Let's start with the obvious, I got in a lot of reading this month. That is in large part thanks to our week in Alabama at the end of the month where I finished 3 books myself, 2 with Luke, and started 2 more. Plus, somehow July was just a good reading month. I guess I was reading the right mix of books to keep me engaged and eager to see what was going to happen next!
I'm very active updating my books on Goodreads here, post more about picture books than adult books on Instagram here, and linking up with Modern Mrs. Darcy!
First: 3 other book posts in the past month and they were all picture book posts. We have been reading a lot of picture books this summer!
{30} Picture Books to Wrap up Summer
Now everything else I've been reading!
In the Heights: Finding Home by Lin-Manual Miranda, Quiara Alegria Hudes, and Jeremy McCarter
This was part of my In the Heights deep dive since I really enjoyed the movie even though this focused mostly on the Broadway musical portion. It was interesting reading about it's long journey to the stage and then the screen and seeing the correct lyrics to many of the songs (especially the Spanish parts...I've been mangling those). If you enjoyed the movie then this might be of interest to you too. 3.5 Stars
The Forest of Vanishing Stars by Kristin Harmel
I've read nearly all of Kristin Harmel's books, starting with her earlier "chick lit" books (I own a few of them!) before she transitioned into mostly World War II historical fiction. This one was based on a real woman who helped Jewish people hide in the woods for a large portion of that war. I think I wouldn't survive a night in the conditions described in the book but then also, if my whole life was on the line maybe I could. It was interesting and horrifying at parts. 3.75 Stars
The Seven Day Switch by Kelly Harms
Freaky Friday but between two neighborhood Moms who each have a very different approach to mothering. I could see parts of myself in each of them and just so fascinating to get inside their heads. There are so many ways to be a good Mom. 3.5 Stars
Modern Monarchy: The British Royal Family Today by Chris Jackson
I've been following Chris Jackson's work for a long time (you've probably seen some in the grocery store check-out lane), as he's well known for photographing the British Royals. Seeing as I have a slight interest in them, I finally purchase requested this book from my library and got to read it. Mostly just a lot of really well composed and lit photos but also some of his thoughts on his years of being up close to the Royals. Interesting (and quick) if you share that interest. 4 Stars
Instructions for Dancing by Nicola Yoon
YA by an author I have enjoyed in the past. Not my favorite of hers but I still enjoyed this one about two teens who are kinda thrown together in a dance competition for reasons I have since forgot. They are both going through things (as all teens always are). 3.5 Stars
Float Plan by Trish Doller
One of my favorite books of the year thus far and one that should have gotten it's own post if time had worked differently (I finished this book the day before we left on our trip and then by the time we got home was in full prep for the end of summer/start of the school year...just didn't get time to write that post). Anyways, a woman is grieving her fiance and takes the solo boat trip through the Caribbean they were planning to take together. She needs a first mate (really, a captain) and ends up with an Irish (Catholic) man who is also dealing with his own things. They sail the Caribbean. Hard for there not to be romance. I really enjoyed this one. 4.5 Stars
The Blue Bistro by Elin Hilderbrand
One of my all-time favorites that I chose to read over my birthday. Nantucket, a new girl who is running away from a bad (not abusive, just stealing money) boyfriend and becomes a restaurant person when she had always been a hotel person. Lands at The Blue Bistro, a famed restaurant in it's last season. There is romance and many mentions of Notre Dame, the South Bend one, not the Paris one. I love the fast pace and the food and Nantucket and the beach and romance. 4.75 Stars
Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid
This was the book I picked for Matt to give me for my birthday (it's just easier for both of us if I pick the books I want as gifts). I read this in Alabama and it was SUCH a fun reading experience, just knowing I had a good, fun, entertaining book to pick-up on my many chances to read on that trip. Taylor Jenkins Reid is pretty consistently entertaining and this one was one of my favorites of hers recently. Set in the mid-80s in Malibu and following 4 siblings with a famous rock star Dad who they never see. Set in a 24 hour period with flashbacks. It was fun. 4 Stars
Rock the Boat by Beck Dorey-Stein
I wanted to like this one more than I did even though I had a good reading experience with it (also in Alabama). New Jersey shore, people coming back home when life hasn't gone their way elsewhere. Reconnecting with old friends. Am I the only one who didn't know Jersey had such a resort feel to it's beaches?? 3.5 Stars
Blush by Jamie Brenner
I don't drink much wine, at all, and it probably would help my enjoyment of this book set almost entirely at a family winery if I did. I just...don't care much about wine? Family problems and winery problems. 2.75 Stars
The Layover by Lacie Waldon
This cover is so fun and the book made me miss flying even though during a pandemic doesn't sound like fun. A flight attendant on what she thinks is her last trip because her fiance wants her to be home/around more. She likes flying though and bumps heads with a male flight attendant also on her flights. They get stuck somewhere tropical thanks to weather or a broken plane or something. Sparks might fly?? Fun summer romance. 3.75 Stars
Radar Girls by Sara Ackerman
Always nice to balance some lighter romance with slightly more "serious" books even if this one had a rather tropical (Hawaii) locale too. Except this is set during World War II in the days following the Pearl Harbor attack. Women are recruited to help with the war effort by learning to read radars and guide pilots back to Hawaii. I've learned about so many things women did to help the war effort! 3.5 Stars
Better than the Movies by Lynn Painter
YA that felt like To All the Boys I've Loved Before a bit with a fake romance and just the general vibe. It was fun but not quite as fun as To all the Boys. 3.5 Stars
Surviving Savannah by Patti Callahan
I had been meaning to read this all summer, it went to Alabama with us, but took awhile to get to. Set around the sinking of the steamship Pulaski in the 1830s and then again in present day with a Savannah historian piecing together what actually happened on that ship and the people that survived. It was nice reading about Savannah after just being there but then it might have also been good to read before we went since it could have informed some of our stops there. 3.5 Stars
New Girl in Little Cove by Damhnait Monaghan
The cover for this is fantastic and I liked 75% of it - about a lapsed Catholic who needs a change of scenery after a bad boyfriend and her father died of cancer. She goes to a tiny town in Newfoundland, Canada, to teach French at the Catholic school. All of this is set in the mid-1980s which wasn't made abundantly clear until mid-way through the book. Like I said, I was mostly on board with this for the first 75% and then...I was just annoyed and disappointed at story and character choices. 3 Stars
Read with Luke
The Alien Adventures of Finn Caspian: The Uncommon Cold by Jonathan Messinger
Continuing to read all of these to Luke, there was something about the robots getting sick and a bit about quarantine...we don't read these because they are deep fiction, they are just enjoyable for Luke. 3 Stars
Betsy and Mr. Kilpatrick by Carolyn Haywood
Sam assumes every chapter book I am reading with Luke is a Betsy book which I find pretty adorable. This one about Betsy and her friends teaming up to get a gift for their beloved police officier and crossing guard, Mr. Kilpatrick. Written in the 1950s they are charming and maybe unintentionally funny at times. 3.5 Stars
Freckle Juice by Jude Blume
I did not remember how short this book was, it felt much longer when I was a kid but Luke really liked it. A boy wants freckles and buys a horrible recipe for them from a girl in his class. It's disgusting and he gets sick and then he has a kind teacher who makes him feel better. It was a really good read aloud. 3.5 Stars
I think my reading will drop-off a bit now with school in session but I'm glad I had at least one really good reading month over the summer! What have YOU been reading?
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