What I Read in August & September 2022
Spoiler alert: a lot of must-read books!
This post has been sitting in my drafts for ages and I’m hitting publish before I’ve even finished adding all of “my thoughts”. The transition from summer to fall has been a doozy for our family and I’m navigating the best I can. I was so surprised that I read a total of 11 books in August (thank you audiobooks). That’s the most I’ve ever read in one month. It was also filled with a ton of books that were real standouts so if you don’t read any of my other reading recaps this year, make sure you take notes on this one!
You can keep up with my reviews in real time on Instagram.
I have the title of each below linked to Bookshop.org. If you choose to purchase through their site, I may make a small commission.
As always, thanks for your support of my blog!
Thank You For Listening by Julia Whelan
Goodreads Synopsis: For Sewanee Chester, being an audiobook narrator is a long way from her old dreams, but the days of being a star on film sets are long behind her. She’s found success and satisfaction from the inside of a sound booth and it allows her to care for her beloved, ailing grandmother. When she arrives in Las Vegas last-minute for a book convention, Sewanee unexpectedly spends a whirlwind night with a charming stranger.
On her return home, Sewanee discovers one of the world’s most beloved romance novelists wanted her to perform her last book—with Brock McNight, the industry’s hottest, most secretive voice. Sewanee doesn’t buy what romance novels are selling—not after her own dreams were tragically cut short—and she stopped narrating them years ago. But her admiration of the late author, and the opportunity to get her grandmother more help, makes her decision for her.
As Sewanee begins work on the book, resurrecting her old romance pseudonym, she and Brock forge a real connection, hidden behind the comfort of anonymity. Soon, she is dreaming again, but secrets are revealed, and the realities of life come crashing down around her once more.
If she can learn to risk everything for desires she has long buried, she will discover a world of intimacy and acceptance she never believed would be hers.
My Thoughts: All the stars! This book was pure perfection. If you only listen to one audiobook in 2022, it has to be Thank You for Listening. Julia Whelan is a genius and it's 100% necessary to listen to this book on audio for the full experience. I adored the witty banter between Swan and Nick. There was so much tension and vulnerability between the two of them. The behind-the-scenes looks at the book industry and audiobook narration as a career were eye-opening. I couldn't help but chuckle at Whelan almost poking fun at herself pushing the boundaries of what a romance novel vs. women's lit could be. At times Swan and Adaku's friendship felt a little toxic but their storyline felt resolved by the end of the story. I was surprised by some of the really heavy topics Whelan explored in this book. She drew upon her personal experience to write about how difficult it can be to watch a loved one die from dementia and the immense responsibility of being that person's caregiver. There were a lot of overlapping storylines but they worked together effortlessly and felt fully fleshed. Content warnings: traumatic accident, dementia, death of a family member, suicide attempt.
Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Goodreads Synoposis: Carrie Soto is fierce, and her determination to win at any cost has not made her popular. But by the time she retires from tennis, she is the best player the world has ever seen. She has shattered every record and claimed 20 Slam titles. And if you ask Carrie, she is entitled to every one. She sacrificed nearly everything to become the best, with her father as her coach. Javier - a former champion himself - has trained her since the age of two.
But six years after her retirement, Carrie finds herself sitting in the stands of the 1994 US Open, watching her record be taken from her by a brutal, stunning player named Nicki Chan.
At 37 years old, Carrie makes the monumental decision to come out of retirement and be coached by her father for one last year in an attempt to reclaim her record. Even if the sports media says that they never liked the “Battle-Axe” anyway. Even if her body doesn’t move as fast as it did. And even if it means swallowing her pride to train with a man she once almost opened her heart to: Bowe Huntley. Like her, he has something to prove before he gives up the game forever.
