My Summer Booklist

Hello everyone

At this end of August, it is time to do a review of my summer’s reading and to share with you my most wonderful discoveries and also my blighted hopes. As every summer, this year I have taken some time to read a little more than what I am used to during school time. I read five books in total, but there is one I haven’t finished yet, so I won’t speak about it in this article. This month, I also managed to stay tuned on current events by reading daily newspapers, so now I can argue being unbeatable on news stories. By the way, in this blog post, I will give every book I read a mark on a scale of 5 stars.

But let’s start with the review !

American Royals series

Title: 1st volume : American Royals

2nd volume : American Royals, Majesty

Author : Katharine McGee

Publication date : 1st volume : 2019

2nd volume : 2021

Mark : 3 stars

In this book, Katharine McGee is imagining how America would be if it has a king ruling the country. The author is staging four different women who are all related to the royal family. Beatrice is the heir, next in line to the throne she has plenty of responsibilities on her shoulders and the sudden illness of her father will probably not help with it. Oppositely, Princess Samantha, the youngest is completely out of control, she is partying all the time, has no sense of duty, but behind this unbearable teenager is hiding a young woman in lack of attention. Fortunately, she has a supportive best friend Nina Gonzales. This university student is living with the Washingtons, without really being part of it, in the series, the author is exploring the feeling of a young girl in one of the most uncommon position. At last, Daphne Deightons is the fourth and final character of this story, pressurized by her parents, she is ready to do anything to be a part of this prestigious institution.

I started this book series in October 2020 and I am completely thrilled with the author’s gift for writing. I got attached to every novel’s characters and I was sort of addicted to this book, I didn’t want to finish it. However, my reading of the second volume is a little more mitigated since I learned this book is the last of the series. Anew, the plot is well built and I still was fond of the author’s way with words, but despite that for the last volume, I think the author didn’t really end its story, there is still plenty of intrigues going on and we absolutely want to know what is coming next. If I am honest, I was disappointed in this end after being so into my reading, if there was a thing I could suggest to the author, it would be to write a third volume to make this series a trilogy and end properly the intrigue.

Gipsy Book

Title : Gipsy Book, jusqu’à toucher les étoiles (in french)

Author : Sophie de Mullenheim

Publication date : 2019

Mark : 5 stars

I bought this book in a Lyon’s bookstore, a bit randomly. What encouraged me to buy it, was firstly its cover, I was attracted by this blend of black and gold. When I started reading it, I felt like I was traveling in a time machine and heading back to the 60s, in a climate of Cold War and Space Race. Literally, all the book is plotting around Russia, the USA and Space Race. The author is presenting the remarkable destiny of two characters, who don’t know each other but are profoundly affiliated. Vadim has an American father and a Russian mother, he has a complex on his Russian origins, and even more when he is applying for a Nasa‘s engineering post. In the meantime, Tania or Tatiana Kroubov is enrolled by the Russian military forces in order to take part in a secret program, aiming to select one woman among every parachutist girls in USSR in order to be the first woman to go into space. Through all the book, readers are following the fate of these two human beings, ready to do anything to achieve their dreams and let their country be the first to win the space race. Nonetheless, will they be able to fulfill their dreams? And by which peculiar link are they related to one another ?

I have to say that I take great pleasure in reading this book, and it was a pretty surprising discovery. When I saw this novel in a bookstore I wouldn’t have bet a second that I’d be so taken in another world while reading it. The plot is simple but the characters are attaching, and we really want to know what is happening in the end. I would highly recommend this reading for every amateur of historical novels, and people who have a weakness for the 60s atmosphere.

14 Juillet

Title : 14 Juillet (English : July 14th)

Author : Eric Vuillard

Publication date : 2016

Mark : 2 stars

In this novel, Eric Vuillard is making its readers time travel through centuries, back in 1789 during the French revolution. His book is relating every event that happened before the 14th of July, date on which prisoners of La Bastille were liberated by revolutionaries.

I’ve finished this book about a week ago, and to be honest I didn’t read it willingly but in order to give me a little bit of knowledge on the french revolution. I have to say, I don’t enjoy this part of french history mostly because of its violence and its way of wanting to end an era to create another state more apocalyptical, a state of terror. Even though, it is also this famous episode of our history that let the emergence of many rights in France and even throughout the world. Aside from my lack of interest in this key moment of french history, I found the author’s way of writing inappropriate for a historical novel, he used an informal vocabulary, sometimes even anachronical Furthermore, Eric Vuillard was literally orienting his way of telling this part of history, instead of staying neutral and he added his opinion. Of course, this is only my way of apprehending this novel and perhaps other readers would not see it like this, in consequence I would recommend it if you want to time travel in the french revolution’s vibes with the revolutionaries’ way of seeing this rebellion.

So here is the end of this blog article, I hope you enjoyed reading it, and that my review gave you book ideas.

Have a wonderful day !

The French Art de Vivre