What I've Read Lately: Eloise

Guys, I have been reading all the thrillers this month. I didn’t plan it, but when I was putting this list together, I realized that my month has been packed with stories about women/high school girls who are in danger or think they might be losing their minds. Now I’m wondering what that says about the state of my mind over the past month, haha! Some have been good, some have been decidedly underwhelming, some were realistic, and some were riddled with plot holes but still highly entertaining. I’ve learned that I really have to like one of the main characters to enjoy the book, which may not be very highbrow (I should be able to read about people I don’t like and still appreciate the story, right?), but it’s true. Here’s what I got into this month:

Reckless Girls by Rachel Hawkins

When we meet Lux, at the beginning of the story, she’s in Hawaii with her hot boyfriend and they’re being asked to take a couple of rich girls on a sailing trip to a deserted island. What could go wrong, right? It turns out, quite a lot, when almost everyone is hiding something. This was fun thriller and I was surprise by the twists and turns that it took. Rating: A-

Greenwich Park by Katherine Faulkner

I wanted to love this book on it’s cover alone, which is so attractive, and it’s definitely gotten all the buzz but it just wasn’t for me. Helen, the central character is pregnant and maybe going crazy and definitely very whiny. Every choice she made, I just wanted to throw my hands in the air and say “Why?!?!” I couldn’t find anyone to have sympathy for in the book, which is what ultimately killed it for me. Rating: C

Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman

When was the last time that a time management book made me cry? This is all about really thinking about your life’s priorities and making time for them, rather than being busy for the sake of getting more random tasks done. It has about a millions quotes that I wanted to pull out and really made me think about how we judge success and priorities in our current culture of busyness. Rating: A

Buy Yourself the F*cking Lilies by Tara Schuster

Schuster, the vice president of talent and development at Comedy Central, is incredibly funny and her tales of how she was such a mess in her twenties after a roller coaster of childhood had me laughing and crying at the same time. She shares how she learned to put herself back together and parent herself into being a functional adult in a thoughtful and inspiring way. Rating: A-

Good Rich People by Eliza Jane Brazier

I love a story about incredible rich, incredible gorgeous people who are all kinds of dysfunctional. Lyla’s gorgeous and wealthy husband has a game he and his mother like to play to alleviate their boredom-take a tenant into their guest house and then ruin their lives. But Demi, their newest tenant, has her own secrets, and soon Demi and Lyla are crossing paths and creating drama of their own. This book had many, many places where it was not at all realistic, but I still thought that it was fun and glamorous and couldn’t figure out where it was going to go. Rating: B+

The Cheerleaders by Kara Thomas

When Monica’s big sister was the fifth cheerleader on the squad to die in the space of a few months, the school disbanded the team and it’s been five years since there were any cheerleaders in their town. But when Monica stumbles across some old clues and friends of her sister, she begins to look more closely at the deaths and what might tie them together, putting her own safety at risk. This was a twisty read that was totally engrossing. Rating: A-

Clique Bait by Ann Valett

Chloe Whittaker goes to one of the most elite private schools in the country, with the most cutthroat popular kids that you could imagine. She’s out for revenge after they ruined her best friend’s life last year, but first she has to infiltrate their group and gain their trust, and of course she learns that there’s more to the story than she first imagined. This book was all kinds of YA thriller fun and also very stressful. Rating: B+

The Honey-Don’t List by Christina Lauren

Well, this was a nice palate cleanser after all of the murder and mayhem of my other reads this month. Although there were plenty of stressful moments in this book, they were more of the emotional variety and less of the secret stalker kind…Carey has been working for the Tripps-the uber successful couple best known for their design show and brand, who are now coming out with a book of marriage advice. When their marriage hits the rocks right before the book drops, Carey and their other assistant, James, are assigned to damage control and in charge of keeping the couple happy and well-behaved while they’re on the promotional tour. But since Casey and James have been enemies from day one, nothing goes as smoothly as planned. I really liked Carey ad her journey in the book, but I didn’t fully love James or some of the less realistic situations that they were in. Rating: B