My Thoughts: Take this rating with a grain of salt. I'm finding Carrie Soto is Back impossible to rate appropriately. On one hand, the writing is INCREDIBLE. Only Taylor Jenkins Reid can completely immerse you in a fictional tennis championship and make you feel like you're right there sweating in the stands and gripping your seat anticipating Carrie's next swing of the racquet. On the other hand, it's a character study about a tennis star and the storyline did nothing for me as someone who doesn't have an interest in sports. I wish I would have known that there are some crossover characters from other TJR books so I do plan to go back and read Malibu Rising and Evelyn Hugo at some point. I highly recommend listening to this book on audio. The narration is perfect. I especially loved the sportscasters! It felt like listening to a movie (which I'd definitely watch if it goes to production). I’d like to point out some of the issues with TJR when it comes to own voices. I think this article sums up some of the problems with her writing and I think it’s important to keep these things in mind as a white reader. Thank you to Libro.fm and the publisher for the advance copy!
Adult Assembly Required by Abbi Waxman
Goodreads Synopsis: When Laura Costello moves to Los Angeles, trying to escape an overprotective family and the haunting memories of a terrible accident, she doesn’t expect to be homeless after a week. (She’s pretty sure she didn’t start that fire — right?) She also doesn't expect to find herself adopted by a rogue bookseller, installed in a lovely but completely illegal boardinghouse, or challenged to save a losing trivia team from ignominy… but that’s what happens. Add a regretful landlady, a gorgeous housemate and an ex-boyfriend determined to put himself back in the running and you’ll see why Laura isn’t really sure she’s cut out for this adulting thing. Luckily for her, her new friends Nina, Polly and Impossibly Handsome Bob aren't sure either, but maybe if they put their heads (and hearts) together they’ll be able to make it work for them.
My Thoughts: I love Abbi Waxman's writing and couldn't wait to get my hands on her newest release. I wish I had read The Bookish Life of Nina Hill before this because I didn't realize there would be an overlapping cast of characters. There were SO many characters in this book that at times I found myself getting a little confused trying to keep them all straight. At one point I swear the book makes fun of itself for having so many quirky characters that are somehow related to each other. The cast can't even make sense of the connections. The writer uses an omniscient POV which at times is disorienting. Adult Assembly Required was light on the romance. There are a couple of friends-to-lovers storylines going on but I didn't feel particularly drawn in by them. Laura and Bob seem really sweet and I think I might enjoy seeing more from them. I'd call this more of a women's fiction book due to the great female friendships. The friend group really supports each other, especially as they heal through various traumas. I really enjoyed this book while reading it but I don't think it will stick with me very long, hence the rating. Definitely pick this one up if you need a quick read to round out the summer! I'm planning to go back and read Nina Hill to compare.
A Special Place for Women by Laura Hankin
Goodreads Synopsis: It's a club like no other. Only the most important women receive an invitation. But one daring young reporter is about to infiltrate this female-run secret society, whose beguiling members are caught up in a dark and treacherous business.
For years, rumors have swirled about an exclusive, women-only social club where the elite tastemakers of NYC meet. People in the know whisper all sorts of claims: Membership dues cost $1,000 a month. Last time Rihanna was in town, she stopped by and got her aura read. The women even handpicked the city's first female mayor. But no one knows for sure.
That is, until journalist Jillian Beckley decides she's going to break into the club. With her career in freefall, Jillian needs a juicy scoop, and she has a personal interest in bringing these women down. But the deeper she gets into this new world--where billionaire "girlbosses" mingle with the astrology-obsessed--the more Jillian learns that bad things happen to those who dare to question the club's motives or giggle at its outlandish rituals.
The select group of women who populate the club may be far more powerful than she ever imagined. And far more dangerous too.
My Thoughts: This was a trip! Laura Hankin is excellent at writing satire and delivers with well-fleshed-out characters and scenery. The dialogue and narration are quick and witty. There were so many twists that took me by surprise and had me laughing out loud! Was A Special Place for Women a romance? Thriller? Mystery? I really appreciated this genre-bending book and it was a fun read. The whole time I was getting major Mean Girl meets Sabrina vibes from the exclusive women's-only social club in NYC. The more Jillian hangs out with Nevertheless, the more the lines between true sisterhood and her investigation are blurred. I'm officially ready for spooky season.
Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel
Goodreads Synopsis: Edwin St. Andrew is eighteen years old when he crosses the Atlantic by steamship, exiled from polite society following an ill-conceived diatribe at a dinner party. He enters the forest, spellbound by the beauty of the Canadian wilderness, and suddenly hears the notes of a violin echoing in an airship terminal—an experience that shocks him to his core.
Two centuries later a famous writer named Olive Llewellyn is on a book tour. She’s traveling all over Earth, but her home is the second moon colony, a place of white stone, spired towers, and artificial beauty. Within the text of Olive’s bestselling pandemic novel lies a strange passage: a man plays his violin for change in the echoing corridor of an airship terminal as the trees of a forest rise around him.
When Gaspery-Jacques Roberts, a detective in the black-skied Night City, is hired to investigate an anomaly in the North American wilderness, he uncovers a series of lives upended: The exiled son of an earl driven to madness, a writer trapped far from home as a pandemic ravages Earth, and a childhood friend from the Night City who, like Gaspery himself, has glimpsed the chance to do something extraordinary that will disrupt the timeline of the universe.
A virtuoso performance that is as human and tender as it is intellectually playful, Sea of Tranquility is a novel of time travel and metaphysics that precisely captures the reality of our current moment.
My Thoughts: Coming soon!
The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
Goodreads Synopsis: In the quiet village of Carriveau, Vianne Mauriac says goodbye to her husband, Antoine, as he heads for the Front. She doesn’t believe that the Nazis will invade France…but invade they do, in droves of marching soldiers, in caravans of trucks and tanks, in planes that fill the skies and drop bombs upon the innocent. When a German captain requisitions Vianne’s home, she and her daughter must live with the enemy or lose everything. Without food or money or hope, as danger escalates all around them, she is forced to make one impossible choice after another to keep her family alive.
Vianne’s sister, Isabelle, is a rebellious eighteen-year-old, searching for purpose with all the reckless passion of youth. While thousands of Parisians march into the unknown terrors of war, she meets Gaëtan, a partisan who believes the French can fight the Nazis from within France, and she falls in love as only the young can…completely. But when he betrays her, Isabelle joins the Resistance and never looks back, risking her life time and again to save others.
With courage, grace and powerful insight, bestselling author Kristin Hannah captures the epic panorama of World War II and illuminates an intimate part of history seldom seen: the women’s war. The Nightingale tells the stories of two sisters, separated by years and experience, by ideals, passion and circumstance, each embarking on her own dangerous path toward survival, love, and freedom in German-occupied, war-torn France—a heartbreakingly beautiful novel that celebrates the resilience of the human spirit and the durability of women. It is a novel for everyone, a novel for a lifetime.
My Thoughts: “But love has to be stronger than hate, or there is no future for us.”
I don't read a lot of historical fiction but when I do, I love it. It feels strange to call a book about WWII beautiful but The Nightingale was truly beautiful. Kristin Hannah's writing is heartbreaking. I listened to this on audio and it took me the first few chapters to get the main cast of characters straight. Once I did I couldn't put the story down. The ways that the author presented the contrast between sisters Vianne and Isabelle was such an interesting technique. Usually, I find myself invested in one storyline over another but that wasn't the case in The Nightingale. I didn't expect this book to explore the concept of love so heavily. As a mother, it made me question what role I might take on in a war and what difficult decisions and sacrifices I might be willing to make for my children. I feel like the last person to read this book so I'm not sure I bring much to the conversation. My only regret is not picking this book up sooner!
