11 Books I Read in October and the Ones You Should Know About

I read eleven books this month and here’s what you should know about them!

With Instagram glitching ~yet again~ this week, this was a great reminder that we don’t own our Instagram platforms. Anything could happen and not only would our content, memories, and means of conversation be taken, but for many of us, our businesses too.

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I’ve outlined my thoughts on all of my October reads. Some will have you clicking “add to cart.” Others, I read it so you don’t have to! Either way, here to support those TBRs! Be sure to let me know if you pick up any of these books!

Solito by Javier Zamora, published September 2022

The premise of this memoir sold me as soon as I read the synopsis. A nine-year-old Javier embarks on the dangerous migration from El Salvador to California, where his parents are already there waiting. He traveled with strangers, led by multiple coyotes in different regions. This emotionally gripping memoir has added depth, as it’s told from a child’s perspective. It reflects on the scary journey, moments of personal growth, and the tender moments experienced with strangers who looked out for him. Absolutely recommend this book for those looking to broaden their perspective. 

⅘ stars

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The Love of My Life by Rosie Walsh, published March 2022

This genre-bending book took me by surprise! Admittedly, I didn’t read the synopsis before diving in, but the title and cover led me to think it was going to be a summer love-esque/ second chance romance type of plot… I was wrong! It packed a punch right from the beginning with the main character having cancer and suffering from infertility (not spoilers). As the story went on, it melted between romance, family drama, and suspense/mystery. Some may think that feels all over the place, but I thought it added depth to the story. This was the Bookcase Beauty Book Club pick for October and we had such great conversations that stemmed from topics in this book. Pick it up if you’re looking for something that will keep your mind swirling. 

⅘ stars

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Daisy Darker by Alice Feeny, published August 2022

I’m a sucker for a trapped thriller! Stuck in a house? A basement? An island? And people keep dying?! I’m all in! This was a very Agatha Christie-inspired book! The Darker family has traveled to their grandmother’s coastal home for her 80th birthday, but then Nana is found dead! So begins ongoing murders and the inability to escape. The Darker family is forced to reckon with their own secrets, while trying to stay together and alive until the tide goes out. This was a fast read! The story keeps the pages turning almost automatically. Pick this one up if you want to get lost in thrilling book!

⅘ stars

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Perish by LaToya Watkins, published August 2022

This was another powerful read! Although some moments were difficult to read, this story is immersive and shines light on generational trauma. If you have reading sensitivities, I would suggest looking up the content warnings on Goodreads. This book follows the Turner family over four decades and is told from four perspectives of family members. Set in a tiny town in east Texas, the Turner family has a dark and twisted path. A family reunion brings up long-held secrets that force each family member to evaluate who is worthy of forgiveness and who is worthy of blame.

⅘ stars

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Seattle’s Great Fire by Jordan Kidd

This narrative non-fiction book was fascinating! Set in the mid-1800s, it centers on local pioneer “Doc” and Chief Si’ahl (Seattle) of the native Duwamish tribe, as they try to bring together a clash of cultures. The real partnership in this story comes from young Mila and Catori, one an orphan being raised by Doc and the other a boy in the Duwamish tribe. This pair comes together to try and stop a planned attack on the new settlement by the Duwamish tribe. I loved reading about the relationships, good and bad, that grew between cultures. 

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Fruit of the Drunken Tree by Ingrid Rojas Contreras, published July 2018

I had marveled at this cover for over a year, yet left it unread because I wouldn’t prioritized it over the new releases. I finally read this for my Backlist Book Club’s October focus, Cover Love. I’m so glad I did!! The synopsis hooked me right away, hence why I bought it on Pangobooks, but the story was so immersive. It had everything I needed for a fall historical fiction read! It’s set in Columbia during the Pablo Escobar era and contrasts high society and working class. Told between alternating perspectives of Chula, a seven-year-old girl and Patrona, a young live-in maid, this story gives a history lesson of Columbia during this fearful time. It was eye-opening and heart wrenching at times, but a powerful read worth your time! 

⅘ stars

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Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver, published October 2022

FIVE STAR ALERT

I recently gushed about my love for Barbara Kingsolver and Demon Copperhead on Instagram. Please go check out this post for more of my thoughts, the algorithm was not too kind to it. She wrote one of the pivotal books that formed my passion for reading, The Poisonwood Bible. She has such a power about her. Her writing feels classic in the modern era, something so rare! It’s absolutely one of my favorites of the year and I won’t be surprised if I pick this one up again one day. 

