Books 2024: Part 3

I posted part two here. These are the next 10 books I read and the order I read them.  

21. The Seven Year Slip - Ashley Poston - I really enjoyed this book. It was another one of my fast reads - less than 36 hours from start to finish. Again, the beauty of listening to books on 2x. This book brought back The Time Traveler's Wife vibes. It was a little confusing in the beginning, but I liked it a lot. 

22. Sacred Rest - Saundra Dalton-Smith - This was a book recommended from a friend who read it. It took me a few weeks to finish because I wanted to actually read it for content. My favorite part of this book was the mosquito and bee comparison. I'll have to elaborate about this on a different post. (Not going to lie...I have forgotten what the comparison is. I should have been more specific when I wrote this synopsis after finishing the book).

23. Mrs. Quinn's Rise to Fame - Olivia Ford - A friend of mine read and loved this book. I got it and give it a read. I liked it. Maybe not as much as he did, but it was a fun book to read. I thought the ending was slightly anti-climactic. The book did such a wonderful job leading up to the ending that the resulting conclusion didn't feel like it matched up. I feel like many books I've read this year have this same problem.

24. Bel Canto - Ann Patchett - One of my friends from high school gave me this book when she was cleaning out her things. I kept it in my collection but never read it. I always felt obligated to read it because there was a music staff on the front cover. Because of the title, I always thought it had something to revolve around music. The book does in fact revolve around music but not at all in the way I thought it would. I was kind of disappointed when I finished the book. I didn't feel satisfied or "complete" after finishing the story. It was a very strange way to resolve what had so much potential. The way she built up the book, I felt like it deserved a different ending. Oh well.

25. Me Before You - Jojo Moyes - I found this book because I saw a clip of the movie from Facebook randomly. I looked it up and decided I'd read the book. It's a very sad book, but I actually didn't get weepy with it like I thought I would. I watched the movie a few weeks after I finished the book. It was a good movie. Hit all the right points. There was a lot of extra character building included in the book which they left out of the movie. I think it simplified things for the movie which made it more enjoyable to watch. But it left out a lot of the depth of character which the book was able to provide. This is pretty typical of what happens.

26. Habits of the Household - Justin Earley - This book was recommended to me by a friend and I enjoyed what he had to share. It's always refreshing to hear about other people's struggles and knowing my own flaws and weaknesses are not individual to me. I'd like to say this book is going to help me become a better parent, but we all know it's not an overnight transformation. Less than a week after I finished this book my 4 y.o and I had an intense moment at the dinner table regarding finishing his meal and dessert. But reading this book reminded me that our time together is short and we are both getting older by the day. 

27. Divine Rivals - Rebecca Ross - A friend recommended this duology to me, and the second book kept becoming available before the first. I had to keep postponing it, and finally, the first one became available. I wasn't sure how much I'd enjoy it because there's a fantasy aspect to it. It turned out very enjoyable. The ending leaves you hanging so don't start unless you plan on reading both books!

28.  Check & Mate - Ali Hazelwood - Quick read. I had placed a book by this author on hold completely by accident. While waiting for it, I had a conversation with a friend about the books we were reading and she came up as an author my friend enjoyed. So I put more of her books on hold. This was the first one available and I enjoyed it. And I came to the conclusion that professional chess players probably can and should overthink as much as possible in order to be successful, but they need to contain their thinking in other areas of life in order to stay sane. It's a life lesson I'm continually learning and growing through myself. 

29. Ruthless Vows - Rebecca Ross - This was the second book to Divine Rivals. I couldn't stop reading after I started. A lot of the reviews for this book came out negative because they were expecting more of a romance. That's not at all what the second book was. I felt like I was in the middle of an action film the entire time I was reading. And because of that, I enjoyed it.

30. The Dead Romantics - Ashley Poston - I enjoyed this book. I was getting vibes of other books I'd read before in the past, but the cliche moments were still enjoyable. I'm learning to appreciate the entertainment side of reading for fun and not necessarily every book needing to be unique, exquisite, and one-of-a-kind. Her story line was interesting enough despite including some over-used themes and predictable elements. 

 

I'll put the remaining books in one post after this.