Auntie’s Annex: September Books

It it sweater weather or swimsuit weather?!

Fall! Is here! Not literally here, it is still 95 degrees and we spent the weekend swimming with the kids, but you know, I could get someone who lives in a more reasonable climate (one of you?) to text me a picture of a tree changing colors and stare at it while I drink a pumpkin spice latte, watch an episode of gilmore girls, and don a chunky sweater. A girl can dream of days without knee sweat.

Let’s get to it this week, I am all out of clever. If you see a book you want to read and you order it from the link I may get a small commission, so go ahead and have it delivered to your door. And thanks in advance.

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MY SEPTEMBER TOP PICK

OUR MISSING HEARTS by Celeste Ng

Set in a barely-post-now-dystopian future, Bird is just nine when his mother leaves and his father insists that everyone call him Noah, his legal name. When Bird is 12, a mysterious letter comes to his apartment, leading him on an unexpected search to find his mother, uncovering the truth of where she has been, what she has been doing, and why.

READ THIS BOOK. Not only is it an important commentary on the potential power of hatred and fear, but it also sings so clearly a message of hope that springs from the creation of art, the power of words, and the perseverance of love. Set it a world that feels one ankle-twist slip away from the world we live in now, just after you fall down the hillside, this book will haunt you and inspire you. I love the way Celeste Ng has used a secondary protagonist to highlight how you don’t have to always immediately recognize the need for change, that you don’t have to be early to the fight, that you can show up late and still make an impact. I hope this book haunts me so that I remember to be better. To speak for those who can’t. To push against the things you know to be wrong.

“Bird and Margaret’s world isn’t exactly our world, but it isn’t not ours, either.” -Celeste Ng

RUNNERS-UP (pluralized like Culs-de-sac*):

FIREKEEPER’S DAUGHTER by Angeline Boulley

Daunis Fountaine is a girl of two worlds, Half Ojibwe and half white she belongs to both, but is not fully accepted by either. She is very excited to be starting college with her BFF Lily, only to be the sole witness in a murder-suicide that throws her life upside down. When her new (sexy) friend ends up being an undercover cop recruiting her as a confidential informant, Daunis has to decide what she is willing to sacrifice and who she can save.

Amazing. I love a story featuring a bright young woman paving her way in the world. Touched with tragedy, mystery, grief, and figuring out how to be her best and strongest self in a truly surprising situation, this book will pull you in and not let you go until the last page. Look at all those awards! This book deserves them and you should read it to discover why for yourself.

TELL ME THREE THINGS by Julie Buxbaum

Jessie just moved to minimansion in LA, uprooted by her newly remarried father, and is sure she has landed in some sixth ring of hell. Plus she misses her deceased mom, her one and only best friend, and her life that used to make sense. When she gets an anonymous email from “SomebodyNobody” offering to help her enter life as the new kid, she doesn’t know whether to jump on board or steer clear.

This is one of those books I didn’t want to end but I couldn’t finish fast enough. I missed the characters as soon as the book ended. Have I mentioned that I am still an angsty teen at heart? A love story involving an anonymous and humorous online love interest with a mysterious identity? Sign me up. Buxbaum also perfectly creates Jessie as this girl who fails to see just how self-absorbed she has become, but who is still a loveable, relatable, and flawed human.

HAPPY AND YOU KNOW IT by Laura Hankin

Claire gets kicked out of the band right before they rocket to fame. Defeated, bitter, and stooping to new employment lows she agrees to be a mom-group musician. She doesn’t expect to love the gig or the mothers as much as she does — but turns out Claire is in a spot where she needs a bit of mothering. Tides turn when she discovers a not-so-little ugly secret and makes some bold decisions while confronting the truth.

I loved this romp in the world of young motherhood, the fancy rich, and the starving artist. Though I sometimes found the descriptions of motherhood to be a bit dark (and trust me, I am no stranger to the more challenging aspects of motherhood) the plot, the characters, and the unexpected twists are both exciting and fast-paced enough to forgive any qualms.

A SMARTYPANTS ROMANCE SERIES

MAD ABOUT EWE by Susannah Nix

Dawn owns a knitting store. Her HS crush comes in one day because he just moved to town to take better care of his depressed mother, who might cheer up if her son knits with her. Will Dawn be able to win him over one stitch at a time?

