It’s time for my first half of October book review post! I am sharing what I read in October so far, although I am skipping my 5 star reads to share later in the month. I also read Eight Dates and Nights which I reviewed separately here. The Amazon links to the books I’ve read are affiliate links and if you use them and make a purchase, I may receive a small commission. If you’ve read any of these books or are interested in them, I’d love to hear about it in the comments!
Title: Looking Up
Author: Stephan Pastis
Genre: Middle Grade Contemporary Fiction
Publisher: Aladdin, 10/10/23
Source: Storygram Book Tours
Why I Read It: Sent to me for my review
My Rating: 4 Stars
This middle grade story is about Saint, who is dealing with changes in her life. She sees that some of her favorite neighborhood spots are being replaced with newer ones and this makes her unhappy. Accompanied by her active imagination and her loyal pet turtle, Saint tries to stop these changes from happening.
“Living alone with her mother in a poorer part of town, Saint—a girl drawn to medieval knights, lost causes, and the protection of birthday piñatas—sees the neighborhood she has always known and loved disappearing around her: old homes being torn down and replaced by fancy condos and coffee shops. But when her favorite creaky old toy store is demolished, she knows she must act. Enlisting the help of Daniel “Chance” McGibbons, a quiet, round-faced boy who lives across the street (and whose house also faces the wrecking ball), Saint hatches a plan to save what is left of her beloved hometown.”
While a fun book for kids, I also found there to be funny puns and twists I didn’t expect even as an adult reader!
Title: Funny Farm
Author: Laurie Zaleski
Genre: Memoir
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press, 2/22/22
Source: Publisher
Why I Read It: Sent to me for my review
My Rating: 4 Stars
I enjoy uplifting stories about animal rescues and this features some, but it is also a memoir of the author’s childhood and her mother’s escape from an abusive marriage, which I did not expect when I started reading.
“Laurie Zaleski never aspired to run an animal rescue; that was her mother Annie’s dream. But from girlhood, Laurie was determined to make the dream come true. Thirty years later as a successful businesswoman, she did it, buying a 15-acre farm deep in the Pinelands of South Jersey. She was planning to relocate Annie and her caravan of ragtag rescues―horses and goats, dogs and cats, chickens and pigs―when Annie died, just two weeks before moving day. In her heartbreak, Laurie resolved to make her mother’s dream her own. In 2001, she established the Funny Farm Animal Rescue outside Mays Landing, New Jersey. Today, she carries on Annie’s mission to save abused and neglected animals.”
The interspersed rescue stories were not necessary in order with the rest of the narrative, which was somewhat confusing. There are many types of animals featured and there are those who are sick and who die, some violently, so this book may not be for everyone for that reason.
Title: Redacted
Author: Redacted
Genre: Rom Com
Publisher: Dell, 7/18/23
Source: Publisher
Why I Read It: Sent to me for my review
My Rating: 4 Stars
This review has been redacted due to the author’s inflammatory and harmful rhetoric on their Instagram regarding the current situation in Israel and Gaza.
Title: The Other Mrs.
Author: Mary Kubica
Genre: Thriller
Publisher: Harlequin Audio, 2/18/20
Source: Library Audio plus owned print copy
Why I Read It: Waiting on my shelf
My Rating: 3 Stars
This book contained two of my least favorite things in thrillers – the use of mental health as a main plot point and the addition of another narrator towards the end of the book. The beginning of the book is narrated by three main voices – Sadie, Camille, and Mouse, a child. Sadie’s husband is also involved with Camille. Mouse is being abused by her step mother. Meanwhile, Sadie and Will have moved into his sister’s house after her suicide and are taking care of their two boys as well as their niece. A local neighbor is then murdered.
“Sadie and Will Foust have only just moved their family from bustling Chicago to a coastal island in Maine when their neighbor Morgan Baines is found dead in her home. The murder rocks their tiny coastal island, but no one is more shaken than Sadie. But it’s not just Morgan’s death that has Sadie on edge. And as the eyes of suspicion turn toward the new family in town, Sadie is drawn deeper into the mystery of what really happened that dark and deadly night. But Sadie must be careful, for the more she discovers about Mrs. Baines, the more she begins to realize just how much she has to lose if the truth ever comes to light.”
I was able to predict the twist in the story pretty easily and again, I did not like the use of mental health to lead to this twist. I was interested in the story, but hoping it would go somewhere it did not end up going. I have read other books by Mary Kubica and this one is definitely my least favorite.
