Dear Readers, September was one of my worst reading months. I read three books some good and some not, I read 1 rom com, 1 messed up fiction and a great fiction with some science fiction in it. I read 0 books from a book series. I read one 5 star book, one 4 star books, and one 2 star book.

Five Star Reviews:

Starter Villain by John Scalzi is a fun comedy that explores the scenario of a nice guy who inherits a criminal empire. The story has a lot of fun with the concept and portrays the criminal empire as a James Bond villain’s fantasy. The volcano lair is fun visually for the reader. Scalzi has so much fun writing dialogue for the sentient cats and dolphins. The pacing of the book is rapid speed for a pretty short book at 262 pages. The book is hard to put down. My biggest complaint is the story is too short, I wanted the world a little more fleshed out and wanted more on-the-job training. The comedy works very well and made me laugh out loud numerous times. The story is a little complex with many double and triple crossings, but it is explained well, and I was not lost. There is not a whole lot of action but when there is it is intense and really fun. The intro hooked me right away for this fish-out-of-water story. The ending was perfect for the story. I read Starter Villain early thanks to Netgalley and Tor Publishing Group in exchange for a review. Starter Villain was published on September 19, 2023.

Four Star Reviews:

Happy Place by Emily Henry is a funny romantic comedy about finding your happy place. Happy place is the novel’s theme and how you can get there through a job, vacation, or your person. The story has sexy, comedic, and very “real” moments. The novel is told in the present day but with many flashbacks to show happier times. I thought the overall story was very well written and balanced the highs and lows of the character’s emotions. The pace was very fast and made the novel easy to consume. The novel is a very beat-by-beat romantic comedy, but there was a twist that I did not see coming that elevated the story. This is my first romantic comedy ready, I’ve read stories with both elements but this is the first novel of this genre for me and I had a good time with is all that I can ask for. I did like that in the end everything is not all happily forever just happily for right now.

Two Star Reviews:

Not Forever, But for Now, by Chuck Palahniuk is a very uncomfortable read by the author of Fight Club. Palahnuik is known for saying he likes making people uncomfortable, and this book is just that. The plot is about incestuous twins who are raised in a family of hitmen. The twins enjoy having a prepubescent look, the novel makes it creepier by never revealing their age. I usually hide my dislike for a novel towards the end, but I did not like this novel. Palahnuik is a gifted writer and writes an incredible opening about nature with no nurture, which is how the twins are raised, but this is almost the only bright spot in the novel. The characters barely develop or attempt to develop both literally and physically. There’s so much repetition in the novel with one scene that gets repeated at least 10 times, the first time I was intrigued, but I grew to hate it. The scene rarely changes and doesn’t change the impact of the scene. This book is short at 256 pages, but man is this a slow read. I’m a person who can push through, and rarely do not finish books but this one was close.  I was given a copy on the date of publication from Netgalley and Simon & Schuster for free in exchange for a review. Not Forever, But for Now was published on September 5, 2023.