I read 7 books in March! (I know, I know – I said I read 8 books in my post on Monday. I said that thinking I would finish my current book I’m reading before today, but it didn’t happen.) I’m at 19 books read total this year, so I’m on track to meet my goal of reading 75 books.

My favorite book was Two Kisses for Maddy and my least favorite was The Girl Next Door.

1. Why Can’t I Be You by Allie Larkin (3 stars)

I thought this book had an interesting premise: a girl, who has just been dumped by her long-term boyfriend, travels to Seattle to attend a work conference and gets mistaken for someone else. She goes along with the ploy, because at first, it was just easier than admitting who she really was. And then, she just got caught up in becoming this other girl, who was so very much cooler than she was. It was a fun read!

2. Then Came You by Jennifer Weiner (4 stars)

This book intermingled the lives of four women: college student Jules who donates her eggs to a fertility clinic to get money to send her father to rehab; married mom of two Annie who becomes a surrogate to earn money for her struggling family; India, who uses Jules’ eggs and Annie’s body to have the baby she desperately wants with her new husband Marcus; and Bettina, India’s stepdaughter who doesn’t trust India one bit and is going to do her damnedest to find out what secrets India has been hiding.

I found this story really engaging! It’s really not a story about infertility or egg donation or surrogacy, but more of the story of these four women and the choices you will make for your family. I was most drawn to Jules’ and Annie’s stories because I really couldn’t figure out whether or not I liked either India or Bettina. (In the end, not really. Neither were terribly likable.) All in all, one of my favorites from Weiner, and now I’m excited to read more from her!

3. Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell (5 stars)

This was a book that came highly recommended, which always makes me nervous. (What if I don’t like it? Why would I be the only person who doesn’t like it? Does this mean there is something wrong with me?) But from the very first page, I knew it was going to be a book that would touch my heart. It was a book I never wanted to end but also didn’t want to stop reading. I felt connected to Eleanor and Park, they felt so real and alive to me. It’s a teenage love story, yes, but it’s really so much more than that. That’s such a simplified way of looking at this book because it isn’t all roses and butterflies. It’s happy and hopeful and sweet, but there’s also an undercurrent of despair and sadness that makes you feel so deeply for these characters. I was so invested in this story from beginning to end and I’m just… a fan. I am definitely a Rowell fan.

4. The Girl You Left Behind by Jojo Moyes (3 stars)

Me Before You stands out as one of my all-time favorite books, but I hadn’t heard many great reviews about this novel. The story revolves around a painting that a woman’s husband bought for her before he died. It’s a painting of a woman and Liv, the wife, feels a deep connection to her because she was her saving grace as she grieved over the loss of her husband. But the family of the painter learns about this piece and decided they want it back. (It’s worth a lot of money.) Instead of giving it up, Liv decides she will take them to court to fight over the painting.

Within that story, the author weaves together the story of Sophie, the woman in the painting, who was living in France during World War I with her family while her husband was fighting in the war. (I enjoyed this story much, much more than Liv’s story.)

I liked this novel, but I did not love it. There were times when my attention span waned and I honestly don’t think I would have finished it, if not for book club, since it was the pick for March. I couldn’t connect to any of the characters (aside from Sophie, who was seriously one BAMF) nor could I connect to the storyline because I’ve never had such an emotional connection to a painting. (Or any object, really.) That said, there were many people in my book club that absolutely loved the book so what do I know? For me, good but not great.

5. Dark of Night by Suzanne Brockmann (4 stars)

Another solid novel by one of my absolute favorite writers. What I love about this series is that I’ve been with this group of people for so many books now. (This is Book #14!) I feel like I have grown with these characters, and this one involves many of my favorites, including some interesting love connections that I never saw coming! I’m sad I’m nearing the end of this series of books, but I’m sure I’ll find myself rereading it in a few years’ time.

