July Book Review

Perhaps no month will have as much reading as June did - but I did pretty well in July too! And I think I listened to/read a variety of books! I made my way through six books this month & I've started a seventh, but I'll save that for August! Can you believe we are already to August?!? This year is flying!

Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty: Nine people gather at a remote health resort. some are here to lose weight, some are here to get a reboot on life, some are here for reasons they can't even admit to themselves. Amidst all of the luxury & pampering, the mindfulness & meditation, they know these then days might involve some real work. But none of them could imagine just how challenging the next ten days are going to be. 

Frances Welty, the formerly best-selling romantic novelist, arrives at Tranquillum House nursing a bad back, a broken heart & an exquisitely painful paper cut. She's immediately intrigued by her fellow guests. Most of them don't look to be in need of a health resort at all. But the person that intrigues her the most is the strange & charismatic owner/director of Tranquillum House. Could this person really have the answers Frances didn't even know she was seeking? Should Frances put side her doubts & immerse herself in everything Tranquillum House has to offer - or should she run while she still can?

It's not long before every guest at Tranquillum House is asking the exact same question. 

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐of five; I don't think I quite knew what to expect from this book but it was a bit of a wild ride! The characters were really diverse & I enjoyed following the story as their time went from tranquil to chaotic... & more! The story wrapped up really nicely & definitely had some twists & turns I wasn't expecting... The book was enjoyable but wasn't my favorite this month... or this year. 

The Hotel Nantucket by Elin Hilderbrand: After a tragic fire in 1922 that killed 19-year-old chambermaid, Grace Hadley, The Hotel Nantucket descended from a gilded age gem to a mediocre budget-friendly lodge to inevitably an abandoned eyesore - until it's purchased & renovated top to bottom by London billionaire, Xavier Darling. Xavier hires Nantucket sweetheart Lizbet Keaton as his general manager, & Lizbet, in turn, pulls together a charismatic, if inexperienced, staff who share the vision of turning the fate of the hotel around. They face challenges in getting along with one another (& with the guests), in overcoming the hotel's bad reputation, & in surviving the (mostly) harmless shenanigans of Grace Hadley herself - who won't stop haunting the hotel until her murder is acknowledged. 

Filled with emotional tension & multiple points of view that characterize Elin's books as well as an added touch of historical reality, Hotel Nantucket offers something for everyone in this summer drama for the ages.  

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5 of five; Oh goodness! I loved this book! The storyline was great, the characters were diverse & interesting & man; I wish I could book a stay at the Hotel Nantucket for myself! It sounds absolutely divine! This was my first time reading Elin Hilderbrand, but I see why she is so popular & I'd love to read a few more of her books! This was a perfect Summer read! 

Middle of the Night by Riley Sager: The worst thing to ever happen on Hemlock Circle occurred in Ethan Marsh's backyard. One July night, ten-year-old Ethan & his best friend & neighbor, Bill, fell asleep in a tent set up on a manicured lawn in a quiet, quaint New Jersey cul de sac. In the morning, Ethan work up alone. During the night, someone had sliced the tent open with a knife & taken Billy. He was never seen again. 

Thirty years later, Ethan has reluctantly returned to his childhood home. Plagued by bad dreams & insomnia, he begins to notice strange things happening in the middle of the night. Someone seems to be roaming the cul de sac at odd hours, & signs of Bill's presence keep appearing in Ethan's backyard. Is someone playing a cruel prank? Or has Bill, long thought to be dead, somehow returned to Hemlock Circle?

The mysterious occurrences prompt Ethan to investigate what really happened that night, a quest that reunites him with former friends & neighbors & leads him into the woods that surround Hemlock Circle. Woods where Bill claimed monsters roamed & where a mysterious institute does clandestine research on a crumbling estate. The closer Ethan gets to the truth, the more he realizes that no place - be it quiet forest or suburban street - is completely safe. And the past has a way of haunting the present.  