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The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna, published August 2022

This was a cute, not-so-spooky read for spooky season! It reminded me of The House in the Cerulean Sea, with characters feeling like misfits and unlikely bonds between children and caretakers. This was a great representation that family doesn’t always mean shared blood. Don’t let the title fool you, this book may be about witches but it’s not a Halloween book. Think Sabrina, the Teenage Witch vibes. It can be read year-round without holiday ties! 

⅗ stars

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East Winds by Rachel Rueckert, publishes November 2022

East Winds initially grasped my attention with its book trailer. You can watch it here: 

I loved the examination of marriage and commitment across cultures! Rueckert did a fantastic job making parallels to her own religion and culture. Beyond the scope of cultural diversity and unique travel experiences, East Winds gives a great depiction of the first year of marriage- learning the nuances about your partner, building communication, and inevitably repairing and learning from negative experiences. Definitely recommend this perspective-broadening book! 

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The Haunting of Maddy Clare by Simon St. James, originally published 2012, reprinted October 2022

St. James can tell a ghost story! Although this book is a decade old, the reprinting of this cover made me finally pick it up! I also read this book for the Bookcase Beauty Backlist Club’s Cover Love focus. It’s a mystery how Maddy came to be at the Clare’s home all those years ago, but they took her in and raised her. After her suicide, Maddy still haunts the barn on the Clare’s property. The story is told from the perspective of Sarah, who’s temp agency has sent her to assist the ghost hunter, Alistair. The hope is that they can finally send Maddy to rest in peace, but Maddy is MAD and she wants vengeance. If you’ve never read any of Simone St. James’ books, this is a great place to start! 

⅘ stars

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Happiness for Beginners but Katherine Center, originally published in 2015, republished in 2020, soon to be a Netflix movie!

I managed to squeeze in one last Cover Love book for the Bookcase Beauty Backlist Club! If you’re thinking, “geez, that club seems excessive.” It’s not, we only plan to read one book a month from our TBRs, I’m just an overachiever. 🙂 Happiness for Beginners has been on my TBR for so long. I’m a huge Katherine Center fan. If you’ve been around the blog or followed me on Instagram for very long, you know that to be true. Here’s an embroidery I made of her newest book, The Bodyguard. 

She’s the master of sweet. This sweet romance has the fun little brother’s best friend trope. There’s something about the friends to lovers and siblings friend to lovers tropes that always get me. Maybe because there’s already a trusting relationship there. I feel like the relationship build is so much more believable. Absolutely recommend picking this one up when you need a dose of sweetness in your life. There are a few heavy topics woven in, but Center does so with such love and grace. 

⅘ stars

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Overall, here are my top three favorites of the month:

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

Fruit of the Drunken Tree by Ingrid Rojas Contreras

Happiness for Beginners by Katherine Center

If you pick any of these tiles up, I’d love to know your thoughts! Let’s keep the conversation going by leaving a comment below!

If you want to stay up to date on my ratings, follow me on Goodreads and Instagram. I also have a Substack Newsletter, where I update you on all things books and life. 

Have you read any of these? Do we have any similar or differing opinions? Put any of these on your TBR?

Leave me a comment!

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Ten Books I Read in September 2022

I tend to remember books in association with the season I read them in. The transition from Summer to Fall is typically my least favorite time of year. If you’re a newsletter subscriber, I talked about this a little bit in my latest letter. Summer is my favorite season. Give me sunny days, water, and warmth. Fall, in distant memory, has been associated with the increasingly difficult work of setting the foundation for another school year.

This is the first time in memory that I’ve really enjoyed the change of season. It’s been a renewing and welcomed embrace.

September has come and gone. These are my reflections on the ten books that I read.

I’ve outlined my thoughts on all of them below. Be sure to let me know if we’ve read any of the same books!

The Fortunes of Jaded Women by Carolyn Huynh, published September 2022

I enjoyed the premise of the story, but felt a lot was lost on me by listening to the audio. There are a lot of characters, they’re all women, and they’re all in the same family! It was a lot to try and keep straight via audio. There is a family tree printed in the print copy, so consider that when giving this one a read.

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Atomic Habits (for the second time this year) by James Clear, published October 2018

Never have I read a book twice in one year until now. I first read Atomic Habits in January and it was like a fire was lit in my brain. It’s filled with practical and purposeful actions and reflections of how to build positive habits and work toward your goals- and the opposite of working to break bad habits for the betterment of your well-being. The audio is fantastic, Clear narrates his own book, but you’ll want a physical copy to annotate!

