March Reading Round-Up

Here's a look at the books we loved, didn't love, read, rated, or DNF'd this month!
The numbers are pretty impressive this month, thanks to social distancing!

Jay's Reads (24):

      
      
   
   
   
   

What I Rated Them:
Buy Yourself the F*cking Lillies - ☕☕☕.75
Full Disclosure - ☕☕☕☕
Such A Fun Age - ☕☕☕☕.25
A Man Called Ove - ☕☕☕.25
Her Scream in the Silence - ☕☕☕☕☕
Baby Teeth - ☕☕☕☕.25
The Reckless Oath We Made - ☕☕☕☕.5
When I Was You - ☕☕☕☕.25
Let's Team Up! - ☕☕☕
Before the Fall - ☕☕☕.25
Maybe You Should Talk to Someone - ☕☕☕
The Curse Breakers - ☕☕☕.75
The Holdout - ☕☕☕☕.25
The Great Pretender - ☕☕☕☕
Holly Banks Full of Angst - ☕☕☕☕.5
Then She Was Gone - ☕☕☕.75
Women Talking - ☕☕☕.75
To The Nines - ☕☕☕☕.25
What You Wish For - ☕☕☕.75
The Overdue Life of Amy Byler - ☕☕☕
And Then There Were None - ☕☕.25
A Nearly Normal Family - ☕☕☕☕☕
This Changes Everything - ☕☕☕☕
My Next Move Forward - ☕☕☕.75

Favorite Read:
I read SO MANY great books this month. Rating-wise: Her Scream in the Silence and A Nearly Normal Family were my tops.

Shoutout to The Reckless Oath We Made. It was FANTASTIC.

Least Favorite Read:
And Then There Were None. Good grief I was bored.

DNF?:
None this month!

Rolling over to next month: 
The Sun Down Motel - Simone St. James
Mighty Be Our Powers - Leymah Gbowee
Get A Life, Chloe Brown - Talia Hibbert
The Genius of Women - Janis Kaplan
You Are Not Alone - Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen
The Curse Defiers - Denise Grover Swank

Meg's Reads (7):

   
  

What I Rated Them: 
Brave Enough ☕☕☕☕
The Other Woman ☕☕☕☕☕
A is for Alibi ☕☕☕
An American Marriage ☕☕☕
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire ☕☕☕☕
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix ☕☕☕☕
The Honey Don't List ☕☕☕☕

Favorite Read: The Other Woman and the Honey Dont List.

Least Favorite Read: I liked An American Marriage, just not as much as I liked the other books I read this month.

DNF: None this month

Carrying Over to Next Month:
For the Birds by Denise Grover Swank (I really want to read this, I keep getting distracted by other books!)

The Holdout - Graham Moore

Thank you to NetGalley for the eARC!

Amazon

Synopsis from Goodreads: In this twisty tale from Moore (The Sherlockian), the Academy Award-winning screenwriter of The Imitation Game, young juror Maya Seale is convinced that African American high school teacher Bobby Nock is innocent of killing the wealthy white female student with whom he appears to have been involved and persuades her fellow jurors likewise. Ten years later, a true-crime docuseries reassembles the jurors, and Maya, now a defense attorney, must prove her own innocence when one of them is found dead in Maya's room.

Genre? Mystery Thriller (More mystery than thriller)

Backlist? Publication date was February 18, 2020.

New to me Author? Yes.

What I thought: 

I really enjoyed reading The Holdout. It was a bit of a slow start, but it picked up quickly and held my attention. I liked the alternate timelines and the fact that we learned so much about so many characters, although we had one singular narrator throughout the story. I had to continually guess about how the story was going to end and I did NOT expect it at all. 4.25/5

Such A Fun Age - Kiley Reid

Thank you to NetGalley for the eARC!

Amazon

Synopsis from Goodreads: A striking and surprising debut novel from an exhilarating new voice, Such a Fun Age is a page-turning and big-hearted story about race and privilege, set around a young black babysitter, her well-intentioned employer, and a surprising connection that threatens to undo them both.

Alix Chamberlain is a woman who gets what she wants and has made a living showing other women how to do the same. A mother to two small girls, she started out as a blogger and has quickly built herself into a confidence-driven brand. So she is shocked when her babysitter, Emira Tucker, is confronted while watching the Chamberlains’ toddler one night. Seeing a young black woman out late with a white child, a security guard at their local high-end supermarket accuses Emira of kidnapping two-year-old Briar. A small crowd gathers, a bystander films everything, and Emira is furious and humiliated. Alix resolves to make it right.

But Emira herself is aimless, broke, and wary of Alix’s desire to help. At twenty-five, she is about to lose her health insurance and has no idea what to do with her life. When the video of Emira unearths someone from Alix’s past, both women find themselves on a crash course that will upend everything they think they know about themselves, and each other.

With empathy and piercing social commentary, Such a Fun Age explores the stickiness of transactional relationships, what it means to make someone “family,” the complicated reality of being a grown up, and the consequences of doing the right thing for the wrong reason.

Genre? Contemporary Fiction

Backlist? Publication date was December 31, 2019.

New to me Author? Yes. This was a debut.

What I thought: 

I really liked Such A Fun Age. I am not a POC, but I appreciated the inside look at what so many of them go through on a day to day basis. I always thought there was something off about some of Emira's relationships but it was interesting to watch them play out. I found that I could relate to Emira on some levels (like how we really have no idea what's going on in life when we are in our 20s) but then there were other times that I was really hoping she would just grow up. Overall, I really enjoyed this book. 4.25/5 stars.

