This month, I have read a few 5 star books so far and I’m excited to share them with you here. My inattention and lack of excitement for some of the books I’ve read lately carried over into September, but I managed to find a few to love! You can see the first half of my September reading here and I will share the rest of my September reads next week. The Amazon links to the books I’ve read are affiliate links and if you use them and make a purchase, I may receive a small commission.
Title: On The Subject of Unmentionable Things
Author: Julia Walton
Genre: YA Contemporary Fiction
Publisher: Random House Books For Young Readers, 8/23/22
Source: Publisher Audio
Why I Read It: Sounded good
My Rating: 5 Stars
In this book, Phoebe is interested in facts. She writes a blog of facts about sex and sexuality under a pen name, Pom. When the racist, xenophobic, and pro abstinence only education mayoral candidate discovers the blog, she makes it her mission to shut it down.
“Phoebe Townsend is a rule follower . . . or so everyone thinks. She’s an A student who writes for her small-town school newspaper. But what no one knows is that Phoebe is also Pom—the anonymous teen who’s rewriting sex education on her blog and social media. Phoebe is not a pervert. No, really. Her unconventional hobby is just a research obsession. And sex should not be a secret. As long as Phoebe stays undercover, she’s sure she’ll fly through junior year unnoticed. . . .That is, until Pom goes viral, courtesy of mayoral candidate Lydia Brookhurst. The former beauty queen labels Phoebe’s work an ‘assault on morality,’ riling up her supporters and calling on Pom to reveal her identity. But Phoebe is not backing down. With her anonymity on the line, is it all worth the fight?”
This story felt so real. And Phoebe’s blog sounded like a great resource! I would say that there was a lack of LGBTQ+ rep, with Phoebe only receiving one question that referenced queer sexuality. Phoebe’s reply was that she wasn’t equipped to answer the question. However, she technically wasn’t equipped to answer any of the questions she answered and she did a good job with research! I was appreciative that the mayoral opponent was a Jewish candidate, and I didn’t even mind the slight love triangle that Pheobe had in which she liked the newspaper editor as well as the football quarterback! I really enjoyed this listen.
Title: The Nowhere Girls
Author: Amy Reed
Genre: YA Contemporary Fiction
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio, 3/13/18
Source: Library Audio
Why I Read It: Buddy Read
My Rating: 5 Stars
My buddy read group chose The Nowhere Girls by Amy Reed to read in honor of Banned Books Week. The Nowhere Girls is about Grace, Rosina, and Erin, three very different girls who unite over what happened to Lucy, who accused three classmates of gang rape and was run out of town while the boys weren’t even investigated. The girls start a group in order to resist rape culture and change the way girls are treated at their school. This group allows for the female students to bond and unite in a way they hadn’t previously.
“Who are the Nowhere Girls? They’re everygirl. But they start with just three: Grace Salter is the new girl in town, whose family was run out of their former community after her southern Baptist preacher mom turned into a radical liberal after falling off a horse and bumping her head. Rosina Suarez is the queer punk girl in a conservative Mexican immigrant family, who dreams of a life playing music instead of babysitting her gaggle of cousins and waitressing at her uncle’s restaurant. Erin Delillo is obsessed with two things: marine biology and Star Trek: The Next Generation, but they aren’t enough to distract her from her suspicion that she may in fact be an android. When Grace learns that Lucy Moynihan, the former occupant of her new home, was run out of town for having accused the popular guys at school of gang rape, she’s incensed that Lucy never had justice. For their own personal reasons, Rosina and Erin feel equally deeply about Lucy’s tragedy, so they form an anonymous group of girls at Prescott High to resist the sexist culture at their school, which includes boycotting sex of any kind with the male students. Told in alternating perspectives, this groundbreaking novel is an indictment of rape culture and explores with bold honesty the deepest questions about teen girls and sexuality.”
I liked that the story was told from many viewpoints and the girls had varying views on sex. Grace is Christian, Rosina is Latina and queer, and Erin is on the autism spectrum, plus we hear from others who are happily sexually active, those who are but don’t want to be, some who have experienced abuse, etc. The adults in this book were so frustrating and I just wanted the group to find someone to support them!
Title: The Matchmaker’s Gift
Author: Lynda Cohen Loigman
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press, 9/20/22
Source: Publisher
Why I Read It: Sent to me for my review
My Rating: 5 Stars
The Matchmaker’s Gift is perfect for the Jewish holiday season as it centers Jewish characters and the very Jewish tradition of matchmaking. This story has two timelines – that of Sara, who is a matchmaker in the Lower East Side of Manhattan beginning in the 1910s, and that of Sara’s granddaughter Abby, a divorce lawyer who finds her grandmother’s notebooks detailing her matches after she passes away. This second time line takes place in 1994.
