[67] The Friend Zone (The Friend Zone #1) by Abby Jimenez
Fiction / Romance / Romantic Comedy, rec from Val, Kindle

Synopsis: Kristen and Josh have a connection from their first meeting, but it isn’t meant to be – she’s dating someone. Even if she wasn’t, she’s going to have a medical procedure that makes it impossible to have children, and Josh wants a big family. Kristen hires Josh to work for her parttime and as they spend more time together, they become closer.

Review: What even is this book. Gawd. This is the classic “keeping a secret” trope for most of the entire freaking book and it MADE ME INSANE. (Spoiler) After Kristen and Josh hook up (she’s broken up with her boyfriend) she’s like “we can only be friends with benefits” then starts being a total bitch to him most of the time, because she wants to keep him at arm’s length because she’s decided for both of them they don’t have a future because of the medical thing she isn’t telling him about. GAH. Kristen obviously has a lot of trauma and self worth issues because of her past but it’s barely touched on so you’re just like “WhY iS sHe DoInG tHiS?” Don’t even get me started on the very dark turn toward the end of the book. This wasn’t the story for me!

Recommend? No

[68] How to End a Love Story by Yulin Kuang
Fiction / Romance / Contemporary, saw in “Available Now” on Libby, Kindle

TW: suicide

Synopsis: In high school Helen’s sister jumped in front of another student’s (Grant’s) car, and died by suicide. Fifteen years later Helen’s a YA novelist and her book series is being made into a TV show. She joins the writer’s room and discovers Grant is one of the writers. She wants to hate him, but it’s harder than she thought it would be.

Review: So many thoughts. First, this is a really interesting (disturbing) premise. Even though the death was not Grant’s fault, it’s obviously affected him deeply, and he has debilitating anxiety attacks. He seems happy in public, but alone, he’s a shell of a person. Helen is a first generation immigrant and the way she was raised has affected her (traumatized her) so much. She can’t imagine being as cheerful and carefree as Grant in public. She struggles with basic interactions and questions why anyone would ever want to spend time with her, because she wasn’t outwardly shown love growing up. These two are a mess, and therefore pretty interesting yet… the whole “we can have sex and that’s it” trope was too fresh after the first book so it was a struggle at times.

Recommend? Nah

[69] To the Gorge : Running, Grief, and Resilience & 460 Miles on the Pacific Crest Trail by Emily Halnon
Biography & Autobiography / Sports, heard about from Ali on the Run, audio

TW: cancer, death (including humans and a dog)

Synopsis: Halnon runs the entire Oregon section of the Pacific Crest Trail (with a goal of getting the FKT – Fastest Known Time) in honor of her late mother, who passed away from cancer. She intersperses stories of her mother, her mother’s cancer, and her sister-in-law’s cancer between recaps of running the trail.

Review: I’ve been interested in this book since Ali mentioned it on her podcast and am so glad I did the audio version. Hearing this from Emily herself felt so raw and real. I would not have felt that if I read it on Kindle.

There is a lot of grief in this story. Her mother passed in January 2020 and she did this run in August 2020. And her mother passing was not the only bad thing going on in her life. So know that going into it. But it’s beautifully done. I felt like the stories she told about her mother, her family, and herself were perfectly placed within her recap of running the trail. It was a lovely exploration of her grief. A little bit of me was like “I want more running stats” – but then she gave them all in appendices in the end.

Recommend? Yes