framing of the nonfiction through the experiences of these six LGBTQIA+ activists who spearheaded the movements that grew out of Stonewall. This one also sounds very interesting but I'm still not super interested in a nonfiction at this precise moment. 
   
   
   
5. Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas (2020). This is a latinx fantasy about necromancers and a transboy who doesn't fit into this world. The first chapter explores the world in this novel and sets up both his personal journey trying to prove who he is to his family and the death of the cousin he'll try to resurrect. This book sounded great and I really liked the chapter I read but it gave me some real Halloween/Day of the Dead vibes so I think I'd rather save this one for then. 
   
   
   

So in the end I've decided my next read will be The Divines by Ellie Eaton. The book interested me more than the others and I'm looking forward to the privileged private school scandal vibes. And that's it!! My first try a chapter post!

Happy Reading!

Richelle

That Summer review

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For the first time in literally months I have a book review for you! Instead of trying to catch up with all the books I haven't reviewed this year I am just going to start up with the books I've read in June. 

The first book I finished in June was That Summer by Jennifer Weiner (2021). This was a new release that I managed to get from Libby very soon after it was released. It is a contemporary/women's fiction book about two women, both named Diana, with a secret from the past that connects them. As is the usual with my reviews, spoilers will follow after the picture. 

In this book you are introduced first to a girl named Diana who is fifteen and a mother's helper on Cape Cod for the summer. She goes to a party on the beach and something bad happens. Then you jump to the present day and a woman named Daisy Shoemaker who is mostly a homemaker in the Philadelphia suburbs with a teenage daughter, a distant husband, and a side business teaching cooking classes. The two women have an email address that is one punctuation away from each other and they connect. Through flashbacks we find out that Diana was raped at that party on the beach and it derailed her life for a long time before she ended up moving to the cape, working at a restaurant that she later purchases, a handyman she eventually marries, and a happy life. And as the book goes on and the two women become friends and confidants you find out that Daisy's husband's friend who committed suicide was the young man who held her down, Daisy's husband Hal was the one who raped her, and Daisy's brother watched it happen and didn't intervene. Together Diana and Daisy confront the men who wronged Diana, especially Daisy's husband, and Daisy ends up leaving her husband with her daughter, and moving to the cape where she allows her husband into her periphery but finally lives her own life for herself.

I really enjoyed this book. The subject matter was a little darker for how bright and summery the cover was. I appreciated the way that this book took an honest look at trauma and healing and the whole process surrounding it. I appreciated the honest look at revenge and retribution and the fact that Diana wants to confront her attackers but doesn't know what she wants past that. I liked how even though Diana's life was derailed by her trauma it didn't destroy her entire life. I really liked the connections brought between Daisy's life: her marriage to an older man, her role as a housewife, the way she's treated and spoken to like a child; and the play A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen, which is a play I had to read a million years ago in a literature class in college. I like how it had a sense of catharsis through the end with the confrontation with Hal about what he did, Diana getting to say her piece, and Daisy getting her life back. 

I read this book from May 31st to June 10th and gave it a 4/5 stars rating. This was my first Jennifer Weiner book but I have Big Summer on my bookshelf that I might give a read this summer. 

Happy Reading!

Richelle

June Preview

 Hello Interwebs!

So my June TBR is a mess. I have my regular TBR but then I also have a collection of books for Pride month and I'm not sure at all what I'm planning on reading off it for June. So we'll do what books I'm currently reading first, then we'll do the normal TBR and then we'll do the June Pride TBR after. 

So without further ado I have the couple books I'm already reading. Most are the same ones that have been on there for ages. 

• A Promised Land by Barack Obama; memoir started 11.30.2020
  
  
  
  
• A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J Maas; fantasy romance, started 3.29.2021
  
  
  
  
• The Fran Lebowitz Reader by Fran Lebowitz; humorous essays started 5.7.2021
  
  
  
  
• That Summer by Jennifer Weiner; women's fiction; started 5.31.2021
  
  
  
  

So those are the books I'm currently reading, two of those have been in the process of reading for a while but we'll see when I finish them. 

Now on to my regular TBR. I'm always overly ambitious and we'll see what happens. 

