August Book Reviews

I finished nine books this month, most of which were good, one of which was excellent. I read four physical books, four Kindle books and one audiobook. As usual, this will be a long post, so grab your beverage of choice and settle in.

Here's my rating system:

5 Stars- amazing, incredible, highly recommend, will be thinking about this book for a long time
4 Stars- really good, thoroughly enjoyed, recommend
3 Stars- good, enjoyed it, entertaining
2- just ok, meh, maybe someone might like it, but wasn't for me
1- not good, did not enjoy, do not recommend

One To Watch by Kate Stayman-London. I do not watch The Bachelor or shows like it. That being said, One to Watch is a novel based on the premise of that show. I went into the book with reservations and was pleasantly surprised that I ended up really enjoying it. Our heroine, Bea, is a very fashionable plus-sized blogger and Instagram influencer. She has had some major disappointments in her love life and is attempting to move on with her life and career. Along with the rest of the country, she is a big fan of The Main Squeeze, a "Bachelor" type of TV show. She is fed up with the same old same old premise of the show, where the incredibly attractive bachelor gets to choose a mate from the 25 stunningly gorgeous women chosen to be on the show with him. Bea thinks there should be a lot more diversity amongst the lead character and the contestants who vie for his affections. She publishes a scathingly critical blog post of the show and guess what? She is approached by the show's producer to be the next "Main Squeeze"! She agrees but stipulates that she expects the men chosen to be on the show with her be as diverse as she is. She wants men of different races, men with different body types, men with hair or not.
The plot seems like one you might figure out, but there are some surprises along the way. The perspective of an overweight woman was portrayed really well-the bullying, the body shaming, the trepidation and uncertainly when becoming sexual with someone new. Bea has a pretty good self-image in spite of being heavy, but some of the things she experiences are kind of hard to take.
I found myself rooting for Bea and for several of the men who were finalists at the end of the show. Who will she choose? Are any of them right for her? Bea was one of the best female characters ever! Four stars.

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. I was really enjoying this…until it got very weird.
I did not care at all for the author's previous work Gods of Jade and Shadow. Against my better judgment, I gave Mexican Gothic a try. It had real promise until about two-thirds of the way through the book when things got fantastical and kind of disgustingly strange. The book is categorized as "horror," but somehow I missed that info when I picked it up.  The book is set in 1950's Mexico, with a very modern and glamorous main character, Noemi, who travels to the country to see what has happened to her recently married cousin, who has been sending the family some very strange letters indicating that she needs help. Upon arriving at the spooky, gothic style mansion, Noemi finds her cousin in poor health and her new husband extremely sinister. In fact, the entire household is very creepy. Lots of mold and mushrooms factor into this storyline. Of course, things get stranger and stranger and Noemi finds herself very much in peril. Many people are raving about this book, and I am in the minority with my opinion. I guess this author just isn't for me, but who knows, you might love the book.  Three stars, just barely.

The Two Lives of Lydia Bird by Josie Silver. I enjoyed this book. Lydia Bird loses her fiance Freddie on her 27th birthday. Her life is consumed with grief and she is prescribed some pills to help her sleep. The thing is, when she takes these pills, her dream life is a realistic enactment of "what might have been" if her fiance had not died. Her dream life is a kind of parallel universe where he is still alive. Needless to say, all she wants to do is go to sleep and live this other "life." I have to say I was a little frustrated with Lydia not making much effort to get on with her real-life and spending so much time sleeping/living out the life she thought she might have had. I did like how Lydia eventually figures things out and can move on, aided by what she learns in her night-time life with Freddie. The book was somewhat slow-paced and predictable, but I was entertained enough to keep going. Three stars.

The Other Bennet Sister by Janet Hadlow. This was my five-star book for the month.  I absolutely adored it. We all know the story of Pride and Prejudice right? Lizzy ends up with Mr. Darcy, Jane with Mr. Bingley, ditzy Lydia in disgrace after the Wickham affair–but we never hear much about the much ignored middle sister Mary.  Mary is bookish and shy, and as often told by her mother, unfashionable and unattractive compared to her sisters. It turns out that Mary is a very appealing character.  She is vulnerable, very sympathetic, and so unsure of herself. The story takes place after the death of Mr. Bennet and after cousin Charles (the Reverend Collins) inherits the Bennet family home. Mrs. Bennet and Mary have gone to live with Jane and Bingley, but between Mrs. Bennet's constant criticism and Caroline Bingley's relentless unkindness, Mary is completely miserable. Thoroughly beaten down, Mary retreats to London to stay with her aunt Gardiner for an extended period. There, she is treated with affection, encouragement, and kindness.  She begins to come out of her shell and blossom into the young woman she always had the potential to become.  The character development in this book is just superb. Ultimately Mary comes into her own and has many more options for her future. The author writes in the style of Jane Austen and has wonderful new insights into characters we think we had pegged. Five stars.

