It's been a busy summer over here and I've been a little delinquent about keeping up with my book reviews. But I figure here's a better late than never recap of what I read in June and July this year. 

Five Stars

Retro by Jessica M. Goldstein
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Ok I'm super biased because I'm friends with the author, but I loved the concept of this book -- an out-of-work actress gets a job as a travel agent at a time travel agency where she's responsible for escorting rich guests to destinations in history. I thought the world of the time travel agency was fascinating and I kept wanting to know more about some of the mysterious cast of characters that work there. I wasn't expecting the twist at the end, and I know some people have mixed feelings on the ending, but I really liked it.

The Better Mother by Jennifer van der Kleut
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I could not put this book down. It some ways it reminded me of Best Offer Wins because you keep wondering what crazy thing is going to happen next. The main character gets pregnant after a brief fling who then gets back together with his ex. They decide to try to coparent, but during the pregnancy the former ex wants to be involved -- like way too involved. Such a creepy thriller and I couldn't want to get to the end to see what happened.

Four Stars

Enormous Wings by Laurie Frankel
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

When the book opens fairly early on with our 77 year old protagonist who had recently moved into an assisted living facility getting pregnant, well I had some ideas about where this book was headed. Turns out almost none of of them were right. But this book was still a good read and without giving too much away certainly left you with some things to think about.

Off the Record by Sara Goodman Confino
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Sara Goodman Confino always delivers a fun read. It's the 1960s and a graduate from Maryland's journalism school gets a job in the typing pool at a prestigious DC paper. She picks up a phone call and gets an interesting tip, but there are no female reporters at the paper, so she has to chase the lead on her own.

Our Little World by Karen Winn
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I saw Karen Winn speak about her new book at the Gaithersburg Book Festival and I'm still on the waitlist for that one at the library, but I went back and read her first one while I waited. This book was set in the 1980s when a little girl goes missing from a New Jersey suburbs. There's mystery and some family drama and overall this was a really good read.

Three Stars

Woman Down by Colleen Hoover
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I don’t remember putting this book on hold, but I got an alert from the library that it was finally available. I was intrigued to read the first book Colleen Hoover has put out in three years. I’ve liked many of her previous book, but I struggled with this one because I kept getting annoyed at the bad choices the main character made. For a bit I was onboard and could understand some of them, but then it seemed to get too far fetched for me — though I found the ending to be not super surprising

Finders Keepers by Sarah Adler
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I typically love Sarah Adler's books and I was really excited to read her newest one. This book was cute, but I didn't love it quite as much as some of her others.

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I swore I read more than three books in May, but when I went through my logs, I guess it was a slower month of reading. I think it's because one book that got rave reviews from like everyone else in the world, took me a long time to get through. I gave these five stars, four stars and three stars, respectively. 

Five Stars

Little One by Olivia Muenter
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Oh man I couldn't put this book down. It was thriller-esque with dual timeline as we learn about Catharine's time growing up on a cult-like commune run by her father. We go back and forth from present day -- 10 years after she left the farm -- and when she was actively living there. There were times Catharine made me so mad and other times when I just felt bad for how brainwashed she was.

Four Stars

The Summer We Ran by Audrey Ingram
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was introduced to this book when I saw the author speak at the Gaithersburg BookFest. It tells the story of Tess and Grant, who met as teenagers when Tess's family was working for Grant's next door neighbor. Their romance was short but intense, and they're thrown back together 25 years later when they are both running for the governor of Virginia. The race drags up old secrets that were long buried, and the book is told in dual timelines -- present day and their early relationship.

Three Stars

Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

For all the hype this book got, I felt so let down by the ending. What seemed like a fun/interesting/timely idea fell so flat for me. I got pulled into the book fairly early on and was so curious to what was going to happen to Natalie who was play acting as a trad-wife on Instagram. Despite being a horribly unlikeable character, I wanted to know what happened to her and the hint of mystery kept me going. But I definitely got lost in some of the timeline jumps and yea, the ending, felt not as creative as the rest of the book.

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 Oh boy, a bit delayed in getting April's books posted, but better late than never I suppose. It was a good month of reading. 

Five stars

Culpability by Bruce Holsinger
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Five stars because this book is still making me think about it after I've finished reading. The central question the book poses is who is culpable when AI is involved? Is it the algorithm? The humans? The book opens with a family of five in an autonomous car on the way to a lacrosse tournament. They get in a car crash and two people in the other car die. Who is at fault? This book was so good, even though I found a few of the main characters kind of insufferable and wanted to throw them right into the Chesapeake Bay where most of the story takes place.

The Correspondent by Virginia Evans
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I loved this book! A book told entirely through letters and wow by the end did I feel like I was best friends with Sybil, the main character. She was fun and a little feisty and a little peculiar, and seeing life through her letters was just a really great way to read her story. Highly recommend!

Four stars

Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I liked so much about this book -- the setting, the dual timelines the characters -- and in true Emily Henry fashion, it was a fun and fast read. What I didn't totally love was the budding relationship between the two writers competing to get a book deal. I loved the parts of their story focused on their interview and research for the book, but the two of them together as quickly as it seemed to happen, didn't feel quite as natural as some of the relationships in other Emily Henry books. Still a good, enjoyable read that I'd recommend.

Anatomy of an Alibi by Ashley Elston
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I loved her first book so was really excited to read this one. I liked the premise of this one, but there were a few places where I thought things were a tiny bit predictable or a bit unrealistic. Still, it was good and enjoyable and I liked it!

Three stars

All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I liked this book and I wanted to know how it ended, but I don't think it needed to be almost 600 pages. I thought the first bit was fast paced and really good, and the I felt the same about the end chunk, but the middle just sort of plodded along, and I only stuck with it because I was really invested in finding out what happened at the end.

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