Even thought currently it is the middle of fall, once we get back to the summer, I have some beach reads for you haha! As well as a couple of other genres in case you are not into those. I mostly enjoyed the books I read this month, didn’t really care for one though and really hated the last one I read haha! Hope you find something interesting!
“The Last Bookshop in London” was one of my favorite reads so far this year. I love London based stories, and I love bookshops, so this book had a lot going for it before I even cracked open the first chapter hehe! Set in London as the city prepares for WW2, Grace moves to the city for work, and finds herself with a job in a dusty old bookshop with a grumpy older gentleman as her boss. She works hard sprucing the place up, visiting other bookshops around the city to see what they are lacking. Grace earns the love of the people, using storytelling to get them through the worst parts of the war. This book cracked my heart wide open at times, and I loved how through books, so many were saved and encouraged.
I thought “The Wife Between Us” was a pretty good psychological thriller. It’s definitely a “not what you think” it’s going to be kind of book, and also where you’re trying to figure out who the crazy one is the whole time hehe. Great twist at the end too, I feel like I could feel things falling into place towards the end but I was still surprised at how it all worked out. Vanessa is living with her Aunt after getting kicked out of her marriage and replaced by a younger wife. Her ex husband, Richard, thinks Vanessa is crazy, but Vanessa knows the real truth about him. The past comes full circle for Vanessa in this one, it will definitely have you questioning things along the way.
“The Matchmaker” was not my favorite story from Elin Hilderbrand, she’s usually hit or miss for me. The premise of the story was cute, where Dabney has a knack for matchmaking couples, that she’s never wrong about a romance. But when her own beau from before her marriage shows back up, it was hard to read a book about her consciously deciding to cheat on her husband and commit adultery, even if she did feel like she had good reason to. Not one I would recommend personally.
Now “The Hotel Nantucket” I enjoyed. It was the perfect beach read for while we were on our trip to Cabo San Lucas! I loved how the old hotel in this story was restored, and then is haunted by a girl who had mysteriously died in a fire a long time ago. Lots of characters come and go through the hotel, but some stay and their stories develop. There is romance, friendship and a murder mystery all wrapped up in one!
I listened to “Emotional Agility” this month, and I thought it had a lot of good things to say. Life has so many ups and downs, twists and turns, that sometimes it is really hard to keep up emotionally. There is a lot of discussion in this book about how we navigate internal struggles, how we handle defeat, how we talk to ourselves…because that seems to be the main difference in our success or happiness in life. There were a lot of good tips to take from this one, I would recommend listening if you have the time!
“Malibu Rising” was my least favorite read this year, probably one of my least favorite reads ever. It was one of those books that pulled me in the first half, I found the city and history of Malibu interesting, and the story of the family the book is about was intriguing. Mick Riva was a singer, who married June, a girl destined to work in her family’s restaurant. They had three children together, and one adopted. As so many singers travel on tour, he cheated on June, but she stayed with him. The children grew up together, went through trials and found their way. Once I got this far in the book, it was about half way and I struggle putting down books when I’ve already invested that much time in them. The second half of the book was about a party that the oldest daughter has at her house, and it was awful. I skimmed the last portion quickly because the language had amped up and there was just a lot of stuff going on that I did not want to read about. This one is not worth your time, don’t even start it haha! I think the reason I keep giving Taylor Jenkins Reid a try is because I read a couple of her other books and I loved them, so I keep hoping these will be the same.
As I write this post for July in October haha, this meme really spoke to me, as it is rainy and I am lost in a world of books for the moment. Truly my favorite kind of days in this life. 🙂
If you’re interested in seeing what else I have read this year, check out my links to other months below and lots more book reviews under my Book tab!
What I’m Reading – January 2022