the books I read in September

Happy Monday, friends. I know my post on Friday was so heavy as I shared about a tragic event that happened in our community last week and many of you reached out with prayers for us as we go on in the coming days. Thank you! I do not want to make light of what happened and I am not...but I am going to continue on with my regularly scheduled blog posts. It's kind of how I deal with things...in assuming normalcy once again. 

What better way to escape reality than by getting lost in a good book? Which is why I laughed out loud when I saw the meme above. It's so appropriate!

I had another really good month of reading and read eight books.

The first book I read was Nantucket Neighbors, by Pamela Kelley. It's the second book in the Nantucket Beach Plum Cove series. 

This author is a really good writer and her books grab my attention immediately. This book had a little mystery and intrigue to it as she had a guest to check in and pay for a weekend that he never showed up for...there's also some speculation going around the community about one peculiar neighbor and what she does to support her living on Nantucket. I enjoyed the story and I loved getting to know the main character's family members more. There are at least seven books in this series and I plan to keep reading them all! Click on the picture of the book cover and you can either read more about the books or buy it for yourself. 

I have never met a Melody Carlson book I didn't love. I know that when I need an encouraging, uplifting and lighthearted read, I can pick out one of her books to transport me to a happier place for a few hours. I finished a book on Labor day, then read this one in a few short hours. I think I loved this book because the idea of living in a tiny house has always been intriguing to me, so I loved getting an "inside look" at that process. The main character in this book binge watches a tiny house show in one weekend and it inspires her to make major changes in her life, both in where she lives and in what she does for a living. As a widow, this change has been years in the making and the show catapults her into her new and improved life...even when challenges occur and even when her adult kids disagree and think she's gone mad. 

If you've never read anything by this author, you should give her a try! She also writes really great Christmas books.

It's been a long time since I picked up a Danielle Steel book, so I borrowed this one from the library.

I always love Danielle Steel books, but this one was not my favorite. It was good enough to keep reading, of course, but the story just fell a little bit short and I only liked two of the characters. That being said, it's about a family in which the couple are unhappily married. She got pregnant out of wedlock and their parents forced them to marry, and years later it all comes to a boiling point when their oldest daughter becomes pregnant at the end of her junior year of high school. The dad in the family decides to leave his wife and their kids, then becomes involved with someone just a few years older than his oldest daughter. It goes on to talk of love, forgiveness and moving on from past wounds in life. It was good, it just wasn't great, though it did have a nice ending. I'm not giving up on her, though, she has several books out that I want to read that are newer than this one.

I read a book by a new (to me) author and loved it so much that I put holds on two more of her books from the library.

I loved this book! It was full of twists and turns and kept me shocked up until the very end. This is about a couple whose baby goes missing while they're at a party next door. Their babysitter canceled on them, so when they leave her alone with a monitor and resolve to check on her every thirty minutes, they wonder how anything could go wrong? Until it does and she goes missing. I won't say too much, because I think you should read this book for yourself. I will be reading more by this author!

I love Denise Hunter's books, but this one wasn't my favorite! It was good enough for me to stick with it, but the ending went on and on. Also, it didn't have a lot to do with the title of the book, which kind of bugged me, but...anyway.

The book starts out with the main character at her sister's wedding. She runs into her ex-boyfriend, who is much nicer than he used to be. She ends up telling him that she is the new owner of a bookshop in need of repair, so when the weather turns bad, he stays (because he's stranded) and helps her out. It progresses from there, but the main character bugged the DAYLIGHTS out of me. She doted on her younger siblings and was indecisive, which are two characteristics that I don't like. All of that is kind of what ruined the book for me, but I still love her as a writer and will give her plenty more chances.

I'm not too upset about the dud of the book above, because this one redeemed it in my eyes. I love these books and this series! This was the third book in the series and it was my favorite of them so far. We were introduced to a new character in this book, Angela from California. She moves to the island when she inherits her late grandmother's cottage and she meets wonderful new friends as soon as she arrives. Angela cleans houses, which is near and dear to my heart because someone I know and love does that and it reminded me of her. I loved it so much that I read the next one immediately after. I think I'm going to do this until I've read them all.

Have I mentioned how much I love being invested in a great series of books? My favorite way to read them is one right after another. It helps me keep the characters straight in my head, for one thing, but they're also genuinely good books. They are not Christian fiction, but there is nothing bad in them. NOTHING. I love that. This book is about the best friend of one of the main characters, so I enjoyed getting to know her and continuing on with the lives of all the others. 

I ended the month strong with my final book, yet another by the same author.

This one introduces yet another new character and also continues with the other characters and family members that I know so well. And TWO weddings take place in this book, which you know I love. I won't say too much, because you get my gist—go and read these books, friends! They're excellent.

I will also say, she has become one of my favorite authors because of the fact that she corresponds with her readers. I'm in her Facebook book club group and she regularly talks back and forth with all of us. I love that and those always become my very favorite authors. Another excellent author I love is also like this, Robin Jones Gunn. It doesn't matter to me if the correspondence happens over email or social media, I just love that they "talk" to us. Sally Hepworth does this as well, and she follows me on Instagram! I love that. I will always invest money in authors like that.

So, do you have some good recommendations for me to read? I'd love to hear some ideas. In case you can't tell, I need light and fluffy. The world is too heavy for me to read heavy books. I hope you're inspired to pick up a book and get lost inside of it. Thanks for reading my blog, friends! Love to all. ❤