My August Reading List is the perfect way to find your new favorite book!
School is in session!
It’s crazy how much of an adult I am when school starts. I’m up early. We eat dinner at a reasonable hour. I accomplish all the things. By 8:30 pm I’m thinking it’s midnight only to discover that YES, the kids are in bed, the house is quiet, and I can actually SIT DOWN WITH A BOOK.
Hooray for school!
I recently discovered a couple of well-known but new-to-me authors and I’m excited about diving into their books. Sometimes I wonder how a person can read and look at books as often as I do and STILL go decades without hearing about certain best-sellers. Life is weird. And also, my Kindle wish list will never go empty.
I actually finished all of the books on last month’s list! I LOVED all of them except Truly, Madly, Guilty…which is disappointing because it was the one I was most looking forward to. Don’t get me wrong — it was entertaining and definitely readable…but it didn’t live up to my high hopes at all. The big reveal that took nearly the whole book to work up to…didn’t pay off. I’d love to hear your thoughts if you read it!
Another book I just finished is Adnan’s Story by Rabia Chaudry. If you were obsessed with Serial (I was), listened to the Undisclosed Podcast (I do), or are crazy about true crime (yep…me), I highly recommend it! I actually did the audiobook version because Rabia narrated it and I enjoyed hearing the story from her own voice. This book really dives into Adnan’s life, both in prison and out, and there are several long letters that he wrote for the book.
Here are my picks for this month:
Hopeless by Colleen Hoover
I actually finished “Hopeless” last week and really, really liked it. I had never heard of Colleen Hoover until my babysitter recommended her…and then one of my favorite blogger friends recommended this book a few days later. It’s YA romance, but mature enough that adults will enjoy it. I found this book REALLY hard to put down!
Via Amazon:
Sometimes discovering the truth can leave you more hopeless than believing the lies…
That’s what seventeen-year-old Sky realizes after she meets Dean Holder. A guy with a reputation that rivals her own and an uncanny ability to invoke feelings in her she’s never had before. He terrifies her and captivates her all in the span of one encounter, and something about the way he makes her feel sparks buried memories from a past she wishes could just stay buried.
Sky struggles to keep him at a distance knowing he’s nothing but trouble, but Holder insists on learning everything about her. After finally caving to his unwavering pursuit, Sky soon finds that Holder isn’t at all who he’s been claiming to be. When the secrets he’s been keeping are finally revealed, every single facet of Sky’s life will change forever.
We Could Be Beautiful by Swan Huntley
This book has mixed reviews, but the synopsis is intriguing enough that I’m willing to take the risk. I’ve seen this book everywhere lately!
Via Amazon:
Catherine West has spent her entire life surrounded by beautiful things. She owns an immaculate Manhattan apartment, she collects fine art, she buys exquisite handbags and clothing, and she constantly redecorates her home. And yet, despite all this, she still feels empty.
She sees her personal trainer, she gets weekly massages, and occasionally she visits her mother and sister on the Upper East Side, but after two broken engagements and boyfriends who wanted only her money, she is haunted by the fear that she’ll never have a family of her own.
One night, at an art opening, Catherine meets William Stockton, a handsome man who shares her impeccable taste and love of beauty. He is educated, elegant, and even has a personal connection—his parents and Catherine’s parents were friends years ago. But as he and Catherine grow closer, she begins to encounter strange signs, and her mother, Elizabeth (now suffering from Alzheimer’s), seems to have only bad memories of William as a boy. In Elizabeth’s old diary she finds an unnerving letter from a former nanny that cryptically reads: “We cannot trust anyone . . . ” Is William lying about his past? And if so, is Catherine willing to sacrifice their beautiful life in order to find the truth?
Still Life by Louise Penny
Louise Penny is another new-to-me author that I keep hearing about lately! A podcast about books that I listen to every week has mentioned the Inspector Gamache series several times, with glowing reviews, so I’m excited to check it out!
Via Amazon:
Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Surêté du Québec and his team of investigators are called in to the scene of a suspicious death in a rural village south of Montreal. Jane Neal, a local fixture in the tiny hamlet of Three Pines, just north of the U.S. border, has been found dead in the woods. The locals are certain it’s a tragic hunting accident and nothing more, but Gamache smells something foul in these remote woods, and is soon certain that Jane Neal died at the hands of someone much more sinister than a careless bowhunter.
Still Life introduces not only an engaging series hero in Inspector Gamache, who commands his forces—and this series—with integrity and quiet courage, but also a winning and talented new writer of traditional mysteries in the person of Louise Penny.
Redemption Road by John Hart
This book is everywhere and the reviews are SO good! I’m familiar with John Hart, but I don’t think I’ve ever read any of his books. This one sounds perfect and like it might be really hard to put down! I love character-driven books, and this sounds like it is just that.
Via Amazon:
Imagine:
A boy with a gun waits for the man who killed his mother.
A troubled detective confronts her past in the aftermath of a brutal shooting.
After thirteen years in prison, a good cop walks free as deep in the forest, on the altar of an abandoned church, a body cools in pale linen…
This is a town on the brink.
This is Redemption Road.
Brimming with tension, secrets, and betrayal, Redemption Road proves again that John Hart is a master of the literary thriller.
That’s it for this month! As always, I’d LOVE to hear what you’ve been reading (and loving) lately!
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