Reviewing the Unreviewed: August 2020

I read a lot of books that I don’t end up reviewing for whatever reason. Some because I wasn’t impressed. Some because I didn’t have the time. Some I just wasn’t feeling it on whatever particular day I finished. Reviewing the Unreviewed is my monthly post where I share my few thoughts on all the books I didn’t formally review.

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Tweet Cute by Emma Lord. Read August 1-3. 3 Stars.

This was cute, but I thought it drug on for a little too long. Right when I thought things were winding down, I realized I hadn’t even hit the halfway mark yet. I kind of hated Pepper’s mom right up until the last couple chapters when her motivation is finally explained. Even then, she just came across as petty. It also made me like Jack’s dad less, after he finally did something fatherly that I approved of. I also expected a lot more from the Twitter war. I didn’t really think most of the tweets were that funny. That said, I liked the relationship between Pepper and Jack. I thought they were sweet and this was one of the cleaner YA books I’ve read lately, which I appreciate. I’ll be interested in reading more from this author.

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The Silent Wife (Will Trent #10) by Karin Slaughter. Read August 10-13. 4 Stars.

A new Will Trent book is always amongst my most anticipated books of the year and The Silent Wife did not disappoint. I enjoyed the mystery, solid, procedural police work, and – as always – Will. The subject matter of the mystery is pretty intense and was often hard to read, but if you’ve read a Slaughter book before, you know to expect that. I enjoyed many aspects of the multiple timelines, but I have to say I wasn’t thrilled to be in Grant County. I still haven’t read that series, but there’s been several visits there during this series and I am always wary of having to deal with Lena again. This was my first look at Sarah’s former husband, Jeffrey, though. I have to say I wasn’t impressed with him. And I also wasn’t impressed with Sarah in this installment. Like, I’ve had issues with her here and there throughout the series, but I straight up disliked her until the final pages of the story. That said, I did like the ending and I’m looking forward to the next Will Trent book.

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The Trouble with Quarterbacks by R.S. Grey. Read August 10-15. 3 Stars. 

This one was just ok for me. The main character was pretty quirky. While I did like her, I also found her kind of annoying. I didn’t find Logan’s character very consistent. He vacillated between being really sweet and being alpha/controlling. I preferred when he was sweet. Definitely not my favorite book by this author.

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Varsity Tiebreaker (Varsity #2) by Ginger Scott. Read August 10-16. 3 Stars. 

Tory was my favorite thing about the previous book in this series, so I was excited to read more about him. While I still liked him, I was disappointed in him for most of the book. You would think that with how upset he was with his mother for cheating, he would do a little better than cheating with his brother’s girlfriend. I hate cheating and it really brought down my enjoyment of the book. I liked the family storylines a lot more than the romance and I wish there was more focus on that. I did like how Tory and Hayden’s relationship got back on track, though.

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Office Mate (Milford College #2) by Noelle Adams. Read August 17-18. 3 Stars. 

Ok, but not my favorite by this author. I thought the couple jumped into a physical relationship too fast. The dialogue during those scenes made me roll my eyes a lot, too. The ending was cute, though.

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Treasure (Hush Collection) by Oyinkan Braithwaite. Read August 18. 3 Stars. 

I was a big fan of My Sister, the Serial Killer, so I was excited to see that Braithwaite had another book out. The downside is that it’s not actually a full length book, but a 30 page short story. Even though I’m not really a fan of short stories/novellas, I found this interesting. I wish it had been a little longer so I could really get to know the characters better and the ending was a little too open for my liking, but no other books have been working for me lately, so maybe this is what I needed to get me out of my slump.

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Thicker Than Blood (Zoe Bentley #3) by Mike Omer. Read August 15-23. 4 Stars. 

It took me a little while to get into this, but eventually it hooked me. The mystery was interesting and it definitely took some turns I hadn’t expected, which I enjoyed. While the mystery was good, I could’ve used a little more character development with Zoe and Tatum. And there wasn’t enough Marvin. However, it broke me out of my book slump and I’ll look forward to the next book in this series.