The Whole-Brain Child: 12 Revolutionary Strategies to Nurture Your Child's Developing Mind, Survive Everyday Parenting Struggles, and Help Your Family Thrive by Daniel J. Siegel and Tina Payne Bryson
Goodreads Synopsis: Your toddler throws a tantrum in the middle of a store. Your preschooler refuses to get dressed. Your fifth-grader sulks on the bench instead of playing on the field. Do children conspire to make their parents’ lives endlessly challenging? No—it’s just their developing brain calling the shots!
In this pioneering, practical book, Daniel J. Siegel, neuropsychiatrist and author of the bestselling Mindsight, and parenting expert Tina Payne Bryson demystify the meltdowns and aggravation, explaining the new science of how a child’s brain is wired and how it matures. The “upstairs brain,” which makes decisions and balances emotions, is under construction until the mid-twenties. And especially in young children, the right brain and its emotions tend to rule over the logic of the left brain. No wonder kids can seem—and feel—so out of control. By applying these discoveries to everyday parenting, you can turn any outburst, argument, or fear into a chance to integrate your child’s brain and foster vital growth. Raise calmer, happier children using twelve key strategies, including
• Name It to Tame It: Corral raging right-brain behavior through left-brain storytelling, appealing to the left brain’s affinity for words and reasoning to calm emotional storms and bodily tension.
• Engage, Don’t Enrage: Keep your child thinking and listening, instead of purely reacting.
• Move It or Lose It: Use physical activities to shift your child’s emotional state.
• Let the Clouds of Emotion Roll By: Guide your children when they are stuck on a negative emotion, and help them understand that feelings come and go.
• SIFT: Help children pay attention to the Sensations, Images, Feelings, and Thoughts within them so that they can make better decisions and be more flexible.
• Connect Through Conflict: Use discord to encourage empathy and greater social success.
Complete with clear explanations, age-appropriate strategies for dealing with day-to-day struggles, and illustrations that will help you explain these concepts to your child, The Whole-Brain Child shows you how to cultivate healthy emotional and intellectual development so that your children can lead balanced, meaningful, and connected lives.
My Thoughts: This is one of the best parenting books I've read and one I plan to recommend to all parents. The whole-brain approach to integrating the left and right sides of the brain while navigating emotions helped me better understand how my brain works, even as an adult. "As parents become more aware and emotionally healthy, their children reap the rewards and move toward health as well.” The book explains each concept and then provides examples of how to apply the technique in several real-life scenarios. The authors have further broken down how to apply strategies by age group. There are plenty of illustrations and a helpful refrigerator sheet at the end. I don't think there's anything in this book you haven't heard before but the way it is presented was extremely helpful to me.
Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear
Goodreads Synopsis: No matter your goals, Atomic Habits offers a proven framework for improving—every day. James Clear, one of the world's leading experts on habit formation, reveals practical strategies that will teach you exactly how to form good habits, break bad ones, and master the tiny behaviors that lead to remarkable results.
If you're having trouble changing your habits, the problem isn't you. The problem is your system. Bad habits repeat themselves again and again not because you don't want to change, but because you have the wrong system for change. You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems. Here, you'll get a proven system that can take you to new heights.
Clear is known for his ability to distill complex topics into simple behaviors that can be easily applied to daily life and work. Here, he draws on the most proven ideas from biology, psychology, and neuroscience to create an easy-to-understand guide for making good habits inevitable and bad habits impossible. Along the way, readers will be inspired and entertained with true stories from Olympic gold medalists, award-winning artists, business leaders, life-saving physicians, and star comedians who have used the science of small habits to master their craft and vault to the top of their field.
Learn how to:
- Make time for new habits (even when life gets crazy);
- Overcome a lack of motivation and willpower;
- Design your environment to make success easier;
- Get back on track when you fall off course;
...and much more.
Atomic Habits will reshape the way you think about progress and success, and give you the tools and strategies you need to transform your habits--whether you are a team looking to win a championship, an organization hoping to redefine an industry, or simply an individual who wishes to quit smoking, lose weight, reduce stress, or achieve any other goal.
