April 1st!!! We can hardly believe it. 2022 is flying by and there are no April Fools jokes around here today, but we do have our latest book club and are excited to share what we read last month.
WHAT WE READ...
CARRIE BETH
First up for me was
Wish You Were Here by Jodi Picoult. Jen told me about this book around Christmas so it's been on my list for a while. I finally got to start on it and immediately got sucked in. The entire book focuses around Covid and it honestly brought back so many memories of those early days when the world shut down, everyone was on lockdown, and no-one knew what to expect. Because a lot of those emotions and experiences are still so fresh in peoples minds I think this book will really hit home with a lot of people. The first half of the story is about a couple who is planning a trip and right before the lockdown the doctor in the relationship has to stay behind to work and the art dealer heads on to the Galapagos Islands. The story follows her experience being in a foreign land when everything is shut down and virtually being cut off from the rest of the world. She was expecting to get engaged on this trip so when her boyfriend sends her emails of his experience back at home in the trenches of the early days of Covid she has a multitude of thoughts and emotions.
Without giving it away I can say that just when I thought I knew how the story is going to play out there is a MAJOR plot twist that completely threw me for a loop. I spent the next few chapters coming to grips with the new reality of the characters.
This book really made me think and brought back a ton of memories from this early days of Covid lockdown. I would definitely recommend it!
The next book for me this month was Run Rose Run by Dolly Parton and James Patterson. I have always had a fascination with Dolly and couldn't wait to see what this book was all about. I listened to it and for me that totally made the story. Many of the characters are narrated by different people, including some big name country music starts including Dolly herself! There was a bit of a mystery tied in to a story of the country music business and Nashville. I found it all very entertaining! If you enjoy country music I think you would love this book!
JEN
Looking back how busy March was, I can't believe how many books I was able to sneak in. Thank goodness for audio books!
First up for the month was
Run Rose Run by Dolly Parton and James Patterson. When I saw that Dolly wrote a book I scooped it right up. I'll give my review in a few weeks because we have something fun we are doing with this one. But, I promise if you go ahead and read it, I won't be mad at you.
Spoiler Alert: It's good! Like really good!
Dolly can do no wrong.
Money. Hidden secrets. Drama. Would I Lie to You? centers around the thought of what people do to fit in and the lengths they are willing to go. Faiza is thrown into a world of wealth and keeping up with the Jones', and in turn has to go to extreme lengths in order to do so. With one simple phone call and life decision, her whole world starts to crumble. The books follows Faiza as she tries to cover her secrets and fix her mistakes without her husband finding out. At first I was not a fan of Faiza and her character annoyed me. But as I read on with the story, I grew to like her more and more. The novel has a beautiful twist to it that makes you appreciate the growth Faiza experiences. I'm not sure what I would categorize this novel as. Maybe dramatic suspense? It's an enjoyable read and one that moves quickly!
Someone suggested this YA novel, and I wish I could remember who to thank them. If He Had Been With Me was a quick read, and while the beginning kind of told you what was going to happen, I couldn't put down the book. It covers young friendship, love, break-ups, angst, depression, family dram and all the other trials and tribulations teens go through during their high school years. The end of the book was a little rushed, but at the same time as readers we had already been told what would happen in the first few pages. Even knowing that though, the ending is a doozy and I was completely wrecked. I'm not sure my emotions could have handled another chapter.
One Italian Summer made me want to eat pasta, drink wine, and book a ticket to Italy ASAP. Okay, when don’t I want to do that?! It’s a beautiful story of a relationship between a mother and daughter, but told in the most unique of ways. Serle’s books always have a magical twist to them, but are told in such a way you feel as if it could be real.Katy’s journey to Italy after the loss of her mother is a soul searching one. With no job, a troubled marriage, and experiencing major grief - Katy realizes she needs some sort of major life change, but does her time in Italy become more transformative than she expected?I loved this story and quickly it’s become one of my favorites I’ve read this year. I also loved reading the letters from the author at the end! I don’t want to do any spoilers, but they lend to a different kind of magic authors sometimes have. Now to dream more about soaking in the sun and eating pizza along the Amalfi Coast …
I loved One Day in December, so when I saw there was a new book by the same author, I instantly added it to my cart. I was expecting a rom-com, but One Night on the Island was so much deeper. And actually, while romance is a portion of the book, the story covers so much more ground.
Two people land on Salvation island for completely different reasons. Unfortunately they end up booking the same cottage, and there's no way to make alternate arrangements. For weeks on end they are forced to live together and neither one is really happy about it.
Slowly over time their friendship builds, and so does their love of the island. I don't want to give anything away, but the island changes their original life paths forever. The ending is not what I was expecting, but was still a beautiful way to end this book.
At times the novel moved a little slow for me, but over all I really enjoyed it.
WHAT'S UP NEXT...
CARRIE BETH
Lucky for me I've got some road trip time planned in the next few weeks so I'm excited to get to work my way through a list of books I've been wanting to tackle for a while.
JEN
I'm kicking off the month with a little something lighter. Spring Break is next week, and I am in the mood for "beach reads".
I loved the first book in this series, and can't wait to dig into Hook Line and Sinker!
WHAT DID YOU READ LAST MONTH? ANYTHING YOU LOVED THAT WE SHOULD PUT ON OUR READING LISTS? SHARE WITH US!
BOOK CLUB 2022
| January | February |
HAPPY READING!
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