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Hey friends. September flew by. My personal goal for the month was to read 10 books. I missed my goal. I only hit 9 books. So much other things going on and I seem to be crashing at night and not spending as much time reading. So far this year I have read 89 books. My goal for the year is 150. To hit the goal for the next 3 months I would have to read 20 ish books each month. That is not going to happen and I am ok with that. I don't want to read just to hit a number. I want to read because I enjoy reading.
Total physical/kindle books: 5
Total audible: 4
Total books for 2024: 89
Goal: 150 books
Title: A Winter Wish
Author: Emily Stone
Genre: Christmas romance
How I Read It: Arc ebook - Release date is October 15
My Rating: 5 out of 5
Amazon Description: When an unexpected inheritance forces two total opposites to work together, Lexie must decide if Theo is going to push her out—or pull her in for the kiss of a lifetime—in this heartwarming holiday novel from the author of Always, in December and One Last Gift
When Lexie learns of her father’s death, she doesn’t know how to feel; they’ve barely spoken in the last ten years. And she’s even more confused when she discovers he’s left her half of his holiday travel company, a successful niche business specializing in trips that explore the holiday traditions of cultures all over the world.
Meanwhile, the other half of the company has been left to her father’s handsome but bad-tempered young executive, Theo. And the will stipulates that the two of them must find a way to run the company together for a year before they decide its fate.
Lexie intends to leave once the year is over, even though, as a wanderer herself, she finds the company’s mission more compelling than she first thought. And a work trip to sizzling Spain reveals a chemistry between Lexie and Theo that is impossible to deny.
There may have been some snap judgments made about each other. But mixing business and pleasure isn’t always a good idea.
My Review: Love an enemy to lovers troupe. This Christmas romance wasn't all throw in your face holiday, but with depth and emotions.
Title: Cowboy Seeking Nanny
Author: Janice Whiteaker
Genre: Romance
How I Read It: Kindle
My Rating: 5 out of 5
Amazon Description: As a widowed father trying to build a family empire while juggling dirty diapers and bed times, Brody Pace has full hands.
And an empty bed.Losing his high school sweetheart after the birth of their twins left him broken, battered, and lonely. But business doesn’t wait, and neither do toddlers. With Red Cedar Ranch expanding into new territory, there simply aren’t enough hours in the day to be a full-time dad and a full-time foreman. Finding a nanny is a necessary evil.
One Brody’s much more inclined toward once he sets eyes on the dark-haired beauty his mother hired to wrangle his headstrong daughters.
Clara is everything he thought he would never find again. She’s calm, caring, and compassionate and the sight of her with his daughters stokes something deep inside him.
Something Brody thought was gone forever.
My Review: A face paced romance with a story line that I couldn't read fast enough. Heartwarming with likable characters that you connect with.
Title: The House Across the Lake
Author: Riley Sager
Genre:
How I Read It: Libby Audiobook
My Rating: 2 out of 5
Amazon Description: Be careful what you watch for . . .
Casey Fletcher, a recently widowed actress trying to escape a streak of bad press, has retreated to the peace and quiet of her family’s lake house in Vermont. Armed with a pair of binoculars and several bottles of bourbon, she passes the time watching Tom and Katherine Royce, the glamorous couple living in the house across the lake. They make for good viewing—a tech innovator, Tom is powerful; and a former model, Katherine is gorgeous.
One day on the lake, Casey saves Katherine from drowning, and the two strike up a budding friendship. But the more they get to know each other—and the longer Casey watches—it becomes clear that Katherine and Tom’s marriage isn’t as perfect as it appears. When Katherine suddenly vanishes, Casey immediately suspects Tom of foul play. What she doesn’t realize is that there’s more to the story than meets the eye—and that shocking secrets can lurk beneath the most placid of surfaces.
Packed with sharp characters, psychological suspense, and gasp-worthy plot twists, Riley Sager’s The House Across the Lake is the ultimate escapist read . . . no lake house required.
My Review: The story line had me intrigued but getting into it felt boring. I was surprised by the twists and the ending. It was a stretch to finish.
