May 2019 Book Reviews and Recommendations

I’m in a bit of a rut with my reading recently. Nothing lately has caused me to think, “Wow, that was a fantastic book!”. I think I’m more disappointed because I’ve waited so long for some of these to come out or the hype was overinflated in my opinion. My four book reviews this month weren’t bad, and one I quite enjoyed, but I’m sorry to say no four or five-star recommendations.

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Queenie

At first, I had no idea why the book Queenie is on so many anticipated book lists or why people are so excited to read it. I was 75 percent of the way through and the book was awful.

A 25-year-old black British woman constantly makes terrible life decisions. She is super needy with her boyfriend as they are “taking a break”, frequently has sexual encounters that go into a bit of detail that I don’t find sexy, and she is slacking at her job. You just want to shake the main character and scream at her “get your life together”.

Then you learn about her night terrors, anxiety, and panic attacks. I have a hard time relating to these issues but the book helps me be a tad more sympathetic.

The last quarter of the book got so much better. Through her recovery and trying to improve her life, the reader starts to cheer for Queenie. It ends up being an interesting read, different from the typical books I would choose. Just keep reading and know that it does get better!

   

Modern Lovers

Modern Lovers is a story about adults friends from college who live on the same block and continue to be friends. They all used to be in a college band together until one member became famous with one of their songs but passed away at a young age. Now a production company is trying to get their life rights to make a movie and not everyone is on board.

In addition, the friends are going through marriage trials, career problems, and their teens are starting to hook up.

All in all, the story is not believable nor relatable. Too many outlandish things happen in a short amount of time. The back story is very implausible. I would skip it.

   

The Trespasser

I would definitely read another book by this author after reading The Trespasser. It’s a great book to read right before bed. Even though the story involves solving a mystery it’s not scary.

A female detective on the murder squad gets assigned to another domestic violence case but it may not be as cut and dried as usual. In fact, the case gets quite complicated. To make matters worse, she is feeling bullied at work for being the sole woman on the squad.

She is feeling pressure from the top to close this case as soon as possible. Will she follow her instincts? Can she trust her partner? I definitely would recommend this one.

   

Surprise Me

If you are looking for a simple, light-hearted read, Surprise Me is the book for you.

At first, the plot seems pretty pathetic. A couple sees a doctor who says they will have a really long life together and they both freak out about being a couple for that length of time.

To keep things interesting the husband and wife decide to plan surprises for one another. The surprises don’t work out as planned and now the husband seems very distant. Maybe the wife doesn’t know her spouse as well as she thinks.

Not a page-turner, but this book is a feel-good story if you are looking for something simple to read before bed or on a plane.

Need more book suggestions? Check my reviews from April!