I’d say four books in a month is pretty solid for me! These were all audiobooks, which I will be noting with a 🎧 going forward so you know if I’m taking the narration into account. Does it matter? Probably not!
Hotel Portofino by J.P. O’Connell • 🎧 • ★★★☆☆
I’ve started categorizing certain TV as “shows to point your face at.” These types of shows are decently interesting and entertaining but don’t exactly inspire you to rave about them to friends. I count Versailles and The Gilded Age among these. And I’d say Hotel Portofino is precisely this type of book. It was a nice listen, a decent story, but nothing I’ll insist you read.
Episode Thirteen by Craig DiLouie • 🎧 • ★☆☆☆☆
I was waffling between two stars and one star on this book, but to hell with generosity. This book was not good.
So, on the surface, Episode Thirteen has a good setup. Paranormal investigators from a Travel Channel-esque ghost show arrive at the supposedly haunted Foundation House. The team consists of Matt, the lead investigator and die-hard believer, his wife Claire (a skeptic), Kevin (a former cop and paranormal researcher), Jessica (an actress trying to get her big break on the show) and a camera operator.
But the execution of this is just so poor. I’m not sure if DiLouie was trying to be meta or self-aware or what, but he uses every single horror trope—or just any trope—you can think of, but in an inartful way.
There is zero character development. Every character is a stereotype. Everyone is aggravating. Oh the believer encountered a ghost as a kid and has been searching for that high since? Oh the cop is a tough-as-nails type?
And the conclusion? I felt like DiLouie didn’t have a good idea of where he wanted the book to end, so it was just more of the same on top of more of the same. People are lured into the bowels of the house? Oh and then deeper? Deeper still? Anything else? No? YAWN.
The Chelsea Girls by Fiona Davis • 🎧 • ★★★★★
There was a time where I read maybe four Fiona Davis books in a single summer. This book reminded me why that was: Davis is excellent.
In The Chelsea Girls, friends Hazel and Maxine first work as USO entertainers before searching for success in the New York City theater scene—Hazel as a playwright and Maxine as a leading lady. Just as the two start to find their place in the limelight, their latest production is threatened by the Red Scare and McCarthyism.
How this book takes these women from WWII to 1950s New York to later in their careers is beautiful. It speaks to the time while also portraying how complicated friendship can be—and how it can endure.
Husband Material by Alexis Hall • 🎧 • ★★★★☆
I read the first book in this series, Boyfriend Material, this time last year. It also got four stars from me.
So what’s going on for Luc and Oliver this time? A booked and busy wedding season. I really like how the story unfolded over the course of four wildly different weddings: a dear friend’s, an ex’s and a coworker’s.
It was a nice way for the book to unfold and to learn more about these two as they, spoiler, plan their own nuptials.
As always, you can follow along with my progress and see what I’ve read over on Goodreads! Also, if you’re an audiobook fan, I encourage you to try Libro.fm—you can support your favorite small bookstore while downloading your next listen.
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