*****Back on the TBR*****

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Once You Go This Far (Roxane Weary #3) by Kristen Lepionka. I was really looking forward to this, but I got about 10% in then didn’t pick it up again for over a week and just couldn’t get into it. It’s a physical library book and I’ve already renewed it once, so it’s going back to the library and I’ll try it again some other time.

*****DNF*****

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Rock Bottom Girl by Lucy Score. DNF @ 28%. I’ve heard such great things about this book, but it’s just not for me. I picked this up because I thought it was supposed to be a fake relationship story, but that hasn’t been mentioned at all so far. I also thought the love interest was horrible. He comes across so smug, he just makes my skin crawl. I couldn’t make myself read any more of this.

*****Books with Future Reviews Scheduled*****

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A Path to Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers and Karin Stock Buursma – 4 Stars

The Switch by Beth O’Leary – 4 Stars

WWW Wednesday: August 26, 2020

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WWW Wednesday is hosted by Taking on a World of Words.

What did you recently finish reading?

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Thicker Than Blood (Zoe Bentley #3) by Mike Omer. I FINALLY finished a book. It took me a bit to get into it, but I ended up enjoying it.

What are you currently reading?

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The Switch by Beth O’Leary. I’m not very far into this, but I’m enjoying it so far.

What do you think you’ll read next?

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The Nesting by C.J. Cooke. I need to get back to my ARCs and this one is next up.

What are you reading?

WWW Wednesday: August 19, 2020

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WWW Wednesday is hosted by Taking on a World of Words.

What did you recently finish reading?

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Varsity Tiebreaker by Ginger Scott and Office Mate by Noelle Adams. These were both 3 star reads for me.

What are you currently reading?

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Once You Go This Far (Roxane Weary #5) by Kristen Lepionka, The Match by Sarah Adams, Thicker Than Blood (Zoe Bentley #3) by Mike Omer, and Rock Bottom Girl by Lucy Score. Can you tell I’m in a book slump!? Usually if I’m “reading” more than one book at a time it means I’ve started one and put it on pause to read something else. That’s not the case here. I read a chapter or two of this book and then a chapter of two of that book and nothing can keep my attention for more than that.

What do you think you’ll read next?

Who even knows!

What are you reading?

Top Ten Tuesday: Books that Should be Adapted into Netflix Shows/Movies

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, is: Books that Should be Adapted into Netflix Shows/Movies.

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1. The Simple Wild series by K.A. Tucker

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2. The Royal We series by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan.

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3. Take a Bow by Elizabeth Eulberg

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4. Would Like to Meet by Rachel Winters

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5. The F List by Alessandra Torres

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6. The Beartown series by Fredrik Backman

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7. My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite

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8. Making Faces by Amy Harmon

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9. When it’s Real by Erin Watt

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10.  This Adventure Ends by Emma Mills

What books would you like to see adapted on Netflix?

Review: Anxious People by Fredrik Backman

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(I had to include the non-American cover because it’s perfect. You’ll understand when you read the book.)

Synopsis from Goodreads:

This is a poignant comedy about a crime that never took place, a would-be bank robber who disappears into thin air, and eight extremely anxious strangers who find they have more in common than they ever imagined.

Viewing an apartment normally doesn’t turn into a life-or-death situation, but this particular open house becomes just that when a failed bank robber bursts in and takes everyone in the apartment hostage. As the pressure mounts, the eight strangers slowly begin opening up to one another and reveal long-hidden truths.

As police surround the premises and television channels broadcast the hostage situation live, the tension mounts and even deeper secrets are slowly revealed. Before long, the robber must decide which is the more terrifying prospect: going out to face the police, or staying in the apartment with this group of impossible people.

I received a copy of this title via NetGalley. It does not impact my review.

Anxious People publishes September 8, 2020. 

