I fully intended to post this during the first week of the month, but then my computer had two sleepovers at the Apple Store. It’s better now, and will hopefully stay functional, so I’m ready to share what I read in September. There were a few that I stayed up late to finish, which is one of the highest compliments a book can get. What have you read lately?
Mary Jane by Jessica Anya Blau: In 1970s Baltimore, fourteen-year-old Mary Jane loves cooking with her mother, singing in her church choir, and enjoying her family’s subscription to the Broadway Show Tunes of the Month record club. Shy, quiet, and bookish, she’s glad when she lands a summer job as a nanny for the daughter of a local doctor, and her life changes.
When you experience life through a different lens, for even a short time, there is no way you could come away unchanged. Such a fascinating coming of age story about family dynamics and life experience.
Big Lies in a Small Town by Diane Chamberlain: Morgan Christopher’s life has been derailed. Taking the fall for a crime she did not commit, she finds herself serving a three-year stint in the North Carolina Women’s Correctional Center. Her dream of a career in art is put on hold—until a mysterious visitor makes her an offer that will see her released immediately.
Got really caught up in this story and stayed up late to finish it. Unlike some books told from multiple perspectives, this one still felt cohesive. Towards the end, one of the characters says: “You have to make peace with the past or you can never move into the future,” and that was a theme throughout.
Every Summer After by Carley Fortune: For six summers, through hazy afternoons on the water and warm summer nights working in his family’s restaurant and curling up together with books—medical textbooks for him and work-in-progress horror short stories for her—Percy and Sam had been inseparable. Eventually that friendship turned into something breathtakingly more, before it fell spectacularly apart. But, when a tragedy forces them back together, they’re forced to face their past…and their future.
I just really enjoyed this one. There were some predictable plot points, but the way everything unfolded was so good that I didn’t care if I’d had an inkling. It reminded me of my own summer loves.
Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid: Carrie Soto is fierce, and her determination to win at any cost has not made her popular. But by the time she retires from tennis, she is the best player the world has ever seen. But six years after her retirement, Carrie finds herself sitting in the stands of the 1994 US Open, watching her record be taken from her. At thirty-seven years old, Carrie makes the monumental decision to come out of retirement and be coached by her father for one last year in an attempt to reclaim her record.
I love a strong female lead, and this one made me think about how we define success, achievements, and ourselves. It was heavy on the intricacies of tennis, which made sense for the story, but felt a little much at times. That said, it didn’t take away from the entertainment value, and there were a few fun shoutouts to other TJR books.
Things We Never Got Over by Lucy Score: Bearded, bad-boy barber Knox prefers to live his life the way he takes his coffee: Alone. Unless you count his basset hound, Waylon. Knox doesn’t tolerate drama, even when it comes in the form of a stranded runaway bride. Naomi wasn’t just running away from her wedding. She was riding to the rescue of her estranged twin to Knockemout, Virginia, a rough-around-the-edges town where disputes are settled the old-fashioned way…with fists and beer. Usually in that order. Their paths collide, and chaos ensues.
This one had me hooked. It’s not the deepest, but so cute. I was definitely rooting for this small town cast of characters, and I’m looking forward to the next book. A lot about Naomi’s people-pleasing personality resonated with me. FYI if you’re a blusher, be warned: there are some steamy scenes.
For more book reviews, check out previous posts here.
