the books I read in August

 

I am going to start this off by saying that I read some of the best books ever this month. As of right now, four of them are ones that I would place in my top favorites for the whole year—and I read them all this month. I read NINE books this month, friends, because it was a month where I could not be on social media much. You can usually tell how the month has been judging from the number of books I read. Also, I have to say that I don't always read like this. I've been reading GREAT books lately, though and the more I read, the more websites recommend for me. They almost always get it right. 

The first book I read was The Flatshare by Beth O'Leary. Here is an excerpt from Amazon, along with the link to read about. Click on the image and it'll redirect you to Amazon...just click on each picture and it will redirect you to Amazon.

"What if your roommate is your soulmate? A joyful, quirky romantic comedy, Beth O'Leary's The Flatshare is a feel-good novel about finding love in the most unexpected of ways." 

A lot of this book is narrated by Post-It notes they leave each other all over their apartment and I love that the chapters alternate between the two main characters, Tiffy and Leon. This book grabbed my attention from the first page and I could barely put it down. I loved everything about this book. 

The second book I read was a book of the month pick and was One to Watch, by Kate Stayman-London.

"Bea Schumacher is a devastatingly stylish plus size fashion blogger who has amazing friends, a devoted family, legions of Insta followers—and a massively broken heart. Like the rest of America, Bea indulges in her weekly obsession: the hit reality show Main Squeeze. The fantasy dates! The kiss off rejections! The surprising amount of guys named Chad! But Bea is sick and tired of the lack of body diversity on the show. Since when is being a size zero a prerequisite for getting engaged on television? Just when she swore off dating altogether, she gets an intriguing call: Main Squeeze wants her to be its next star, surrounded by men vying for her affections. Bea agrees on one condition—under no circumstances will she actually fall in love. She's in this to supercharge her career, subvert harmful beauty standards, inspire women across America, and get a free hot air balloon ride. That's it. But when the cameras start rolling, Bea realizes things are more complicated than she anticipated..."

I'm stopping there, because you just need to do yourself a favor and buy the book. Or borrow the book, like I did! This is for devoted fans of The Bachelor Franchise, which I was, for many years. It gives you a whole new insight on how that show works and it makes you wonder what all was real and what was actually staged. This is one book in my top four slot! 

Next up was What You Wish For, by Katherine Center.

I always forget how much I love Katherine Center books until I read one. This one started off a teeny bit slow, but once it picked up, IT. PICKED. UP. Because of that, it's also in my top four that I've read so far this year! Here is what the lovely people at Amazon say:

"Samantha Casey is a school librarian who loves her job, the kids, and her school family with passion and joy for living. But she wasn't always that way. Duncan Carpenter is the new school principal who lives by rules and regulations, guided by the knowledge that bad things can happen. But he wasn't always that way. And Sam knows it. Because she knew him before—at another school, in a different life. Back then she loved him—but she was invisible. To him. To everyone. Even to herself. She escaped to a new school, a new job, a new chance at living. But when Duncan, of all people, gets hired as the new school principal there, it feels like the best thing that could possibly happen to the school—and the worst thing that could possibly happen to Sam. Until the opposite turns out to be true. The loveable Duncan she'd known is now a suit and tie wearing, rule- forcing tough guy so hell bent on protecting the school that he's willing to destroy it..."

Again, I'm stopping there, because you just need to borrow or buy this book and get to reading! 

The fourth book I read was Swear on this Life, by Renee Carlino.

I've never read this author, but I'm changing that after I finished this amazing book! I loved it and again, it grabbed me from the first paragraph. Ask Todd how quickly I can become absorbed in a book. 

"From USA TODAY bestselling author Renée Carlino (Before We Were Strangers), a warm and witty novel about a struggling writer who must come to grips with her past, present, and future after she discovers that she’s the inspiration for a pseudonymously published bestselling novel.

When a bestselling debut novel from mysterious author J. Colby becomes the literary event of the year, Emiline reads it reluctantly. As an adjunct writing instructor at UC San Diego with her own stalled literary career and a bumpy long-term relationship, Emiline isn’t thrilled to celebrate the accomplishments of a young and gifted writer.

Yet from the very first page, Emiline is entranced by the story of Emerson and Jackson, two childhood best friends who fall in love and dream of a better life beyond the long dirt road that winds through their impoverished town in rural Ohio."

Again—go immediately and borrow or buy this book! I loved that this was a story within a story and that it never once became confusing. This is one of my top four favorites from the year! 

Book number five of this month was 28 Summers by Elin Hilderbrand.

This is probably my favorite book for the whole year. I am not even kidding! I feel like I'm late to the Elin Hilderbrand game, but I haven't loved all of the books I've read by her. That being said, some other favorite books from late last year and early this year were her books in the Winter Street series. Characters from those books were in this book! I love that. Here is what is being said online:

"When Mallory Blessing's son, Link, receives deathbed instructions from his mother to call a number on a slip of paper in her desk drawer, he's not sure what to expect. But he certainly does not expect Jake McCloud to answer. It's the late spring of 2020 and Jake's wife, Ursula DeGournsey, is the frontrunner in the upcoming Presidential election.

There must be a mistake, Link thinks. How do Mallory and Jake know each other?