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This Time Tomorrow Emma Straub, published May 2022

*Sigh* I had such high hopes for this book! I’d looked forward to it for so long. It has all the elements that I love: family dynamics, magical realism, introspective reflection. Ultimately, it fell flat for me. While reading, I found myself getting bored. I was expecting more drama or meaningfulness or I don’t know… something to grip me, but it never happened. This isn’t a rip! Other reviews have raved! If the synopsis sounds interesting to you, go for it and form your own opinion!

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The Girl in the Mirror Rose Carlyle, published October 2020

Ehh, it was just so so! Again, it had all of the elements that I love in a thriller, but it didn’t quite blow me away. It was an enjoyable, quick read, but nothing to write home about. This is another that I’d say if it sounds interesting to you, try it! I read this for my Backlist Book Club’s September genre, thrillers.

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Nothing But the Truth by Holly James, published July 2022

This is a female-centered, modern version of the movie Liar, Liar, one of my favorite movies! I completely enjoyed it. It’s fun and empowering and shines a very bright and necessary light on harassment and systems set up in favor of men. It’s strong and lovely at the same time. Definitely worth a read!

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The Silent Wife by Karin Slaughter, published August 2020

I’ll start by saying that I didn’t realize this was the **10th** book in a series. So, maybe I should’ve just stopped right then. I was not so wise, I definitely kept going when I found that out. Although the plot stands alone, I was so confused on who the characters were and kept feeling so disconnected. Well, that’s why. If you’ve read any of the Will Trent series and have a basis for who these characters are, you’ll probably enjoy this book more than I did! I read this for my Backlist Book Club’s September genre, thrillers.

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Fairy Tale by Stephen King, published September 2022

I love the way Stephen King can craft a story and build a world. 11/22/63 is one of my favorite books of all time. If you haven’t read it, do it! It’s historical fiction mixed with some magical realism and it’s amazing. Not scary, in case you’re wondering. 

That impromptu review being shared, maybe I had too high of hopes for this one. It was just okay. Fine, if not a little long and drawn out. The premise of good vs. evil fighting to the death and a boy and his dog working at the forefront, I was all in. Ultimately, it left me a little disappointed.

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Sophie Go’s Lonely Hearts Club by Roselle Lim, published August 2022

This was a cute and refreshing storyline! I loved Sophie’s drive and passion for making her dreams come true. I loved the group of septuagenarian bachelors. I loved learning more about matchmaking in Chinese culture. For those reasons, I would recommend the book! 
On the flip side, the character development fell short for me. I was hoping for deeper introspection, more developed descriptions of the characters, and maybe some redemption for some unlikeable characters. It was a little dry at times and I found myself skimming more than I would have liked. This was the Bookcase Beauty Book Club pick for September!

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Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn, published September 2022

Solid, fun, and entertaining. It kept me excited to find out what happened next! This audiobook was the soundtrack to my morning walks. I looked forward to “my stories” each morning. This would be a great movie! I kept picturing Diane Keaton and Jane Fonda.

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The Personal Assistant by Kimberly Belle, publishing November 2022

I am excited for this one to hit shelves! This suspenseful thriller is told from multiple perspectives and dual timelines. At first, I was skeptical that this story would be cliché and another ‘meh’ social media thriller, but I was delightfully wrong. It kept me guessing until the end, excited to read what could possibly happen next, and compare my theories to what actually played out.

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Overall, here’s how my reads stacked up:

Five Stars:

Atomic Habits by James Clear

Four Stars:

The Fortunes of Jaded Women by Carolyn Huynh

The Girl in the Mirror by Rose Carlyle

Nothing But the Truth by Holly James

Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Reybourn

The Personal Assistant by Kimberly Belle

Three Stars:

This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straub

The Silent Wife by Karin Slaughter

Fairy Tale by Stephen King

Sophie Go’s Lonely Heart’s Club by Roselle Lim

Follow me on Goodreads and Instagram to stay up to date on my ratings!

Have you read any of these? Do we have any similar or differing opinions? Put any of these on your TBR?

Leave me a comment!

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The Bookcase Beauty Backlist Club

Books piling up faster than you can read? I’ve got a club for you!

Last week, I shared a post about why I started a book club. You can find it linked below, if you missed it. You may have read it and said to yourself, “This sounds great, but I can’t join a book club. I have too many  unread books already!” Well, sweet friend, I do too. That’s why I started a second book club just for bookworms like us who hoard and collect faster than we can read. There is still community to be found!

It’s called the Backlist Book Club!

