☀️ Sunday Sharies: June 2024

a simple and delicious cake recipe, some summer bops, and 7 book reviews

It’s the last Sunday of the month, and you know what that means. There’s a lot of stuff we’d like to share that won’t fit in our usual Thursday TV newsletter. Some of that stuff is here. Read on for a special monthly peek into what your trusty Double Take duo has been watching, reading, listening to, and more. And just as a reminder, while there is a July TV and Movies Preview coming tomorrow, we will be taking a review break for the 4th of July holiday. See you back here for our usual Thursday newsletter on the 11th. <3

— Jenni Cullen and Jess Spoll

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Jenni: Following a many-months-old recommendation from Jess, I tried out the first book of the Scholomance trilogy at the start of June. A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik was not the best fantasy story — plot or writing-wise — that I’ve read lately, but not the worst either. To Jess’s credit she did warn me that the first book stunk, but the rest of the series was surprisingly compelling, and I can believe it. The world Novik creates has potential, and a twist in the final pages of ADE did make me more inclined to read the second one (2/5 stars).

Continuing with the fantasy theme, I was gifted the third and final installment in Carissa Broadbent’s The War of Lost Hearts trilogy for my birthday. It can be hard to wrap up an epic fantasy series in a satisfying way, but Broadbent did a decent job with Mother of Death and Dawn (3/5 stars). There’s sacrifice and romance, betrayals and battles aplenty. The first book in the series, Daughter of No Worlds, was definitely my favorite, but the trilogy was a solid and entertaining overall. If you like fun, sweeping fantasies with some romance subplot, but need a break from Rachel Gillig or Sarah J. Maas, I’d recommend this series.

Jess: I finally got my hands on a few thrillers that I’d been eyeing, to mixed results. The Chain by Adrian McKinty has a unique and compelling premise: a criminal enterprise makes their money through a take on traditional kidnapping that mimics the “chain letter” concept of the 80s/90s. The book starts out strong but fizzles out to a predictable and ho-hum conclusion, but I’m still enamored by the creativity of the concept. (3.5/5)

One of my biggest pet peeves is when a novel is marketed as a thriller but is really a slow-burn psychological character study, and These Silent Woods by Kimi Cunningham Grant let me down this month. Grant teases a mysterious backstory but the events unfold clunkily and without much intrigue, and the narrator is repetitive and preachy. (1.5/5)

If you like Sherlock Holmes-style detective mysteries, may I introduce you to Stuart Turton. His 2018 novel 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle is one of my favorites and I’ve been a fan of everything that he’s done since then, with his newest, The Last Murder at the End of the World, as no exception. Turton is a master of weaving complex mysteries with science fiction, and his world-building is rich and immersive. (4/5)

My book club read The Future by Naomi Alderman this month, which was probably a mistake for a June pick, since it’s definitely not a beach read. A novel about the end of the world that is a not-at-all veiled criticism of big tech and mega-wealth, Alderman’s politicizing is lengthy and tiring throughout and the plot comes off as naïve wish fulfillment. But there are elements that work, and she leaves you with some bits to chew on, so it’ll make an interesting meeting discussion, at the very least. (2.5/5)

Olivia Muenter is no stranger to social media, and she leverages that experience in her debut thriller, Such a Bad Influence. While it’s a solid debut in terms of writing style, prose, and general structure, she spends more time philosophizing about social media and its dangers rather than developing suspense or interesting characters. I’d read future books by Muenter, but this one misses the mark. (2/5)

Jess: It was a heavy horror movie month for me! In theaters I saw The Watchers, the new fantasy-horror from Ishana Night Shyamalan (M. Night’s daughter) and In a Violent Nature, a flipped-POV slasher flick. Plus, Talk to Me, a popular supernatural horror film from last year that I am late to the party on, and a re-watch of X and Pearl in advance of July’s MaXXXine. I also got to see an advanced screening of Space Cadet, a straight-to-Prime Video movie starring Emma Roberts as a Florida party girl who finds herself in NASA’s Astronaut Training program.