I finished 10 books this month. Only one 5 star this month. It came right at the beginning, so I think everything after that paled comparison. And if you can believe it, three of the books were ZERO stars! Read on for my July book reviews…Let’s get right to it!
The Book of Essie By: Meghan MacLean Weir– This book follows Essie, a older teen girl who has been raised in the spotlight of a reality t.v. show. Her family, fundamentalist Christians, has been on air for 20 some years. The chronicles her ingenious way to escape her family’s grip. Super easy, quick read. If you had a nice empty day, you could read it in one sitting. 5 stars
Just Between Us By: Rebecca Drake– Ho-Hum. That about sums this one up. Nothing great, nothing terrible. Four friends, each with some sort of secret. One especially seems to be a victim of abuse and the others rise to the occasion, in the most dramatic fashion, to help her get out. You really have to suspend reality on this one. Anyone who has seen any sort of police/crime show on t.v. would be able to figure this whole thing out. The ending was…bizarre. 3 stars
If I Die Tonight By: Alison Gaylin — Told from a variety of view points, If I Die Tonight starts off with a bang which fizzles out somewhere along the way. Eventually you kinda stop caring about the big mystery. Plus there’s an additional side-story that is pointless. Basically there is a hit and run with a washed up pop star as an unreliable witness. From there we meet the supposed hero, the main suspects mother and a young police officer. Of course there’s supposed to be a huge twist at the end…one that I’m pretty sure you will see coming by mid-way through. I could have done without this one and therefore only 2 stars.
Not Perfect By: Elizabeth LaBan– So, So, bad. Not Perfect is actually an accurate title. It’s so far from perfect it’s laughable. Right from the start this book is a train wreck. I am pretty sure that I have never, never hated a character as much as the mom in this story. Well…the a-hole father was pretty easy to dislike as well. We are supposed to believe that this woman, whose husband has up and left, is able to conceal this fact to everyone around her including her kids. She steals food from random buffets, snatches condiments from fast food places and basically dumpster dives to feed her family, yet…she is super picky about getting a job, she somehow has time for a weird romance and her daughter is getting sicker, with some mystery ailment, by the minute and she won’t take her to a doctor. But she has time to attend sporting events at some bar. Ugh! I can’t stress it enough….DO.NOT.READ.THIS.BOOK!!! Zero stars
The Perfect Mother By Aimee Molloy–A group of women brought together simply by the fact they each have a newborn baby. They attempt to find friendship and support from each other until one of the newborns goes missing. It appears that the kidnapping was orchestrated by the missing infants own mother. Friendships unravel, suspicions abound and eventually the truth comes to light. I enjoyed this book. There were a few hard to believe moments, but all in all a solid read. 4 stars
The Red Hunter By: Lisa Unger–Two women, unknown to each other, each victims of an assault, cross paths when one of them (a blogger) comes to live, and renovate the house in which the second woman was attacked. Turns out one of the attacker’s is still out there. Based on the description, I though the two would intersect much earlier in the book, but their story’s remain independent until quite close to the end. The identity of the attacker takes me by surprise…a sign of a quality thriller for sure. Worth a look. 4 Stars.
Dear Mrs. Bird By: AJ Pearce– I will admit it the cover reeled me in on this one. Early 1940s young gal, living in England, among the air raids, wants to break into the publishing world. She stumbles into a job she thinks will catapult her into becoming a serious journalist. However, skipping a few key questions at the interview, she unwittingly becomes the second hand gal for an old, washed up, holier than thou, advice columnist. I wanted to love this book, I really did. But the characters all seemed like caricatures of what people nowadays think people were like in the 40’s. There was no depth…just fluff. The only interesting part was a recounting of a catastrophic air raid bombing that actually occurred in a night club in London. That led me to read more about it which was quite interesting. But even with that little nugget, I can only give this book 2 stars
**************On this next one, I’m not even bothering with the cover photo and author info. “More Than it Hurts You” was such a waste of time. I skimmed the ending just to know how the plot was resolved, but seriously don’t even pick this one up. Zero stars
Fragile by: Lisa Unger— Apparently Lisa Unger has written many novels but this is the first time I’ve come across her. A whim pick up at the library brought her to my attention. Small town outside of New York City. It has all the charm and home-town goodness it could possibly contain. It seems that most of the towns residents either never leave or they eventually return to their hometown. This leads to everyone knowing everyone and high school cliques that somehow still exist and are going strong. This is the story of two missing girls a generation apart. Are they related? Will solving one crime solve the other? No one is above suspicion and ultimately, when the truth comes out, they are changed forever. I liked this book but a few things irked me. First…the title was used over and over again, in various contexts and by various characters. It became annoying every time the word “Fragile” come up. Second…it’s marketed as a thriller. There’s not much that I would call thrilling. It’s a straight up mystery, which is fine if you like mysteries, but I prefer thrillers. I like twists and turns and this book doesn’t offer that up. I’d give this one 3 Stars
City of Friends by: Joanna Thorpe— Annoying and pretentious sums this book up. Four British friends supposedly have some sort of HUGE dramatic problem. Let me tell you, that huge dramatic problem, is what most people would consider an inconvenience at best. And the big secret? Meh. When you find out what it is, you’ll just shake your head and wonder why it was even a thing. Skip this one and save yourself the grief. Zero stars.
So that wraps up the July book reviews. Did you find anything worth reading? If you are looking for more ideas, check out all of my previous book reviews…
Take a look at my GoodReads to see what’s on my Want to Read List.
