Well folks, looks like I’ve turned a new leaf (pun 1,000% intended), and I’ve gone from one book post a year to a goal of sharing a monthly round up of what I’ve been reading. I make no promises. This might be the only monthly post I do, but it’s good to have goals, right?!

Let It Snow, by Beth Moran

Another great little Hallmark-ish romance read. As someone who has a weird obsession about creating family traditions with my little family, I loved reading about all the holiday traditions in this book and how important they were to the characters. I have some new holiday goals for next year, ha!

The Last Thing He Told Me, by Laura Dave

Eh. That’s the best I got on this one. Which I think comes back to me not being big on mysteries or thrillers, because this book is insanely popular and will soon be a movie starring Jennifer Garner, so what do I know…I guess I just know it wasn’t for me.

Lucy by the Sea, by Elizabeth Strout

This was another big miss for me. I did like the “post-pan” relatability of what we all went through during the heights of COVID, but it just wasn’t an exciting book for me. I also didn’t enjoy the style of the first person writing (she would repeat things like “which I understood” over and over again). But again, 4.5 stars with 10,000 reviews on Amazon, ha!!

Book Lovers, by Emily Henry

This is about when I realized I think I’m really into romantic comedies, and…I think I’m OK with it. I think these books are the perfect recovery from some heavier reads. I really enjoyed this one – it had a unique small town charm and I really enjoyed the chemistry between the two main characters. Definitely some steamy scenes!

Lessons in Chemistry, by Bonnie Garmus

This was another book with a really long wait time on Libby, but another one I thought was worth the hype and the wait. This was the 2022 Barnes and Noble Book of the Year, and I can see/read why. As a woman, I can’t imagine putting up with or going through the shit women had to go through in a not-so-long-ago past. I enjoyed the time-period-ness of this book, and the insight into the struggles of professional women in the 1960s. The main character kicked ass and took names. I also just realized this one also had a unique point of view from an animal, like Remarkably Bright Creatures.

The Candy House, by Jennifer Egan

Oh man, this might be where I lose all credibility, because this was apparently one of Obama’s Best Books of 2022 and…I was not a fan, ha! I think it was an interesting exploration of social media and technology, but there were so many characters and so many story and time lines to follow that it was confusing. Of all the characters, there wasn’t any one that I became vested in. I really just kept reading because I wanted to see if and how the story lines intersected.

Mad Honey, by Jodi Picoult

I’ve read several books by Jodi Picoult, but this was not one of my favorites. I LOVED Small Great Things and thought it did a great job of addressing some really difficult topics. I think Mad Honey tried to do the same thing, but the legal drama in this book was too much for this short-lived lawyer. I’m realizing now that Small Great Things also had some legal drama, but I don’t remember the legal proceedings being a focal point of the story (but it’s been a while since I read it). I had to turn this one in to the library before I finished it, and I wasn’t upset like I thought I would be once I started it.

The Unhoneymooners, by Christina Lauren

See? Are you sensing a pattern, a-la-Criminal-Minds? Another romantic comedy and I was fully there for it. This one had some laugh out loud moments for me, and again some very steamy ones (which I’m not complaining about). I actually liked this one so much that I used my Kindle gift card to buy another book by Christina Lauren, so Love and Other Words is in my TBR short list.

Currently reading:

The Winter Garden, by Kristin Hannah. I really enjoyed The Four Winds by this author, and although I’m only a few pages in, I think it’s the kind of story I’m going to like. Aside from romantic comedies which we now know I like, I really enjoy reading books that revolve around family history. This book already has me pretty invested in the characters.

Next up:

Love and Other Words, by Christina Lauren

The Reading List, by Sara Nisha Adams

The Stories We Tell, by Joanna Gaines

Spirit of the Season, by Fern Michaels (what can I say…it’s hard to let the Hallmark Christmas specials go…hoping I can read this one before it’s due back at the library and it gets REALLY weird to be reading Christmas stories in July…)

The Making of Her, by Bernadette Jiwa

What has been your favorite read lately?

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