Back today with what I read in the month of August. I have been on a reading tear. I can’t be stopped, honestly, and I’m thoroughly enjoying it!!
THESE SUMMER STORMS by Sarah MacLean
4/5 Stars
Alice Storm is estranged from her very prominent, very wealthy family. In These Summer Storms, she returns to her family’s remote private island off Rhode Island after her father’s sudden death. There, she gets sucked into a twisted inheritance game that forces her to confront family secrets, grief, and her own identity. Think: Succession meets Elin Hilderbrand. I couldn’t put the book down, even though I found the book a little prescriptive. I also randomly decided to watch We Were Liars at the same time and found a lot of similarities between the two… not sure if that helped or diminished the reading experience, but thought the similarities were interesting.
MAINE CHARACTERS by Hannah Orenstein
4/5 Stars
Two of my friends read this a month before me and both warned me that this was a little bit of a heavier plot than just your typical summer read. Two young women discover that that they’re half-sisters after their father passes away. They’re forced to spend the summer together at his lake house as they work through tangled relationships and high emotions. It felt like a grown up version of The Parent Trap. The first half of the book was a little slow and I found the second half much more compelling– I loved the character development throughout it.
THE NAMES by Florence Knapp
5/5 Stars
If you read one book from this month, let it be this one. I had full body goosebumps when I finished it. I will caveat this by saying that I think it’s best read in big chunks, so I would wait for a period of time where you have dedicated time to read every day for a few days in a row. I couldn’t put it down and found it to be one of the most uniquely written books I’ve read this year. A mom has to choose between three names for her son– Bear (her daughter’s suggestion), Julian (her pick), or Gordon (her abusive husband’s name). The three parallel stories unfold over time. This would be an incredible book club choice– lots to discuss!!
MANSION BEACH by Meg Mitchell Moore
3/5 Stars
Meg Mitchell Moore books are always a nice escape. They’re a bit like Elin Hilderbrand novels in that they take place in summer destination hot spots and feature a cast of characters. Mansion Beach takes place on Block Island where the founder of a hot fashion company on the heels of an IPO is spending a summer in her new house. But her past threatens to be exposed… It was a nice, easy read. Would be a good palate cleanser between heavier books.
EVERYTHING IS TUBERCULOSIS by John Green
4.5/5 Stars
Wow! After seeing this book everywhere I had to read it for myself. It is a fascinating book about tuberculosis. I thought I knew some things about tuberculosis, but this opened my eyes in a huge way. My grandpa actually had tuberculosis and I knew it was something that they didn’t tell people about, even after he recovered, but I didn’t really understand the full extent of the stigma. John Green is such an incredible storyteller– he humanized the living history of tuberculosis. And I love that he chose to use his platform– and his writing skills– in this way.
BUG HOLLOW by Michelle Huneven
4.5/5 Stars
If you’re a fan of character driven novels, you will love Bug Hollow. It’s a family saga told through various perspectives spanning many decades. I couldn’t stop reading about this very human, flawed family. I picked it up and thought, based on the description, that it was about a teenage son who gets pulled into a cult in California, but it was so not that. It’s a beautiful story about family.
HAZEL SAYS NO by Jessica Berger Gross
4/5 Stars
A family moves from Brooklyn to Maine for the dad’s college teaching job… and on Hazel’s first day of school in her new town, the principal tells her that he’s chosen her to have relations with. The book is told through the family’s perspectives after Hazel “says no”: Hazel as she deals with the opportunities and setbacks that come her way after the ordeal; the mom as she figures out her fashion career outside of NYC; the dad as he grapples with his own “me too” accusations; and the little brother as he faces his own role in the mess and how the fallout affects his life. I thought it was a very unique, current, and witty take on the me too movement.
CULPABILITY by Bruce Holsinger
5/5 Stars
Whew! This book knocked my socks off. It’s such a brilliant novel that tackles the ethics of AI. It weaves together all the different implications of artificial intelligence. It’s a modern portrayal of parenting and marriage– the secrets we keep and the stories we tell. It’s about ethics and morals and the grey area between what’s right and wrong. It makes you THINK– highly recommend. (Also would be great for a book club, even an informal one!)
