Sunday, July 28, 2024

#gretchensbooks2024 - June

 


Ah, June. The start of a busy summer! (Aren't they all, though?) I did get a lot of good reading in this month though. Not as much as I'd have liked (again, do I ever?). Also, I need there to be so many more Christina Lauren books, because *swoon.* Unfortunately, I think I've read just about all of them now!



Book 55 of 2024 📖 Love and Other Words by Christina Lauren (4.5/5⭐️)


📚GENRE: Contemporary Romance

🗓PUBLISHED: 10 April 2018


Macy Sorensen is settling into an ambitious if emotionally tepid routine: work hard as a new pediatrics resident, plan her wedding to an older, financially secure man, keep her head down and heart tucked away.

But when she runs into Elliot Petropoulos—the first and only love of her life—the careful bubble she’s constructed begins to dissolve. Once upon a time, Elliot was Macy’s entire world—growing from her gangly bookish friend into the man who coaxed her heart open again after the loss of her mother...only to break it on the very night he declared his love for her.

Told in alternating timelines between Then and Now, teenage Elliot and Macy grow from friends to much more—spending weekends and lazy summers together in a house outside of San Francisco devouring books, sharing favorite words, and talking through their growing pains and triumphs. As adults, they have become strangers to one another until their chance reunion. Although their memories are obscured by the agony of what happened that night so many years ago, Elliot will come to understand the truth behind Macy’s decade-long silence, and will have to overcome the past and himself to revive her faith in the possibility of an all-consuming love.


A month ago I had three Christina Lauren books on my TBR shelf. I read one because it was an ARC and I wanted to read it before the publishing date. I forgot how captivating they are! I picked this book up one afternoon to start after finishing a different book, and devoured the whole thing before bed time.


While this isn’t my favorite story line of there’s, I enjoyed every second of it! I didn’t feel like a lot happened, but I still flew through the story like I would if it was full of suspenseful events.






Book 56 of 2024 📖 Emma in the Night by Wendy Walker (3.5/5⭐️)


📚GENRE: Mystery

🗓PUBLISHED: 8 August 2017


One night three years ago, the Tanner sisters disappeared: fifteen-year-old Cass and seventeen-year-old Emma. Three years later, Cass returns, without her sister Emma. Her story is one of kidnapping and betrayal, of a mysterious island where the two were held. But to forensic psychiatrist Dr. Abby Winter, something doesn't add up. Looking deep within this dysfunctional family Dr. Winter uncovers a life where boundaries were violated and a narcissistic parent held sway. And where one sister's return might just be the beginning of the crime.


Uffda. This book was bizarre, but in a good way! I think this was a random buy at McKays, and it’s been sitting on my shelf for a couple years. 


The characters in this book weren’t overly likeable, nor were they reliable narrators, which made the story even more interesting. I enjoyed the suspense and how fast paced the story was - I never knew what would happen next!


FREE on Kindle Unlimited!





Book 57 of 2024 🎧 Beyond Reach (Grant County #6) by Karin Slaughter (3/5⭐️)


📚GENRE: Police Procedural/Mystery

🗓PUBLISHED: 31 July 2007


In a small Georgia town, Detective Lena Adams is accused of a vicious murder. A hundred miles away, Police Chief Jeffrey Tolliver learns that his young detective has been arrested. And Jeffrey’s wife, pediatrician and medical examiner Sara Linton, fighting a heartbreaking malpractice suit, is thrust into the center of a bizarre and murderous case.
 
For Lena has fled to the place where she grew up, careening back through the shadows of her past. Now only Jeffrey and Sara can free Lena from the web of lies that has trapped her—as this powerful novel races toward its shattering climax and a final, unforgettable twist.


Though I enjoy this series, I wasn’t super into this book. I think the biggest downfall was that it was too long - I felt like it was dragging on a lot of the time.


It did end in a cliff hanger though! So I’ll still be listening to the next one.



