Book Review, Fiction, thriller

I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai ~ Book Review

Morgan

Genre: Thriller
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪

When Bodie Kane is invited back to her high school boarding school to teach a course, it inevitably brings up memories of the murder of Thalia Keith, which took place her senior year there. As she encourages her students to create podcasts about the school as a major course assignment, Bodie finds herself drawn deeper and deeper into the past.

The format of this mystery was really intriguing, with Bodie intermittently addressing the various possible killers and outlining how and why they might have killed Thalia. Although sometimes this made it hard for me to keep track of what was actually happening, it was an unusual setup and I appreciated it.

There was enough drama and layers that I didn’t know who the killer was. That being said, the storyline felt repetitive for me and it was interspersed with narrative about Bodie’s personal life that felt ultimately unnecessary and just sort of slowed things down.

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Book Review, Fiction

All the Lonely People by Mike Gayle ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪
Genre: Fiction
Similar to: Remarkably Bright Creatures

Hubert Bird lives a life of solitude, rarely leaving his home or interacting with other people, contrary to what he tells his grown daughter on their weekly phone calls. When she tells him she’s coming for a visit, Hubert finds himself suddenly scrambling to create a semblance of the social life he has made up.

Oh man, this book threw me for a loop. Hubert is sweet and lonely and unsure of himself. I loved the unlikely friendships he stumbled into. They were unexpected and I appreciated how although his life became more full, it in no way resembled the life he’d made up for himself. There was a big focus on the universal feeling of loneliness, hence the title, and it was special to see how it bonded and brought together people very different from one another.

There was a twist in this book that I in no way saw coming and reframed everything we knew about Hubert. It was interesting from a narrative perspective, but added a lot more heaviness to the story.

This is also a split narrative that explores Hubert’s relationship with his wife and how racism played into their lives. I appreciated this background and the way that it informed Hubert’s character, but I also wished there was more time spent exploring that earlier timeline.

Overall, this was a heavy, thought-provoking, somewhat slow-moving narrative with captivating characters who I fell in love with.

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Book Review, Fiction, thriller

The Family Game by Catherine Steadman ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪.5
Genre: Thriller
Similar to: The Inheritance Games

Harriet and Edward are newly engaged when she’s first whisked into the whirlwind of his incredibly wealthy family, the Holbecks. At first, their excitement in welcoming her into the family feels genuine and expected despite Edward’s estrangement from them. As she slowly sees the impact the family’s prominence and power has on their lives, Harriet feels less and less comfortable.

I was so enthralled by the antics of this family and the narrative around the power of the 1%. The secrets swirling around the patriarch in particular were intriguing and the way that he simultaneously pulls Harriet closer to the family while also threatening her was captivating.

Harriet’s initiated into a series of insane family traditions that went a little off the rails for me, but I also kind of loved seeing how she grappled with her love for Edward and suddenly being part of the madness.

I found the conclusion of this book and what was happening deeply disappointing. I was totally into the story until then, and unfortunately it made it all somewhat flat for me.

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Book Review, Fiction, thriller

the Soulmate by Sally Hepworth ~ Book Review

Morgan

Genre: Thriller
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪.5
Similar to: The Family Game

When Gabe and Pippa moved to their new home they had no idea that the nearby cliffs were a popular suicide spot. Gabe has found himself an unexpected mediator, talking people literally off a cliff. Until one day, he doesn’t. When Pippa sees him, arms outstretched by the cliff and then finds out the victim is someone from their past, she begins to question how much she knows about her husband.

This is a split narrative telling the story from Pippa’s perspective and from Amanda, the dead woman’s perspective as she views the aftermath of her death, particularly her husband’s response. There were also flashbacks to the early days of each couple’s relationship. I found it a little hard to distinguish between the couples’ stories, especially in the beginning, which made things a little confusing.

There were a lot of layers and lies woven into the relationships and I was consistently intrigued to untangle what was really going on, but I didn’t find the ending to ultimately be very compelling. I didn’t expect the twist, but I also didn’t care all that much.

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Book Review, Fiction

Everyone in this Room will Someday be Dead by Emily Austin ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪
Genre: Fiction
Similar to: Really Good, Actually

This book is like anxiety incarnate. It is semi-stream of consciousness of 28-year old Gilda who accidentally ends up with a job at a Catholic church where she hides the fact that she is atheist and a lesbian. Her thoughts constantly whirl around death and worst-case scenarios and she has trouble understanding how her actions affect other people.

I found Gilda’s perspective fascinating (and sometimes relatable) and the format of her thoughts was very unlike many of the books I tend to read. The speed at which her thoughts spiraled kept me going.

Gilda’s internal activity makes up a lot of the book, but I found everything else to be unremarkable. There was nothing to invest me in the plot outside of her head, which made it hard to care about what was happening in her life.

