I want summer to feel like backfloating on a cool, clear lake. You bob around a bit on the gentle waves, but mostly you just get to be refreshed by that perfect combination of sun, wind, and water.
Alas, my July and August were more akin to one of those water slides with so many sharp turns, dips, and drops that by the time you go shooting out the end you’re desperately hoping your swim bottoms stay on. I’m more than ready to turn the corner toward autumn. The pace may not actually be any slower, but my brain could use the fresh start of a new school year.
First up, what I read in July.
A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
I first heard about this fantasy series from Kendra, the Lazy Genius. I approach her fiction recommendations with a bit of caution because our tastes don’t always overlap. Kendra enjoys fast-paced plots, where I tend to go for character-driven novels and angsty endings. Still, she’s given some good recommendations over the years (The Golem and the Jinni and The Night Circus both come to mind), so I decided to give this one a try.
The first few chapters were promising. We’re introduced to Feyre and her family living in poverty just across the border from Prythian, the faery realm. This is one of those fantasy books where faeries are dangerous . . . maybe evil? There was a war a long time ago and now everything is in ruins, I think. The details are fuzzy because I didn’t make it far enough into the book to find out the entire backstory.
After killing a wolf that turned out to be a faery in disguise, Feyre is given the choice between death or life as a captive in the faery realm. Everything went south for me once Feyre enters Prythian. I was getting some weird Stockholm Syndrome / Beauty and the Beast vibes that I didn’t love, and a bit of light internet searching told me I wouldn’t like where the story went from there.
Bottom Line: DNF, but I hear the author’s Throne of Glass series might be more to my liking.
In a New York Minute by Kate Spencer
Can you tell from the cover that this is your standard, run-of-the-mill summer rom-com? I finished this at the beginning of July, and though I know I enjoyed it, I had to look up the back cover copy to remind myself of what happened. (Girl gets unexpectedly fired, girl gets her dress caught in the subway doors, boy offers her his suit jacket, random stranger films the whole thing and posts it on Instagram, girl and boy continue to inexplicably run into each other despite living in a city of 8 million people.)
Bottom Line: A perfectly fine choice for a pool or vacation read but nothing that’s going to change your life.
Dare to Lead by Brene Brown
Brene Brown takes her research on vulnerability and applies it to the workplace, specifically leadership situations. I had really high hopes for this one in the context of my husband’s small business. Unfortunately, it didn’t meet expectations.
Brown’s tone in this book is a little too rah-rah cheerleader/girlfriend for my taste. The information here isn’t bad, but it’s not any different from what she’s already written in other places. She references Daring Greatly and The Gifts of Imperfection so often that I actually don’t think this needed to be its own book. It could have just been a workshop or training program for professionals.
I also think the scope of Dare to Lead is too limited. It’s clear from the start that Brown is talking to executives in large corporations—but that’s not the only place where leaders exist! There are no examples involving small business owners, teachers, activists, non-profits, politicians, parents. We need leaders who are willing to be vulnerable in so many different areas of life, so it was disappointing to see Brown pigeonhole herself here.
Bottom Line: Just read one of her earlier books instead and make your own inferences about how to bring vulnerability to your work.
Moving on to August!
Set Boundaries, Find Peace by Nedra Glover Tawwab
Set Boundaries, Find Peace is essentially a remake of the classic Boundaries by Henry Cloud. That’s not a bad thing! I found Cloud’s Boundaries dry and boring when I picked it up a decade ago. Tawwab breathes new life into the topic and freshens it up for younger generations. Overall, it’s a winner. I especially enjoyed her tough-love stance on setting boundaries with ourselves.
If I’m going to be nit-picky, I wasn’t a fan of her position on social media boundaries. Tawwab argues that social media itself isn’t problematic; it’s how we use it. I can see where she’s coming from. However, I think she overlooks too much evidence that social media is, at its core, engineered to be addictive. Still, this was a tiny portion of an otherwise fantastic book.
Bottom line: Most of us have at least one relationship that could benefit from better boundaries. If one-on-one therapy isn’t available to you right now, Tawwab’s book is a great place to start.
Drama Free by Nedra Glover Tawwab
I enjoyed the first Tawwab book enough that I figured I’d pick right up with her second book, this one on managing unhealthy family relationships. This one was hit-or-miss for me. I think folks with particularly toxic family relationships would benefit from Drama Free a great deal. Tawwab does give helpful scripts for more run-of-the-mill family issues, like gossip, but they’re not her focus here.
One chapter that I did find truly helpful is on sibling relationships. Tawwab gives advice to parents currently in the throes of raising siblings (alongside talking to adult siblings/parents of adult children). As an only child, I found her perspective incredibly helpful!
Bottom line: If the topic interests you, it’s worth skimming the chapters that fit your needs.
A Very Typical Family by Sierra Godfrey
Fifteen years ago, Natalie made a 911 call that sent her older brother and sister to prison. Her siblings and her mother haven’t spoken to her since. It’s a shock when an attorney contacts her with the news that her mother is dead. Even more surprising, the historic family house can only be inherited if all three siblings return home at the same time to claim it. Natalie drops everything and races across the country to her hometown of Santa Cruz, California. There, she and her newly reunited sister find that their brother is missing.
I’d never heard of this book until the Libby app told me that it was this year’s pick for the library’s Big Summer Read. Thousands of people all read the same book at the same time in a sort of far-flung buddy read. It’s a neat idea, but the book itself was just OK.
A Very Typical Family feels like a book that can’t decide between dark thriller/suspense and lighthearted rom-com/“women’s fiction.” The plot felt muddy all the way through. My biggest complaint is that the whole family turned on Natalie (and she turned on herself) because . . . she reported other people’s illegal behavior. At no point do the siblings act like grown-ups and own up to their actions; it’s on Natalie to apologize and be forgiven.
Bottom line: It’s not terrible, but I wouldn’t recommend it. But I do recommend the Libby app for easy access to ebooks and audiobooks through your local library!
Yours Truly by Abby Jimenez
Briana Ortiz is an ER doctor who barely recognizes her own life. Her divorce with her cheating husband is nearly final, she’s moved back into her childhood home, and her little brother is on dialysis after an autoimmune disease and subsequent kidney failure came out of nowhere. Jacob Maddox is the new ER doc at Briana’s hospital, and his life isn’t going so well either. His ex is marrying his brother, he can barely manage his social anxiety, and he’s off to a rocky start at his new workplace.
You know where this is going, but it’s fun to watch a sweet story unfold anyway. My personal high point was seeing social anxiety written in a way that felt incredibly humanizing and relatable.
I started reading Jimenez’s books in January of this year. Now that I’ve finished this new release, I’m through her entire catalogue and eagerly awaiting her upcoming books in 2024 and 2025. If you enjoy lighthearted rom-coms where the characters are real, fully developed people, her books are right up your alley.
Bottom line: This one is so well-written, I’d almost suggest it to people who don’t often read this genre. Yours Truly is a delight.
Happy September, friends. May your change of seasons be full of good books and life-giving routines.
I adore your book reviews. They are refreshing in their honesty. Thank you.