#bookofthemonth Daydream by Hannah Grace

Daydream by Hannah Grace

This was a very cute, easy read. Nothing too serious mostly written on vibes and feelings.

"The third in the New York Times bestselling Maple Hills series follows fan-favorite Henry and a bookish fellow student who come up with a plan to help them both overcome their respective challenges in a difficult year.
When his procrastination lands him in a difficult class with his least favorite professor, Henry Turner knows he’s going to have to work extra hard to survive his junior year of college. And now with his new title of captain for the hockey team—which he didn’t even want—Henry absolutely cannot fail. Enter Halle Jacobs, a fellow junior who finds herself befriended by Henry when he accidentally crashes her book club.

Halle may not have the romantic pursuits of her favorite fictional leads, but she’s an academic superstar, and as soon as she hears about Henry’s problems with his class reading material, she offers to help. Too bad being a private tutor isn’t exactly ideal given her own studies, job, book club, and the novel she’s trying to write. But new experiences are the key to beating her writer’s block, and Henry’s promising to be the one to give them to her.

They just need to stick to their rule book.

Oh, and not fall in love."

#bookofthemonth The Third Gilmore Girl: A Memoir by Kelly Bishop

The Third Gilmore Girl: A Memoir by Kelly Bishop

Every Fall I start and re-watch Gilmore Girls. I was like the 1000th person on 4 books in the library waiting in line so it becomes my turn. The book was so good and so lovely. Well written, engaging and wonderful, it's filled with details of a life well lived with a devotion to the arts. 

"Kelly Bishop’s long, storied career has been defined by landmark achievements, from winning a Tony Award for her turn in the original Broadway cast of A Chorus Line to her memorable performance as Jennifer Grey’s mother in Dirty Dancing. But it is probably her iconic role as matriarch Emily in the modern classic Gilmore Girls that cemented her legacy.

Now, Bishop reflects on her remarkable life and looks towards the future with The Third Gilmore Girl. She shares some of her greatest stories and the life lessons she’s learned on her journey. From her early transition from dance to drama, to marrying young to a compulsive gambler, to the losses and achievements she experienced—among them marching for women’s rights and losing her second husband to cancer—Bishop offers a rich, genuine celebration of her life.

Full of witty insights, The Third Gilmore Girl is a warm, unapologetic, and spirited memoir from a woman who has left indelible impressions on her audiences for decades and has no plans on slowing down."

#bookofthemonth Funny Story by Emily Henry

Funny Story by Emily Henry

This has been on my to read list for so long, but I finally got it, and I loved every minute of it. It kept me drawn in and I love her writing style.

"Daphne always loved the way her fiancé, Peter, told their story. How they met (on a blustery day), fell in love (over an errant hat), and moved back to his lakeside hometown to begin their life together. He really was good at telling it... right up until the moment he realized he was actually in love with his childhood best friend Petra.

Which is how Daphne begins her new story: stranded in beautiful Waning Bay, Michigan, without friends or family but with a dream job as a children’s librarian (that barely pays the bills), and proposing to be roommates with the only person who could possibly understand her predicament: Petra’s ex, Miles Nowak.

Scruffy and chaotic—with a penchant for taking solace in the sounds of heart break love ballads—Miles is exactly the opposite of practical, buttoned-up Daphne, whose coworkers know so little about her they have a running bet that she’s either FBI or in witness protection. The roommates mainly avoid one another, until one day, while drowning their sorrows, they form a tenuous friendship and a plan. If said plan also involves posting deliberately misleading photos of their summer adventures together, well, who could blame them?

But it’s all just for show, of course, because there’s no way Daphne would actually start her new chapter by falling in love with her ex-fiancé’s new fiancée’s ex... right?"

#bookofthemonth The Wedding People by Alison Espach

The Wedding People by Alison Espach

This was one of those where it took me a minute to get into this one and I was so afraid I wouldn’t like it, but I LOVED it. I don’t know how a book with such heavy subject matter also happens to be laugh out loud funny, but I just adored every second of this and didn’t want it to end.

"It’s a beautiful day in Newport, Rhode Island, when Phoebe Stone arrives at the grand Cornwall Inn wearing a green dress and gold heels, not a bag in sight, alone. She's immediately mistaken by everyone in the lobby for one of the wedding people, but she’s actually the only guest at the Cornwall who isn’t here for the big event. Phoebe is here because she’s dreamed of coming for years—she hoped to shuck oysters and take sunset sails with her husband, only now she’s here without him, at rock bottom, and determined to have one last decadent splurge on herself. Meanwhile, the bride has accounted for every detail and every possible disaster the weekend might yield except for, well, Phoebe and Phoebe's plan—which makes it that much more surprising when the two women can’t stop confiding in each other.