My Thoughts: Coming soon!
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
Goodreads Synopsis: An audacious, darkly glittering novel set in the eerie days of civilization’s collapse, Station Eleven tells the spellbinding story of a Hollywood star, his would-be savior, and a nomadic group of actors roaming the scattered outposts of the Great Lakes region, risking everything for art and humanity.
One snowy night Arthur Leander, a famous actor, has a heart attack onstage during a production of King Lear. Jeevan Chaudhary, a paparazzo-turned-EMT, is in the audience and leaps to his aid. A child actress named Kirsten Raymonde watches in horror as Jeevan performs CPR, pumping Arthur’s chest as the curtain drops, but Arthur is dead. That same night, as Jeevan walks home from the theater, a terrible flu begins to spread. Hospitals are flooded and Jeevan and his brother barricade themselves inside an apartment, watching out the window as cars clog the highways, gunshots ring out, and life disintegrates around them.
Fifteen years later, Kirsten is an actress with the Traveling Symphony. Together, this small troupe moves between the settlements of an altered world, performing Shakespeare and music for scattered communities of survivors. Written on their caravan, and tattooed on Kirsten’s arm is a line from Star Trek: “Because survival is insufficient.” But when they arrive in St. Deborah by the Water, they encounter a violent prophet who digs graves for anyone who dares to leave.
Spanning decades, moving back and forth in time, and vividly depicting life before and after the pandemic, this suspenseful, elegiac novel is rife with beauty. As Arthur falls in and out of love, as Jeevan watches the newscasters say their final good-byes, and as Kirsten finds herself caught in the crosshairs of the prophet, we see the strange twists of fate that connect them all. A novel of art, memory, and ambition, Station Eleven tells a story about the relationships that sustain us, the ephemeral nature of fame, and the beauty of the world as we know it.
My Thoughts: First of all, the setting was an absolutely bizarre reading experience for me because it’s set around the Great Lakes of Michigan and even mentions my mom’s teeny tiny hometown by name. I’m still not over it. I’ve spent a lot of time wracking my brain to see if my memories of these places line up with post-apocalyptic descriptions. The world-building is important to the story because the path the traveling symphony takes is critical to the way the characters and timelines are interconnected.
The way characters are connected is so smart and detailed. She always gets it right. It seems effortless in her writing. What's ironic is that it's the same sort of details that are hard for me to keep straight, especially with minor characters.
I found myself waiting for a big reveal or twist in the plot that never came but the book is more of a character study. You do eventually get a big reveal of the Prophet but it was anti-climatic because I felt like it was foreshadowed throughout much of the book. Honestly, I'm surprised Emily isn’t the prophet herself because how did she write this in 2014?
Like in her other books, I enjoyed the alternating timeline/POV aspect. It felt a little long and heavy in the middle.
I'm so eager to watch the TV show now! Read Station Eleven if you enjoy shows like the Walking Dead. There are no zombies but it explores similar themes, especially community and the individual choices we make for the sake of humanity.
Four Aunties and a Wedding by Jesse Q. Sutanto
Goodreads Synopsis: Meddy Chan has been to countless weddings, but she never imagined how her own would turn out. Now the day has arrived, and she can't wait to marry her college sweetheart, Nathan. Instead of having Ma and the aunts cater to her wedding, Meddy wants them to enjoy the day as guests. As a compromise, they find the perfect wedding vendors: a Chinese-Indonesian family-run company just like theirs. Meddy is hesitant at first, but she hits it off right away with the wedding photographer, Staphanie, who reminds Meddy of herself, down to the unfortunately misspelled name.
Meddy realizes that is where their similarities end, however, when she overhears Staphanie talking about taking out a target. Horrified, Meddy can't believe Staphanie and her family aren't just like her own, they are The Family--actual mafia, and they're using Meddy's wedding as a chance to conduct shady business. Her aunties and mother won't let Meddy's wedding ceremony become a murder scene--over their dead bodies--and will do whatever it takes to save her special day, even if it means taking on the mafia.
