This review is entirely audiobooks because my Kindle books were non-fiction (Atomic Habits & Anti-Diet) and I couldn’t get through them! Crazy because I used to only read non-fiction… and also only read a few books a year.

[65] Things I Wish I Told My Mother by Susan Patterson, Susan DiLallo, James Patterson
Fiction/Women, saw in “Available Now” on Libby, audiobook

Synopsis: Laurie and her mother Liz are opposites and have never gotten along, but when Liz has a heart scare, Laurie suggests they go on a European trip as a reward for leaving the hospital, and hopes they can bond a bit while there.

Review: I was really enjoying this surface-level book (I finished it in a day!), then the ending made me so completely irate I knocked it down from 4 to 3 stars. I do NOT recommend it unless you want to be that frustrated. I should have paid attention to the second part of this description from GoodReads: “A mother and daughter on vacation in Paris unpack a lifetime of secrets and hopes—with a giant Pattersonian twist at the end!” Ugh, I am still so annoyed with it.

Recommend? No

[66] The Rumor by Elin Hilderbrand
Fiction/Women, saw in “Available Now” on Libby, audiobook

Synopsis: Nantucket folks love to gossip, and when Madeline rents an apartment to help focus on writing her next novel, the rumor mill starts about her relationship with her husband, and her relationship with her best friend Grace’s husband. But maybe Madeline is the wrong one to gossip about…

Review: This was such a light, fun listen with lots of people misbehaving and rumors gone awry. This is what I wanted Bad Summer People to be. There are a lot of storylines in this book, but the great narration made them easy to follow, and I found them all interesting and didn’t feel like I was slogging through any of them or trying to rush through one to get to my favorite storyline.

Recommend? Yes

[67] Beautiful Day by Elin Hilderbrand
Fiction/Women, saw in “Available Now” on Libby, audiobook

Synopsis: Ha, I cannot remember any of the character names or find them with very little googling. Oops. Two families are united on Nantucket for a summer wedding and it should all be going according to plan – the bride is following the wedding plans her late mother made her to a T. But no family gathering is without drama, and as people reunite past grievances resurface and the weekend is anything but calm.

Review: Hmm. I didn’t love this book as much as other Hilderbrand books. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the juicy family drama, but even though it was set in the summer, I didn’t get the offset of happy summer vibes with it. Ha. There were some other annoyances – every few chapters was devoted to “the notebook” where the late mother had said how she wanted her daughter’s wedding to be and was just… super ick to me. It didn’t feel endearing. It felt controlling and odd. And there were smart phone references that seemed SO outdated (this book came out in 2013). Great narration again though, like in the previous book, but overall, meh.

Recommend? Nah