Title: Down to Party
Author: Lillia Wett
Genre: erotica
How I Read It: kindle ebook
My Rating: 1 out of 5
Amazon Description: When Gail's boss gives her the responsibility of planning the office party, she rewards herself with a one-night stand. The last thing she expects is to see him again. Yet, there he is in her office working on another event. Can they keep their hands off each other long enough to get anything done?
Better yet, how will she reward herself if things go well this time?
My Review: For being an erotica book, the scenes were very lacking in detail, like they were are afterthought.
Title: Eat Pray #FML
Author: Gabrielle Stone
Genre: Self-Help, Memoir
How I Read It: Libby audiobook
My Rating: 1 out of 5
Amazon Description: A year and a half into our marriage, I found out my husband had been having an affair with a nineteen-year-old for six months. I filed for divorce and left.
Two weeks later I met a man, and we fell madly in love. It was a fairy-tale romance for a month and a half, and he convinced me to join him on a romantic month-long vacation in Italy. Forty-eight hours before we were supposed to get on a plane, he told me he needed to go by himself. I was devastated. So, I had a decision to make. Either stay home and be heartbroken, or go travel Europe for a month by myself. And staying at home heartbroken?
F%*k. That. What does a woman do when her life has fallen apart and her heart has been ripped out and stepped on twice in two months? She goes on a wild adventure, makes some bad decisions, and does a sh*t load of soul searching. But most importantly? She finds out how to love…herself.
This is so not Eat, Pray, Love.
This is Eat, Pray, #FML.
My Review: While this book is under the self help genre, I feel it is more a memoir of Gabrielle sharing what she did after her husband cheated on her. She seems like a over-privileged bragging brat who things of herself as a celebrity when no one really knows who she is. The only thing I got out of this book is my desire to travel more.
Title: Pumpkin Everything
Author: Beth Labonte
Genre: Romance
How I Read It: Kindle ebook
My Rating: 3 out of 5
Amazon Description: After calling off her fall wedding, horror novelist Amy Fox is left with a broken heart, a mega case of writer’s block, and a serious aversion to all things pumpkin spice. When she receives news that her grandfather has broken his wrist driving through a Dunkin Donuts—literally straight through the front windows—five hundred miles away, in her hometown of Autumnboro, New Hampshire, Amy has no choice but to return to check on him. If she doesn’t make sure that he’s back on his feet, Grandpa may be moved into assisted living, and Amy’s beloved childhood home will be put on the market.
Knowing she must return, Amy worries about the only thing worse than pumpkin spice—a reunion with Kit Parker—her childhood best friend, first love, and entire reason for skipping town in the first place. As the two reconnect, a second chance seems possible...if only Kit weren’t holding on to a secret that just might unravel everything.
My Review: I was so excited that this was a Hallmark movie and was on a few days after I started reading it. I hate to say I love the movie more than the book. There is more spice and sexual discussions that I would expect from something picked up on Hallmark channel. I loved the banter between main characters and description of all things fall.
Title: Husbands & Lovers
Author: Beatriz Williams
Genre: Historical Romance
How I Read It: libby audiobook
My Rating: 1 out of 5
Amazon Description: New England, 2022. Three years ago, single mother Mallory Dunne received the telephone call every parent dreads—her ten-year-old son, Sam, had been airlifted from summer camp with acute poisoning from a toxic death cap mushroom, leaving him fighting for his life. Now, searching for the donor kidney that will give her son a chance for a normal life, Mallory’s forced to confront two harrowing secrets from her past: her mother’s adoption from an infamous Irish orphanage in 1952, and her own all-consuming summer romance fourteen years earlier with her childhood best friend, Monk Adams— one of the world’s most beloved singer-songwriters—a fairy tale cut short by a devastating betrayal.
