September Reads

It’s Book Review Day!  This month I listened to 4 books and enjoyed all of them. Audiobooks are saving me this busy season; otherwise I would never get any reading done.

Project Hail Mary – Andy Weir (A)

This is easily one of the best books that I have listened to all year.  It’s a little long winded on space physics at times; but overall I thoroughly enjoyed it.  The narrator (Ray Porter) is fantastic and sounds so much like Tom Hanks.  Any book that can make me teary-eyed over an alien robot spider creature and human friendship is doing something right.  If you have previously liked books like The Martian, you are going to love this one.  4.5/5 stars

Magic Lessons – Alice Hoffman  (A)

I have always loved the Owens Sisters from the Practical Magic movie. And after seeing the movie, I knew I had to read this author. I first read Rules of Magica few years ago, which is about the backstory of the Aunts from Practical Magic.  Absolutely loved this one.  So this month I was craving more of that fantastical, witchy magic; so I picked up the Magic Lessons. This book is about the backstory of Maria Owens, which takes us all the way back to 1664 England. I very much enjoyed it, though I like Rules of Magic more. The narrator was good and it kept me entertained as I stitched up some Halloween-inspired embroidery. In fact, you could say that my Garden Witch embroidery patternis loosely inspired by Maria Owens. 3.5/5 stars

We Were Never Here – Andrea Bartz (A)

Two best friends are on their annual backpacking trip in a foreign country when tragedy happens… again.  Is it murder or self-defense?  Very strong single-white-female vibes.  Overall I enjoyed this book; but was not wowed by it.  I got frustrated by the characters, especially towards the end.  This would make an excellent thriller movie with all the full effects of suspenseful music and angles.  3.5/5 stars

We Are All the Same in the Dark – Julia Heaberlin (A)

The story opens with Wyatt Branson (a troubled twenty-something guy with a past) finding a young one-eyed girl abandoned in a field. Odette, a young female police officer is determined to help this newly found girl and protect Wyatt from the demons in his past), while also trying to solve the mystery of her friend, Trumanell (Wyatt’s sister), who has been missing for over a decade. This is a slow-burn mystery set in small town Texas.  It centers around the stories of two girls – one who has been missing for over a decade and the other who is found, but no one can figure out her identity. I really enjoyed this one – it is full of grit and West Texas atmosphere and good ol’ fashion story telling. 4/5 stars  

B – Physical Book

A - Audiobook

As always, you can see a consolidated list of all my book reviews HERE.

Now it’s your turn – what book have you recently read that you can’t stop thinking about?  I don't know about you, but I need some solid book recommendations to get me through the next few months.  Something that will pull me in immediately and keep me going through to the very last page.  So tell me in the comments what you are reading, what you are loving, and what book recs you have for me.

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