Happy Monday! I actually didn’t know if I’d have a “What I’m Reading” post ready for today because I haven’t spent a ton of time reading this week. At least, reading books for review/tracking purposes. I have been reading – about Ireland! My mom and I settled on our itinerary but it required a lot of research and reading on my part. I checked out Rick Steves Ireland 2019 from the library and have spent my week pouring through the pages (while skimming a lot of the sections, which is why I’m not counting it as a book I’ve read) so I can figure out what we need to see, what we can skip, and how to build an itinerary that will allow us to see the best sights without completely overwhelming me (I cannot go-go-go all the time). And work was insane this week, so I didn’t even spend any time reading on my lunch break (unheard of for me!). I’m hoping this week was an anomaly because I don’t like reading so little.
Anyway, I do have a book review for you because I finished a book! And I’ll probably end up finishing 2-3 next week, so I should be back on track. 🙂
99 Percent Mine by Sally Thorne (★★★★☆)
I’ve been greatly anticipating Sally Thorne’s follow-up novel to her bestseller (and my all-time favorite romance), The Hating Game, so I was so happy to get my hands on 99 Percent Mine. Within the first few pages of this novel, I knew the story was going to be dramatically different with much more complex characters. (Which just showed me that Thorne is not a one-trick pony and has a vivid imagination.) It involves a woman named Darcy who has been in love with her twin brother’s best friend, Tom, since she was a teenager. And then, after Darcy’s grandma dies, both Darcy and her brother inherit her cottage and must renovate it and sell it – those are their grandma’s instructions. Lo and behold, Tom is the man who is going to renovate the cottage – and he’s single for the first time in eight years. The story has Thorne’s typical snarky humor, and I just loved how lively and realistic her characters were. They didn’t feel like caricatures, but real, breathing people with passions and interests and pain and depth. Their romance was sweet and fun and downright steamy. While I didn’t love this with the ardent fervor that I loved The Hating Game (there were times when Darcy frustrated me and I wished the author had given her a bit more agency in her life), I still really enjoyed this novel and I hope we don’t have to wait three years for her next romance!
I’m currently reading…
> Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery. I’m still working my way through Anne and I am just loving every second of it. I was worried that I would reread this book and not understand why I loved it so much when I was younger, but I can totally see why it captivated me. Anne is such a wonderful character! She’s made me giggle multiple times. 🙂
> They Can’t Kill Us All: Ferguson, Baltimore, and a New Era in America’s Racial Justice Movement by Wesley Lowery. On a much different note, I’m reading this important book about racial justice and police violence in between pages of Anne. I’ve had this book on my TBR for a while now, and I’m glad I’m finally getting around to reading this because it’s important and necessary.
What are you reading?
I still need to read The Hating Game! I requested the ebook but there’s quite a long wait for it! I’m almost done with The Beautiful Mystery which is the 8th book in the Inspector Gamache series. It wasn’t my favorite as it was set at a monastery instead of in Three Pines. But I’m glad I am reading the books in order because there is always a through line story. If I skipped this book I would miss a lot of important context. I know of someone who reads these out of order and I don’t know how she does that because there’s so much story building related to the drama in the Surety where Gamache works!
I have 99 Percent Mine on my wait list right now! I didn’t understand all of the major hype about The Hating Game but it was still enjoyable. Based on your description I think I might like this one more!
I ADORE the Anne of Green Gables books. I try to reread Anne of the Island once a year because I love it so much. I’ve found that while some of the books in the series are stronger than others, you can always find something new to relate to in them no matter how old you are. Did you have a favorite in the series when you last read it?