Book Reviews Catch-Up Part 3
I made it almost a year without having to do one of these catch-up posts! Well, October 2022 to almost-September 2023. It just so happened that I had fallen behind on my reading goal, and had a couple good months of catch up. The more I caught up on my goal, the more behind I fell with reviews. I’ll come back and review a few of these books in full one of these days, but let this suffice for now. Impact-Site-Verification: -1730832114
Note: All star ratings are out of 5 stars total.
The Hike by Lucy Clarke
The Hike was such a surprise, and I love that. I had gotten an ARC of this from NetGalley, not expecting anything of it. However, Lucy Clarke created a suspenseful novel that uses NATURE to make unreliable narrators. This was also just such a beautiful and honest depiction of female friendship. I’ve told just about anyone I can to get The Hike, so count this as me telling you to get it.
Star Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
I finished Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow with tears in my eyes and almost immediately filmed a TikTok about it. In a nutshell, I have no idea why I loved it so much, but it was beautiful. It’s a story about platonic friendship between a man and a woman. It takes place over huge spans of their lives with love and hatred and resentment, and it just felt real.
Star Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman
This is the second book in the Thursday Murder Club series, and I think I enjoyed it more than the first! I think it made a bit more sense overall, and I really appreciated that we got a closer look at some of the characters. I mean, who doesn’t love a batch of grandparents in a retirement home solving murders?
Star Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Taste by Stanley Tucci
I loved Taste so much. It was the first audiobook that I had read in a VERY long time, and I think it helped that Stanley Tucci was the narrator himself. As someone who comes from a very Italian family, so many of his stories resonated with me. I also loved that the book was full of recipes. I can’t wait to try them.
Star Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Hotel by Louise Mumford
The farther removed I am from reading The Hotel, the less I like it. It was an interesting concept, but fell flat in execution. It felt unnecessarily suspenseful, but also not eerie enough. I believe there were too many things trying to be developed, but nothing was developed enough before the end.
Star Rating: ⭐⭐
Force of Nature by Jane Harper
I am a fairly recent Jane Harper fan, and I can’t recommend her enough. She’s an Australian author who writes about rural Australia in an incredible way. Force of Nature is part of her Aaron Falk series (recurring character; you don’t necessarily have to read them in order), so it was nice to step into some pages with characters I remembered. It’s another that takes place in the wilderness and is a race against the clock.
Star Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Christmas Presents by Lisa Unger
This book was another NetGalley advanced reader copy. It’s touted as a “short story,” but I think that’s a reach. I’d call it a short novel. However, Unger calling it a short story meant that she didn’t need to provide as much story or character development. For the amount that I read, I wanted more. I mean, the twist was just dropped there in the middle of a sentence and it was just accepted as fact. It was weird.
Star Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus
This was another audiobook for me! It took me a bit longer to listen to, but it was a fun one. I kept talking out loud, thinking I had guessed the ending. I loved this book so much that I immediately purchased the entire trilogy to own so I could finish reading it (I haven’t finished the series yet…).
Star Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Since She’s Been Gone by Sagit Schwartz
I did a pretty extensive TikTok review of this one too. Full disclosure, as someone who has suffered from disordered eating, this book was VERY difficult to read. It dives deep into the world of eating disorders and the voice so many of us have in our heads. It’s a bit of a mystery, but I would say the disorder felt like it was more than necessarily central to the overall story. Proceed with caution. Great debut novel from Sagit Schwartz though.
Star Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
The Housemaid by Freida McFadden
Y’all. I DON’T UNDERSTAND THE FRIEDA MCFADDEN HYPE. I think there’s a reason most of her books are available on Kindle Unlimited. They’re predictable and mass consumable. Kind of like the romance novels. You know what you’re going to get and you’ll probably solve it before the end. This one event felt like two books, it was so disconnected.
Star Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
Zero Days by Ruth Ware
Zero Days felt very different for Ruth Ware. I appreciated the tech approach and the race against the clock. It was nice for there to be conflict from something that wasn’t boarding school or substance abuse. In my mind, Ruth Ware has kind of taken a backseat to some of my other/newer favorite female authors.
Star Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
The End of Her by Shari Lapena
ANOTHER AUDIOBOOK. Who am I? This one was a little bit difficult to follow along with as an audiobook because there were so many characters with intermingling storylines and the characters also went by multiple names. I think it was a good domestic thriller that actually made me gasp out loud once or twice!
Star Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Such a Good Liar by Sue Wallman
As I was reading Such a Good Liar, I had to keep reminding myself that this was a YA book. It wasn’t bad by any means, but it just felt more junior and immature. Again, this is YA and not necessarily written for a thirty-something woman. It was pretty good though! I’m not mad I read it.
Star Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
The Fortune Seller by Rachel Kapelke-Dale
I was such a HUGE RKD fan after reading The Ballerinas. Unfortunately, her two other books have been a disappointment, including The Fortune Seller. I wish that the original storyline and characters had continued instead of the kind of abrupt drop off and “fast forward” in the novel.
Star Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth
GO PRE-ORDER THIS BOOK RIGHT NOW. This also felt like a bit of a different book for Sally Hepworth, but it was so good. It follows three foster sisters both in their adult life and in their foster home (dual timeline). It’s a big mindf*ck and I absolutely devoured it *while on a work trip* which means it was extra good.
Star Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn
This is a little bit similar to the Thursday Murder Club series, but with the old ladies being the ones doing the murdering. It’s fun and creative and a forward look at what happens to people in those kinds of covert/spy positions as they “age out” and retire. What do you do with those weird skills of how to murder someone without leaving a trace?
Star Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
If you want more up-to-date reviews on what I’m reading, follow me on TikTok or Instagram! Phew! That was a lot of reading, but I have finally caught up on my reading goal. I’m only “on track” so I can’t go getting complacent too soon.
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