Back at it.
So. It is safe to say that a few of my latest reads have been all over the place. Fantasy? Sci-fi? Romance? Check, check, and check. Let’s start from the top.
The Vacationers By Emma Straub: Okay sooo mixed on this one. I love Emma Straub’s writing, and this book was no exception. The book was so witty, smart, and I truly felt that I was on vacation with all of them. That being said, I honestly didn’t know who to root for. The book is about a family and some friends going on vacation, and they are all going through some rite of passage. I found myself disliking every single character except for one or two. However, I still really enjoyed reading the book.
Second First Impressions by Sally Thorne: Yes Yes and Yes. Obsessed with Ruthie and Teddy. I think a really important thing about romance novels is that while we are all here for the romance, there has to be that special something when it comes to plot. I want there to be depth in the characters, I want to see this difficult life factor in the plot, not just a silly fight where they break up and make up. This book had that. We go on a journey with Ruthie and Teddy, who are two complete opposites. Ruthie is struggling with a bit of how her past has formed her as an adult, while living at a senior living home that is undergoing new management. Teddy, a loud and outgoing individual has his own family problems that make an impact on how he decides his future. As a reader, we get to see romance and character development and real life issues and I’m so here for it.
The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake: The hype is worth it. The plot is so good and like nothing I have ever read before. This is an incredible story about the Library of Alexandria, and instead of burning down and getting destroyed, it was saved and is kept in secret by the most brilliant magicians in the world. We six the latest six people get recruited into this society, and watch them undergo the trials before initiation. Those who go through initiation go on to be some of the successful people in the world. Therefore, the competition is high. The one thing about this book however, is that it can be a bit tricky. Not necessarily through world building or anything like that. But there is a lot of discussion revolving around physics, time, and other theories, that can sometimes be a big long and confusing. However, this could just be because I’m dumb and literally have to re-read to understand what they were talking about.
The Ladies of the Secret Circus by Constance Sayers: I was a tad distracted while reading this one, so I’m not too sure how fair I am being. I have so many mixed feelings about this one! The first have I was really interested, but felt like something was missing. It didn’t give me that “I can’t put this book down” feeling. However, by the second half I was IN IT. And then the last 10 pages happened. And I just…. I don’t know. I couldn’t reallllly get behind the ending. I will say I loved the plot, and with everything that happened, I didn’t know how it truly could have ended, but I just didn’t think that the decisions that the characters made and the end made sense to who they were, or seemed to be. This is totally the kind of book I would recommend, but would put a warning for the end saying that it left me a tad unsatisfied.
Simmer Down by Sarah Smith: Cuuuute. In this romance we follow the life of Nikki DiMarco. This book almost scared me a bit. I sat on this book for a hot minute. For those of you who don’t know, my dad passed away a few weeks ago. This is why I was distracted during the previous book mentioned, and wanted something to lighten my mood for this one. And then I randomly picked this one out of the blue, and found a few similarities. Our main character also recently lost her father, and moved from Portland, Oregon to Maui, to help her mom run a food truck. While I’m not currently running a food truck, I did recently move from Portland lol. We go on to see Nikki struggle managing her life and running the food truck and dealing with her grief. She soon meets her love interest, Callum, who is helping his brother run a food truck as well. This is such a great enemies to lovers story and I highly recommend it.
Let me know if you’ve read any of these, and if you have any recommendations! I know this post was a tad all over the place, so if you have anything to add about these books, please chat about it!
xoxo Reb.
20 Something POV 