To get the necessities out of the way, here’s a video for background music while you read… about what I (a childless cat lady) read.
(I mean I usually listen to the studio recording or Long Pond Session version… but the twirls!!!) I am a folklore girlie to the core.
I finished 9 books in August.
This also has me at 51 for the year! And only 18 books behind my reading goal.
Overall it was a great reading month because I loved every book! I had a wonderful time with each novel/audiobook/graphic novel and was reminded why I love books enough to make it a personality trait. Something I had been questioning this summer.
The good 🫶🏼
Oh. My. God. Both of these books left me reeling. The characters live rent free in my head. I have adopted them as best friends and will protect them until the day I die. For the foreseeable future, both books will be solid parts of my personality. I make no apologies.
Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This book took me 7 1/2 months to read but it's my favorite book of the year. Curtis Sittenfeld is so smart and her writing ALWAYS kills me, but this is far and away the biggest hit for me.
It’s about a female comedy writer and a male pop-star and their love story. It’s drawn out, filled with cringy self-sabotaging and witty banter, and just so damn good. She doesn’t believe she’s attractive enough for him, he doesn’t believe he’s intelligent enough for her. Quarantine in 2020 catapults them back into each other’s lives as email penpals. ugh! It covers the Covid-19 pandemic in a way that doesn’t have you throwing the book at wall. Just so good.
I think it took me so long to get through this book because I was feeling the characters feelings so deeply I had to take breaks. Elyse Myers said it best:
I have been emotionally Not Okay all day without knowing why. It wasn’t until right now that I realized it’s because the characters in the book I’m reading are Not Okay and the characters in the show I’m watching are Not Okay and so my brain decided I—too—should be very Not Okay in solidarity.
I did not consent to this Not Okay By Association but we’re all in this together now. 😅
Heartstopper Vol. 1 by Alice Oseman
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The iconic queer, young adult love story between English school boys Nick and Charlie that has already stolen the hearts of millions, officially has mine.
It’s so stinking cute!!! My first graphic novel and now I’m OBSESSED. I don’t know why I waited so long to read it. It took me over an hour once I started, but it’s definitely a one sitting book!! (I can see how some people read it in 20 minutes.)
The way I 🏃🏼♀️ to order used copies of the entire series so I could binge it?! The giddy butterflies I felt towards the end?!?!!! Ugh protect these boys at all costs.
Defo gonna binge the books when I get back to Brooklyn, then watch season 2!
The first season of Heartstopper on Netflix was my first Covid binge. When I had Covid-19 for the first time in June 2022 (how embarrassing I know, fret not, I’ve had it twice since), I watched Heartstopper in one sitting in the kitchen because I was too tired to walk back up the stairs to my room. It’s such a charming and heartwarming show. I believe each season is two volumes (two books).
The disappointing 👉🏻👈🏻
Heir of Fire (Throne of Glass Series) by Sarah J. Maas
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.25
I mean I loved this book. Don’t get me wrong. And “everyone” is right in their assertion that this is where the series takes off (book 4… 🙄), but it really doesn’t “take-off” until Part 2, the 60% mark. I loved it. I loved watching Aelin’s evolution and meeting Rowan and Manon, and seeing Dorian grow a little bit of character, but it was long and slow and boring at times, so yes. Disappointing.
How to End a Love Story by Yulin Kuang
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I really wanted to love this book, and I really liked it! I was apprehensive when it opened at a funeral (not in a funny way) and then when it was set in a tv writers room. I’ve written a bit on here about how I’d love to be a tv writer and am currently taking courses in the field, but I’ve also read enough romance novels set in “hollywood” or the production world to know the inaccuracies often pull me out of the story. This was not the case! It solidified my goals to get in a room.
The reason this book was not a 5 star for me was because of the pacing.
The pacing of the physical interactions was abrupt and confusing. Kuang did SUCH A GREAT JOB of building chemistry and angst but then it just went 0-100 and didn’t feel genuine.
Another sore point for me was the whole “expiration date” for their love story. That just never jives with me in books. (The reminders and conversations around that didn’t hit the right timing for me, but this could very much be a me problem.)
And finally the third act break up was torturous. There was this horrendous thing that happened and I said “thank God” because I thought it would get them back together. WRONG! (I won’t go further because I don’t want to spoil it, buuuuut message me if you’ve read it and we can chat. 😉)
I think the third act separation was spread out because it was her working through her trauma. And similar to my frustrations with The Heart Principle by Helen Hoang, I need to acknowledge that I will never understand what it is to grow up as a daughter in an Asian American household. I didn’t believe my ears when she said she was 31 because being in her POV very much felt like being in the head of a 26 year old who hasn’t worked through her Mommy-Issues. However her family having lost her sister cemented those familial dynamics through grief and would be that much harder to overcome. Yulin Kuang did an excellent job allowing Helen to work through her trauma, but I could have used an abbreviated version.
