may ‘23 book reviews
hello summer! this month, i challenged myself to only read the books on my tbr shelf because it’s gotten rather out of control with 28 in total. and the book ban was successful! i’m happy to say i refrained from visiting bookstores and read 12 that i had on my shelf. my favorite was a three way tie between circe, happy place and where the wandering ends - all wildly different novels!
the lost letters of william woolfe by helen cullen
rating: 2.5/5
william woolfe works a really cool job. at the dead letter depot, he reads lost letters and tries to connect them with the right person. one day, he receives a moving love note from a mysterious woman named winter. this one sticks with him, and maybe it’s because he’s having marital problems at home. his wife, claire, has been distant for some time and most days they feel more like awkward roommates than husband and wife. when another letter from winter comes to the depot, he becomes obsessed with finding this woman pouring her heart out via pen & paper.
this had the premise for such a good story but i just didn’t connect with william and the plot moved far too slow for me. i was constantly irritated with the miscommunication — so many things could be solved if claire and william spoke to one another! the ending felt rushed and honestly, i’m still confused by it.
happy place by emily henry
rating: 5/5
after the lackluster first read of the month, i had to immediately dive into a comfort read and emily henry delivered with her newest novel, happy place. i read this cover to cover on a friday night and i have no regrets. like always, henry crafts such loveable characters - i felt like i knew harriet and wyn and deeply wanted to be part of their friend group. it’s the kind of group where “friend” doesn’t do it, they are truly family.
anywho, harriet and wyn are ex-fiances but their friends don’t know yet. when sabrina, the careful planner of the group, invites the gang to their happy place — a sprawling cottage in maine — harriet does not expect wyn to be there. the two now have to pretend everything is a-okay for a week. the more time they spend together, the more unfinished business they discover. i will never get tired of a heartwarming love story.
the dead romantics by ashley poston
rating: 4/5
i was immediately drawn to this book after a quick read of the back — a ghostwriter who can see ghosts! it sounded fun and whimsical; something different from your “typical” romance reads. florence has been a ghostwriter for a handful of years now but she’s stumped on the latest book and is beginning to believe that happy endings don’t exist after her recent breakup. to make matters a bit worse, she has a new editor who she’s hoping to butter up into granting her an extension (she brought a cactus for their desk and everything). that unfortunately doesn’t work and she’s left in a time crunch.
when she then gets the call that her father has unexpectedly passed away, she’s beside herself and immediately returns home. her family runs a funeral home so it’s not their first rodeo and the way they’re able to manage and deal with grief is amazing. florence and her dad have a special bond - they can both see and talk to ghosts. actually, they help them pass onto the afterlife. as soon as she returns home, she’s stunned to see the ghost of her editor. now what? the dead romantics is a wonderful read.
local woman missing by mary kubica
rating: 3.5/5
local woman missing was an eerily dark read - some shit yo'u’d expect to hear in an episode of crime junkie. it makes you question, again, the depths at which humans sink. when two women and a young girl go missing in rapid succession the small suburb outside of chicago is rocked. the cul-de-sacs are no longer a place where parents feel safe leaving their kids to play. without giving too much away, we’re told a story from different perspectives and a decade apart. each character we meet plays a pivotal role in the storytelling.
ghost by dolly alderton
rating: 4/5
ghosts is a tender and emotional story about a thirty-something year old trying to find love. and like any millennial this means dating apps. nina has a great career writing books about food and a steady group of friends (though many are now married with children). when her spitfire of a friend convinces her to download linx, she does so without much hope, until she matches with max, a successful hunk of a man. when she learns he’s just as perfect in person as he seemed online, sparks truly begin to fly. he even says he loves her after a few months!!!! and then — he ghosts her. radio silence. nothing. nada. we’ve all been there before but dolly alderton’s prose is well-scripted in a way that makes it original. it was a really great read!
the lost summers of newport by beatriz williams, lauren willig and karen white
rating: 3/5
the lost summers of newport takes you back to the gilded age where the vanderbilts, the astors, and the fictional sprague family lived in lavish mansions and threw luxurious and maybe even outlandish parties. it’s 1899 and ellen daniels is a music teacher for the young debutante and copper heiress maybelle sprague. ellen has a bit of a difficult past that the audience doesn’t learn more of until later in the story. then, it’s 1957 and lucky sprague is trapped in a loveless and strenuous marriage. she dreams of running away with teddy, her friend-turned-lover. finally, it’s 2019 and andie figuero, tv host & historical renovator, is tasked with bringing a home makeover show to the gigantic sprague hall. it’s not her favorite gig, but she can’t pass up the chance to explore a bit of history.
