June 2019 Reads
Each summer, I am fortunate enough to take a week-long vacation down to Hatteras, North Carolina, with my best friend and her family, all of whom have become a second family of mine. Basking in the hot southern sun and breathing in the salty ocean air, I spend a good chunk of my time off work indulging in my favorite hobbies — eating and reading.
Out of all 52 weeks in a calendar year, this is by far the best week I will eat. I’m not a big seafood eater, but I go HAM when I’m in North Carolina. I’m talking Alaskan snow crab legs, clams casino, clam chowder, hush puppies (I know it isn’t seafood, but they’re so delicious they need to be mentioned), tuna, and food I don’t have a name for but is so damn good either way.
But, most importantly, I have more available hours to read. Since I am gifted with more than an hour or two a day to read while on vacation, I can typically read about four books cover-to-cover in a week’s timeframe. I’ll usually purchase between three and five books a month or two before I leave for vacation, and then stare at them longingly until it’s time to pack up because I’m so pumped to read them. This year, I went with a mix of genres, some that I don’t typically steer towards. I am happy to report that I enjoyed every single book that I brought. So, without further ado, here they are:
Me Before You by Jojo Moyes
Feeling a little romantic (and wanting to cry??), I decided to give Me Before You a go. I am very much the “read the book before watching the movie” type. Being a fan of Emilia Clark, I had to stick to my principles with this one. I experienced a mix of emotions as I read through this, and yes, I absolutely did cry. It was a beautiful portrayal of love and loss. Rate: 9/10
Lost Girls: An Unsolved American Mystery by Robert Kolker
I picked up Lost Girls on a whim and didn’t have any expectations about this whatsoever. As soon as I started reading this, though, I was hooked. I wasn’t aware of any details regarding the cases discussed, and it opened my eyes to a world I knew nothing about. Robert Kolker did a fantastic job of relaying each of the girls’ stories, their families stories, and even the conspiracies that were floating around. I will absolutely add novels like these to my must-read list in the future. Rate: 9/10
Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty
Liane Moriarty is a superb writer, and I was very excited to read this after I realized this was the same author as What Alice Forgot. I had already watched the first season of the TV show when I picked Big Little Lies off the shelf (yes, this contradicts what I stated earlier about books and their televised counterparts. I’m human, give me a break). This was a fantastic read, so much so that I stayed awake until the wee hours of the morning to finish it. Rate: 10/10
Originally published at https://devanzimmerman.com.
