Book #1:
What the River Knows by Isabel Ibanez (Length: 416 pages) This was a Book-of-the-Month pick for me. It’s middle-grade (7th to 9th grade I think?) which isn’t generally a genre I tend to pick up, but the subject matter here grabbed me. It’s set in Egypt in 1884 and is an adventure novel. A young woman leaves Buenos Aires to find out what happened to her archaeologist parents who disappeared while on an excavation of Cleopatra’s tomb. I used to be obsessed with the Amelia Peabody mystery series by author Elizabeth Peters and this reminds me of that vibe. The central mystery and the writing here are decent, and I kept reading to find out what happened. I will say it’s not “too” YA which is nice, and the main character isn’t too angsty. The romance subplot is fine but this is in no way a romance novel. I did enjoy the twist at the end which sets up the second book in the series very nicely. I’d give it 3 stars.
Book #2:
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (Length: 278 pages). Thanks to the Serial app, this is another classic that I wanted to re-read as it’s been at least 30 years since my first read. I loved opening up the app each day to read the next part of the Jane and Mr. Darcy saga, and I enjoyed this novel so much more than Jane Eyre. While the spunkiness of the female protagonists is similar in each, the plot was way more captivating in this fun classic. I paired my re-read of this with a re-watch of the BBC series starring Colin Firth, which just added to my enjoyment of both. Perfection! 5 stars, of course.
Book #3:
Roomies by Christina Lauren (Length: 366 pages). This rom-com was suggested by fans of Christina Lauren as one of their favorites so of course I had to check it out. The premise here is a bit far-fetched: the niece of a famous Broadway composer/producer (think Hamilton-level) discovers and crushes on a cute guitar player in the NY subway, and he happens to be an Irish citizen overstaying his student visa by several years. Cue fake marriage so he can star in (and rescue) said musical. The writing is solid, as always in any CL book, the romantic chemistry is believable, and I wanted to keep reading. And isn’t that all we can ask for with these types of novels, really? 3.5 stars from me.
Book #4:
Ranger Confidential by Andrea Lankford (Length: 256 pages). I’ve always been fascinated by the career of park rangers, and this book satisfied my curiosity (ie, I’m good with my chosen career but very impressed and grateful to those who’ve chosen to be our national park stewards). This book contains true accounts by park rangers across the United States, with the majority of the stories occurring in the Grand Canyon and Yosemite parks. The writing quality here isn’t stellar, but that’s not why we read these books. These accounts are completely fascinating and delve into rescues, investigations, arrest and park visitors’ general stupidity. Just the section on the number of suicides at the Grand Canyon post the Thelma and Louise movie in the 1990s is worth the price of admission here. Definitely a fun and educational read–worth a library checkout.
Lora Terrill 