Welcome back to my monthly wrap-up! This has been such an exciting month with the official opening of Prose and Paperbacks and I'm so grateful for all of your support. I know that some of these books may be listed for sale on the website, but I want to keep my reviews honest. We may not have the same taste in books and I encourage you to check them out regardless!
I read six books this month. Let's go!
The Women Could Fly - Megan Giddings
⬤⬤⬤〇〇 | hardcover | purchase here
My Review: I really loved this Salem Witch Trials meets Handmaid's Tale concept, but this book was a little too rushed to feel the satisfaction I was hoping for. I loved the representation in the book, the comments it made on women's rights, and Gidding's take on magic. It did feel, however, that the setting and history wasn't properly fleshed out, which left me with a lot of questions that took away from my immersion. I liked the first half of the book more than the second half, which seemed to have less direction and made me question our protagonist's motivations and character development. Not a bad read, but could have benefitted from some extra pages, for sure.
We Need to Talk About Kevin - Lionel Shriver
⬤⬤⬤⬤〇 | paperback | purchase here
The Comeback - Ella Berman
⬤⬤⬤◐〇 | hardcover | purchase here
My Review: This book had the ability to be incredibly heartbreaking and
poignant and I think it just missed the mark. Berman covers a lot of difficult topics in this novel and does so
in a tasteful and practical way. I really liked the character of Grace in all of her frustrating imperfections;
I think she was a compelling and realistic portrayal of a traumatized child actor. In fact, I really liked most
of the characters and their complicated relationships.
I do think that the prose was a little simplistic
- I sometimes thought it was more in line with a young adult novel, before I remembered the subject matter I was
reading about. I think this book's biggest flaw was its overly simplistic and unsatisfying ending. It always
kills me when I like a book but lower my rating due to a poor conclusion. Here, the climax is built up for the
entirety of the plot before occurring quickly and unceremoniously. Maybe that's more realistic, but I felt
slightly let down. Overall, not a bad read, but I think there are some titles that have similar themes that may
do it better.
An Unwanted Guest - Shari Lapena
⬤⬤◐〇〇 | paperback | purchase here
My Review: This is going to sound so mean...but this book feels like an Agatha
Christie try-hard. An interesting idea and some well-written atmosphere ultimately fails with a poorly executed
reveal. I think this book was supposed to be a blend of The Shining and And Then There Were None, but instead I just
spent my time wishing that I was reading either of those books instead.
The cast of characters was initially
intriguing but a little too large to feel attached to any one of them in particular. I was excited at first because
the writing made it seem like I could deduce the killer from textual clues, but when the reveal came around, that
wasn't really the case. There were a number of plot points that seemed like they would come back later or matter in
the reveal, but never were discussed again. It came off like sloppy writing or maybe a writer who forgot to tie up
her loose ends. Two and a half stars for the claustrophobic winter snow-in atmosphere.
Daisy Jones & The Six - Taylor Jenkins Reid
⬤⬤⬤⬤⬤ | paperback | synopsis here
My Review: I always get giddy when a book makes my all-time favorite list. There
are only ten books on it. I have two regrets with this book. One: that I did not read it sooner. Two: that I didn't
listen to the audiobook. I'm typically not a big audiobook person, but I've heard this one has a cast of characters
AND music. It's on my re-read/listen list for sure.
This book is beautiful. The format, the prose, the
lyrics, the characters. It's all so detailed and well-rounded and real. And I loved it because nobody was perfect;
in fact, nobody was really a good person. Did I actually look up if Daisy Jones & The Six was a real band?
Shamelessly. I'm really just in love with this book. And now it's getting a TV show? Yes yes yes. I know this book
made some people cry, and while I can understand it, a novel hasn't made me cry in a long long time. But I will hold
this one near and dear and definitely come back to it again.
Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief - Lawrence Wright
⬤⬤⬤〇〇 | audiobook | synopsis here
My Review: Ugh, I was disappointed in this one! I think the information was really
interesting and picked up in the second half of the book, but the first half was essentially an extended
biography of L. Ron Hubbard. I don't really know what I was expecting, but as someone who dislikes biographies,
I really struggled to make it through. There were a couple of moments that had me talking out loud back to the
book in my car, but other than that it was a pretty standard read.
Listened to this one on Audible, by
the way. It's narrated by Morton Sellers and I thought that he was okay. Pretty monotonous and I felt his voice
droned a little, especially during the first half, but it certainly could have been worse.
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Those are all my reads for the month of September! Feel free to follow me on Goodreads to see my reviews as they appear during the month, or check back in at the end of October to see what I read!