“Even as a child in 1910, Sara Glikman knows her gift: she is a maker of matches and a seeker of soulmates. But among the pushcart-crowded streets of New York’s Lower East Side, Sara’s vocation is dominated by devout older men―men who see a talented female matchmaker as a dangerous threat to their traditions and livelihood. After making matches in secret for more than a decade, Sara must fight to take her rightful place among her peers, and to demand the recognition she deserves. Two generations later, Sara’s granddaughter, Abby, is a successful Manhattan divorce attorney, representing the city’s wealthiest clients. When her beloved Grandma Sara dies, Abby inherits her collection of handwritten journals recording the details of Sara’s matches. But among the faded volumes, Abby finds more questions than answers. Why did Abby’s grandmother leave this library to her and what did she hope Abby would discover within its pages? Why does the work Abby once found so compelling suddenly feel inconsequential and flawed? Is Abby willing to sacrifice the career she’s worked so hard for in order to keep her grandmother’s mysterious promise to a stranger? And is there really such a thing as love at first sight?”
I enjoyed the sweet stories of the matches that Sara made and the newly found interest in matchmaking that Abby discovered. Both timelines had me equally entranced! It saddens me when people review this book and don’t mention that it’s a Jewish story. It is – but that’s not the only reason I loved it!
Title: The Frederick Sisters Are Living The Dream
Author: Jeannie Zusy
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Publisher: Atria Books, 9/20/22
Source: Publisher
Why I Read It: Sent to me for my review
My Rating: 5 Stars
This book took me by surprise. I have seen some mixed reviews and it’s rare for me to like a book that others did not – usually I don’t like books that everyone else does! This book is about three middle aged sisters – Maggie, the youngest, is separated from her husband and is raising two sons, plus a dog and a cat. Ginny, the middle sister, is intellectually disabled and after a health scare must now use a wheelchair and requires much assistance. Maggie moves Ginny and her dog Rascal to the Hudson Valley, where she lives. Meanwhile, their oldest sister Bets lives in CA.
“Every family has its fault lines, and when Maggie gets a call from the ER in Maryland where her older sister lives, the cracks start to appear. Ginny, her sugar-loving and diabetic older sister with intellectual disabilities, has overdosed on strawberry Jell-O. Maggie knows Ginny really can’t live on her own, so she brings her sister and her occasionally vicious dog to live near her in upstate New York. Their other sister, Betsy, is against the idea but as a professional surfer, she is conveniently thousands of miles away. Thus, Maggie’s life as a caretaker begins. It will take all of her dark humor and patience, already spread thin after a separation, raising two boys, freelancing, and starting a dating life, to deal with Ginny’s diapers, sugar addiction, porn habit, and refusal to cooperate. Add two devoted but feuding immigrant aides and a soon-to-be ex-husband who just won’t go away, and you’ve got a story that will leave you laughing through your tears as you wonder who is actually taking care of whom.”
The story flashes back to the sisters’ childhood and addresses the difficulties of being a caretaker. Even though Ginny was privileged to have been left money to help with her care, you could see how difficult it was for her sisters to know the right things to do. There were some lovely, sweet, and funny parts to the story. It does include animal deaths, which made me cry!
Title: Mad Honey
Author: Jodi Picoult & Jennifer Finney Boylan
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Publisher: Ballantine Books, 10/4/22
Source: Publisher
Why I Read It: Sent to me for my review
My Rating: 5 Stars
While Mad Honey is a longer book, I read it almost non-stop over two days and didn’t find it slow at all. I have seen it mentioned that this is a return to Jodi Picoult’s earlier book style, and while it was in that it featured a court case and brought back a defense attorney from her earlier books, it did address social issues, as her more recent books (or maybe all of her books) have done.
“Olivia McAfee knows what it feels like to start over. Her picture-perfect life—living in Boston, married to a brilliant cardiothoracic surgeon, raising their beautiful son, Asher—was upended when her husband revealed a darker side. She never imagined that she would end up back in her sleepy New Hampshire hometown, living in the house she grew up in and taking over her father’s beekeeping business. Lily Campanello is familiar with do-overs, too. When she and her mom relocate to Adams, New Hampshire, for her final year of high school, they both hope it will be a fresh start. And for just a short while, these new beginnings are exactly what Olivia and Lily need. Their paths cross when Asher falls for the new girl in school, and Lily can’t help but fall for him, too. With Ash, she feels happy for the first time. Yet at times, she wonders if she can trust him completely. . . .Then one day, Olivia receives a phone call: Lily is dead, and Asher is being questioned by the police. Olivia is adamant that her son is innocent. But she would be lying if she didn’t acknowledge the flashes of his father’s temper in Ash, and as the case against him unfolds, she realizes he’s hidden more than he’s shared with her.”
The book is told from two viewpoints – Olivia, a beekeeper who was in an abusive relationship previously, and Lily, who is new in town and has many secrets. You are made to question whether Asher has an explosive temper like his father and there was something that he did that I thought was quite awful and it was only glossed over! Like in many Picoult books there is a reveal in the middle which changes what you understand about the story. I had been accidentally spoiled on the reveal and I’m not sure if it would have effected me differently if I hadn’t known! The second half of the book was very interesting and contains much to discuss. I also appreciated that the co-author of this book had a unique viewpoint to contribute and I think it was smart of the two to write it together.
Come back next week for the rest of my September reads!
Do you have a favorite book you’ve read this month?
