August 2025 Book Reviews!
- Christine
- Sep 2
- 17 min read
Can you believe we're winding down summer? When you live in South Carolina, the summer lasts a little longer than it does other places. But, it still always feels like once Labor Day Weekend is over and football has started up, that fall is here.
After a few road trips earlier this summer, we're settling in for a month or so before one more big trip this fall (more on that in a feature blog post). And now that the lanai is finally finished and our house is back in order, it's time to spend some nice evenings out on the lanai listening to the frogs and reading a good book.
As always, you can keep up with what I'm reading "real time" by following me on Goodreads or The Story Graph. Send me a friend request so we can follow each other!
Hope you enjoy these last few lazy days of summer and happy reading!
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The Anything Room: A Story of Love & Magic by Lonnie Busch
If you could spend more time with someone you love who had died, would you? That's the fundamental question and theme of this book. Martin's wife, Noreen, died tragically many years ago and left him to raise their son, Kenny, alone. Now Kenny is grown and has his own life in New Jersey, and Martin has finally met someone new - Janelle. Martin has also moved out of the home that he and Noreen bought when they first got married, and finds himself in this small bungalow which seems to have some hidden secrets and a mysterious previous owner who was a magician named Falco.
When Martin discovers that a door in his new bungalow leads to some sort of unexplainable portal where he can once again be with Noreen, Martin goes down a dangerous path that threatens to put him in a position to lose everything in his "real" life.
I thought the concept for this book was extremely intriguing and interesting. My problem with the book is that it got way too complex. There are multiple story lines going on with Martin, with Kenny and his new wife, with Kenny and Janelle's daughter, with Janelle's daughter and ex-husband, with Falco and his girlfriend who had been killed, etc. You get the picture - there is a lot going on! Because of that, I feel like the story just never gets cohesive. Just when you think it's focused on one story, it jumps to another. And then yet another pops up out of nowhere. I feel like the author should have focused on just two of the storylines and dedicated his focus to that.
An interesting and enjoyable book that could have benefitted from some story editing.
I received an advance review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Three out of five stars.
Fortunate Son (Emma Noble Series, Book 1) by Andrew Bridgeman
Ben Danvers is living an ordinary life. He was raised by his mother and stepfather in Vermont and now lives in Boston and is working a full-time job. Then one morning, his whole world is turned upside down when the FBI shows up at his office. When they inform him that he's actually one of Vice President-elect Kimberly Hancock's twins that was kidnapped when they were very young and never found, Ben finds himself in the middle of a plot that is a threat to the whole country.
This thriller definitely kept me interested. Lots of plot twists that constantly have you on your toes and not sure of what is going to happen next. While the story got a bit complicated at the end, it was still easy to follow and kept you guessing. The author did a great job of weaving all of the pieces of this together and keeping the reader interested and wondering what was going to happen next.
I received an advance review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Four out of five stars!
The Friend by Sigrid Nunez
A note to start on this book. This book is heavily focused on suicide, so please note that if you decide to read it.
The narrator of the book's good friend and mentor recently died by suicide. After their death, their widow (referred to as Wife Three) contacts the narrator and asks if she will take the dog that he left behind. The dog - Apollo - is a Great Dane, who is clearly also going through its own grief at losing its master. As the book progresses, the narrator and Apollo work through their grief together and form a bond as they go.
This book is not so much a story with a solid plot, as it is a stream of consciousness style of writing, as the narrator of the book is working through their grief and trying to understand why this person that they thought they knew so well turned to suicide. There are never any names given to any characters in the book other than Apollo, and you only learn any details about any of them slowly as the narrator shares her memories and thoughts.
This is not a happy book. In addition to centering a lot around death and suicide, when the narrator takes Apollo, he is also nearing the end of his life and the narrator has to come to grips with that as well.
This book will not be for everyone. I found the writing to be very good and an excellent book all around. I will say that I was a bit disappointed in that it used the term "committing suicide" throughout the book instead of the more proper "died by suicide", but based on when the book was written, that might have to do with the author not being aware of that difference. This book is #68 on the New York Times list of "The Best 100 Books of the 21st Century". Four out of five stars!
