Making Up by Lucy Parker (★★★★☆)
I really enjoyed this romance by one of my new faves, Lucy Parker. It’s part enemies-to-lovers, part reunion trope. Trix is a circus performer who has just been given the starring role in a production after the previous girl falls during a performance and breaks her arm. Leo is a makeup and special effects artist who is going through a rough time career-wise and joins the production to start building his career back up. Trix and Leo were close friends in school but had a falling-out and are now sworn enemies. While I didn’t love this romance as much as her previous novels, it was still a fun read with such a unique setting!
Hooked On You by Kate Meader (★★★★☆)
I loved this hockey romance, which wraps up the Chicago Rebels series from Kate Meader. Bren and Violet have been dancing around each other for the past few books and it was nice to finally get their story. However, the book did make me emotional because of Bren’s relationship with his daughters. He’s a recovering alcoholic who went to rehab and is doing all he can to be a better father to his girls. It gave me a lot of feelings as my father also struggles with addiction but was never able to beat them for my brother and me. His addictions always came first. Bren works so hard every day to stay sober for his daughters and I loved watching their relationship with him blossom throughout the book. I think that was the strongest element in the novel, even though the chemistry between Bren and Violet was evident on the page and I loved how they broke down their walls to let love in.
Selfish, Shallow & Self-Absorbed: Sixteen Writers on The Decision Not to Have Kids, edited by Meghan Daum (★★★★☆)
Oh, do I have thoughts about this book. So many thoughts that I’m planning on writing a post about being childless (and maybe wanting to remain that way) this week. This is a book of 16 essays with writers from a wide range of backgrounds and experiences, talking about how they came to terms with being childless and what it means for them today. Some of the writers went to great lengths to get pregnant, while others never felt the compulsion. There were a lot of opinions in this book that I didn’t agree with but I came away with a lot of food for thought and I appreciate reading about such a wide range of experiences.
What I’m reading this week…
> Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens. I’m nearly halfway through this novel and only started reading it on Saturday! I was immediately drawn into the story and am finding it hard to put it down.
> A Prince on Paper by Alyssa Cole. Yay! My hold for this romance finally came in. I love Alyssa Cole’s contemporary romances and this one features two characters that were present in the other books, so I’m excited to finally read their story!
> Rules of Civility by Amor Towles, on audio. I abandoned the audiobook I was reading last week (The Last Romantics) because I just didn’t find the story compelling enough. Also, I didn’t love the narration. Anyway, this means I get to start Rules of Civility! Fingers crossed it works better for me than The Last Romantics.
What are you reading?
I hope you like Rules of Civility. It’s firmly in the literary fiction category but it is an interest book that I enjoyed. That is a bummer that The Last Romantics wasn’t grabbing you. I loved the other book by that author so am planning to check it out when it becomes available at the library!
I’m on a non-fiction mom-book kick right now as that’s what is available at the library right now. I just finished “Bringing up Bebe” which was an interesting book about parenting in France and how it differs from the US. Now I’m reading “Cribsheet” which I’m loving. It’s written by an economist – she examines all the decisions you make from birth to pre-school and looks at what the studies suggest you should do. She wrote an excellent pregnancy book so I knew I’d love this book. I have 2 other non-fiction books to pick up at the library this week – “French Kids Eat Everything” and “The Year of Less.” After this series of non-fiction, I am definitely going to need some lighter fiction reads!!
Everyone says how good Where the Crawdad Sings is! Can’t wait to read your review!
I added the book about being childless to my want to read list in Goodreads 🙂
I am reading Travels with Rachel by George Mahood. Have you read anything of his? He’s a British writer who does humorous memoirs.