In turns absurdly funny and devastatingly tender, Alison Espach’s The Wedding People is ultimately an incredibly nuanced and resonant look at the winding paths we can take to places we never imagined—and the chance encounters it sometimes takes to reroute us"

#bookofthemonth - The Holiday Cottage Sarah Morgan

The Holiday Cottage by Sarah Morgan

This books is a perfect Holiday read, I know we are out of Holiday season but it's worth it. I love Christmas books. This one was no different. You can't help but root for Imogen through the story. A heartwarming story that had a twist in the middle that I wasn't expecting; which in, my opinion, made the book better than most Christmas stories. You should definitely read the story of Imogen and Holly Cottage

To the outside world, Imogen is a marketing dynamo. Her colleagues don’t know that while her high-achieving professional image is real, the happy childhood stories she spins are as fake as her pretend enthusiasm for Christmas. Working 24/7 has always been her solution to surviving the festive season—until burnout leads to a catastrophic blunder.

Suddenly, Imogen is handed a holiday gift she definitely doesn’t want: enforced time off work to recuperate. Then an invitation arrives from her favorite client, Dorothy, to stay at her guest cottage in the Cotswolds. From the thatched roof to the cozy open fireplace, Holly Cottage is a picture-perfect haven… Can it provide the fresh start Imogen so desperately needs?

For Dorothy, helping Imogen offers a longed-for chance to make reparations for her own past. But as her daughter Sara keeps reminding her, it brings risks, too. Yet Dorothy knows that only a leap of courage will allow her family to grow and heal. And perhaps this Christmas, with Dorothy’s help, the new life that Imogen is slowly piecing together could be better than anything either of them could imagine…"

#bookofthemonth - An Island Summer Jenny Hale

Come holiday season I automatically turn into rom com - Hallmark era where all I want to read is romance novels and watch Hallmark Movies all day long. There is absolutely nothing that makes me smile bigger than the creek, sunshine, and a new summer romance. This one was truly a delight!

"In the summer, everything feels possible… A heartwarming small-town romance about new beginnings, old secrets and how home is truly where the heart is. Fans of Susan Mallery, Pamela Kelley, and Mary Alice Monroe will fall head over heels for this romantic page-turner.

All that Meghan Gray has left of her beloved Pappy is his cottage on the edge of the shimmering Atlantic Ocean. Longing to feel close to her grandfather, she returns to the golden sands of Hatteras Island in the Outer Banks for the summer, clutching the manilla envelope he gifted her tightly in her hand.

On her first night on the sun-drenched island, she meets brooding Toby Meyers, a local businessman. She might feel lost without Pappy, but looking into Toby’s sparkling blue eyes feels like coming home.

The beach house where she spent her childhood is just how she remembers: a shingled bungalow with two rocking chairs on the porch and shutters on the windows. As Meghan strolls along the sand with Toby, breathing in the salty air, she realizes she is making new memories…

When Meghan opens the envelope, she finds a black-and-white photograph of someone she doesn’t recognize. If she can find out its meaning, and why Pappy gave it to her, she’ll unlock a secret that has been hidden for decades. The truth has the power to change everything Meghan and Toby thought they knew about their lives—and it will either bring them together, or break their hearts…"

#bookofthemonth - Long Gone, Come Home Monica Chenault-Kilgore

I picked this book on a whim since my other books were not available in the library. I liked it a lot, its anextraordinary tale of resilience and determination.

"Spanning from the joyous peak of the 1930s jazz era to the Great Depression and civil rights movement, Long Gone, Come Home weaves a poetic tale of love, life, and loss as one woman learns the true meaning of home.

Birdie Jennings dreams of a big life beyond her small town of Mt. Sterling, Kentucky—beyond her mundane job tying tobacco leaves at Wrights Factory, beyond her position as the baby of the family. Her life changes when she meets smooth-talking Jimmy Walker. Jimmy makes big promises for an exciting life together, and Birdie is quickly swept off her feet. But some short years after they marry, Jimmy disappears without a trace, leaving Birdie hurt and alone with their two toddlers. Out of money and out of options, Birdie moves back home with her overbearing mother.