i had high hopes for this read because i love team w (the powerful author group who also wrote the glass ocean about the sinking of the lusitania). this fell a little short of my expectations though. a few storylines seemed irrelevant and the ending felt extremely rushed. there was almost too little time between interactions for each character that it made it too far fetched for me. still an enjoyable read!
the maid by nita prose
rating: 3/5
i’ve heard so many people rant and rave about the maid, i couldn’t wait to dive in — it was nothing like i was expecting but in a great way. when a well to do businessman is found dead in his hotel room, the maid promptly dials down to reception for them to phone the police. this maid, molly, is not like other people. she takes everything at face value and sometimes struggles with social situations. unfortunately, people use this to their advantage and molly finds herself in the middle of this mess. it’s an exceptional story that reminds readers not to judge a book by its cover.
the only survivors by megan miranda
rating: 3/5
in high school, a bunch of classmates suffer a tragic accident together. while on a service trip, the two vans carrying the teens shockingly veer off the road and plummet into a ravine with a rapidly flooding river. after seven harrowing hours in the tennessee wilderness, nine kids survive the accident.
ten years have now passed and since, each year on the anniversary, the survivors get together to remember their classmates — and make sure secrets are kept buried. what really happened back then? our narrator, cassidy, shares her pov from the beach house the gang occupies during their reunion and all is not as it seems. there’s a darkness in the air, and it’s not just because of the looming storm.
it was an interesting and thrilling story with a twist i didn’t see coming. not my favorite mystery but worth a read!
circe by madeline miller
rating: 4.5/5
believe everything you hear about circe!!! i had been putting off this book for a while (my friend mailed it to me in january….) and just couldn’t find the right time to get into it, but as soon as i did i was drawn. reading circe was like walking back into mr. sprague’s 8th grade latin class and brought back the fondest memories of learning greek and roman mythology. i would have loved to say i remember all this from greek school, but alas, i was a dropout.
now onto the story - circe is a powerful witch who is exiled to an abandoned island after she turns a mortal into a god. the other gods, including her father helios, are cruel and punishments are often barbaric & last an eternity. remember the story of prometheus? tied to a rock while an eagle picked out his liver every day? yeah, that cruel. many popular characters in mythology are present — scylla and charybdis, jason and medea, and of course, odysseus. this is like reading game of thrones mixed with gladiator and a sprinkle of percy jackson.
big summer by jennifer weiner
rating: 2/5
if you’ve ever wondered what the life of an influencer is like (and you don’t have tiktok lol), big summer takes a peak behind the curtain of daphne berg, a plus sized fashion + body positivity influencer. daphne just landed a big deal and is excited to start working with a new clothing company when a blast from the past tracks her down. her childhood best friend — ex-best friend actually — appears at the house she nannies at and asks her to be part of her wedding. a lot of drama went down in the past but maybe she’s turned a new leaf? when the bride then dies on her wedding day, daphne is at the center of the investigation.
this story was a bit of a hodge podge - a little mystery, a little romance and a little underwhelming. while the strong female lead was well written, a lot of the story just fell flat. there was a side story from the past that really didn’t add anything to the plot. the deception of daphne’s love interest was off-base. this just didn’t do it for me.
the wilderwomen by ruth emmie lang
rating: 2/5
ruth emmie lang’s the wilderwomen explores two sisters with special gifts who travel across the country to find their mother. zadie and finn wilder were young when their mother, nora, vanished without a trace and five years later they band together, reluctantly, to find her. using their “gifts” — zadie can see the future and finn can experience other people’s memories — the pair journey from texas to the pacific northwest. the closer they come to finding their mother, the more difficult it gets to actually track her down.
i found this book to be a bit long and drawn out. the underlying symbolism also seemed weak. i didn’t love it but i don’t want to discourage you from reading it - magical realism just isn’t my genre.
where the wandering ends by yvette manessis corporon
rating: 5/5
oooo reading this made me feel like i was actually in greece. ms. corporon has a way with words i tell you! where the wandering ends follows two children, katerina and marco, in corfu during the height of the greek civil war in the late 1940s. but even the picturesque landscape isn’t enough to distract the village from impending communist forces. before they’re separated, marco and katerina make promises to find their way back to each other. they are the only family they have left.
this story spans multiple decades and oceans and is a beautifully written account of greek fortitude and bravery. corporon weaves in greek culture and mythology in a way that made me feel right at home with my own yiayia. there was one line that particularly leapt out at me:
“yes. it is better this way. because there is no such thing as too much life. even the yelling and the screaming, and even the fights and tears are better than the silence, katerina. anything is better than the silence.”
i was obsessed as soon as i turned the first page.