More books read in June 2023 to share with you.
The Rachel Incident by Caroline O’Donoghue
A brilliantly funny novel about friends, lovers, Ireland in chaos, and a young woman desperately trying to manage all three.
Rachel is a student working at a bookstore when she meets James, and it’s love at first sight. Effervescent and insistently heterosexual, James soon invites Rachel to be his roommate and the two begin a friendship that changes the course of both their lives forever. Together, they run riot through the streets of Cork city, trying to maintain a bohemian existence while the threat of the financial crash looms before them.
When Rachel falls in love with her married professor, Dr. Fred Byrne, James helps her devise a reading at their local bookstore, with the goal that she might seduce him afterwards. But Fred has other desires. So begins a series of secrets and compromises that intertwine the fates of James, Rachel, Fred, and Fred’s glamorous, well-connected, bourgeois wife. Aching with unrequited love, shot through with delicious, sparkling humor.
Read an Excerpt here.
My thoughts
I didn’t find this book to be funny at all. The Rachel Incident is just a look back at a young person’s time in college and the bad choices that they made. They didn’t learn anything from it. These events happened and they are telling it to us because someone from that past has had an event recently happen to them. So we get to hear about their connection to them. It’s not a tale that puts anyone in a favorable light. It also doesn’t put Rachel herself in a good light at the end because she still proves that she has no respect for anyone’s privacy.
This book just feels like a tale of self-indulgence. I was bored. It isn’t as if Rachel, James, or anyone else does anything spectacular during this time or anytime thereafter. It’s all rather ordinary and yawn inducing.
I received an ARC of this book and I am writing a review without prejudice and voluntarily.
Want to Listen on Amazon Audible? Click here for membership.
“As a Bookshop and Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.” at no additional cost to you.
The Syndicate Spy by Brittany Butler
“Sacrifices must be made; battles will be lost. It is always this way in a quest for change.”
In the near future, Earth’s oil reserves are depleted. Nations grapple to find an alternative energy source. Terrorists race for control over world resources. And the Syndicate—a conglomerate of allied intelligence agencies—struggles to maintain peace.
Syndicate operative Juliet Arroway and her best friend, Mariam, a progressive Saudi princess, are tasked with hunting down terrorists and putting an end to the global energy war, the same mission that cost Juliet’s father his life. But when multiple terrorist attacks result in devastating losses, including the death of Juliet’s longtime boyfriend, and the Syndicate begins to suspect that Mariam’s family is somehow involved, Juliet must rise above her heartbreak to discover the truth.
In her quest, Juliet is paired with Graham—a dashing yet arrogant FBI agent—and embarks on a dangerous journey toward love and survival as they race to obtain the formula that could solve the energy crisis. But when peace demands a stunning betrayal, Juliet must decide how much she is willing to pay for the success of her mission. Brilliantly weaving fact and fiction, Butler tells a story seldom told—how female heroics can change the course of war.
My thoughts
Brittany Butler asks readers to suspend a lot of belief in this spy thriller. I have to admit after listening to The Syndicate Spy to being surprised when I read the author’s bio and background because even a novice in world relations and the spy world would be scratching their heads in disbelief at Arroway’s antics. Plus the romance is an affront to most working women – especially those in the military field. I’ve never seen experienced agents act so carelessly or with such ignorance of just simple procedure. I truly hope the secondary title of this book does not mean that this is intended to be a series because Arroway is not worth a spy fanatic’s time. I tried to suspend my own knowledge of the military world to just enjoy the story, but I just wanted to fire Arroway and Graham and put professional agents in the field. These are not agents you can count on to save your butt in the field.
I listened to this at 1.25 speed and the book still seemed long. This is not a reflection on Amy Landon at all. I think the story itself just drags.
I received a free copy of this book and I am writing a review without prejudice and voluntarily.
Want to Listen on Amazon Audible? Click here for membership.
“As a Bookshop and Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.” at no additional cost to you.
Further Details for The Syndicate Spy:
Published by: Greenleaf Book Group Press, 9798886450996, 22 May 2023
Cover Design by: Greenleaf Book Group Press and Kim Lance
Narrated by: Amy Landon
Series: A Juliet Arroway Novel; Settings: Syria,
Pages/Length: 320; 10h55m
Further Details for The Rachel Incident:
Published by: Knopf, 9780593535707, 27 Jun 2023
Narrated by: Tara Flynn
Settings: Ireland and England
Pages/Length: 304; 9h22m
Secondary Characters include: Gay
Mx Phoebes Viewpoint 