My Thoughts: I loved Dial A for Aunties so it pains me to admit this but Four Aunties and a Wedding just didn’t do it for me. I was bored halfway through but persevered. I think the auntie’s antics were just a little too over the top this time. It was funny and captivating in the first book but I was expecting to feel more from Meddy and Nathan. The wedding seemed rushed through and I think the author really missed an opportunity to expand on Nathan and Meddy’s cultural differences. I’m not sure I’ll pick up a 3rd Aunties book but I’m on the lookout for more funny murder mysteries along the lines of this series and the Finlay Donovan series to read in the future!
Hester by Laurie Lico Albanese
Goodreads Synopsis: Isobel Gamble is a young seamstress carrying generations of secrets when she sets sail from Scotland in the early 1800s with her husband, Edward. An apothecary who has fallen under the spell of opium, his pile of debts have forced them to flee Edinburgh for a fresh start in the New World. But only days after they've arrived in Salem, Edward abruptly joins a departing ship as a medic––leaving Isobel penniless and alone in a strange country, forced to make her way by any means possible.
When she meets a young Nathaniel Hawthorne, the two are instantly drawn to each other: he is a man haunted by his ancestors, who sent innocent women to the gallows––while she is an unusually gifted needleworker, troubled by her own strange talents. As the weeks pass and Edward's safe return grows increasingly unlikely, Nathaniel and Isobel grow closer and closer. Together, they are a muse and a dark storyteller; the enchanter and the enchanted. But which is which?
In this sensuous and hypnotizing tale, a young immigrant woman grapples with our country's complicated past, and learns that America's ideas of freedom and liberty often fall short of their promise. Interwoven with Isobel and Nathaniel's story is a vivid interrogation of who gets to be a "real" American in the first half of the 19th century, a depiction of the early days of the Underground Railroad in New England, and atmospheric interstitials that capture the long history of "unusual" women being accused of witchcraft. Meticulously researched yet evocatively imagined, Hester is a timeless tale of art, ambition, and desire that examines the roots of female creative power and the men who try to shut it down.
My Thoughts: This retelling of The Scarlett Letter is one of the few books this year that I couldn’t put down. The author gives life to “Hester” (a character inspired by Isobel) and Nathaniel Hawthorne prior to the publishing of his novel The Scarlett Letter. The chapters alternate between two timelines so that you hear the story of Isobel’s ancestors and get a richer sense of the history of the Salem witch trials.
The way that Albanese takes themes and plot lines from the original book and transforms them is magic itself. Isobel feels so much shame from failed relationships and a forbidden pregnancy yet her strength is in her ability to persevere and create a new life for herself in Salem. Isobel has synesthesia, a condition that weaves its way into her work. While she initially tries to hide her colors in shame, she comes to realize the power that they hold. Unlike in The Scarlett Letter, you see more of a passionate love story unfold. I was particularly struck by some of the female friendships, especially Isobel’s friendship with Mercy. The way the two women support and empower each other in the story gives hope for the future.
The writing in Hester is absolutely captivating. If you’re a fan of classic literature, historical fiction, and feminism, please pick up this book this Fall! Hester is out on October 4th. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the advance reader’s copy.
The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston
Goodreads Synopsis: Florence Day is the ghostwriter for one of the most prolific romance authors in the industry, and she has a problem—after a terrible breakup, she no longer believes in love. It’s as good as dead.
When her new editor, a too-handsome mountain of a man, won’t give her an extension on her book deadline, Florence prepares to kiss her career goodbye. But then she gets a phone call she never wanted to receive, and she must return home for the first time in a decade to help her family bury her beloved father.
For ten years, she’s run from the town that never understood her, and even though she misses the sound of a warm Southern night and her eccentric, loving family and their funeral parlor, she can’t bring herself to stay. Even with her father gone, it feels like nothing in this town has changed. And she hates it.
