Another big month of reading in the books with nine books read! My focus this month for physical books read was to start moving through my Book of the Month pile that I’ve been letting grow way to high. I only ended up reading three of the books from that pile, as my reading slowed up towards the end of the month. I used reading as a means of escaping and lowering my anxiety level for the first half of the month, but I did have to get back to reality and focus on other projects and chores the second half of the month. I also had to set the pile aside to read two ARC books towards the end of the month, as their deadlines for reviews were approaching at the beginning of October.
Another month of a very even split between audiobooks and physical books read. I did an array of genres this month, leaning more into what I was in the mood for reading as I finished one book than forcing myself to read a book just to complete a prompt for a reading challenge.
Here are the books I read in September:
The Honeymoon Crashers – Christina Lauren
Ami is determined to break the Torres family wedding curse. Her own disaster of a reception ended with all the guests getting food poisoning, and she left her cheating husband soon after. But even though she’s still processing her own divorce, Ami won’t let her twin sister Olive’s day be anything but perfect. Olive may think she wants a private ceremony in Maui, where she and her fiancé Ethan first fell in love, but Ami knows better and secretly flies the whole Torres family out to surprise the couple. Now she and her meticulously organized binder have less than two weeks to get everything together for the big day, thousands of miles from home. Enter Brody, Ethan’s best man, who happens to be living in Maui and insists on helping with the preparations. His playfully elaborate schemes and happy-go-lucky attitude are the last thing Ami needs. When sparks start to fly, could it derail all her carefully laid plans?
This is a mini sequel to Christina Lauren’s popular novel, The Unhoneymooners, and is only available as an audiobook. I loved getting back into the Torres family and of course the scenery of Hawaii. This audio is a full-cast recording, similar to Daisy Jones & The Six, making it come off the script full of life and background music too! I was sucked into the book from the first page and flew through the five hours of audio. If you love a tropical romance or of Christina Lauren’s books, I highly recommend this one, especially as a way to escape the weather as we start getting into the cooler months. Rating: 5/5
She Started It – Siam Gilbert
Annabel, Esther, Tanya, and Chloe are best friends—or were, as children. Despite drifting apart in adulthood, shared secrets have kept them bonded for better or worse, even as their childhood dreams haven’t quite turned out as they’d hoped. Then one day they receive a wholly unexpected—but not entirely unwelcome—invitation from another old friend. Poppy Greer has invited them all to her extravagant bachelorette party: a first-class plane ticket to three days of white sand, cocktails, and relaxation on a luxe private island in the Bahamas. None of them has spoken to Poppy in years. But Poppy’s Instagram pics shows that the girl they used to consider the weakest link in their group has definitely made good—and made money. Curiosity gets the better of them. Besides, who can turn down a posh all-expenses-paid vacation on a Caribbean island?
A Mean Girls meets adulthood with a decadence of money, this one had me turning the pages quickly. Each chapter rotates between each of the four friends, with a mix of Poppy’s journal from high school between each rotation. The first part of the book starts off slow as they get ready for the trip and you learn a little bit about each girl, but as you get to the island and the weekend is going underway, it really picks up. The four different point of views was very interesting and really did help move the story quickly. The ending leaves you on a cliff hanger making room for a sequel if there is a want for it. TW: bullying, suicide, depression. Rating: 5/5
Call It What You Want – Alissa Derogatis
Sloane Hart is a hopeless romantic who always believed her great love story was out there, until her parents’ divorce shattered that dream. She swears off dating and is determined to graduate college, become a writer and move to New York City. Until she meets Ethan. Ethan Brady is guarded and mysterious, unwilling to talk about his past or let anyone get too close. As they start dating without labels, they both know it can’t last forever. Sloane imagines a future with Ethan but he can’t give her the commitment she needs. Will she be able to convince Ethan to take a chance on it? Or will she have to learn the hard way that some things just aren’t meant to be?
