Tuesday, June 6, 2023

Reading Recap

 


The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires is in my top five books of all time.  I realize that is a bold statement and weird from someone who doesn't love books that are categorized as "horror" but I LOVED this book!  There were definitely some gory parts (the whole way the vampire "fed", there was a scene with rats and a cockroach part I'm pretty confident will stay with me forever) BUT the characters were so endearing and the time period (early nineties) was incredibly nostalgic and brought me right back to my own childhood.  There were some deeper themes woven in with the lighthearted southern housewife content and for me it was just perfection!



Every Summer After was a fun listen for me! I grew up going to my grandparents cottage on a lake in Northern Ontario so there was a significant amount of nostalgia for me with the lake setting and then some of the Canadian references so I think that contributed to my feelings toward it.  I don't want to give too much away but I did NOT love the  "twist" and Percy's biggest regret - it completely changed how I felt about her character and not for the positive.  I liked how the book was told over 6 summers intermixed with the present and, again, the setting is probably what won me over the most.  Overall I enjoyed it and it was a fun summer read.




I expected Happy Place to be super light and fluffy and while it was a fun summery read it was much more angsty and tear jerking than I anticipated.  The flashbacks detailing Harry and Wyn's super sweet relationship mixed with the present day torment they're going through made for a super emotional read.  I LOVED all of the characters and found myself rooting for all of them.  In addition to the romance relationship the relationships among the original friend group and their significant others were just as sweet and endearing.  HIGHLY recommend this one!



I'm a sucker for a British romcom and The Secret Bridesmaid met all of my expectations. The characters were endearing, the setting was magical and I found myself laughing out loud at several points.  It had Devil Wears Prada vibes mixed with The Wedding Planner and the friendship that developed between Cordelia and Sophie was just the best.  I listened to this on audible and the narration was top notch as well!  If you love a slightly predictable but DARLING British romcom add this to your list!



 When We Lost Our Heads was on the bottom of my list this time around.  It was strange and at multiple points I had to pause (I was listening on audible) and be like, "WHAT THE HECK DID I JUST LISTEN TO" but it was one of the most unique books I've ever read.  I love learning about different time periods through fiction and I hadn't read anything set in this time period and setting so I really enjoyed that aspect but didn't realize that so much of the book was going to be about pornography and brothels (probably should have read some reviews first - that's on me) which I'm not opposed to reading about (remember I read and LOVED The Wolf Den) if it doesn't feel gratuitous and some of the content in this book just felt a bit unnecessary or put in there for shock value alone.  Overall, not sure I'd recommend unless you're REALLY into 1800's Montreal and the political climate mixed in with some seriously twisted female friendships but I'm still glad I stuck it out and I'm still thinking about the book so that says something!



Nora Goes Off Script was an absolute delight!  I felt like the author just jumped right on in with the romance part and while it felt a little bit far-fetched I love me some playful witty banter and Nora and Leo delivered with that.   It had a little bit of everything.... big time Hollywood actor, super down to earth heroine, darling kids, etc.  5/5 recommend!

Happy Tuesday, friends!!!

1 comment :

  1. I'm adding the vampire book to my list. I'm intrigued!!

    ReplyDelete

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