Cabin in the City

Books, cats and midwestern charm.

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What I Read // August 2022

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via Goodreads

I haven’t done six books in a month in a long time, but ’tis the season! August is always my best reading month of the year. This month’s reads were a mixed bag. Two flops and a few really good reads. Let’s get into it!

Bath Haus by P.J. Veron • ★★★★☆

You know I love a good domestic thriller, and oooh was this a twisty one!

I don’t want to give you too much up front, but here are the basics, Oliver lives with his partner, a successful doctor, in D.C. He should be happy, but isn’t quite. So he visits a gay bath house one evening and barely escapes. What he hopes is the end of that encounter, of course, is just the beginning.

Dead Lake by Darcy Coates • ★★☆☆☆

I’m not sure how I fell into the trap of reading another Darcy Coates book, but much like The Carrow Haunt which I read in 2020, I was simultaneously engaged and irritated.

I’ve had this book on my Kindle for years and finally dove in after seeing this advertised as the perfect book to read by the campfire at a bookstore. I mean, I love campfire stories, so this could be good!

And in the end, this is pretty much a campfire story and shouldn’t have gone further than that. Like the last Darcy Coates book I read, this book lacked so much detail and overlooked so many small errors. How you ask? Let me tell you!

In Dead Lake, Sam visits her uncle’s cabin to work on paintings for an upcoming art show. She’s got a week to put together a collection of oils for this major show and hasn’t started anything. Not a single thing. And it’s oils—paints that take literal weeks to dry.

Some other issues I had: Her uncle is friendly with the city council so he got to build a cabin in the middle of a park just for fun. Presumably a national park or at the very least a state park based on context, but we don’t know! In this cabin, there’s no running water, just a pump (that’s fine!), but the bathtub is upstairs. Ummm… No one in their right mind would build a cabin that way. No one wants to lug water upstairs. Also, it’s set in the US but she keeps calling flashlights torches. This was the same in The Carrow Haunt. It’s not a big deal, but it’s such an easy edit! Also, if you want the stories to be set in the UK, that’s fine! They are so vaguely written that she could easily set them in the US, the UK, Slovakia, Indonesia, New Zealand—wherever.

In summation: Anything that was scary about this book was made lame by the vague writing.

The Family Plot by Megan Collins • ★★☆☆☆

Maybe I would have liked this book better if I had read it versus listening to the audiobook. I was not a fan of the voice actor’s rendition. And maybe I wasn’t into the execution of this book either.

It sounds promising from the Goodreads synopsis: “[Dahlia was] raised in a secluded island mansion deep in the woods and kept isolated by her true crime-obsessed parents, she has spent the last several years living on her own, but unable to move beyond her past—especially the disappearance of her twin brother Andy when they were sixteen.” Right?

But it was just so flat and implausible. A bunch of murders happened on this small island and during their childhood and no one was worried? Everyone still found it to be normal to be obsessed with true crime instead of, you know, concerned for their safety? I’m not buying it. And I didn’t find it to be chilling or scary, which was the whole point.

The Retreat by Sarah Pearse • ★★★☆☆

I’m not much of a series reader, but I really enjoyed Sarah Pearse’s The Sanatorium. When the next volume came out in what is now a detective series (a specific type of series I’m not really super interested in), I figured I should pick it up.

And it’s a good read (and no, you really don’t need to have read the first in the series to jump in). Detective Elin Warner heads to a remote island to investigate the death of a resort guest. The island has a spooky history, both criminal and paranormal. Sounds good to me!

I think if you’re into detective books, this would be a four-star read, even five, but police work isn’t something I’m really keen on.

Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam • ★★★★☆

I rented this audiobook on a whim after I saw it made Barack Obama’s summer reading list. I’m glad I did! This book was a thinker but also one that kept me listening whenever I could squeeze in a few minutes.

Let’s just say what I thought this book didn’t go where I was expecting it. I mean, it went there but then way, way beyond.

Depending on the type of person you are, it’s the perfect read for vacation or the worst read because you know that the family vacationing in this book doesn’t end up with the trip they expected.

Book Lovers by Emily Henry • ★★★★☆

Gosh am I a sucker for an Emily Henry book! Beach Read remains one of my favorite rom-coms of all time. Book Lovers is a worthy follow-up (People We Meet on Vacation was also good, but comes in third in my ranking).

