Wendy’s Comments (group member since Dec 28, 2018)

Wendy’s comments from the 2022 ONTD Reading Challenge group.

Read My Sister, the Serial Killer. I enjoyed the writing and the premise but not a fan that Ayoola seemingly faces no consequences.

I, like many others, read Little Fires Everywhere. I thought it was really well done, especially the characterizations. It was an engaging book and I'm interested to catch the miniseries.

JANUARY - [Read a Book That is Being Adapted Into a Movie or TV Show in 2020]
- Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng ★★★★☆

FEBRUARY - [My Cousin Just Moved to Nigeria to Discover New Talent]
- My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite ★★★☆☆

MARCH - [Everyone Was Dad]
- To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee ★★★★★

APRIL - [Read a Book With a Scandalous Past]
- Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling ★★★★★

MAY - [Real Housewives Yelling at Cat]
- The Cat Who Could Read Backwards by Lillian Jackson Braun ★★★★☆

JUNE - [Ok Boomer]
- 1984 by George Orwell ★★★★★

JULY - [Surprised Pikachu Face]
- Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn ★★★★★

AUGUST - [Sparks Joy]
- "Queen of Babble" by Meg Cabot ★★★★★ | "Queen of Babble in the Big City" by Meg Cabot ★★★★☆ | "Queen of Babble Gets Hitched" by Meg Cabot ★★★★★

SEPTEMBER - [Old Man Yelling at Cloud]
- A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens ★★★★☆

OCTOBER - [Time for the Urn]

NOVEMBER - [Hindsight is 2020]
- Rich People Problems by Kevin Kwan ★★★★☆

DECEMBER - [Read a Book That Won an Award in 2020]
- tbd

If you want a light-hearted easy read, 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter by W. Bruce Cameron is hilarious. It's the book that the show with John Ritter and Kaley Cuoco was based on, but it tells the eternal struggle of dads trying to relate to their teenagers. (Also it made me realize that my father had it easy with me, a girl completely uninterested in the unwashed miscreants that went to my high school, who also had very little social life, therefore no way to actually get into trouble in BFE Kansas.)

I finally finished I'll Be Gone in the Dark. I started reading it last year after he was caught, but then I started having a tremendous amount of anxiety so I put it aside. It was really good. I liked the focus on the detectives and the investigation side, rather than on the crime side. Also, as we now know who the Golden State Killer is, I started going back and cross-checking the police hunches versus what ended up being actually true. It's appalling that this guy went free for so long, and I hope he rots.

Going to make a run at An American Marriage, as my local library has it available.

January-Adaptation
Can You Keep a Secret by Sophie Kinsella ★★★★★

February-Love is Lit
The Total Package by Stephanie Evonavich ★★★★☆
Marriage Vacation by Pauline Brooks-Turner ★★★☆☆

March-IJAF
I'll Have What She's Having by Erin Carlson ★★★★☆
Whiskey in a Teacup by Reese Witherspoon ★★★★☆

April-What Year is it
The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton ★★★★☆

May-Never Been to Luxembourg
China Rich Girlfriend by Kevin Kwan ★★★★★

June-My friend with a bike
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer ★★★★☆

July-Posted
Bridget Jones' Diary by Helen Fielding ★★★★★

August- U in danger, girl
The Circle by David Eggers ★★★★☆

September- I have to laugh
Not Done

October- Some people have war in their countries
Not Done

November- ONTD doesn't read
Black Canary Ignite by Meg Cabot ★★★★☆

December- Award
I'll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara ★★★★☆

Meg Cabot just released her first graphic novel, Black Canary Ignite so I'll be reading that and possibly some other graphic novels. I took a break the last few months because work kicked my butt but now I'm back!

Read The Circle by Dave Eggers and holy bad decisions, Batman. The main character makes NOTHING BUT BAD DECISIONS. The ending was garbo.

Also as someone who works in social media, this was a nice little scary vision of my future career if I don't jettison out.

I finally finished The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and it was adorable and lovely. Told exclusively in letters and telegrams, it's the story of an English author directly post-WWII who begins corresponding with the residents of Guernsey, an island in the English Channel that was German occupied during the war.

I'm struggling with what to read this month because I have 3 weeks of work hell coming up. We're talking 16-hour work days. I've come home the last two days with my brain just absolute mush.

So if someone has a good recommendation of something short & sweet, maybe a graphic novel? I was thinking of one of the James Patterson Women's Murder Club books, but I don't know if I'm going to have the mental capacity to deal with that.

Would The Circle count? I'm halfway through that and need a prod to just finish it. But the lack of chapter breaks (aka no "just one more chapter!") has really thrown me off and I just haven't felt inspired.

I got Circe from my library a whole 4 days ago and am barely into Chapter 1. I did re-read Bridget Jones' Diary this month, which was good because it's a short, quick read and I was too exhausted to read this month.

I just absolutely fell off the wagon this month. I was working a lot of late nights for my freelance job and it didn't leave me a whole time for reading. Then I went on a fab beach vacation and while I am loving The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, it is not quite the optimal beach read that I was searching for. (Now, on the other hand, "Red, White & Royal Blue" by Casey McQuiston WAS and I read it in like, 2 days.)

I will have to be better in July! And I totally plan to finish TGLAPPPS soon.

I feel like The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society might fit.

A lot of my books have friendship as a 'theme' but have finding love as an overall theme. I find myself jealous of many of the friendships in books because I sometimes feel like my own fail (not that I don't have great friends in real life, but my closest friends live far away and I don't get to see them very often).

Curious about the post for this month with recs!

Read China Rich Girlfriend and the food descriptions just made me hungry.

Also picked up and flew through another re-read of Meg Cabot's "Every Boy's Got One" (which I consider the weakest of the "Boy" books but that's like saying I like it least of the Harry Potter books.) Even though I've been to Italy, I've never been to the Adriatic Coast or Le Marche, which is where most of the book takes place.

Finished China Rich Girlfriend by Kevin Kwan. I really wish I had the Chinese food described in those books, as opposed to what passes for it here in Texas.

I finished last night (ok this morning at 2 am) The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle. (The last week of work was awful and I barely read because I would get home, remove sweat from body and just crawl into bed.) I really liked the concept and didn't get too confused. I also liked how each of his 'hosts' had a different part of his personality that allowed him to unlock the mystery.

I'm reading China Rich Girlfriend this month! I've never been to China...or Singapore...or anywhere in Asia, really...or San Francisco....I need a rich husband to finance my travel.

Alyssa wrote: "it did help to have the character list at the front of the book. "

This has been very helpful. I have less than 100 pages to go but being able to refer back and go "ok, he was that person on Day 1, that person on Day 2" etc has been helpful.

I'm trying to determine if The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle counts. He only time travels to the same day, but as a different suspect. (I'm about 30-40 pages into it now and I'm really trying to finish all of the half-read books I have sitting around my house, lol)