Book of the Month - May and June

I know, I know. Listen, May happened, and I just couldn't finish my book on time. However, I am back on track and ready for July! 

Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter was my May book of the month. The novel is a story of chasing dreams. Told in flashbacks between a tiny Italian coastal town in the 1960s, and Hollywood in present day, the book centers around Pasquale, a young and hopeful inn keeper, and Dee Moray, a young and confused would-be starlet. Dee is sent to Pasquale's remote coastal town by the producers of the movie Cleopatra. She is told she has stomach cancer and has to rest. Well that turns out to be a lie, and the novel tells the story of the next 40-50 years after that fateful meeting, and the different lives that Pasquale and Dee have touched because of their story. 

This is a great story, but it was not a summer page turner. Some of the chapters that focused on the side characters were a slow to get through. I wish I was spending a summer get away in Pasquale's remote Italian town though!

Zach came home one day with a real desire to read a new James Patterson. We have a ton of his books on our Kindle account, and they are always an easy read. I knew I had to get on my game to finish a book by the end of June, so I, Michael Bennett became my June book of the month. This is probably the third Michael Bennett book I have read. He is a widowed, Irish-Catholic, NYPD cop who has eight adopted children. The story takes place in the summer, with his family trying to vacation at the family lake house in the New York countryside. Unfortunately Bennett also has to deal with a truly badass Mexican drug kingpin. The book is everything you expect ... crime, steakouts, and hot female counterparts. It took about a week to read, and I enjoyed reading it.