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐of five; I was turned on to author Riley Sager through Book of the Month (sign up here: https://www.mybotm.com/idelcipzc0e - if you'd like) & I have read several of his books. He writes thrillers & ghost stories; truly, but they are always so good. This book has both thrilled & ghost story aspects, filled with twists & I have to admit, I wasn't expecting the reveal at the end. This book was great!

One Perfect Couple by Ruth Ware: Lyla is in a bit of a rut. Her post-doctoral research has fizzled out, she's pretty sure they won't extend her contract & things with her boyfriend, Nico, an aspiring actor, aren't going great. When the opportunity arises for Nico to join the cast of a new reality TV show, The Perfect Couple, she decides to try out with him. A whirlwind audition process later, Lyla finds herself whisked off to a tropical paradise with Nico, boating through the Indian Ocean towards Ever After Island, where the two of them will compete against four other couples - Bayer & Angel, Dan & Santana, Joel & Romi & Conor & Zana - in order to win a cash prize. 

But not long after they arrive on the deserted island, things start to go wrong. After the first challenge leaves everyone rattled & angry, an overnight storm takes things from bad to worse. Cut off from the mainland by miles of ocean, deprived of their phones, & unable to contact the crew that brought them there, the group must band together for survival. As tensions run high & fresh water runs low, Lyla finds that this game show is all too real - & the stakes are life & death. 

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐of five; This was the audiobook I "read" this month & it was pretty great. Ruth Ware is also a master at writing thrillers & this book was no exception! The descriptions made me feel like I was on the island with the participants of the reality show... & it certainly wasn't a paradise, ha-ha! I honestly wondered if everyone was going to make it out alive - & you'll have to read it yourself to find out if they do!

The Wish by Nicholas Sparks: 1996 was the year that changed everything for Maggie Dawes. Sent away at sixteen to live with an aunt she barely knew in Ocracoke, a remote village on North Carolina's Outer Banks, she could think only of the friends & family she left behind.... until she met Bryce Trickett, one of the few teenagers on the island. Handsome, genuine & newly admitted to West Point, Bryce showed her how much their was to love about the wind-swept beach town - & introduced her to photography, a passion that would define the rest of her life. 

By 2019, Maggie is a renowned travel photographer. She splits her time between running a successful gallery in New York & photographing remote locations around the world. But this year she is unexpectedly grounded over Christmas, struggling to come to terms with a sobering medical diagnosis. Increasingly dependent on a young assistant, she finds herself becoming close to him. 

As they count down to the last days of the season together, she begins to tell him the story of another Christmas, decades earlier - & the love that set her on a course she never could have imagined. 

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐of five; I haven't read Nicholas Sparks in so long... but he still writes tear jerkers! I really enjoyed this book, although I have to confess I picked up on the twist well in advance of the end of the book. It didn't diminish my enjoyment any & I often think that Sparks' books inspire a person to live every moment to the fullest. 

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig: Between life & death there is a library. When Nora Seed finds herself in the Midnight Library, she has a chance to make things right. Up until now, her life has been full of misery & regret. She feels she has let everyone down, including herself. But things are about to change. 

The books in the Midnight Library enable Nora to live as if she had done things differently. With the help of an old friend, she can now undo every one of her regrets as she tries to work out her perfect life. But things aren't always what she imagined they'd be, & soon her choices place the library & herself in extreme danger. Before time runs out, she must answer the ultimate question: what is the best way to live?

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐of five; This book has been on my list for a while & when I found it at Blue Plate Books for $8, I grabbed it. I'm not sure what I expected it to be, but it was a great read! It really makes you think about living life to the fullest & doing your best to have fewer regrets in life. I also like the point it made about never knowing who your life may be touching without you knowing it. 

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And that's that for July! Seven months into the year and I am thirty-nine books into my reading goal of forty-five; I think I might make my goal this year! Got any good recommendations?