September Book Reviews

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Check out this fall reading list for books to read in September and October! These cozy books are great books to read during the fall.

How is it October already?! Not that I’m complaining, since Fall is the BEST. I’m here to share my reviews for the books I read in September. I tried to read books with a Fall theme, and ended up finishing 3 books. Check out my Fall reading list, and share your favorite Fall books in the comments below!

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Fall Reading List

Note: I purposely don’t share many details of the plots, so as not to spoil anything for you. : )

Check out this fall reading list for books to read in September and October! These cozy books are great books to read during the fall.

The Miniaturist by Jesse Burton

Plot: The Miniaturist opens in Autumn 1686 in Amsterdam, where 18 year-old Nella arrives at her new home to begin her life with her new, much older husband Johannes. He is a wealthy merchant trader, and Nella has glamorous expectations of what her new life with be.

Johannes is kind but distant, always working, and leaving Nella with his prickly sister Marin. But when Johannes presents Nella with the unusual wedding gift of a cabinet-sized replica of her new home, her world opens up. She employs the services of a local ‘miniaturist’ to furnish her doll house, who seems to know much more about Nella’s house and fate than she does.

My review: I chose this book because the plot was intriguing, and PBS was going to air a miniseries based on it. I just love watching movies based on books. I’m ALWAYS disappointed by the movie versions, but I just can’t help myself.

I really enjoyed The Miniaturist. The characters live in a world so different from our own, which was fascinating to me.

The story was captivating and a nice change from my usual domestic thriller picks. It was a darker read than I anticipated, and definitely more suspenseful.

I did feel like the author didn’t flesh out certain plot points enough, and definitely could have done the ending differently. And it didn’t have as much of a Fall feel as I’d hoped. The Prologue was unnecessary and confusing, so feel free to skip it.

If you think the plot sounds interesting, I think you should give this book a try. Maybe mostly because I want to talk about it with someone (hehe).

I give it 4 out 5 stars.

If you want to skip the book but watch the PBS series, you can watch it here. I liked the book better than the miniseries, to no one’s surprise.

Check out this fall reading list for books to read in September and October! These cozy books are great books to read during the fall.

 

The Recipe Box by Viola Shipman

Plot: Samantha always felt trapped growing up on her family’s apple orchard in Northern Michigan. She didn’t want to take over the orchard or pie shop business, and left for New York City to become a pastry chef right after high school.

But life as an under-appreciated and overworked sous chef to a jerk boss is not the life Sam dreamed of. After quitting her job out of utter frustration, she humbly returns home, and discovers more about her family than she ever expected.

My review: I chose The Recipe Box because it takes place in Michigan and it sounded like a cozy story. I assumed that it would take place during the Fall, since it was about an apple orchard, but it was mostly set during the summer. It did live up to my cozy expectations though.

The writing style was not sophisticated, but I enjoyed the story very much. It was not nearly as shallow as I first expected.

Each chapter ended with a baked good recipe. Too bad it didn’t have a scratch and sniff component.

I thought this was a sweet and touching story about family history and connections. It wasn’t overly deep, and parts of it were cheesy, but I’m ok with that.

If you like reading family stories or books about baking, then The Recipe Box is for you. I think it might make you want to travel to Michigan, too.

I’m giving it 4.1 out of 5 stars.

Check out this fall reading list for books to read in September and October! These cozy books are great books to read during the fall.

When We Fall by Emily Liebert

Plot: Allison, a young widow, returns to her home town from New York City with her 10-year old son to focus on her art career. Allison meets Charlotte, a woman who seems to have it all, but there are issues lying under her perfect facade. Charlotte wants to befriend Allison, but seeing her life through Allison’s eyes makes her question everything she knows.

My review: I wanted to read When We Fall because I really enjoyed Liebert’s other books, Those Secrets We Keep and You Knew Me When. Her books are always good stories of female friendships. I also chose it a little bit based on the lovely cover, and the fact that it takes place during Autumn.

I didn’t enjoy When We Fall as much as the author’s other two books. None of her stories are particularly deep, but they do have more layers than other ‘fluff’ books in the genre. This one has a cozy feel, with some romantic components. It also deals with envy, competition, and forgiveness, which are often issues within female friendships.

Honestly, I had hoped to enjoy this book more than I did, but I have no regrets reading it. I will happily read any other book that Liebert writes, and definitely recommend all 3 of her books for those who enjoy light, chick-lit style books.

I give it 3.9 out of 5 stars.

Did Not Finish

Since I loved the Aurora Teagarden series by Charlaine Harris, I thought I’d try her Sookie Stackhouse books. It was the basis for the HBO show True Blood, and I hoped to read the book series and then watch the show. The Fall and Halloween season seemed like as good a time as any to start it.

I had a hard time getting into the first book, Dead Until Dark. Since I had made the decision a while ago not to force myself to finish books I’m not enjoying, I may call it quits. There are just too many other great books to read, and my ‘To Be Read’ book list is already never-ending.

In Conclusion

I wasn’t particularly wowed by any of the books I read in September, but did like them for the most part. I am still majorly on the lookout for Fall books to read. If you know of any, please let me know in the comments below!