Anyways, I love how this book leans into the rom com tropes, turns them on their head and then turns them over again. It’s very clever and sweet.

Oh you want detail? Literary agent Nora thinks of herself as the cold city lady that every rom-com leading man leaves behind for a new woman in a small town—and she is! She has several exes that have left and married the type of women featured in Hallmark movies. But here’s the thing: Her sister loves these sorts of stories and insists they live a rom-com-style life when they go on a trip. Is there a handsome man in town? You bet! A tiny bookshop? Obviously! Quirky locals? Duh!

But Book Lovers is about more than romance, it’s also about sisters and family and how to choose the life you want to live. Gosh, it was a good one.

As always, you can follow along with my progress and see what I’ve read over on Goodreads! Also, if you’re an audiobook fan, I encourage you to try Libro.fm—you can support your favorite small bookstore while downloading your next listen.

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What I Read // June + July 2022

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via Goodreads

Guess I’m writing bi-monthly book roundups now! That’s OK! Besides reading (and listening) to books, I’ve started unwinding with a Nintendo Switch. It might seem blasphemous to bookworms, but I really love it. And I still get some reading in! Here are the books that have filled my summer (so far).

The Club by Ellery Lloyd • ★★★★☆

I’ve had this title on hold at the library since last summer. I couldn’t wait any longer and finally downloaded it from Libro.fm. It was worth it.

The Club is set at the newest branch of a super exclusive private resort. But what goes on there isn’t all champagne and caviar. Throughout the book, what’s going on behind the scenes for the staff, the founders and the members is revealed, and oooo it’s a doozy!

I’ll Be You by Janelle Brown • ★★★☆☆

I’ll Be You features two Mary Kate and Ashley types. Sam and Elli experienced a lot of fame as children and teens but as they grew up, they took different paths. Sam is in recovery and working at a café while Elli has flower business and just adopted a child.

Bit Elli disappears on a retreat and Sam has to return home to help care for her daughter and track down her sister who seems like she’s in a cult.

Twin swapping will always be alluring (1998’s The Parent Trap is a masterpiece), and a thrill-tinged take was sort of a nice way to dress up this trope.

Call Me Elizabeth Lark by Melissa Colasanti • ★★★☆☆

This was a totally fine domestic thriller to me. It had some really exciting moments. How could it not? A young woman rolls up to a roadside motel and, uh oh, she looks just like the motel owners’ long-lost daughter. But is she? Does it matter?

This was a good listen for afternoon walks and would make a nice read if you’re sitting by the pool.

Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall • ★★★★☆

I am a sucker for adorable British rom com (see Red, White & Royal Blue, Get a Life, Chloe Brown and A Season for Second Chances just as a start). Boyfriend Material gets its start with the fake dating trope which is great if you love that! It’s even great if you don’t quite get it (it’s totally inexplicable to me!).

So what’s the deal here? Luc, a nonprofit employee with a world-famous dad, needs to shore up his reputation for the sake of his organization. Enter Oliver, a straight-laced guy in his social sphere that needs a date to his parents’ 40th-anniversary party. They’re both in it for the appearances and, uh oh, they catch feels.

I read this while planning my parents’ 40th-anniversary shindig so that was sort of sweet! And the story was sweet as well.

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova • ★★★★☆

I don’t think anyone is immune to vampire stories—certainly not me. That’s why I eagerly dove into The Historian. It all starts with Paul finding a mysterious book on his desk in the library. From there, the story flashes between Paul’s time and his daughter’s. The providence of the book is revealed along with how Vlad Dracula may not have ended his reign back in 1467.

Be prepared: This is a long one clocking in at 704 pages. But it was a really great read to get into. It’s the sort of story that sort of envelops you in the world it creates from the get-go. I felt this way with A Gentleman in Moscow (one of my all-time favorites). This being said, The Historian could be about 200 pages shorter and the story still would have been great. Enjoy this one when you’ve got some time.

Just Like Home by Sarah Gailey • ★★★★☆

This book was not what I expected based on the blurb I read online; it’s much stranger.

There are a lot of complicated themes in Just Like Home. Vera returns to her childhood home to care for her dying mother. It’s the home she grew up in, the home her father built—oh and her father was a serial killer. Despite this, Vera loved her dad. So that’s just the foundation for this whole situation. Layer in an artist living in the backyard looking to dig into the home’s history, a town full of people that hate Vera’s family and a mother that just can’t seem to stand her. Oh, and is the place haunted? It’s a lot!