The Downfronters by Ruth Campbell
Callie and Jessica were best friends since kindergarten. Then a few years ago, Jessica stopped talking to Callie and Callie didn't understand why. When their favorite pop star - Harp - announces he's going back on tour after a few year hiatus, Callie and Jessica team back up to get tickets and get themselves to the show. However, while Callie is the same person she's been, Jessica has definitely changed in the years since their friendship ended.
The two come up with a plan to get "down front" at the Harp concert that leads to quite an adventure. Will the road trip bring the friends back together, or drive them further apart?
This is definitely a YA book and is written to be. The writing and story is pretty basic. As someone who loves going to concerts and has been to quite a few in my day, I really loved a lot of the pieces of the book - the stress of buying tickets, figuring out how to get in the pit, holding your spot on the rail, etc. You can tell the author had experienced those things before and knew what she was talking about.
This is a light and fun book and a feel good story.
I received an advance review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Three out of five stars.
The Goldens by Lauren Wilson
Chloe has just entered university and is struggling to fit in. Her new flat mates shun her right from the beginning. She wants to become a writer and focus on her studies, while they are more interested in parties and the newest trends. On the first day of class, Chloe finds fellow student Olivia, who she bonds with instantly and a friendship forms. Then Chloe meets Clara.
Clara is everything Chloe dreams of being - beautiful, confident and popular. When Clara starts paying attention to Chloe and spending time with her, Chloe quickly gets pulled into Clara's world, but at the expense of everything else in her life - including her friendship with Olivia.
I thought the initial concept of this book and most of the book itself are excellent. It's a primer in how social media and the desire to be admired can really become an obsession with so many - particularly young girls/women. In fact, I had a hard time putting this book down at the beginning and was thinking this one might be a solid 4 star, if not a 5 star review.
But the end of the book just went in a weird and wrong direction for me. Clara turns out to be much more evil than suspected. The girls - including Chloe - who follow her become a literal cult. The parties become ritualistic and bizarre. And the ending is just a little too unrealistic.
I think the author took the idea she was trying to get across - how a need to be loved and included can become an obsession - and pushed it too far. The book would have been more effective I think, if it hadn't taken that next step into Clara leading basically a cult. Lots of potential and a great book 75% of the way through, but it took a wrong turn for me at the end.
I received an advance review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Three out of five stars.
Far From The Tree: Parents, Children, And The Search For Identity by Andrew Solomon
This book is an in-depth look at a number of different "horizontal identities" that children can have and how those differences impact the relationship between the children and their parents. The various chapters cover everything from children who are deaf, to children who are autistic, to children who end up being criminals, to children who are transgender, to children who are severely disabled. The author has interviewed hundreds of families and within each chapter, he not only examines the impact these different things have on the children, but the impact they have on the parents as well.
This book is extremely dense and extremely long. And while it can get a bit technical from time to time, they author does a fantastic job of interspersing real life stories and interviews into the book to make it easier to read and not feel like a textbook.
This book covers tough subjects, with many of the chapters addressing the tough questions a parent asks themselves when their child is challenged. But it is absolutely eye opening and I think something everyone should read to make themselves more aware and understanding of people who are "different" than they are. This book is #67 on the New York Times list of "The 100 Best Books of the 21st Century". Four out of five stars!
The World Happiness Organisation by Lou Gibbons
This was a book that had a lot of potential, but just never really got there for me. The concept is that the WHO - which stands for World Happiness Organisation - has invented a new drug that makes people happy. They are starting a clinical trial and a group of senior citizens who have retired to a town in France are recruited to be volunteers to help with the trial.
But as the book goes on, you start to figure out that things really aren't what they seem. Does the WHO really exist or is it a front for something else? Who is Remy, the younger French man who is running the trial and seems to be throwing all the recruits for a loop?
I won't share any spoilers, but by the end of the book I think I figured out what was really going on. But honestly, I'm still not completely sure. And that's the problem with the book. I love to be kept guessing in a book, but when I put a book down and feel like I'm totally lost - that's a problem.
Again, the concept behind this book was great. Dealing with tragedies from your life. Thinking about whether you are happy as things are or need a change. Deciding what is really important to you at the end of your life. But the story was just not told in a clear way.
I received an advance review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Two out of five stars.
