Recent Reads and Reviews

I missed last month of sharing my books with being on vacation (I promise- posts are coming soon!) but I'm back today to share my recent reads and reviews! To be honest, most of these were duds for me but there were a few gems. I'm hoping June will be a better month with lots of good pool reads! 

The Villa by Rachel Hawkins

This was a fun thriller- I liked the setting a lot and kept wondering what was going on with the female friendship in the book. The flashbacks were kind of a fun addition too, but sometimes felt like they were taking up too much of the book and didn't really add that much. 

My rating - 3/5

The Golden Couple by Greer Hendricks

I was so disappointed in this- Greer Hendricks is one of those authors (or two authors) that I rush to read and enjoy so much, but this one was such a snooze! It dragged on and never seemed to have a good direction of where the book wanted to go. There were so many loose ends by the time I finished and I regretted wasting time reading it!

My rating - 2/5

Take the Lead by Alexis Daria

Give me a romance that takes place on a reality show and I'm HAPPY!! I enjoyed this book a lot and it was one of those great pallet cleansers that don't make you think too hard and you can just enjoy it. I really enjoyed all the books by this author in her Primas of Power series, and now I'm loving this Dance Off series as well!

My rating - 3.5/5

A Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson

This was one of my book club picks for April, and overall it was decent but not great. It definitely came through as a YA book and felt like it was a bit too cheesy and had too many unbelievable moments. The mystery itself was fun to see unfold, and I liked the style of writing mixed with journal entries and emails/texts. It was not really liked across my book club and I kind of agree!

My rating - 3/5

The Longest Race:Inside the Secret World of Abuse, Doping, and Deception on Nike's Elite Running Team by Kara Goucher

That title is a bit of a mouthful, but this book was incredible. I love reading any kind of sports memoir and this one did not disappoint. Kara went through so much in her career and it was absolutely devastating and eye opening to hear about her experiences. This is exactly why you should never judge athletes on a bad race or bad game- there can be so much going on behind the scenes that we aren't aware of! This book completely turned me off of Nike and ever supporting them, and I'm now a big fan-girl of Kara Goucher.

My rating - 5/5

The Bodyguard by Katherine Center

I downloaded this book before my flight to Europe and finished it that day! I don't know the last time I finished a book in one day but this was such a quick and easy read. I really enjoyed it, especially such a different concept of a female bodyguard hired to protect a male actor. It was so fun!

My rating - 4.5/5

The View was Exhausting by Mikaella Clements

I feel like this book has been on my radar forever and I finally picked it up! I love a good fake romance and this had all the pieces of it. I liked the twists throughout but thought it was a little predictable. My other issue with this was the pacing- a lot of it dragged for me and there were only a few parts that felt exciting and fast to me. I think the concept was better than the execution!

My rating - 3/5

Dating You / Hating You by Christina Lauren

I actually got this book by mistake- I thought it was the newest Christina Lauren book to come out since it had the updated cover art, but it turns out it's one of their older books. I enjoyed it for the most part and got through it really quickly, but mostly I hated the male main character! I found him really annoying and not attractive at all, and also was so frustrated about the boss. The whole thing felt a little junvenile to me, but it was fine.

My rating - 2.5/5

The Maid by Nita Prose

I picked this book up because it won the Goodreads award for Best Mystery. I also heard a lot of praise for the book, and overall liked it. The main character is quirky and extremely naiive which kind of drove me insane as I read (at one point there was a table full of cocaine and she just thought the people who left were extremly dusty...come on!). I know there has been discussion about the main character being autistic (which the author has never adressed as far as I know) which could explain a lot of her personality and social awkwardness in the book, but it just seemed a little too forced and over the top to me. On a plus side- it makes me really want to go to Olive Garden!

My rating - 4/5

Anon Pls by DeuxMoi

This was one of my book club picks, and it was a fun summer read. It's exactly what you want for reading pool-side- something that's fast paced and doesn't make you think too much. I follow the account deuxmoi on Instagram but don't really follow it too closely (most of the celebrities they talk about I haven't even heard of...signs of getting older!) so I knew about this book but wasn't itching to read it. It makes me really curious how closely this matched the actual story of the account because Cricket went through A LOT in this book! I didn't really find her likable and thought she was an awful friend (and worker at the end) and dealt with way too much crap from her boss. I read this super quickly though so just for that it bumped up my rating!

My rating - 3/5

The Writing Retreat by Julia Bartz

This book was WEIRD. I only knew a bit about the concept- an aspiring author is invited on a writing retreat by her favorite author, and before long she realizes something is amiss. I really enjoyed the first half of this book- it was mysterious and intense, with just a few characters that were easy to keep track of. Then it went off the rails and got way too gory and unrealistic to me. The ending was weird, and I was left overall with a meh reaction.

My rating - 2.75/5

DNF

Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune - Another book club pick for this month that I couldn't get into. I liked the writing and (most of) the characters, but it seemed to not go anywhere. I was hoping it was good since I've heard his other book is amazing, but was let down.