What I Read in April

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Hey loves. I have been struggling with reading the last few weeks. I started off the month strong then wasn't reading as much. Part of which is I was falling to sleep faster, which is a win for sleep bad for reading. As I am writing this post I didn't realize that I read so many books. 

Total physical/kindle books: 7

Total audible: 1


Linking up with  Steph for Show Us Your Books


 

Title: Crush

Author: June Winters

Genre: Romance

How I Read It: ebook I bought

My Rating: 5 out of 5

Amazon Description: Shea Ellis doesn't have time for love -- all the Boston Brawlers captain wants is one last shot at the Cup before he retires. Besides, after his ex-wife did him dirty, the single dad isn't sure if he could love again. Hell, he'd be happy just to find a decent nanny to help with his three kids.


Sure, the latest nanny to get a try-out, Brynn, is a babe. But the hottest thing about the bright-eyed twenty-something isn't her sizzling figure -- it's how fast his kids fall for her.

For a grizzled veteran, it's a pointless crush on a girl he knows he shouldn't have. And with the Brawlers marching towards the playoffs, the last thing he needs is a distraction. 
So why can't he get the cutie out of his mind?

Can the hockey legend keep his eyes on the ice ... 
and his hands off the nanny?

Brynn Conley never expected to nanny for her childhood crush. The pretty-boy rookie whose poster she painted with lipstick kisses all those years ago? He's a rugged man now. A salt-and-pepper single dad struggling with a troubled teen daughter and two wild twin boys.

The hockey star has aged like fine wine, but Brynn's not looking for love -- she's got a job to do. And to Shea's delight, she's great with kids. It's a cruel irony for a young woman who can't have any children of her own.

Brynn knows she shouldn't hook up with the athlete -- the last thing she'd ever want to do is confuse the kids. But when her hunky boss wraps his big hockey hands around her waist, will she insist that their relationship remain professional? 
Or will it be the start of an ice-melting romance?

My Review: Relatable with sweet likeable characters. Quick easy read


Title: Year of Yes

Author: Shonda Rhimes

Genre: autobiography

How I Read It: borrowed from library via ebook

My Rating: 2 out of 5

Amazon Description: In this poignant, hilarious, and deeply intimate call to arms, Hollywood’s most powerful woman, the mega-talented creator of Grey’s Anatomy and Scandal and executive producer of How to Get Away with Murder reveals how saying YES changed her life—and how it can change yours too.


She’s the creator and producer of some of the most groundbreaking and audacious shows on television today: 
Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal, How to Get Away with Murder. Her iconic characters—Meredith Grey, Cristina Yang, Olivia Pope, Annalise Keating—live boldly and speak their minds. So who would suspect that Shonda Rhimes, the mega talent who owns Thursday night television (#TGIT), is an introvert? That she hired a publicist so she could avoid public appearances? That she hugged walls at splashy parties and suffered panic attacks before media interviews so severe she remembered nothing afterward?

Before her Year of Yes, Shonda Rhimes was an expert at declining invitations others would leap to accept. With three children at home and three hit television shows on TV, it was easy to say that she was simply too busy. But in truth, she was also afraid. Afraid of cocktail party faux pas like chucking a chicken bone across a room; petrified of live television appearances where Shonda Rhimes could trip and fall and bleed out right there in front of a live studio audience; terrified of the difficult conversations that came so easily to her characters on-screen. In the 
before, Shonda’s introvert life revolved around burying herself in work, snuggling her children, and comforting herself with food.

And then, on Thanksgiving 2013, Shonda’s sister muttered something that was both a wake up and a call to arms: 
You never say yes to anything.

The comment sat like a grenade, until it detonated. Then Shonda, the youngest of six children from a supremely competitive family, knew she had to embrace the challenge: for one year, she would say YES to everything that scared her.

This poignant, intimate, and hilarious memoir explores Shonda’s life 
before her Year of Yes—from her nerdy, book-loving childhood creating imaginary friends to her devotion to creating television characters who reflected the world she saw around her (like Cristina Yang, whose ultimate goal wasn’t marriage, and Cyrus Beene, who is a Republican and gay). And it chronicles her life after her Year of Yes had begun—when Shonda forced herself out of the house and onto the stage, appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live, and giving the Dartmouth Commencement speech; when she learned to say yes to her health, yes to play and she stepped out of the shadows and into the sun; when she learned to explore, empower, applaud, and love her truest self. Yes.

This wildly candid and compulsively readable book reveals how the mega talented Shonda Rhimes, an unexpected introvert, achieved badassery worthy of a Shondaland character. And how you can, too.

