Monthly Wrap-Up – August 2019

Time for the monthly wrap-up. Can’t believe eight months are already gone. Wasn’t it just new year? When did it get to be September? Ah, well, gotta move on. So, reading-wise, I managed to plow through 13 books. Looks like there’s some hope for me yet.

7 books by Sarah Dessen (The Rest of the Story, Just Listen, Saint Anything, Along for the Ride, That Summer, This Lullaby, The Moon and More)

 

Synopsis: It’s been so long since Auden slept at night. Ever since her parents’ divorce—or since the fighting started. Now she has the chance to spend a carefree summer with her dad and his new family in the charming beach town where they live. A job in a clothes boutique introduces Auden to the world of girls: their talk, their friendship, their crushes. She missed out on all that, too busy being the perfect daughter to her demanding mother. Then she meets Eli, an intriguing loner and a fellow insomniac who becomes her guide to the nocturnal world of the town. Together they embark on parallel quests: for Auden, to experience the carefree teenage life she’s been denied; for Eli, to come to terms with the guilt he feels for the death of a friend. In her signature pitch-perfect style, Sarah Dessen explores the hearts of two lonely people learning to connect.

Synopsis: Emma Saylor doesn’t remember a lot about her mother, who died when she was ten. But she does remember the stories her mom told her about the big lake that went on forever, with cold, clear water and mossy trees at the edges. Now it’s just Emma and her dad, and life is good, if a little predictable…until Emma is unexpectedly sent to spend the summer with her mother’s family—her grandmother and cousins she hasn’t seen since she was a little girl. When Emma arrives at North Lake, she realizes there are actually two very different communities there. Her mother grew up in working class North Lake, while her dad spent summers in the wealthier Lake North resort. The more time Emma spends there, the more it starts to feel like she is divided into two people as well. To her father, she is Emma. But to her new family, she is Saylor, the name her mother always called her. Then there’s Roo, the boy who was her very best friend when she was little. Roo holds the key to her family’s history, and slowly, he helps her put the pieces together about her past. It’s hard not to get caught up in the magic of North Lake—and Saylor finds herself falling under Roo’s spell as well. For Saylor, it’s like a whole new world is opening up to her. But when it’s time to go back home, which side of her will win out?

I’m calling this month my Sarah Dessen month. I was in a YA contemporary mood and some were good, some not so good but they were fast reads. One thing that’s pretty awesome about Sarah Dessen’s books is the insightful writing, with deep meaningful sentences that made her words a pleasure to read.

Under Currents by Nora Roberts

Though I highly anticipated this book, it wasn’t as epic as I’d expected but it was pretty good.

A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan

I got approved for Turning Darkness Into Light – Marie Brennan on Netgalley so I wanted to read the books in the previous series, The Memoirs of Lady Trent. However, though I enjoyed the first half of book 1, A Natural History of Dragons, the second half just dragged too much and I got super annoyed at the main character.

The Kiss Quotient & The Bride Test by Helen Hoang 

 

I finally read these two much-hyped books. Though The Kiss Quotient was pretty good, I didn’t like the female lead character in The Bride Test.

Duncan’s Bride & Loving Evangeline by Linda Howard

 

Still in contemporary mode, I loved Duncan’s Bride but disliked Loving Evangeline.

Hidden Legacy (Burn for Me, White Hot, Wildfire) by Ilona Andrews

 

Synopsis: #1 New York Times bestselling author Ilona Andrews launches a brand new Hidden Legacy series, in which one woman must place her trust in a seductive, dangerous man who sets off an even more dangerous desire… Nevada Baylor is faced with the most challenging case of her detective career—a suicide mission to bring in a suspect in a volatile case. Nevada isn’t sure she has the chops. Her quarry is a Prime, the highest rank of magic user, who can set anyone and anything on fire. Then she’s kidnapped by Connor “Mad” Rogan—a darkly tempting billionaire with equally devastating powers. Torn between wanting to run or surrender to their overwhelming attraction, Nevada must join forces with Rogan to stay alive. Rogan’s after the same target, so he needs Nevada. But she’s getting under his skin, making him care about someone other than himself for a change. And, as Rogan has learned, love can be as perilous as death, especially in the magic world.

Blurb: Nevada Baylor has a unique and secret skill—she knows when people are lying—and she’s used that magic (along with plain, hard work) to keep her colorful and close-knit family’s detective agency afloat. But her new case pits her against the shadowy forces that almost destroyed the city of Houston once before, bringing Nevada back into contact with Connor “Mad” Rogan. Rogan is a billionaire Prime—the highest rank of magic user—and as unreadable as ever, despite Nevada’s “talent.” But there’s no hiding the sparks between them. Now that the stakes are even higher, both professionally and personally, and their foes are unimaginably powerful, Rogan and Nevada will find that nothing burns like ice…

Blurb: Just when Nevada Baylor has finally come to accept the depths of her magical powers, she also realizes she’s fallen in love. Connor “Mad” Rogan is in many ways her equal when it comes to magic, but she’s completely out of her elements when it comes to her feelings for him. To make matters more complicated, an old flame comes back into Rogan’s life… Rogan knows there’s nothing between him and his ex-fiance, Rynda Sherwood. But as Nevada begins to learn more about her past, her power, and her potential future, he knows she will be faced with choices she never dreamed of and the promise of a life spent without him. As Nevada and Rogan race to discover the whereabouts of Rynda’s kidnapped husband and are forced to confront Nevada’s grandmother, who may or may not have evil motives, these two people must decide if they can trust in each other or allow everything to go up in smoke.

In anticipation of Ilona Andrews’ newest release in this series – Sapphire Flames, I read the previous books and oh my god, I can’t gush enough how good I still found these books.

On the blogging front, I wasn’t as productive as I should have been due to a personal upheaval but I managed to catch up on 3 reviews and I still have 3 more pending.

So, that’s it for August. Here’s to hoping September will be better.