What I’ve Been Reading Lately

 

 

Hey y’all! I’m sooo behind on sharing what I’ve been reading lately (unless you follow me on Instagram where I give more day to day reading updates) but I’m here today sharing some of the books I read in the past couple months.

I’m actually ahead in my Goodreads goal which is WONDERFUL and I had a pretty good Spring when it came to reading and I hope the trend continues as we go into summer! I try to sneak in a few pages here and there when Riley is playing outside but most of my reading is still getting done at night when she’s asleep.

 

[Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links which means that if you click on a link and purchase something I’ve talked about or recommended, I’ll receive a very small percentage of the sale. Please see my disclosure policy for more info.]

 

 

 

The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai

 

Oooh this one! MADE. ME. CRY. It’s set in the 1980’s in Chicago as the AIDs epidemic takes hold and follows Yale and his group of friends during this time shared by a future storyline of Fiona, the sister of Yale’s best friend Nico, in which she is trying to find her estranged daughter while staying with a friend from the past. An absolutely devastating look into how the AIDs crisis impacted the community in the 1980’s through the eyes of Yale and his friend group. My heart broke often during this book as you can imagine.

I’ll be honest — Fiona’s timeline was my least favorite and sometimes felt not connected– but overall I thought her storyline was a heartbreaking look at being a survivor and coming to terms with how the AIDs epidemic affected her life — including her relationship with her daughter.

Definitely a heavy book but I highly recommend! (FIND IT: Amazon // Barnes & Noble)

Rating: 4/5
At A Glance: literary fiction, 1980’s, AIDs crisis, LGBTQIA+

If you liked The Great Believers you may also like: Tell The Wolves I’m Home
 

 

 

Monday’s Not Coming by Tiffany D. Jackson

I listened to this on audiobook while at the gym and WOW I was gripped by this story. I’d previously read Tiffany D. Jackson’s Allegedly (wowsers that that book!!) so I had high hopes for this story that definitely lived up! What a well-crafted mystery this was about a young black girl whose best friend goes missing and nobody knows where she is and nobody is really taking her disappearance seriously but Claudia KNOWS something bad must have happened for Monday to just be gone without telling her.

The timeline’s were a little confusing (I don’t know if it’s from listening to it vs reading it) but when it all comes together…WOW. I don’t want to say anything else.

(FIND IT: Amazon // Barnes & Noble)

Rating: 4/5

At A Glance: Young Adult, Mystery, missing person, Washington D.C.,
Trigger warning: child abuse

 

 

NOS4A2 by Joe Hill

 

This is the weirdest book I’ve ever read!! But so good?? Very creepy and weird that I don’t even know what to say about it! If you like weird supernatural stuff, this is it! It’s about a girl who can find things via a bridge that takes her where she needs to go who gets caught up a man who takes kids and can slip out of this world into one of his own mind (Christmasland) while driving his 1938 Rolls Royce Wraith. She manages to get away from him but many years down the road he tries to get revenge by taking Nic’s own son. 

For being such a thick book I feel like once I found my stride in it it read REALLY quickly. A very compelling bad guy and a heroine who is tough as nails, and even when she’s messing up big time, you still root for her. I thought it was suspenseful and well written (albeit gory and foul at times) and I really enjoyed this unique twist on the concept of a vampire. Very unique book!

I’ve started watching the show now that it premiered on AMC and it’s different so far but good! (Find it: Amazon // Barnes & Noble)

Rating: 4/5
At A Glance: horror/supernatural, creepy, unique spin on vampire, kidnapping

 

Related: Books Becoming Movies In 2019

 

 

 

 

Kill the Queen by Jennifer Estep

This was a really enjoyable fantasy novel and I can’t wait to read book 2! I probably would have given it 5 stars back in the day before I read a lot of fantasy but there were some small things that bothered me about it now having read more fantasy. Lots of telling vs showing, lots of repetition. Sometimes heavy handed writing. But the story itself?? Really good and different — it’s billed as Gladiator meets Game of Thrones and for once that’s not totally wrong (though it doesn’t have as much of the WOW that GoT has but I can see the parallel)!! I loved the banter with Sully and watching Evie become who she is outside the grips of the royal life.

It’s about Lady Everleigh, 17th in line to the throne and with no obvious magic abilities to everyone else, who survives the massacre brought on by her cousin who takes the throne by force from her mother the Queen. She and her cousin are the only ones left in the royal family though everyone assumes Evie is really dead and she goes into hiding with a Gladiator troupe to help avenge her family with the help of someone the Queen said she could trust with her last dying breath.

FIND IT: (Amazon // Barnes & Noble)

Rating: 3.5 or 4 / 5
At A Glance: Fantasy, gladiators, royal family, series

 

 

 

When You Read This by Mary Adkins

I liked this one but I SO wanted more! I loved the format — basically told via a person’s digital footprint so emails/texts/messages. It does keep you a little bit at a distance but I really enjoyed the format and how these things told the story. But I just wanted more?? Definitely kept my attention and I loved the premise of this blog being left behind by the main character and becoming the point of connection for her sister and her boss that she was close with. I felt for both of them and felt their loss. I didn’t really connect so much with them as much as I wished…like sure I rooted for them..but not wholeheartedly. I finished and was like well okay I don’t regret it but I don’t love it — though plenty of people did! I did love that even though it was sad in some parts overall it was a lighter read.  (Amazon // Barnes & Noble)

Rating: 3/5
At A Glance: Contemporary, epistolary, romcom,  cancer

 

 

 

Have you read any of these books? If so, thoughts?! Putting any of the ones I talked about on your TBR? Tell me what you’ve been reading!

 

Need more reading inspiration? Check out my 2019 summer reading list or this list of must read young adult books for 2019 !