August 2021 Reading List

The House Swap by Jo Lovett

Note: I was given this book as an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

When I originally went into reading “The House Swap”, I felt like I already knew this book’s plot to a T: they swap houses, through living each others’ lives they fall in love, they decide to merge their lives. THE END. Thank god for me that Lovett wasn’t going to give into this romance trope that easily.

Instead, The House Swap gives you a novel with so many surprises, turns, and enjoyable characters that you’re pleasantly surprised when the characters swap back and you still have almost have of the book left.

The House Swap was such an enjoyable read and I highly suggest that you check it out.

The House Swap is already available to order and is only $3.99 on kindle right now!

The Rules of Arrangement by Anisha Bhatia

Note: I was given this book as an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Rules of Arrangement focuses on Zoya, a career driven woman, who is on the rise in her job. And while her family thinks that’s great, they’d love if she could also be on the rise in her love life too. But then Zoya hits the jackpot, she gets matched with man of her parents’ dreams and the opportunity of a life time with a job in New York. But she can only have one.

While I absolutely loved Zoya, it felt like their was something missing from the story. Zoya was fun, relatable, and someone you would actually want to have as a friend in real life. But I can’t exactly pinpoint what was missing from the story exactly. I liked it and enjoyed listening to it (the audiobook is excellent), but that element that would normally keep pulling me back to a novel was missing. The only thing I can point to was that the novel may have been moving a bit too slow for my preference, but I’m not sure if it was that.

The Rules of Arrangement is out now. You can pick it up wherever you purchase books.

The Box in the Woods by Maureen Johnson

The Box in the Woods is the four book in the YA series, Truly Devious. Truthfully, when the original mystery was solved in the third book, I thought that the series was over. So I was pleasantly surprised when they announced that this fourth book, a standalone mystery was coming out.

Like the earlier books, it was a play on solving a supposed cold case. I thought that this book might not be as good as the first part of the series, but it was just as enjoyable. I hope that this book is a sign of more to come in the series!

To Sir, with Love by Lauren Layne

Note: I was given this book as an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

When I began reading this book, I almost put it back down and gave up on it. You could see who “sir” was from a mile away and I didn’t really know if I wanted to bother going down the obvious path.

I’m really happy though that I ignored my initial instinct though and decided to keep reading. Instead of getting a bland novel with an obvious reveal, you instead got a surprisingly wonderful novel about the strength of families, finding yourself, and discovering what you actually want (with a little romance along the way). Layne found a way to draw out the reveal long enough that it was so satisfying when it finally occurred.

To Sir With Love is out now! Find it anywhere that you regularly purchase your books.

The Rogue of Fifth Avenue by Joanna Shupe

I picked this novel up on the recommendation of one of my favorite romance booksellers (after realizing I had read almost everything else on the shelf that day, haha). The cover is super super “romance” genre, but don’t let that dissuade you. I actually really enjoyed it and it was really good historical romance.

I’m not going to give away a lot, but in this novel, in addition to some romance, you also get to learn a lot about the terrible conditions of the slums of New York City in the 1800s and corruption with in the police. Yes, obviously it’s fiction, but I like that the authors do in fact do their research.

The Housewives by Brian Moylan

Note: I was given this book as an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Holy Housewives. Are you a Real Housewives fan? Or maybe just a reality tv fan? Then this is THE novel for you.

Moylan has clearly done his research here as he dives into the history behind how The Real Housewives Franchise began, how it gained popularity, and the criticism behind it. He also discusses reality tv as whole, like what really kicked off the genre and how it’s gained popularity.

One thing I truly appreciated about this book is that you can tell that Moylan is not on Bravo’s payroll for this book. Besides mentioning the multiple cease and desists he received, Moylan isn’t afraid to shy away from criticizing the network and franchises, especially when it comes to their lack of diversity across the franchises.

The Housewives is out now and I highly suggest picking it up now. If you love audio, I listened to it on audio and it was excellent. Moylan reads it, which honestly made it even better.

The President’s Daughter by Bill Clinton and James Patterson

I don’t typically read James Patterson novels, but when he teams up with Bill Clinton, I just can’t resist. You can just tell what parts are insights given by Clinton and it gives it a fullness that I feel like you wouldn’t get otherwise.

I don’t know if I would have read this otherwise, but while I was listening to it audio, I couldn’t stop listening. It’s definitely long, but I kept wanting to know what was going to happen next!

Very Sincerely Yours by Kerry Winfrey

I knew that I was a Kerry Winfrey fan before, but this book sealed it for me. It was so adorable, but also really honest and relatable at the same time.

I wish I had more to say about this, but I don’t want to give too much away. All I really have to say is please go read it because I want to talk about it with someone!

A Special Place for Women by Laura Hankin

I have mixed feelings about this book. A lot of mixed feelings. And unfortunately I can’t really discuss them without basically spoiling the entire book.

So I will say this: Laura Hankin is also the author of the book “Happy & You Know It” with is a book that I didn’t pick up for a while because I thought it was a typically upper east side moms book. But then I read it and loved it. I almost put “A Special Place for Women” down a few times because I thought I knew where it was going. But I was wrong.

Essentially Laura Hankin is a brilliant author who knows what she’s doing. So I really need to just trust her.