Happy Monday, my friends! It’s an especially great Monday for me because it’s my mom’s birthday! I have today off from work (I wanted to give myself an extra-long holiday weekend!), so we’re hopefully going to do something fun this afternoon to celebrate, and then have dinner with my brother tonight. The weather isn’t looking great (50% chance of rain), so a lot of our previous plans are out the window, but we’ll find a way to keep busy!
I had a great reading week, as I finished three books and started two new books that I’m really enjoying. Here are my reviews:
Once Ghosted, Twice Shy by Alyssa Cole (★★☆☆☆)
This novella follows the love story between Likotsi and Fabiola, who had a whirlwind romance a year ago that ended abruptly. Likotsi is back in town and winds up on the same subway car as Fab, which prompts a reunion that Likotsi isn’t quite keen on. She had fallen in love with Fab when Fab ended their relationship, and she has been trying to get over her ever since. The novella switches between their present-day rekindling and their first meeting, discovering what happened to cause Fab to abruptly end things and if there’s hope for them today. It’s a sweet story but it just left me wanting more. I think this is more of a “me” thing than a slight against the novella. Novellas just aren’t for me.
Huge Deal by Lauren Layne (★★★★☆)
This romance nearly earned five stars from me, which is a hard thing to come by. It’s very rare for me to give a romance five stars! Ultimately, it fell just short due to the end but it’s still one of my favorite romances lately. It’s about Kennedy and Kate, who have worked together for the past six years. Kate is his assistant and she’s had unrequited feelings for Kennedy since they met. But she believes she’s over him and to prove it, she agrees to date Kennedy’s brother, Jack. What follows is the typical romance plot – Kennedy recognizes his feelings for Kate and Kate comes to terms with the fact that she’s never gotten over Kennedy. It was such a fun romance and I loved both of these characters so very much.
All We Ever Wanted by Emily Giffin (★★★★☆)
Most people think “chick lit” when they see the name Emily Giffin, but this book is not that. (Not that there’s anything wrong with chick lit or reading that genre. I love those kinds of books and grow tired of people who condition reading chick-lit with effusive statements as to why they read a chick-lit novel. Let’s stop turning up our noses at women’s fiction, mmkay?) Anyway, this book. It’s about Nina, Tom, and Lyla. Lyla is a high school sophomore who gets drunk at a party and a photo of her goes viral. Tom is Lyla’s father who has been raising her alone since his wife left when Lyla was young. And Nina is the mother of Finch, the boy who circulated the photo of Lyla. It’s a book that will break your heart as you watch each character come to terms with this atrocity, and it’s a timely read in the wake of the #metoo era. It’s a novel about privilege, about racism, about injustice, and about doing the right thing even when it hurts.
What I’m reading this week…
> Miracle Creek by Angie Kim, on audio. I’m 60% finished with this novel, and I am loving it. It is so well-written and complex and engaging. I’m looking forward to my commutes this week just so I can finish this book!
> Christmas Ever After by Sarah Morgan. Who says you can’t read books about Christmas in July?! This book was surprisingly hard to find through Amazon (it wasn’t available at my library, nor could I find it to recommend!), probably because the U.S. version of the book has a different name than the U.K. version. Woof.
> Normal People by Sally Rooney. I started this book yesterday and I’m liking it so far! However, I vehemently dislike that there are no quotation marks when people are talking. WHY?! It makes no sense.
What are you reading?
Ugh, I hate it when authors don’t use quotation marks. I’ve encountered that a few times and despise it. I don’t understand why you wouldn’t use them. It improves the reader experience and provides clarity!
I have been anti-Emily Giffin since reading “Something Borrowed.” I hated that book as I felt that it romanticized cheating and was just sort of dismissive about how wrong it is to cheat, even if you woman dating the man you are cheating with isn’t the nicest person… But maybe I need to give this book a chance as it sounds really interesting.
I’m reading “Mambo in Chinatown.” The author has a buzzy new book called “Searching for Sylvie Lee” but it wasn’t available at the library yet so I decided to listen to her backlist after hearing an interview with her on a new-to-me podcast, the readerly report. I’m really liking it!
What made you go on the hunt to find Christmas Ever After? Some good reviews? 🙂
OMG I read a book w/o quotation marks and it made me nuts, even after I got used to it!
I am reading An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth. Another memoir 😉