In the summertime you can normally find me lounging by the pool with a stack of books. And by “pool” I mean the inflatable kiddie pool set up in our back yard and by “lounging” I mean peering over the top of my pages every few seconds to remind Scarlette that we don’t throw buckets of water at Mommy and that no, Lucy Dog DOESN’T want to swim and to please stop trying to put her in the water.
So you know, super relaxing.
But here are a few of my summer reads as of late:
Little Mercies by Heather Gudenkauf * -I just started this one. So far it is well written and engaging but very, very heavy.
Orange Is The New Black by Piper Kerman – I have actually never seen the show. One of the things I gave up this year in order to have time to write a book of my own was watching television. I’ll occasionally catch a quick show with Jeff but I haven’t watched any series in nearly a year, which means I am sorely out of touch with pop culture and also is the whole reason I thought maybe I should read this book. It is completely fascinating. I had no idea that it was based on a true story which makes me like it all the more. I am only about halfway through with this one so my opinion could still change but so far, so good. The only slight problem is that now I kind of want to watch the show.
Let’s All Be Brave by Annie F. Downs * – Annie typically writes encouraging memoir-style books for teen girls and she is really great at being incredibly relatable to her audience. If you have teenage or college aged daughters/granddaughters/nieces then I absolutely recommend all of Annie’s books for them. For this book she wrote a little bit more broad and it’s a good, light read for anyone looking for a little push to be brave and chase your dreams.
The One And Only by Emily Giffin *- As a huge fan of Emily Giffin’s work I was utterly disappointing in this book. And judging by the long conversation about it that took place on my facebook page and the amazon reviews, I was not the only one. I can’t recommend it, which makes me sad because I was really looking forward to its release. It is incredibly slow and filled with football trivia. I am not sure how to explain my feelings about this because it’s not that I am against football or anything, it’s just that the book reads more like a book about football facts than a novel with a character driven storyline. It is really very odd.
Save The Date by Mary Kay Andrews – I am also a huge Mary Kay Andrews fan, even though I realize that I am not totally in the usual demographic of readers for her books. I had RSVPed to attend her launch party here in Atlanta and then ended up with a sick baby and a husband working a crazy shift that left me unable to go. I was so incredibly bummed. So for my birthday, Jeff surprised me after dinner by taking me to a bookstore to pick it up and there was literally one signed copy left!
None of that has anything to do with the actual book, I was just really excited about it, as evidenced here. I did love the book. It is just a fun, easy summertime read. Definitely one to throw in your beach bag. (Related: that night was also the night that we had the creepiest sky I have ever seen in Georgia and everyone in the bookstore with us filed outside to stare at it. Then one of the employees took this photo for us.)
Not Pictured (On account of how I read these on my kindle – if you don’t have a kindle, you can read online using the free kindle reading app!)
We Are Called To Rise by Laura McBride * – This is hands down the best book I have read so far this summer. I loved the way the author intertwined the three different narratives to create a cohesive, compelling story. If you put any book on your to-read list, put this one on it. Be warned that it will make you have ALL THE FEELINGS. This releases tomorrow and I highly recommend picking it up.
Hands Free Mama by Rachel Macy Stafford – I picked this up because I have heard a lot of buzz about it AND because it was on sale for $1.99 this week. I have yet to read it though so let me know your thoughts if you’ve already finished it!
Top Secret Twenty One by Janet Evanovich – Honestly, I didn’t love this one but I think that at twenty-one books in, I am just getting tired of the series. It’s so formulaic that I knew exactly how everything was going to turn out. It was a fun, easy read but I think I am really just continuing to read them on account of how we’re kind of in a long term relationship at this point.
What have you been reading lately? Any favorite books I should pack for my trip to the beach next month? Also, who is on GoodReads? I just recently started using it again and want to follow some people!
Disclosure: Some links are amazon affiliates, so I can keep my kindle full. Books marked * were sent to me as advanced reader copies, others I purchased, all opinions are my own. Obviously, since I kind of dissed one.
