booksdanilikes

September TBR

Hello Kittens! I have no idea why I continue to try to plan by TBR in advance, since I end up changing it pretty dramatically each time, but it makes me feel better for some reason. This month’s TBR will mostly consist of ARCs that I need to get read by the publication dates. I overdid it on my Netgalley requests for this month, and that will limit how many other types of books I can pick up. I will also be participating in a TBR challenge with one of my Facebook book clubs that is designed so that I can’t plan that much in advance. I have two vacations this month, so I’m really looking forward to getting a good chunk of reading done. What does it mean when you plan the books you will bring on vacation before you start packing anything else?

Here’s what the plan looks like right now:

When No One is Watching by Alyssa Cole

To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini

Legendborn by Tracy Deonn

Smash It! by Francina Simone

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

Kingsbane by Claire Legrand

Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport

The Rage of Dragons by Evan Winters (book club selection)

Total Planned books: 9

Now That I’ve Found You by Kristina Forest

Hello Kittens! I’ve got a treat for you that is publishing soon. When I first read the synopsis for this book, I thought it was going to be some sort of wacky YA caper, with two teens traipsing all over New York City in search of a little lost glamorous grandma. It is so much more than that. It is a story that deals with all sorts of relationships, presents diverse characters without framing their struggles in terms of diversity, and resolves itself without too many overdone contrivances to make the plot make sense. I was expecting a full-on rom-com, and to an extent I did get that, but the story was also deeper, which I really appreciated. It’s a great YA find from an author who was new to me.

Title: Now That I’ve Found You Now That I've Found You

Author: Kristina Forest

Author website: https://www.kristinaforest.com/

Publisher: Roaring Brook Press

Publish date: August 25, 2020

ISBN: 9781250295026

Buy the Book: Amazon, Barnes and Noble

Summary:

Evie Marie Jones is an acting legend, or at least she will be. Her grandmother is the famous actress Evelyn Conaway and her parents are documentary film makers. The screen is in her blood and she has been pursuing her acting career since she was a young child. She is poised to hit it big when she lands a major movie role and is on the cusp of landing a beauty contract with one of her favorite brands. Unfortunately, one viral video of Evie doing an imitation of her new boss is going to land her in a lot of trouble. The public who loved her just a few days ago is going to turn on her big time and Evie doesn’t know how to handle it.

The one constant in Evie’s life has been her grandmother. So when everything comes crashing down with her career, which she sees as her grandmother’s legacy, Evie can’t even bring herself to return Evelyn’s calls. As time begins to heal some of Evie’s wounds, she heads to New York City to visit Evelyn and try to get her career on track. Her grandmother has been out of the spotlight for years and doesn’t understand why Evie is in such a rush to get back to that life. Little does Evelyn know, Evie needs her grandmother’s blessing on a project from the one producer who hasn’t blacklisted Evie, a man that Evelyn had a famous falling out with nearly a decade ago.

In coming to New York City, Evie is forced to confront her failed career, her feelings about disappointing her family, her betrayal by a friend that she trusted, and the feelings of loneliness that she has struggled with her whole life.

Why I liked it:

This story is part “Where’d You Go, Bernadette”, part “You’ve Got Mail” and part “She’s All That”, which I absolutely loved. There’s a romance in the story, but I felt like Evie’s personal growth was the highlight, as it should be. I love Evelyn’s character because she is so strong and sure of herself. She’s got enough money to live any kind of lifestyle she wants, but she lives in a comfortable home and appears to be nice to everyone that she comes in contact with.

I also appreciated that some of the issues Evie struggled with weren’t just chalked up to teen angst. Her parents really weren’t as present in her life as she needed them to be, but eventually she tells them that and they make an effort to do better.

What I would like to change:

Nothing. This is exactly the type of book that I like, even though it wasn’t the book that I thought I was getting into when I first read the synopsis.

Disclaimer: I received an electronic galley of this title from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

My library rating: Here we have it, the coveted perfect library rating. There’s almost no bad language, no questionable morality, no tough scenarios. It’s just a light story with complex characters.

lemonade_icon 5 glasses of lemonade= you could recommend this book to anyone. There is nothing in here that is going to upset anyone and you could start handing it out on street corners. (This kind of book is a Librarian’s dream. As much as we love good literature, suggesting a book for someone can be nerve-wracking work that can backfire BIG TIME.)

My personal preference rating: I rated this title 5 stars. It was the book that I didn’t know I needed to read right now.