Buy Yourself the F*cking Lillies - Tara Schuster

Thank you to NetGalley for the eARC!

Amazon

Synopsis from Goodreads: By the time she was in her late twenties, Tara Schuster was a sought-after TV executive who had worked with Jon Stewart and launched Key & Peele to viral superstardom. By all appearances, she had mastered being a grown-up. But beneath that veneer of success, she was a chronically anxious, self-medicating mess. No one knew that her road to adulthood had been paved with depression, anxiety, and shame, owing in large part to her minimally parented upbringing. She realized she'd hit rock bottom when she drunk-dialed her therapist pleading for help.

Buy Yourself the F*cking Lilies is the story of Tara's path to re-parenting herself and becoming a "ninja of self-love." This is the book Tara wished someone had given her and it is the book many of us desperately need: a candid, funny, practical guide to growing up and learning to love yourself in a non-throw-up-in-your-mouth-it's-so-cheesy way.

Genre? Memoir/Self-Help

Backlist? Publication date was February 18, 2020.

New to me Author? Yes.

What I thought: 

I had heard the name Tara Schuster, but really didn't know anything about her. I asked for this book based off the title and a recommendation from Sarah's Bookshelves Live. I really liked the inside look on everything she had gone through. Tara has been through some traumatic things, but looks back through it through a lens of humor. Her sprinkles of positivity throughout are inspiring and she provides good steps for trying to reach your goals. I had heard this book described as "A self-help book for people who don't like the glittery, preachy self help books" and I can say that is totally accurate. Next step: Buy a journal.

Five Star Friday - Her Scream in the Silence

This week's Five Star read was read by Jay!

Synopsis from Goodreads: In the second book of the USA Today bestselling series, Carly looks into a young woman’s disappearance while trying to hide her own dark secrets.

Carly Moore is finally feeling settled in Drum, Tennessee. She likes her job waitressing at Max’s Tavern AND her boyfriend… she should have known both were too good to be true.

The previous waitress Lula unexpectedly returns, threatening Carly’s job and stability in Drum. But when Lula disappears, Carly is the only one who believes she didn’t leave of her own violation. Lula has a few secrets of her own, and one person is front and center on Carly’s suspect list—the town’s drug lord.

Teaming up with Marco Roland—a Hensen County Deputy on medical leave—to help find out what happened to Lula, they soon realize her disappearance has ties to Drum’s past.

Someone doesn’t want stones overturned, and they’ll go to deadly lengths to keep the truth hidden. Can Carly and Marco find Lula before it’s too late?

Genre? Mystery

Backlist? No. Publication date is March 10, 2020.

New to me Author? Nope. I've read 20+ Denise Grover Swank books.

Why I rated it 5 stars?  Huge thank you to the author for allowing me to be part of her review team. All opinions are my own.

Denise Grover Swank said that Her Scream in the Silence was her favorite book to write. I can 100% see why! Carly has quickly turned into a series where I NEED to know what happens next. In this second tale of Drum, we see the return of Lula, the waitress that Carly took over for. We see Carly's relationship with Wyatt as they open up about their pasts (or not?). We get to know Marco Roland a lot more than we did in the last book and I have to say...I think I like him. The way that Denise writes is just phenomenal. Even though it's not your typical "mystery", every time you feel like you've got something figured out, you find out you were wrong. Or, you were right but now everything has changed again. She perfectly captures what life is like in a small town where big things happen. I love the character of Carly Moore. She's very reminiscent of early Rose Gardner, but in this book she begins to find her voice. Let me tell you, I was here for it! I already am on pins and needles waiting for June. I need to know what Carly is going to get up to next.

February Reading Round-Up

Here's a look at the books we loved, didn't love, read, rated, or DNF'd this month!

Jay's Reads (8):

   

    

What I Rated Them:
Jackal ☕☕☕.75
Evidence of the Affair ☕☕☕☕
Let It All Burn ☕☕☕☕☕
I Miss You When I Blink ☕☕☕☕
The Killer Across the Table ☕☕☕☕☕
Front Desk ☕☕☕☕.5
The Testaments ☕☕☕☕.5
The Other Wife ☕☕☕☕.25

Favorite Read:
Let It All Burn! You can check out our review here.
Also, for totally different reasons, The Killer Across the Table. Read about it here.

Least Favorite Read:
Jackal. It was great, but just not on the level with the others.

DNF?:
Sadie - Courtney Summers (Library time ran out - I'll get it again later.)
Purple Hibiscus - Chimamandah Ngozi Adichie (Same. I'll go back.)

Rolling over to next month: 
Then She Was Gone - Lisa Jewell
Buy Yourself The F*cking Lillies - Tara Schuster
Full Disclosure - Camryn Garrett
Such A Fun Age - Kiley Reid
A Man Called Ove - Fredrick Backman
Baby Teeth - Zoje Stage

Meg's Reads (5):

   

 

What I Rated Them: 
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban ☕☕☕
Her Snowbound Hero ☕☕
All I Want ☕☕☕☕
All We Want ☕☕☕☕
High Achiever ☕☕☕☕


Favorite Read: 
High Achiever

Least Favorite Read:
Her Snowbound Hero

DNF?:
None this month

Rolling over to next month: 
The Other Woman - Sandie Jones
A is for Alibi - Sue Grafton
An American Marriage - Tayari Jones
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire- JK Rowling
For the Birds-Denise Grover Swank