Just as she's settling into her new life, Birdie witnesses a gruesome murder and is urged to flee Mt. Sterling to avoid questioning. With nothing but a borrowed suitcase and a questionable note about a house in Cincinnati promised to Jimmy, she travels to the big city just as she and Jimmy dreamed, determined to put her life back together. Plunged into the bustling jazz scenes of the hottest nightclubs and backwoods juke joints, Birdie learns that finding her place among criminals and saints is tough—but she is tougher. Even when some harsh lessons threaten the life she’s created on her own terms…"

Holiday Reads You Will Not Wanna Put Down

I've never turned pages so quickly kind of books - today I m sharing 5 books I couldn't put down:

Wreck the Halls Tessa Bailey

The Burnout Sophie Kinsella

The Ball at Versailles: A Novel Danielle Steel

Belladonna Adalyn Grace

A Good Girl's Guide to Murder Holly Jackson

What are you reading?

#bookofthemonth - The Whispers Ashley Audrain

Usually, this is not the type of books I read, I m very wrong audience for this BUT it was on a friends Kobo and I needed a book to read. LET ME TELL YOU, it was surprisingly good. Emotional, little dark and twisty.

"From the author of THE PUSH, a pageturner about four suburban families whose lives are changed when the unthinkable happens--and what is lost when good people make unconscionable choices

The Loverlys sit by the hospital bed of their young son who is in a coma after falling from his bedroom window in the middle of the night; his mother, Whitney, will not speak to anyone. Back home, their friends and neighbors are left in shock, each confronting their own role in the events that led up to what happened that terrible night: the warm, altruistic Parks who are the Loverlys' best friends; the young, ambitious Goldsmiths who are struggling to start a family of their own; and the quiet, elderly Portuguese couple who care for their adult son with a developmental disability, and who pass the long days on the front porch, watching their neighbors go about their busy lives.

The story spins out over the course of one week, in the alternating voices of the women in each family as they are forced to face the secrets within the walls of their own homes, and the uncomfortable truths that connect them all to one another. Set against the heartwrenching drama of what will happen to Xavier, who hangs between death and life, or a life changed forever, THE WHISPERS is a novel about what happens when we put our needs ahead of our children's. Exploring the quiet sacrifices of motherhood, the intuitions that we silence, the complexities of our closest friendships, and the danger of envy, this is a novel about the reverberations of life's most difficult decisions."

#bookofthemonth - Lessons in Chemistry Bonnie Garmus

The ratings on this were all over the place but I highly enjoyed it, it was witty and charming.

"Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, Elizabeth Zott would be the first to point out that there is no such thing as an average woman. But it’s the early 1960s and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute takes a very unscientific view of equality. Except for one: Calvin Evans; the lonely, brilliant, Nobel–prize nominated grudge-holder who falls in love with—of all things—her mind. True chemistry results.

But like science, life is unpredictable. Which is why a few years later Elizabeth Zott finds herself not only a single mother, but the reluctant star of America’s most beloved cooking show Supper at Six. Elizabeth’s unusual approach to cooking (“combine one tablespoon acetic acid with a pinch of sodium chloride”) proves revolutionary. But as her following grows, not everyone is happy. Because as it turns out, Elizabeth Zott isn’t just teaching women to cook. She’s daring them to change the status quo.

Laugh-out-loud funny, shrewdly observant, and studded with a dazzling cast of supporting characters, Lessons in Chemistry is as original and vibrant as its protagonist."

5 Best Fall Books to Read for a Cozy Autumn

Fall is just about here and for me that means more reading time, more cozy night by the fire and watching the rain with a good book. Here are five books I m excided about this fall:

The Dutch House - Ann Patchett

The Blonde Identity Ally Carter

Fall of Ruin and Wrath Jennifer L. Armentrout

The Mitford Affair: A Novel Marie Benedict

The Exchange: After The Firm John Grisham

What are you reading this Autumn?

#bookofthemonth - Ink Blood Sister Scribe Emma Törzs

Last few months have been hard; this was the first book I read after I lost my mom. I found myself absorbed in its pages and struggling to pull myself away even to sleep or eat.

"In this spellbinding debut novel, two estranged half-sisters tasked with guarding their family's library of magical books must work together to unravel a deadly secret at the heart of their collection--a tale of familial loyalty and betrayal, and the pursuit of magic and power.

For generations, the Kalotay family has guarded a collection of ancient and rare books. Books that let a person walk through walls or manipulate the elements--books of magic that half-sisters Joanna and Esther have been raised to revere and protect.

