September 2018 Wrap up
I read a total of 12 books in the month of September. I did not read a lot as compared to the month of August wherein I read 31 books because I was busy and the only time that I can read is when I am listening to an audiobook in the car or while working out. I am also reviewing for an upcoming exam. But nevertheless, here is my wrap up.
1. We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
A beautiful and distinguished family.
A private island.
A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy.
A group of four friends—the Liars—whose friendship turns destructive.
A revolution. An accident. A secret.
Lies upon lies.
True love.
The truth.
We Were Liars is a modern, sophisticated suspense novel from New York Times bestselling author, National Book Award finalist, and Printz Award honoree E. Lockhart.
Read it.
And if anyone asks you how it ends, just LIE.
2. Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn
Fresh from a brief stay at a psych hospital, reporter Camille Preaker faces a troubling assignment: she must return to her tiny hometown to cover the murders of two preteen girls. For years, Camille has hardly spoken to her neurotic, hypochondriac mother or to the half-sister she barely knows: a beautiful thirteen-year-old with an eerie grip on the town. Now, installed in her old bedroom in her family's Victorian mansion, Camille finds herself identifying with the young victims—a bit too strongly. Dogged by her own demons, she must unravel the psychological puzzle of her own past if she wants to get the story—and survive this homecoming.
3. Archer's Voice by Mia Sheridan (Re-read)
When Bree Prescott arrives in the sleepy, lakeside town of Pelion, Maine, she hopes against hope that this is the place where she will finally find the peace she so desperately seeks. On her first day there, her life collides with Archer Hale, an isolated man who holds a secret agony of his own. A man no one else sees.
Archer's Voice is the story of a woman chained to the memory of one horrifying night and the man whose love is the key to her freedom. It is the story of a silent man who lives with an excruciating wound and the woman who helps him find his voice. It is the story of suffering, fate, and the transformative power of love.
4. Smaller and Smaller Circles by F.H Batacan
This harrowing mystery, winner of the Philippine National Book Award, follows two Catholic priests on the hunt through Manila for a brutal serial killer.
Payatas, a 50-acre dump northeast of Manila’s Quezon City, is home to thousands of people who live off of what they can scavenge there. It is one of the poorest neighborhoods in a city whose law enforcement is already stretched thin, devoid of forensic resources and rife with corruption. So when the eviscerated bodies of preteen boys begin to appear in the dump heaps, there is no one to seek justice on their behalf.
In the rainy summer of 1997, two Jesuit priests take the matter of protecting their flock into their own hands. Father Gus Saenz is a respected forensic anthropologist, one of the few in the Philippines, and has been tapped by the Director of the National Bureau of Investigations as a backup for police efforts. Together with his protégé, Father Jerome Lucero, a psychologist, Saenz dedicates himself to tracking down the monster preying on these impoverished boys.
Smaller and Smaller Circles, widely regarded as the first Filipino crime novel, is a poetic masterpiece of literary noir, a sensitive depiction of a time and place, and a fascinating story about the Catholic Church and its place in its devotees’ lives.
5. Under Her by Samantha Towle
A steamy and hilarious standalone romance from New YorkTimes bestselling author Samantha Towle.
1. We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
A beautiful and distinguished family.
A private island.
A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy.
A group of four friends—the Liars—whose friendship turns destructive.
A revolution. An accident. A secret.
Lies upon lies.
True love.
The truth.
We Were Liars is a modern, sophisticated suspense novel from New York Times bestselling author, National Book Award finalist, and Printz Award honoree E. Lockhart.
Read it.
And if anyone asks you how it ends, just LIE.
2. Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn
Fresh from a brief stay at a psych hospital, reporter Camille Preaker faces a troubling assignment: she must return to her tiny hometown to cover the murders of two preteen girls. For years, Camille has hardly spoken to her neurotic, hypochondriac mother or to the half-sister she barely knows: a beautiful thirteen-year-old with an eerie grip on the town. Now, installed in her old bedroom in her family's Victorian mansion, Camille finds herself identifying with the young victims—a bit too strongly. Dogged by her own demons, she must unravel the psychological puzzle of her own past if she wants to get the story—and survive this homecoming.
