Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt

Read by Marin Ireland and Michael Urie. Listened to almost 2/3 on audiobook and finished the rest on library hardcover. Marcellus and Tova were lovely. Less interested in Cameron. Called the twist really early on. As much as I adored the narrator for Marcellus and the overall narration was fine, I wish I had time this week to read more from the text. Lovely novel.

1.2-1.6x. June 11-14, 2024.

Oona Out of Order by Margarita Montimore

Narrated by Brittany Pressley. Audiobook for the first 35%. Narrator was not for me so I preferred to read this one on print. One of my selective book friends really liked this novel. It was fun. Oona was a bit of a mess at the start. As a fantasy reader growing up, I had wondered about this scenario happening to me before so I was already judging her a little. It would have been very scary though and Oona was grieving. By the end, I almost didn’t want this book to end. I grew to like the characters and wanted to see what else Oona did with her family. Good read.

1.5x. June 14-15, 2024.

The No-Show by Beth O’Leary

Narrated by Evanna Lynch, Heather Long, Kathryn Drysdale, and Luke Thompson. 20% on audiobook. I have mixed feelings about this one. At least I didn’t dislike it as I did the last one The Road Trip. As usual, O’Leary is good at giving her characters depth and not the typical romance. This novel had four leads. I did care about most of them. That is not easy for an author to balance. I saw one of the twists early on. My main issue with the novel is that it was really sad. The male lead’s trauma made him a basket case for most of the novel and it was not fun to read. As with The Road Show, the character development felt a little rushed at the end given the gravity of the situation. This finished the last Beth O’Leary book that I have on my physical shelves. I will hold off on reading her for awhile because even though I liked aspects of this novel and the Switch, I didn’t find them overall as good as The Flatshare.

1.25x. Read June 15-16, 2024.