It would have been really nice to read more than 3 books last month, so I’m going to work on reading more often in October. I did reach my goal of reading 40 books like last year, but I’d love to get to 50 books for 2018.

Related: How to Find Time to Read When You’re Just Too Busy

I’d love to hear what you’ve been reading!

Linking up with Jana and Steph for Show Us Your Books

READING RESOURCES:

Kindle First Reads (a free ebook on the 1st of every month)

Amazon Prime: Free 30 day trial (borrow ebooks from the Prime lending library for free!)

FREE Kindle Reading App

Kindle Unlimited

Audible: Free 30 day trial (+2 free audiobooks)

PREVIOUS BOOK REVIEWS:

The 40 books I read in 2017

January 2018 Reading List

February 2018 Reading List

March 2018 Reading List

April 2018 Reading List

May 2018 Reading List

June 2018 Reading List

(Awesome) July 2018 Reading List

August 2018 Reading List

Please leave your Fall and Halloween book recommendations below!

Check out this fall reading list for books to read in September and October! These cozy books are great books to read during the fall.

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22 Comments

  1. I haven’t read anything by Charlaine Harris, but based on what I know about those two TV shows I would have never expected they were both by her because they’re so different! The Miniaturist does sound interesting, and such a pretty cover.

    1. Haha I never thought about it, but yes those two shows are quite different! The Miniaturist was definitely unlike any other book I’ve ever read.

  2. I read something like 6 of the Sookie Stackhouse books, and was enjoying them until I made the mistake of watching the TV show, which went in a completely different direction. Becoming okay with DNFing is tough but worth it, good for you!

    1. It is a bit tough being okay with not finishing books, because it feels a little like quitting. But it is totally worth it, since there are just so many awesome books I want to read!

  3. i have only read the sookie books, have not read anything else by that author. i read them back in… 2011-ish i think? i loved them, though they went downhill (and around a corner and caused a 5 car pile up that then exploded) with the last couple of books so i don’t recommend that at all. it sucks because i really did enjoy the first 10 or so, but the last 2 100% ruined the series for me and i can’t recommend them. so, long story long, i have not been able to pick up a charlaine harris book since, even though i’ve heard good things. i just can’t trust her lol

    1. Your comment cracked me up, Kristen. I’m sorry to hear that the Sookie series took such a turn for the worse! I winder what happened. Maybe I just won’t bother with it.

    1. Hi Kay! It was interesting. I’m always so hesitant to share much of the plot since I really hate spoilers. It is more interesting than I made it sound lol.

  4. Oh Sookie. I loved the first books, maybe through 10, like Kristen, but they went downhill fast. And I think those last few books came out after True Blood started airing and it felt like Charlaine was straddling two audiences because True Blood is very, very different from the books. That’s not bad but Charlaine should have stayed true to the books. Plus, it began to feel like Charlaine wasn’t even putting in any real effort into the books and I haven’t read any of her other books because of this. I have, however, watched a few of the Aurora Teagarden mysteries on Hallmark though. LOL!

    1. I really don’t know why the shows and movie versions of the books we love must be so different! The Aurora books are much better than the movies, in my opinion. I wish the Sookie series would have grabbed me more quickly. I have been looking forward to reading them for like a year!

  5. I really liked the first three or four Sookie books but not the later ones.

    I also really liked Aurora but just picked up one of the most recent ones and couldn’t bear it. I stopped reading it. I might have outgrown that series?

    I wish Harris wrote more of the Harper Connelly books.

    1. I always forget about the Harper Connelly books.. Maybe I’ll try those next. It is definitely possible to outgrow a series. I think that’s what happened with me and the Shopaholic books.

  6. I loved almost all of the Sookie books (and loved True Blood)…the second one is better than the first, if you choose to keep going.
    I had the opposite problem: I tried the Aurora Teagarden series after the Sookie books and I couldn’t get into them.

    1. Maybe I judged the Sookie series too soon. Everyone else seems to like them, to a certain point at least. I may still watch True Blood at some point lol.

    1. I think it’s just intriguing to see if what we imagined while we were reading looks the same on screen. Or to see how someone else adapts the same story.

  7. I’ve never read anything by Emily Liebert, so I’ll have to check her out. Also, I read the Sookie Stackhouse books a long time ago. They are easy reads, but can be a little odd. The TV show is way darker IMO and almost hard for me to watch sometimes. I’ve always wanted to try a different series by her.

    1. Hi Steph! Liebert’s books are definitely worth a read, especially if you enjoy the chick lit genre. Thanks for the heads up about True Blood being dark and hard to watch. I appreciate that!

  8. I had the same kind of September that you did. Nothing wowed me. I just ordered When we Fall from Book Outlet.. I enjoyed one of her other books and for $3 I figured I’d give it a try. Some of the books on my fall list are: First Frost by Sarah Addison Allen, The Rules of Magic Alice Hoffman, The Graveyard Book Neil Gaiman, and Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness. Thanks for sharing all the great resources and links! Pam 🙂

    1. Hi Pam! I’d love to hear what you think about When We Fall when you’re done with it. : ) I’m going to look up the books on your fall list right now. Thanks so much for the great suggestions!

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