Oh my goodness gracious! I cannot believe that the last book review post I shared was in December of 2019! Ya’ll it has been a hot minute. Honestly my reading has been a complete rollercoaster ride in 2020. At the beginning of my pregnancy I didn’t want to read anything, so I read very few books. Then I went through a phase of wanting to read a lot because not much was happening in quarantine. Now that I ended up back to work in office (although maternity leave is here now!), my reading has leveled out. Overall though this has been a lower reading year for me so far.
I thought I would share all the books that I read since my last review (okay 2 of them technically fall in 2019), and do quick rapid reviews to help my other book loving friends out if you are looking for a new read!
Ready…Set…HERE WE GO!
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
Listened to this on audiobook and absolutely loved it. Super creepy and disturbing in some parts, so it won’t be for everyone, but if you like a good dystopian novel, this is a classic in the genre.
Rating: 5/5 Stars
Seven Days of Us by Francesca Hornak
A family drama that follows a family that is quarantined together at Christmastime after one of their daughters gets back from fighting a pandemic in Africa. Read this BEFORE our current situation, so I might feel differently now, but also really enjoyed this one. If you enjoy each family member having their own issues and watching them collide, this is for you.
Rating: 4/5 Stars
To Hell with the Hustle by Jefferson Bethke
Super quick listen on audio (listened with Todd on a trip!) about how our society needs to slow wayyyy down. I think we’ve done that…but overall it was a great read and really helped me appreciate the whole quarantine thing. It’s also made me very thoughtful about what we will pick back up as regular life starts back.
Rating: 4/5 Stars
Garden City: Work, Rest, and the Art of Being Human by John Mark Comer
If I ever make it out to the Pacific Northwest I would love to visit John Mark Comer’s church. He just oozes wisdom. This book was awesome and was a great read all about why we work and how we rest well. It was a great book to read alongside to Hell with the Hustle. Also a quick read. Read a physical copy cause you are going to want to highlight A LOT.
Rating: 4/5 Stars
City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert
The book follows a girl who moves to New York City during the 20’s and gets into all kinds of trouble. This book was everywhere in the bookish communityand got such high praises, but it honestly didn’t wow me. I think I’m such a non “partier” that this book was just unrelatable. However, I do think this would be a fantastic movie.
Rating: 3/5 Stars
My Lovely Wife by Samantha Downing
Apparently I really enjoyed this book, but honestly I can’t remember too much about it. I definitely remember it having Mr. & Mrs. Smith vibes. If you like thrillers, you will probably like this one well enough.
Rating: 4/5 Stars
American Royals by Katharine McGee
Loved this YA rewrite of American history! We follow a young girl who is next in line for the throne…the throne in America that is! But before she is given the throne, she must find a husband. I can’t wait for the sequel! Even if you’re not usually into YA, I think most people would enjoy this one!
Rating: 5/5 Stars
Think Lord of the Flies but all girls. In this dystopian novel, girls must go “let out their magic” during the Grace Year. I listened to this on audio and honestly not sure really what happened in the end (I’m not the only one confused), but overall it was an interesting & entertaining read. I think high school me would have enjoyed it a bit more than current me.
Rating: 4/5 Stars
The Testaments by Margaret Atwood
The Sequel to Handmaid’s Tale. If you enjoyed the first one, this one is definitely worth picking up. It’s set a few years in the future from the last book, and we have all new characters. Not AS GOOD as the first, but still a solid read.
Rating: 5/5 Stars
I know, I love thrillers and it took me till quarantine to read Gone Girl because the library was closed and I had it on my shelf. Even though I had already seen the movie, I really enjoyed the book and I can see why so many books have been inspired by this one. Read through this one super quickly!