As always, you can follow along with my progress and see what I’ve read over on Goodreads! Also, if you’re an audiobook fan, I encourage you to try Libro.fm—you can support your favorite small bookstore while downloading your next listen.

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What I Read // April + May 2022

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I’m reading a little slower than normal lately; my Goodreads Challenge says I’m two books behind and I am concerned! But I managed to read a handful of terrific books—including a five-star one—these past few months.

The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune • ★★★★☆

Talk about a pleasant surprise! A friend gifted me The House in the Cerulean Sea via Libro.fm (a nice surprise on its own) and I was really wowed by how much I loved this book. Do I nudge it to five stars?

At any rate, this was exactly the right book at the right time. This is a mood lifter of a listen.

Oh you wanted any details at all about this book? OK: Linus is a caseworker at the Department in Charge Of Magical Youth where he inspects orphanages and schools for magical beings. One day he’s assigned to a particularly remote and classified location. THAT’S ALL YOU’RE GETTING FROM ME.

The Gown by Jennifer Robson • ★★★★☆

I’ve had this book floating around on my Kindle for a long while now, and I never really felt particularly drawn to it. After last month’s The Duchess, I was sort of over Windsor history (at least for a bit).

But this book won me over almost instantly. It was clear from the start that Elizabeth and the rest of the royals weren’t going to feature prominently in the book. Instead, The Gown centers around two coworkers turned friends, Ann and Miriam, who work on Elizabeth’s wedding dress. Ann’s granddaughter Heather also figures in here; she is pleasant but not particularly interesting.

What was so interesting to me, though, was the fact that Ann and Miriam were embroiderers! A BOOK ABOUT EMBROIDERY ARTISTS! I was instantly won over.

Not only were the descriptions of the work terrifically accurate and detailed, but the characters themselves were also tremendous joys.

The Hunger by Alma Katsu • ★★★★☆

I love what Alma Katsu does: She takes historical events and weaves in supernatural elements. I really enjoyed The Deep, a spookier take on the sinking of the Titanic, and figured that The Hunger would scratch the same itch.

So essentially The Hunger is Katsu’s take on what happened to the Donner party on their journey West. Despite the subject matter, this novel wasn’t overly gruesome, but it was definitely intriguing!

City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert • ★★★★★

Why did I resist such a charming book for so long? City of Girls has been on my to-read list for a while but I kept pushing it off because I feel like WWII-era fiction is everywhere and I am not in the mood. But I was definitely in the mood for this one.

Here, a 19-year-old Vivian gets kicked out of college and is sent to live with her eccentric aunt in New York City (what a punishment!). Her aunt, Peg, runs a small theater company and Vivian dives right into this new lifestyle of showgirls and late nights and costuming and really just wonderful hijinks.

Must Love Books by Shauna Robinson • ★★★☆☆

I had such high hopes for this book! I wanted it to be a People We Meet on Vacation or A Season for Second Chances, but it fell a little flat for me.

But the setup is great: Nora is an editorial assistant at a publishing house. Here pay’s been cut but her employer is dangling a promotion in front of her nose if she can land an important author. This author is, of course, very charming.

The work strife here was maybe too close to home in some ways and that prevented me from enjoying this one fully. And maybe it lacked a little pep and levity?

The Guilt Trip by Sandie Jones • ★★★☆☆

Domestic thrillers are a must for any plane trip or vacation if you ask me. So I snagged The Guilt Trip, a British domestic thriller (the best kind) for a work trip to Sonoma. The gist here: six people go on a trip together and only five come home.

Sounds great, right? But for some reason, I had a hard time getting into this one. I kept confusing the characters (three couples). And there’s one character that everyone else seems to dislike because she’s… trying hard to be liked by her spouse-to-be’s friends? Seems flimsy to me!

As always, you can follow along with my progress and see what I’ve read over on Goodreads!

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What I Read // February + March 2022

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Combining two months of reading here. I spent a lot of time the last few months getting into a new hobby (surprise), listening to Maintenance Phase (SO GOOD) and spending time with my mom. But there are some good reads in here!

The Secret History of Home Economics by Danielle Dreilinger • ★★★★★

Hot on the heels of January’s The Romanov Sisters, I downloaded another non-fiction audiobook.

