This is one of those months where things just didn't go to plan. I meant to have this up yesterday. Then I didn't really start writing it until last night so a day late it is! Side note: we have a new 3 year old who seems determined to give up his naps. Those two things might be related.
I'm linking up with Modern Mrs. Darcy here, spend too much time on Instagram here, and ditto with Goodreads here.
Two other book posts in the past month:
Book Love: The Last Train to Key West by Chanel Cleeton
Now everything else I've been reading!
The Engagements by J. Courtney Sullivan
I had picked this one to read over Valentine's Day, I like having a romance-ish book to read then. Multiple storylines with multiple characters over many decades. I found them all pretty interesting and engaging. Also dives into the diamond industry nearly 100 years ago when diamonds were really becoming a big thing (thanks to the marketing). I didn't see how the many story lines could possibly all fit together. 3.5 Stars
This is a Book for People Who Love the Royals by Rebecca Stoeker
This was a super quick but fun read about the British Royals. I knew a lot of what was in here but it was fun to see it presented this way and with cute little drawings (I can't draw). It took maybe an hour to read all together and it was just fun. Recommend if you are also interested in the British Royals! 3.75 Stars
Share Your Stuff: I'll Go First: 10 Questions to Take Your Friendships to the Next Level by Laura Tremaine
Laura Tremaine has a podcast I listen to pretty regularly and I appreciated her book that elaborated on the topic of opening up and going deeper with family, friends, yourself. Like the title says, she gives her own life examples on each which I found fascinating and interesting, she is a good storyteller. I have since forgotten all of the questions but I did enjoy this read. 4 Stars
Maisie Dobbs, Birds of a Feather by Jacqueline Winspear
These are the first two Maisie Dobbs books and I just cannot get into
these. I'm going to keep trying for at least a few more books but I
felt like Molly Murphy
had me more hooked by 2 books in (I might be remembering wrong). The
mystery aspect feels very similar to Molly, just maybe 45 years later or
something and set in London and the surrounding countryside instead of
NYC. I liked the flashback part of the first book, that told of Maisie's time serving during WWI. Then the second half of the second of the book that I mostly read within 24 hours did
seem to move faster, I probably need to dive in more than a chapter or
two before bed each night for a week. 3 Stars
This Time Next Year by Sophie Cousens
This is a New Years Eve set book that I didn't get until February so that's when I read it. British rom-com, heavy on the rom. It was fine and I liked how the potential couple's timeline kept overlapping before they realized it but I also have little patience for people who won't just talk about their obvious feelings so I didn't enjoy it as much as I hoped I would. 3 Stars
Alone Time: Four Seasons, Four Cities, and the Pleasures of Solitude by Stephanie Rosenbloom
This was a travel book that also focused heavily on time alone while traveling. I've never traveled solo and found it a bit interesting but also her reflections were more than just being alone. It made me miss the trips my husband and I took before we had kids even though that wasn't what she was writing about. And Paris, I hadn't been to many of the same places as her but I could tell she really enjoyed it there and spent the most time of the 3 cities she visited (the 4th city was NYC where she lived). 3.5 Stars
Love & Olives by Jenna Evans Welch
This is the third in a series and I had mostly completely forgotten the previous two (other than the second was set in Ireland and very closely followed the same path we took in Ireland almost 9 years ago). However, if this had any ties to the previous two I didn't find them at all and this one turned out to be a very fun family/romance/adventure set in Greece. Almost everything I know about Greece comes from Mamma Mia and this book, like those movies, make me really want to go there. It was fun YA with a huge bit of travel included. 3.75 Stars
That Sounds Fun: The Joys of Being an Amateur, the Power of Falling in Love, and Why You Need a Hobby by Annie F. Downs
The That Sounds Fun podcast is one I listen to from time to time, when the guest or topic intrigues me. I certainly am familiar enough with it and Annie F. Downs to make this an enjoyable read. It doesn't really have anything to do with the podcast other than mentioning it from time to time but I really enjoyed her essays on being an amateur and having a hobby and how maybe we all just need to be a little more laid back with things (that's what I got out of it at least). Annie is a great story teller and has a writing style that made me feel like her friend. It was a really enjoyable read. 4 Stars
Island of Sweet Pies and Soldiers by Sara Ackerman
This is her second book I've read this year and have really enjoyed them both! This one, like the first, was set on the Big Island of Hawaii during World War II, post Pearl Harbor. I count that movie among my top 10 favorite ever but hadn't given much thought to what those war years were like for the people who lived on the islands until I read the other book of hers. They lived a very different war from most people in the continental US, especially with the number of Japanese people who lived on the islands with a strong allegience to the US (before the US kinda turned on them). I immediately added her other two books to my list. They are a bit of a slower burn (like life in Hawaii, from what I know about it) and are also pretty chaste, if that interests you. 4 Stars
Love at First by Kate Clayborn
Another romance book that I remember reading and debating if it was a 3 or 4 star book but now it's been over a week and I remember very few plot details (I had settled on 3 stars on Goodreads, that seems appropriate now). There was an condo building in Chicago and people who initially hate each other but then don't. But still don't talk about their feelings. I liked picking it up but obviously wasn't highly memorable. 3.25 Stars
Leave Only Footprints: My Acadia-to-Zion Journey Through Every National Park by Conor Knighton
I really enjoyed this memoir-esque book of the author's journey of visiting all the National Parks (not national monuments or lakeshores or any of those, strictly the parks) in one calendar year. I hold a huge affinity for the National Parks, my childhood vacations were largely based around them and I've been to quite a few of the big ones (Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, Rocky Mountains, Smoky Mountains, another 5 at least) and it still took until chapter NINE before he wrote about one I had been to. This book made me want to visit/revisit a whole bunch of them and also realize there are many I will very likely never get to (almost all of them that you can only reach by boat or plane, besides Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park, I really do hope to make it to that one!). Some of them are really hard to get to! He's a good writer and made the journeys and the people and the parks all so interesting, I learned new facts about every single one! Highly recommend to Americans who appreciate the National Park system. 4.75 Stars
Read with Luke
Betsy's Winterhouse by Carolyn Haywood
This was a read aloud with Luke that we both really enjoyed but had trouble making time for so it took us nearly a month to finish...and there were only 9 chapters. I thought I had only read two of the Betsy books as a kid, the two that I owned, but so much of this seemed SO FAMILIAR that I must have read this one too. This one spanned much of a year (winter through spring) and hardly mentions school which is nice so they feel more broadly appealing that way. I think we have 4 left in the series that we started a year ago. I am looking forward to reading more, maybe I'll find another I had forgotten that I read? Very old, this was written in the late 1950s, so a bit dated but nothing really problematic. I change a few words when reading aloud and have to clarify a few things to Luke. I enjoy the simpler time. 4 Stars
What have YOU been reading?
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