Ah, June. You were a weird reading month. Every book drew me in with their great premise and potential and too many wasted their intriguing set-up. In fact, the book I expected to place in my vaulted love section ended up in the dreaded loathe category. Thankfully, there were still some really good books that lived up to their book flap AND I finally caught up with all my on hold books at the library. YAY! This month I’m picking books based on my mood and what’s available, which will hopefully alleviate my book funk.
This, as always, is a long post so there is a TL;DR at the end.
Books I Loved
To be technical, the book I loved.
The Obsession by Nora Roberts
Book Description: As a child, Naomi Bowes exposed her father’s hideous crimes, but the sins of her father still haunt her.
Book Review: As I’ve shared before I am a diehard fan of the In Death series by JD Robb, aka Nora Roberts. While I’ve read a few Nora Roberts books, they are not must-reads for me. However, this one caught my eye and I really loved it, particularly the fact that Naomi stood up and took care of her mother and younger brother. I also appreciated the fact that Nora didn’t do an immediate time jump after Naomi exposed her father as I expected. We spent some time with Naomi and her family to see how they coped and didn’t. This is just a good, solid book with characters that you really grow to like. It’s less suspenseful than I anticipated but I didn’t mind because the characters and story kept me interested. Plus, the killer wasn’t super interesting so Roberts smartly didn’t overly dwell on him.
To Read or Not To Read: Read it, if you like mysteries and fun characters, especially if you love a good dog and a man who loves books and has read Pride and Prejudice. 🙂
Books I Liked
Books I enjoyed overall and recommend.
I Let You Go by Clare Mackintosh
Book Description: Jenna Gray moves to a remote village to escape memories of her lost child and a terrible car accident.
Book Review: I honestly cannot say a lot about this book without giving important details away, which makes it hard to review! Overall, I enjoyed this book. It’s very atmospheric and dream-like. One twist was excellent and caught me by surprise, which I liked. Too often “twists” are so obvious that they can actually take-away from the book, especially now that every author feels they need some sort of Gone Girl twist. The second twist did feel a little unnecessary.
To Read or Not To Read: Read it. It’s a good, overall thriller. It’s not action-packed but more emotional and tense.
The Purity of Vengeance by Jussi Adler-Olsen
Book Description: Detective Carl Morck investigates a seemingly unconnected group of people who all went missing at the same time.
Book Review This felt like a weirdly timely book. The villain believes in sterilizing women he feels are unfit to be mothers. People who are poor, addicts or not like him. And his fledging political party, Purity Party, has just garnered enough votes to become legitimate. Ahem. A good, solid read and we also get some more movement on the incident that led to Morck’s placement in Department Q. This book takes place in the 50’s, 80’s and now and it kind of broke my heart in the end.
To Read or Not To Read: Read it. It’s another stellar outing by Adler-Olsen.
The Okay But Have Some Problem Books
Lots of thing to like and few things that made me twitchy. These are the books that make me indecisive. To recommend or not to recommend — I just don’t know.
City of the Lost by Kelley Armstrong
Book Description: After an attack, Casey Duncan and her best friend, Diana, relocate to Rockton, a hidden city for people who need to disappear.
Book Review: A great premise that fell a bit flat. I loved the idea of this mysterious town for people who need to disappear. All the residents have a secret, although violent criminals are supposedly screened out. Yet someone is killing people. The town is strange; the people are strange; the so-called benevolent benefactors may not be so benevolent. And yet the murderer and motive ends up being pretty run-of-the-mill, which was disappointing given all the possibilities. And I really hated every single thing about Diana. Every. Thing.
To Read or Not to Read: The premise is great, although the story ends up being fairly standard. I am intrigued enough by the set-up to check out book 2.
Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas
Book Description: Celaena Sardothien can win her freedom if she defeats 23 killers, thieves and warriors to become the King’s Champion.
Book Review: I expected to LOVE this book but didn’t. Honestly, I don’t know where it falls on the love spectrum. There was a lot of set-up, too much in my opinion. There were long stretches where it felt like nothing happened. Calaena would wear a pretty dress and flirt with Prince Dorian. Fine. Whatever. There just seemed to be a lack of urgency to me, which wasn’t helped by how obvious it was Calaena would win the competition. Heck, even the characters pretty much admitted that as well. This is true in many YA books, which is fine, but even though I knew Katniss would win The Hunger Games, I don’t recall being bored or wondering if anything was ever going to happen.