I love learning about the history of home ec because this field of study wasn’t always about sewing pillowcases and flipping pancakes. Stuff You Missed in History Class has a great podcast about the Bureau of Home Economics if you don’t want to buckle up for a whole book.

There is so much good information in this book, but here are some of my favorite bits:

  • Housework is work. Home economists figured this out right away. They calculated that the average woman put 50+ hours a week into domestic activities like cleaning, personal finance and cooking. And if you layer on child care, it was much more.
  • Home economics is about efficiency. At its advent, home economists were looking for ways to make domestic work easier and less time-consuming. They weren’t advocating for everyone to become professional bakers, chefs, cleaners, etc. They wanted average people to find efficient ways of taking care of life’s everyday tasks. If that meant sending your laundry to the cleaner instead of slogging through it at home or picking up a birthday cake at the bakery instead of taking a lot of time in the kitchen, they were all for it! Don’t feel like you have to master everything!
  • It’s more than cooking and sewing. You know those tweets and memes you often see saying “oh gosh, high school, thanks for teaching me calculus instead of how to do my taxes.” Um, you all know that these practical skills are taught in school and many of them fall under the home ec/FACE umbrella. Want to learn how to do your taxes, make a budget, cook healthy meals and fix a hole in your jacket? Take home ec.

Payback’s a Witch by Lana Harper • ★★★★☆

Yes, this book has spooky season written all over it, but you cannot control when library holds become available. But reading a book set during my favorite time of year during my least favorite time of year was actually a very nice way to plow through the doldrums of February.

Anyhow, the basics here: Emma returns home for a family witchy ceremony after spending years away. When she gets back, she discovers a few things: 1) her powers are growing stronger, 2) she’s not quite over her ex-boyfriend, and 3) there’s something about the town’s most mysterious and charming witch.

Devil House by John Darnielle • ★★★★☆

Before I even get into this book, let me start by saying that the audiobook version is the way to go. I have the distinct feeling that if I was reading Devil House, I might have had a hard time getting through it. But listening to John Darnielle reading his work was super compelling. I stayed up late listening quite a few nights.

This book is hard to describe, but I’ll give you the gist of part of it: A true-crime author moves into a home where a gruesome murder once took place at the height of the ’80s satanic panic. I think that’s all I want to give you!

The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley • ★★★☆☆

I’m a big fan of Lucy Foley’s thrillers. The Hunting Party and The Guest List were absolute page-turners for me. Plus they had terrific settings: rural Scotland and a remote Irish island respectively. The Paris Apartment also has a compelling setting, but I didn’t find the story to be quite as engaging.

Here, Jess travels to Paris to meet her half-brother. (Why are writers so obsessed with half-siblings? I have five and they truly feel like regular siblings to me, not some strange hybrid creature.) When she arrives, he’s not at his apartment. The rest of the book trades perspectives from Jess to other residents in the apartment building.

This book is more than decent. It’s compelling and twisty, but just not as good as Foley’s other endeavors. I’d say this is the perfect airport or beach read. It’ll keep you going, but it’s nothing you’ll want to pick up again.

Madam by Phoebe Wynne • ★★☆☆☆

At first glance, this book was made for me: Rose, a young teacher gets recruited to teach Classics at an elite boarding school in Scotland. Soon she discovers not all is as it seems.

Sign me up, right? Wrong. Also, here come the spoilers (though not the entire plot).

So Rose gets to Caldenbrae and the girls are just not that into academics; instead, the school really emphasizes comportment and manners and breeding. Rose tries to dig into why that is, what happened to the last Latin teacher and why one girl was removed from her class.

She discovers that Caldenbrae isn’t a regular snobby boarding school for the elite, it’s pretty much a wife factory. Girls are matched with men and then educated accordingly. And, while I was hoping it wouldn’t come to it I also knew it was coming, that means sexually as well. The scene is brief but still absolutely stomach-churning and totally unnecessary.

My issue with this book is that it could have had a lot of the spooky plot points about the missing teacher, deaths on campus and unseemly history without the really gross stuff.

So why two stars? Maybe because I’ve read worse? Because the ending was satisfying?

The Duchess by Wendy Holden • ★★★☆☆

About halfway through this book, I remembered that Wallis Simpson and the Duke of Windsor were Nazi sympathizers. That’s about the time I stopped really caring about the characters. This being said, there’s lots of historical fiction out there about equally awful people, so it’s not like this is really that unique. Like was Henry VIII a good guy? No. But I also watched all of The Tudors. Whatever.