I couldn’t get down with this one mostly because I couldn’t shake the image of the main love interest as of these HS guys I used to crush on who just…didn’t deserve my energy TBH, but it was HS and I didn’t know any better. So if one of those guys showed up now (twice divorced and with no real friends, might I add) and was like “Oh Hey it’s Me from HS,” I’d be like “Yeah…PASS, have your yarn and go knit elsewhere.”

GIVE LOVE A CHAI by Nanxi Wen

Tia shows up on her ex-husband’s front door because, it turns out, they aren’t quite as ex as they had assumed. But on seeing her childhood sweatheart, she panics and bolts before she can say all she needs to say. He chases her down to find out what it was all about and they end up entangled all over again.

This book started with a premise with a lot of promise, and then sort of went too many directions. Potential spoilers: She’s engaged. She is also still married. There was secret baby that she lost. He never knew. He is from the wrong side of the tracks with a father who is money laundering and threatening him. It gets murdery for the shortest page or two and that all gets resolved in a minute. He leaves because she deserves better. She waffles. Many instances and miscommunications could have been avoided if anyone could have simply said aloud the things that they were thinking in their head. Classic.

KEY CHANGE by Heidi Hutchinson

Hannah used to be the pop legend and it-girl Ashton James. Now she is doing her best to blend in and disappear so her life can have some semblance of normality while she attempts to be a guardian for her little sister without being recognized as the starlet who strips naked and punches people in the face. Enter Johnny, a forgotten lover from her early musician days who happens to also be the guardian of his younger brother. Cue the music (and love) making.

This was the best of the trio, though there are two more in this series I hope to read just to say I have read them all. I liked Hannah’s spunky fighting spirit and the connection the love interests had over creating music. It carried some electricity around the characters and scenes. The open door aspect as at the very end, like an exit door, but it was fine.

THE ODD ONE OUT

THE FAMILY UPSTAIRS by Lisa Jewell

On her 25th birthday Libby receives a long-awaited piece of mail. She will finally learn about her birth family and discover a bit of her missing past. She doesn’t expect the house she has inherited, or the unsettling mysterious past that comes along with it.

Oooo so creepy. I love a good book about a cult-ish and mysterious group of people, and this one takes you on a lot of twists and turns. It has eerie images that will burn into your brain, and you can just picture the shuttered house on the edge of the river, brimming with secrets. I don’t love that one of the characters is depicted as potentially dark and is also the only gay character, because why? Couldn’t it just be any other character who is the troubled one? Overall though, this was a gripping and weird twisted little tale that left you feeling like all wasn’t quite resolved.

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ON THE NIGHTSTAND

in hand: Bride by Ali Hazelwood (can’t wait) and Montana Sky by Nora Roberts (might not finish)

in ear: Glass Houses by Louise Penny (back burner) and Love in the Time of Serial Killers by Alicia Thompson (almost done!)

on kindle: Exit, Persued by a Bear by E.K. Johnston (confused as there also seems to be a play by this same name…how is that allowed? Is that allowed?)

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ADULTING

We are watching Only Murders and I feel like Selena Gomez as Mabel is my style icon. I love all her outfits. We also love this show. Paul Rudd, Eva Longoria, and Molly Shannon are giving us the giggles and it makes my heart happy.

We went to Weezer and they blasted out of a spaceship and were just as geeky as you’d hope, and we sang along to every song on the Blue Album like we were still couch girls watching the garage band boys play and it felt so good. I was simultaneously 40 and 14. We spent $20 on ONE alcoholic blue-themed drink, and if that isn’t a stupid move out of a 14-year-old’s playbook that requires a 40-year-old’s checkbook, IDK what is.

Two books I am looking forward to reading in October are both YA: book three in the Alanna series, The Woman Who Rides Like a Man, and another John Green, An Abundance of Katherines. Have you read ‘em?

What shows have you been watching? Music have you been loving? Books you can’t wait to read?

*if you recognized that my “culs-de-sac” is a Gilmore Girls reference then extra pumpkins spice latte (see how I pluralized that?) for you!!*

Is her scarf LONG ENOUGH to keep out the cold?!?

Thanks so much for being here, see y’all soon and happy reading!