There are so many reasons I was excited to read this book, but this post is what really sealed it on the top of my TBR:
The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
An excellent book club pick! Just like with Sea of Tranquility, in the first half I was bored, and curious how people like literary fiction. Then in the second half I was intrigued and super absorbed. Then after finishing the book I realized I liked it.
I wouldn’t know where to start to succinctly describe this book. It’s literary fiction woven between a diverse cast of characters and their experiences across a few decades (and countries). Her stories always blend so seamlessly, I absolutely love it.
Cleat Cute by Meryl Wilsner
⭐️⭐️⭐️.75
LOG LINE: A sapphic rivals to lovers rom com for fans of Ted Lasso and A League of Their Own, where two soccer teammates are at odds before falling in love as their team gears up for the World Cup.
This book was really, stinkin’ cute! From the beginning I was enthralled!!! Then if we're being honest the middle kind of dragged and fell flat for me, but then the end had me actually caring about soccer and loving the characters again!
I do think such obvious undiagnosed ADHD and Autism was a choice for the characters, but it also made them very real and relatable. And it was somewhat satisfactorily addressed… eventually. The only aspect which was unbelievable was that woke-queen-Phoebe addicted to tik tok hadn't found ADHD tik tok yet, and that she still had so much internalized-stigma with the disorder.
But yay for a giddy, spicy, sapphic sports romance!
The steamy 🤌
Cruel Seduction (Dark Olympus #5) by Katee Robert
⭐️⭐️⭐️
A spicy modern love story between Aphrodite, Hephaestus, Adonis, and Pandora.
I really liked this one. Not my favorite, and not the most riveting plot or actual romance. But solid smut and no logic plot holes so who can complain?
My first polyamory quad book for sure.
Midnight Ruin (Dark Olympus #6) by Katee Robert
⭐️⭐️⭐️
A spicy modern love story between Eurydice, Charon, and Orpheus.
Okay this book really left me wanting more. This book is basically all smut. There is some fun action, and it was great to be back in the lower city, but in the end it was a tweener book used to set up the final act of the series.
Dark Restraint (Dark Olympus #7) by Katee Robert
⭐️⭐️⭐️
A spicy modern love story between Ariadne and The Minotaur (and Dionysus?).
I really liked this one! Probably my third favorite in the series. But it had the childhood friends/crush to lovers arc with the opposites attract and dangerous man elements that often hit with me.
I have noticed that the later books in this series rely on the build-up and flirtation in earlier books, and we don't get to see the relationships develop on page. We are then left with something that feels akin to insta-love. Quite unsatisfying. I will say that for Midnight Ruin, it felt better because of the complexity and longevity of their past and that they were still kept apart through this plot. It was very much a book about her accepting her feelings for him instead of developing them. We stan star-crossed lovers!
Anyway, fun with better plot than most of the series, and maybe my favorite steamy scenes. LOTS of blood and violence in this one.
Okay I couldn’t help myself…
Here’s a bootleg video of the long pond studio sessions recording of August. You can see the joy of Taylor, Aaron, and Jack performing together with the vocal quality of someone who is not sprinting across the stage mid-bridge.
Hyper-fixation du jour: Chick-fil-A’s Kale Crunch Side
It’s so good y’all!
Only available in the “side dish” portion, it leaves you wanting more every time. The first time I had it was when my mom’s sweet coworker forced me to take a bite of hers. Now it’s all I can think about. She usually adds the grilled nuggets on top, but I don’t even need it. I am eating my third this week as I type this. Literal definition of a hyper-fixation-meal.
I though my first “atypical” Chick-fil-A “healthy” and obsession-worthy order would be the viral buffalo chicken mac n cheese everyone talks about (this lady has a video about it in a way I like), but alas, no I’ve found a kale salad I love. SHOCKING (not sarcasm). I can’t even scarf down a harvest bowl (unless Belinda makes me a homemade yummy one.)
Say what you want, Chaol Westfall can get it. Not necessarily book boyfriend material, but I stan a loyal man.
I just finished Love Island Australia Season 5, and while it was the most toxic of any franchise, I was a fan of Kale from the get-go. May Kale and Tyra live happily ever after!
If you want to purchase any of the books mentioned in this article, please consider using my affiliate link with my favorite independent book store, The Ripped Bodice, or using my referral link to libro.fm for an audiobook!