At any rate, this book was fine. It definitely painted Wallis as being a bit more passive, even hesitant, about her relationship with the Duke of Windsor. From what I understood about her from podcasts, books and documentaries, that wasn’t really the case, but who really knows.

As always, you can follow along with my progress and see what I’ve read over on Goodreads!

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What I Read // January 2022

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via goodreads.com

This year, I’m setting a goal to read/listen to 50 books. If the rest of the year is anything like January, I’m sure I’ll get there in no time!

A Season for Second Chances by Jenny Bayliss • ★★★☆☆

Last year, I listened to Jenny Bayliss’s The Twelve Dates of Christmas. It was seasonal rom-com perfection. Her second book didn’t capture the seasonal magic the same way but was still a good read.

After all, who doesn’t want to imagine escaping to the English seaside to start a book club, open a cafe and become a beloved part of the community? Because that’s what happens here and I really enjoyed it. Maybe I should bump it up to four stars?

The House of Whispers by Laura Purcell • ★★★☆☆

Every time I open a Laura Purcell book, I know it’s going to be a good time. The atmosphere is going to be ominous, the characters strange and something slightly paranormal or otherworldly imbues the whole thing. It’s terrific.

This one seemed to miss a few tricks when it came to really creeping me out, but was still a fast read.

The Quickening by Rhiannon Ward • ★★★☆☆

This book has all the basics of a satisfying read. An old estate in the English countryside going to run, a photographer, ghosts and secrets.

In The Quickening, Louisa gets invited to some Downton Abbey-esque home to photograph it for auction. While she’s there, the owners are planning a seance to replicate a seriously eerie one that was held there years ago.

Spooky stuff happens. It was good. Not great, but good.

The Second Life of Mirielle West by Amanda Skenandore • ★★★★☆

This wasn’t the book I was expecting, but that turned out to be a wonderful thing.

The Life of Mirielle West follows fictional Mirielle, married to one of Hollywood’s leading men. She’s used to soirees, cocktails and evening gowns. Then she gets diagnosed with leprosy and sent to a leper colony in Louisiana.

There Mirielle struggles to come to terms with the disease, her confinement and living a smaller life before learning how to find her place.

This story played out beautifully and was really moving.

People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry • ★★★★☆

I read Beach Read this past fall while on vacation and it was truly the perfect rom com. With that in mind, I had to grab another Emily Henry book.

I really enjoyed this one and the characters felt very real and funny to me (if not too good to be true, but everyone in romances is a little too pretty and a little too charming and a little too lucky). Anyways, in People We Meet on Vacation, friends Alex and Poppy reunite for a vacation to see if they can rekindle their friendship.

We all know how this one will end from the jump, but it doesn’t make getting there less fun.

The Romanov Sisters by Helen Rapapport • ★★★★☆

I bookmarked this title eons ago when a Bustle listicle suggested picking this title up if you read the Dear America series as a kid. I, of course, did. I also was obsessed with the animated movie Anastasia.

While it took me a while to grab this book (OK, download the audiobook from the library), I’m thrilled that I did. I’ve read and watched a lot about the Romanovs over the years, so I wasn’t expecting any major revelations here, but I learned so much in The Romanov Sisters.

A lot of documentaries focus on the very end of Romanov rule—like the last year or two—but Helen Rapapport dives in from the time that Nikolas and Alexandra wed and gives a lot of detail about each of the grand duchesses (and not just everyone’s favorite, Anastasia) from early childhood until their death.

This book had me thinking about the family in a very different way. Perhaps they weren’t suited for the lifestyle they were born to. If they weren’t royals, they would have been a very lovely, tight-knit family. But ultimately their insular nature and indecisiveness did them no favors.

While picking up a hefty nonfiction book might seem like a bit of a lift (and not as joyful as something like People We Meet on Vacation), I recommend listening to nonfiction. It’s sort of like a super long-form podcast with no commercials and a talented voice actor.

As always, you can follow along with my progress and see what I’ve read over on Goodreads!

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What I Read // December 2021 + A Year in Books

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I’ll admit it: I spent a lot of time checking out new Christmas movies on Netflix and rewatching Downton Abbey this month. But I still managed to sneak in a little holiday reading.

