This week was a continuation of clearing my to-be-read shelves. Two of the three books I read will stay in my collection, and one will be added to the donate pile. All in all, not a bad week of reading!
Final Girls by Riley Sager
Final Girls is Riley Sager’s first novel and my third read of his collection, but wow, this one knocked it out of the park. Is a normal life achievable for someone who survived a brutal massacre? Quincy Carpenter is determined to prove that it is, despite being a Final Girl. From the moment she ran out of the woods in a blood-soaked dress 10 years ago, Quincy hasn’t been able to remember the details of the night her friends were butchered at Pine Cottage and she escaped. Now, as things start to happen to other Final Girls, Quincy must face her past once more to address what really happened in the woods that night.
This was a definite win for me. Sager added all the necessary elements: unreliable characters, plot twists, and spooky locations, to create a book that left me on edge. Final Girls is a definite recommended read!
A Place Like This by Cari Scribner
Cari Scribner’s follow-up to A Girl Like You is a sweet, emotional look at how a woman in her fifties deals with loss and finding a new life once she becomes an empty nester. A highly character-driven novel, A Place Like This is a quick read with endearing characters, particularly the female lead, Jess Gabriel.
I enjoyed Jess’s storyline and all the close-to-home adventures she experiences over the course of a year in this book. My full review of A Place Like This will be up on my blog later this week!
It’s Been a Pleasure, Noni Blake by Claire Christian
I’m pretty certain this book was an impulse purchase as part of a buy two-get-one-free sale or something similar, as It’s Been a Pleasure, Noni Blake has been on my shelf for at least a year and I knew nothing about it. I did use the audiobook for my reading this week, though.
Noni’s long-term relationship with Joan is over, and now she doesn’t know what to do. She’s hopping from bed to bed in hopes of finding a new person to fill her heart, but nothing works. It takes a decision to focus on her own pleasure—from haircuts to vacations to intimate positions—for Noni to learn what she really wants, even with heartbreak along the way.
I appreciated the representation in this book of bisexuality and fluid sexual partners, but ultimately Noni just wasn’t a likable heroine for me and I couldn’t get invested in her journey. Still, I’m glad to have read the book.
Bookish Brain 