June Book of the Month Readathon Wrap-Up

This month I participated in the Book of the Month readathon. Just a note: this was not started by the official Book of the Month page, it was started by another book blogger/instagrammer - booknerdnative. And what a great idea it was! I'll admit, I'm terrible about keeping up with my Book of the Month picks, and while I only made a small dent in my pile, I really enjoyed most of the books I read. Keep reading to find out what specifically I liked or didn't like about each of the seven Book of the Month picks I read in June!

When Katie Met Cassidy by Camille Perri

Rating: 2 Stars

This is the book equivalent to cotton candy. It was and fun and easy read, but there wasn’t much substance. It felt like the whole story was surface-level only, and I would have liked if there had been more depth to the story, or the characters, or both.

Overall it was okay, especially if you’re looking for something light and easy, but it didn’t make me feel any sort of emotion.

The Book of Essie by Meghan MacLean Weir

Rating: 4 Stars

I really enjoyed this book, even though the subject matter was very hard to read about. Early on, I sort of got a picture about what was going to happen, but it didn’t come fully clear until the end, which meant I couldn’t stop reading!

Weir did an excellent job of creating believable characters with depth. I don’t know how I would react if I were in Essie’s place (thank goodness), but I believed how she reacted. It felt real and raw and rough. I hope Weir continues to write, I would be interested to read more from her.

How to Walk Away by Katherine Center

Rating: 4 Stars

This was an extremely enjoyable read about a woman who overcomes great hardship. I really appreciated that Center stayed true to life in that everything wasn't magically fixed by the end of the  novel. I felt that the characters and the plot were all well-developed.  

The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang

Rating: 4 Stars

This was an extremely fun, steamy, perfect-for-summer read! I enjoyed the reverse Pretty Woman plot and the diverse cast of characters. The heroine is autistic, which makes it a buzzworthy book by that point alone. However, the author is also on the spectrum which lends wonderful (and needed) authenticity to the character. The hero is a young man just trying to help his family and not turn into his deadbeat father, which may sound like a cliche trope, but Hoang approaches it in such a way that I really felt I understood Michael and where he was coming from. Not to say I didn't want to shake him sometimes, but I felt for him. I also enjoyed the fun cast of secondary characters, particularly Michael's Vietnamese family. Diversity in romance (and all publishing) is so important, but diversity for it's own sake can often come off as flat or forced. I didn't feel that way at all about this book, so I suggest if you enjoy fun and sexy romances, be sure to put this one in your beach bag!

Goodbye, Vitamin by Rachel Khong

Rating: 2 Stars

This was a fairly quick, easy read. Nothing to write home about, in my opinion. The writing was fine, but the style didn't work for me. It was written as journal entries, which I often enjoy, but it didn't seem to work in this instance. To me, this story would have been better served as a narrative, not as a diary.

I never felt any real connection to any of the characters, and everything came across as very superficial. If the characters and/or plot had been more fleshed out I would have enjoyed it more.

Bonfire by Krysten Ritter

Rating: 3 stars

This was a pretty good debut novel. Ritter is a good writer, and I think she had a good story to tell with this book. It was a thriller that wasn't too terribly scary, but it went off in a direction I didn't really expect, which I appreciated. I would pick up another if Ritter continues to write.

The English Wife by Lauren Willig

Rating: 4 Stars

This was a great mystery that kept me guessing until the end. It was exactly the kind of mystery that I enjoy; the kind where I think I’ve figured out what’s going on and the author parcels out important information a little bit at a time to keep up the suspense and surprise.

So there you have it! And I have to say, if you're thinking about trying Book of the Month Club, I can't recommend it enough. Just look at all these good books!