The Holiday Swap by Maggie Knox • ★★★☆☆

I saw this book sitting on a table at a bookstore months back and instantly filed it away in my brain as a must-read holiday rom-com. And I’m glad I remembered to pick it up later.

This book is a bit implausible, but so was The Parent Trap and it was still a masterpiece (I am, of course, talking about the perfect 1998 version).

Anyways, two twenty-something twins swap places after one twin loses her sense of taste, an obvious prerequisite for her job as a baking show judge. So her small town twin leaves the family bakery behind and steps into the spotlight, leaving the first sister to get used to being home again.

It’s a sweet book that turns out just right and gives great holiday vibes.

The Hygge Holiday by Rosie Blake • ★★★☆☆

This month, I needed a lot of comfort, so I reached for another holiday rom-com straight away.

Here, stranger Clara stops in a small English village as she travels the country. Because it’s a feel-good book, she immediately befriends an eccentric who needs a housesitter while on vacation. During that vacation, Clara reinvigorates the woman’s toy shop and starts giving the whole town a new life thanks to her hygge touches from her native Denmark.

Grab some cocoa for this one, folks.

Rock, Paper, Scissors by Alice Feeney • ★★★☆☆

I wouldn’t say it’s a pet peeve, but I don’t love when the main character in a novel is a writer. I know: Write what you know, but it sometimes feels a little lazy (says someone that doesn’t write fiction and knows nothing about it!).

In this book, almost every character is a writer which is a bit maddening and meta. It actually made me like this twisty novel a touch less.

But I will say that a couple celebrating their anniversary in a remote Scottish chapel-turned-inn is a nice setup (but what thriller set in a remote part of Scotland isn’t? Looking at you, The Hunting Party). And there was a twist that came at just the right time.

A Year in Books

With these three under my belt, I managed to read a total of 55 books in 2021. In 2020, I read 51 and in 2019 I read 20 (which is nothing to sneeze at).

For 2022, I hope to hit the 50-mark again. Historical fiction set during the Russian Revolution, British thrillers and holiday rom-coms will certainly be on that list.

If you have any recommendations, feel free to drop ’em in the comments! I love a good book recommendation. Some of my favorites reads this year were tips from friends, including The Sun Down Motel, Red, White & Royal Blue and Beach Read.

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What I Read // November 2021

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November wasn’t a big reading month for me. I had a few false starts on some books that later didn’t hold my attention. But I did get through three books.

Wylding Hall by Elizabeth Hand • ★★★★☆

I started this book Halloween morning and finished it the next day. This book was the perfect way to cap off spooky season.

The story here is that an English folk band recorded their most acclaimed and final album at an old estate over the course of a summer. During this time, though, the band’s frontman disappears without a trace.

The book takes place decades on and each band member, along with the manager and a few folks that visited Wylding Hall that summer, share how the album was made and what they think happened.

When the Reckoning Comes by LaTanya McQueen • ★★★☆☆

The description of this one grabbed me from the get-go: A haunting novel about a Black woman who returns to her hometown for a plantation wedding and the horror that ensues as she reconnects with the blood-soaked history of the land and the best friends she left behind.

That struggle right away of having to visit a plantation for a wedding weekend when in reality it houses a whole host of suffering and tragedy? It’s really riveting.

And this was a good read. A bit gruesome at times, but a great blend of reality and ghosts story.

The Therapist by B.A. Paris • ★★★☆☆

B.A. Paris is a lot like Wendy Webb to me. I’ll read anything she puts out because every release is a page-turner, but I might not always love the book. That’s the case with The Therapist.

This one was fine. A couple moves into a gated community in London, only to find out that a mysterious murder occurred there prior to their arrival. Of course, everyone is wrapped up with it.

It was fine. The reveals were fine. But some things were just a bit implausible. But it’s fiction, so 🤷🏻‍♀️.

As always, you can follow along with my progress and see what I’ve read over on Goodreads!

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What I Read // October 2021

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October is one of my favorite months for reading. Just like with the shows and movies I watch, October is all about everything spooky.

Yours Cruelly, Elvira by Cassandra Peterson • ★★★★☆

I kicked off this month with the perfect spooky season read. In Yours Cruelly, Elvira, the Mistress of the Dark shares the twisted path she took from a tiny Kansas town to the stages of Las Vegas to turning into everyone’s favorite goth bimbo (I say this with extreme affection).