Mid-Month Wrap-Up

Hello Kittens! I’m just checking in with you on how the month is shaping up in terms of reading so far.

I’ve finished 5 books and reviewed a few of them for you. I’ve dnf’ed one book so far and had to return 1 book to my library. I’ve picked up a ton of books from the library, some of which I might even read this month, we’ll see….

**Links below go to each book’s page on Goodreads**

Books finished thus far:

The Night Bookmobile by Audrey Niffenegger (this one counts towards the Librarians in literature project, although it was not one of the titles that I originally picked this month.)

The Nothing Man by Catherine Ryan Howard (my favorite book so far this month)

All Eyes on Her by L.E. Flynn

Sadie by Courtney Summers (my second favorite book so far)

Self Care by Leigh Stein (this is a great take on the role social media plays in our lives when we take it to the extreme)

Did Not Finish:

I set Red Rising by Pierce Brown to the side for now. I made it about halfway through the book but was struggling to move forward with the storyline. I will definitely pick it up again at some point.

Sent Back:

I had to send Murder, She Wrote: The Murder of Twelve by Jessica Fletcher and Jon Land back to the library before I was able to read it. I’ll request it again and hopefully get it back before the end of the month.

Unexpected hold:

My hold for the House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune came in early, so I will be trying to fit that one in this month because I won’t be able to get it back for a while.

All Eyes on Her by L. E. Flynn

Hello Kittens! I’ve been on more of a mystery/thriller kick lately, so I hope you’ll indulge me for a little while longer. This week I’ve got a Young Adult Thriller revolving around a young woman and her boyfriend who go for a hike in the woods one day. Only one of them comes out of those woods alive. I can tell you, that from my perspective, mistake number one was definitely going into the woods in the first place…just kidding. I love hiking under the right circumstances. This was a gripping story about a small town that is rocked when one of their young stars winds up dead in what everyone at first believes is an accident. It has love, betrayals, court room drama, and teen angst all rolled into one 320 page story and it was quite the ride. I hope you’ll give it a shot if you see this one in stores or in your local library.

Title: All Eyes On Her

Author: L. E. Flynn

Author website: http://www.laurieelizabethflynn.com/

Publisher: Imprint

Publish date: August 18, 2020

ISBN: 9781250158161

Buy the Book: Amazon, Barnes and Noble

Summary:

Mark Forrester and Tabitha Cousins were the “it” couple in their town. He was a Princeton boy, fulfilling his dreams of becoming a big name in collegiate swimming, while she was finishing up her senior year at the local high school. They are well-known in their town and their relationship has been electric from day one. The town is heartbroken when Mark, their golden boy, falls to his death during the hike and Tabitha gets lost in the woods for hours trying to find help. People say they never should have gone on the hike if they didn’t know what they were doing, and why did they go to a notoriously dangerous spot if neither of them even liked hiking?

In the days and weeks following Mark’s death speculation abounds about Tabby and how their relationship played out. Yes, they were hot and heavy and everyone knew it, but everyone also knew that the two had been having some problems lately. Both were accused of exhibiting jealousy and possessive behavior. Both had friends who were begging them to end things. Both had their own reasons for going on the hike that day. With Mark out of the picture, the town begins to wonder about how far Tabby would have gone to free herself from a toxic relationship, and as the investigation into his death heats up, people all over the country will take sides.

This story is told from the alternating perspectives of Tabby and Mark’s friends. The reader never gets a chapter from Mark, so they are left to depend on his friends and other bystanders to hear his side of the story. Some chapters also feature text exchanges and the online stories from various news websites, along with their comments sections. Information is given out slowly, with the reader left to piece together large parts of the story themselves, largely depending on how different people saw the same event. Some characters are convinced that Tabby is a murdered and some are convinced that she may have been forced to defend herself against an increasingly aggressive Mark.

Tabby is the only one who knows the truth, and hers is a perspective that is only briefly shared with the reader. In chapters from each of their best friends and their siblings, the reader gets to know how Tabby and Mark acted towards each other and how everything led up to that moment in the woods. Parts of the story are missing, understandably since Mark’s version is not represented and Tabby’s story is told the way that Tabby wants it told. It creates a situation where the reader has a cast of potentially unreliable narrators, all twisting the story to meet their own needs. It’s a thrilling mystery that utilizes the versatile nature of teenage friendships and relationships to make an already complicated situation even more complicated. Every person the reader meets had some role to play in what happened then and what happens next.