I wanted to like this book so much because it’s a different type of romance story where the characters are never officially together, but have undeniable chemistry and love for each other. However, I felt like there was a huge focus on alcohol and drinking that many people pointed out in the reviews too, that I felt like took away from the story. It also felt very disjointed, and you find yourself getting annoyed at the main character for some of the decisions she makes. The writing was very simple, making it a quick read, but this was definitely a miss for me as far as books seen on BookTok. This book is available on Kindle Unlimited. Rating: 3/5
The Roommate Pact – Allison Ashley
The proposition is simple: if ER nurse Claire Harper and her roommate, firefighter Graham Scott, are still single by the time they’re forty, they’ll take the proverbial plunge together…as friends with benefits. Maybe it’s the wine, but in the moment, Claire figures the pact is a safe-enough deal, considering she hasn’t had much luck in love and he’s in no rush to settle down. Like, at all. Besides, there’s no way she could ever really fall for Graham and his thrill-seeking ways. Not after what happened to her father. Just as things begin to heat up way before the proposed deadline, Graham’s injured in a serious rock climbing accident—and he needs Claire’s help to heal. She’ll do whatever it takes to nurse him back to health…even if it means moving in to Graham’s bed and putting up with his little dog, who hates her. But with this no-strings arrangement taking a complicated turn, keeping “for now” from turning into “forever” isn’t as easy as they’d planned
I listened to this book and it was such a fun listen. I love a roommates to lovers trope, especially one who have also been friends for a few years. The banter between Claire and Graham’s dog was so entertaining and a great comedic relief in the story. This book was such a lightweight and carefree book to read after reading a thrillers and a dud back to back. I flew through this audio and never wanted to stop listening to it. Claire and Graham are such a fun couple, even with the fear that Claire had being in a relationship with Graham. I highly recommend this one if you’re looking for a fun contemporary romance read. Rating: 4.5/5.
Jacqueline in Paris – Ann Mah
In September 1949 Jacqueline Bouvier arrives in postwar Paris to begin her junior year abroad. She’s twenty years old, socially poised but financially precarious, and all too aware of her mother’s expectations that she make a brilliant match. Before relenting to family pressure, she has one year to herself far away from sleepy Vassar College and the rigid social circles of New York, a year to explore and absorb the luminous beauty of the City of Light. Jacqueline is immediately catapulted into an intoxicating new world of champagne and châteaux, art and avant-garde theater, cafés and jazz clubs. She strikes up a romance with a talented young writer who shares her love of literature and passion for culture – even though her mother would think him most unsuitable. But beneath the glitter and rush, France is a fragile place still haunted by the Occupation. Jacqueline lives in a rambling apartment with a widowed countess and her daughters, all of whom suffered as part of the French Resistance just a few years before. In the aftermath of World War II, Paris has become a nest of spies, and suspicion, deception, and betrayal lurk around every corner. Jacqueline is stunned to watch the rise of communism – anathema in America, but an active movement in France – never guessing she is witnessing the beginning of the political environment that will shape the rest of her life—and that of her future husband.
This was such an interesting historical fiction read. If you’re a fan of Jackie O, Paris, World War II, or anything in that realm, I definitely recommend this. I haven’t really read or learned much about Jackie O’s history outside of her marriage to JFK and her years as the First Lady, so I was excited to learn more about her younger years. This book was also interesting in the POV of an American seeing Paris recovering from World War II instead of a Parisian who lived through the war. The chapters were very long though and the story dragged a bit throughout the entire book, which made it a slower read for me. Mah added a ton of details to the book, which made it very visual, but also excessive writing. However, I loved learning more about Jackie and want to continue to read more into her life. Rating: 3/5
Counterfeit – Kirstin Chen
Ava Wong has always played it safe. As a strait-laced, rule-abiding Chinese American lawyer with a successful surgeon as a husband, a young son, and a beautiful home—she’s built the perfect life. But beneath this façade, Ava’s world is crumbling: her marriage is falling apart, her expensive law degree hasn’t been used in years, and her toddler’s tantrums are pushing her to the breaking point. Enter Winnie Fang, Ava’s enigmatic college roommate from Mainland China, who abruptly dropped out under mysterious circumstances. Now, twenty years later, Winnie is looking to reconnect with her old friend. But the shy, awkward girl Ava once knew has been replaced with a confident woman of the world, dripping in luxury goods, including a coveted Birkin in classic orange. The secret to her success? Winnie has developed an ingenious counterfeit scheme that involves importing near-exact replicas of luxury handbags and now she needs someone with a U.S. passport to help manage her business—someone who’d never be suspected of wrongdoing, someone like Ava. But when their spectacular success is threatened and Winnie vanishes once again, Ava is left to face the consequences.