This was, in my opinion, the perfect celebrity memoir. Peterson told her story with a great sense of humor and let readers in on all the celeb details, like the time Elvis gave her career advice, how she met Robert DeNiro and when Brad Pitt came knocking at her door. And while she didn’t skimp on exciting stories or jaw-dropping anecdotes, it was also really sweet to hear about how she fell for her current partner and came out later in life.

If you’re a Halloween fiend like myself, please pick this up. It was an exceptionally fun listen.

Truly Like Lightning by David Duchovny • ★★★★☆

At 445 pages, Truly Like Lightning took me a bit to finish, but it was one hell of a ride.

I started describing this book to my husband after 50 pages and it sounded wild then: A Hollywood stuntman inherits hundreds of acres of land outside Joshua Tree. The condition of him accepting the land is that he has to convert to Mormonism. Well, he does and he does it with some extreme and unusual conviction—even starting a small commune there with his wives and children.

That’s just the tip of the iceberg. As you can imagine, if that’s the prologue, the rest has to be pretty wild.

The Ex Hex by Erin Sterling • ★★★☆☆

Spooky season is my favorite season, but this year I knew I needed a few lighter reads to keep my mind right. And The Ex Hex was the perfect book. A cute little rom-com about witches? Yes, please.

This was the literary equivalent of a caramel apple: perfectly seasonal and sweet.

The Mad Women’s Ball by Victoria Mas • ★★★★☆

I am, unsurprisingly, a huge fan of Jezebel’s annual scary story contest. Several years ago, there was a story about an asylum in the South hosting a dance for its patients. It’s obviously stuck with me, so when I saw The Mad Women’s Ball come up as a recommended read, I was in. I know it’s not the same story, but a similar, ultra-specific theme.

This book wasn’t quite what I was expecting but it was a satisfying read that packed a lot in just 224 pages.

The Keepers of Metsan Valo by Wendy Webb • ★★☆☆☆

I’ve read every book by Wendy Webb. She’s been dubbed “the queen of Northern gothic” which is maybe the ideal genre for me.

And I’ll give Wendy this: Her story ideas are always intriguing, the settings picturesque and the setups interesting. However, I do feel like in her books, including The Keepers of Metsan Valo, she stumbles when it comes to realistic dialogue. It’s as if she’d rather try to be funny or quirky than realistic. After a half dozen of her books, that’s sort of getting to me. Those bits of silly chatter take you out of the ghoulish feel. I’d like to get into the spooky feeling and stay there.

As always, you can follow along with my progress and see what I’ve read over on Goodreads!

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What I Read // September 2021

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OK, the photo above is a book I haven’t read yet, but I started Truly Like Lightning while I was on vacation this month and it’s a real trip. More on it later! Now onto September’s reads!

The Temple House Vanishing by Rachel Donohue • ★★★☆☆

If there’s one trope I fall for all the time, it’s mysterious events at an elite boarding school or college. I read these books all the time.

And I fell for it again with The Temple House Vanishing. In this book, reporter seeks to uncover the truth about what happened at Temple House, a top-notch Catholic girls’ school, when a teacher and student went missing 25 years prior. As she digs deeper and interviews one the missing girl’s closest friends, more is uncovered.

This book was a touch spooky and perfectly moody. It was a good read for a rainy September day.

Beach Read by Emily Henry • ★★★★☆

I never fancied myself to be much of a rom-com reader. In fact, until last year, I never had picked one up. But now they are becoming a regular part of my reading rotation. And I think I found a new favorite in Beach Read.

This book follows January, a romance author who has hit a snag personally and professionally. She heads to her late father’s secret lake house to clean it out and get some writing done. While there, she discovers her college rival and best-selling author Gus lives right next door.

Over the summer, they challenge one another to write in a whole new style. She’d try to write the next great American novel and Gus would try his hand at romance.

This book is really sweet, comforting and was just the right thing to bring with me on vacation.

Fierce Little Thing by Miranda Beverly-Whittemore • ★★☆☆☆

Years ago, I read Bittersweet by this author and was totally engrossed. Ever since I’ve been waiting for another one of her books to speak to me. And when Fierce Little Thing came out, I made sure to add it to my list. A book about a woman who grew up in a remote commune in New England who is beckoned to return after receiving some threatening letters? Sounds thrilling!