Rating: 5/5 Stars
Listened to this one on audiobook and I honestly didn’t enjoy listening to it. I had to make myself listen. It wasn’t that the story was particularly bad or anything, it just moved sooooo slowly! Then we get to the end and it was summed up super quickly. Almost felt like the author got tired of writing her own book so wrapped it up quickly. I will say she did a good job making you think you had the twist figured out when really there were like 2 more twists you didn’t see coming and she distracted you with the one you thought you knew. Overall for me an average thriller.
Rating: 3/5 Stars
The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart
Stepped out of my comfort zone with this one; middle grade is not my normal go-to, but this was a delight. In the middle of quarantine and morning sickness I enjoyed escaping to a world of intelligent children that had to outsmart some mean adults trying to overtake the whole world. It was clever and fast paced. I would recommend this to both children & adults.
Rating: 4/5 Stars
Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson
Need to read something different like you’ve never read before? Well then this is your book. In this book we get an inside glimpse into a rich family family that has two children that catch on fire, and the Nanny that is hired to take care of them. I listened to this on audio and thought it was a fun read, however the ending wasn’t my fav, so that took it down one star.
Rating: 4/5 Stars
The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
A book in which the evil villain is going into beloved books (like Jane Eyre) and changing what happens!? Yes that is this book. Very interesting premise, but it feel a little flat for me. Maybe it was all the details I had to keep track of? Overall a fun little read but I won’t continue the series.
Rating: 3/5 Stars
The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley
This book sounded like everything I thought I would like in a book, sounded very “Ruth Ware.” However I truly didn’t enjoy it (I’m debating why I gave it 3 stars even). I listened on audiobook, and honestly it was a struggle. I didn’t like any of the characters that happened to be staying in a snowy cabin over New Years. The story is simply, one ends up dead, who did it? I feel like I’ve read this book like 5 times before, and every other version was better. So I would skip this one.
Rating: 3/5 Stars
The Ballads of Songbirds & Snakes by Suzanne Collins
When I saw that we were getting a prequel to the beloved Hunger Game series, I preordered right away! We get a glimpse into the early Hunger games, the 10th ever Hunger games to be exact. Also, we get to see Snow as a young adult and how he became who he is. I haven’t seen too many five star reviews of this, however I still found it enjoyable. Was I on the edge of my seat like I was with the trilogy? Nope. Did I like getting to step back into the world Collins created and getting to see how things got they way they did? Yes. I would read this book if you were a fan of the trilogy, just don’t have too high of expectations.
Rating: 3/5 Stars
Summer of 69 by Elin Hilderbrand
Loved this book! Elin Hilderbrand knows how to write a beach read that isn’t just fluff. Took this book on vacation and it was the perfect book to have poolside. I loved the setting of 1969 and I loved the story line of one of our main characters being pregnant with twins! This might have been my favorite out of all the books in this review!
Rating: 5/5 Stars
The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell
This was my first Lisa Jewell book and definitely won’t be my last. Such an interesting story following a woman who has recently found out she has inherited a huge expensive house, that she knows nothing about because she was adopted. This was different from a lot of other thrillers I read, so I appreciated the uniqueness of it!
Rating: 4/5 Stars
A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer
Retelling of Beauty & the Beast? Yes Please! My high school self would have devoured this book in one day, however my adult self enjoyed it, but didn’t get wrapped up in the story quite like I wanted to, however I did think the story line was really clever and the ending definitely left me wanting to pick up the next one. I honestly think this was maybe just the wrong book at the time. If I had picked it up at a different time it might have gotten 5 stars from me.
Rating: 4/5 Stars
The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix
I absolutely LOVED this book and devoured it over audio. I’m not normally a vampire gal book lover, but this book somehow just hit all the right notes. We follow a book club of 90’s southern women (which is maybe why I loved it so much!?) try to hunt down a vampire. There are two fairly graphic scenes in this book, so reader be warned, this is NOT for everyone (and why I took it down a star), but overall this one was fun, spooky, and just different and what I needed to change up my reading!
Rating: 4/5 Stars
There we go! 20 Books! What should I read next!?
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-Kasey