September 2021 books

Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

4.5 stars. As I read, I kept thinking: HOW can things work like this? HOW can something like this POSSIBLY happen? If this story were in the hands of a different writer I would be able to convince myself that parts of this book were exaggerated or painted in the worst light possible but this is PRK we're talking about so unfortunately, I know it's all for real. And that is so, so sad.

I liked the beginning and ending chapters the best, especially the last section where PRK lets his snark out to play juuuuust a little bit ("she had not climbed K2"). The middle was a little bit harder to get through because at that point it's all second-generation Sacklers and the cast of characters grows exponentially from there.

View all my reviews

Party of Two by Jasmine Guillory
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I thought I remembered liking this author's previous books more, so I picked up this one as a hopefully light antidote to Empire of Pain. And I guess it was a break from that, but I think I won't read anymore books from this series. I looked up my reviews of the two other books I've read by this author and remembered that oh yeah, I didn't really like those, either! I loved reading about the truly excellent communication skills and emotional intelligence many of the characters possess, and I also appreciated the delicious food descriptions. But everything else was just ok.

(Also, I'm sorry, but it really strained my suspension of disbelief to accept that the main character - a privileged trust-fund white man who is extremely handsome and also a senator - was not at least a LITTLE BIT of a douchebag. Most unbelievable plot element in any book I've read this year.)

View all my reviews

The Empress by S.J. Kincaid
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I am loving this series! This book is science-y and swoony and backstabby and it takes absolutely no prisoners. There is SO MUCH plot here! There were parts where a new story direction popped up and I thought, ok, so here's the rest of the book, this is the journey we're going on. But no. They went and did the thing RIGHT THEN. Because even MORE STUFF still needed to happen! And more stuff after that!

And it's all really exciting stuff, with delicious twists and turns. Love it.

View all my reviews

The Nemesis by S.J. Kincaid
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

4.5 stars. Loved it, even though there's a few flaws here and there (in the beginning, it felt like every other chapter ended with "and then, I was going to KILL (specific character)"). There is so much heart in this book and I stayed up too late reading it on multiple occasions.

View all my reviews

The Bombay Prince by Sujata Massey
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I don't know exactly how to explain it, but the mystery in this book - a mystery book - was the least compelling thing about it! I loved everything else about it and found myself not really caring whodunnit! Part of that is Massey's fault for giving us THAT SCENE right before Perveen solves the crime. It made it hard to concentrate on anything else.

I think the strength of this series is really Perveen. She's such a well-drawn character and I would read about her everyday, non-mystery life with pleasure.

View all my reviews