The Save-Me-From-the-Heat August Read/Watch/Listen List
Plus, it's release day!
Hi there! It’s August. It’s hot. Don’t let the innocent-looking sunrise/moon pic above fool you. Later today it will be hell blazes hot. (The temp dial read 113 in my car yesterday while I melted waited for the kiddo to get out of school.)
But, the good news is that this means it’s the perfect time for a Read/Watch/Listen list so we can stay inside and hide from the heat!
Read
First up…a little shameless self-promotion. The gorgeous new paperback edition of The One You Can’t Forget, book 2 in The Ones Who Got Away series, is out today!
Rebecca is a survivor with a secret she’s ashamed of. She's also the take-no-prisoners attorney who represented Wes's ex in a bitter divorce and ruined his dreams of owning a restaurant. So when Wes intervenes in a mugging, saving Rebecca, things get complicated. Let the enemies-to-lovers games begin!
People seemed to like the book, so maybe you will too! Or maybe you’d like this new version for your shelf if you originally read it in ebook. All four re-issues will create a full picture when lined up next to each other, which is pretty fun.
Thus concludes the shameless self-promotion portion of these proceedings.
I would share what great things I’ve been reading for the last month, but alas, I’ve had a stack of DNFs. Perhaps the reading slump hasn’t fully resolved.
However, I have been feeling the seasonal reading shift happening ever since the kiddo started school. I’m craving campus novels/dark academia and spooky stuff. I used to think I CHOSE seasonal reading, but now I think I’ve ingrained the seasonality into my bones. I started craving Fall books before I fully registered that we’re going into a new season.
So, I don’t have a list of what I’ve read to share, but I can give you what I’ve added to my stack lately.
Book club read
I’m reading Homecoming by Kate Morton for a library book club. I’m only a few pages in, but the writing is lovely. It’s a big chonker though (500+ pages), so we’ll see if I make it through in time for book club. Two timelines (1959 and present), a mystery, and set in Australia. The question that has popped up so far for me is how do other authors know the name of EVERY flower and tree in their scenes? Lol. This is not a writing strength of mine. I’m like, “The trees were thick with leaves.” What kind of trees? Who the hell knows?
Stories for campus vibes…
I’m sure there are nice people at boarding schools who don’t murder each other. But I’m not entirely sure…so I’ve added these books to further investigate. :)
Good Girls Lie by J.T. Ellison and The Secret Place by Tana French
Stories for spooky vibes…
So Incidents Around the House by Josh Malerman is about a little girl who goes around her house and talks to “Other Mommy.” I don’t know how the parents are going to react to this, but I’ve watched enough horror movies that if my kid said there was another mommy in the house, I’m believing them…and setting the house on fire and asking questions later.
I really enjoyed Stephen Graham Jones’ writing in My Heart Is a Chainsaw, so I Was a Teenage Slasher was an autobuy for me. Plus, it’s set in Texas in 1989. Fair warning: he’s a very interior writer. You are deeply, deeply inside the head of his main character. So if you’re not used to lots of streams of consciousness, it can take some getting used to.
Watching what I’m watching (see below) put me in the mood for books that would give that vibe. I found a list of suggestions and Kelly Armstrong’s Omens jumped out at me, so I grabbed it at the library yesterday. The premise caught my attention. A woman who’s adopted finds out her birth parents were serial killers. She goes to the town they were from to find out more and realizes…maybe there’s something else going on and her parents weren’t the bad guys after all.
I have a feeling this spooky pile will continue to grow. I love scary reading season.
Watch
Supernatural on Netflix
Confession: I have never watched Supernatural. I know! How did that happen? I love horror. I love shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and The Vampire Diaries. I am a WB/CW channel fan girl. This show should’ve been squarely in my wheelhouse. But for some reason, each time I tried it, the initial episodes just didn’t hook me.
I think this was because the early episodes have a monster-of-the-week format that is not my favorite. Buffy started like that too, so I should’ve known to just persevere until I felt connected to the characters. Luckily, I finally got over myself and did that.
I’m now into the beginning of season 2 and I’m loving it. Dean and Sam are fantastic characters (and not hard to look at), and the brotherly dynamics are great. The stories actually do a good job of being scary too, especially considering this was network TV. I’m thrilled to have a new show to watch, especially one with so many seasons!
So, tell me, am I the only one who hasn’t watched this show? :)
A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder on Netflix
I really enjoyed the book by Holly Jackson, so I was excited to see them make it into a show. This is a YA suspense that gives strong Serial vibes. A 17-year-old girl decides to make her school project solving a murder in her town because she’s not sure they found the right perpetrator. I binge-watched this over two days and found it compelling. The main character made me yell at her a few times for having no regard for her personal safety (you know like horror movie heroines running up the stairs instead of out the door) but overall, I think this was a solid adaptation.
Listen
Continuing the horror theme, I’m currently listening to Horror Movie by Paul Tremblay and so far, I’m impressed with the high production value of the audio. It’s a full cast recording and there are screenplay elements in it, so they have voice actors reading through the screenplay and you can even hear them flipping the pages like they’re at a table read.
This is about a film that four people put together in 1993 and that has developed a cult following, despite only three scenes of the movie being released. Now the four are coming back together to remake the movie. I love a good cursed film storyline.
Alright, that’s all I have for you today! I hope you found something worth checking out (and by that, I mean, my book.) ;)
Happy reading, watching, and listening!
What are you reading, watching, or listening to? I’d love to hear!
*Some links are affiliate links but all recommendations are mine.
Happy Book Release!
Hi Roni~These are all great recommendations!
I've watched and read pretty much all of them Except the show and ur current listen!