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Hi friends and Happy Monday!
It’s been a L O N G time since I blogged about reading. Well, I did my Favorite Reads of 2017 post but other than that I haven’t been doing my monthly posts!
As y’all know, I read a LOT. So instead of telling you every single book I read in the past 2 months, I’ll link you to my Goodreads Read Bookshelf and just highlight my favorites here. Sound good?
Best Books of December and January
Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie
It’s going to take my heart awhile to recover from this book. I spent some time telling Jimmy all about it this morning and i cried the entire time. I won’t ever forget it. It made me spend a good long time examining my heart and my tendency to judge and condemn without knowing the full story. Absolutely shattering. My measure of a good book is how it makes me FEEL and whether i think about it often after i finish.
5 stars
The Music Shop by Rachel Joyce
Oh my goodness I loved this book. Quirky characters that you just kind of fall in love with and truly CARE about. I just thought the character development was marvelous. I didn’t know all of the music in the book but I want to now…I might have to make myself a playlist!
“Real love is not a bolt out of the blue, it was not the playing of violins, it was like anything else, it was a habit of the heart. You got up every day and you put it on, same as your pants, your boots, and you kept treading the constant path.”
This book isn’t flashy. It’s sincere and sweet and slow-burning and just lovely. The end literally made me clap.
4.5 stars
As Bright as Heaven by Susan Meissner
I love historical fiction and although I tend to read lots of WW2 historical fiction, I LOVE learning about new events and time periods. This book is set in Philly during the Spanish Flu epidemic. WARNING: In hindsight, maybe it wasn’t the best idea for me to read this when I was already experiencing anxiety about the flu right now. BUT. It was such a good, heartwarming, and heartbreaking story. I got sucked right in.
4.5 stars
The Marriage Lie by Kimberly Belle
I really liked this one. Nice and twisty in a believable way. I did, however, really dislike the way that iris was so dependable on handsome men and so gullible.
4 stars
The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn
This one was super Hitchcockian and I loved the noir feeling. As a lover of old films I really appreciated the references. I am getting tired of the unreliable female narrator thing, tbh. Worth a read, though.
3.5 stars
The Chalk Man by C.J. Tudor
This one was super fast-paced and kept me interested. It had a nice touch of nostalgia, going back and forth from the 80’s to present. I guessed the ending but there was still a nice twist thrown in. Great little thriller.
4 stars
Three Amazing Things About You by Jill Mansell
I really enjoy Jill Mansell books. Much like Kristan Higgins books they are emotional palate cleansers for me. I just need a happy, uncomplicated read sometimes. This one fit the bill and was highly enjoyable.
4 stars
Book of The Month Club Choices February 2018
My February Choices are:
- The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah – I LOVE everything KH writes and I couldn’t be more pumped that this book is set in Alaska.
- Still Me by Jojo Moyes– Finished this one and really loved it, review to come.
- The Broken Girls by Simone St. James– sounds right up my alley
BOTM Deals:
Get your first month of BOTM free with code YESPLZ Details: Members will pay $14.99 when they sign up for a subscription that will renew monthly. They’ll also receive a credit for a free book at the time of this transaction (redeemable at any time). Then they’ll be renewed at the end of their second month (unless they cancel).
Get 12 months for BOTM for only $12.50/book!
Currently Reading
The Child by Fiona Barton
The Mother’s Promise by Sally Hepworth
The Indigo Girl by Natasha Boyd
The Life She Was Given by Ellen Marie Wiseman
The Wife by Alafair Burke
Far From the Tree by Robin Benway
Many of the suggestions above are from y’all! So grateful for your interaction, feedback, and love. I adore all of you!
What did you read/love/hate/feel meh about the past couple of months?
xoxo
S
I’m right there with you on As Bright as Heaven–I loved the story, but my flu anxiety went way up! Yikes! Jill Mansell books are pretty great at making me laugh and feel good which I need sometimes. I picked up the same three books from BOTM as you did and I am pretty excited :). Currently I am working on All the Missing Girls and the third book in the Luck Ugly Series (I like reading juvenile fiction too.)
I just finished reading “The Last Mrs. Parrish. It had great reviews but it was just okay for me.
I just joined BOTM and while I’m waiting for my first shipment, I picked up “Girl Last Seen” by Nina Laurin. I’m really liking it so far.
For my first two books with BOTM, I also chose “The Broken Girls” as well as “The Wife Between Us”. I’m anxious to get them.
P.S. Thanks for the recommendations! 🙂
Love your book reviews! I read Every Last Lie – Kubica, The Marriage Lie, Do Not Become Alarmed and One of Us is Lying last month. Loved them all, my favorite was One of Us is Lying.
I am reading The Break Down now, just started! Thanks for sharing your books!
Thanks for your thoughts on these books! I have officially added The Music Shop to my Want to Read list. Also… I wanted to let you know that Penguin books kindly made that playlist for you and it is available on Spotify! https://open.spotify.com/user/penguinbooks/playlist/1skEBZppUBtHBXxdcYIHns?si=XhtxstU-Q6alG3SgQbW5Qw
They did . . . but it only contains a tiny fraction of the music mentioned in the book. Because I’m a music lover as well as a book fiend, I created a super mondo playlist that contains 99% of the musical references from the book. https://open.spotify.com/user/121201725/playlist/6P8NXqnwefhQMRfoKS1W0J
I recently read Something Like Happy by Eva Woods – as I read it I thought “Stephanie would love this, I think!” (We seem to both like books involving quirky characters that somehow worm their way into your heart – like Be Frank With Me, Lillian Boxfish takes a Walk, The One in a Million Boy, etc.)
Right now I am reading This Must Be the Place by Maggie O’Farrell… the chapters jump between all the characters (so at the beginning of most of them I think “now WHO is this & how does s/he fit in?”) so that the storyline goes in depth from different perspectives. I like it!
I’m about to start Lara Casey Isaacson’s Cultivate – really looking forward to this book.
Happy Reading!
I’m also getting tired of the unreliable narrators. 🙂
I was in a bit of a reading drought for a couple of weeks and finally found something that I loved! Picking up book after book and just saying “eh” had me worried! I read Lilli De Jong recently and loved it. It’s historical fiction based in the late 1800’s. Also finished Castle of Water, on your recommendation, so good!
If you like Jill Mansell’s books, you will probably like Jenny Colgan’s. She is also British. The women tend to start out in wrong relationships but then grow stronger on their own and find purpose and love later. Easy reads but sweet and they give you a happy memory.
As is usually the case, we seem to have a lot of the same books on our radar. I will add The Music Shop to my tbr list.
I know you enjoy a good YA book and I read one last month that I think you would really like. It is A Short History of the Girl Next Door by Jared Reck. It is about a boy who loves basketball and the girl next door. But really there is so much more to it! You should read it!
Your 4.5 stars for As Bright as Heaven has justified my January BOTMClub selection! I use your ratings and recommendations as a baseline for wanting or not wanting to read a book. I, too, ordered The Great Alone. Kristin Hannah lives not far from me and I have YET to catch her signing books at Liberty Bay Books in town. If only I could “run into” her with my copy!
I LOVE your book reviews…any picks for the next BOTM? They all looked good, but I ordered The Last Equation of Isaac Severy…