what I read in August 2024

I know this is super late, but I did post a video chatting about most of the books I read in August, with my thoughts! I did end up reading two books after I recorded this video, so I will have two extra reviews on here. Let's hop into the reviews.

please note that anything with an asterisk (*) was an ARC I received. It didn't change my opinion of the book, but just for transparency's sake, I want to make it clear that I was gifted a copy of those books.

Funny Feelings by Tareh Dewitt - ★★★¼

After loving the book Savor It, I was excited to jump into one of Tareh Dewitt's most popular title. I bought this one at B&N thinking I was going to love it as much. The story follows Farley a female comedian and her manager Meyer. Meyer used to be a popular comedian, until he became a single father, thus the start of his career as Farley's manager. This story is an age gap, single parent, friends to lovers, fake dating plot.

There were a few things I really loved in this story. The first thing I really love was the deaf/sign language representation. I feel like we don't really see that a lot in books, and I absolutely loved it.

While this story had all the ingredients to be really great, something about it fell a little flat for me. I just feel like the characters were lacking in a bit of depth that I saw in Savor it. I will say, it's always really tricky to compare a newer release of an author's book verses an older release. A lot of the time, an author has grown in their writing, and it's visible to the reader.

Even though I liked this story, it's personally no where near as close to Savor it for me.

Middle of the Night by Riley Sager - ★★¾

This is my second Riley Sager book. After enjoying the first one, I was excited to read his second one. This was a book we chose for our book club, and overall we were all underwhelmed. The plot was very meh. The teasing of whether this story was going to be supernatural or not was a bit annoying. I felt like there was a few plot holes. I also felt like they could have done more with one of their plot points. Maybe expanded on it? The ending wasn't really was I was expecting. Overall, kinda boring, and I would recommend skipping it.

The Fiancé Dilemma by Elena Armas* - ★★★¼

This was the second book in The Long Game series. This one follows Josie and Matthew. After a strange series of events, Josie and Matthew end up fake engaged. Throughout the story you see them learn to get to know one another, while obviously falling in love. This was a single POV, which sometimes I really love, but in this instance, I wish I got both POVs.

I also feel like this book did a lot of telling, but not showing. Josie spent the whole book telling us that Matthew was really funny, goofy, and silly, but I honestly didn't see any of that until maybe the last 15-20% of the story? He was pretty serious throughout most of this. It was a cute story that I had fun with while I was reading it.

Out on a Limb by Hannah Bonam-Young - ★★★★¼

This was my first book by Hannah Bonam-Young, and I loved it. I want to preface this by saying that I HATE the pregnancy trope. It is honestly my least favorite trope, and I don't think I've read a single book where that trope was added into a story and it didn't make the story worse. Somehow this book is the single book I've ever read to change my mind about the pregnancy trope.

This was a one night stand pregnancy, strangers to lovers story done in the most beautiful way. It was raw, honest, and I enjoyed every minute of reading it. It has physical disability representation from both the MMC & the FMC, which was really great to read and learn about. There was no third act breakup. The communication was really good between the two of them throughout the whole story. I would honestly say Hannah's writing is a really nice mix of Sarah Adams and Abby Jimenez. I honestly can't say a single bad thing about this book. I 100% recommend you check this one out, if you're a fan of romance.

Funny Story by Emily Henry - ★★★★★

She's done it again you guys. It's no secret that I am a huge fan of everything Emily Henry. She has a way of creating these beautiful characters that have so much life to them, and writes these super relatable situations and feelings that is really magical to read. As someone who just turned 30, I have always loved that EmHen tends to write characters in their late 20s/early 30s. I feel like her characters tend to hit points that are really relevant to my life.

This story is definitely more heavy on the romance compared to some of her other books, so if you are not a romance reader, I would suggest skipping this one. But for the romance lovers, this book is chef's kiss. Miles could not have been a better character. If you read my annotations throughout my hard copy of the book, you will see "miles is so perfect, i love him so much" many times.

