Warning: Affiliate links appear in the following post. Although shopping the embedded links won’t cost you any additional dollars, it might mean that I download a few extra audio books this month. Your support of my reading habit is always appreciated!
September was a month filled with audiobooks. I somehow managed to accrue quite the stash of Audible credits over the summer, so I’ve enjoyed redeeming those for new reads over the past several weeks. Of the four books I managed to finish, only one of them was a physical book! The other three, I devoured during morning commutes and afternoon jogs. I’m guessing that as the temperatures continue to fall over the next several months, I’ll be checking more and more audiobooks off of my list. I used to run to music only, but listening to books while I’m exercising feels so much more productive!
I’m using the following scale, courtesy of Goodreads, to rate the books I’ve read. I should probably warn you that I like almost everything I read. I love stories and being transported to a new place, so when books provide a plot I can get lost inside, I almost always like it. It’s much harder for me to love or hate something. When you see a single star or five stars, you’ll know I had a strong reaction to something one way or another.
1 star // did not like it
2 star // it was okay
3 star // liked it
4 star // really liked it
5 star // it was amazing
1. CATCHER IN THE RYE BY J.D. SALINGER // 4 OUT OF 5 STARS
This book was my selection for this month’s Collaboreads link up. You can read the full review here!
2. DON’T YOU CRY BY MARY KUBICA // 4 OUT OF 5 STARS
This is the third book I’ve read by Mary Kubica and, so far, I’ve loved them all. She writes perfectly twisty thrillers that are more reminiscent of Gone Girl (loved) than Girl on a Train (hated). I didn’t notice until I was almost done, that the quote on the cover of the audio book referred to this as “Single While Female on Steroids” — umm, yes. I wound up with an accumulation of Audible credits last month and hadn’t listened to anything good in quite some time. I took to Twitter and Instagram to ask for recommendations, but this was a selection that Audible recommended based on my browsing history. There wasn’t anything particularly fascinating about the narrators, but I did love the timing and delivery. The story is perfectly paced and leaves just enough to your imagination that you can’t possibly figure it out until the very end.
Quinn’s roommate, Esther, is missing. She spends her chapters searching for answers, second guessing their friendship and digging through their apartment for clues. Alex notices a strange new girl in town. One without a name, who offers very little information about who she is or why she’s there. Told from their alternating perspectives, the novel swings between two seemingly unrelated stories. You suspect from the beginning that they are related (obviously), but it took me three quarters of the book to figure out how. There are many characters in the book that I considered ancillary, who ultimately had a much larger role to play. This one is definitely worth your attention!
3. THIS IS WHERE IT ENDS BY MARIEKE NIJKAMP // 2 OUT OF 5 STARS
I bought this book because it was a $2.95 audible special and was only six hours long. It had been awhile since I read any YA fiction, so I thought it would be a nice way to re-incorporate that into my reading life. Two stars makes it sound like the book was terrible and it really wasn’t, but I fluctuate between “I liked it” and “I didn’t hate it.” Set in Opportunity, Alabama (this alone gives this author way too many opportunities for a pun), students of a small high school come face to face with gun violence perpetrated by one of their own. Like practically every new novel available, it’s told from several points of view, some who loved the shooter and others who despised him. I’ve read a couple other school shooting novels and, like them, I expected this to be of the “who done it” variety. Instead, you know who the shooter is pretty early in the book and that helps to set the stage for the overall story line. There were a few characters that I really liked, several who confused me (there were two characters running track through most of book and I had the hardest time deciding if they were students or teachers), and one (obviously) who I didn’t like at all. I did really want to see what happened, but I didn’t like that there wasn’t a big secret or reveal. The thing happened and the people dealt with it and there wasn’t much plot development or hope left at the end. I think this one could have been really great, but it fell a little flat for me.
4. TELL ME THREE THINGS BY JULIE BUXBAUM // 3.5 OUT OF 5 STARS
After a bust on my first YA novel of the month, I decided to give it another try. Tell Me Three Things has been recommended a couple of times on Anne’s podcast What Should I Read Next. It sounded like the perfect coming of age / high school romance and I was praying for adorably precious, yet not too sweet. Here is where I admit that I’M THIRTY-SIX AND I LOVE YA ROMANCE (when done well). This is the story of Jessie, who moves from Chicago to California her junior year. She lost her mother to illness and her father came home from a “conference” to announce his surprise nuptials to someone he met on the internet. Jessie is thrust into a prestigious private school where she has to navigate high school and friendships in what seems like a foreign land. During the first week of school, she receives an anonymous email from Somebody Nobody, who offers to be her spirit guide in a new school. For weeks, Jessie tries to figure out who is behind the anonymous messages and you are right there with her. There are several boys in her new life and she has reason to believe it is one of them. She changes her mind multiple times, but as the reader, I thought there was only one obvious choice. Yes, this is young adult. Yes, it is a sappy romance. Yes, it is predictable. BUT, it’s also adorable and if adorable YA fiction is your jam, then I would definitely recommend this one!
This brings my count to thirty-eight books for the year. I’m still right on track to meet my goal of 52 books this year, but I’m hoping that will cozy weekends right around the corner, I’ll be able to squeeze in a few extras over the next several months. I asked for Audible recommendations last month and I got some great ones, but I would love to have a few more in my arsenal. I even have a few nonfiction books on my list for October!
Have you tried Book of the Month Club yet? I have had such good luck with everything I’ve ordered over the last seven months and it seems like the book selections get better and more beautiful as we go. October’s recommendations are available now and you can save 30% off a three month membership and get a free book tote using the code TOTE30. All five books for October sound amazing and I had the hardest time choosing between them. If you’re planning to join Amber & Rachel for Collaboreads this month, The Fall Guy is the perfect title (our book selections should have “fall” in the title). I had already chosen a book with that criteria for the month, so I added The Wonder, Good As Gone and The Mothers to my cart. I couldn’t choose!