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Book Review, Fiction, Romance

When in Rome by Sarah Adams ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪
Genre: Romance

Pop star Amelia Rose needs a break from reality before her tour begins. Her car breaks down in a small town in the yard of attractive bakery-owner Noah, who lets her crash in his guest room until her car is fixed. Spoiler alert, it takes a while.

I love the famous person dates a normal person trope, but this story was far too slow for me. The romance was cute and I loved the gossipy small town vibe, but I honestly don’t know what happened for the majority of the book. The romance was cute and there was a solid buildup, but anything else that happened felt like fluff. There was an attempt to delve deeply into Amelia’s relationship with her mom, but it didn’t feel fleshed out enough to me. I think it could have added a lot to the story had there been more showing and less telling.

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Book Review, Fiction, Romance

Our Place on the Island by Erika Montgomery ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪
Genre: Romance
Similar to: Elin Hilderbrand

Our Place on the Island follows three generations of women in a dual timeline leading up to the matriarch, Cora’s second wedding. Her granddaughter Mickey is shocked by the sudden announcement and drops everything to head to Martha’s Vineyard and the family house there, Beech House. When she arrives, she slowly learns that there’s more to her grandmother’s seemingly sudden wedding than meets the eye.

Mickey is a chef and the descriptions of food throughout this book were mouthwatering and almost tangible. Ditto to the setting – the details about Beech House and summer days on Martha’s Vineyard were wonderfully atmospheric and made this a perfect book to read on the beach (which I absolutely did).

The present and past timelines were distinct and I loved the exploration of class differences that Cora experienced as a new bride on the island. Her character was well rounded and I could palpably feel her struggle as she tried to fit in while staying true to herself.

Mickey’s story in the present day was distinctly less compelling to me, and I wish we’d gotten more insight into her mother to really explore the family dynamics fully. That said, this was a fast and enjoyable summer read.

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Book Review, Fiction, Romance

How to Fake it in Hollywood by Ava Wilder ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪.5
Genre: Romance
Similar to: Once More with Feeling

How to Fake it in Hollywood is a classic celebrity fake dating romance. Grey and Ethan both agree to a fake relationship they believe will be mutually beneficial to their reputations. They quickly find that the chemistry they’re faking is beginning to feel more and more real.

I loved the chemistry and the build up. It felt organic and I was rooting for them to give in and get together. That being said, everything else in the story felt somewhat plot device-y. The issues each celebrity was dealing with were not explored in depth enough to feel real and meaningful to me.

Although the romance was strong in the beginning, by the end it seemed kinda toxic and I’d lost interest in the two being together. That combined with a very drawn out and repetitive second half of the book left me ultimately disappointed.

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Book Review, Fiction, thriller

None of this is True by Lisa Jewell ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪
Genre: Thriller
Similar to: Emma in the Night

Podcast books seem to really be picking up in recent years. Alix is a podcast host, highlighting the lives of different women. When she runs into Josie at a restaurant on both of their forty-fifth birthdays, Josie latches onto Alix, convincing her that she deserves to be the subject of a podcast.

The book bounces back and forth between present day narrative of the two women interacting, snippets of their recorded podcast, and updates from a documentary about them. It’s clear based on the documentary that something dark is coming for the two women and it made it hard for me to put this book down.

Josie is one of the most spine-tinglingly off-putting characters I’ve read. Clearly unreliable, her actions made me cringe throughout the entirety of the book and I wanted to shake Alix sometimes. The real story here is incredibly dark and twisted, so be warned.

Despite the snappy format, I found that the narrative dragged toward the middle. We kept getting story after story that we couldn’t trust and I was ready for things to be figured out long before they were. I also did not think the ending did justice to the rest of the story.

Solid, but not standout.

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Book Review, Historical Fiction

The Beach at Summerly by Beatriz Williams ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪.5
Genre: Historical Fiction

Lovvve me a summer drama/romance set on an island. The Beach at Summerly explores Emilia’s life in both 1946 and 1954. The earlier storyline explores the Winthrop Island community as they readjust after the war. Two childhood friends, Amory and Shep Peabody are back on the island introducing a tangle of confused romantic feelings on Emilia’s end. New to the island, is the boys’ aunt, Olive, who is well-traveled, liberated, and entirely independent. In the present, Emilia is summoned to CIA headquarters to confront the consequences of the summer past and the help she provided in capturing a Soviet spy.

The earlier timeline of this story felt much more rich and fully fleshed to me. It explored the class dynamics between Emilia’s family and the wealthy ‘summer’ families and how it played into her feelings towards the Peabody boys and about her future. The dynamics between her and each family member were complicated and helped me understand her. I loved being immersed in the whirlwind of her life.

I felt like the later narrative didn’t do Emilia justice. To me, it didn’t really speak to the complicated feelings she must have had about the earlier summer and I had trouble connecting as much with her character and understanding how she’d gotten to where she was.

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