Bestsellers I Read in September 2023 – A Book Review
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Okay, this past month I read eight (8) books! Yep, ’twas a busy month for me diving into fictional worlds. Two of the books I read were hard copy traditional books. And the rest were audiobooks. Some were awesome, some were so-so and some were like, what’s the point?
And in other fun news, while I’m doing all this reading, I’m actually working on writing a novel of my own. And I must say, I have a newfound respect for authors. I thought it would be super easy to adapt my romantic suspense into a novel, since it already exists as a screenplay. Nope! Writing in prose is completely different from writing for the screen. And I’m writing it in first person, so you’re in the head of my characters. The only way that inner monologue is presented onscreen is through voice over. And it’s frowned upon to do a lot of V.O. in films. It’s show, don’t tell. Whereas in the novel world, it’s tell, don’t show? Hence my dilemma. Now, I’m not complaining. Writing is in my blood. And if this is my biggest problem right now, I’ll take it. In the words of Gabrielle Union – “Bring it!”
And now, for my reviews.
Fallen by Lauren Kate
I listened to this one through my library’s audiobook system. This tells of the incredibly complicated love story between Luce and Daniel. This is the first book in the series and I believe there are 6 books in total. I came across this one because my daughter picked it up from the library. On the front, it was described as sexy and I was like, hold on, let me be the parent here and make sure it’s not too crazy. So I read it, and it’s totally not the kind of book I typically read. According to Amazon, it’s considered a paranormal & supernatural fantasy romance. And the most that happens in this book is some kissing, so I gave my daughter the thumbs up. She can go ahead and add it to her long list of books to be read.
My thoughts? I felt it was a good beginning to a longer story. It made me want to read the next one. I went into this not knowing really anything about it. Which is something I recommend doing because it was good to be surprised by who or what these characters were. I wanted to see what happens with Cam and Daniel in the next one. It was definitely melodramatic throughout, which got a little tired for me. It also had some similarities to the Twilight series.
I discovered later that this first book was turned into a movie, which I haven’t seen. But the movie didn’t do well in theaters, so there were no sequels. I’d like to see the film though. There was a good amount of action towards the end and it would be cool to see that visually I think. Would I recommend reading this? Overall it was okay. A decent way to spend a Saturday.
Regretting You by Colleen Hoover
This was NOT a happy story. It was definitely dramatic throughout. The tension between the mother, Morgan, and the teen daughter, Clara, had me worried about what might happen between me and my own teenager. There was such a huge and surprising betrayal discussed in this book, it was like OMG! But I was glad that Jonah and Morgan found each other again. Miller, Clara’s love interest, was a likeable character too. Morgan’s inner dialogue got annoying sometimes as she was described as kind of this boring pushover. Clara was a believable teenager and often acted out the way a teenager would. One thing I wish Morgan did that she didn’t actually do was read those love notes. By not reading them, there’s still a mystery there, which I don’t like. I want to know everything. Like why even mention them if we’re not gonna read them? But that’s just me. Also, towards the end, it described a cheesy movie and I felt that that was not author’s forte. I thought Ms. Hoover could do no wrong. Apparently she can.
In reading Regretting You, I have now read every single one of Colleen Hoover’s books. If I had to pick my very favorite book of hers, it would be… actually I can’t pick a favorite. I tried. I have a top 6 though. I love loved loooved all of these in no particular order: Hopeless, November 9, It Ends With Us, Reminders of Him*, Maybe Someday and Ugly Love. *I read Reminders of Him in January of this year, right before I started my blog, so unfortunately there’s no official review of that one. Still an amazing book though. I cried at the end and I’m not a crier so…
Now you may notice that the book I actually read this past month is not on my list. Nothing against it. It was a good story overall, just not one of my absolute favorites. It happens. Would I recommend it? Yes, it had some sweet and heartbreaking moments. If for nothing else, read it for the drama.
Torment by Lauren Kate
So I guess I did like this series. Sort of. This is book 2 in the Fallen series. I really don’t have much to say about it. I liked the new characters introduced. There’s a boy named Miles who Luce develops feelings for because a life with Miles might be less complicated than a life with the complicated Daniel. Plus Miles is innocent and a sweetie. Daniel and Luce fight a lot in this one because he won’t tell her much about her past to protect her, even though she wants to know. So she rebels against him to find answers on her own. It was still melodramatic throughout. I’m not sure I would recommend this one.
