I always feel like such a human trashcan when I don't meet my goals. This month, I only got through four books, which is the lowest monthly reading count I've hit so far this year. But life's been busy - school started back, there's lots going on at work, etc etc. Anyways, I'm still ahead for my Goodreads Reading Challenge, and have only 14 prompts left for my POPSUGAR Reading Challenge, so I'm still feeling pretty confident about meeting my yearly goals.



11/22/63 by Stephen King ★★★★★
POPSUGAR Reading Challenge Prompt: A book about time travel
Brief synopsis: It's 2011 and Jake Epping is a high school English teacher who teaches adult education classes in the evening and enjoys a cheap burger at Al's local diner. But Jake's world gets turned upside down when Al let's him in on a little secret - a closet in the back of the diner is a rabbit hole to 1958, and no matter how long one stays down the rabbit hole, they'll always come back to two minutes later in 2011. Now Al's dying and he needs Jake to complete the mission he's tried so hard to complete - stop Lee Harvey Oswald from assassinating JFK.
See full review here.






*Katerina by James Frey ★★★★☆
POPSUGAR Reading Challenge Prompt: A book set in a country that fascinates you
Brief synopsis: Jay doesn't want to do the vote-work-die thing, so he leaves college and heads to Paris to write. There he does lots of drugs and drinking and falls in love, hard. Fast forward to Los Angeles twenty-five years later. He's a successful author, has a lovely wife and loving children. And out of the blue, he gets a message from the one he loved before, which sends him spiraling down memory lane and what could have been.
See full review here.






The Line That Held Us by David Joy ★★★☆☆
POPSUGAR Reading Challenge Prompt: A book tied to your ancestry
Brief synopsis: When Darl accidentally kills a man while hunting on private property outside of hunting season, he enlists the help of his very best friend, Calvin. When they go about covering up the evidence and hiding the body, they think the worst of their troubles are their guilty consciences. But boy, are they wrong. The man Darl accidentally killed has a brother, and his brother has a rage growing deep within him. | August BOTM pick
See full review here.






Sweet Little Lies by Caz Frear ★★★☆☆
POPSUGAR Reading Challenge Prompt: A book with song lyrics in the title
Brief synopsis: Cat was eight when 17-year old Maryanne Doyle went missing. That was 18 years ago, but it's haunted her ever since, because her dad lied to the police about knowing Maryanne. Now a DC, Cat is shocked when Maryanne's body turns up local to her police precinct and just around the corner from her father's apartment. Cat wants to solve Maryanne's murder, without connecting herself and the dots to her father, but how can she without revealing her past? | August BOTM pick
See full review here.