The weather has been beautiful and there’s nothing I’ve been enjoying more than reading outside on the deck. I’m sharing my May reads with Steph and Jana’s monthly Show Us Your Books linkup.
3 Stars
Anna K. by Jenny Lee – A YA retelling of Anna Karenina featuring super wealthy teens in NYC. According to goodreads, I read Anna Karenina in 2013. I didn’t like it, but I was curious to see how a modern YA adaptation would read. From what I remember (and it’s not a lot!) it seemed to follow the classic pretty well. Most teens will likely find it to be a contemporary romance, as I’m sure not many of them have read Anna Karenina!
The Boy From the Woods by Harlan Coben – Wilde grew up in the woods without a family. Now, an adult, he is helping to find a missing teen girl. This is the briefest of brief summaries of a book where there is a lot going on! As with all of Coben’s books, this was a quick, suspenseful read.
The Friend Zone by Abby Jimenez – Kristin Petersen is enjoying life, selling dog supplies and staircases for small dogs, and having a long-distance relationship with her boyfriend Tyler. Josh Copeland, best friend of Brandon, her best friend’s (Sloan’s) fiance, moves to town. Of course the two end up attracted to each other but there are just some major issues affecting their relationship. I really enjoyed Kristin and Josh’s characters. However, I wasn’t a fan of the ending. I did enjoy this romance/chick-lit book enough to read the sequel, which is currently sitting on my kindle waiting for me to read.
The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides – Alice, a famous painter, shoots and kills her husband Gabriel and doesn’t speak again. She’s now in a psychiatric facility where psychotherapist, Theo Farber, believes he can get her to speak. As the story unfolds we discover what led up the shooting event. This was 2019 Goodreads choice book winner and I had heard good things about it from a coworker. However, I was pretty underwhelmed. I thought it was a pretty slow read until the end.
A Stranger In the House by Shari Lapena – Tom arrives home to find his wife, Karen, missing. She ends up in a car accident that leaves her with memory loss. There just so happens to be a murder right near where she has the accident. Overall, this was just an okay, suspense/thriller read. I wasn’t a huge fan of this book. I’ve read The Couple Next Door and Someone We Know and enjoyed them a lot more than this book.
4 Stars
The Flastshare by Beth O’Leary – Tiffy ends up sharing a flat with Leon. Since he works nights, the two never see each other and communicate via Post-It notes. She ends up finding a way to help him with a family situation and the two become closer. Although this book is a cute romance, it also deals with the effects of an emotionally abusive relationship.
What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty – Alice Love is at a spin class when she falls of a bike and hits her head. When she wakes up, she believes it is ten years earlier, where she is pregnant with her first child. In reality, she’s about to turn 40, in the midst of getting divorced and has three children. She must learn to navigate this new life that she has no memory of. This is one of Moriarty’s older books and I can’t believe it’s taken me so long to read it. As much as I haven’t been a fan of her newer stuff, I enjoyed this book as much as I did her other older books that I’ve read.
5 Stars
Untamed by Glennon Doyle – Doyle’s memoir where she reveals how she stopped meeting the expectations of others and truly started living and loving the life that she was meant to have. It’s honest, raw and so relatable. There are lessons for us all in this book. This was my first book by Doyle that I’ve read, but I now want to read her other ones.
I thought The Silent Patient was a bit overhyped. It was fine. Not amazing.
The Couple Next Door was okay and A Stranger in the House was so boring that I’ve kind of written off every Lapena book from here on out.
Yes, The Silent Patient was definitely overhyped! I kept hearing such amazing things but thought it was slow and just okay. Lapena has been hit or miss with me. Not sure if I’m ready to give up yet.
I do want to read The Silent Patient – sorry you felt it was a bit slow though. I also want to read The Flatshare and Untamed!
-Lauren
Hope you enjoy them!
Flatshare was a recent favorite of mine, and I can’t wait to read the author’s new book. Right now I’m reading Big Summer…pretty good so far.
Yes, I’m going to have to read Beth O’Leary’s new book. I just got big Summer as an e-book from the library and hope to get to it soon.
I loved The Silent Patient 🙂 Always funny to see the different ways people feel about a book. Might need to check out Anna K…never made it through Tolstoy. Would always give up a few hundred pages in, and then be too confused to pick back up haha.
Yes, everyone has different reading tastes. I always think everyone should give a book they want to read a try, despite reviews.
I remember enjoying What Alice Forgot but not loving it. I just don’t think I love Moriarty’s books on the whole.
I am definitely not a fan of her newer stuff, but have enjoyed all her older books.
so true about lessons for us all in Untamed, i agree. loved the flat share! what alice forgot is my favourite by liane moriarty. The Boy From the Woods is on my list!
I do like Moriarty’s old books. And can’t wait to read O’Leary’s new book.
I love Liane Moriarty’s novels. I have Untamed on my TBR list.
Hope you enjoy Untamed!
I adored Untamed.
I felt the same about that LaPena book.
Untamed was really good. I need to read her other books.
There is a sequel to The Friend Zone?! I really enjoyed that book. I’m gonna have to get that one on the list!
Yes, it’s called The Happy Ever After Playlist. I just read it and it will be in my June book review. It was actually written first but published after The Friend Zone.
The Flatshare and Friend Zone are on my TBR. I hate to hear you didn’t like the ending of The Friend Zone. Makes me want to push it off the list, I don’t like when a book ends badly. It’s like I don’t get proper closure. What Alice Forgot is one of my favorites from Moriarty. I definitely haven’t been a fan of her latest books, but loved all the older ones.
I didn’t like the ending of The Friend Zone due to the direction the author went with one of the character’s storylines. There was good closure. I hate when a book doesn’t have closure! I also haven’t enjoyed Moriarty’s newer books.
I’m so happy it’s been nice out and I can resume deck reading- it’s one of my favorite things to do! Sorry to hear you didn’t love The Silent Patient. I think the ending really clinched it for me and I’d marked it as a favorite read of last year! I really enjoyed The Boy From The Woods and looking forward to reading more of his work! I was happily surprised to enjoy What Alice Forgot when I read it recently as well. The Flatshare is on my TBR!
The ending picked up but I found the rest of the book to be pretty slow. Coben is always good for a quick, suspenseful read.
I have The Flatshare on my list–it sounds like one I should pick up this summer. I LOVED What Alice Forgot, it’s my favorite of Moriarty’s that I’ve read. I can’t wait to read/listen to Untamed, it’s on my list as well.
Hope you enjoy them!
I liked The Friend Zone. I’m on the library waiting list for the next book 🙂 I keep seeing mentions of Anna K that make me want to read that one too. Thanks for sharing!
I liked The Happy Ever After Playlist better than The Friend Zone! Can’t wait to hear what you think.
I don’t know if I will read Untamed by Glennon Doyle, but I really love the colorful cover! Have you read any of the other books from Reese’s Book Club?
I’ve read a bunch, unintentionally! I don’t really follow her book club, but I most recent reads include Such a Fun Age, Daisy Jones & the Six, The Jetsetters and One Day in December.