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The Mistake by Elle Kennedy
Hockey romance round 2. This is book 2 in the Off-Campus series. Book 1 was The Deal and you can read my review of that book here. Logan came off as a little stupid to me. He didn’t realize he wasn’t in love with his best friend’s girl. In fact, he was in love with the idea of her and just wanted to have a relationship with someone he could love. And he realized that too late which messed things up with his love interest, Grace.
What annoyed me about Grace is that she made Logan jump through hoops for her. She was a ghoster, which is a shit thing to do to someone full stop. She thought people needed to really work for her affections. All their drama could’ve been resolved in a conversation. So that made the book a little sucky for me. But it did have spice if you’re into that sort of thing. Also, the ending was a little unbelievable to me with Logan’s dad. I didn’t care about her friend Ramona and there was a weird rapey party thing at the end which I didn’t get. Would I recommend? Not really. You can skip this one.
Image by Dean Moriarty from Pixabay
Passion by Lauren Kate
Book 3 of the Fallen series. I was able to get through all these because they were readily available through the audiobook section of my library. And yeah, I did not care for this one. It was Bill. Didn’t like Bill. And when Bill was revealed to be not what he seemed to be, I wasn’t surprised. This one seemed like a waste. Filler really. Watching her watch other versions of herself around other versions of Daniel. And all just to make sure she really did love Daniel? Duh! Kinda boring. You can skip this one too. Not sure if I’ll continue the series. I may though someday, just to see how it all ends.
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Credence by Penelope Douglas
This was quite the memorable book you guys. This was a book tok pick. Smut to the max. Risqué sex all around. I don’t think I’ve ever read anything so dirty. Many people on tik tok who review this book seem to always start their reviews with “I don’t know what I just read.” And I agree. You just have to remind yourself that it’s fiction, close your eyes and go along for the ride.
I could not believe the author did not blush while writing the hot hot hot, and yet wrong wrong wrong sex scenes. It was crazy. The step uncle was a little creepy. This was a why choose book I think it’s called in the book world. This young girl was 17 going on 18 and it was sad how it all started. Her parents didn’t love her. They kill themselves and didn’t bother leaving a suicide note behind. She has no family so she’s shipped off to live with her step uncle and 2 step cousins, one of which, Kaleb, doesn’t speak. Of her 3 male suitors, I liked Noah, the younger step cousin the best. He was the sexiest one and they had a playful thing going on in the beginning. I’m not sure I cared for the ending. The relationship dynamic had to have been weird, right? They all did some kinky shit together and then just one of them gets to be with her? But the ride. The ride is wild. Recommend? Uh huh!
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Corrupt by Penelope Douglas
This is book 1 of the Devil’s Night series. This book encapsulated what bored rich and privileged people do with their time. Get into all kinds of trouble for sport with their best friends. The character Will was a nothing/no personality character to me. Maybe he was the the fun one? I don’t know. But he gets his own book later in the series I think. These 4 best friends think that the young Rika called the police on them for doing some crazy illegal stuff, which in turn sent 3 of them to jail for 3 years. So when the 3 best friends get out of jail, they vow, along with the main guy Michael, to get revenge on Rika. They kidnap her, stalk her and push her around a lot, which isn’t cool. But Michael falls in love with Rika and I liked them together. They were meant to be. I actually enjoyed the ending. The spice was nice and weird, but that’s to be expected from this author. Not as risque as Credence. Would I recommend? Yeah, it’s crazy fun.
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The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura David
I didn’t like it. The writing style. It was just this happened because this happened and so on. I didn’t care for any of the characters and the end was blah. Bailey was just a bratty teen. “Protect her.” Why? That may be harsh, but seriously though, what did we gain? You read a book to go on a journey, but when you reach the end of this one, nothing really changes. You’re left asking yourself, what was the point? We went through all that for what? So Hannah can find out who her husband really is. And that’s it I guess. And who he is isn’t all that interesting. You just kinda end up hating the guy for leaving.
This is now an Apple Plus series, which I checked out after first reading this book. I thought maybe the show would be better. Maybe it works better in the visual sense. But no, still boring. Stopped after 2 episodes. Recommend? Nah, brah!
