Hey y’all, long-time, no see (or speak?)! I feel like I’ve been so busy lately yet I can’t say what I’ve been up to because I don’t even know what I’ve been doing. Mainly I’ve been working at my new job – at a boutique in Alpharetta, trying to figure out what I’m doing with life (I swear I’m always in this place), and I’ve been doing A LOT of reading.
I know that in these current times with the coronavirus spreading in the world and being encouraged to self-quarantine, we can all get a little bored. And one of the things I’ve been doing is reading a lot of books. Reading more is one of my New Year’s resolutions, and as awful as it is to say, this coronavirus is really helping me accomplish this goal. So, I wanted to share with y’all some of the books that I’ve read along with a summary/review of them!
Verity by Colleen Hoover (4.5 out of 5 stars)
My first book of 2020!!
Lowen is a struggling writer hired by Jeremy Crawford, the husband of a famous author, to finish a series his wife Verity started after she was in a horrific accident. To help finish the series, it is suggested that she stay at the Crawford house to sort through Verity’s office to find her notes about how to finish the series. When Lowen arrived to the Crawford home, she immediately had an eerie feeling (foreshadowing!) and has no idea that her entire world is about to be flipped upside down.
The book is filled with twists and turns and major suprises, and every page had me SHOOK. I read the book in about three days, and there were moments where I was afraid to be in my own home because of the extremely detailed events that Hoover writes of in the novel.
This was my first book I’ve read by Colleen Hoover, and even though I didn’t find the ending my favorite (but definitely shocking), I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves a good mystery thriller with a little bit of romance.
Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld (4 out of 5 stars)
A modern-day take on Pride and Prejudice
In this book, we mainly see things from the perspectives of Jane and Liz, two sisters who returned home to Cincinnati from New York City after their father has a big health scare. To their surprise, they find that their childhood home is slowly falling to pieces, their three younger sisters are too busy doing their own things to notice, their father is extremely nonchalant about everything going on around him, and their mother only cares about marrying off her daughters (especially the oldest one Jane) to rich men.
At a family friend’s Fourth of July barbecue is where we see Jane meet and immediately take interest in Chip Bingley – a doctor turned reality TV star turned doctor—and Liz meets Fitzwilliam Darcy – a neurosurgeon in Cincinnati and Chip’s attractive but utterly conceited friend. As Jane hits it off with Chip, Liz is less than impressed by Fitzwilliam (aka Darcy) …but as well all know, looks can be deceiving.
As someone who has never read Pride and Prejudice (don’t hate me), I didn’t really understand or see the similarities. Nonetheless, it was a really funny book (with obvious humor and sarcasm abundant). It was clever and smart with really well-developed characters and short chapters that were but a scene in time (but still very relevant and important to the story).
Lock Every Door by Riley Sager (4 out of 5 stars)
Desperate for money, Jules, recently heartbroken, broke, and homeless, accepts an apartment-sitter position at the prestigious Bartholomew. Despite her feelings that this high-paying easy job seems too good to be true (and her friend’s skepticism), the job comes at the perfect time. Soon after moving in, Jules begins to meet and get to know some of the residents including Ingrid, a fellow apartment sitter who to Jules seems eerily similar to her sister she lost eight years prior. Seeming to recognize this new, close friendship, Ingrid confides in Jules mentioning how the Bartholomew is not how it appears on the outside due to its very dark history {spoiler: it is too good to be true}. Jules brushes off everything as the building’s history getting to Ingrid, until Ingrid disappears the very next day, sending Jules on a whirlwind quest to figure out what is actually happening inside one of NYC’s most mysterious buildings.
This book played mind games had me on the edge of my seat with every page turn, trying to figure out what’s really happening and piecing together the clues alongside Jules. You question the motives of every character you meet and are never prepared for the many plot twists the author throws at you. I definitely will say by the end of the book, I locked every door in my house and checked them twice.
The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James (5 out of 5 stars)
We can all think of one small town that hasn’t changed in over 30 years. In The Sun Down Motel, that town is Fell, New York. Switching between the point of views of protagonist Carly in modern day 2017 and her aunt Viv in 1982, it is clear that Fell and the motel have stayed the same during that 35-year span – almost like it’s in a time capsule.
After her mother dies, Carly leaves her safe space of her hometown and travels to Fell, New York to unravel the mystery that is her aunt’s disappearance 35 years ago – an unsolved police investigation that had been swept under the rug in Carly’s household. A history buff, Carly quickly learns of the good and the not-so-good history of Fell, and, with the help of some of Fell’s citizens (many of which with their own dark pasts), she begins to put together the puzzle pieces that were quickly overlooked by Fell’s police department.
The Sun Down Motel is ‘a family drama meets a ghost story meets an addictive mystery’ all rolled into a page turner. This book transported me from my seat on the couch in my home to the small town of Fell with every descriptive and compelling word. The book switches between modern-day Carly and 1982 Viv to reveal the history and mystery of Fell and to reveal the ghosts of the Sun Down Motel’s years’ past that haven’t stopped haunting it and its rare visitors. This book had me on the edge of my seat with chills going down my spine the more and more I read. St. James combines a page-turning thriller, a chilling mystery, a creepy ghost story, and a small hint of romance into an amazing yet terrifying novel.
↓ Below are two more that I’ve read in the past worth mentioning ↓
The Summer I Turned Pretty trilogy by Jenny Han (5 out of 5 stars)
I love books that make you feel like you’re watching the action happen in real life, and for me, The Summer I Turned Pretty trilogy did just that. I don’t know if it’s because I hadn’t truly read a book in a long time {like a year} or what, but by the end of the first chapter, I was hooked. I was reading about 200+ pages a day and finished the whole thing in three days — if that tells you how engrossed I was in reading the story. This trilogy was full of the things my middle/high-school nerdy self dreamed of happening to me, so I felt like I was in a daydream while reading.
The author Jenny Han has a way of making you feel all of the emotions of all of the characters through her writing. When one character was crying, I wanted to cry; when another character was happy, I was happy {Emotional much? Quite possibly}. Nonetheless, I could not stop reading and stayed up late and kept to myself just so I could be with the characters. If you’re looking for a summer beach trip read, this one is perfect. It takes place during the summer at the beach, involving a summer love {or loves} that one can’t just forget about…and I feel like we’ve all been there at some point during our lives.
Let me know if/when you read it and whose side you chose: Team Conrad or Team Jeremiah
Side note: if you haven’t already read the trilogy, I must warn you… you will want to scream at some of the characters because you know something they don’t or because you’re mad with how one of them is acting…trust me I did it multiple times.
Mrs Queen Takes the Train by William Kuhn (4 out of 5 stars)
Some books have more lead up and build more anticipation than others, and Mrs Queen Takes the Train is that kind of book. The first 100 pages or so were all about the back story to the characters and led up to the big climax, so, for me personally, it was harder to get totally engrossed into the story. BUT, once I hit the point of “omg I can’t believe that happen! How will this be resolved?!”, I was hooked.
This book takes you between the past and the present using small hints of past history to foreshadow major events to come. It also switches between the different characters who are connected in one way or another, which required more thinking and remembering. This is definitely a good read if you don’t want to expect what will happen next because it was never what I expected to happen, and that kept me on the edge of my seat.
I never new what was going to occur on the next page and loved how the author utilizes smaller events to foreshadow what’s to come. He also named the different parts {instead of chapters} a different yoga pose, which Mrs Queen uses to solve the problems she faces. I found that to be especially creative and thoughtful as I not only learned more about yoga but also saw how deep-thinking William Kuhn was in writing the book.
