Whoops! SO delayed in posting this. I held off on posting what I read in July because it was such a bad reading month. (Usually vacation is a great time to read… with an infant and toddler? Not so much!)
Here’s what I read in July & August:
JUST LAST NIGHT by Mhairi McFarlane
3.5/5 Stars
I actually sat down to write this post and can’t remember what this book was about… at all? I reread the synopsis and it did come back to me, but it was ultimately just not my favorite. It’s marketed as a “rom-com,” but it’s actually much deeper than that with heavy themes like grief. A tightknit group of friends experiences a sudden tragedy within their friend group, It’s about grief, friendship, and forgiveness I would say.
SANDWICH by Catherine Newman
4/5 Stars
This was a book I was extremely excited to read. I think it’s a book I’ll want to revisit in my next stage of life. I think it’s probably most relatable to women with adult children. The book is about a family on their annual vacation on Cape Cod. Grown children, parents, grandparents. There’s a lot of family dynamics at play. I liked the writing and that alone kept me going. The plot just wasn’t much of a plot and I found some of the characters so irritating and grating… but again, I think I’m just not in the right stage of life. My favorite parts were the main character’s reflections on and memories of her experiences as young mother because it romanticized the particular chaos of young children.
THE CLIFFS by J. Courtney Sullivan
2.75/5 Stars
Another book I was really excited about because I loved Friends and Strangers. The Cliffs had a little too much going on for me to really feel connected to the story. I was also reading it at the same time as Summer Romance and there were a bunch of very, very random coincidences and similarities between the books which made them hard to keep straight. (Also with some hindsight, I also read this while I had undiagnosed mastitis and probably wasn’t in the best state of mind 🙈) The book weaves together multiple narratives about Maine– the people who vacation there, the people who live there year round, and the Indigenous people who originally inhabited the land.
SUMMER ROMANCE by Annabel Monoghan
3.95/5 Stars
Annabel Monoghan is my favorite rom-com writer. Her writing is exceptional and she really nails the idea of real characters. You know how sometimes when you’re reading a romance novel, it feels so cheesy and based on caricatures? She writes about real life problems women face with romances that feel incredibly realistic. I loved the premise of this one too– a personal organizer is going through a divorce after losing her mother and ends up meeting a man from out of town at a dog park. It’s sweet and charming and I loved everyone in the book (except for the ex-husband, ha).
THE ANXIOUS GENERATION by Jonathan Haidt
4.75/5 Stars
The Anxious Generation is a good parenting book about the dangers of technology and social media and the impact they have on kids. Going to preface this by saying yes, I listened to the “If Books Could Kill” episode on this book, too! I don’t think The Anxious Generation is a “perfect” parenting book. I, too, found a lot of the data misleading or lacking– especially when the evidence boiled down to extreme anecdotal evidence. However… as a parent with small children, it absolutely raised questions and gave us good ideas on what we can do about phones and social media for our kids in the future. And just good ideas for how to let our kids play better, too. A few parents on our block all read the book and we all agreed the importance of play and letting kids be kids. It, at the very least, is a great conversation starter.
THE ROM-COMMERS by Katherine Center
4/5 Stars
I really, really enjoyed The Rom-Commers. I needed something light and fun and this delivered. I was already liking it and then read the author’s note at the end about her belief in the importance of romance novels and, well, it made me love the book even more. Definitely recommend!!! It’s a little meta in that it’s about two writers collaborating together on a romcom screenplay. Slightly cheesy but in a cozy way!
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