6. Two Kisses for Maddy by Matthew Logelin (5 stars)

This book changed me. It gave me the most intense book hangover of my life. And it wasn’t a typical hangover of “Oh, I wish I could read that story again!” but more of a “That was the most difficult book I have ever had to read and I’m glad I read it but I’m not glad because now I am so sad and WHY DO BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO GOOD PEOPLE? WHY?” Sigh. I tend to form emotional connections to stories and people, and it’s even more intense when it’s a memoir. Because, unlike a novel, it’s something that actually happened. You get to feel this person’s rawness and vulnerability as they take you through their journey. And Matt’s journey? Oh, it is so tragic. It’s heartbreaking. It made me sad and angry and melancholy. I’ve never read his blog, so all I knew from his story was that his wife died after giving birth to their daughter, and this book was his tribute to her. I’m still not sure, almost a week after finishing it, that I have fully processed the book. I’ve spent hours in my head, thinking about Matt and Liz and Maddy and how unfair it is that Matt and Maddy have to live without Liz. That Matt has to go on without his wife and Maddy never got a chance to know her mother. I want it to be a cruel joke, but it’s not. It’s real, it happened, and it is so, so tragic.

I can’t put into words how much this book affected me. It gutted me, ripped my heart out, and I just find Matt to be this amazing man who lived through a horrible thing and is raising his daughter in a way that would make his wife so proud. As heartbreaking and sad as the story is, there’s also hope. Because he made it through one of the most horrific things a person can go through, and it was hard and tragic, but he did it. There’s hope that whatever tragic thing comes our way, we, too, can find a way to move forward and thrive in a new normal.

7. The Girl Next Door by Cynthia Eden (3 stars)

After reading such an emotionally heavy book on loss, I needed something easy to read and mind-numbing. Just a simple trashy romance novel and that’s exactly what I got with this book. It wasn’t good, it was pretty cheesy, and it was just what I needed.

Have you ever read a book that affected you on such a deep level?

It’s time to recap what I read in February. I read another six books this month, bringing my total to 12. I need to pick up the pace a little to reach my goal of reading 75 books, but I’m doing okay. This month, my favorite book was The Husband’s Secret and my least favorite was probably The Shoemaker’s Wife.

1. Angel Falls by Kristin Hannah (4 stars)

This was a hard, heavy read. It involves a mother, Mikaela, who goes into a coma after falling from her horse and being kicked in the head, and the effect it has on her family. The main voices are her husband, Liam, their 9-year-old son, Bret, and the woman’s mother, Rosa. All three of them are such well-written characters and I felt myself falling into this story easily and intrigued to find out the outcome of the story. Throughout the pages, Liam discovers a secret Mikaela has kept hidden for years: the fact that she was married to movie star Julian True. It’s a story about the power of love, the sacredness of marriage, and the cost of keeping secrets. I really, really love this author.

2. Burning Up by Susan Andersen (3 stars)

I read this in the midst of reading Angel Falls because I needed something light and cute and romantic to even out the sadness of the other book. It was the perfect break, too! Burning Up is just one of those easy, cute romances with a hunky leading man, an adorable leading lady, and an interesting plot that made me keep turning the pages. I enjoyed it!

3. The Shoemaker’s Wife by Adriana Trigiani (3 stars)

This was probably one of my favorite reads of Trigiani’s, right up until the last 100 pages. It followed the journey of two Italian immigrants, Enza and Ciro, and their unlikely love story. Ciro has to go to America based on a scandal he’s a part of and falls in love with the art of shoemaking, while Enza comes to America with her father to help her family (who lost their home and was struggling to make ends meet). Through a series of incidents, they both make a life there: Ciro as a shoemaker and Enza as a factory girl turned dressmaker. They make friends, experience life-changing events, and find themselves always coming back to one another. I feel like the last 100 pages simply dragged on and on, and certain events happened I wasn’t a big fan of, but it was still an interesting story and an enjoyable read.

4. The Husband’s Secret by Liane Moriarty (5 stars)

I loved this book. I hadn’t heard of it until someone at book club mentioned it as a possible pick to read, and then I started seeing it all over the place! Funny how that happens. This book weaves together the lives of three very different people: Cecilia, mother of three with a seemingly content, if boring, life; Rachel, a middle-aged woman still trying to get over the loss of her daughter some twenty-odd years ago; and Tess, whose husband and best friend just announced they are in love with one another. I was immediately drawn to this book and these characters from the beginning page until the last one. There were times when I laughed, times when I was shocked, and times when I was deeply saddened. I loved Moriarty’s writing style and the easy flow of her words. It was poignant and moving, but also refreshing and fun. I highly recommend this book!

5. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (4 stars)

A couple of months ago, I found this fun reading challenge of reading every book that was either read or mentioned by Rory Gilmore on Gilmore Girls. I’ll admit that I’ve never seen the entire Gilmore Girls series. (I’m trying to rectify that!) But I saw enough to fall in love with Rory and when I found this challenge, I knew I wanted to attempt to complete it. So I marked 10 books on Goodreads that I want to read this year based on this list and The Kite Runner was the first book I completed. It was an easy decision to add this book to the list because A Thousand Splendid Suns by Hosseini remains one of my favorite books of all time, and I’ve been encouraged by others to read this one.

I really enjoyed this book, though it was by no means an easy read. But it was an important one. I’m still trying to process it. Hosseini’s books are ones that stay with you for a long time. It’s a story about bravery and cowardice, the quest for approval, friendship and honor, love and family. It’s a book that was hard to pick up at times, but I still couldn’t help falling into the story, the characters, the heartbreak and the triumph. I highly recommend reading anything by this author. He’s an amazing storyteller.

6. Yours to Keep by Shannon Stacey (4 stars)

This was a cute romance novel to round out my month with. It was fairly predictable, a little cheesy, and not overly hot. (I like when my main characters have sex appeal that just oozes off the pages. OOZES!) But it was still enjoyable and easy to read. I like her books!

What was your favorite read for February?

I had a solid reading month in January. I set a goal to read 75 books this year, which is averaging around 6-7 books per month. I kicked 2014 off with six books read, my favorite being The Rosie Project and my least favorite being The Aviator’s Wife.

1. The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion (4 stars)

This novel was utterly charming. I loved the characters, especially Dr. Don Tillman, who reminded me of Dr. Sheldon Cooper (from The Big Bang Theory!) so much that I pictured him throughout the entire novel. It was an easy read, but also had a lot of social complexities to it, which also made it an interesting read. I heard it will be made into a movie and if anyone but Jim Parsons plays Don Tillman, my whole world is a lie.

2. In Her Shoes by Jennifer Weiner (4 stars)

I actually really enjoyed this book! I remember seeing the movie when it came out, but never read the book. (Though I can barely remember the movie at all.) The novel was a bit long, at over 500 pages, but I found myself settling in and really investing in the story. Jennifer Weiner’s novels are really hit or miss for them. Some novels, I adore, and some novels I feel like I wasted precious time reading. This one fell safely in the “hit” category, and it was a really enjoyable read.

3. Secret Agent Secretary by Melissa Cutler (4 stars)

Sometimes, you just want to read a really kick-ass romantic mystery with characters whose sexual tension sizzles off the pages and a storyline that moves fast. This is that book. It’s the second one from this author and I loved it just as much as the first one. Very well-written, though it does get a little heavy on the cheese toward the end. It left me feeling happy and satisfied.

4. The Aviator’s Wife by Melanie Benjamin (2.5 stars)

I struggled to get through this book. The writing was good, but the story was just really slow and kind of tragic. It’s a fictional adaptation of Anne Lindbergh’s, wife to Charles Lindbergh, life. And she just lived a very hard one. Maybe I’m too much of a dreamer and idealist to appreciate this novel, but I just felt like she had a very lonely, sad life. She got to do some amazing things, for sure, but when you compare it to a loveless, unfaithful marriage? It just made me rather sad. Good writing, sad story.

5. Cowboy Justice by Melissa Cutler (3 stars)

One of my ways of helping me get through a book I’m struggling with (see above book) is by reading a cute romance novel along with it. So I bought this one from my new favorite romantic suspense author and I enjoyed it. I really loved the main character and the chemistry between her and her “cowboy” just oozed off the page. There was a lot of suspense and mystery and drama, along with dry wit and humor. I flew through this one in a matter of days.

6. The Girl With a Clock for a Heart by Peter Swanson (3.5 stars)

I reviewed this book yesterday, and you can find that review here.

Do you ever read two books at one time?