Even though the Beartown books made me a Fredrick Backman fan for life, this is only my third book from him. I was a little afraid that no other book could live up to my sky high expectations. And while the Beartown books are still my favorites, Anxious People did not disappoint.

Backman has such a way with words. I am continually blown away by his honest – and humorous and sometimes heart wrenching – description of the human condition. There is no other author that can make me want to laugh and cry in equal measure. This story is about depression, anxiety, and desperation. But it’s also about hope, love, and forgiveness. It’s about idiots. It’s about the thoughts we have in our lowest moments and the reassurance that we are not alone. There was one passage that described my teenage self so accurately, that I really wish there were more books like this back then.

“She isn’t traumatized, she isn’t weighed down by any obvious grief. She’s just sad, all the time. An evil little creature that wouldn’t have shown up on any X-rays was living in her chest, rushing through her blood and filling her head with whispers, saying she wasn’t good enough, that she was weak and ugly and would never be anything but broken…In the end you get exhausted from always tensing the skin around your ribs, never letting your shoulders sink, brushing along walls all your life with white knuckles, always afraid that someone will notice you, because no one’s supposed to do that.”
(Quote taken from ARC, may be different in final version.)

The story is very character driven, and there is quite the quirky cast to get to know. I loved how we learned things about each of them, bit by bit. Characters who might come across a little unlikable at first are given context and background that will make you grow to love them instead. There’s even a twist or two that will keep you on your toes. I will say there were a few times where it felt like things dragged just a little and I wanted to get on with the story, but the character development was still definitely worth it. The story is told in a non-linear way, which could have gotten confusing, but I think Backman handled it really well. I loved the excerpts of the witness interviews most of all.

Overall, I loved Anxious People. Backman’s writing was just as wonderful as I hoped it would be. It was honest and relatable and filled with emotion. It was also laugh out loud funny at times. I definitely recommend this one and am looking forward to going back and reading more of Backman’s backlist.

Overall Rating (out of 5): 4 Stars

WWW Wednesday: August 12, 2020

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WWW Wednesday is hosted by Taking on a World of Words.

What did you recently finish reading?

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Midnight Sun by Stephenie Meyer. You can see my review HERE.

What are you currently reading?

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The Silent Wife (Will Trent #10) by Karin Slaughter. I am always thrilled when Slaughter gifts us with a new Will Trent book. I’m enjoying this so far.

What do you think you’ll read next?

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Once You Go This Far (Roxane Weary #5) by Kristen Lepionka. Yes, I said I was going to read this next in my last WWW post, but I really mean it this time.

What are you reading?

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Loved but Never Reviewed

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, is: Books I Loved but Never Reviewed.

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1. Attachments by Rainbow Rowell. This is a pre-blogging favorite and one of a handful of books I marked as 5 stars on Goodreads.

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2. A Voice in the Wind (Mark of the Lion #1) by Francine Rivers. Another pre-blogging/5 Star Goodreads book.

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3.  Defending Jacob by William Landay. I just remember being really surprised by the direction this story took. This has been made into a tv show, but I don’t have the whatever platform it’s on. If someone has watched it, I’d love to hear what you think of it!

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4. The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins. What stands out about this series for me is how everyone in my family read it – and loved it.

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5. Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen. I think this is Austen’s most underrated book. I absolutely love it.

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6. Us Against You (Beartown #2) by Fredrik Backman. I rated this one just as highly as Beartown, but didn’t do a full, formal review of it.

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7. In the Dark (DI Adam Fawley #2) by Cara Hunter. I reviewed the book before and after this one, but never did this one for some reason, even though I liked it just as much.

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8. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. Like everyone else, I was obsessed with this book. It was from my pre-blogging days, though.

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9. On the Fence by Kasie West. One of my favorite West books and I only wrote one sentence about it on Goodreads.

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10.  Wild at Heart (The Simple Wild #2) by K.A. Tucker. I seemed to be in the minority that enjoyed this more than the first one, but never did a review to explain why.

What books have you liked that you never reviewed?