Hey y’all! I know that I said I would be doing a book review a day and then didn’t post one yesterday. With Instagram and Facebook down on Monday, I wanted to spend Tuesday promoting the June Book Reviews on those platform before moving on to the next one. So that means that I will be sharing my last book review blog post on Saturday to finish out book week.
For July, I wasn’t planning to read as much as I did, but a travel delay and sitting on a plane for 5+ hours and ended up reading an entire book during that time. This month didn’t change much in genre, but I did participate in the Library big read selection during this month and read an incredible thriller because of it.
Below are the reviews for all six books I read for the month of July.
*all links are commissionable links
Malibu Rising – Taylor Jenkins Reid
Malibu Rising is Taylor Jenkins Reid’s newest novel and was my June BOTM pick. This story follows the Riva siblings, professional surfers and supermodel, getting ready for their annual end-of-summer party that ends in flames, literally. A storyline that jumps back and forth from the moment their mother met their father and the day of the party in present time, you learn all about their family history while also learning about all the decisions they have to make that night and whether to come clean about them – Nina, reeling from a very public abandonment of her pro tennis husband; Jay, thinking he finally found a girl to be serious about; Hud, needing to tell his brother a secret that could destroy their realtionship; and Kit, who invited someone without consulting the others.
What I love the most about this book is realizing that Taylor Jenkins Reid is creating her own universe within her last three books and we get reminded of the characters we fell in love with in the previous two books. Taylor has taken us on another historical journey, creating a well painted picture of Malibu set throughout the 1950s and 1980s.
I read this book in a physical copy through my Book of the Month subscription.
Rating
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟/5
The Unhoneymooners – Christina Lauren
The Unhoneymooners is my second Christina Lauren and the first after realizing that they are two novelists writing together. The Unhoneymooners follows Olive and Ethan, the maid of honor and best man in Olive’s twin sisters wedding. After the whole wedding gets food poisoning, except for Olive and Ethan, Olive’s sister insists that they go on the honeymoon because it’s non-refundable. Another enemies-to-lovers trope, these two have to pretend that they’re newlyweds. but what happens when it doesn’t become so hard to pretend?
I loved the comedy between the two and the gorgeous setting of Hawaii described throughout the book. I loved the first half of the book and it reminded me why I love the enemies-to-lovers trope so much. However, the drama in the second half of the book seemed a little too over the top and didn’t really focus on the relationship between Olive and Ethan. While I did understand the plot behind it, I wish we could’ve put more focus on how it affected Olive and Ethan’s relationship than it actually did. But again another good read from Christina Lauren, and will continue to work my way through their work repertoire.
I read this book in a physical copy.
Rating:
🌟🌟🌟🌟/5
One Last Stop – Casey McQuiston
One Last Stop is the highly anticipated sophomore novel for Casey McQuiston after the success of Red, White, and Royal Blue. One Last Stop follows August moving to NYC to try and make it on her own. After moving in with weird roommates and waiting on tables at a 24-hour pancake diner, she’s proving that cinematic love stories don’t exist. That is until she gets on her subway one day and see’s the dazzling Jane. Things get even more complicated when she realizes Jane isn’t just dressing like someone from the 1970’s, she is literally from the 70’s stuck on the Q train with no chance of getting off.
I read this book at the perfect time. This was the book I was reading on the plane when I was headed back up to New York City for the first time in over a year to pack up my apartment and officially move back to Louisiana. It felt comforting to recognize all the areas described in the novel and having it pull up my memories of them, especially riding the Q train over and over again for work, through Canal street and all the way down to Coney Island. This book had me hooked in from the start and the story of Jane drew me in. I loved that Casey started each chapter with a clip from a stranger about how Jane affected their lives in just a moment of interaction while she’s stuck on the train. If you loved Red, White, and Royal Blue, I highly suggest reading this book.
I read this book as an e-book through my local library.
Rating:
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟/5
That Summer – Jennifer Weiner
That Summer follows Daisy Shoemaker who is feeling in a rut in her life. On the outside her life looks perfect, but the inside is another story. She’s struggling to connect with her teenage daughter, her husband is distant and she has no real friends. When she starts receiving emails meant for a Diana Starling, she begins to wish her life was more like Diana’s from what she can see from the emails. Diana invites Daisy to meet her in person and the two start to build a friendship that Daisy has been looking for. However, as they get closer, we learn that their meeting wasn’t accidental.
I was so excited to read this book after reading Big Summer last year, but from the start this story confused me. We started off by learning the story of what happened that summer and the it jumps to present day with another character and I spent way too long trying to figure out how they connected. About a little after halfway through the book, it finally started to pick up and grab my focus, but the ending landed flat for me. I wanted to see more of the growth period for Daisy and Diana after everything gets revealed. I also felt like Daisy’s husband didn’t get enough punishment that he deserved.
TW: Rape, sexual assault
I read this book as an e-book through my local library.
Rating
🌟🌟🌟/5
The Quiet Girl – S.F. Kosa
The Quiet Girl was the big read with the local library and I loved this random library grab. This story follows Alex, who is coming out to their house in Provincetown to try to patch things up with wife Mina after a big argument. When he arrives, he finds her missing, but her wedding rings are left behind. Trying to figure out what happened to his wife, he begins to uncover more secrets from her past and learns that a girl named Layla holds the key to unlock her true.
This book had me hooked in from the front and the two big plot twists were such game changers of the direction of the book that I loved it. I thought I had it figured out when the first big plot twist happened in the middle of the book, but then the final plot twist put the final piece of the puzzle together. The book is a perfect read for any psychological thriller fans out there and I’m so glad I took a chance on it.
I read this book as an e-book through the local library.
Rating:
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟/5
The Road Trip – Beth O’Leary
The Road Trip was July’s Book Club Pick for Ashley Brooke Book Club and I lucked out that it was released off hold to me right at the end of the month. This is a dual timeline story following Addie and Dylan, who are both headed to a wedding for a mutual friend. Their relationship ended two years ago and they haven’t spoken since until a car accident resulted in them having to carpool with their friends to the wedding. Flashbacks throughout the book show them falling in love while at a summer villa in France and the ultimate fall of their relationship.
This book was chalked full of comedy of five people squeezed into a mini cooper traveling across the country, where two people are trying to avoid each other and another two are trying to not kill the other. I felt very frustrated with how much control Dylan’s friend Marcus had over Dylan and could feel all the frustration Addie had about it. There was also a dark moment in the story dealing with sexual abuse and the recovery of that trauma. After reading The Switch, I knew I would enjoy this book, but I loved it so much and thought it was the perfect blend of comedy with heartbreak and a dark matter.
TW: Sexual Abuse
Rating:
🌟🌟🌟🌟/5
July Stats
Books: 6//Pages: 2,402//Own: 2//Library: 4
melissaleighblog.com 