I read a variety of books this month for sure, one chick lit, a suspense/psychological thriller, a self help kind of book and then a murder mystery/chick lit combo which I really enjoyed. I always like to bounce around genres, it helps to keep me from getting tired of the same thing but also just really feels like it gives me brain a good work out haha! I hope you found something interesting to you this month!
I read the third book in the Elin Hilderbrand series I’ve been working through, “Troubles in Paradise”, and really liked the way she tied everything up with all of her characters. If you’re looking for something interesting, easy to read, has some drama and mystery but not too crazy/out there kind of drama and set at the beach, then you would like this series! I remember feeling a little ready for things to get tied up as I was reading, but at the same time it didn’t seem like it lingered too much. I will say too that while there were a few bad words here and there, I don’t remember it being overwhelming with these books, which I appreciate!
Shari Lapena is one of my favorite psychological thriller authors, I have read a number of her books and always felt like they were well written with minimal language (it is SO hard to find psychological thrillers without bad language), but this one was just not the norm from her. I looked back at my last review of “Someone We Know” and had mentioned the language was more than the other books I had previously read, so maybe she is changing her writing style, but “The End of Her” one was overall a miss for me. I kept reading it because the storyline did draw me in, and most/the majority of the language was from just one character, so I would skim over conversations with him a lot. A couple is visited by an old girlfriend of the husband, who accuses him of killing his first wife. She tries blackmailing him, revealing a pregnancy and child from him, and proceeds to terrorize both of them. The story unfolds investigating what happened with the husband and his first wife, and I will say that the ending was very unexpected. The ending is also somewhat open ended, so if you are someone who wants to know exactly what happens and have all your questions answered, this is not the book for you haha!
I was SO glad when “Forgiving What You Can’t Forget” became available at my library. There was a conversation I had with someone a few years ago, that still was ringing in my ears, had cut me to my core and just had taken such a toll on my mental health. After working and trying so hard to move on from it, I questioned whether or not I had really forgiven them because of the impact it had on me. I loved reading this book because it helped me separate the act of forgiveness and the emotional trauma that was left behind from the experience. Terkeurst had a lot of practical suggestions to help your mind focus and regarding emotional triggers, and also a number of personal stories from her own trauma that supported her methods. I learned a LOT from reading this, and attribute a lot of the peace I have felt this month to this book. It helped me release the guilt and disappointment I had placed on myself, because I wanted to forgive and move on despite the fact that I have never received an apology or even an acknowledgement that the things said to me were hateful and hurtful, yet it was like my brain just couldn’t let it go. I have realized now that you can decide to forgive someone and focus on having compassion for that person no matter what they do (because almost always, a person that has hurt you is hurting inside themselves), but still feel the effects of the sadness/anger/emotions from the experience and work on moving on from those separately from the initial experience. I will say that the ending of this book trailed out a bit for me and I was ready for it to be wrapped up, but overall I highly recommend this book to anyone who has felt hurt by another person in their life, whether that hurt is big or seemingly small.
I loved “A Lady’s Guide to Mischief and Mayhem!” I don’t know how I found this book, I think it was recommended by my library or Amazon based on other books I’ve read, and that doesn’t surprise me one bit! Based in London, during the Victorian era, another murder mystery with some chick-lit on the side, it completely fit where my reading interests have been lately! The main character had been widowed, and running her husband’s newspaper since his death. She runs a column on the series of murders that have occurred lately, basically revealing evidence she discovered through her own investigations and getting the detective at Scotland Yard demoted. They run into each other, twice in fact, and begin investigating the murders together. I loved this book so much, I have really enjoyed learning more about the Victorian era too. If you have Amazon prime, check out the Victoria series! I recently finished watching the third season and learned SO much about Queen Victoria and that time period. I have actually been contemplating watching it again since I found a website that talked about what was true regarding each episode.
Well isn’t that meme the truth after this last year haha! I think that is one thing I love most about reading, the instant transportation to another world or time, and I don’t have to leave my house! I would love to hear about what you are reading! I’m always looking for recommendations! If you are interested in checking out my other book reviews from years past, click on my Books tab to take you to my page that has all of my reviews from the last few years! If you want to follow along with what I am reading, you can check out my Goodreads too! Happy reading friends!