Tag: reading

August TBR

Happy August everyone! Can’t believe summer is coming to a close. There’s still plenty of summery reads to be read and warm sunny days to be enjoyed (safely and socially distanced, of course!).

This month I have quite the ambitious TBR for myself, as I have quite a few ARCs to read, plus other books I’m itching to read. I’m sure I won’t get to all of them, but hey, a girl can dream! Let’s dive right into them, shall we?! These aren’t really in any particular order as to when I’m reading them.

First up we have White Fox by Sara Faring. This is an eARC I received due to being a member of The Faring Society. It is due for publication September 22. In this novel we are following two sisters, Manon and Thais, as they work to uncover the truth behind their famous mother’s disappearance. They find their mother’s famous last work, White Fox, which holds the clue to truths about her. It sounds so intriguing and I love a good mystery/thriller. I’m about halfway through this one and it’s hard to put down. I can’t wait to find out how it turns out.

Next up we have How It All Blew Up by Arvin Ahmadi. I won this eARC from Penguin Teen in a giveaway contest. It is due for publication September 22. In this novel we are following Amir Azadi, who has recently come out to his Muslim family and forced to go through an interrogation at an airport. He decides to run away to Rome, and things in his new life start to feel natural, until his past comes back to haunt him and everything he’s come to know is jeopardized. I’ve read many not so great reviews about it, and this was one of my most anticipated reads, so I’m kind of anxious and hoping it won’t let me down and live up to the hype that I have given it personally.

After that comes The Left-Handed Booksellers of London by Garth Nix. I won this book in a BookCon giveaway. It is also due for publication September 22. This book is all about an alternate London set in 1983 where the magical and the ordinary worlds, the Old World and the New World, are intertwined. The Book-Sellers are the ones who enforce the boundary of the Old World, making sure it doesn’t spill into the New World. We follow Susan, Merlin, and Vivien as they journey through the Old World, searching to find out who Susan’s father was. I’m super excited to read this one. I haven’t read anything by Nix yet so I’m hoping this is a good starter.

Next we have I Am These Truths by Sunny Hostin. Set for publication September 22, I also won this book in a BookCon giveaway. This is a memoir that follows Hostin’s life from growing up in the South Bronx in poverty to her journey to law school and into her career as a legal journalist where she was one of the first to report on Trayvon Martin’s death, as well as recounting the adversity she’s had to overcome–both personally and professionally. I’ve read a little bit of it and it was fascinating. I can’t wait to finish it.

After that I’ll be reading Eleanor, Alice, and the Roosevelt Ghosts by Dianne K. Salerni. This book is set to publish September 1. I won a copy of this in a BookCon Giveaway. This is a middle grade book set in 1898 New York City, a time when humans and ghosts co-exist. We’re following cousins Eleanor and Alice, who live together and team up when they suspect sinister ghosts in their house who are not there for friendly reasons. This book sounds so good and I love a good historical fiction novel. The fact that this was written to be accessible for a younger audience is even better. I can’t wait to read it!

Another on the list is The Talented Miss Farwell by Emily Gray Tedrowe. Expected publication for this book is September 29. I won a copy of this in a Goodreads giveaway. In this story we are following a woman named Rebecca Farwell, a small town girl from Pierson Illinois, who starts buying and selling art. In a different city, a thousand miles away, Reba Farwell–as she’s known to those in the art business–has made a fortune by selling off her paintings. Rebecca/Reba’s art dealings have been fueled by money she’s taken from the town’s accounts. Will she be able to play the game much longer? I’m part-way through this book and so far it is kind of dull. It takes place from the early 1980s and goes through 2014. Right now I’m still in the late 1980s where she’s getting her foot in the door of art buying and selling, so about a quarter of the way through, but honestly all we are doing is following her mundane day-to-day life and seeing her pick out a painting and buy it. I’m hoping it picks up because as of now, it’s a struggle to get through. We shall see.

Next I’ll be reading Wicked Fox by Kat Cho. I’ll be doing this as a buddy read. This was published in June 2019 and the sequel is set for publication this month (August 18 2020). In this story we are following Miyoung, a gumiho, or nine-tailed fox who uses the energy of men in order to survive. Miyoung encounters Jihoon, a human male, and instead of devouring him, she saves him and thus a dangerous friendship arises. This causes her to lose her gumiho soul. When faced with the choice to regain her gumiho immortality, Miyoung is forced to decide whose life is more important: hers, or Jihoon’s. I’ve heard such good things about this book. I can’t wait to dig into this one. Fantasy isn’t typically my go-to genre but this sounds so good, I have to read it!

