Ack! We're half way through September and I still haven't shared my August reads! Such a fail! After a super solid month of reading in July, August fell back to normal rates.

I finished five books. Most of them I only gave three stars on Goodreads, but there was one 4- and one 5-star book to round out the month.

5 Stars

Mistress of the Ritz by Melanie Benjamin
I loved this book. It's the fictionalized story of the couple forced to run the Ritz hotel and cater to the Nazis living there during the Germany occupation of France during WWII. The chapters alternate being told from the perspective of the Frenchman Claude and his American wife Blanche -- so you clearly see the impact the occupation has on them, their relationship and the staff they employee at the Ritz.

4 Stars

Summer of '69 by Elin Hilderbrand
I loved this book that was a story born out of the author and her twin brother's own birth in the summer of '69. This story follows a family that has spent every summer together on Nantucket. But this year a son is in Vietnam, a daughter is spending the summer on Martha's Vineyard working her first job, another is pregnant with twins in Boston. Only 13-year-old Jessie is stuck on the family trip to Nantucket. The story is told from the perspective of the women as they deal with the challenges of the world and their own lives in the summer of '69.

3 Stars

Mrs. Everything by Jennifer Weiner
I enjoyed this book, but didn't love it as much of some of Jennifer Weiner's other books. I'm not sure if it was because I kind of read it in weird chunks of broken up time and never really had a chance to sit down and enjoy it.

Three Women by Lisa Taddeo
I don't know if I liked this book or was frustrated by this book, but it left me with thoughts -- and I guess that counts for something. The book follows three different women over the course of their lives -- all are unhappy with at least some, if not many, aspects of their lives. I overall enjoyed reading about the women, but I think the ending left me disappointed. I wanted something more -- some deeper analysis, some thought-provoking conclusion that Taddeo come upon in her 8+ years of research for this book. That's mainly what I found lacking. What was the point of what I just read? It was largely depressing and I wanted some deeper analysis into why that was.

Trust Exercise by Susan Choi
This book was kind of weird, but I read it in one sitting while lounging by the pool. I appreciated the flashback to kids involved in theater in high school and all the drama that can go along with that. I didn't love when half way through, the book took a weird turn and changed narrators and got real ambiguous. It felt weirdly jarring.

As always, if you have book recommendations, leave them in the comments!