When Bree Prescott arrives in the sleepy, lakeside town of Pelion, Maine, she hopes against hope that this is the place where she will finally find the peace she so desperately seeks. On her first day there, her life collides with Archer Hale, an isolated man who holds a secret agony of his own. A man no one else sees.
Archer's Voice is the story of a woman chained to the memory of one horrifying night and the man whose love is the key to her freedom. It is the story of a silent man who lives with an excruciating wound and the woman who helps him find his voice. It is the story of suffering, fate, and the transformative power of love.
This harrowing mystery, winner of the Philippine National Book Award, follows two Catholic priests on the hunt through Manila for a brutal serial killer.
Payatas, a 50-acre dump northeast of Manila’s Quezon City, is home to thousands of people who live off of what they can scavenge there. It is one of the poorest neighborhoods in a city whose law enforcement is already stretched thin, devoid of forensic resources and rife with corruption. So when the eviscerated bodies of preteen boys begin to appear in the dump heaps, there is no one to seek justice on their behalf.
In the rainy summer of 1997, two Jesuit priests take the matter of protecting their flock into their own hands. Father Gus Saenz is a respected forensic anthropologist, one of the few in the Philippines, and has been tapped by the Director of the National Bureau of Investigations as a backup for police efforts. Together with his protégé, Father Jerome Lucero, a psychologist, Saenz dedicates himself to tracking down the monster preying on these impoverished boys.
Smaller and Smaller Circles, widely regarded as the first Filipino crime novel, is a poetic masterpiece of literary noir, a sensitive depiction of a time and place, and a fascinating story about the Catholic Church and its place in its devotees’ lives.
5. Under Her by Samantha Towle
A steamy and hilarious standalone romance from New YorkTimes bestselling author Samantha Towle.
I’m used to being in charge. In and out of the office. So, when my parents go behind my back and hire a co-CEO to help me manage my family’s business, let’s just say, I don’t take it too well. Especially not when the woman they’ve hired is the one girl who hated my guts in college. She thinks I’m an overprivileged, womanizing man-whore. I think she’s an uptight, stuck-up bitch. And, now, she’s here, in my office, telling me how to run my company. I don’t think so. It doesn’t matter that she has legs that go on for days or that I keep imagining bending her over my desk and showing her just how bossy I can be. I’ve worked my ass off and paid my dues to get to where I am, and she’s not taking it from me.
No freaking way.
Morgan Stickford is about to learn the hard way that Wilder Cross is the only boss around here.
6. Most Valuable Playboy by Lauren Blakely
Hands down, my favorite thing in the world is to score. Touchdowns.
Don't let the fact that I'm the leading pick in the Most Valuable Playboy charity auction fool you. These days, I'm only a player on the field. I've kept my pants zipped all season long — and it has been long — because nothing's more important than leading my team to victory every week. Except maybe escaping from the team owner's recently-widowed and handsy-as-hell sister who's dead set on winning more than a date with me.
Enter Violet and a well-placed Hail Mary.
She's my best friend's sister with a smile as sweet as cherry pie and a mind that runs quicker than the 40-yard-dash. After Violet saves the day with the highest bid, I don't even give her a two-minute warning before I kiss her in front of the whole crowd and then announce that she's my girlfriend. Which would be fine except my agent tells me we've got to keep up the act while...
7. The Naked Truth by Vi Keeland
From #1 New York Times Bestseller Vi Keeland, comes a new, sexy standalone novel.
It was just a typical Monday.
Until the big boss asked me to make the pitch for a prospective new client.
After two years on shaky ground at work because of my screw up, an opportunity to impress the senior partners was just what I needed.
Or so I thought…
Until I walked into the conference room and collided with the man I was supposed to pitch.
My coffee spilled, my files tumbled to the ground, and I almost lost my balance.
And that was the good part of my day.
Because the gorgeous man crouched down and looking at me like he wanted to eat me alive, was none other than my ex, Gray Westbrook.
A man who I’d only just begun to move on from.
A man who my heart despised—yet my body obviously still had other ideas about.
A man who was as charismatic and confident as he was sexy.
Somehow, I managed to make it through my presentation ignoring his intense stare.
Although it was impossible to ignore all the dirty things he whispered into my ear right after I was done.
But there was no way I was giving him another chance, especially now that he was a client
…was there?
8. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
On a warm summer morning in North Carthage, Missouri, it is Nick and Amy Dunne’s fifth wedding anniversary. Presents are being wrapped and reservations are being made when Nick’s clever and beautiful wife disappears. Husband-of-the-Year Nick isn’t doing himself any favors with cringe-worthy daydreams about the slope and shape of his wife’s head, but passages from Amy's diary reveal the alpha-girl perfectionist could have put anyone dangerously on edge. Under mounting pressure from the police and the media—as well as Amy’s fiercely doting parents—the town golden boy parades an endless series of lies, deceits, and inappropriate behavior. Nick is oddly evasive, and he’s definitely bitter—but is he really a killer?
9. Absinthe by Winter Renshaw
The name on the screen was “Absinthe.”
But I knew her as the sultry voice blowing up my phone for late night chats about Proust and Hemingway interspersed between the filthiest little … mutually satisfying exchanges ... I'd ever experienced in my life.
We’d never met.
Until the day she walked into my office, her cherry lips wrapped around a candy apple sucker and an all too familiar voice that said, “You wanted to see me, Principal Hawthorne?”
10. P.S I Hate You by Winter Renshaw
Dear Isaiah,
Eight months ago, you were just a soldier about to be deployed and I was just a waitress, sneaking you a free pancake and hoping you wouldn’t notice that my gaze was lingering a little too long.
But you did notice.
We spent one life-changing week together before you left, and we said goodbye on day eight, exchanging addresses at the last minute.
I saved every letter you wrote me, your words quickly becoming my religion.
But you went radio silent on me months ago, and then you had the audacity to walk into my diner yesterday and act like you’d never seen me in your life.
To think … I almost loved you and your beautifully complicated soul.
Almost.
Whatever your reason is—I hope it’s a good one.
Maritza the Waitress
PS – I hate you, and this time … I mean it.
11. Dark Promises by Winter Renshaw
I have a secret …
I don’t care if you like me or not.
Insatiable lust for power and control runs thick in my veins. My father served as President of the United States of America—and his father before him. Montgomerys are born to lead and rule, to fear nothing and cower to no one, to make allegiances, not friends.
But I digress.
With a senate campaign about to launch and presidential aspirations at fever-pitch intensity, imagine my dismay when my strategist tells me I need to “settle down” with a “nice girl” in order to appeal to my constituents. Enter Rowan Aldridge, a head-turning stunner with a charm school walk, Jackie O. refinement, and a well-connected family.
She’s perfect.
So I’ll do what I have to do, make her believe what I need her to believe, and as soon as the campaign’s over and I’ve secured my senatorial seat, I’ll release my pretty little butterfly back into the wild.
But this isn’t about all of that.
This is what happens when a villain falls in love.
12. Batman White Knight (Batman Day 2018 #1)
Just in time for Batman Day 2018 on September 15, DC presents the sold-out first issue of the acclaimed miniseries written and illustrated by Sean Murphy!
Set in a world where The Joker is cured of his insanity and homicidal tendencies, The Joker, now known as “Jack,” sets about trying to right his wrongs. First he plans to reconcile with Harley Quinn, and then he’ll try to save the city from the one person who he thinks is truly Gotham City’s greatest villain: Batman!
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
No freaking way.
Morgan Stickford is about to learn the hard way that Wilder Cross is the only boss around here.
6. Most Valuable Playboy by Lauren Blakely
Hands down, my favorite thing in the world is to score. Touchdowns.
Don't let the fact that I'm the leading pick in the Most Valuable Playboy charity auction fool you. These days, I'm only a player on the field. I've kept my pants zipped all season long — and it has been long — because nothing's more important than leading my team to victory every week. Except maybe escaping from the team owner's recently-widowed and handsy-as-hell sister who's dead set on winning more than a date with me.
Enter Violet and a well-placed Hail Mary.
She's my best friend's sister with a smile as sweet as cherry pie and a mind that runs quicker than the 40-yard-dash. After Violet saves the day with the highest bid, I don't even give her a two-minute warning before I kiss her in front of the whole crowd and then announce that she's my girlfriend. Which would be fine except my agent tells me we've got to keep up the act while...
7. The Naked Truth by Vi Keeland
From #1 New York Times Bestseller Vi Keeland, comes a new, sexy standalone novel.