I highly recommend listening to this one on audiobook. The way that Chen writes the story is Ava Wong telling her story to the police in an interview type setting, except you never hear the police officers commentary or questions. I first checked this audiobook out of the library in July, but didn’t get a chance to listen to it before it was returned and had more interest in other books, but I’m glad I went back to listen to it. A very different type of book where the main characters are the anti-hero, but the way Ava tells her story to the police has a lot of humor and makes you really feel her situation to how she got to where she currently was. If you love a con artist book mixed with rich people, I highly recommend this one Rating: 4/5
Gone Tonight – Sarah Pekkanen
Catherine Sterling thinks she knows her mother. Ruth Sterling is quiet, hardworking, and lives for her daughter. All her life, it’s been just the two of them against the world. But now, Catherine is ready to spread her wings, move from home, and begin a new career. And Ruth Sterling will do anything to prevent that from happening.Ruth Sterling thinks she knows her daughter. Catherine would never rebel, would never question anything about her mother’s past or background. But when Ruth’s desperate quest to keep her daughter by her side begins to reveal cracks in Ruth’s carefully-constructed world, both mother and daughter begin a dance of deception.
This is my second book by Sarah Pekkanen, but my first of her solo books as she normally writes her thrillers with Greer Hendricks. A different type of thriller, as it focuses more on the family drama of the secrets Ruth is keeping with the “thriller” part mixed in, but it had me hooked from the start and flying through it. Each chapter switches back and forth between Ruth and Catherine, with Ruth writing her past down for Catherine to read one day. There’s a lot of twists and turns throughout the book, with no big plot twist, but the story is written out beautifully. It is available on Kindle Unlimited for you to read. Rating: 4/5
Pumpkin Spice and Not So Nice – Becky Monson
If I were ever to write a memoir, it would be titled, Jenna Peterson’s Guide to Dating Emotionally Unavailable Men. I’m like a professional at it. I’m so good, I can take any dysfunctional man and turn him into Prince Charming, just in time for him to dump me and then go on to marry the next woman he dates. I’m about ready to give up on loving real men and focus on lusting over fictional men in the Turkish dramas I can’t stop devouring. But then . . . I find a mysterious fifty-dollar bill with a handwritten note on it that was donated to my family’s pumpkin patch by accident. And wouldn’t you know it, the mystery man it belongs to is emotionally unavailable, albeit freakishly attractive. I keep telling myself to walk away, but there’s something about Aidan St. Claire that makes me want to unravel all his secrets. All I know is he sure can heat up the cozy fall nights. I can’t help but think that maybe this time I’ll get to keep Prince Charming for myself.
I picked this book out as a cute fall read on Kindle Unlimited and it just missed the mark for me. Although it was a cute small-town romance, I found the main character to be a little annoying in how self riotous she felt about herself, while also trying to call everyone else out on their problems and trying to fix them. The setting of the book was fun, with the struggling pumpkin farm and this story would translate well as a Hallmark movie. Rating: 3/5
Oona Out of Order – Margarita Montimore
It’s New Year’s Eve 1982, and Oona Lockhart has her whole life before her. At the stroke of midnight she will turn nineteen, and the year ahead promises to be one of consequence. Should she go to London to study economics, or remain at home in Brooklyn to pursue her passion for music and be with her boyfriend? As the countdown to the New Year begins, Oona faints and awakens thirty-two years in the future in her fifty-one-year-old body. Greeted by a friendly stranger in a beautiful house she’s told is her own, Oona learns that with each passing year she will leap to another age at random. And so begins Oona Out of Order…
This was my favorite book of the month! A little bit of magical realism with time traveling, but also such a moving story. I think a lot of people don’t like this book because you never find out why she time travels, but for me I just enjoyed the journey she takes and trying to figure out which year she’s in. I listened to this on audiobook and thoroughly enjoyed it. The narrator did a fantastic job telling Oona’s story. There were some big pot twists that had me shocked and even had me crying towards the end. I can see why everyone loved this book when it first came out and I will definitely be reading Montimore’s other book. Rating: 5/5
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