August Reads {2019}

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Summer is over. While I enjoyed some great summer reading at the beach, which is my fave, I’m currently lacking motivation to read. I’m not sure if it’s my current book choices, the weather, or being back to a very scheduled routine. However, I am hoping that this passes, sooner than later. One highlight of my summer reading is that I participated in my library’s summer adult reading BINGO game and I actually won a prize! I received a box of 30 handmade greeting cards and a $20 Barnes & Noble gift card. All for just reading! I read a couple of really good books in August and some okay reads. Here are my August reads that I’m sharing with Steph and Jana’s monthly SUYB linkup:

3 Stars:

The Farm by Joanna Ramos – Golden Oaks, known as “the Farm” is a place where hosts carry babies for super wealthy women, who are either too old to carry a baby or just don’t want to be pregnant. These hosts, many of whom are poor immigrants from other countries, are paid well and live the life of luxury while on the farm. Jane, a young woman from the Philippines becomes a host so she can provide for her own infant daughter. While she is on the Farm, an older cousin is caring for her daughter. This book takes a look at race, privilege and motherhood in the modern world.

Lock Every Door by Riley Sager – Jules Larsen finds an apartment sitting job at the Bartholemew building in NYC. But she finds that there’s a lot of rules and that some strange things seem to be going on in the building. Then when fellow apartment sitter, Ingrid, goes missing, Jules tries to find out what happened to her. This was my first Riley Sager book and for me was just an okay mystery/thriller.

The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren – Olive’s sister married Ethan’s brother. But when everyone, except Olive and Ethan get sick at the wedding, the two of them are left taking the honeymoon to Maui that their siblings were supposed to go on. However, they have to pretend that they are married, which creates more problems than they had expected. I’ve become a fan of the Christina Lauren writing duo and have read several of their books now. This was a cute romance book, but wasn’t one of my faves of theirs. I’m feeling like their books are getting formulaic, with a similar story line/theme to all of them.

4 Stars:

The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein – Told through the eyes of an old dog named Enzo, we reminisce on his life with his human owner, Denny, and all of the ups and downs they’ve been through together. This was a reread for me this month. It’s my work book club’s book pick and since I had first read it so long ago, I decided to do a reread. I enjoyed it as much as the first time and can’t wait to see the movie (but I’m going to wait until it comes to DVD!). I had my 13 year-old daughter read it and she really liked it too.

Born A Crime by Trevor Noah – This was the only non-fiction book that I read this month. I am vaguely familiar with Trevor Noah because my husband used to watch him on The Daily Show (back when we had cable). I had heard good reviews of this book and figured I’d read it for for the Celebrity Author box for my library BINGO game card. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed reading this. It really gave me insight into what life is like in South Africa.

5 Stars:

Us Against You by Fredrik Backman – A colleague at work recently read Beartown and it reminded me of how much I had loved that book. I realized that I had still never read the sequel so got right on it. I feel like sequels can be hit or miss. But I just loved Us Against You as much as Beartown. It was nice to see how the story continued. Backman really knows character development. He makes even the unlikable characters, likable. I’m just sad the story is over now. Since I was raving so much about this book, I told my husband I wanted him to read Beartown, which he is currently doing.

You may also enjoy:

July 2019 Reads

June 2019 Reads

May 2019 Reads