Whenever I get anxious I turn to books. Now that August has arrived I’m starting to have a little anxiety about September and what exactly this fall and winter are going to look like. I’ve been reading a ton but not all the books have lived up to their popularity. Read my book reviews below to see if there are any titles you might want to add to your must-read list.

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Wild Women and the Blues

Wild Women and the Blues could have been great, it wasn’t.  The whole story felt very disjointed and even confusing at times.  Also, I didn’t feel emotionally connected to any of the characters. 

It’s the 1920s and an African-American dancer finally gets an audition at a black and tan club hoping to be able to leave her current gig. All of a sudden, her long-lost love shows up out of nowhere and has a lot of secrets.

In the present time, a man is trying to finish his documentary film and interviews a former dancer who is now over the age of 100. He’s hopeful that she’ll provide the answers he needs for his film before she passes away.

The two storylines definitely intersect at the end of the book but I was left wanting answers that were never given and the ending seemed odd.  Overall, the story was an interesting concept, I just didn’t like how it was written.

The Rose Code

I typically love historical fiction but of all the WWII books I’ve read I thought The Rose Code moved a little slow.  To be honest, the best part of the book was the author’s note at the end describing which parts of the story were based on actual events and people.  I definitely would recommend reading her other book, The Alice Network, instead. This novel took me forever to get through. Once again, I felt zero connection to the characters and didn’t really care what happened to them.

Three women end up working at a mansion in the English countryside doing top-secret code-breaking work. They are not allowed to speak to anyone including each other about their work. This large production of code-breaking and translating was immensely helpful to the war effort but little credit was given to these workers until recently because of the secrecy surrounding their jobs.

One of the women is a wealthy debutante whose father has died, has a distant mother, and is dating Prince Philip. One of the other girls is from a poor background, very tall, and looking for a nice man to start a family with. Finally, the third woman was brought up to believe she was slow and would be a spinster living with her needy mother. When in reality, she’s actually a genius. After a few years, specific events tear the trio apart for a long time until one of the women needs the other two more than ever.

The book provided interesting history and events but for whatever reason left me wanting.

The Perfect Couple

This was not my favorite book by this author but The Perfect Couple would make an okay beach read as it is set in Nantucket. My biggest issue with this one is how incredibly unbelievable the story is. 

The maid of honor ends up dead the morning of the wedding washed up on the beach. A local cop and detective start interviewing the families, guests, and workers. The story ends up giving background on many relationships including that of the bride and groom.

It should be mentioned that the mother of the groom is a famous author known for her murder mysteries. There are a lot of characters with interesting backgrounds in this story it’s just totally unbelievable.

An easy whodunit read that’s not scary if that is the type of book you are interested in.

Molly’s Game

I loved reading Molly’s Game, I found it hard to put down.  I know I watched the movie a couple of years ago and it didn’t leave a huge impression on me. Now I may need to watch the movie again because the book is fantastic. 

The book starts by giving a little background on how Molly grew up with incredibly successful brothers and describes how she wanted to be special too – she was, but not enough in her own eyes. 

She ends up taking time off from college to live in LA. Then a waitressing job leads her to hook up with people who ultimately introduce her to underground poker games.

Molly creates her own game full of celebrities, wealthy people, athletes, etc. She smartly brings in pretty girls, serves drinks, and runs an upscale poker game.  Molly keeps it legal because the players only tip her.

When things start going south for her game in LA she moves to New York and makes her game even bigger and better.  Molly has a few romances along the way, name drops celebrities, and explains her ultimate downfall but the legal stuff is just the tiny part at the end. 

The majority of the book is from when she starts the game, to gaining fame and fortune, to eventually the wrong turns she made. I absolutely enjoyed the whole thing. Surprisingly, my book club didn’t love it as much as I did. I think they were very put off by her attitude at times.

Check out my book reviews from July for more recommendations!