Another book I’ll be buddy reading is Dress Codes For Small Towns by Courtney C. Stevens. This book was published August 2017. In this book we’re following Billie McCaffrey, daughter of the town preacher, and just one of the guys. Living in the small southern town of Otters Holt, Billie knows people are used to conventional thinking. But Billie isn’t used to being conventional. We follow her as she comes to terms with her own sexuality when she realizes she may be in love with two of her best friends. I’ve started this book before but then put it aside for whatever reason and never picked it back up. I love the idea of this book, so I’m glad this buddy read will make me keep reading it. I hope the execution of the writing holds up to what I have pictured in my head!

So that’s my TBR for August. I’m hoping to read 8 books this month. It’s definitely not as much as I’ve read in past months but feels quite ambitious for a single mama whose 9-month old has just started crawling and is trying to start standing and learning to walk.

What is everyone reading? Any books y’all think I should check out? Have you read any of these?

Happy reading!

The Bad Muslim Discount by Syed M. Masood

I received a free e-ARC of this book thanks to Edelweiss and Doubleday Books in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are solely my own.

In this story we follow two characters and their families: Anvar and Safwa/Azza. Anvar is a Pakistani native who immigrates with his family to San Francisco in the 1990s. Safwa/Azza is living in Baghdad with her father and facing the fallout of the war until they also immigrate to San Francisco. We follow both characters from the 1990s through 2016 and see where their stories ultimately intertwine. 

Why I liked The Bad Muslim Discount

I really enjoyed this book and gave it a 5/5. I felt like the characters were developed very well. They were recognizable and we could see their thoughts, motives, and flaws. The way that Masood wrote them, I felt personally invested in their lives and wanted certain things to happen for them or to not happen. 

The Bad Muslim Discount covers so many important topics. Religion and what it means to be a “good” muslim is a key component of this book. Masood also includes the power of love, what it means to be true to yourself, family dynamics, the power of a community, and identity—both personal and collective.

One particularly poignant passage stood out to me (quote is from e-ARC and may change upon publication):

“‘America is still the most powerful nation in the world. So why are its people so terrified all the time?’

…

‘We live on stolen land,’ I finally said, ‘in a country built on slavery and reliant on the continued economic exploitation of other people. The oppressor always lives in fear of the oppressed. Americans have always been afraid, first of people native to this continent, then of black men, then of the innocent Japanese citizens they interned and now of Muslims and immigrants. So the real question, I think, is who is next?’”

I highly recommend The Bad Muslim Discount and urge you to read it. Syed M. Masood is writing amazing important books and you’ll be missing out if you don’t pick this up. Publication is set for November.

The Bad Muslim Discount by Syed M. Masood ARC

This Is How I Lied by Heather Gudenkauf

I won a free copy of This Is How I Lied by Heather Gudenkauf in a Goodreads giveaway. Special thanks to Bookclubbish for hosting the giveaway and the publisher Park Row. All opinions expressed are solely my own.

In this book we’re following Detective, Maggie Kennedy-O’Keefe, as she is the lead who is tasked with reinvestigating the 25-year cold case homicide of her best friend, Eve, when new evidence is found. As she digs deeper into the mystery of who killed her friend on that fateful night, she’s forced to remember the tragedy and confront some uncomfortable truths about herself and those closest to her.

I was excited to read this. The synopsis sounded so intriguing and I was ready for a suspenseful read that would keep me guessing. Unfortunately, the execution didn’t quite make it up to par. About halfway through the book it fell kind of flat for me and I had to force myself to finish it, which was disappointing since it started so strong. I ended up giving this book 2.75-3/5 stars.

There were several main characters that we are introduced to. The story is told in three different perspectives: Maggie, Nola, and Eve’s. Gudenkauf employed flashbacks as a tactic to help draw suspense and move the story along. The two main characters are Maggie and Nola. Nola is portrayed as a psychopath but I felt like it was over the top and a lot of parts didn’t add up or were just thrown in for the sake of trying to freak the reader out. Her character confused me. Maggie was Eve’s best friend and the lead detective on the case when it was re-opened. I didn’t find her character to be genuine and I wished Gudenkauf would have either committed to the unreliable narrator for her or made her more believable and made me want to care about her. There was a part in the story where someone says something to her and she attempts to protest and they argue and she just accepts what they’re saying. It felt extremely fake and I didn’t understand why she would roll-over and it made no sense and if the author wanted it to change the plot, I felt like her character needed to be different before that scene as it didn’t make sense just randomly being thrown in. 

Things about the crime were confusing. Without any spoilers, to say that the events and the ensuing case were shady is putting it mildly. The original case didn’t result in an arrest but whenever Maggie talked about her father, former head detective, working on the case, things seemed off. 

Overall, this book wasn’t terrible but it wasn’t the suspenseful novel that I was expecting. This was my first read by Gudenkauf so that was kind of a letdown, but I’m open to reading more from her in the future.