Cairo, 1951. After suffering tragedy beyond comprehension in the war, Hungarian refugee Hannah Ainsworth has forged a respectable new life for herself—marriage to a wealthy British diplomat with a coveted posting in glamorous Cairo. But a fateful encounter with the enigmatic manager of a hotel bristling with spies leads to a passionate affair that will reawaken Hannah’s longing for everything she once lost. As revolution simmers in the Egyptian streets, a pregnant Hannah finds herself snared in a game of intrigue between two men . . . and an act of sacrifice that will echo down the generations.
Timeless and bittersweet, Husbands & Lovers takes readers on an unforgettable journey of heartbreak and redemption, from the revolutionary fires of midcentury Egypt to the moneyed beaches of contemporary New England. Acclaimed author Beatriz Williams has written a poignant and beautifully voiced novel of deeply human characters entangled by morally complex issues—of privilege, class, and the female experience—inside worlds brought shimmeringly to life.
My Review: I am not one to not finish a book, but I could not get into this book. I kept getting lost with characters and story lines. I couldn't figure out what each story line had to do with the other.
Title: Habits of the Household
Author: Justin Whitmel Earley
Genre: Christian Parenting
How I Read It: Libby audiobook
My Rating: 4 out of 5
Amazon Description: Discover simple habits and easy-to-implement daily rhythms that will help you find meaning beyond the chaos of family life as you create a home where kids and parents alike practice how to love God and each other.
You long for tender moments with your children--but do you ever find yourself too busy to stop, make eye contact, and say something you really mean? Daily habits are powerful ways to shape the heart--but do you find yourself giving in to screen time just to get through the day? You want to parent with purpose--but do you know how to start?
Award-winning author and father of four Justin Whitmel Earley understands the tension between how you long to parent and what your daily life actually looks like. In Habits of the Household, Earley gives you the tools you need to create structure--from mealtimes to bedtimes--that free you to parent toddlers, kids, and teens with purpose. Learn how to:
- Develop a bedtime liturgy to settle your little ones and ground them in God's love
- Discover a new framework for discipline as discipleship
- Acquire simple practices for more regular and meaningful family mealtimes
- Open your eyes to the spirituality of parenting, seeing small moments as big opportunities for spiritual formation
- Develop a custom age chart for your family to more intentionally plan your shared years under the same roof
Each chapter in Habits of the Household ends with practical patterns, prayers, or liturgies that your family can put into practice right away. As you create liberating rhythms around your everyday routines, you will find your family has a greater sense of peace and purpose as your home becomes a place where, above all, you learn how to love.
My Review: Lots of realistic habits to adapt for your family from patterns to prayers. The reminder, our kids learn from us and become us.
Title: Last Fall
Author: Alexis Anne
Genre: Sports Romance
How I Read It: kindle ebook
My Rating: 1 out of 5
Amazon Description: Zoe, the quiet writer, has a story she never plans to tell.
Erik won't quit until he knows every word.
Falling in love is what I do professionally, not personally.
And technically it's not me falling in love. It's my characters. I write novels that fly off the shelves, making up imaginary happily ever afters to fill the hole where my own should be.
Spoiler: I'm never going to have one of those.
Instead, I go to bed each night safely fantasizing about Erik, the sexy second baseman I have no intention of sleeping with because, like I said, I write romances, I don't live them.
***
For three years I've had a crush on a woman who wants nothing to do with me.
And that's fine. I don't need the distraction of a beautiful, sexy, brilliant writer. I'm busy building a team to win a championship. I never expected to make it as a professional ballplayer and this is my one shot at a dream come true.
Aw, hell. Who am I kidding? I want the championship and I want the girl. I'm patient enough to wait for both. The moment Zoe decides she's ready to date I'll be the first one in line ... and I'll do whatever it takes to prove to her I'm the only man she needs.
Ever again.
*Last Fall is a standalone, slow burn, unrequited love, baseball romance for readers who enjoy their romances on the steamy side!
My Review: I could not finish. I was bored with it, to slow of a story line, nothing keeping me entertained.
Currently Reading:
Awakening by Catrina Burgess
What are you reading this month?
A Winter Wish sounds so cute!
ReplyDeleteIt was my favorite read of the month
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