My Review: Interesting read. There was a lot of rambling. I didn't realize that she producer and creator of so many shows. It makes me what to go watch Grey's Anatomy, which I have only ever seen a few random episodes. 



Title: Where the Crawdads Sing

Author: Delia Owens

Genre: historical fiction

How I Read It: borrowed from library via ebook

My Rating: 2 out of 5

Amazon Description: For years, rumors of the "Marsh Girl" have haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet town on the North Carolina coast. So in late 1969, when handsome Chase Andrews is found dead, the locals immediately suspect Kya Clark, the so-called Marsh Girl. But Kya is not what they say. Sensitive and intelligent, she has survived for years alone in the marsh that she calls home, finding friends in the gulls and lessons in the sand. Then the time comes when she yearns to be touched and loved. When two young men from town become intrigued by her wild beauty, Kya opens herself to a new life - until the unthinkable happens.

Where the Crawdads Sing is at once an exquisite ode to the natural world, a heartbreaking coming-of-age story, and a surprising tale of possible murder. Owens reminds us that we are forever shaped by the children we once were, and that we are all subject to the beautiful and violent secrets that nature keeps.

My Review: I picked up this book because it was part of Reese Witherspoons book club picks and there is a movie coming out. At times it was a slow read. I honestly didn't know if I was going to finish it.  The story wasn't very descriptive, hard to keep up with at times, and not relatable. 



Title: Triple Beat 

Author: Mari Carr

Genre: Romance

How I Read It: bought ebook

My Rating: 4 out of 5

Amazon Description: Three friends. One bed.


Aiden and Bryson have long suspected Dani is hiding something. When she leaves Nashville without a word, they follow. How can they not? What they feel for her…what they 
want from her…it may be taboo, but something so wrong, never felt so right.

Dani was 17 when she ran from New Orleans, certain of just one thing—she'd never again step foot in the Big Easy. But she can't enjoy any kind of future while constantly looking over her shoulder, waiting for the past to catch up.

Aiden and Bryson won’t let Dani face her demons alone because the men have come to know one thing for certain: they're stronger as a trio.

My Review: I loved the characters and how they stuck together through everything. (I dont want to spoil anything)



Title: It Ends With Us

Author: Colleen Hoover

Genre: Romance

How I Read It: borrowed from library via ebook

My Rating: 5 of 5

Amazon Description: Lily hasn’t always had it easy, but that’s never stopped her from working hard for the life she wants. She’s come a long way from the small town where she grew up—she graduated from college, moved to Boston, and started her own business. And when she feels a spark with a gorgeous neurosurgeon named Ryle Kincaid, everything in Lily’s life seems too good to be true.


Ryle is assertive, stubborn, maybe even a little arrogant. He’s also sensitive, brilliant, and has a total soft spot for Lily. And the way he looks in scrubs certainly doesn’t hurt. Lily can’t get him out of her head. But Ryle’s complete aversion to relationships is disturbing. Even as Lily finds herself becoming the exception to his “no dating” rule, she can’t help but wonder what made him that way in the first place.

As questions about her new relationship overwhelm her, so do thoughts of Atlas Corrigan—her first love and a link to the past she left behind. He was her kindred spirit, her protector. When Atlas suddenly reappears, everything Lily has built with Ryle is threatened.

An honest, evocative, and tender novel, 
It Ends with Us is “a glorious and touching read, a forever keeper. The kind of book that gets handed down” (USA TODAY).

My Review: This maybe my top book of the year, if that is saying anything and it is only the beginning of May. I loved the message it sends with their heavy conversations. I had all the emotions while reading this book, from happy, angry, sad (with tears) etc.




Title: The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

Author: Taylor Jenkins Reid

Genre: Historical Fiction

How I Read It: borrowed from library via ebook

My Rating: 5 out of 5

Amazon Description: Aging and reclusive Hollywood movie icon Evelyn Hugo is finally ready to tell the truth about her glamorous and scandalous life. But when she chooses unknown magazine reporter Monique Grant for the job, no one is more astounded than Monique herself. Why her? Why now?


Monique is not exactly on top of the world. Her husband has left her, and her professional life is going nowhere. Regardless of why Evelyn has selected her to write her biography, Monique is determined to use this opportunity to jumpstart her career.

Summoned to Evelyn’s luxurious apartment, Monique listens in fascination as the actress tells her story. From making her way to Los Angeles in the 1950s to her decision to leave show business in the ‘80s, and, of course, the seven husbands along the way, Evelyn unspools a tale of ruthless ambition, unexpected friendship, and a great forbidden love. Monique begins to feel a very real connection to the legendary star, but as Evelyn’s story near its conclusion, it becomes clear that her life intersects with Monique’s own in tragic and irreversible ways.