Book 58 of 2024 📖 The True Love Experiment by Christina Lauren (4/5⭐️)


📚GENRE: Contemporary Romance

🗓PUBLISHED: 16 May 2023


Felicity “Fizzy” Chen is lost. Sure, she’s got an incredible career as a beloved romance novelist with a slew of bestsellers under her belt, but when she’s asked to give a commencement address, it hits her: she hasn’t been practicing what she’s preached.

Fizzy hasn’t ever really been in love. Lust? Definitely. But that swoon-worthy, can’t-stop-thinking-about-him, all-encompassing feeling? Nope. Nothing. What happens when the optimism she’s spent her career encouraging in readers starts to feel like a lie?

Connor Prince, documentary filmmaker and single father, loves his work but when his profit-minded boss orders him to create a reality TV show, putting his job on the line, Connor is out of his element. Desperate to find his romantic lead, a chance run-in with an exasperated Fizzy offers Connor the perfect solution. What if he could show the queen of romance herself falling head-over-heels for all the world to see? Fizzy gives him a hard pass—unless he agrees to her list of demands. When he says yes, and production on 
The True Love Experiment begins, Connor wonders if that perfect match will ever be in the cue cards for him, too.


Ah, my heart! All of their stories are so swoony, and I’m only disappointed because I don’t have anymore of their books to read! I loved Fizzy, and I loved Conner. Even all the supporting characters were lovable!




Book 59 of 2024 🎧 Haunting Adeline by H.D. Carlton (2/5⭐️)


📚GENRE: Dark Romance

🗓PUBLISHED: 12 August 2021


The Manipulator
I can manipulate the emotions of anyone who lets me.
I will make you hurt, make you cry, make you laugh and sigh.
But my words don't affect him. Especially not when I plead for him to leave.
He's always there, watching and waiting.
And I can never look away.
Not when I want him to come closer.

The Shadow
I didn't mean to fall in love.
But now that I have, I can't stay away.
I'm mesmerized by her smile, by her eyes, and the way she moves.
The way she undresses...
I'll keep watching and waiting. Until I can make her mine.
And once she is, I'll never let her go.
Not even when she begs me to.


Ugh. This book was so dull. I was so excited for it because I’ve seen it talked about and recommended over and over again for years, but I was significantly let down. While it was technically a dark romance, I feel like it lacked the depth a dark romance should have.


I wanted to DNF this so many times, but since I spent actual money on it (like $2 probably, but still) I had to finish in on principle. It ended in a cliff hanger, but I was so bored I don’t even care to find out what happens next.


FREE on Kindle Unlimited if you want to give it a go!




Book 60 of 2024 🎧 The Drowning Woman by Robyn Harding (4/5⭐️)


📚GENRE: Thriller

🗓PUBLISHED: 13 June 2023


Lee Gulliver never thought she’d find herself living on the streets—no one ever does—but when her restaurant fails, and she falls deeper into debt, she leaves her old life behind with nothing but her clothes and her Toyota Corolla. In Seattle, she parks in a secluded spot by the beach to lay low and plan her next move—until early one morning, she sees a sobbing woman throw herself into the ocean. Lee hauls the woman back to the surface, but instead of appreciation, she is met with fury. The drowning woman, Hazel, tells her that she wanted to die, that she’s trapped in a toxic, abusive marriage, that she’s a prisoner in her own home. Lee has thwarted her one chance to escape her life.

Out of options, Hazel retreats to her gilded cage, and Lee thinks she’s seen the last of her, until her unexpected return the next morning. Bonded by disparate but difficult circumstances, the women soon strike up a close and unlikely friendship. And then one day, Hazel makes a shocking request: she wants Lee to help her disappear. It’ll be easy, Hazel assures her, but Lee soon learns that nothing is as it seems, and that Hazel may not be the friend Lee thought she was.


Oooo this was a good one! It was pretty fast paced, and had lots of twists! I was constantly on edge that this wouldn't end how I wanted it to. Robyn Harding is definitely a go-to author for me - always great stories!


