The books I read and loved in July.
Three psychological thrillers and a hilarious novel about... widowhood.
I can’t believe I’d never heard of Rachael ‘Raygun’ Gunn before this weekend.
ICYMI — Raygun is an Australian academic who competed in breakdancing at the Olympics. She was, objectively, not very good at the sport, which led to her going viral and whole lot of discourse about why she was there in the first place.
Anyway, I mention this here because for me Raygun feels like she’s a character in a book that we’ve accidentally started reading two-thirds in. And I really want to read that book! I want to know everything about her. I want to follow her entire journey from ‘I think I might try breakdancing’ to her time on the mat at the Olympics. I want Celeste Barber to play her in a Netflix series.
I mean, what a hero’s journey!
Unfortunately, I don’t have any books about academics going viral after doing the worm at the Olympics to recommend to you this month but I do have three psychological thrillers, a ‘chick lit’ book about consent and an unexpectedly funny read about a widow.
Here are the books I couldn’t put down in July:
Gold Rush by Olivia Petter
I went into this book with no expectations and came out the other side really impressed. Set in the pre-MeToo era of 2017, Gold Rush follows Rose, a twenty-something glossy magazine publicist, who feels out of step with the glitzy celebrity world she works in.
While working at one of the magazine’s events, Rose meets Milo Jax, a British pop sensation with a legion of fans all over the world (think Harry Styles but a bit too smooth). The pair hit it off and end up spending a night together. But when Rose wakes up the next morning, she has a horrible feeling that something bad happened to her.
I loved how this book explored celebrity culture and privilege and our different attitude towards consent pre-MeToo.
Read it if you liked: Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll or Love and Virtue by Diana Reid.
Girl, Falling by Hayley Scrivenor
Girl, Falling is the second book from Australian author Hayley Scrivenor.
It’s a psychological thriller set in the Blue Mountains of NSW and it follows Finn and Daphne, best friends who were inseparable until Finn fell in love with a woman named Magdu.
One day, the three women go mountain climbing together and Magdu doesn’t make it back alive. As the investigation into Magdu’s death intensifies, Finn starts to question whether she really knows her best friend.
Girl, Falling is beautifully written and I love how Scrivenor explores female friendship, toxic relationships and the lies we tell ourselves about ourselves. Plus, there’s a brilliant twist!
Read it if you liked: We Were Never There by Andrea Bart and What Happened to Nina? by Dervla McTiernan.
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