Always With a Book

Month in Review: August 2023

 

How is it already September? Four months left in the year…and it will go by in a flash, right? It was a good month, busy and filled with lots of great reads! I managed to balance it pretty well with review books, some backlist review books and a few from my own shelf. And of course, I still seem to be leaning heavily on audiobooks to get through the bulk of the month – that just seems to work for me right now.

One of my goals in September is to get back on track with my reviews. I seem to have gotten way behind. I need to get a better system in place for this…that’s what I plan on working on this month. We’ll see how that goes!

 

READING STATS:

  • Read this month: 28
  • Year to date: 194

 

  1. The Trap — Catherine Ryan Howard (audio book)
  2. Dark Corners — Megan Goldin (audio book)
  3. The Woman With the Cure — Lynn Cullen (audio book)
  4. The Bone Hacker — Kathy Reichs (audio book)
  5. Small Town Sins — Ken Jaworowski
  6. After That Night — Karin Slaughter (audio book)
  7. The Block Party — Jamie Day
  8. Dead and Gone — Joanna Schaffhausen
  9. The Last One — Will Dean
  10. The Great Transition — Nick Fuller Googins (audio/print)
  11. Tom Lake — Ann Patchett (audio book)
  12. The Anatomy of Desire — L.R. Dorn (audio book)
  13. The Trade Off — Sandie Jones
  14. Beneath the Surface — Kaira Rouda (e-book)
  15. Chloe Cates is Missing — Mandy McHugh (audio book)
  16. The Last Housewife — Ashley Winstead (audio book)
  17. Trail of the Lost — Andrea Lankford (audio book)
  18. Little Souls — Sandra Dallas (audio book)
  19. Mother-Daughter Murder Night — Nina Simon (e-book)
  20. Gone Tonight — Sarak Pekkanen
  21. The Seven Doors — Agnes Ravatn
  22. The Girl in the Eagle’s Talons — Karin Smirnoff (audio book)
  23. The Spider — Lars Kepler
  24. Dark August — Katie Tallo
  25. Good Bad Girl — Alice Feeney
  26. The Killing Room — Robert Swartwood (audio book)
  27. In the Clearing — J.P. Pomare (audio book)
  28. The Spectacular — Fiona Davis (audio book)

 

MY TOP 5 OF AUGUST: 

***I saw this on a friend’s blog and really liked it, so I’m adding it to my monthly wrap-ups.

  1. Favorite book(s) of August – these books are the ones I absolutely loved and will be recommending to everyone. They will be staying on my shelf and might even be rereads at some point in the future.
    • The Trap
    • Small Town Sins
    • The Great Transition
    • The Last Housewife
    • Good Bad Girl
  2. Biggest Surprise of August: How much I ended up enjoying The Killing Room. If I were to base it just on the cover, I would have never picked this one up but luckily I went on the author, who also writes as Avery Bishop, who I love!
  3. Biggest Disappointment of August: Nothing…I had a great month reading-wise.
  4. Favorite Part of Month – I attended the launch for my sweet friend, Sara DiVello’s book, Broadway Butterfly, and it was such a fun night. She was in conversation with author Jean Kwok and it was such a fascinating discussion. This book was a favorite of mine in July and will certainly make my top reads of the year.
  5. 5 Books I’m most looking forward to reading next month:
    • Happiness Falls by Angie Kim – This is this month’s Good Morning America book club pick and I’m reading along! Out 8/29
    • The River We Remember by William Kent Krueger – This Tender Land was one of my favorite books and made me an instant fan of WKK. As soon as I heard he had another stand-alone coming out, I immediately requested it! Out 9/5
    • Reykjavik by Ragnar Jonasson, Katrin Jakobsdottir – I’m a huge fan of Ragnar Jonasson and this time he has co-written a crime fiction novel with the Icelandic Prime Minister…I’m so excited for this!  Out 9/5
    • After That Night by Karin Slaughter – This is the next installment in the Will Trent series and I am so excited for this one! I spent this past year making my way through this series so that I was ready for this one and I am!!!  Out 8/22
    • The Museum of Failures by Thrity Umrigar – An immersive story about family secrets and the power of forgiveness – this is right up my alley!  Out 9/26
    • These Still Black Waters by Christina McDonald – I am a huge Christina McDonald fan and this is the start of a new series.   Out 10/1

 

So tell me, what was your favorite read of the month? What are you looking forward to reading in September?

 

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