To Read or Not to Read: Read it, if you like YA, fantasy and romance. I’m discovering that I prefer romance to not be front and center in my YA books; it’s too twee and I’m too much of an old coot. It is unlikely I will continue with this series.
The Girls by Emma Cline
I was provided an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher for an honest review.
Book Description: A teenage girl is drawn to a soon-to-be infamous cult in the late 1960s.
Book Review: I have a lot of mixed feelings about this one. It started out so strong and I was really drawn in by Cline’s vivid descriptions. It’s really a coming of age story, which I didn’t expect but enjoyed as Cline had some great insight about how girls seek validation and give-up bits of themselves to get it. “All that time I spent readying myself, the articles that taught me life was really just a waiting room until someone noticed you – the boys had spent that time becoming themselves.” However, what started so strong rang out steam. Frankly, the ending was weird. Everything wrapped up quickly with Evie was scared of some random guy on the beach, which felt like an entirely different book.
To Read or Not To Read: Dealer’s choice. I don’t regret reading the book but it also had so much more potential.
The Book I Loathed
Beware: I’m about to turn into a ranting lunatic.
The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes
Book Review: I had such high hopes for this book. The idea of a time-traveling serial killer was unique and intriguing but ultimately became a never-ending episode of Criminal Minds. You’d meet a girl and she would die horribly. Repeat and rinse. Time-travel was simply a way for the killer to get from one place to another and had no real purpose beyond that. There is no clear reason why the “house” chose these women to die. Some reviews indicated the women were pioneers (okay, I guess) and this was about how men oppress women, but if that was true, shouldn’t the future have started to be different? Plus, the protagonist was a white woman headed to college in 1989 when the killer attacked her, nothing too revolutionary there. I can take graphic violence, but there has to be an interesting story and captivating characters backing it. Otherwise, it is just torture porn with a blank-faced killer (that Hannibal Lecter would eat for being a dull villain) who brutally kills women because the house told him to do it. Writing that made me feel embarrassed.
To Read or Not To Read: Nope. Unless Saw and Hostel are your favorite movies (no judgment if they are), then you might enjoy it. Otherwise, I’d like to time travel to get back the hours I lost reading this book.
TL;DR – My Recommendations for You
Okay, here’s the short and sweet of it: I recommend The Obsession by Nora Roberts, I Let You Go by Clare Mackintosh and The Purity of Vengeance by Jussi Adler-Olsen. Avoid at all costs The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes.
To More Great Books
As always, I’ll be participating in the Show Us Your Books Link-Up hosted by Jana Says and Life According to Steph. Be sure to check out the link-up as there are always so many great book recommendations.
July is my birthday month, so I am being even fussier about what books I read. I want to have a great reading month! I also participated in Erin’s challenge to read books you already own, which I’ll be sharing the results of this Thursday. And …. ummmmmm … please don’t judge me by the books I have collecting dust in my home. Or the amount of ranting I might (will) do.
What books are you adding to your TBR? What good books did you read in June?
Tanya
I read All the Light You Cannot See and Unbroken and WOW….SO GOOD. I’m now reading A lucky Child and next after that, The Cellist of Sarajevo, The Dovekeepers, and the Nightengale. Can’t wait for those books!
Too bad about The Shining Girls; I have that on my To Read list 🙁
I’ve heard so many good things about All the Light You Cannot See but I know that book is just going to destroy so I’ve been hesitant to pick it up. I’ll get there, eventually. I felt the same way about The Nightingale. I almost returned it to the library unread but finally started reading it, then I couldn’t put it down. It was so good and hope you enjoy it too! I was so mad about The Shining Girls because the premise is amazing but the book is crap.
What is it about June being a weird book month? What really bothers me is the amount of time wasted reading a book you didn’t enjoy, I mean, some of the books I read as well…why couldn’t there have been a disclaimer on the cover of the book saying “Don’t read!” Kind of like Alice in Wonderland with the cookies that say “Eat me!”, lol 🙂
“I Let You Go” is on my TBR list!
I couldn’t agree more, Mackenzie. It is so annoying when you think about the time wasted. It’s hard for me to quit a book anyway because I keep hoping that it will get better. I’m such a optimist! 🙂 Yes, I wish books had warnings – this is not the book you want to read. I hope you enjoy I Let You Go!
I thought I Let You Go was fantastic!
I have never read a Nora Roberts (or J.D. Robb) book…so, The Obsession looks like the perfect book for me to grab and finally break that dry spell.
I read a non-fiction book this month about a cult started in the ’60s, so I’d like to read the fictional one by Cline.
