Oooops another month that I forgot to do a book recap, so I'm coming in today with a two-month recap. 

These were a good couple of months of reading with a mix of thrillers, lighter fare and some good nonfiction. Also I read my friend's first book in September and it was great. There is truly nothing cooler than holding a book in your hand that a friend wrote.

September Reads

Four Stars

A Death on W Street: The Murder of Seth Rich and the Age of Conspiracy by Andy Kroll
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a friend's first book, and I was incredibly excited to read it. Living in DC, I knew bits and pieces of the story surrounding Seth Rich's murder and the wild conspiracy theories that grew out of it. But Andy's book offers more than just a retelling of the events. It looks deeply at how our society got to a place where conspiracy theories can so easily thrive, sucking people in and taking on a life of their own. Through Seth's story, Andy explores the harm this does not only to democracy and society at large, but through the pain it inflicts on private, every day people, who were just living their lives and grieve the loss of their son. Parts of this book enraged me. Parts frustrated me. And that's all a credit to Andy's writing. He's a talented story-teller, and his years of experience as an investigative journalist shine through in this book.

Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

My book club read this as a follow up to reading The Giver a few months earlier. It was good, though I liked the first one better. I am curious to see how the author rounds out the series though in the remaining books. This book focused on a new character in a different, but similarly restrictive world, and I'm looking forward to how those worlds will collide in later books.

The Counselors by Jessica Goodman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was just the book I needed after finishing a heavier book. It's a YA thriller and follows three girls returning as counselors at the summer camp they've all attended since they were 8 years old. This year, things have changed a bit and the girls, who never kept secrets from each other, are all hiding things. As several of those secrets come to the surface, the girls strive to figure out what's going on while not blowing up their entire friendship.

Wrong Place Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book started a little slow for me, but about a quarter of the way in, I couldn't put it down. Jen looks out her front window one night in October and sees her son stab a stranger. After he's arrested, and Jen returns from the police station, she falls asleep only to wake up the day before the murder happens. Each day she keeps going further and further back in time, trying to put together the pieces of why her son stabbed a man she doesn't know. Once this book really got going, I was super into it and just kept wanting to figure out what threads from the past Jen would need to pull on to try to prevent a murder that happens in the future. If you can suspend belief for a bit, this is a great book!

The Office BFFs: Tales of The Office from Two Best Friends Who Were There by Jenna Fischer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a cute and fun reminiscing read about The Office. I loved hearing the perspective of Jenna and Angela about their time on the show, what it was like working with the other actors and some of the behind-the-scenes stories were really funny. Reading the book made me want to go back and rewatch the show.

Three Stars

The Second Husband by Kate White
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I discovered Kate White's thrillers early on the pandemic and tore through several of them. I was eagerly looking forward to this new book, but I couldn't stand the main character. She felt so spineless and was constantly second guessing her gut instincts. So instead of digging into something more that felt off to her, she just ignored it and risked her own safety. The plot twist was good, but I couldn't get past how much I disliked the main character.

October Reads

Five Stars

The Displacements by Bruce Holsinger
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I just want to talk to everyone about this book. It's the story of the first-ever (fictional) category 6 hurricane that completely destroys parts of Florida. The book is told from the prescriptive of different characters impacted by the storm -- wealthy people who have just lost everything, children living in FEMA shelters, and FEMA workers focused on response and recovery. A portion of my job deals with hurricane response and the author did such a great job in the parts of the book that covered the political fights over how different things are talked about. The part about a political appointee fight for years to be the first to designate a storm as a category 6 felt so spot on.

The Blue Bistro by Elin Hilderbrand
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was one of my favorite Elin Hilderbrand books, and I maybe felt especially kind toward it because it was one of her earliest books, but somehow I hadn't yet read it even though I'd read all the others. This is the story of an exclusive Nantucket restaurant -- both the patrons who visit and the staff that work behind the scenes, including an elusive chef that refuses any media attention.

Four Stars

Nothing More to Tell by Karen M. McManus
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Ex Hex by Erin Sterling
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book was light and fun and perfect for some pre-Halloween witchy vibes. A heart broken witch curses her ex when she's 19. She thinks it's a joke and a way to mend her broken heart. Fast forward many years later, he's back in town and magic is going awry. In her attempt to fix the curse, the two witches are thrown back together and sparks fly.

Girl, Forgotten by Karin Slaughter
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Karin Slaughter's books make great audio books, and I listened to this for most of my drive down to South Carolina. It kept me interested the way time. I love the way Karin Slaughter can weave a mystery from the past into a mystery from the present and always have them tie together in creative ways.

The Last to Vanish by Megan Miranda
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A journalist goes missing in a small North Carolina town while he is investigating a string of disappearances that happened there over the years. When his brother comes to town to determine what really happened, it kicks up some feelings with the locals. Told from the perspective of a woman who works at the local inn where many of the missing have disappeared from, this is another fun and fast read thriller that I've come to expect from Megan Miranda.