Happy Friday Everyone! While It seems crazy, to think about cozying up fireside while its still 80 degrees out, fall will be here before we know it! This summer I finally started to make time to get into reading and have found it to be incredibly therapeutic. It’s so nice to put my phone away for an hour or two to get lost in a good book. The four most recent books were all awesome in their own way so I wanted to share a little bit about each one!
Where the Crawdads Sing
Anyone who has even the slightest interest in reading has probably already heard about this book so, you don’t need me to tell you how great it is but I’m going to anyways. This book is actually what made me fall in love with reading again which is so surprising because if you explained the story line to me ahead of time, I probably wouldn’t have read it. The storyline flips back and forth between the life and adventures of the main character, Kya, a “swamp girl” growing up in the North Carolina marsh land, and the murder investigation of a popular local from the town nearby the marshes where Kya grew up. The writing is so incredible and it’s truly one of those books you can get completely lost in. You feel so connected to the main character throughout the entire book and the mystery element of the storyline keeps you on your toes the entire time. For the hopeless romantics out there like me, there is also a love story intertwined in the book which I’m alway such a sucker for.
I Found You
This was probably my second favorite book of the four I recently read. It’s a more intense mystery novel that follows and flips between three different story lines. The entire time you know that they are all going to intertwine in some way at some point but the twists and turns keep you guessing until the end. I was almost to the point of frustration (in a good way) trying to figure it out! I will say, the story line is a little far fetched, but that’s the point of fiction novels after all, right? One of the main characters, Alice, is also pretty quirky and relatable in ways that are really refreshing!
The Most Fun We Ever Had
I picked up this book because it’s set in Chicago and follows the ups and downs of a family of four girls. For those of you who don’t know, I am one of four girls and grew up in Chicago so I felt like I had to read it. This book didn’t blow me out of the water, it dragged on a little and didn’t really have a WOW ending but at the end of the day I did really like it. I’m pretty impatient with books so the fact that I wanted to finish it says something. I want to say this book is heartwarming, but I don’t know if that is the right word. It just makes you feel like everything is going to be ok. It kind of reminds me of that TV show “Parenthood”. I don’t think you have to be from a family of four girls or a big family to relate to the emotions, drama, trials and tribulations that the main characters go through. While their stories were much more extreme than anything my family has ever gone through each character’s struggles were relatable on some level. This book is just really comforting and sweet in a very unique way and a great reminder of the importance of family.
The Mister
This book is by the author who wrote Fifty Shades of Grey which I’m not gonna lie, I enjoyed. Don’t let that scare you off though, this book is a little different. There are are still a lot of romance scenes but lets just say they are not as “wild”. The character profiles and plot line is pretty similar to Fifty Shades of Grey though. I would call it a romance thriller. It is a VERY quick and easy read. I think I read it in less than 24 hours. It was a good beach book and something quick and easy between more intense books.
