Book Club: January

Happy New Year everyone!!! 

2018!! Can you believe it?! 

We feel like we blinked and 2017 was gone. Such an awesome year though, and we are so looking forward to everything on the horizon for 2018!

To kick off the New Year we are doing a jam packed book club post for you. To our fellow readers, we are SO excited. Grab your wine and get ready to chat! 

To our non-readers...it's all good. Snuggle up, grab a cozy blanket, and work through that NYE/New Year's Day football watching hangover by having a glass of wine with the rest of us. 

#hairofthedog

BOOK CLUB BLAST FROM THE PAST

We've been doing our book club posts for three years now, and they are some of our favorites! To check out what we've read in past here's a quick link for you to see our reviews. 

Book Club 2015

Book Club 2016

At the end of the year we always share our top reads of the year - the ones we wish would have continued on forever, made us crave more, and we could read over and over. Here were our favorites from 2016. 

Before we wrap up 2017 and share what we read to close out the year, and share our top picks here's a little look back at what we read...

BOOK CLUB 2017

| January | February | March | April | May | June |July | August | September | October | November | December |

WHAT WE READ LAST MONTH...

CARRIE BETH

December was a blur. I say every year that I'm going to get all of my shopping and holiday planning done ahead of time so that I can just sit by the fire and enjoy the season, but every year December rolls around and it is chaos.  Fun chaos, but still chaos.  From shopping, to Christmas parties, school events and more, there is very little "free time" and no reading time for me.  Maybe next year that will change! 

JEN

I was a bad bad reader last month (for me at least). The month was so busy, and I found very little time to squeeze in my favorite "me time" activity. Part of it was what I read didn't really excite me. I was feeling festive at the beginning of the month, and wanted to soak in all of the holiday things - so I picked a holiday read to kick off the month. 

I grabbed Christmas at Little Beach Street Bakery simply because of its festive cover. I realized after I started it is part of a series. The book was cute, and full of cheeky English style humor (see what I did there?). I loved how it ended, but for me it was a little slow to suck me in. I almost put it down and moved on, but I was glad I stuck with it. 

It took me almost the entire month to find the time to finish it. I forgot the book on a long day trip to Nashville, and by hour three I was regretting not having it with me. I looked up a few things on my Kindle and purchased one of their suggestions. 

I knew from all the holiday chaos, and the not so fun car ride, I would want something cheap and easy. That was exactly what I got with It Had to Be You. It was inexpensive and a super quick read. By hour eight I was already done with it. It is an English style romance novel (apparently I had a theme for the month going and I didn't even know), and had its funny moments. It never fully captured my attention, but the book served it's purpose and I was able to put it to the back of my mind  the moment my feet hit my door step. 

Maybe next month will be a little more exciting? Help me! 

OUR FAVORITES FROM 2017

There are so many great books to choose from this past year, but we had a few that stood out above the rest. These are the ones we stayed up waaaaaay to late to finish, snuck in between taking kids to various activities, and instantly googled to learn if there might be a sequel or something we've missed because we just couldn't get enough. 

CARRIE BETH

Right after Jen told me about It Ends With Us, I downloaded it and read it in a day.  It was the kind of book I just could not put down and could not stop flipping pages until I knew how it ended.  It had been a really long time since I'd read a book that just grabbed me from the first paragraph and had me hanging on every word until it ended and those are the books I just LOVE!

JEN

I read so many great books last year, but a few stood out above the rest. These were the books that I instantly texted my girlfriends and said, "Read this!". I devoured them and instantly wanted more. They are so so good and if you haven't read them I would put them on your reading list immediately.

I kicked off the year with It Ends With Us, and it stuck with me all year long. It touched on so many subjects, and I loved the way it ended. It's one of those books that I couldn't put down, and it made me think long after I did. It's a little graphic, and touches on sensitive subjects, but it's definitely worth a read. 

See my original review of It Ends with Us. 

My second favorite book of the year was Hello, Sunshine.  This book touched on the subject of social media and celebrity and how not everything is always as it seems, and what the costs of popularity sometimes might be...but in a fun and humorous way. I read a few books this year that I loved that spoke about similar subject matter (Fitness Junkie, and My {not so} Perfect Life), but this one stood out just a teensy bit more because I wanted more from the author. I immediately grabbed her previous novel, Eight Hundred Grapes, and loved it just as much. So Hello, Sunshine tops my list for the year. 

See my original review of Hello, Sunshine. 

Okay, Class Mom totally makes the list as my favorite book of the year. Right from the start it grabbed me and it is tears streaming down your face funny. I laughed from the opening paragraph and didn't stop until the very last page. I could totally relate to many sides of the book, and as a fellow "class mom" loved that someone decided to poke a little fun. If you are a parent, grandparent, school volunteer, teacher, or just a living human being who likes a good laugh, I highly recommend put this on your "to read" list ASAP! 

See my original review of Class Mom. 

WHAT'S UP NEXT...

CARRIE BETH

Jen gave me her copy of Class Mom months ago and I still haven't gotten around to reading it, but it is next up on my list and I can't wait to read it and laugh.  Especially because as my kids go back to school tomorrow I'm already busy sending emails and doing things as the class mom for all my kids' classes.  It's just so fitting! 

JEN

To kick off the new year, I'm going with Dan Brown's latest novel, Origin.

I haven't read something like this in a long time, but I loved reading his previous novels in the Robert Langdon series. It's been sitting on my nightstand for a few months, and now I think I'm finally ready to dig in. 

What were some of your favorite books in 2017? What are you reading to kick off the new year? 

Follow along with us on Goodreads!

Happy Reading!

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