Why I liked it:

This story is much more complex than I originally thought it would be based on the synopsis. It is much more about the relationships that these teens had with each other and other people in the town than it is about what actually occurred when they were in the woods.

I appreciate that we see real emotional growth from some of the characters, as would be expected in a book that takes place over more than 12 months. At first it seemed liked the characters were going to be cast in somewhat stereotypical roles for the entirety of the novel, but the second half of the book is a turning point for several characters, most notably Bridget, Lou, and Kyla. They each get an arc that is more developed than I originally imagined for them.

What I would like to change:

I can’t give too much detail without spoiling anything, but I will say that the ending lacked the resolutions that I was looking for. Also, it felt like some characters just fell by the wayside at the end (Beck).

Disclaimer: I received an electronic galley of this title from the publisher on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

My library rating: For a book that dealt with teenagers and murder, I actually thought this title was pretty tame. There’s some cursing and there is discussion of an abortion, but nothing graphic.

lemonade_icon 4 glasses of lemonade= a book you could recommend to a book group or anybody who reads. You might find controversial subject matter, but it is handled delicately.

My personal preference rating: I rated this title 4 stars. The character development was good and the mystery was solid. It had moments of high intensity and kept my interest throughout.

The Nothing Man by Catherine Ryan Howard

Hello Kittens! Today I’ve got a book that I have been raving about to my coworkers for several days now. It’s a brand new thriller that’s just published today from an established author. If you read Michelle McNamara’s fantastic true crime book, I’ll Be Gone in the Dark, you’ve probably wondered if the Golden State Killer ever read her book. Catherine Ryan Howard takes that concept and gives it to us in book form here. This was one of those books that made me want to read faster because I just couldn’t get through it fast enough.

Title: The Nothing Man

Author: Catherine Ryan Howard

Author website: https://catherineryanhoward.com/

Publisher: Blackstone Publishing

Publish date: August 4, 2020

ISBN: 9781538519738

Buy the Book: Amazon, Barnes and Noble

Summary:

Twenty years ago, Eve Black was the sole survivor of a brutal attack that left the rest of her family dead. She was 12 years old at the time and has very few memories of the night in question. Eventually, the murders are linked to the work of a serial killer that has become known as “The Nothing Man”. He is known as the Nothing Man because the police have nothing on him. No DNA, no evidence, no reliable witness accounts.

Eve hasn’t spoken out about what happened that night. She has led a life that was sheltered from the horrors of what happened to her family. The Nothing Man went dormant after murdering her family and he was never caught. As Eve gets older, she can no longer stand by and deny that this event changed her life forever. She can longer stand to live in a world where everyone seems to have accepted the fact that this man will not be caught. She can’t stand to think that no one is looking for him. So she comes up with a plan, and she writes a book.

“The Nothing Man” is the title of Eve Black’s memoir of her experiences that night and of those of the other victims and their families. In writing it, she reveals her true self to the world, but she also issues the world a challenge. She pleads with them to help her find this man, to take what her book reveals about him and his methods and to come forward with new information.

The story that is told here is of what happens when the Nothing Man picks up Eve’s book and begins reading. He wants to see how she remembers that night and what she has uncovered about him. He wants to make sure that she isn’t getting any closer than the police ever did. The reader experiences the book as the Nothing Man does, by reading it along with him.

Why I liked it:

Howard takes a concept that I wondered about myself and explores it to the end. I have often wondered if the Golden State Killer read Michelle McNamara’s book and worried that it would lead to his capture. With The Nothing Man, readers are treated to a new take on the serial killer perspective.

There were a few twists that I definitely did not see coming, but even those that I did were satisfying to read.

I also really appreciated the focus that the story puts on victims and their families while also acknowledging the fascination that serial killers hold for the general public.

What I would like to change:

I don’t know if I was just anxious to keep reading or not, but the pacing for the first 50% of the book felt a little slow. This is one of those things that happens when a book starts with an ending and then works its way back, but I can also appreciate that Howard puts us deep into the mind of this serial killer.

Disclaimer: I received an advanced electronic copy of this title from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

My library rating: There are some gruesome descriptions in this story of assault, rape, and violence. I don’t believe that they are needlessly graphic, but it would be triggering for some people.

lemonade_icon 4 glasses of lemonade= a book you could recommend to a book group or anybody who reads. You might find controversial subject matter, but it is handled delicately.

My personal preference rating: I gave this title 5 stars. It has been one of my favorite thrillers of the year so far.