[37] The Good Part by Sophie Cousens
Fiction/Women, saw in Available Now on Libby, audio

Synopsis: Lucy Young has a crappy apartment with inconsiderate roommates, a job she can’t seem to advance in, hardly any money in her bank account, and no romantic prospects. When she stumbles across a wishing machine she asks to just skip to the good part, and finds herself waking up sixteen years later with a husband, two kids, and her own TV production company – but she doesn’t remember anything about those last sixteen years.

Review: This is a cute story, and the writing was fine, but it fell flat for me. I wanted it to be clever. I wanted Lucy to figure out things in her new life faster. I wanted her to make a different decision at the end. I guess I went in to this book with higher expectations than I realized!

Recommend? No

[38] The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North
Fiction / Visionary & Metaphysical, first recommended by a coworker last year, then read for a book club with Tiff, Trudy, & Val, Kindle

Synopsis: Harry August is an ouroboro – he lives his life, dies, and starts right back at the beginning. In his second life, he goes mad, not understanding what is going on, but then he figures it out by the third, and eventually discovers the Cronos Club – groups of ouroboros all over the world who pass messages down through time. The latest message is the world is ending faster than it should, and Harry aims to figure out what is going on.

Review: On paper, this sounds really interesting. Also, on paper (or digitally, on Kindle), it’s not. At all. I tried to read this last year when a coworker recommended it, and I DNF’d it around 34%. It’s incredibly dense, slow moving, and meandering (something will actually be going on and then the next chapter will be like “did I ever tell you about the time that…” and go onto some pointless story). It’s painful. One of those books where you read a paragraph over and over and realize you don’t remember what you were reading about the intricacies of World War II because you started thinking about work or what you are going to eat the next day. On the plus side, it helped me fall asleep many nights in a row while reading it. And I slept so well. Thanks, Harry.

Beyond how dense it is with history, there’s also deep discussions on ethics of science and I just don’t GAF to read about two characters arguing about that. And (spoiler!!!!!! stop reading now if you plan to read this book) bonus, that character that Harry was arguing with? That I hated so much? Turns out to be the bad guy that he spends a lot of the book chasing and trying to stop.

What he’s trying to stop the bad guy from doing is interesting, but doesn’t really start until the second half (or later?) of the book, and did not go into the detail I’d like on that. I really don’t even understand how the thing the bad guy was building was going to work or what it would do. The ending was deeply unsatisfying. Just, no. Beautiful writing, I just must not be smart enough to like this book.

Recommend? Hell no

[39] Planes, Trains, and All the Feels by Livy Hart
Fiction / Romance / Romantic Comedy, saw on Stephany’s blog, audio

Synopsis: Cassidy and Luke don’t meet on the best of terms – he “stole” her spot in the airport parking lot, then didn’t hold the bus for her after she finally found one. Of course they end up being on the same flight. And then when their plane has to divert because off a cracked windshield, they decide to continue the trip from North Carolina to California together first out of necessity, then to save costs. As they spend more time together, they realize their initial impressions of each other weren’t entirely accurate.

Review: AHH I LOVED THIS BOOK! I love an enemies-to-lovers trope, and Cassidy and Luke are both such great characters. Cassidy is sassy, funny, outgoing, and free-spirited, and Luke is serious and carrying the weight of the world on his back. They don’t seem like a good match at all on paper, but their chemistry was great. I enjoyed their backstories too – Cassidy going back home for her sister’s wedding and Luke going back to check in on his family, both of them with momma drama. And I love that their best friends in the book were obvious being set up for a book 2. GIVE ME MORE! My only complaint about this book is that I didn’t follow a few of the scene transitions, but it didn’t affect my enjoyment or understanding too much.

Recommend? Yes! And I really liked how it was done on audio, with a different narrator for Cassidy’s and Luke’s chapters.