Happy July! My personal favorite month and one, I hope, that allows me to catch up on my reading. My library seems to be putting new books into circulation much faster which means my holds are coming in faster and I have over a dozen books checked out right now...need to plow through them in the order of the non-renewable due dates! (So far, I can renew most of them!).
I'm very active on Goodreads here, somewhat active on Instagram here, and linking up with Modern Mrs. Darcy on the 15th!
The Lost Summers of Newport by Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig, and Karen White
This is these co-author's 4th book together and I haven't enjoyed any quite like I did their first. Three different women spending time in a mansion on the Rhode Island coast, decades apart, figuring out the mysteries of the previous ones. And those mysteries include some dead bodies so...there's some secrets that have literally been buried. It took me awhile (5 days) to get through this. 3.5 Stars
Everything Must Go by Camille Pagan
Laine believes in order above all else, she's a professional organizer, and feels like maybe she's figured out some things in her life when she learns that her mother likely has dementia and Laine needs to move back to Brooklyn to care for her. A lot about stuff and taking care of aging parents while also taking care of your own kids too. It was a quick read and balanced the heavier stuff with lighter content too. 3.5 Stars
Something Wilder by Christina Lauren
This was one I largely read on vacation and it was such a departure from their usual novels but it was also a lot of fun. There's treasure hunting and exploring a National Park and nefarious plans gone wrong and sneaky bad guys. There's A LOT and I'm pretty sure I gasped at one point because it was just SO DIFFERENT from what these ladies usually write but it was also rather enjoyable. 4 Stars
Built to Belong: Discovering the Power of Community Over Competitions by Natalie Franke
This was accidentally a vacation read, one I didn't get done before we left because of lack of time to read due to frantic packing. I really like the philosophy, rising tides lift all books, etc. YES. That. But, also, it drug a bit in the second half but that might also have been to my forcing myself to read 50 pages each night when I really wanted to be reading something more fun. I should have left it at home to finish afterwards. 3.5 Stars
Nora Goes Off Script by Annabel Monaghan
This was a DELIGHT of a book to pick-up and read. It was really Annie B. Jones' enthusiasm that bumped this up my list. Nora is a script writer for Hallmark type movies and she recently split with her loser husband. She writes a story about their breakup that is partially filmed at her house and turns out to be a big deal. The actor playing her husband in the movie sticks around for a week or something to escape the Hollywood crush and then THINGS HAPPEN. It was charming and I just really enjoyed my time with the characters. 4.25 Stars
Apple Crush by Lucy Knisley
This was a quick middle grade graphic novel to read on our long car ride home from Maine. I think I've read all of Lucy Knisley's graphic novels and am impressed with how she can draw AND tell a story. This was more fall set, about kids going back to school and working at an apple orchard and haunted hayride. I will soon have a middle schooler! Crazy to think about. 3.5 Stars
Meant to Be by Emily Giffin
I think I am an Emily Giffin completist but I haven't really enjoyed a book of hers in awhile. She realllly gets a lot of chances for redemption because of Something Borrowed which is just such a fun read. This was following a fictional version of JFK Jr. and his wife, Carolyn Bassette-Kennedy. The son from a privileged family whose father had died in a tragic accident (in the book, he was a 4th astronaut aboard Apollo 1). I don't know that she's done historical fiction before and this was one that had me thinking about these characters long after I finished the book. 4 Stars
Meant to Be Mine by Hannah Orenstein
I was amused that I read books with almost identical names back to back (how it worked with library due dates). What sticks out in my mind from this is some of the political stuff which was largely unnecessary? The protagonist is a stylist and I did appreciate the behind the scenes of her styling a politician but some of the commentary around that got annoying. And her story is largely based around the fact that her Grandma predicted the dates almost everyone in their family would meet their one true match so the protagonist (yes, I forget her name) is DEAD SET on meeting a man that day and then maybe feels stuck in something that isn't right. 3 Stars
The Hotel Nantucket by Elin Hilderbrand
This is the book I bought myself from Sherman's in Bar Harbor. I had impatient kids and didn't get a lot of time. I like to buy books from local bookstores when we travel, as one of my souviners, and since I knew this would be set in New England it seemed close enough (I did buy 2 kid books set in Maine!). Anyways, Elin Hilderbrand is almost always a good read for me. This was a slight departure from the format of her last a lot of books, she still rotated between characters perspectives but it's wasn't as clear cut as in previous books AND there was the perspective of a ghost. But still, luxury on Nantucket (would have fit on my list of books about hotel life!). I liked that The Blue Bistro had a character return and parts of that novel heavily references (my all time favorite of hers). Other familiar characters popped up too. All in all, enjoyable and mostly what I expected out of her. 3.75 Stars
Portrait of a Thief by Grace D. Li
This was Ocean 11 but with Asian college students who don't really have heist background. This could be a lot of fun, and was at times, but it also had me pretty anxious reading it because it just didn't seem possible that they would get through all of their planned heists without SOMETHING going wrong and so I kept waiting for that to happen. And something wrong likely felt like arrests or something...just not a relaxing reading experience but I did fly through the second half of the book. 3.25 Stars
Adult Assembly Required by Abbi Waxman
I've enjoyed Abbi Waxman's last two books and while I don't remember all the details of those, I felt like this one had a similar vibe and tone. A woman who is a bit lost (apartment burned down after she had recently moved to LA for grad school following a broken engagement and car accident back home) ends up in a bookstore where she immediately befriends a woman and gets invited to live in a rented room in the same house. The house has a quirky mix of residents who intermingle in each other's lives. The supporting characters were fun and I felt for some of Laura's (protagonist) problems. Just a solid, enjoyable read filled with mostly nice people. 3.75 Stars
Read with Luke (and Sam)
Frindle by Andrew Clements
I started reading this to Luke in the car on our trip which means that Sam heard most of it too. His first chapter book! I first read this just a few years ago and was really touched by the story of a teacher making a difference in a student's life. And, no surprise, I cried again. Nobody else did (Matt & both boys were around when I finished it) but an excellent read aloud. 4.75 Stars
What have YOU been reading lately?
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