Hello and happy Friday!
Y’all, a couple nights this week, I was asleep by 9:00…remember this meme from Monday’s post?
Life was catching up to me, I guess!
This isn’t my usual Friday Favorites posts, but I’m still linking up with Andrea to share about the books I read this month. Reading is always a favorite.
Another month of reading…and this month I read: in the car, on the beach, on my front porch, while walking and driving (audio books, obviously), and at home.
Here are the books I read this month:
{As always, book summaries are from Goodreads…}
(Speaking of Goodreads…after you finish a book, you can now give the book half and quarter value ratings! I love the half rating, but I’m not sure if I will ever rate a book 3.25 or 3.75 haha)
Writers & Lovers:
Summary:
Blindsided by her mother’s sudden death, and wrecked by a recent love affair, Casey Peabody has arrived in Massachusetts in the summer of 1997 without a plan. Her mail consists of wedding invitations and final notices from debt collectors. A former child golf prodigy, she now waits tables in Harvard Square and rents a tiny, moldy room at the side of a garage where she works on the novel she’s been writing for six years. At thirty-one, Casey is still clutching onto something nearly all her old friends have let go of: the determination to live a creative life. When she falls for two very different men at the same time, her world fractures even more. Casey’s fight to fulfil her creative ambitions and balance the conflicting demands of art and life is challenged in ways that push her to the brink.
Quick Thoughts:
Since this was a book written in a contemporary style, it took me a bit to get into it. Honestly, I actually almost quit reading after the first few chapters, but I’m glad that I didn’t give up on it.
This was such a simple read but it was very complex as well. Casey has many layers to her and it’s easy to cheer for her…in her relationships and with her writing. Her past + her present is complicated and she seems like she’s all on her own. She’s not and she has a way of figuring things out. The ending was lovely. I had thought about not reading this book after a few chapters but I’m so glad I didn’t give up on it.
Rating:
Beach Read:
Summary:
Augustus Everett is an acclaimed author of literary fiction. January Andrews writes bestselling romance. When she pens a happily ever after, he kills off his entire cast.
They’re polar opposites.
In fact, the only thing they have in common is that for the next three months, they’re living in neighboring beach houses, broke, and bogged down with writer’s block.
Until, one hazy evening, one thing leads to another and they strike a deal designed to force them out of their creative ruts: Augustus will spend the summer writing something happy, and January will pen the next Great American Novel. She’ll take him on field trips worthy of any rom-com montage, and he’ll take her to interview surviving members of a backwoods death cult (obviously). Everyone will finish a book and no one will fall in love. Really.
Quick Thoughts:
I read this one…
…and guess what?! It wasn’t very “beachy.”
This was another book that grew on me. The premise was cute about the two authors; the overall theme was that life and love aren’t always easy which Everett and January navigated the best they could.
It took me a while to get past the plot not being very beachy, but eventually I made a connection with the title…both of the characters live in houses that face the lake and January writes romance which Everett is challenged to write a beach kind of read.
Some fave quotes:
- “Sometimes we lose the ability to create simply because we’re tired. We need to rest and recover. But other times, we can’t move forward because there are hard questions we have to ask first. Hurdles in our path we first have to jump or walls that need breaking down – interrogations demanding to be made. And when we’re brave enough to do so, we can.”
Rating:
Just Beachy:
Summary:
After losing her long-time acting gig on the hit show Murder 101, Sydney Ryan decides she needs a break from Hollywood politics. She heads to Treasure Island, Florida where her grandmother has been visiting and now refuses to leave. Sydney’s plan to lay low for a bit quickly goes awry though, as she is swept up in her grandmother’s now flourishing social life—Grand not only bought a new house in Casas de Flores, she’s also helping her neighbor Myra open a bookstore in Pass-a-Grille. But when someone breaks into Grand’s house repeatedly Sydney realizes her grandmother is keeping something from her.
Determined to ferret out the truth and protect her grandmother, Sydney enlists the help of the Ten Beach Road ladies and Luke, a local police officer who was once her high school crush. While Sydney puts her television crime solving skills to the test, she decides to act on the sizzling chemistry between her and Luke. And as Sydney spends more sunsets toasting to true friends and new romance, she begins to wonder if the sun is setting on her time in Hollywood and if this town could be the dawn of a new chapter.
Quick Thoughts:
I also read this one…
…at the beach.