Vanished by David Jeremiah
I felt like this was two completely different books in one. I loved Part 1 and I didn't care for Part 2, so I'm going to split my rating down the middle.
The main character, John Haggerty, is the leader of a special military unit whose job it is to stop potential pandemics before they spread. In the "present time" of the books, the world has experienced several other deadly virus outbreaks since Covid-19, and is in the midst of a new Covid outbreak with a new deadly variant. Haggerty and his unit attempt to stop the spread in in Crete and Italy where the virus seems to have started.
In addition to Haggerty's unit, there are multiple other special units that have been started by the U.S. government to address things happening in a world that seems to be falling into despair - climate change, hunger, war - are all out of control.
The first part of the book follows Haggerty and his adult daughter as they work to try and contain the new coronavirus in Italy, as well as try and repair their own damaged relationship. That part of the book is action packed and I thought the story would continue as Haggerty returns home to continue to try and save the world and save his relationship with his daughter and ex-wife. And then Part 2 happens.
Suddenly, this book becomes a book about the rapture. It gets very religious and preachy. After reading about the author, it seems that he's written quite a few non-fiction books about the same topic, so I guess the theme of his fiction book is not surprising. It just seemed so strange to do a total 180 on what the book was about in the middle of it. Add on top of it that the book just sort of ended with no resolution. Maybe it's going to be a series and if you want to find out how the story ends, you'll have to read the rest of the series.
I received an advance review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Three out of five stars.
Don't Leave Me With Them (The Kesseene Killings, Book 2) by A.M. Rau
This is a pretty short paranormal/horror book. It's also Part 2 of a series, so I was definitely missing some context on the story from the first book.
When this book starts, Edna - a former journalist and an author - is returning to Kesseene to follow up on a book that she wrote about a murder spree in the area. From what I could figure out (and again, if I had read the first book this would have been clearer), the former sheriff was the one who was killing people in the town. When Edna returns, the other people in the town clearly aren't happy to see her. They tell her that while her book brought the area fame, the tourists it's drawing are people who want to go out in the woods searching for the paranormal, rather than people that will stay in their hotels, eat at their restaurants, etc.
The struggle I had with the book is that you couldn't tell what was real or imagined, and that made it really hard to follow. Is Edna dreaming these things or are they really happening? Is she alive or dead? It's just really hard to figure it all out and made the book hard for me to like. Because I might have had a lot easier time if I had read the first book, I'm going to give this one the benefit of the doubt. But I highly recommend reading the first book before you try this one.
I received an advance review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Three out of five stars.
Shanghai by Joseph Kanon
It's the start of WWII and European Jews are looking to escape Europe, including Daniel Lohr. Lohr was a member of the resistance, and when several other members are caught, he realizes he needs to make a fast escape. However, it's impossible to get an entry visa into any country except one - Shanghai. Luckily, Lohr's uncle is currently in Shanghai and is able to get Lohr a first class ticket on a ship there. While on the ship, Lohr meets Leah and her mother, who are also escaping Europe and trying to make a new life for themselves in Shanghai.
But, when Lohr arrives in Shanghai, he realizes that his uncle's business dealings aren't exactly on the up and up. Will Lohr get involved with his uncle's business, or try to make an honest life for himself? And how will Leah support herself and her mother in Shanghai?
This book definitely has the feeling of a 1920s mob story, but taking place in Shanghai. I thought it was action packed and kept me very interested. My main reason for giving it 3 stars rather than 4 is the writing. There is a lot of dialogue and the dialogue is very choppy. Sentences aren't fully developed and it's not written in a way that people talk. It's almost like the author was told he had to cut a bunch of words from the book and he did it by just eliminating as many words as possible. While that might have made the book shorter and easier to read, it feels like a disservice to what has the potential of being a really good book.
I received an advance review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Three out of four stars.
Where The Jasmine Blooms by Zeina Sleiman
Yasmine is a Palestinian who has grown up in Canada with her brother and their mother, who had fled Lebanon with her children many years before. Yasmine and her brother grew up believing that their father was dead. When Yasmine's mother dies of cancer and Yasmine gets divorced from her abusive husband, Yasmine decides to return to Lebanon to not only spend some time alone and learn about her home country, but to find out more about her family and the life they left behind in Lebanon and that her mother would not talk about.
