Hey everyone! My September was an interesting mix of things. We went on a road trip so I listened to an audio book both going and coming, and read one book one week while there and one book another week. (I'd hoped to read more, but oh well.) And then a couple of books before I left. Let me tell you about them.
The Compound by Aisling Rawle: This was September's book club book, and it was a fun one to talk about. The premise is our character goes to be on a reality TV show where ten girls and ten guys are stuck together on this compound, a big mansion of a house and a pool and tennis courts and a maze and etc. But they have to do group tasks in order to basic needs met. Then they can do individual tasks to get luxury items. It's so WEIRD! And a bit twisted. And our main character has such a distant voice, because we are meant to understand how shallow she is, and that very much comes across. Anyway, at first it just feels weird, but then it gets creepy and a bit horror-ish. At least for me anyway. Some people at book club thought it was too slow and boring, but I found myself to be very much invested and engaged with it. ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reed: I finally listened to this very buzzed about book on the drive. Very interesting to hear about some space history and to get immersed into the dynamic of a group of astronaut friends. It's an LGBTQ love story between two women astronauts, so that, added with the prejudice of women in this field, made for a fantastic story. Still, I don't think I loved it as much as a lot of people did. ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Silk and Sensibility by Mengxi Seeley: A fantastic YA historical novel set in China's Ming dynasty and with Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility's story as inspiration. We have our two sisters who both find love, not exactly how they expected. All that along with navigating the social and culture norms of the era, which is not easy at all. And there's a spirted younger sister too who I really loved. Very fun retelling!
The Heiress and the Boy Next Door by Renee S. Clark: A sweet western romance where our girl is expected to inherit the ranch and her long time friend aka. the boy next door, suddenly looks like someone MORE than a friend to her. But she is supposed to marry the rich town guy and he can't compete with that! Cute, fun, fast, and very short story, perfect for on vacation when my attention was most on everything else going on! ⭐⭐⭐
Trust Fall by Lynn Painter: Another fun Lynn Painter book... iykyk. Such great characters and great banter, always. Lots of cursing and fbombs though (which only makes me crazy because I see her books being recommended to young teens as sweet and clean... I would not call them that necessarily... ) But regardless, I, as an old decrepit grandma, love her books totally enjoy reading them! ⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Last Ragna by Melanie Mason: I did this beta read for a Facebook group friend and totally enjoyed it. This is the second in her series about dryads and all sorts of other mystical creatures and awesome forest and tree magic. ⭐⭐⭐
This Story Might Save Your Life by Tiffany Crum: This was my audio book for the trip home. A great audiobook production that made it sound like we were listening to a podcast just like the one in the book. This is a domestic thriller mystery where we are trying to figure out what happened to the husband and wife who go missing. I was hooked, and I'm not always. So there's that! ⭐⭐⭐⭐
I felt like that was a solid reading month! What do you think? How did your month go?
Here are some pictures to showcase my month just a little:
