Reading Lately: October 2024 Book Reviews

Which books are worth the read and which should you skip? Find out what books I’ve been reading lately and whether I recommend them.

Goodbye, October!

October was a mixed bag for me. My calendar was incredibly busy: I had one trip, my husband had two, and we had multiple house guests during the month. And, of course, all of that just happened to overlap. Plus, October is always the cumulation of all the Fall activities rolled into one. In our case, that means soccer, soccer, and more soccer.

Despite that, I finally found some space to read again. My nightstand is getting perilously full of books to be read but I was able to chip away and five of the newest releases.

But as the US Presidential election gets closer and closer, my anxiety has been creeping higher and higher. I am more interested in this election than any other I have voted in, and with the polls so close, I have no idea which way things will go.

So until things are decided and final, you’ll find me over here getting lost in the magical and predictable world of the Harry Potter books.

Scroll down to see my reviews, and, as always, be sure to let me know what you’ve been reading lately in the comments!

One night when Lauren returns home to her London flat, she is greeted by her adoring husband Michael. Except Lauren isn’t married. But her house and her friends seem to indicate that Lauren and Michael have been together for years. Then Michael goes into the attic and out emerges a new husband and a new life. With this magical ability to swap out husbands and lives, Lauren must now decide what she wants her life to be and when to stop trying for something perfect.

I was caught off-guard by how much I loved The Husbands. Instead of the steamy romance I was lead to expect (and slightly dread), The Husbands is a thoughtful contemporary fiction novel. Gramazio presents you with a clever premise and then plays out the narrative in an extremely realistic character study of how this circumstance affects Lauren. The Husbands presents you with the benefits and dangers of having an infinite choice and adds enough twists to keep the story engaging and discussion-worthy.

My Rating:
Publication Date: 2 April 2024
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When ranger Valerie Boren-Odell arrives at Horsethief National Park in Oklahoma, she didn’t expect to be immediately thrust into the case of a missing teenager and the discovery of a burial site of three children. In 1909, eleven-year-old Ollie takes her little sister Nessa and flees from their abusive stepfather. Journeying through the outlaw-ridden Winding Stair Mountains, they join a band of other children hoping to stay a step ahead of those who want to exploit them.

Lisa Wingate pens a feel-good historical fiction novel with a dual timelines that starts strong but lacks a satisfying ending. I thought Shelterwood’s modern story was more compelling than I typically find in this genre. Wingate also did an excellent job researching the historical injustice in Oklahoma and showed how poorly children and Native Americans were treated. Yet, I didn’t think the two story lines tied together well and they both lacked the emotional resolution I would have liked.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Ballantine Books through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

My Rating:
Publication Date: 4 June 2024
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As children, Jeremy and Rafe disappeared for six months only to reappear with no explanation. Rafe has scars but no memory of what happened and Jeremy has never told him that they traveled to an enchanted magical land. When Emilie hires Jeremy, now a famed missing persons investigator, to find her missing sister, Jeremy must come clean to Rafe about their past and return to the enchanted world to recover everything they lost.

After her darling bestseller The Wishing Game, I was excited to see Meg Shaffer take on a new story with Narnia vibes. At first, I loved the mystery of Jeremy and Rafe and their time in a magical land when they were children. However, once they traveled through the looking glass, the book just completely tanked. The plot, pacing, world-building, dialogue and character relationships were all very poorly executed in the second half. A terribly disappointing read that I can’t recommend to anyone.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Ballantine Books through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

My Rating:
Publication Date: 16 July 2024
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The three Blue sisters are each exceptional in her own way: Avery, a former heroin addict turned London lawyer; Bonnie, a former boxer turned bouncer in LA; Lucky, a former party girl turned model in Paris. But the death of their sister Nicky left the family reeling. A year after Nicky’s death, the estranged sisters gather to stop the sale of the apartment they grew up in and are forced to reckon with their childhood disappointments and their grief.

I completely fell in love with this family drama about addiction and grief. Mellors does a fabulous job showing the complicated and messy connections between sisters and yet also highlighting the enduring love running underneath. I enjoyed how each sister had a different way of coping with their chaotic childhood and the death of their sister, but each showed addictive tendencies in her own way.

My Rating:
Publication Date: 3 September 2024
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When they board their short domestic flight, none of the passengers think that it will change their lives forever. They land safely at their destination and regale their family and friends with a tale of “The Death Lady” who oddly predicted the year and the manner of each of their deaths. When three passengers die exactly as she predicted, the rest of the passengers begin to wonder what they can do to live their lives in the time remaining and what they are willing to do to defy fate.

Liane Moriarty’s latest novel was an interesting read but the broad cast of characters kept it from being quite as gripping as her former novels. It took a while for me to get into Here One Moment. The initial flight takes up the whole first quarter of the book. However, once a got a feel for all the characters, I was surprisingly attached and dreading their deaths. Although I enjoyed the look at fate versus free will, I struggled with the chapters from the Death Lady’s point of view. Fortunately, the entire story connected in a satisfactory ending that tied everything together well.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Crown Publishing through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

My Rating:
Publication Date: 10 September 2024
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When Liam, a wealthy hotel magnate, falls to his death at his cliffside home, the police rule it an accident. But estranged half-siblings Nora and Sam have other ideas about their father’s death. Although they barely know each, they form an uneasy alliance digging into Liam’s life. Liam always liked to keep his life compartmentalized and Nora and Sam begin to wonder how well they knew their father.

Laura Dave aimed for a slow-burn thriller that mostly just fizzles out. You don’t have to wonder if Liam’s death was a murder because the very first chapter reveals he was pushed. Yet, the mystery of whodunit never felt compelling or even that interesting. The family drama sparked a little interest for me although the siblings fell rather flat, especially the brother. Though the story wasn’t particularly memorable, I did like the nice twist near the end.

My Rating:
Publication Date: 17 September 2024
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J. K. Rowling shaped the imagination of an entire generation when she published the Harry Potter series, the most famous fantasy books of the modern age. When he is eleven years old, neglected orphan Harry Potter receives a letter accepting him into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Suddenly Harry finds himself swept into a magical world he didn’t know existed. Even more surprising, he is already famous beyond anything he could have comprehended.

J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series is engaging and imaginative and just as entertaining for adults as children. I love rereading this series to spot the foreshadowing of future plot points. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone does an excellent job kicking off the series, mostly focusing on the incredible world-building and letting you fall in love with Harry, Ron and Hermione.

My Rating:
Publication Date: 26 June 1997
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Before his second year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Harry Potter is warned by a strange house elf not to go back to school. Suddenly Harry finds himself the center of several mishaps. When students are attacked by a possible monster residing deep in the school, Harry, Ron and Hermione wonder who might be responsible even as the whole school starts to suspect Harry.

The second book of the Harry Potter series continues the imaginative nature of the first book and deepens the world building. To the charm of the magical world, Rowling uses her classic good vs evil theme to start to introduce a little more darkness into the school year. As an adult, it sometimes shocks me how nonchalant the wizarding world is about danger to children but I have to remind myself, it’s just a book.

My Rating:
Publication Date: 2 July 1998
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Harry Potter’s return to his third year at Hogwarts is marred by the escape of mass murderer Sirius Black from the wizard prison Azkaban. Although Black seems to be after Harry, Harry biggest concerns are winning at Quidditch, surviving a divination teacher who constantly predicts his death, and keeping the peace between his two best friends Ron and Hermione. 

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is where the overarching series story arc really feels starts to kick in. Rowling does an excellent job of balancing the fun and joy of being a student at Hogwarts and normal preteen problems with the darker story of a convict on the loose and Lord Voldemort’s supporters gaining power. 

My Rating:
Publication Date: 8 July 1999
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I always seem to have multiple books going at once. Here’s a peek at what I’m currently reading.

What’s up next for me? Before I let you go, here are a few of the titles I’m hoping to get through this upcoming month.

Be sure to come back next month to see which ones I read.

Which Books Did You Read in October?

What books did you love this month? Which books can you not wait to read? As always, let me know in the comments!

More Book Lists to Enjoy:

• Reading Lately: September 2024
• October 2024 Book Releases
• The Fall 2024 Reading Guide
• The Best Books of 2023
• Booklist Queen’s 2024 Reading Challenge

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