summer reads: part 2

Here are the latest additions to my summer reading list. 

(Click on the book title and it'll take you to Amazon's website to learn more about the book.)

1. The Good Girl by Mary Kubica

Last year, after finishing Gone Girl,  I've been really loving the psychological thrillers that have become so popular. This book is on the bestsellers list and it is a real page turner. I stayed up way too late reading this, and time seemed to disappear. In the last post about summer reading recommendations I mentioned The Luckiest Girl Alive which also fits into this page-turning psychological thriller category, but I enjoyed The Good Girl even more.

2. The Girl With All The Gifts by M. R. Carey

This book peaked my interest at Target, recommended as their book club reads. The 4.5 stars on ibooks, and the "real page turning" comments, convinced me it would be interesting. The back of the book reads like this:

Melanie is a very special girl. Dr Caldwell calls her "our little genius."

Every morning, Melanie waits in her cell to be collected for class. When they come for her, Sergeant keeps his gun pointing at her while two of his people strap her into the wheelchair. She thinks they don't like her. She jokes that she won't bite, but they don't laugh.

The Girl With All the Gifts is a groundbreaking thriller, emotionally charged and gripping from beginning to end.

Before you buy this, you need to know this quick spoiler revealed immediately in the early chapters... and it was almost a deal breaker for me (don't read if you care that much): this is a zombie book. Is it a pretty good book? Yeah. Is it my cup of tea? Not really.

3. The Magicians by Lev Grossman

This is a book that was described to me as Harry Potter for adults (a college student finds out he's a magician, goes to a wizard school, and ends up in a fight with something darker then he intended). It's the first of a trilogy and has more adult themes then Harry Potter. The book blends a lot of the themes and experiences from Lewis's Narnia books and some concepts you can tell are from Lord of the Rings. If you enjoyed all of those books, it would be worth your time to check this out. The book spent time on the best sellers list and has been praised by many authors, especially George R.R. Martin and John Green.

 I didn't love The Magicians, because I felt like it spent a lot of time developing characters that I didn't care about. I am tempted to read the second book because I got really interested after I finished the last few chapters. Apparently the second and third book were the best of the trilogy and stayed #1 on the NYT best seller list for a while.

 4. Second Life by S. J. Watson

S. J. Watson wrote the bestseller Before I go to Sleep. I came across this book thanks to Reese Witherspoon's recommendation. She's recommended four books that I've absolutely loved, so I can't wait to read this one. In Watson's newest psychological thriller (which I haven't read yet, it's next on my list), a woman has a secret identity that threatens to destroy her. She helps investigate her sister's violent murder  and gets involved with a weird stranger. Sounds entertaining to me!