Before we dive any further, let’s define a couple of terms you’ll read in this post.

TBR: “to be read”, books you haven’t read yet but plan to… at some point… hopefully soon…

Backlist: this is a loose term, but typically, this term refers to books published more than a year ago.

This club doesn’t operate like a traditional book club. Our goal is not to read a shared book and discuss, but rather commit to reading a book off of our own shelves, share our thoughts, cheer each other on, check in throughout the month and give recommendations of books we finally got around to reading!

To make it a little more fun, we vote on a genre to read within each month, but that’s really just a boundary if you want it. You have the freedom to pick up anything that’s calling to you!

Although our goal is to read one book a month from our backlist TBR, this club has led many of us to reading more than one! One month, I picked up a YA novel and loved it so much I ended up reading the next two in the series in the same month! You can find more on that series on this Instagram post.

We read a new genre each month and are incredibly laid back and supportive! We would love for you to come read with us!

If you’d like to read more about our more traditional online book club, check out this blog post!

The Bookcase Beauty Book Club

I can see the headline now, “Girl who previously hated commitment reading starts a book club.”

You may be thinking, “how does that even happen?!” For such a long time, I was so turned off by book clubs and buddy reads. I’m a mood reader through and through and the thought of letting a group decide my reading was anything but enticing.

But, like anyone with a growth mindset, there’s room to try new things. I began feeling like a key element of community was missing. For a while, I thought it was just an effect of my Instagram account growing and life becoming increasingly busy. I was feeling the need for deeper connections.

*Enter The Bookcase Beauty Book Club*

Book clubs were once very intimidating to me. It felt like a lot of commitment to one group and I was worried that by joining one, I might get burned out. By starting The Bookcase Beauty Book Club, I was able to set the tone for a club that is laid back and welcoming. I am so appreciative that authors are often able to join us!

I started The Bookcase Beauty Book Club in February of 2022. I tried several platforms before landing on Bookclubs. My kind club was so patient and open to trying new platforms until we had one that felt the most conducive to conversations and community.

Each month, we vote between 3-4 titles that we would most like to read. Throughout the month, we check it, ask questions, give updates, share reactions (and sometimes, oddly, recipes), and at the end of the month we meet via Zoom to discuss. We have been so lucky to have many authors join our club chats! We also have a casual virtual happy hour around mid-month, which we use to catch up on shows and other book recommendations.

We typically read new releases (within the last few months). This ensures that most of the club won’t have read it and will be able to fully participate. We’ve read thrillers, contemporary fiction, romantic comedies, and historical fiction.

We are a very casual and welcoming group and we’d love for you to join us!

I also have a Backlist Book Club made up of readers who need some commitment to tackling their TBR! Check it out and come join us if you need a little accountability!

Questions?! Leave me a comment! I’d love to chat!

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Take My Hand by Dolen Perkins-Valdez Five Star Review

I recently read Take My Hand by Dolen Perkins-Valdez and it was a total five star read! It will be one that’s added to the stack of Five Star Reads of 2022! This historical fiction based on true events will completely captivate you.

I selected this as one of my Book of the Month picks a few months ago. If you’re not familiar with Book of the Month, it’s a fantastic subscription service. I’ve been a member for five years with no plans to stop. Some of my all-time favorites like Pachinko, The Poisonwood Bible, and The People We Keep have been discovered through this service. You can click here and get your first box for only $5!

Take My Hand

Take My Hand is one that will sit with you for a long time. Based on real events, this story takes place in Montgomery, Alabama. Civil Townsend is a young nurse who is determined to help her patients at the family planning clinic.

Two of her first patients are 11- and 13-year-old sisters that are being administered monthly birth control shots, despite not being sexually active. They are poor and Black, and for those in control of the family’s welfare benefits, that’s all that’s needed to justify mandatory shots.

One day, Civil discovers something horrific and irreparable has happened to the girls. She vows then and there to advocate for these girls and their family. They take their case all the way to the Supreme Court.

I was in the trenches for this one. Civil internally debates many of the issues that are still debated today, in respect to birth control and abortion. It broke me to keep remembering that this was based on real events.

It’s moving and emotional. It was absolutely an “I’m not stopping until it’s done” book. A one-day read. The narration is incredible. If you haven’t read this book, I highly recommend the audio file.

Check out my review on Instagram for more on this beautiful book!

You can purchase Take My Hand here.

You can also browse all of my favorite books in my Amazon Storefront.

Have you read Take My Hand? Leave me a comment below and let me know your thoughts!

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