October 2022 Book Review

Does anyone else feel that October just FLEW BY?! Next thing I know, it’ll be Christmas! Although, listening to Christmas music today probably didn’t help that feeling…While I haven’t started any Christmas books (yet), I did read 5 books in Ocobter. Two of the books were new-to-me authors and three were repeats. Let’s get into the October 2022 book review!

Beautiful Storm

Beautiful Storm is the first book in a series Lightening Strikes by Barbara Freethly. Lightening ties all three books together in a continuous story following 3 different but connected characters. In this book, Alicia is a lightening photographer in Miami, and on one of her adventures, she finds a dog tag of a missing women. She meets up with the main suspect Michael (she doesn’t believe he is guilty) to help find the missing women and figure out why she was taken.

I enjoyed the missing women aspect of this book and of course, the romance between Alicia and Michael, but otherwise the book seemed relatively unbelievable to me. The 2 main characters were essentially doing the job of the police and JAG and were able to solve the mystery by themselves. The ending was unexpected though and sets it up nicely for the next book. Overall, it was a quick read, just don’t “read” too much into it. (See what I did there?).

I gave this book 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Grace Under Fire

Grace Under Fire by Julie Garwood is the 10848 book in the Buchanan-Rendard series. Jusk kidding, it’s only the 14th book. This series, first published back in 2000, follows the Buchanan and Rendard families. This newest book, published in July 2022, follows Michael Buchanan and Grace Isabel MacKenna. Isabel is a creative spirit while Michael is as straight-laced as they come. While Isabel is out on a walk, she stumbles into a shooting and ends up killing a man in self-defense. With Michael’s lawyer expertise and Navy SEAL background, he vows to keep Isabel safe during all the twists and turns this book has to offer.

This book suffered from the same issue as Beautiful Storm and felt highly unrealistic at times. Now, I understand that books are obviously not reality, but some things are just too far-fetched. There’s a lot of theories that this was written by a ghostwriter, and even before I read those theories, I had the same thought. This book just didn’t have the same appeal as many of her previous books. As an aside, her books are definitely PG-13.

I gave this book a 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Harvest Moon

Harvest Moon is the third book in a series by Denise Hunter. These books follow three siblings and tell each of their love stories while living a small town. Gavin, the oldest, suffered a tragic loss of his son a few years prior that led to depression and a divorce. While just starting to pick back up the pieces of his life, his best friends die and leaves custody of the their daughter to Gavin and his ex-wife. The book takes you through their journey of facing the past and reconciling old love.

While mostly a predictable read, it was very enjoyable. It tugged at your heartstrings in all the right places and was a perfect finale to the series. Honestly, not much else to say about it!

I gave this book 4 out of 5 stars.

Where the Sky Begins

Where the Sky Begins is the newest book published by Rhys Bowen in August 2022. It follows Josie, a young female in London in 1940. Josie is in an abusive relationship but feels compelled to stay with him due to their history together. When her husband is called away to serve and her house in London is bombed, she is sent to the countryside to stay with a mean-spirited old woman, whom she convinces to open up a tea shop for the village. While there, she also meets a pilot with a history of his own. Additionally, there’s a mole in the military that no one can find and lives are at danger.

I loved this book. My library is very unique in that it only rents out books that are recently published. My go-to for books is typically Overdrive, which can have a wait for months to be able to read new books, so it’s been such a pleasure to find new books and read them right away. I found this book and was honestly just drawn to the cover and decided to give it a go. I had no idea that I would like it as much as I did. This book had quite a few plot twists that weren’t unexpected and left me wanting to read well past my bedtime. While it was my first Rhys Bowen book, it won’t be my last!

I gave this book 5 out of 5 stars.

A Fall of Marigolds

A Fall of Marigolds by Susan Meissner follows two women set 100 years apart. The first woman is Clara, a nurse working on Ellis Island in 1911. She moved to Ellis Island after losing someone in a tragic event during the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire in NYC. The second women, Taryn, is a widowed mother working in a fabric store after losing her husband during 9/11. The story is bound together by a marigold scarf and each story follows the women moving forward after loss.

The description doesn’t do this book justice because it was so good! I found this book very randomly – (I was bored and typed in the word “fall” [because, it’s fall] into Overdrive and the cover captured my eye… I totally judged a book by it’s cover!). The story focuses much more on Clara than Taryn, but each story is captivating and kept me interested until the last page.

I gave this book 5 out of 5 stars.

Suggestions?

Those are the 5 books I read in October! I didn’t love all of them, but I did find 2 new authors and can’t wait to keep reading! Let me know if you have any good book suggestions!

Follow me on Goodreads to see what else I’ve read this year!

Check out September’s book reviews here!