There were a couple of highs this month, but overall not the best reading month. Recaps below:
Lady Tremaine - Rachel Hochhauser - fiction - five stars - This is a reimagining of the Cinderella story from the persepctive of the evil stepmother. I really enjoed this. First off the stepmother is not evil, and the prince is not a prince. I had a bit of an issue with Cinderella/Elin who was so annoying and unlikeable until the very end. I feel like the author overdid it a bit there, but besides that I really enjoyed hearing about Lady Tremaine's background and seeing her struggles. I also liked that the book kept me guessing a bit. There were a few places where I felt like I knew where the story was going and those things didn't happen. Strong read.
The Program: Inside the Mind of Keith Raniere and the Rise and Fall of NXIVM - Toni Natalie - memoir - four stars - This was my audiobook of the month. Natalie became involved with Raniere before NXIVM was a thing, back when he was running a simple multi-level marketing scheme. She upended her life, left her husband, and they became a family, or so she thought. When NXIVM began, she continued to be involved, but eventually left. Thus began years of harassment and law suits that did not end until years later when Raniere was convicted. It was interesting to listen to how Raniere's schemes evolved and grew, and how he dealt with those who left.
This Is Not About Us - Allegra Goodman - three stars - The story starts with the death of Sylvia and Helen's sister. In the aftermath, a very trivial slight is blown out of proportion, and the sisters basically refuse to interact with one another from that point forward. Each chapter of the book is told from the viewpoint of a different person in the family. In that sense, some of the chapters I really enjoyed, others were just so so. It was an interesting way to write a book/tell a story, but at the end of the day, this book left me wanting in terms of estrangement between the sisters. Just OK.
A Fortune of Sand - Ruta Sepetys - historical fiction - three stars - This was another book that was disappointing because I always have such high expectation of the author. The story is about Marjorie Lennox, youngest daughter of a wealthy Detroit family involved in the auto industry. The family is just a mess. In the midst of this, Marjorie is accepted into an atistic fellowship which will allow here to explore her passion for fashion design. Turns out that the fellowship is not all that it seems, and her family is even more messed up than she thinks. This was another book where the plot did not feel fully fleshed out. It was a bit of a jumble, and could have done with some editing. I thought that the story was both outlandish and trite.
Seek Immediate Shelter - Vincent Yu - two stars - This was a weird one for me. The premise was interesting. An emergency announcement goes out about an immediate missile threat and that everyone should take shelter. Each chapter in the book follows the reaction and aftermath from the perspective of different individuals who are all tangentially related. Some of the chapters/stories were stronger than others, but overall I found only one who I actually liked. The rest I was just not a fan of as characters which really colored the book for me.
The Calamity Club - Kathryn Stockett - fiction - five stars - Loved this one. Set during the Great Depression, it follows the stories of Birdie, who is dispatched to her sister Frannie's home. Frannie married up, and Birdie's mother and grandmother are in desperate straits. They owe back taxes on their home and are sending Birdie to ask Frannie for a loan. Meg's mother went out to get something just before Christmas a couple years ago and never came back. She's been stuck in an orphan home since then, and it's a pretty miserable experience. The woman in charge of the orphanage seems to have singled her out for 'special' treatment. Birdie befriends Meg when volunteering at the orphanage during her visit, and the two form a bond. When Meg's mother Charlier reappears, and Frannie's life starts to fall apart, schemes are hatched to get everyone out of the jam that they are in. Such a good read, the characters are really wonderful, and I loved how this all came together.
The Queen's Coronation - Jennifer Ryan - historical fiction - three stars - I generally really love Ryan's books, so this one was a bit of a disappointment. It follows several women working for the royal family in the lead-up to the coronation of Elizabeth II. Themes of friendship, loss, betrayal, etc. In general, I felt like the characters were a bit thin and the plot under developed. It was OK, but left me wanting.
The Sunset Years of Agnes Sharp (Miss Sharp Investigates, #1) - Leonie Swann - detective - two stars - Agnes Sharp runs a sort of a commune with a bunch of old folks living in her home. It's almost like a retirement home run by the retirees. When one of them turns up dead, and then two other elderly in the nearby town do as well, the police think there might be a serial killer targeting seniors on the loose. A murder mystery involving a bunch of quirky old people sounded like fun, but it really wasn't. The quirky old people were just too quirky I guess. I thought the plot didn't move quickly enough, and was very predictable. This is the first in a series, and I'm definitely not planning to read any more of these.
My favorite this month was The Calamity Club, least favorite is really a toss-up between Seek Immediate Shelter and Agnes Sharp. Both were equally bad, don't read those. So far July is looking up though. I hope to have better news/reviews for you next month. Please share what you guys have been reading!
