The 7 Books I Read Last Month (August 2024)

August was a month of getting back into thrillers! Maybe it’s because we are rapidly approaching fall which feels like the perfect time of year to read something a little spooky or nerve-wracking. I also read more books in August than I did in July, which is a win! I’m closer to being on track to my Goodreads goal for the year which is another win!

Behind Closed Doors by B.A. Paris

4/5 stars

Behind Closed Doors follows a newlywed couple, Jack and Grace who seem like they are totally perfect and have it all figured out. But there’s something just a little bit off about them and you wonder what goes on when no one else is around.

Without giving much away, this book was a wild ride and definitely made me anxious while reading because I was so nervous that justice was not going to be achieved by the end! There are definitely some times where I was wondering what the heck the main character was thinking and why they were not acting quicker to finding a solution, but the book definitely kept me on the edge of my seat!

The Housemaid by Frieda McFadden

4/5 stars

The Housemaid is my first Frieda McFadden book, and I really enjoyed! I had been wondering why I could never find her books on my kindle through Libby, but it turns out that her eBooks are exclusive through Kindle, so the library won’t have them as eBooks! My library did have a few copies of the paperback, and so even though I am a kindle lover, I finally was able to check it out and read it.

The Housemaid follows Millie who is working as a new housemaid for the Winchesters. There is something off about the wife, Nina, who clearly makes messes on purpose, tells lies constantly, and makes Millie’s life miserable. Millie starts to develop a crush on the husband, Andrew, and things start to spiral.

I found this book to be predictable a bit (maybe it’s because I read a lot of thrillers and now feel like I can spot a twist a mile away). Despite this, I still thought it was really interesting!

Never Lie by Frieda McFadden

4.5/5 stars

Never Lie follows a couple, Tricia and Ethan, who are going to tour a house, but get stuck in a huge snowstorm. They are forced to bunker down in the house, but quickly realize it was previously owned by a famous psychiatrist, Dr. Adrienne Hale, who was murdered years back. Tricia stumbles upon a secret room filled with tape recordings off all of the sessions Dr. Hale did with her patients. Tricia begins listening to some of the tapes and starts to uncover a story of the events leading up to Dr. Hale’s death. Creepy things start happening in the house too, but with the snowstorm outside, there is no where for them to run.

I never would have been able to figure out the twist of this book and it felt so creepy reading about this potentially haunted house. The actual writing skill of this book is meh at best, but it didn’t stop me from being glued to this book and enjoying it.

I’m a Fan by Sheena Patel

2.25/5 stars

I’m a Fan follows a narrator who gives short little snippets of stalking a woman who is sleeping with the same man as her. The narrator is in a strange, unequal relationship with this man and is desperate for his validation.

The main character was exhausting. Some of the commentary the book tried to make was valid and good, but it just did so in such an overt, down-your-throat sort of manner and sometimes felt so out of place. Based on the description of this book, I think I just expected something else. I think I expected it to be more focused on her stalking and to be kind of creepier in that sense, but it wasn’t which made it kind of boring.

Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn

3/5 stars

Ella Minnow Pea is a novel about Ella who lives on an island named after Nevin Nollop, the fictional author of the pangram “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog”. The island’s council becomes increasingly totalitarian as it begins banning the use of certain letter of the alphabet as they fall to the ground from Nollop’s memorial statue.

This book is clever, but the actual plot is kind of boring. The story is told solely by letters written back and forth between characters, so the way the story is told is pretty limiting. The book has vibes similar to Lord of the Flies in a way that I cannot fully explain haha

Fostered by Tori Hope Peterson

4.25/5 stars

I have not actually mentioned this on ANY other social media, but my husband and I are currently in the process of becoming licensed foster parents. I’ve been doing a lot of reading the past year or so about psychology, foster experiences, etc. and this one came up as recommended on Goodreads for me.

I am really glad I read Fostered, Tori had a rough childhood and time in foster care and her story is really powerful of how she came out the other side. I think there are a lot of books from the POV of foster parents and not enough from the POV of actual foster children. Of course, every person’s experience is going to be different, but it still put a lot in my head of the kind of foster parent I want to be.

My biggest critique was that I wished the book talked more about Tori’s experience as a foster mom and also her experience of becoming a bio mom and adoptive mom and how her previous experiences shaped her current life. Also from the sense of publishing, the font was SO SMALL I started to think I needed reading glasses haha

Invisible Women by Carolina Criado Perez

4/5 stars

I did this one via audiobook and thought it was an interesting book! Invisible Women is about how a lot of data collected from studies does not take gender into account and it can often have effects in our society that range from making life tasks inconvenient for women, to having severe effects on women.

I thought this book was good and brought up a lot of good points– many of which I never considered. However, I didn’t feel like the author came up with a lot of solutions.

Did you read anything great recently? Share in the comments!

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