Title: The Intern
Author: Michele Campbell
Genre: Thriller
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press, 10/3/23
Source: Publisher
Why I Read It: Sent to me for my review
My Rating: 4 Stars
This thriller is about corruption in the law system. Madison is a student in judge Kathryn’s class at Harvard when Madison’s brother is arrested. With his case going through Kathryn’s court, Madison knows accepting an internship with the judge is a conflict of interest, but she does so anyway.
“Madison Rivera lands the internship of a lifetime working for Judge Kathryn Conroy. But Madison has a secret that could destroy her career. Her troubled younger brother Danny has been arrested, and Conroy is the judge on his case. When Danny goes missing after accusing the judge of corruption, Madison’s quest for answers brings her deep into the judge’s glamorous world. Is Kathryn Conroy a mentor, a victim, or a criminal? Is she trying to help Madison or use her as a pawn? And why is somebody trying to kill her? As the two women circle each other in a dangerous cat-and-mouse game, will they save each other, or will betrayal leave one of them dead?”
Soon after Madison begins her internship, she finds herself house sitting for Kathryn as well and soon this seems like a set up. We come to find out about Kathryn and her ties to others in the corrupt system. I thought there were some plot holes, although it did move quickly.
Title: What You Do To Me
Author: Rochelle B. Weinstein
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Publisher: Lake Union, 10/17/23
Source: Get Red PR
Why I Read It: Sent to me for my review
My Rating: 4 Stars
I’m sorry I’m about to get this song in your head, but this book is inspired by the song Hey There Delilah. It is described as an amazing classic love song and journalist Cecilia wants to find the woman that it was written for.
“Journalist Cecilia James is a sucker for a love song. So when she stumbles across a clue to the identity of the muse for one of rock’s greatest, she devotes herself to uncovering the truth, even as her own relationship is falling apart. While writing an article for Rolling Stone, Cecilia works to reveal the mystery that has intrigued fans and discovers a classic tale of two soulmates separated by fate and circumstance. Rock star Eddie Vee once sang with his soul, dedicating love songs to Sara Friedman, his inspiration and first love. Now, Eddie takes refuge in anonymity, closed off to the past. Sara, too, has distanced herself from their love, moving thousands of miles away to live the life she once railed against. As Eddie and Sara tentatively open up to Cecilia about broken dreams, she struggles to give them a happy ending. In the process, she learns that broken hearts can be healed―even her own.”
This was basically a tragedy about a couple forced apart due to Sara being Jewish and her mother’s expectations as well as a tragic accident. At the same time, Cecilia is struggling with her own relationship and her family situation with her father and step mother. It was hard for me to fully focus on this book with world events to distract me, but it did keep me reading as well as it could have at the time.
Title: The Search For Us
Author: Susan Azim Boyer
Genre: YA Contemporary Fiction
Publisher: Wednesday Books, 10/24/23
Source: Publisher
Why I Read It: Sent to me for my review
My Rating: 4 Stars
I really enjoyed this author’s previous book and was excited to read this one as well. A DNA test brings together half siblings Samira and Henry, who are both looking for their biological father and both struggling within their own family situations.
“Samira Murphy will do anything to keep her fractured family from falling apart, including caring for her widowed grandmother and getting her older brother into recovery for alcohol addiction. With attendance at her dream college on the line, she takes a long shot DNA test to find the support she so desperately needs from a father she hasn’t seen since she was a baby. Henry Owen is torn between his well-meaning but unreliable bio-mom and his overly strict aunt and uncle, who stepped in to raise him but don’t seem to see him for who he is. Looking to forge a stronger connection to his own identity, he takes a DNA test to find the one person who might love him for exactly who he is―the biological father he never knew. Instead of a DNA match with their father, Samira and Henry are matched with each other. They begin to search for their father together and slowly unravel the difficult truth of their shared past, forming a connection that only siblings can have and recovering precious parts of their past that have been lost. Brimming with emotional resonance, Susan Azim Boyer’s The Search for Us beautifully renders what it means to find your place in the world through the deep and abiding power of family.”
I enjoyed this story of discovering family and of young people helping each other with their separate family issues. Samira and Henry’s father is Iranian and they discover some of their Persian heritage as well. I thought the end of the book was quite easily wrapped up, but I enjoyed the read overall.
This post includes 7 of the books I read this month. Of these books, 6 were print and 1 was audio. 5 were adult books, 1 was YA, and 1 was middle grade. Genres included contemporary, memoir, rom com and thriller.
Have you read any of these books or do you want to? What have you been reading lately?