• Golden Girl by Elin Hilderbrand. This is the newest book from one of my favorite authors. It's about a woman, Viviane, who dies and is given a year to watch what happens on earth through her assigned person, Martha, and has three "nudges" to affect things on earth from the beyond. 
  
  
  
• Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid. This is a historical fiction about the Riva siblings, the famous offspring from a famous singer, and their legendary end-of-summer party and the aftermath of what happens there. 
  
  
  
• One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston. This is a female/female romance about a waitress August who sees a beautiful woman on the train, Jane, who happens to be displaced from her time in the 1970s.
  
  
  
• The Kitchen Front by Jennifer Ryan. This is a historical fiction about a contest to find the first female cohost of a cooking show during WWII and the women who are competing for the spot. 
  
  
  
• The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris. This is a thriller about a black girl working as the only black girl in an editorial office until another shows up and she starts receiving threats. 
  
  
  

And finally my special Pride Month TBR. 

• The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid. This is about an aging movie star and the last interview she gave about her eight marriages to seven men. 
  
  
  
• The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune. This is a fantasy about a man who is sent to check up on a magic school. 
  
  
  
• Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas. This is a young adult novel about a transboy who is trying to prove himself to his family but instead of resurrecting his cousin he resurrects the school bad boy and ends up having to help him find peace. 
  
  
  
• The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli. This is a young adult novel about a girl named Molly who falls in unrequited love frequently and her twin sister Cassie who keeps telling her to 'woman up'. Then a cute girl leaves Cassie the lovestruck mess and this brings with her a love triangle for Molly. This is in the same universe as Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda and Leah on the Offbeat both of which I loved. 
  
  
  
• Wilder Girls by Rory Power. This is a young adult horror fiction about a girls school that is put under quarantine when its hit by a plague called the "Tox" and the girls surviving on their own on the island.
  
  
  
• The Gentleman's Guide to Getting Lucky by Mackenzi Lee (The Montague Siblings #1.5). This is the follow-up short story to The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue about Monty and Percy and their early days as a proper couple. 
  
  
  
• The Lady's Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Mackenzi Lee (The Montague Siblings #2). This is the second novel in The Montague Siblings series about Monty's sister Felicity who is trying to avoid courtship and have an adventure of her own. 
  
  
  
• These Witches Don't Burn by Isabel Sterling (These Witches Don't Burn #1). This is a young adult contemporary about a coven of witches in modern day Salem, Massachusetts who are trying to solve a mystery putting Salem's witches in danger. 
  
  
  
• Orlando by Virginia Woolf. This is a classic story of a nobleman who wakes up one day to discover he is now a woman and discusses gender issues throughout the years. 
  
  
  
• The Black Flamingo by Dean Atta. This is a novel in verse about a gay boy and his alternate identity as a drag queen. 
  
  
  
• Like a Love Story by Abdi Nazemian. This is a story about a boy and girl who are dating in 1989 New York City during the AIDS crisis. Reza is Iranian and a closeted gay boy. Judy is a girl who worships her uncle who is living with AIDS and Art is Judy's best friend, an out gay boy. 
  
  
  
• Juliet Takes a Breath by Gabby Rivera. Juliet is a Puerto Rican girl who just came out to her family to poor results and is leaving the Bronx for Portland to intern with the author of her favorite book while trying to figure out who she is. 
  
  
  
• Sawkill Girls by Claire Legrand. This is another young adult novel about a group of girls and the creature in the woods that's after them. 
  
  
  
• All Boys Aren't Blue by George M. Johnson. This is a series of personal essays about his life growing up as a black queer boy. 
  
  
  
• Stonewall by Martin Duberman. This is a nonfiction account of the Stonewall riots and the rise of the first gay pride parade. 
  
  
  

There's also a number of book club books for this month:

• Read with Jenna: Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid 
  
  
  
• Reese's Book Club: Seven Days in June by Tia Williams
  
  
  
• Darling Desi: The Star-Crossed Sisters of Tuscany by Lori Nelson Spielman
  
  
  
• The Book Troop: The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris (This is also the Barnes and Noble Book Club book)
  
  
  

So that's all the books that could possibly be read in the month of June. Which means I will read like two books off this TBR and then read other things. Anyway I hope your June reading plans are nice. 

Happy Reading!

Richelle