The Bookish Life of Nina Hill by Abbi Waxman.  Nina Hill lives her life just as she prefers. She lives alone with her cat Phil, works in a bookstore, and is on a competitive trivia team. She loves to read books and to keep a detailed planner. Her eccentric mother lives in Australia and is not part of Nina's life. Nina doesn't mind. She is doing exactly as she likes and doesn't need anything or anyone else. Then, the father she never knew dies and leaves her not only an inheritance but a vast assortment of siblings, cousins, aunts, uncles, nieces, and nephews, who all want to get to know her. Nina's worst nightmare has come true-she has to talk to people.  She reluctantly begins to become acquainted with her new relatives and her life begins to change. There is also a cute guy on the competing trivia team who factors into the storyline. There are loads of bookish references and tons of witty dialog. I loved the banter between the characters and even though the book was fluffy, I found it entertaining and fun. I've decided this author is a "must read" for me. Four stars.

The Night Swim by Megan Goldin.  The Night Swim is not an easy book to read (rape and violence towards women triggers). It is part courtroom drama and part mystery. The main character, Rachel, has a popular true-crime podcast and has traveled to the town of Neapolis to cover the trial of a 19-year-old Olympic swimmer who has been accused of raping a 16-year-old girl. The book covers the subject of rape culture and how the victim is often vilified and somehow held responsible for what was done to her. While she is in town for the trial, Rachel keeps finding notes on her car and in her hotel room that make her think she is being stalked. It turns out that 25 years before there had been another vicious rape and murder in Neopolis that was never prosecuted. That victim's sister wants Rachel's help to solve her sister's murder. The story was suspenseful, and the characters well-drawn, but there were some errors in legal procedure that the author should have researched better. I also had issues with a few plot lines that fizzled out and went nowhere. It was entertaining, so three stars.

Things in Jars by Jess Kidd.  This book wins the prize for being the most imaginative one I have read in a long time. Bridie Devine is our blunt-spoken, pipe-smoking, dagger-packing heroine. The setting is Victorian London and the author completely captures the atmosphere of the locale and the times. Bridie is a sleuth who has been employed to solve the disappearance of Sir Edmund Berwick's daughter Christabel. The girl has been kept mostly hidden away due to her "peculiarities." Fearing the child has been abducted to be sold to collectors of "curiosities," or worse yet, a circus, Bridie encounters a dark Victorian underworld. In her search, she is aided by her 7-foot tall housemaid Cora and the ghost of a handsome prizefighter, Ruby. The book takes many fantastical turns, but the story is gripping, the writing poetical, and the dialog often very witty. This author can write, no doubt about it. The descriptions of Victorian London will make you see it, smell it, and feel the fog on your face. The prose was beautiful, but I found it somewhat hard to follow at times. Three and half to four stars.

Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams. Our main character Queenie is a Jamaican born woman living in London and working for a popular magazine. She never quite feels that she fits in with either her white colleagues or her Jamaican relatives.  After suffering a traumatizing break-up with her white boyfriend, Queenie falls into a very self-destructive pattern of behavior.  She has meaningless sexual relationships with many men, none of whom care for her whatsoever. At first, I was unsure I would keep reading, because of the issues I had with Queenie's choices. I wanted to shake her and at the same time envelop her in a comforting hug. As the book progresses, we learn much about Queenie's past which explains why she behaves the way she does. Ultimately the book was an eye-opening look at what it might be like to be a modern mid-20s Millennial black woman trying to make a life for herself in London. Lots of issues are touched upon in the book-racism, BLM, work-place inequality, promiscuity, self-destructive behavior, women's' friendship, and mental health. Thought-provoking and kind of sad. Three and a half stars.

The Right Sort of Man by Allison Montclair. This book is the start of a fun new series. In post-WW2 London, Iris Sparks and Gwen Bainbridge form a match-making bureau, where they accept clients and try to match them up with one another with the goal of marriage. Gwen Bainbridge is a widow with a six-year-old child. She is fragile emotionally and is living with her wealthy in-laws, who currently have custody of the child. She is extremely perceptive and excels at sussing people out and predicting who would be a good match. Iris Sparks has a mysterious past and may have been involved in some sort of secret undercover activity during the war. But she's not telling.  It turns out that after the war, there are plenty of single people trying to find love.  Business is booming until one of their clients is apparently murdered by her prospective beau.  The characters are unforgettable and the dialog is witty. The story borders on being a cozy mystery, but has a bit more grit than that genre typically does. I thought the plot moved a bit slowly but found myself wondering what would happen next and if our gals would sort out the who done it. I will definitely pick up the next book in the series. Three stars.

Hope you enjoyed my August book reviews.  Fingers crossed there is something for everyone here! What sounds good to you?