I didn’t love this book at all…
I felt like I had whiplash while reading it….there was family, mystery, a new book store opening, acting, romance, attempted kidnap and more. Honestly, it was hokey and I’m no prude but some of the scenes were more than R rated….I guess that makes them X rated?
Rating:
Y’all, have I ever given a book two stars? (and I think this is being nice…maybe I should “pull” a Goodreads, and give it 1.75!
Wait For Me:
Summary:
Young folk singer Elle Harlow reaches the height of her prowess in 1973, with two wildly beloved albums to her name and a hidden history of impossible heartbreak. When she sets foot on the famed Grand Ole Opry stage, a far cry from the mountain that raised her, Elle gives the biggest performance of her life. Then, to the dismay of shocked fans, her producer, and the man who still loves her, she vanishes.
Almost two decades later, eighteen-year-old Marijohn Shaw is spending her summer pumping gas, writing songs on her broken mandolin, and longing for a mother. Her father, Abe, has always sworn he was the last person to see Elle Harlow alive, but when a meteor strikes the woods of their sleepy Pennsylvania town and a piece of Elle’s past emerges from the wreckage, the truth of her disappearance sets fire to everything Marijohn believes about herself, her music, and her ability to love with abandon.
Quick Thoughts:
This book was so good! I saw it was a “Read with Jenna” pick, and wanted to give it a go.
Wait for Me has so much more to it than just being about the music. I loved the Nashville setting with a nod to Appalachia.
Elle and Marijohn were fun characters to get to know…both strong women in their own ways. This book tugs at your heart strings, has mystery, some suspense, and the stories of these women are woven together beautifully.
Rating:
Falling for Peachtree Bluff:
Summary:
The air is crisper, the water is calmer, but, when it comes to the Murphy family, nothing is ever quite as simple as it seems.
Youngest sister Emerson is busy planning her dream wedding to Kyle. But her difficulty expanding her family is overshadowing her joy. Pregnant middle sister Sloane and her husband Adam’s dream house has turned into a nightmare. Everything is over time, over budget, and Sloane is over it. Eldest sister Caroline, as always, is there to swoop in and get her sisters’ lives under control. Until her focus is more than a little shifted by Emerson’s hunky costar who manages to sweep her right off her feet—just as her not-quite-ex-husband decides it’s high time he begged Caroline for a second chance.
Matriarch Ansley and her new husband Jack have finally hit their stride. But when a scandal that would affect every single Peachtree Bluff citizen comes to light—and it seems like Jack just might be at the center of it—Ansley questions whether he is actually the man she thought he was.
Through it all, these women must rely on their powerful family bonds, and the quirky characters and small-town charm of the place that, no matter what, always calls them home.
Quick Thoughts:
I love KWH books, and I’ve read of the Peachtree series. They are mostly set in summer with one taking places at Christmastime. I love the Murphy sisters because they are all so different, but yet they compliment each other so well. Only having a brother, I’m always intrigued by sister relationships.
Peachtree is idyllic, the family has a good mix of drama, love, and friendship, and this book is the perfect addition to the series.
Rating:
Emma M. Lion, Volume 5
Summary:
The Year is 1883 and Emma M. Lion has returned to her London neighbourhood of St. Crispian’s. But Emma’s plans for a charmed and studious life are sabotaged by her eccentric Cousin Archibald, her formidable Aunt Eugenia, and the slightly odd denizens of St. Crispian’s.
Emma M. Lion offers up her Unselected Journals, however self-incriminating they may be, which comprise a series of novella-length volumes. Armed with wit and a sideways amusement, Emma documents the curious realities of her life at Lapis Lazuli House.
Quick Thoughts:
As I say every time, I’m enjoying this series so much. I listened to this one, but I also read some of the book since I’ve been purchasing them. This volume gave us a bit more of a peek inside Emma’s relationship with Jack, Islington, Pierce, and Hawkes. Also, I loved the journals around Christmastime with the holiday interactions and gift giving.
So, overall I had a really good month of reading.
In November, I’m going to read at least one holiday book, and guess what?! I’m helping with a book club at school. I’ve warned my co-advisor and students that I’m typically a book club drop out, but I won’t let them down. The students chose our first book, and we are reading If You Could See the Sun. So, that’s next on my list!
Weekly Recap:
I had a couple posts this week (and I messed up the the time for yesterday’s post…oops!)
I hope you have a great Halloween weekend! If time allows, I hope to post tomorrow and Sunday to wrap up October and usher in November!