All magic comes with a price, though, and for years the sisters have been separated. Esther has fled to a remote base in Antarctica to escape the fate that killed her own mother, and Joanna's isolated herself in their family home in Vermont, devoting her life to the study of these cherished volumes. But after their father dies suddenly while reading a book Joanna has never seen before, the sisters must reunite to preserve their family legacy. In the process, they'll uncover a world of magic far bigger and more dangerous than they ever imagined, and all the secrets their parents kept hidden; secrets that span centuries, continents, and even other libraries . . .

In the great tradition of Ninth House, The Magicians, and Practical Magic, this is a suspenseful and richly atmospheric novel that draws readers into a vast world filled with mystery and magic, romance, and intrigue--and marks the debut of an extraordinary new voice in speculative fiction."

Cookbooks I Have Been Loving Lately

I own a ton of cook books, some are missing pages and super old, some are only used for 2-3 recipes but I am always on a look out for cookbooks and new recipes to try. Here are five cookbooks I liked lately:

Half Baked Harvest Super Simple: More Than 125 Recipes for Instant, Overnight, Meal-Prepped, and Easy Comfort Foods: A Cookbook Tieghan Gerard

Milk Street Fast and Slow: Instant Pot Cooking at the Speed You Need Christopher Kimball

Half Baked Harvest Every Day: Recipes for Balanced, Flexible, Feel-Good Meals Tieghan Gerard

Once Upon a Chef: Weeknight/Weekend: 70 Quick-Fix Weeknight Dinners + 30 Luscious Weekend Recipes: A Cookbook Jennifer Segal

Emily in Paris: The Official Cookbook Kim Laidlaw

#bookofthemonth - Midnight in the Snow by Karen Swan

Okay, I know I am on my third holiday romance book but hear me out... its good, like really good.Sure like most Holiday inspured books and movies this one is rpedictable but that dooenst make it any less worth reading. Its charming, compelling and perfect holiday read

"Award-winning director Clover Phillips is riding high when she encounters Kit Foley; a surfer and snowboarder as well-known for controversy as he is for winning championships.

Involved in an accident that had devastating consequences for a bitter rival, Kit has never spoken about what really happened that day. Determined to find out the truth, Clover heads to the snowy wilderness of the Austrian Alps, sharing a romantic winter wonderland with a man who can’t stand her.

But as she delves deeper, Clover finds herself both drawn to Kit, and even more convinced he’s hiding something. Is Kit Foley really as cold as he seems?"

#bookofthemonth - One More Christmas at the Castle by Trisha Ashley

You need it, read it, and if romance is your game this is a book for you. Its written well, its cute, full of Holiday romance and its all kinds of chmarming. Perfect book to curl up by the fire and read.

"This Christmas will be the most special of them all...

Elderly widow Sabine knows this will be her last Christmas in her beloved home, Mitras Castle. Determined to make it just like the ones she remembers as a child, she employs Dido Jones of Heavenly Houseparties to help with the big day.

Dido is enchanted by the castle as soon as she steps through the imposing front door. And as Christmas day approaches, her feeling of connection to the old house runs deeper than she first thought. But when the snow begins to fall and Sabine's family arrive at the house - including Dido's teenage crush Xan - tensions rise around the castle's future and long-buried mysteries begin to unravel...

As past secrets come to light, can this still be a magical Christmas to remember?"

#bookofthemonth - Baby It's Cold Outside by Emily Bell

Last year I was in zero Christmas mood or spirit but this year I m chnaging that. I picked this book up ad its a Hallmark movie meets your favourite romcom and I loved it. The book alternates time frame and at some points which felt a little clunky but its perfect romance to read during this winter season.

"FATE PULLED THEM APART BUT NOT BEFORE THEY MADE A PROMISE.

TEN CHRISTMASES LATER WILL THEIR WISH COME TRUE . . .

As Norah battles alone, yet again, through the bustling December crowds outside Fortnum & Mason, she hears the first notes of a busker's song that transports her back to the most romantic week of her life.

Laughing under an Italian sky, knowing they had to part, Andrew made her a promise:

If they are both single on Christmas Eve in ten years' time, they will meet under the clock on Grafton Street, Dublin.

Norah has no idea if Andrew will remember, but she has nothing to lose.

So that's where she decides to go. To Dublin. To that clock. Hoping for a Christmas miracle with Andrew.

But it wouldn't be Christmas without a few surprises . . . "

#bookofthemonth - Reminders of Him by Colleen Hoover

I have yet to meet abook by Colleen Hoover that I didnt love. I generaslly dont preorder books but I did this one and it was so good. It was so hard to put down, I found I was bargening with myself to read more.. like clean your kitchen and you get to read 30 more pages. It was emotional and written so well, I hiughly reccomend it.

