Hello, February! Who's ready for a month full of love? Or at least romance reads?! ;)
Winter seems to be dragging this year. We both have said that at least February has a holiday in it, just so it breaks up the monotony of these endless dreary days. This is the South. Where is the sun???
Complaints aside, at least it makes for some good reading weather. Today is Book Club day and we are sharing what we kicked off a new year of reading with. We'll be honest...our reviews are all over the place for January. As are our genres.
We are both craving finding something we LOVE. Maybe February will sprinkle some of its love magic to our reading piles? If you read something good - share it with us!
WHAT WE READ...
CARRIE BETH
Jen flew through the first half of Wait for You by Jennifer L. Armentrout and told me I had to listen. It was SO good. It was all about the chase, the hard to get girl and the boy who is usually used to getting anyone he wants throwing themselves at him. Cam had to really work for this girl and because they were friends first they both slowly fell in love with each other. It touches on some traumatic situations in Avery's past, which is why she is really slow to open up. The characters felt so relatable. It was emotional and touching, but lots of chemistry and love between the two characters. I loved this book!
Be With Me by Jennifer L. Armentrout was the second in the Wait For You series so I couldn't wait to start on this one. It focuses on one of the supporting characters from Wait For You, and while I read it pretty quickly, I didn't think it was near as good as the original. So much of it seemed far fetched and I felt like every major traumatic life event was thrown into it with a bunch of romance scenes to break those up. I'd 100% read Wait For You and then just pass on this one.
Next up was Maggie Moves On by Lucy Score. This was a cute story about Maggie, a YouTube home renovation star about about hit 1 Million subscribers, and her new hot landscaper that is working on her latest project. It was fun to follow along with the renovation of a historical mansion, but also to see Maggie decide to finally settle down instead of zipping off to her next project.
I should have known what I was getting myself into with Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver, but I decided to still give it a go. It has SO many amazing reviews and of course topped many charts last year. Those books usually aren't my favorites, but for some reason I was drawn to this one. Set in rural Appalachian the story is told by a man who takes readers from his birth to a teenage mother in a single wide trailer to an incredibly hard youth as a foster child, onto teenage years and opioid addition that runs so prevalent in this area and finally to his recovery. I found this story just depressing and sad. I know it is a reality for many people in our country and it did open my eyes to the addiction problem that haunts so many. The characters were so well developed and you felt like you really knew them which made hearing who they lived even harder. It was a very well written book, but just not for me.
My last book of January was Where The Grass Is Green by Lauren Weisberger. You guys know I love Audible, but I actually started reading this physical book back in July. It only took 6 months and two adult only trips to complete it, but I did it! It was actually a really cute story centered around a college admissions scandal! It was pretty fitting since my oldest is talking colleges and applications and SAT tests and all the things. The family who appears to have it all together with a mom who is a powerhouse news anchor will do anything to get her daughter into an Ivy League school, even if it isn't what her daughter really wants. She goes too far and ends up paying for it in many ways. It was a cute story!
JEN
Talk about some heat to keep you warm in Winter. I kept seeing Wait For You all over Tik Tok, so I decided to see what the hype was about. I made it about halfway through in one sitting. And then promptly texted CB to read it too.
Mysterious events (although you can kind of guess what happened), hot neighbor, witty banter, and lots of references to abs, what more can you ask for on a dreary winter day?
It was a quick and easy read and is part of a series. I enjoyed it so much I couldn't wait to dive into the rest of the series. I read the second one, Be With Me, but while it was still spicy, I think the basic story wasn't as good as Wait for You. It was good, but not "great". But it could be that I needed to mix up my genres before digging back into the land of angst and abs.
Next on the list was Too Good To Be True. I read/listened to this one with a friend from my book club, and we both had the same reactions. It's a psychological thriller with a lot of twists and turns, but the end through us and we agreed none of the characters were likable. Like the more they dived into their lives, and made decisions, the more you wanted to throw your hands up and say, "I'm done!".
It's told in multiple time lines from three different POVs. Skye meets Burke on vacation and there's no going back for either of them. Their relationship moves at warp speed, and before they know it they are planning the wedding of their dreams. But shortly after the honeymoon everything begins to unravel and secrets are unveiled. You have to figure out if their love can survive, or if their secrets from their pasts are too much.
For my fourth read of the month, I decided to mix the two genres and throw in a little humor. The Finlay Donovan series has been a joy to read so far, so when I saw a third one released I couldn't wait to listen. (The Audible reader of this series is so good!).
Finlay Donovan Jumps the Gun drops Finlay and her trusty nanny into another round of run-ins with the local mafia/law. This time her nanny is more mixed up a mess than she thought and lands them right into a "cop camp" for a week to see if they can get out of it. A little romance. A little mystery. And a lot of laughs. This series is just plain fun!
WHAT'S UP NEXT...
CARRIE BETH
When I was looking for my next read Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt kept popping up. It topped a lot of lists last year and while at first look the story seems a little far fetched with an octopus as the narrator, I've certainly read weirder things. Hahah! Most reviews say how this is such a heartwarming story and a tear jerker at times, so I'm going to give it a go!
JEN
Deciding to keep it light for the month of love, I'm going to read the rom-com A Guide To Being Friends by Sophie Sullivan. It sounds like the perfect romance read!