If you are a lover of romance with characters that have a lot of depth, you will love this one!

The Comeback by Lily Chu - ★★★¼

This is a celebrity romance between a K-pop artist and a lawyer. After Ari's roommate's cousin comes to visit and stay with them, they start to spend time together. Ari doesn't recognize that Jihoon is actually a really popular K-pop artist, so when she finds out she is in complete shock. The story then continues to talk about the whirlwind romance between the two of them after the fact.

This story was a pretty quick read, but there were definitely more than a few issues with it. I don't like how everyone undermines her concerns with dating a celebrity. She ends up losing her job, loses all of her privacy, and a few more things happen along the way. I kind of wish people were more supportive of her decisions and concerns. Everyone kind of brushed her off and called her a coward? That was a major negative in my opinion. Also, these characters were supposed to be in their late 20s, but they acted really childish. The writing itself was also a bit juvenile, like reading a young YA. Overall, while it was a quick read, I did have a lot of gripes with it.

The Backtrack by Erin La Rosa* - ★★★½

This story took me back to 2011 emo Wattpad times. The story follows Sam who left her small hometown the minute she could and became a pilot. Fast forward about 20 years, and she has to go back to her hometown to help her grandma move into a senior housing community. While helping to pack up her grandma's house, she finds a cd player with the last cd her childhood best friend/crush gave her. Sam always wondered what would have happened if she allowed her to date Damon instead of running away.

Somehow, when Sam turns on the CD player she finds out that it takes her to an alternate reality where she does end up sticking around in her small town and dating Damon. As she watches the things that could have been, she wonders if she made a mistake leaving the city of Tybee all those years ago.

The magical element of the story was really fun, and gave me Ashley Poston vibes. Also listening to some alternative rock songs I listened to when I was in high school was really cool. I kind of wish I got more scenes showing Damon and Sam as adults and seeing them kind of fall in love with each other again. I felt like even though they had history, we didn't get as much growth when they were adults, which made the story feel a bit insta-lovey. Overall though, I had a lot of fun with this story!

Dune by Frank Herbert - ★★★★

Over the month of August, I finished Dune. After watching the two Dune movies, I knew I actually wanted to read the book! I'm so glad I watched the movies beforehand to get an idea of what the plot was, who are the characters, and what was the world was like, etc, because the world building in this a lot.

Once I got into it, the book was so good. There were so many more elements that were in the book that were not in the movies, and I'm kind of shocked that they didn't improve it. I didn't realize it while watching the movies, but the book takes place over a couple of years. Overall, I really enjoyed it, and I can't wait to read the second one!

TBR for August:

• Funny Story by Emily Henry ✔️
• The Backtrack by Erin La Rosa ✔️
• The Comeback by Lily Chu ✔️
• Out On a Limb by Hannah Bonam-Young ✔️
• Finale by Stephanie Garber ✖(currently reading, audio book)
• Off Camera by Chelsea Curto ✔️ (finished in early September)
• Four Weekends & a Funeral by Ellie Palmer ✔️ (finished in September)
• The Break-Up Pact by Emma Lord ✖(currently reading, kindle book)
• Dune by Frank Herbert ✔️
• Meet Me at the Lake by Carley Fortune ✔️
• A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara ✖(slowly currently reading, physical book)

Tentative TBR for September:

• Finale by Stephanie Garber
• The Break-Up Pact by Emma Lord
• A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
• Heartstopper #4 by Alice Oseman
• As Good as Dead by Holly Jackson
• Prime Time Romance by Kate Robb
• Just Last Night by Mhairi McFarlane
• The Cost of Forgetting You by Hannah Bird
• Potions and Proposals by Kate Callaghan
• Too Busy for Love by Phoebe MacLeod

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So that's what I read in August! Better late than never. How was your reading month? Anything you recommend for me to add to my TBR next month? Let me know xx