Until she finds a ghost standing at the funeral parlor’s front door, just as broad and infuriatingly handsome as ever, and he’s just as confused about why he’s there as she is.
Romance is most certainly dead... but so is her new editor, and his unfinished business will have her second-guessing everything she’s ever known about love stories.
My Thoughts: The beginning of The Dead Romantics deals heavily with grief which caught me off-guard for what I assumed was a contemporary romance novel. The romance really takes off after the first half of the book and it’s a bit unconventional (ghosts are involved so be prepared for paranormal romance vibes) yet it works. The story deals heavily with family dynamics in the workplace - Florence's family owns a funeral home, and seeing ghosts is hereditary (it almost seems the ability was transferred as the result of a certain death). Florence’s relationship with her dad reminded me of the movie Casper. The story is overflowing with quick-witted humor and pop culture references, especially to current best-seller romance books. Along the same lines, there are tons of pun-ny references to death like Florence saying at one point that something will haunt her. The writing and certain tropes remind me a lot of Emily Henry's latest book Book Lovers and Julia Whelan's book Thank You For Listening. I loved that the story was set both in NYC and in the Southeast and enjoyed hearing about towns I was familiar with in NC and SC. Overall The Dead Romantics was quirky and unexpectedly heartwarming. A must-listen on audio!
Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb
Goodreads Synopsis: One day, Lori Gottlieb is a therapist who helps patients in her Los Angeles practice. The next, a crisis causes her world to come crashing down. Enter Wendell, the quirky but seasoned therapist in whose office she suddenly lands. With his balding head, cardigan, and khakis, he seems to have come straight from Therapist Central Casting. Yet he will turn out to be anything but.
As Gottlieb explores the inner chambers of her patients' lives -- a self-absorbed Hollywood producer, a young newlywed diagnosed with a terminal illness, a senior citizen threatening to end her life on her birthday if nothing gets better, and a twenty-something who can't stop hooking up with the wrong guys -- she finds that the questions they are struggling with are the very ones she is now bringing to Wendell.
With startling wisdom and humor, Gottlieb invites us into her world as both clinician and patient, examining the truths and fictions we tell ourselves and others as we teeter on the tightrope between love and desire, meaning and mortality, guilt and redemption, terror and courage, hope and change.
Maybe You Should Talk to Someone is revolutionary in its candor, offering a deeply personal yet universal tour of our hearts and minds and providing the rarest of gifts: a boldly revealing portrait of what it means to be human, and a disarmingly funny and illuminating account of our own mysterious lives and our power to transform them.
My Thoughts: Coming soon!
These Witches Don’t Burn by Isabel Sterling
Goodreads Synopsis: Hannah's a witch, but not the kind you're thinking of. She's the real deal, an Elemental with the power to control fire, earth, water, and air. But even though she lives in Salem, Massachusetts, her magic is a secret she has to keep to herself. If she's ever caught using it in front of a Reg (read: non-witch), she could lose it. For good. So, Hannah spends most of her time avoiding her ex-girlfriend (and fellow Elemental Witch) Veronica, hanging out with her best friend, and working at the Fly by Night Cauldron selling candles and crystals to tourists, goths, and local Wiccans.
But dealing with her ex is the least of Hannah's concerns when a terrifying blood ritual interrupts the end-of-school-year bonfire. Evidence of dark magic begins to appear all over Salem, and Hannah's sure it's the work of a deadly Blood Witch. The issue is, her coven is less than convinced, forcing Hannah to team up with the last person she wants to see: Veronica.
While the pair attempt to smoke out the Blood Witch at a house party, Hannah meets Morgan, a cute new ballerina in town. But trying to date amid a supernatural crisis is easier said than done, and Hannah will have to test the limits of her power if she's going to save her coven and get the girl, especially when the attacks on Salem's witches become deadlier by the day.