“I hope you aren’t afraid of ghosts.”
I first heard about Watch Over Me by Nina LaCour during Penguin Teen Canada’s fall preview event this past summer. I’ve heard so many wonderful things about Nina LaCour’s books from friends, but I’ve never actually read one . . . until now. The way this book was described—a beautiful story full of ghosts and grief—piqued my interested a lot, and I knew I needed to read it.
If you’re looking for a domestic thriller to read this summer, I highly suggest getting your hands on a copy of The Swap by Robyn Harding. She has easily become one of my favourite thriller writers and I was so excited to read this book. Needless to say, it did not disappoint!
Friends, it’s happened again. I recently read another book that I loved so much I’m having a hard time finding the words to describe it. I wasn’t too sure what to expect from The Subtweet by Vivek Shraya, but it exceeded all of my expectations. It was incredibly smart, well-written, and made me think a lot, even days after finishing it.
“Some people think I made JerkAlert as part of a malicious, premeditated scheme to humiliate men at large. But in truth, it was just a gut reaction to the futility of the status quo. I’d had a few really bad days, featuring a few really bad dudes. So I did what any disgruntled coder would do: I created an anonymous website where women could rate their dating experiences with the guys they met on Fluttr. Kind of like Yelp, but instead of reviewing restaurants or nail salons, you reviewed your dates.”
Small towns always seem so nice and quaint—I know, I grew up in one—but sometimes, the more time you spend in one, the more you realize how some things just don’t seem right. This is exactly true for Littleport, the coastal town where Megan Miranda’s latest thriller, The Last House Guest, takes place.
Alright friends, I did it again. I judged a book by its cover and decided to read The Paper Wasp by Lauren Acampora because I thought the artwork was absolutely beautiful. I finished this debut novel last week and am still thinking about it, which to me, is the mark of a good book.
“At first, they blamed the air. It’s an old idea, a poison by the ether, a danger carried by the wind.”
The Dreamers by Karen Thompson Walker is unlike anything I’ve read before. It’s beautifully written, but the story is tragic. It’s a book where so much yet so little happens. You meet characters and see them experience some of the best and worst that life has to offer, yet you barely come to know them at all. This book is magical, but it is not for everyone.
Gail Honeyman’s debut novel, Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, has been the best book I’ve read so far this summer. No joke. This is a book I would never have picked for myself, but it came in my July box from Novel Editions, so I gave it a go, and now I can’t thank Alex (the founder/curator of Novel Editions) enough for sharing such a wonderful story.
Growing up, I would always get excited to read in the summer. School would be finished, and I would have so much time to spend with my books. Now, as a twenty-something trying to find the perfect work-life balance, reading in the summer just isn’t as exciting; I no longer have more time to spend reading. Instead, I have the same amount of time, but less desire to do so, because I’d rather sit on a patio with a pitcher of sangria and talk to my pals. Finding good books to grab my attention in the summer is now a challenge, but so far I’ve been lucky enough to find two.
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