“Heartbreaking, yet beautiful” (Jamie Blynn, 
Us Weekly), The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo is “Tinseltown drama at its finest” (Redbook): a mesmerizing journey through the splendor of old Hollywood into the harsh realities of the present day as two women struggle with what it means—and what it costs—to face the truth.

My Review: Another favorite read so far this year. The hype is real. The story could be a real. 



Title: The Billionaire's Fake Marriage

Author: Mackenzie Stowe

Genre: Romance

How I Read It: bought ebook

My Rating: 5 out of 5

Amazon Description: I asked her to marry me to save my company, I never thought I would fall in love with her.

Ryan:
My company, my life’s work, everything I’ve accomplished is on the line.
I need to get married and fast.
It will be easy to consider it a business arrangement.
One that will be lucrative for both my assistant, Mika, and myself.
I won’t think about how this takes away the whole problem of dating an employee.
But it doesn’t take away my desire to make her mine.


Mika:
My career was all that mattered to me and getting ahead.
When Ryan gives me an opportunity of a lifetime, I can’t say no.
But that was before I became his wife.
That was before I moved in with him.
That was before I started to fall in love with him.
Now I want to find a way to stay with him forever.

My Review: I love me fake billionaire stories. Who knows why. This one was very engaging, a quick read the kept me interested. 



Title: Atomic Habits

Author: James Clear

Genre: personal development

How I Read It: bought audiobook

My Rating: 4 out of 5

Amazon Description: No matter your goals, Atomic Habits offers a proven framework for improving - every day. James Clear, one of the world's leading experts on habit formation, reveals practical strategies that will teach you exactly how to form good habits, break bad ones, and master the tiny behaviors that lead to remarkable results.

If you're having trouble changing your habits, the problem isn't you. The problem is your system. Bad habits repeat themselves again and again not because you don't want to change, but because you have the wrong system for change. You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems. Here, you'll get a proven system that can take you to new heights.

Clear is known for his ability to distill complex topics into simple behaviors that can be easily applied to daily life and work. Here, he draws on the most proven ideas from biology, psychology, and neuroscience to create an easy-to-understand guide for making good habits inevitable and bad habits impossible. Along the way, listeners will be inspired and entertained with true stories from Olympic gold medalists, award-winning artists, business leaders, life-saving physicians, and star comedians who have used the science of small habits to master their craft and vault to the top of their field.

Learn how to:

  • Make time for new habits (even when life gets crazy)
  • Overcome a lack of motivation and willpower
  • Design your environment to make success easier
  • Get back on track when you fall off course
  • And much more

Atomic Habits will reshape the way you think about progress and success, and give you the tools and strategies you need to transform your habits - whether you are a team looking to win a championship, an organization hoping to redefine an industry, or simply an individual who wishes to quit smoking, lose weight, reduce stress, or achieve any other goal.

My Review:  Easy listen, very motivating, but nothing you haven't heard before. I did like that there are a lot of printable materials that you an use to help with your habits and goals. 

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XOXO


7 comments

  1. I didn't like how Shonda spoke about stay at home moms in her book. It's funny you didn't like Crawdads when everyone loves that one. I liked it, but didn't love it.

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    Replies
    1. I think I didn't like Crawdads because it was a slow read for me. I just wanted it to be done.

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  2. I had zero interest in reading Crawdads and the hype didn't help, but I think I'd like to see the movie. I just got that Colleen Hoover book, even more excited to read it after seeing your review!

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    Replies
    1. I can't wait to see what you think of the Colleen book.

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  3. I loved Evelyn Hugo and Crawdads. I met the Crawdads author when she came to town.

    I love reading but I love sleep more LOL

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  4. Oh I bet I would love Year of Yes! I challenged myself on a mini scale to do that very thing with my boys when we started homeschooling. I found myself saying no all the time and suddenly decided I'd be a lot more fun saying yes whenever I could so I went swimming with them, we ate ice cream for breakfast (once!), we skipped school a time or two to go visit my grandmother, we went out to dinner or had sleepovers on school nights (I mean I set the schedule so we just had them sleep later and start school later). It was a lot of fun and I did find that it made a huge difference to us all.

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  5. I don't really watch her shows, but I did like Year of Yes.

    Lauren @ www.shootingstarsmag.net

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Thanks for leaving some comment love.