Flash back to the sweet summer of 1993: Mallory has just inherited a beachfront cottage on Nantucket from her aunt, and she agrees to host her brother's bachelor party. Cooper's friend from college, Jake McCloud, attends, and Jake and Mallory form a bond that will persevere—through marriage, children, and Ursula's stratospheric political rise—until Mallory learns she's dying.

Based on the classic film Same Time Next Year (which Mallory and Jake watch every summer), 28 Summers explores the agony and romance of a one-weekend-per-year affair and the dramatic ways this relationship complicates and enriches their lives, and the lives of the people they love."

Go and read this book! And then read the next book, my sixth book of the month that piggy backs off of this one above:

My one complaint with this book is that I didn't want it to end! I sincerely hope Elin writes another book or two from this one. I am not going to tell you what it's about, so if you've not read 28 Summers, do not look this book up. Just trust me.

Book number seven was The Nantucket Inn, by Pamela M. Kelley.

This was another new author for me, and this is the first book in a series of six. I finished this one and went ahead and bought the next one, which was on sale for a good price on Amazon. Here's what it's about:

"Widow Lisa Hodges needs to make a decision fast. 

Either she sells her house and moves off-island, or she turns it into a bed and breakfast, so she can stay near her four adult children.

Daughter Kate has a fabulous career in Boston--working as a writer for a popular fashion magazine and engaged to a dangerously handsome photographer, who none of them have met.

Her twin, Kristen, is a local artist in an on-again, off-again relationship with an older, separated businessman.

Chase runs his own construction business and is carefree, happily dating here and there but nothing serious. 

Youngest daughter, Abby, is happily married to her high school sweetheart, and they've been trying to have a baby. But it hasn't happened yet, and she wonders if it's a sign that maybe their marriage isn't as perfect as everyone thinks.

Come to Nantucket and get to know the Hodges family and friends. See why so many readers say they love this series because the characters feel like old friends."

Man, this was a good book! I love this author, too and I joined her online book club on Facebook. She talks to all of us on there almost everyday and recommends books.

Book number eight was another new author for me—How to Stop Time, by Matt Haig.

So, while this wasn't my favorite for the month, it was also really good. The story goes back and forth between present time and past centuries, which isn't usually my thing, but I finished it and I'm glad. I am also going to give him another try with a new book he recently wrote called The Midnight Library. Here is what this book was about, though: 

"“She smiled a soft, troubled smile and I felt the whole world slipping away, and I wanted to slip with it, to go wherever she was going… I had existed whole years without her, but that was all it had been. An existence. A book with no words.”

Tom Hazard has just moved back to London, his old home, to settle down and become a high school history teacher. And on his first day at school, he meets a captivating French teacher at his school who seems fascinated by him. But Tom has a dangerous secret. He may look like an ordinary 41-year-old, but owing to a rare condition, he's been alive for centuries. Tom has lived history--performing with Shakespeare, exploring the high seas with Captain Cook, and sharing cocktails with Fitzgerald. Now, he just wants an ordinary life.

Unfortunately for Tom, the Albatross Society, the secretive group which protects people like Tom, has one rule: Never fall in love. As painful memories of his past and the erratic behavior of the Society's watchful leader threaten to derail his new life and romance, the one thing he can't have just happens to be the one thing that might save him. Tom will have to decide once and for all whether to remain stuck in the past, or finally begin living in the present.

How to Stop Time tells a love story across the ages—and for the ages—about a man lost in time, the woman who could save him, and the lifetimes it can take to learn how to live. It is a bighearted, wildly original novel about losing and finding yourself, the inevitability of change, and how with enough time to learn, we just might find happiness.
 
Soon to be a major motion picture starring Benedict Cumberbatch."

I love that this book is about to be turned into a movie! And like I said, I'm glad I stuck with it, rather than stop reading. I feel like this one stretched me out of my comfort zone with books this time around, and that is never a bad thing. 

The last book I read this month was Things You Save in a  Fire, by Katherine Center.

"Cassie Hanwell was born for emergencies. As one of the only female firefighters in her Texas firehouse, she's seen her fair share of them, and she's a total pro at other people's tragedies. But when her estranged and ailing mother asks her to give up her whole life and move to Boston, Cassie suddenly has an emergency of her own.

The tough, old-school Boston firehouse is as different from Cassie's old job as it could possibly be. Hazing, a lack of funding, and poor facilities mean that the firemen aren't exactly thrilled to have a "lady" on the crew—even one as competent and smart as Cassie. Except for the infatuation-inspiring rookie, who doesn't seem to mind having Cassie around. But she can't think about that. Because love is girly, and it’s not her thing. And don’t forget the advice her old captain gave her: Never date firefighters. Cassie can feel her resolve slipping...and it means risking it all—the only job she’s ever loved, and the hero she’s worked like hell to become.

Katherine Center's Things You Save in a Fire is a heartfelt and healing tour-de-force about the strength of vulnerability, the nourishing magic of forgiveness, and the life-changing power of defining courage, at last, for yourself."

This one was really good, but I loved the first book I read by her this month a smidge more. 

So, have I convinced you to read yet? Are you on GoodReads? If not, you should be! I am always adding books to my shelves there, so get the app and find me (Jennifer Goodwin) there. I'd love to hear what you're reading! Love to all.