But I had a hard time following this book. It might have been listening to it versus reading that lead to a lot of my confusion; either way, this just didn’t pull me in. I felt like I didn’t know any of the characters at the end.

The Cherry Harvest by Lucy Sanna • ★★★☆☆

Every time I visit Door County, I fall in love with it all over again. For a month or so after I return, I become obsessed with cherries and develop an appetite for all things Peninsula, which is why I picked up The Cherry Harvest.

Set in Door County during WWII, the Christiansen family struggles to keep up with their cherry orchard. With all the working men overseas, they become desperate for help. Charlotte, who owns the farm with her husband, encourages the county’s farmers to host German POWs to harvest the crop. This shakes up the whole county and the Christiansens especially.

This book was a really easy and interesting read. I had heard about POWs working in Door County from my beloved great-uncle who lived in Baileys Harbor but never much else. The Cherry Harvest does well examining how the Americans had a love (OK more like tolerate)-hate relationship with the POWs that were helping them make a living.

As always, you can follow along with my progress and see what I’ve read over on Goodreads!

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What I Read // August 2021

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Maybe this is just a book blog now? It seems like these are the only posts I can really keep up with.

That said, it was a pretty good month for reading. I got six books in—two that were five-star-worthy. That’s a pretty good month!

The Dilemma by B.A. Paris • ★★★☆☆

B.A. Paris sucks me in every time. I don’t think the books are outstanding by any stretch, but they are definitely page-turners.

As with a few of her other books, this one rehashed details and thought processes a few too many times. Like, we get it, the characters are in a dilemma.

All this being said, it was a quick and satisfying read. Sort of like binge-watching a season of Drag Race All-Stars (which I’m doing now).

The Shape of Darkness by Laura Purcell • ★★★☆☆

The Silent Companions remains one of my favorite Halloween reads of all time. Since then, I’ve picked up every Purcell book I could get my hands on.

While The Shape of Darkness isn’t quite as good as its predecessor, this book was still a fantastic spooky read. A silhouette artist teams up with a medium to contact the dead and solve a spate of murders? That’s some spooky perfection right there!

That being said, maybe this deserves 4 stars, but let’s settle on 3.5.

The Sound of Gravel by Ruth Wariner • ★★★★☆

I took a brief departure from domestic thrillers and gothic-y novels for this memoir about Wariner, the daughter of a religious sect’s prophet, growing up in rural Mexico (and later bouncing around the US).

I’ll be honest, this was a really difficult read in terms of subject matter. Wariner is a solid writer and her story was compelling, but what she suffered through as a child was traumatic and could definitely be triggering (so be careful).

The Umbrella Lady by V.C. Andrews® • ★☆☆☆☆

V.C. Andrews is a major throwback for me. I have vivid memories of all the book covers on display in Walmart and thinking I can’t wait to read a book like that because they just looked so so cool.

Eventually, I picked up Flowers in the Attic like every other 16-year-old and devoured it in two days. And then I read a handful of her other books.

But it’s been a long while since I’ve seen a new V.C. Andrews release (now with ®). When The Umbrella Lady came into my inbox as a cheap audiobook, I bit. And holy moly, this one was awful.

It had a lot of the V.C. Andrews signature elements: abandoned children, terrible parents, mysterious caretakers. But it was absolute trash (in a bad way). Nothing really added up. It didn’t build to any satisfying or scandalous conclusion. Also, I realized so much of the book was telling not showing (a big no-no for us writers).

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid • ★★★★★

I’m a bit late to the party on this one, but late is better than never with a five-star read like this.

I won’t say too much because you’ve probably read it! But I loved how this book followed a magazine writer as she chronicled the life of a Hollywood legend. How this all tied together was perfect and the story was beautiful along the way.

Last Summer at the Golden Hotel by Elyssa Friedland • ★★★★★

This just might be my favorite book of the year and one of the best summer reads on my list.

Let me say this: If you wish the Catskills episodes of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel lasted forever, this is the book for you. Set in the Catskills (duh), this book follows members of the Goldman and Weingold families as they debate selling their once-great Borscht Belt resort.

This book was part nostalgia, part family drama and all wonderful. There were a lot of characters here—the story spans about 60 years—but they were so well done. Each was unique, interesting, flawed and loveable—like all our favorite family members.

As always, you can follow along with my progress and see what I’ve read over on Goodreads!