You might be thinking that this is an odd topic for a post, but that is ok. I am currently visiting family in Connecticut and thought it would be fun to find some books to talk about that are set here. This is the state that I grew up in and I have some fond memories of the place. It was hard to come up with some books that I have read recently that are set there though. I think I might start keeping a list of books and where they are set because it is hard to remember when you are trying to come up with one. Onto the books.
Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo
I loved this book, although I know a lot of people who had issues with it. I think part of my love for it was the nostalgia aspect of it. It is set at Yale University which is close to where I grew up. I spent a lot of time in New Haven and in wandering close to the school and many of the places mentioned in the books are places I have been. But that aside, I really liked the story to. I enjoyed the mystery and the dark magic aspect of the setting. I totally got the whole thing. I am excited to get the next book in the series, which I hope will be soon.
A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro
The school that Charlotte and Jamie attend is a prep school in Connecticut. There are lots of prep schools in my home state, so even though this one is fictitious I still enjoyed the setting of a country prep school. I highly recommend the entire series, especially if you like modern retellings of the Sherlock Holmes stories. This was a fun time and I liked the friendship that develops between Charlotte and Jamie. The plots were also fast paced and exciting with lots of twists and turns and reference to the Sherlock cannon.
The Amateurs by Sara Shepard
This was a fun mystery with lots of twist and turns. Also set in a fictitious town, but one that reminds me of Danbury, a rich town on the NY border. This is of course a murder mystery that a group of teenage sleuths try to solve. As I remember they all know each other online before meeting in person. This is the first book in a trilogy and I read the second one, but never got around to the third one. Not sure why. But if you like stories where meddling kids catch the bad guy this is one you might want to give a chance.
Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver
I read this one a long time ago and didn’t even remember it being set in Connecticut. But it kept coming up in my searches so it must be true. Anyways, I do remember liking this when I read it. I nice twist on the whole Groundhog’s Day troupe. I also remember the whole mean girl wanting to change the past was a nice touch to the story. The ending was a bit of a surprise too. I didn’t know it was made into a movie, so I may have to check that one out.
It was fun looking for books set in Connecticut. I found a whole bunch more, many that I have read, but some I haven’t. These were the most recent ones that I could find and as I didn’t want my list to get too long, I had to find some way to make my decisions. But as I said before, I might start keeping track of settings when they are a real place. It would be fun to see if I am particularly drawn to one setting over another… although I can probably guess on a few that will pop up many times.
Do you ever think about the setting when choosing a book?
Confessions of a Serial Reader 