7.22.2019

June 2019 Reading List


Ashby is BACK with another fun book review for the month. If you missed it, be sure to check out her last review here. She's one of the biggest readers I know and I love getting (and sometimes giving) book recommendations from her. I love it even more when she just tells me the whole story lol... she's the BEST storyteller! Aka I need to know all about Silent Patient. Enjoy!

Hey hey, it's Ashby! 

I am back with my review of the books that I read in the month of June. I apologize for being a week late – I would blame it on the 4th of July holiday but frankly, I should have been done before then anyway. [I had scheduled her for around the holiday, but because of her schedule and my blog schedule we couldn't get this done until now! Sorry!!]

I really have a new appreciation for bloggers because it doesn’t seem too difficult to sit down and write a few paragraphs on books but here I am 9 days late... 

Anyways, I read 4 books during the month of June and they really are all over the place – a beach read, a romance and two psychological thrillers. I went ahead and rated the books this month just in case anyone is looking for an overall score. 

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It’s Hot in the Hamptons (C+) 

Guys. I’m just going to say it. This book was trash. But not in the worst way, you know? The kind of trash that is mindless, juicy and an easy read. Caroline has gone from a local girl who was born and raised in the Hamptons to one of the rich tourists who jet in during the summer with her now-wealthy husband. 

She isn’t particularly happy in her new life, especially dealing with her husband’s infidelities. Her friend Annabelle convinces her that they should be giving their husbands a taste of their own medicine and they vow to have affairs of their own this summer. Obviously, this is a questionable topic to even write a book about and reading about it wasn’t much better. 

I was reading this on the subway and an older lady asked me how it was and I just laughed and said: “ugh it’s awful”. But yet I didn’t put it down. It was just that kind of book. That being said, however, it was very fun to read about the spots I’ve been to in the city and in the Hamptons and I will say that the women’s ultra-luxe and chic lifestyle was very interesting to read about. Helicoptering out to the Hamptons is the new dream. 


One True Loves (A-) 

This is another Taylor Jenkins Reid book and per usual, I loved it! I have really gotten into her books lately – they are all so written and you get very invested in the characters. This one follows a plot that I must say is a tad unrealistic. 

Emma is from a small town in Massachusetts, where her parents own the local bookstore. When she meets Jessie in high school, they immediately fall in love and dream of bigger things. As soon as they are able, they move to LA and start a life traveling the world as a travel writer and photographer. On the 1st anniversary of their wedding, however, Jessie is lost at sea in a helicopter crash and presumed dead. Devastated, Emma moves home and finds solace in her town and the family bookstore. 

She ends up reuniting with her old friend Sam, who helps her move on and eventually they get engaged. Suddenly (wouldn’t you know it), Jessie is found on a deserted island and returns home. Now Emma has a fiancĂ© and a husband and must figure out which man she belongs with (classic dilemma). In general, this book was very genuine and heartwarming and up until the very end, I wasn’t even sure which guy I wanted her to choose. 

It explores the possibility that we don’t always have “one true love” in life and that you can become a different person as you grow older. I will say that this plot was giving me serious Pearl Harbor and Sweet Home Alabama vibes where the main character has to choose between two different but perfect men. Highly unlikely but we should all be so lucky. 


All is Not Forgotten (B+) 

I was originally hesitant to read this but Krista had read it a little while back and insisted that I give it a go. In a small, wealthy town in Connecticut, Jenny Kramer leaves a high school party and is violently assaulted. She is given a controversial drug that removes the memory of the event, which supposedly aids in the healing of the event. 

What they didn’t consider, however, is that if she can’t remember the incident, she can’t help identify the perpetrator. Her father becomes obsessed with figuring it out and sends her to a therapist who helps her recover her lost memories. There are several concurrent plots focusing on her dysfunctional mother’s childhood and other patients that the therapist treats so I spent a lot of the time trying to figure out what happened instead of just enjoying the book. 

Despite my best efforts, I was not able to guess the twist which was revealed at the end. I was impressed with how everything was tied together and the subject matter was very thought-provoking. If you could erase traumatic events from people’s memories, would we do it no matter what? 

At first glance, the answer is absolutely but when you dive deeper into the human psyche about how we store memories and process events after the fact, things get a little more complicated. This book definitely makes you think so if you are in a book club that does more than just drink wine, this book could lead to a good discussion. 


The Silent Patient (B) 

I have been hearing about this book for a while thanks to various other blogger reviews and I just can’t resist a book with such a glaring mystery. There is a patient that doesn’t speak and a therapist trying to figure out why. SIGN ME UP! 

So essentially, a famous artist is found in her home with her husband tied up and shot several times. She is seemingly caught red-handed and when investigators try to understand what happened and why she refuses to speak. This goes on for several years, through the trial and her commitment to a mental facility. A psychotherapist who has been following her story transfers to her institution and begins to treat her in the hopes of understanding why she doesn’t speak and what happened the night of the murder. 

I was definitely anticipating a few plot twists and the larger one I will say I guessed a page or two before it was revealed (I patted myself on the back - no big deal). But there were a few more details that I wasn’t anticipating so I tip my hat to the author for those! This was a quick, relatively straightforward thriller that I definitely recommend!


What did you read this month that I need to pick up?

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Looking for more reviews? Check out all the past book reviews on the blog HERE.

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