july ‘23 book reviews

this month may be my favorite yet because i finally decided to read a court of thorns and roses which my friends have been begging me for. top favs this month include: a court of mist and fury, saturday night at the lakeside supper club and the only one left.

happy reading!

the homewreckers by mary kay andrews

rating: 3.5/5

hattie kavanaugh has more than enough on her plate with restoring homes when a hollywood producers knocks on her door about a potential show. the popular tv network hptv is in need of a home reno show to fill wednesday night’s ever-coveted airtime spot. begrudgingly she’s agrees and all hell truly starts to break loose. from code violations to mysterious dumpster fires too close to the house, to a shocking find in a decade old cold case - hattie is beginning to question what she signed up for.

this was a great vacation read - low stakes, cutesy romances and a interesting plot!

a court of thorns and roses by sarah j maas

rating: 5/5

yes, i am kicking myself for putting this book off for as long as i have. simple answer: i’m not a fantasy reader — or correction: i wasn’t a fantasy reader until i devoured the magical world of feyre and tamlin. feyre is a huntress working to provide for her family when she kills what looks like a wolf. she soon finds out the wolf was a faerie that crossed the wall into mortal lands. her punishment for the murder is simple - live out the rest of her life beyond the wall under the watchful eye of tamlin, a shapeshifting manner of faerie.

i don’t want to give too much away but i will say it was superbly written!!!! the struggles that feyre faces and the confusing feelings growing between her and tamlin will snatch your breath until the last page. i also really enjoyed the friendship between feyre and lucien - i can’t wait to pick up the next book in the series.

a court of mist and fury by sarah j maas

rating: 5/5

after devouring a court of thorns and roses, i took to amazon to order the second installment in acotar as quickly as i could (i got it that very evening). and i tore through it. UGH. ok so synopsis — feyre has successfully conquered amarantha and saved prythian and the mortal world. she’s back with the love of her life, tamlin, but things are different. she can’t shake what happened under the mountain and tamlin is shutting her out to protect her. on the day of their wedding (tamlin proposed by the way) rhysand swiftly comes in and calls in his bargain — one week with him per month when he chooses. convenient.

i am going to go into spoilers here so if you haven’t read, skip this part!!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH wtf this series!! i liked rhys from the first book because he was dark and mysterious but when i learned that rhys and feyre are mates i diiiiiiiied. the tension between them the whole book was just unbearable, probably how rhys felt the whole time looking at feyre. i loved the family unit they built in the night court too and how ride or die everyone is for one another. chapter 54 + 55 completely shattered me, what stellar storytelling! that cliffhanger too!!!!!! wicked.

i am so utterly sorry for putting this off as long as i have and am totally wrapped in the world of the fae.

hello stranger by katherine center

rating: 3.5/5

i’ve heard many good things about katherine center’s novels and was pleasantly surprised with hello stranger, my botm pick! sadie montgomery is on the verge of her big break with the news that she’s made it to the final round of a prestigious painting competition, when she suffers a seizure in the middle of the street. when she comes to, later in a hospital, she learns she now temporarily has face blindness. as a portrait artist, this is worse case scenario with the competition looming in a few weeks. couple this with the two handsome men that just appeared in her life — a vet who saves her pup, peanut, and a mysterious neighbor who manages to save her a few times — and she’s now on the verge of a mental breakdown. how will she manage?

i almost quit this book halfway through because i was sadie is a very annoying character but i’m glad i stuck it out as the conclusion was pretty sweet. by the end of the book, she used her new condition to see people in a different way that wasn’t just based on the features of their face. moral of the story: you can see a whole lot when you know what to look for.

saturday night at the lakeside supper club by j. ryan stradal

rating: 5/5

be prepared to sob at this one!!! mariel and ned are in their late thirties and struggling. they both come from the restaurant business and it’s sort of a family legacy. mariel has just taken over the supper club that her grandparents so lovingly poured everything into (something her own mother hated) and ned is heir to a chain of successful family restaurants called jorby’s. on top of these life struggles, mariel’s mother has taken refuge in a church and will not leave until mariel comes to get her - it’s been over a week now.