"After serving five years in prison for a tragic mistake, Kenna Rowan returns to the town where it all went wrong, hoping to reunite with her four-year-old daughter. But the bridges Kenna burned are proving impossible to rebuild. Everyone in her daughter’s life is determined to shut Kenna out, no matter how hard she works to prove herself.

The only person who hasn’t closed the door on her completely is Ledger Ward, a local bar owner and one of the few remaining links to Kenna’s daughter. But if anyone were to discover how Ledger is slowly becoming an important part of Kenna’s life, both would risk losing the trust of everyone important to them.

The two form a connection despite the pressure surrounding them, but as their romance grows, so does the risk. Kenna must find a way to absolve the mistakes of her past in order to build a future out of hope and healing."

#bookofthemonth - Moon Witch, Spider King by Marlon James

Okay, so I did something stupid - read this book out of order. I was like 50 - 100 pages in thinking to myself "What am I missing?". So I went back read the first book and both were so good. The Dark Star Trilogy will unravel the tale of eight mercenaries hired to locate a missing boy; nine years later, the boy is dead and only three mercenaries remain, locked in the dungeon of a dying king awaiting trial for the boy’s death. Each book will take on one perspective—the Tracker, the Moon Witch, and the Boy—and reveal, Rashomon-style, what the previous books got right and wrong about the story.

"In Black Leopard, Red Wolf, Sogolon the Moon Witch proved a worthy adversary to Tracker as they clashed across a mythical African landscape in search of a mysterious boy who disappeared. In Moon Witch, Spider King, Sogolon takes center stage and gives her own account of what happened to the boy, and how she plotted and fought, triumphed and failed as she looked for him. It’s also the story of a century-long feud—seen through the eyes of a 177-year-old witch—that Sogolon had with the Aesi, chancellor to the king. It is said that Aesi works so closely with the king that together they are like the eight limbs of one spider. Aesi’s power is considerable—and deadly. It takes brains and courage to challenge him, which Sogolon does for reasons of her own.

Both a brilliant narrative device—seeing the story told in Black Leopard, Red Wolf from the perspective of an adversary and a woman—as well as a fascinating battle between different versions of empire, Moon Witch, Spider King delves into Sogolon’s world as she fights to tell her own story. Part adventure tale, part chronicle of an indomitable woman who bows to no man, it is a fascinating novel that explores power, personality, and the places where they overlap."

#bookofthemonth - Weather Girl by Rachel Lynn Solomon

I know you guys are thinking "if this chick reccomends one more romnance /chick lit" but I cant help it, they follow me home from the book store. Its light, happy and hopeful - it bring up points about anxiety, depression and the lead charater is gold.

"Ari Abrams has always been fascinated by the weather, and she loves almost everything about her job as a TV meteorologist. Her boss, legendary Seattle weatherwoman Torrance Hale, is too distracted by her tempestuous relationship with her ex-husband, the station’s news director, to give Ari the mentorship she wants. Ari, who runs on sunshine and optimism, is at her wits’ end. The only person who seems to understand how she feels is sweet but reserved sports reporter Russell Barringer.

In the aftermath of a disastrous holiday party, Ari and Russell decide to team up to solve their bosses’ relationship issues. Between secret gifts and double dates, they start nudging their bosses back together. But their well-meaning meddling backfires when the real chemistry builds between Ari and Russell.

Working closely with Russell means allowing him to get to know parts of herself that Ari keeps hidden from everyone. Will he be able to embrace her dark clouds as well as her clear skies??" 

#bookofthemonth - King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo

I was looking for a fun and easy series to read on Summer vacation and picked this up. I read few pages and I was hooked, read most of the first book weeks before my holiday even started. The book is firsten for YA and I love the fantasy world so I enjoyed it a lot.

"The dashing young king, Nikolai Lantsov, has always had a gift for the impossible. No one knows what he endured in his country's bloody civil war--and he intends to keep it that way. Now, as enemies gather at his weakened borders, Nikolai must find a way to refill Ravka's coffers, forge new alliances, and stop a rising threat to the once-great Grisha Army.

Yet with every day a dark magic within him grows stronger, threatening to destroy all he has built. With the help of a young monk and a legendary Grisha general, Nikolai will journey to the places in Ravka where the deepest magic survives to vanquish the terrible legacy inside him. He will risk everything to save his country and himself. But some secrets aren't meant to stay buried--and some wounds aren't meant to heal."