October’s reading recap wasn’t very spooky – unless you count reading a couple of misses back to back as spooky. Unfortunately, most of my picks for this month didn’t quite do it for me; I had one DNF and then two of the others weren’t captivating enough for me. I thought I was on the verge of a slump but I may have recovered! Check out my reading recap for October:
Not Safe For Work by Nisha J. Tuli – DNF @ 70% – I really wanted to like this book, and finish it but I was unfortunately bored throughout. The enemies part of enemies to lovers was not giving enemies at all – which is truly my biggest gripe with the trope. Tris was obsessed with Rafe and wanted to mask that as hate. The story is told in just her POV too, which doesn’t add anything to the enemies to lovers bit. Their chemistry also feels flat and the fact that they were trying to do the one bed thing, that felt extra forced. Their banter also felt forced as well, which ties into the earlier point about her hate being obsession. It’s an incredibly slow burn too, which was part disappointing because I hadn’t gotten to the part where they do anything but at the same time, given the lack of chemistry I felt between them, maybe it was for the best.
The Wedding People by Alison Espach – This was a highly anticipated read for me since its release but I couldn’t find it at my local bookstores and ended up putting it on hold at the library. Finally got it and read through it. First off, the book is long. Now, there’s nothing wrong with long books but when Kindle estimates that a chapter is 42 mins long, by default I have to take a second to pause. The Wedding People is the story of one woman, Phoebe Stone, who books a hotel room for one night – she arrives wearing a green dress, heels, with zero luggage – not knowing that the entire hotel is booked for a wedding. She ends up meeting the bride in the elevator where she’s mistaken for someone who came for the wedding. They end up confiding in each other where Phoebe ends up becoming part of the wedding party. The story in essence is how someone who was at their very lowest, truly rock bottom, has a moment of enlightenment that changes her original plan and trajectory for her life moving forward. There are heavy themes discussed in the story like grief and depression, so reader discretion is advised. I was rooting for Phoebe the entire time and found the moments where she truly did not give a fuck to be inspiring. Despite the fact that the story is set in Rhode Island, the book and its characters gave off a British/English vibe – not sure how to explain that one. That said, I did find the book to be long where I struggled to stay in the story in parts due to the story feeling slow and a little long winded.
Back To You by Jasmine Ahmad – I heard about this book on social media because the second book in this series is coming out soon (or maybe it came out already?) so I wanted to see if this series would be something I would enjoy. Back To You is the story of Marianna. She’s been through some incredibly heavy stuff and after burying her husband, she gets the news that her mother is sick and decides to move back to her hometown of Lake City. Marianna’s world is indeed upside down and topples further once she sees her high school sweetheart, Sebastian. The sparks from their young love never went out and upon seeing each other, it began to reignite. As Marianna navigates through grief and sadness from finding out about her mother’s illness, she feels lost and is unsure with how she wants to proceed with her life. Marianna is overwhelmed with grief and sadness throughout the entire story, to the point where I think she cries in every one of her chapters. The focus of the story was more about getting Marianna and Sebastian together, and less on Marianna accepting and overcoming her grief. Their relationship is the central plot where everything else is a device to move the relationship closer. I didn’t feel like Marianna had much character development in the story, which made her and Sebastian feel one dimensional. I am also not a fan of stories where its chapter after chapter of the main characters yearning and pining for each other with no action. It gives heavy telenovela vibes, which aren’t bad at all but they’re just not for me. I struggled to stay interested in the story and was on the verge of DNFing before deciding to ultimately finish reading, and I don’t think I will check out the rest of the series.
The Roommate Risk by Talia Hibbert – I picked this book on Kindle Unlimited after the rest of the books for this month left me feeling less than inspired to read (no shade to the other books in this recap but they didn’t hit for me like I wanted). I initially thought it was a novella, which is what I was initially looking for, to get me back into the swing of things but The Roommate Risk is a full story – thankfully. This story is a friends to lovers + close proximity story of two friends, Jasmine and Rahul. Jasmine’s flat had a flooding issue – or more specifically, her room did. Not one to call her dad to rescue her, she did the next best thing and called her best friend, Rahul, to ask if she can stay with him. Now, Rahul has been in love with Jasmine since they met in uni but he wasn’t willing to put their friendship at risk by telling her his true feelings; especially since he knew Jasmine doesn’t do love or relationships. That is, until he’s living with her and is being tested by temptation on the regular now that Jasmine is there 24/7. In the story, you can feel the love Rahul has for Jasmine, of which she seems oblivious to. Like if you look up “down bad” in the dictionary, Rahul is there. Their close friendship gets tested several times as they get into some, ahem, shenanigans and while Rahul wants everything with Jasmine, he’s willing to firmly stay in the friend zone if that is what Jasmine wants. Never mind that their sexy times are indeed sexy – something that both characters even consider that they might be ruined after experiencing each other. Rahul and Jasmine both also have character growth throughout the story tied to some heavy-ish themes like parental abandonment, death, and alcohol abuse – reader discretion is advised. Overall, I’m really glad I picked this book as my last read for the month. I was engaged the whole time and enjoyed the well written and rounded out characters and their friendship and subsequent love story.
