No intro.

1. Love, Pamela by Pamela Anderson

I actually read this on 4/30 but left it off of my April round-up by accident. This was fine – I listened to the audio and I do genuinely like Pamela. I was hoping for some more Hollywood dishing I guess but overall it did leave me with even more respect and admiration for her. Her childhood was…yikes.

2. What Does It Feel Like? by Sophie Kinsella

I grabbed this from the library because I wanted something quick to read and had no idea that it was loosely based on the author’s own experience with a brain tumor and having to essentially re-learn everything each day. Somehow this was still pretty light, considering.

3. Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix

I will say that it was a risky move for a man to write a book about teenage pregnancy in the 70s but I think he kind of pulled it off. The problem is that it was just kind of boring. And it felt VERY long.

4. Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry

I am so sorry to say that I am falling out of love with Emily Henry. After a while, the novelty wears out and you’re able to really see that the author just keeps recycling characters, tropes, finger-snapping banter. It really worked for me for the first few books but this was actually kind of dreadful and I HATED the story-within-the-story. HATED IT. It was so boring and tedious, and also, the main characters fall in love almost immediately and it wasn’t believable at all to me. Yeah, there’s a twist but by then IDGAF.

My Goodreads review: This was…bad :/ I have loved so many Emily Henry books but after a while it’s just the same characters over and over. Quirky NOT LIKE OTHER GIRLS protagonist; surly, serious YOU WONT KNOCK DOWN MY WALLS man. Not working for me anymore. At least not for this one.

5. Has Anyone Seen Charlotte Salter by Nicci French

I usually love this married writing duos’ books but this was another one that was entirely boring for most of the first part and then by the time it picked up and we find out if anyone has seen the bitch, I didn’t care.

6. One of Us Is Dead by Jeneva Rose

Light, upbeat book about nasty rich wives and the woman who takes care of them in her salon. Then it turns VERY dark. I liked it – not too deep but just plain entertaining and sassy.

7. The Resting Place by Camilla Sten

Eh. Not as good as the Lost Village, which she also wrote.

8. What Happened to Nina? by Dervla McTiernan

If you followed the Gabby Petito investigation, then you can probably skip this because it’s very clearly loosely based off that. Nothing was very shocking here BUT it was still an entertaining listen while I was on my walks and that’s my only criteria for audio books.

9. Run for the Hills by Kevin Wilson

I loved Nothing to See Here and now this is the second book of his that I read after that has disappointed me. It did not engage me, not a single character, and in fact the only good thing that came of it was that there was a reference to one of the characters wanting to film their siblings in profile and then I started picturing me, Henry and Chooch in profile and somehow that morphed into me coming home from a walk and screaming, “I FINALLY HAVE AN IDEA FOR A CHRISTMAS CARD AFTER ALL THESE YEARS!” and Henry was like, “It’s….May.”

10.The Winner by Teddy Wayne

There’s a review on Goodreads that says simply, “Only a man could have written this” and I have nothing else to say except: laden with misogyny.

11. My Friends by Fredrik Backman

But nothing else I read all month matters because THIS. THIS!!!!!!!

Another 5-star from Backman. Not Beartown-tier, but still a five. HOW does he write such broken, imperfect and lovable characters. I felt for every single person in this book. I cried so much. I had to actually stop reading it Saturday morning because we were meeting my sister for lunch later and I was crying all of my makeup off. I don’t know how to articulate it, but his books are so comforting to me and also fill my heart with so much sadness simultaneously.

Bye.

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