Yasmine connects with her cousin, Reem, who still lives in a camp in Lebanon and dreams of someday escaping her country and living a life like Yasmine lives in Canada. Yasmine also runs into Zayid, who is an old classmate and friend from her undergrad years who is now also spending time in Lebanon learning Arabic and more about the culture.
As Yasmine spends time in Lebanon discovering more secrets about her family, she finds herself in the middle of a war, as Israel attacks Lebanon (the story takes place in the early 2000s).
I thought this book was very well written. It paints a very vivid and eye opening picture of what life was like in Lebanon during that time. It also speaks to the struggles of people in that area - women and their place in life, people of different religions and beliefs, and people looking for a different life.
I received an advance review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Four out of five stars!
Strong Roots: A Memoir Of Food, Family And Ukraine by Olia Hercules
This book is basically the author's love letter to her home country of Ukraine. The author was born in Kakhovka in southern Ukraine near Crimea. She moved to London as an adult, but her family - including her parents and brother - still live in Ukraine up until the time of the most recent war with Russia. Her home town is just outside Crimea and as of the present, is part of the territory Russia has taken over.
The author is a chef and has written several cookbooks. In this memoir, she intertwines her love of food and cooking with the story of her family across four generations. The story shows not only the turmoil that Ukraine and its people have suffered throughout the years, but the pride they have in their country and their heritage.
Beautifully written and something everyone should read to learn more about Ukraine and what is happening there. It will break your heart and give you hope at the same time.
I received an advance review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Four out of five stars!
The Unlikely Angel Of Casco Bay by Keith Christian Milne
As you know if you follow my book reviews, I really don't like giving books bad reviews. I know how much sweat and tears go into writing a book and it's just hard for me to do it. So, I'm going to write this review with as much constructive criticism as I can in hopes to explain my low rating.
The basic premise of the story is that Benjamin Morse has recently lost his wife and is struggling. His loneliness and depression has led him to turn to alcohol. When Morse realizes that his drinking has gotten out of hand, he decides to take himself out on his lobster boat to dry himself out - vowing to never drink again. But after having an accident on the boat, he ends up in the hospital where he meets his nurse, Janine. With Janine's help, Morse ends up in rehab. Not only does he discover a new outlook on life, but he discovers that he's falling for Janine.
It's then that his past catches up with him and he finds himself stuck in a situation where the head of cartel that he had worked with years ago, wants him to do one last job for him. And with Janine in his life, he finds her entangled in the middle of it as well.
So now for the constructive criticism part. First, the description of this book make it sound like it's a thriller. However, it isn't until you are almost 40% into the book (and I was reading on my Kindle so know that's pretty accurate) that any of the "thriller action" starts. The author spent way too much time at the beginning of the book on Morse and his thoughts and issues. I know it was the set up to him meeting Janine, but it needed to be shortened.
Second, the writing from a technical perspective is actually very solid. But that's part of the problem. I expect the narrative in a book to be technically solid. I expect the dialogue in a book to sound "real". The dialogue in this book is not written in a way that "normal" people speak and was very off putting to me. Additionally, the author was trying to create a romance between Ben and Janine, but when he wrote about their attraction to each other, it was very sterile - almost mechanical.
Finally, the story itself just really went a bit too far towards being unrealistic. Ben's son Andrew is an attorney, but he is suddenly an expert on explosives and is in a gun fight? Janine is the love of Ben's life, but at one meal she eats her food fast and chews aggressively and he suddenly starts comparing her to a tavern wench?
On a positive note, I think the underlying plot of this book was good. Not original, but it was good and the plot twist at the end was pretty good. I didn't start suspecting one of the characters was not what they seemed until the end.
As always, there are people who love certain books and those books just don't jive with others. This book has gotten other positive reviews, so I hope that others out there enjoy it. I just couldn't get past some of it's flaws.
I received an advance review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Two (barely) out of five stars.
That's it for August! I hope you've had a great summer and enjoy the cooler, cozy evenings for reading this fall.
What books do you recommend I read next? Let me know! Did you check out any of these books? I'd love to hear what you think! Comment below or e-mail me at tips2livebywriter@gmail.com.
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