It was just a typical Monday.
Until the big boss asked me to make the pitch for a prospective new client.
After two years on shaky ground at work because of my screw up, an opportunity to impress the senior partners was just what I needed.
Or so I thought…
Until I walked into the conference room and collided with the man I was supposed to pitch.
My coffee spilled, my files tumbled to the ground, and I almost lost my balance.
And that was the good part of my day.
Because the gorgeous man crouched down and looking at me like he wanted to eat me alive, was none other than my ex, Gray Westbrook.
A man who I’d only just begun to move on from.
A man who my heart despised—yet my body obviously still had other ideas about.
A man who was as charismatic and confident as he was sexy.
Somehow, I managed to make it through my presentation ignoring his intense stare.
Although it was impossible to ignore all the dirty things he whispered into my ear right after I was done.
But there was no way I was giving him another chance, especially now that he was a client
…was there?
8. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
On a warm summer morning in North Carthage, Missouri, it is Nick and Amy Dunne’s fifth wedding anniversary. Presents are being wrapped and reservations are being made when Nick’s clever and beautiful wife disappears. Husband-of-the-Year Nick isn’t doing himself any favors with cringe-worthy daydreams about the slope and shape of his wife’s head, but passages from Amy's diary reveal the alpha-girl perfectionist could have put anyone dangerously on edge. Under mounting pressure from the police and the media—as well as Amy’s fiercely doting parents—the town golden boy parades an endless series of lies, deceits, and inappropriate behavior. Nick is oddly evasive, and he’s definitely bitter—but is he really a killer?
9. Absinthe by Winter Renshaw
The name on the screen was “Absinthe.”
But I knew her as the sultry voice blowing up my phone for late night chats about Proust and Hemingway interspersed between the filthiest little … mutually satisfying exchanges ... I'd ever experienced in my life.
We’d never met.
Until the day she walked into my office, her cherry lips wrapped around a candy apple sucker and an all too familiar voice that said, “You wanted to see me, Principal Hawthorne?”
10. P.S I Hate You by Winter Renshaw
Dear Isaiah,
Eight months ago, you were just a soldier about to be deployed and I was just a waitress, sneaking you a free pancake and hoping you wouldn’t notice that my gaze was lingering a little too long.
But you did notice.
We spent one life-changing week together before you left, and we said goodbye on day eight, exchanging addresses at the last minute.
I saved every letter you wrote me, your words quickly becoming my religion.
But you went radio silent on me months ago, and then you had the audacity to walk into my diner yesterday and act like you’d never seen me in your life.
To think … I almost loved you and your beautifully complicated soul.
Almost.
Whatever your reason is—I hope it’s a good one.
Maritza the Waitress
PS – I hate you, and this time … I mean it.
I have a secret …
I don’t care if you like me or not.
Insatiable lust for power and control runs thick in my veins. My father served as President of the United States of America—and his father before him. Montgomerys are born to lead and rule, to fear nothing and cower to no one, to make allegiances, not friends.
But I digress.
With a senate campaign about to launch and presidential aspirations at fever-pitch intensity, imagine my dismay when my strategist tells me I need to “settle down” with a “nice girl” in order to appeal to my constituents. Enter Rowan Aldridge, a head-turning stunner with a charm school walk, Jackie O. refinement, and a well-connected family.
She’s perfect.
So I’ll do what I have to do, make her believe what I need her to believe, and as soon as the campaign’s over and I’ve secured my senatorial seat, I’ll release my pretty little butterfly back into the wild.
But this isn’t about all of that.
This is what happens when a villain falls in love.
12. Batman White Knight (Batman Day 2018 #1)
Just in time for Batman Day 2018 on September 15, DC presents the sold-out first issue of the acclaimed miniseries written and illustrated by Sean Murphy!
Set in a world where The Joker is cured of his insanity and homicidal tendencies, The Joker, now known as “Jack,” sets about trying to right his wrongs. First he plans to reconcile with Harley Quinn, and then he’ll try to save the city from the one person who he thinks is truly Gotham City’s greatest villain: Batman!
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What is your favorite read last month? Be sure to follow my social media accounts to see bookish stuffs or chat about books, or be reading buddies.
XOXO,
Isabel
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