i read this cover to cover on a saturday night and was bawling by the end of it. stradal weaves an emotional picture of family legacy and the struggle to find your own path, when it seems to have already been chosen for you. there were laugh out loud moments and times where i had to stop reading to get up and wipe my tears. to be clear - i hated the ending but adored the book.

a court of wings and ruin by sarah j maas

rating: 4.5/5

by the third book in sarah j maas’s acotar series, feyre has “broken” the bond between her and rhysand to save her two sisters who were just recently forced into the cauldron and made fae. back in spring court, tamlin believes it will just be a matter of time until feyre is back to normal but he doesn’t know she’s actually plotting his downfall - secretly gathering information here and there and ever so carefully sending word back to rhysand. with an impending war looming, the night court looks for allies among enemies - hoping something, or someone, will be able to help them stop the king.

here’s the part where you skip if you haven’t this far in the series yet!

i had been told by some that this was their least favorite of the three but in all honesty, it was a close second for me behind mist and fury. the only thing i didn’t like was the length. we got so much story in the one book, i honestly forget where it started - literally so much happened! i really enjoyed the growing relationship between feyre and rhys as well as feyre and her sisters. nesta is a true pain in the ass but by the end i was so excited for her and cassian to maybe start something!

icebreaker by hannah grace

rating: 3/5

i bought this back when the nhl playoffs were happening (even though my beloved penguins didn’t make it..) and wanted to keep the obsession going. hannah grace’s icebreaker follows anastasia, a collegiate figure skater aiming to make it to the olympics after conquering nationals, and nathan, also a d1 athlete but on the hockey team. these two don’t get off on the right foot when a problem with the second rink at uc maple hills drives the two to share the ice. will sparks fly with forced proximity or will they burn one another to the ground?

after reading a court of wings and ruin i seriously needed a palate cleanser and icebreaker delivered! however, after sarah j maas’ mouthwatering characters, i only saw flaws in anastasia and nathan.. yes, i loved how protective nathan was over stassie but the dirty talk made my skin crawl (and not in a good way). i also didn’t love the flow of the book and how disjointed each chapter felt. there were too many hurdles and side stories for me to truly love this book but i did enjoy the story.

the only one left by riley sager

rating: 5/5

thriller fans buckle up because riley sager has done it again!!!! after reading the house across the lake last year, i knew this one wouldn’t disappoint. the plot alone is enough to be page turning: an at-home caregiver is assigned the difficult task of tending to a woman accused of a lizzie borden-style murder. she’s the well known serial-killer that wasn’t, as there wasn’t enough evidence to convict her. however, as soon as kitt arrives at the home of lenora hope, the aging woman says she wants to tell her everything from that night over fifty years ago.

this was a deliciously entertaining read! plot twist after plot twist leaves you thinking you’ve finally solved it until the very end. i was left speechless and honestly had to pause between chapters to collect my thoughts - a well written mystery!

the girls by emma cline

rating: 3/5

cults have an air of mystique surrounding them and emma cline encapsulated that quite perfectly in her debut book from 2016, the girls. told from the perspective of 14-year-old evie, readers watch as the summer of 1969 unfolds and evie finds herself drawn to a band of “misfit” girls. like any young teen wanting to fit in, evie is enamored and a bit jealous of the cool girl group she spots in the park one day. after a few odd encounters, evie finds herself going to a place called the ranch where other free spirits roam. they all speak of their leader, named russell, in such high regard evie begins to like him from just their stories. after she does meet him though, she’s regretting ever speaking to suzanne, the girl with the long black hair who captured her attention and innocence.

this book was loosely based on the manson family from the 60s and the horrors they caused. what cline captures especially well is just how impressionable young children are. it didn’t take much for evie, who was feeling like an outcast between a fight with a friend and her divorced parents, to fall victim to someone’s sick schemes. i struggled with this rating because i didn’t love the content & it was tough to read at times but it’s very well told.

what did you read this month?? any suggestions?