Happy July! Maybe this month will be the month I finally get caught up on all my book reviews and back to a normal schedule 😅. I really hope y’all have been enjoying following along on this years book journey. Even though we’re halfway through the year, I’ve tried hard to be more diverse in my reading. Last month had a lot of rom coms because of all the books I had on hold at the library. I hope to start branching out to books I wouldn’t normally read so as to broaden my recommendations and reviews.
Having a Book of the Month subscription has definitely helped push me out of my comfort zone in choosing books due to the limited selection. July’s BOTM pick definitely feels like a very different pick for me. I was trying to think of who in my family would be most interested in reading it if I enjoyed it, and I actually thought of my dad, which doesn’t happen often because we do have slightly different reading tastes.
Reading during the month of May was such a struggle for me. I really enjoyed each book I read, even if it was only four books, but May is the busiest month of the year at the restaurant with graduation season and Mother’s Day. I also had the excitement of traveling to celebrate my brother earning his doctorate of Pharmacy in May. So even though there aren’t as many books reviewed this month, I hope you enjoy the books I did finish 🥰.
The Lost Apothecary – Sarah Penner
The Lost Apothecary is a debut historical fiction novel and my March Book of the Month pick. Set in two time periods (eighteenth-century London and present day London), this story follows three ladies. One is an apothecary who is known around town as someone a woman can go to if they need help escaping an abusive or controlling relationship; one is a twelve-year old girl who was sent by her mistress to retrieve a potion from the apothecary; and the third is a woman who finds herself alone on what was supposed to be her ten-year anniversary trip.
There’s so much about this book to love. Beginning with the setting of time period and ending with the fantastical aspect. I loved the journey of Nella, the owner of the apothecary, and Eliza, the twelve year old who wants to learn from Nella. They had such a sweet friendship and mentorship that had me rooting for their success. Throughout the story, I kept forgetting that Eliza was only twelve because she was mature and she kept wanting to take responsibility for what ended up creating consequences for their actions. Caroline’s story was heartbreaking, but fulfilling. She finds one of the old bottles used at the apothecary and researches the story of the apothecary, thus rediscovering her passion for research and history. The story had me tearing up near the end, but the plot twist at the very last chapter of the novel ended the story on a positive, but also on a final note for the story.
I read a physical copy of the book through my Book of the Month subscription.
Rating
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟/5
Mary Jane – Jessica Anya Blau
Mary Jane is a historical fiction novel that draws inspiration from Daisy Jones and the Six and Almost Famous. Fourteen-year-old Mary Jane gets a summer job as a nanny for a local psychiatrist. Growing up in a conservative household where her mom is teaching her how to be the perfect house wife, she gets introduced to a whole different world with this household when the doctor takes on a famous musician as a patient and has the musician and his Actress wife move in for the summer. While helping keep the household in order and becoming close with the daughter, Mary Jane learns that there’s more to the world than what her mother has shown her and she begins to discover who she really is as a young adult coming of age.
What I enjoyed most about this book was how the author shows Mary Jane maturing and growing up throughout the novel. The struggles that Mary Jane was going through with first crushes or feeling comfortable and confident with her body as it starts making changes. The struggle I enjoyed most was the celebrity crush she had on the musician and the daydreams she had,( because we’ve all been there) and she was also living out that dream just by getting to hang out with him. The only issue I had was sometimes it felt like the point of view was too mature for a fourteen year old and I wasn’t the biggest fan of the subplot with the neighbor. It just didn’t feel like it added anything to the story.
I read this book as an e-book from the local library.
Rating
🌟🌟🌟🌟/5
Finlay Donovan is Killing It – Elle Cosimano
Finlay Donovan is Killing It is a mystery thriller comedy and the Ashley Brooke Book Club May book pick. Finlay Donovan is a single-mom of two and struggling author trying to get her life back on track writing her newest mystery novel. When she is meeting with her agent to discuss her newest book, a woman overhears what is supposed to be the plot line of her next book and thinks Finlay is a hired assassin and wants to hire Finlay to kill her husband. Finlay will learn that true crime is a lot different from the crimes she writes about in her novels.
I loved this book so much. Definitely one of my top ten books for 2021. As someone who loves true crime podcasts, especially true crime comedy podcasts like My Favorite Murder, this book hit it on the nail with a mix of comedy and crime. The chaotic vibes Finlay was giving off in this story are normally too much for me, but in this story it was perfect and had me laughing. I couldn’t stop talking about this book to all of my coworkers and am even passing this book along to all my friends and my mom. This book is a great light read that is a perfect for a weekend at the beach or vacation. I’m so excited that this is now a series book and there will be more to come. It will also be turned into a tv show.
I purchased a physical copy of this book from Barnes and Nobles.
Rating
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟/5
Twice Shy – Sarah Hogle
Twice Shy follows Maybell Parish who is suffering through her day job at a lodge and lives her boredom in her fantasy world where everything goes right for her and she’s happy. When she inherits her great-aunt’s old Victorian house in the Smokies, she figures she has nothing to lose and everything to gain by leaving everything behind and going out there. What she doesn’t know is that she is sharing ownership of the house with Wesley, who was the groundskeeper for her great-aunt. With two opposing visions for how the house should be, they do everything they can to avoid each other while working on restoring the house.
There was two big parts about this book that I loved. The first was how much of a central plot line Maybell’s fantasies and daydreams were. I feel like there aren’t many books or tv show/movies that showcase the main characters having daydreams. One that comes to mind is The Princess Diaries, but that’s the only one that comes straight to my mind. I love how Hogle made it a core part of Maybell’s character and when she ended up sharing it with Wesley, he made it normal and even went out of his way to help make her daydreams real. The second part I loved about this book was the social anxiety Wesley had and the struggles he has to be able to do anything, from day to day errand running, to wanting to fulfill his dream of going to Scotland and seeing the Loch Ness Monster.
My only complaint about this book is that the ending felt rushed because there was too much time taken up slowly building their relationship and I didn’t feel we got any closure on their story and how successful they were with the vision they had with the house. I would’ve rather had more pages in the book to be able to not feel rushed into the ending or even a longer or true epilogue than the one we got.
I read this book as an e-book from the local library.
Rating
🌟🌟🌟🌟/5
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