FREE on Kindle Unlimited!





Book 61 of 2024 🎧 Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls: A Memoir by T Kira Madden (3.5/5⭐️)


📚GENRE: Memoir

🗓PUBLISHED: 5 March 2019


As a child, Madden lived a life of extravagance, from her exclusive private school to her equestrian trophies and designer shoe-brand name. But under the surface was a wild instability. The only child of parents continually battling drug and alcohol addictions, Madden confronted her environment alone. Facing a culture of assault and objectification, she found lifelines in the desperately loving friendships of fatherless girls.

With unflinching honesty and lyrical prose, spanning from 1960s Hawai'i to the present-day struggle of a young woman mourning the loss of a father while unearthing truths that reframe her reality, 
Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls is equal parts eulogy and love letter. It’s a story about trauma and forgiveness, about families of blood and affinity, both lost and found, unmade and rebuilt, crooked and beautiful.


When I say I would read a memoir by literally anybody, I mean it! I have no idea why this book was on my TBR, as it seemed very random, but it was good! The book encompassed brutal honesty rarely shown in writing - she did not hold back! At times the writing felt sporadic and disjoined, but that was my only complaint. For a life much different than mine, this was super interesting to read!





Book 62 of 2024 📱 The Lies You Wrote (Raisa Susanto #1) by Brianna Labuskes (4/5⭐️)


📚GENRE: Police Procedural

🗓PUBLISHED: 1 January 2024


The double murder of a married couple in a small Washington town draws FBI forensic linguist Raisa Susanto into an investigation that mirrors a decades-old crime. Twenty-five years ago—to the day—Alex Parker murdered his parents, then took his own life, leaving behind a note admitting everything.

Raisa, paired with forensic psychologist Callum Kilkenny, uses her skills to read between the lines. Especially now that paranoid postings on a conspiracy thread suggest that Alex was a victim himself—theories that have piqued the interest of a perceptive content moderator and a true-crime podcaster eager for a big break.

As old and new crimes converge, messages from the living and the confessions of the dead take on new meaning for Raisa. Something more sinister than a copycat crime is at play, and plundering the darkest corners of a killer’s mind leaves her vulnerable to a deadly twist even she never saw coming.

 

I *think* this was a Prime First Reads book that I picked because I've read (and loved) books by this author before. This one was no different! I enjoyed the linguist aspect in this book - its one I've not come across in crime stories before. And the relationships between the characters were interesting. There were definitely twists I didn't see coming! I look forward to the second book in the series coming out later this year!


(Also, I *think* this might be free with a Prime membership! It's showing up that way for me, but since I own it, I'm not sure if that impacts why it says that. Click the link to find out!)



Book 63 of 2024 📖 The Litigators by John Grisham (4/5⭐️)


📚GENRE: Legal Thriller

🗓PUBLISHED: 25 October 2011


Oscar Finley and Wally Figg are in fact just two ambulance chasers who bicker like an old married couple. But now the firm is ready to tackle a case that could make the partners rich—without requiring them to actually practice much law. A class action suit has been brought against Varrick Labs, a pharmaceutical giant with annual sales of $25 billion, alleging that Krayoxx, its most popular drug, causes heart attacks. Wally smells money. All Finley & Figg has to do is find a handful of Krayoxx users to join the suit. It almost seems too good to be true ... and it is.


Litigate and all its forms are definitely on my list of favorite words. I just like the sounds in them! I don't recall reading this one before, but I really enjoyed it! In true Grisham fashion, I had no idea if this would end well for the good guys or not, and if it did end well, I didn't know how it would end. Shoot, even if it DIDN'T end well I didn't know how it would end!






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(Summaries are from Amazon, but all thoughts about them are my own!)

Reading Challenge: 63/120 books read in 2024

You can find previous book reviews here and add me on Goodreads here! Also, if you use StoryGraph, you can add me here!

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