My July 2019 Book Reviews - Adventures in Inclusion

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This month I finally got some great reading time and put a dent into my goal for the year. Part of that is because I went on vacation this month and spent a good chunk of time, sitting on the beach on Martha’s Vineyard absorbing a novel.

The First Conspiracy by Brad Meltzer

I am a big fan of Brad Meltzer’s writing. He has written some great historical fiction/political thrillers that have kept me enthralled from the first page to the last. But, this book was not quite up to my expectations. I like reading about presidents and I did learn a lot about George Washington in this book. But, what I did not like was that it read more like a textbook than an enjoyable story.

This book did have some very entertaining parts, but there was a lot that was just bland. Because of that, I gave this book 2.5 stars out of 5.

China Rich Girlfriend by Kevin Kwan

I love Kevin Kwan’s Crazy Rich Asian trilogy. All of these stories are entertaining, engaging and you relate to Rachel and Nick, two of the main characters. The second book in the series did not disappoint. It is set around Nick and Rachel’s wedding.

This novel was face-paced and I think I read the entire thing in just over 24 hours. I highly recommend this trilogy and I gave this book 5 out of 5 stars.

Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty

I am a fan of Liane Moriarty’s writing and have enjoyed all of the books of hers that I have read. She keeps me entertained and makes me care about her characters. But, this book I found difficult to get through. The first two-thirds of the book, I felt dragged and I just kept reading because I don’t like to give up on books.

But, as I got to the last third of the book, the whole mood and tempo of the book changed. All the sudden there were a few twists and turns and I couldn’t put the book down. I absolutely had to know how it would end and what would happen to the characters. I can’t say that I would recommend this book because the beginning was challenging to get through but I would be interested to see how other people felt about it. I gave this book 3 stars out of 5.

Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly

I read this book because I saw it on so many lists of must-read books. It came highly recommended. But I was not thrilled with this book. I found it boring and difficult to follow. It is a story of three different women with different perspectives of WWII and the Holocaust. As it shifted between the three women I had to keep flipping around to figure out who the narrator was this time. There were parts of the book that I found endearing and some of the characters were very sympathetic, but one of the narrators I just could not understand nor did I want to make the effort. I gave this book 2 out of 5 stars.

Rich People Problems by Kevin Kwan

I loved the second book in the series so much that I immediately went and found the third book at my local library. This book did not disappoint. The third book in the series continues to follow the lives of Nick and Rachel, as well as Kitty, Astrid, and the rest of the crew. This book gave a satisfying ending to a great trilogy. Although I did get on google hoping to find out that the series would continue, I couldn’t find evidence of that anywhere. I gave this book 5 out of 5 stars.