I really enjoyed it too. I must say the twist surprised me, which doesn’t have often, and a huge reason why I enjoyed it so much. Nora gets a bad rap, in my opinion. Her books can be somewhat formulaic but so are lots of books, ya know. I do prefer the JD Robb books because they are like SVU in the future. I really enjoyed The Girls until probably the last 15%. And if you know going in that the ending isn’t as strong as the rest, it helps or at least it did for me.
I enjoy Nora Roberts, too. Most of the time. She has done a few series that are just too mystical for my tastes and I’m not really a fan of the pure romance. “Obsession,” however, was perfect. I devoured it in two days and then hated that it was over.
I’m not a huge fan of pure romance books either, although I used to love them. The Nora Roberts books I typically enjoy (beyond the JD Robb books) are her mystical ones. 🙂 But I did really love Obsession. I actually reread the entire book and maybe reread a few of my favorites parts again and again. LOL!
I have a few of these on my TBR already (I had to double check because that list is out of hand) so I was glad to see your opinions on them. The Girls seems to be the “it” book right now and I’ve had bad luck with those lately so now I’m skeptical. Not enough to not read it but still.
Happy birthday month!
I hear you! My TBR is out of control and there are some duplicates (and maybe triplicates too) on it. The Girls is the so-called It Book of the summer, but I’m not sure if it really deserves the title. It’s good but the weak ending keeps it from being great.
I think reading bad reviews is just as informative as reading good ones 🙂
I’ve never actually read a Nora Roberts book.
I sometimes find them to be more informative because knowing what annoyed the reviewer, I can either decide if it’s something that would irk me or not.
The Girls had so much potential and I ended up really not liking it.
It did has such great potential and it’s frustrating that ending didn’t live up to the strong beginning. It would have irritated me so much more, but I knew the ending would be meh from your review. 🙂
I have Throne of Glass picked out for a reading challenge, and I can’t wait to get my hands on it because everybody talks about how much they love it. I’ll definitely have to keep in mind that it does take a while to build up. I’ve heard great things about I Let You Go! I hope that I get to pick it up soon!
I really, really want to love Throne of Glass because I have seen so many rave reviews for it. And it just screams Tanya. So I don’t know what wrong for me with the first book, but it seriously bummed me out. Hopefully you have a better experience than I did.
The Girls is one of those books I want to read just because I keep seeing it everywhere & most people seem to really enjoy it, plus the cover draws me in– but the synopsis just does not.
I love the cover too. It immediately caught my attention. I have noticed that people either really seem to love it or dislike it. I’m more in the middle. The good outweighed the negative but I wished it had lived up to its full potential.
hmmm… I haven’t read that Kelley Armstrong book yet. I’ll have to check it out. I’ve also been meaning to pick up I Let You Go. I checked out The Girls from my library, but only got through a few pages. It wasn’t grabbing me, so I moved to another book. I didn’t have time to circle back before it was due. Not sure I’ll try it again….
Sarah
Midwest Darling
It’s a pretty new book, I think. There were good and bad parts. I didn’t love it but it also took me a book or two to really love the Otherworld series too. If The Girls didn’t entice you from the beginning, then you probably wouldn’t have liked it. The beginning was the strongest part.
Oh I’m in the LOVE camp when it comes to Throne of Glass. Except for the third book in the series. I was bored. But would still count the series as a whole in the love category. But I do agree that it took while to really get into it. Although I think reading the prequel first helped immensely. Because I was dying to find out what happened at the end of the prequel so I was able to jump right into Throne of Glass.
I honestly expected to be in the love camp when it came to Throne of Glass. I didn’t realize there was a prequel and it definitely may have helped stir in my interest.
ugh how can i NOT add that nora roberts book to my list after you mentioned pride & prejudice!!! duh now i have to. i think i have read one nora roberts and felt pretty meh about it, but i love the jb robb books i’ve read. i’m only up to book 5 though, so a long way to go!
i really really liked i let you go, but i think i agree with you on the second twist, depending on exactly which twist that was. it’s not my kind of book normally so i was surprised i liked it so much.
the shining girls.. definitely not adding that one to my list. saw and hostel gave me nightmares for like ever.
i am so sad you didn’t like throne of glass, but i understand why. i am a sucker for romance.. though i will say, whatever you are thinking or expecting after reading book 1: it is not how the series continues. at all. haha. it still has romance in it, just not what you get in book 1 or what you might be expecting. i love that series though. i can understand why others don’t!
