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| Jonah reading |
So, without further ado, here's what I read during my week on Cape Cod in August 2018!
The Sweetness of Forgetting by Kristin Harmel - This novel is about a divorced mom running her family’s bakery on Cape Cod with a grandmother suffering from Alzheimer’s who suddenly sends her on a journey of discovering a number of family secrets. I had read and enjoyed several Kristin Harmel chick lit novels many years ago but for whatever reason hadn’t kept with her writing. All I saw about this one before I decided to read it was the Cape Cod aspect - since I was on vacation on Cape Cod, seemed appropriate! So I actually thought this book would be a little lighter than it was, and was surprised to discover that this book had a historical aspect as well, as we learn the grandmother’s history, primarily fleeing Europe during WWII. I’ve read quite a bit of WWII fiction so there were certainly some familiar things (a few elements were reminiscent of “Sarah’s Key” and “The Lost Wife”) but there were some new and interesting bits too. Interestingly, I wouldn’t call this book a historical novel as there aren’t really any parts actually set in the past; rather the historical elements are basically told through the reminiscing of several characters. I actually think this would have been an even better book if the author had more full embraced the historical aspect and gone with a dual period narrative. But I definitely enjoyed it nonetheless. I’d give this one 3.75 stars, and will definitely check out the other books by the author that I have missed.
Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake - This is a young adult fantasy novel with a cool sounding premise but rather dull execution. It’s set in a kingdom where in each generation the queen gives birth to triplet daughters, each with their own different kind of magical powers, and then between their 16th and 17th birthday, one of them must kill her other 2 sisters to ascend to the throne. Unfortunately the book is basically all set up and nothing much really happens until a literal last minute twist. Read this one simultaneously with Allison during our vacation, but unfortunately neither of us liked it; she referred to it as “Three Dark Boring” which is pretty apt. I would give this one 2 stars and probably won't continue the series.
The Royal We by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan - Now this was a great vacation read - loved this book! It's a novel about an American college student named Bex who is spending a semester abroad in England, who becomes friends with then falls in love with Prince Nick, part of this book’s fictitious version of the British royal family. This was an absolutely perfect vacation read, light and fun and couldn’t put it down - but also with more depth and substance than that description might make you think. The characters were great - I loved Bex, but there were also a ton of supporting characters who really came to life too. And there were good emotional moments, as well as some interesting stuff about the nature of celebrity and life in the public eye. 4.5 stars. I highly recommend this one for your next vacation, or any other time you're looking for a light and fun read with depth!
I also started The Forgotten Room by Karen White, Lauren Willig, and Beatriz Williams, but didn't finish it. It's a historical novel taking place in three different time periods (I'm assuming one written by each author) - 1892, 1920, and 1944. Beatriz Williams and Lauren Willig are two authors I love, and I've read a few by Karen White as well. And you all know I love historical fiction with multiple time periods. However, maybe there's a reason such books usually stick with two time periods, as the 3 periods seem to be just enough to occasionally make it confusing for me, especially because there are some intentional (I think) similarities between the different time periods. And the connection between the characters is pretty obvious; hopefully that was intentional too. So, so far it's pretty good but not amazing.
On this trip, Dan read "Silo" by Hugh Howey, the third book in a trilogy. He started the trilogy during our weekend away earlier this summer, and he liked it enough that he actually read the second book between vacations, which is somewhat unusual for him. After that, he read "The Wrong Stars" by Tim Pratt, a science fiction book which I haven't read. He then started another Hugh Howey book, "Beacon 23."
As you know, Allison read "Three Dark Crowns" along with me. She also read "Paper and Fire" by Rachel Caine, the second book in a series I've been meaning to read but haven't gotten around to yet, and she started the science fiction classic "Dune" by Frank Herbert.
Jonah is not as passionate a reader as the rest of us, but he has definitely gotten more into reading in the last few years, which certainly helps me get reading done on vacation! He was very excited to create his own Goodreads profile while we were away. He read "Stranded" by Jeff Probst and Chris Tebbets; the 9th book in the How To Train Your Dragon series, "How to Steal a Dragon's Sword," by Cressida Cowell; and the 12th Diary of a Wimpy Kid book, "Getaway," by Jeff Kinney. He also started but did not finish "I Funny" by James Patterson and Chris Grabenstein.
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