I love the JD Robb books too and they only get better, seriously. I’ve read a few Nora Roberts books – her more supernatural/mystical series, which I enjoy. This is a stand-alone book but I loved it. It was like comfort food to me!! If you’re not of a fan of Hostel or torture porn horror films, then you’re smart to pass-up The Shining Girls. It’s not great in the first place and the murders will give you nightmares. Hmmmm… you intrigue me with your comments on Throne of Glass. I really expected to love it but felt a bit bored, which I didn’t expect. I may still try book 2, eventually.
I’ve seen The Obsession several places and kept thinking it was a book I would like. It sounds super good!
I loved it. And seriously recommend you give it a try, Olya!
Definitely checking out The Obsession, it sounds great!
I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!
The Girls sounds like one of those books I’ll either love or hate. I still can’t decide if I should read it or not.
Tough call. It has so much great potential. I really enjoyed 85% of it but then ending was a bit rushed and confusing, in my opinion. I do think knowing that the ending is somewhat meh also helped me enjoy it more. Otherwise I may have been irritated versus it meeting me expectation. Weird, I know.
Honestly, Shining Girls sounds like a book that would have sucked me in, bummer to hear it doesn’t live up to expectations. But, I guess glad I know, I’ll put that on my T(not)BR list.
I know, right? As soon as I read the book description, I was hooked, so it was a real bummer when it just became a never-ending cycle of murder without a great plot and interesting characters. Such a waste of a great premise.
I added The Obsession to my to read list. I haven’t read Roberts in awhile, but always think of her as a romance writer. I’m curious to read a suspense book by her! I Let You Go and The Girls were already on my to read list.
She definitely got her start in romance and still does write some strictly romance-only books, which are not my favorites. But I really like her JD Robb books and some of her mysteries as Nora Roberts too. This is one of my favorites.
I have I Let You Go on my list, and The Girls is the August pick for my real life book club. I’ve never gotten into JD Robb but I’ve read a lot of Nora Roberts so I’m adding The Obsession.
I’ll be curious to know what your book club thinks of The Girls. It’s all over the place and I just wished the ending had lived up to the rest of the book.
The Girls was already on my list. I’ve seen a lot of mixed reviews, but I think it’s worth a try. And, I have to admit, the line you quoted from the book was lovely. I think I would really enjoy the author’s writing style.
I read and very much enjoyed I Let You Go. I agree, though … It’s nearly impossible to review without giving things away!
I added The Purity of Vengeance. I’d never heard of it before, but it sounds like my kind of book! 🙂
That’s too bad about The Shining Girls. I’ve seen a lot of mixed reviews about that one as well. I read another book by Lauren Beukes, Broken Monsters, last year and I gave it a 4 star rating. It wasn’t a perfect book, but I loved a lot of things about it.
Also, the whole “torture porn” thing is exactly how I would describe large chunks of Hillary: Tail of the Dog that I recently read/reviewed. I don’t mind disturbing and I don’t mind gruesome, but I don’t like it when an author just throws a bunch of things in solely for shock value. I didn’t hate that book, but I also don’t think I’d really recommend it.
There was some really great insight in The Girls, especially around how girls (and women) look to others for validation. You can see how Evie becomes enthralled, although it was more with a cult member than with the cult leader. Yeah, I felt like there was lots of shock value in The Shining Girls with no substance, although my understanding is the author wanted to have an “important message” but I just don’t know what it was. Never trust a house that tells you to torture and kill women? Yeesh!
Bummer there was only one you loved, some months just go that way! : / I have been trying to keep it pretty diverse, in hopes that I won’t get bored or stuck too much… which is so far going ok. I am banning myself from Kindle daily deals and also from bookstores for a while though. I need to read the ones I own… and I just. keep. buying. HELP! haha XO – Alexandra
Simply Alexandra: My Favorite Things
I’ve been in a book funk for a couple of months. I have only read 1 book so far in July and liked it, so hopefully it turns into a trend. I stopped putting books on hold because too many were coming at the same time and it overwhelmed me. Plus, I didn’t necessarily feel like reading whatever book arrived. Picky, picky!
I think I would like Shining Girls. Sorry you didn’t like Throne of Glass more. I’m interested in this series but haven’t gotten around to reading any of them yet. Sad to hear Girls fell flat. It’s gotten a lot of hype.
The Girls has gotten a ton of hype. I’m not sure it deserves it. It’s not bad but the ending is underwhelming. I really wanted to love Throne of Glass but didn’t, which honestly still surprises me!