Tag: fiction

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Smells Like Tween Spirit

I have thoroughly enjoyed the entire Class Mom series by Laurie Gelman, and this one was no exception.This first three books were about Jen Dixon’s adventures as class mom for her son Max during his elementary school years, and this one covers her involvement as he moves into middle school and gets into wrestling.

She is also juggling helping her parents as they get older and her adult daughters as they are finding their way in the world, in addition to teaching spin classes and spending time with her adorable granddaughter, all while facing symptoms of perimenopause.

I love Jen’s character so much; she is snarky and fun and truly cares about the people in her life. The situations she finds herself in vary from serious to comical, but she always comes through. I devoured this book in one sitting and found it just as good as the first one.

I would recommend starting with the first book in the series so that you get to know the characters and their stories before getting to this one.

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Wedding at Bella Beach

Wedding at Bella Beach by Kate Wentworth – Bella Beach #7

This is the final full-length book in the Bella Beach series and covers the wedding of Emma Sinclair, who was the main character of the first book. There is a novella about Emma’s daughter Alexis coming out this December called Christmas Wedding at Bella Beach.

This was a fast, feel-good read. It’s probably good that the series is ending because the author spent quite a bit of time making sure we remembered what had happened with each of the characters in the previous books. It did still have some new developments and, of course, there were all the fun things leading up to the wedding.

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The Lonely Hearts Book Club

The Lonely Hearts Book Club by Lucy Gilmore

In small-town Washington, an eclectic group of misfits–spearheaded by young librarian Sloane and curmudgeonly reader Arthur–forms a unique book club that leads to unexpected bonds.

I had enjoyed Gilmore’s more recent book, The Library of Borrowed Hearts, so I decided to go back and read this one. It was a fun read, and I liked the characters and how their relationships develop over the course of the book.

I did have trouble following some of the characters’ feelings and motivations, but I can’t say whether that is because of the writing or because of the way my autistic brain works. The story got easier to follow during the later chapters.

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Every Time You Go Away

Every Time You Go Away by Beth Harbison

Willa Bennett’s husband Ben passed away three years ago while he was up at their beach house to do some work on it. She has not really been living her life since, including not being very present for her teenage son, Jamie. Now she is heading to the beach house to get it ready to sell, hoping it will help her to move on. Once she arrives, she is surprised to encounter her husband’s ghost.

When it turns out there is a lot of work to do before she can sell, she summons her son Jamie, her best friend Kristin, and Kristin’s daughter Kelsey to come for the summer. Even with their company, she continues to see Ben and is even able to talk with him, reminiscing about their life together and how she is dealing with being on her own.

I enjoyed this book so much. The writing was engaging and emotional, with well-developed, relatable characters. The touch of the supernatural was handled very well–I loved the interactions between Willa and Ben. For me, it was a satisfying story about moving through grief and finding healing.

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The Sandy Page Bookshop

The Sandy Page Bookshop by Hannah McKinnon

Leah is fresh out of a job and an engagement, so she moves back to her Cape Cod hometown. Once there, she impulsively decides to rent and renovate a historic home so that she can open a bookshop. A cast of characters forms around her, some of whom we get to know quite well as there are chapters told from their point of view. 

There’s Lucy, a teenager whose older sister has been severely injured in a car accident; Eudora, a widow who has become afraid to leave her home; and Luke, a local woodworker who knew Leah in high school. 

I enjoyed this book very much. The characters are likable and the bookstore is a charming setting. I would definitely recommend this when you are looking for a lighthearted, feel-good read.

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Top Books from the First Half of 2025

I thought it would be fun to look back over the first six months of the year and see what books rose to the top for me.  

Here are my top ten fiction books for the first half of 2025:

  • Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree
  • Ordinary Life: Stories by Elizabeth Berg
  • Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
  • Found in a Bookshop by Stephanie Butland
  • The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
  • More or Less Maddy by Lisa Genova
  • Forever, Interrupted by Taylor Jenkins Reid
  • Bonded in Death by J.D. Robb
  • Lethal Prey by John Sandford
  • The Taste of Ginger by Mansi Shaw

And here are my top 5 nonfiction books:

  • Followers Under 40 by Rachel Gilmore and Kris Sledge
  • Baby Dinosaurs on the Ark? by Janet Kellogg Ray
  • The Color of Compromise by Jemar Tisby
  • How to Fight Racism by Jemar Tisby
  • God and the Gay Christian by Matthew Vines

Have you read any of these, and what did you think of them?

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What I Read This Week – August 2nd

I finished three books this week. Here are my super short but sweet reviews!

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After I Do by Taylor Jenkins Reid

I loved the journey this book took me on. I am so glad I started reading her books and that there are still more for me to catch up on! 

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The Nantucket Restaurant by Pamela Kelley

I always enjoy Pamela Kelley, and this was no exception. This was a great, light-hearted read.

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What Happens in Paradise by Elin Hilderbrand

This was okay, kept my interest just enough that I do plan to read the third book in the trilogy hoping for some closure.

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What I Read This Week – July 19th

Three books per week seems to be my sweet spot. Since I have started posting weekly updates, all but one has had three books on it.

Here’s what I finished this week:

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Happiness for Beginners by Katherine Center

I loved this book! The story centers on Helen, who signs up for a wilderness survival course in an attempt to take back her life after a divorce. Although there is a romantic plotline, this book is much more than that, and I felt challenged and inspired by her adventure and the things she learned about life through the experience and the people she met along the way. Highly recommend and now I’m going to watch the movie!

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How to Find Love in a Bookshop by Veronica Henry

This is a charming novel about a woman who tries to keep her dad’s bookshop running after his death. The story goes back and forth between the present day with Emilia and the cast of characters living nearby and the past where we learn how she came to be.

I have to admit there were almost too many characters in this one for me; I kept getting Mia and Emilia mixed up. That could be because I was switching between this physical book and another book on my Kindle app, so I wasn’t giving it my full attention. Also, I have read so many books about bookshops lately that they are starting to blur together. Those things are on me, though, so I would definitely recommend reading this one.

⭐⭐⭐

More Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa

This was a nice follow up to the first book. I liked hearing what was happening with the characters I had grown fond of and even found myself liking the main character’s aunt Momoko better in this one.

What is your favorite book that you have read recently?

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What I Read This Week – July 12th

I finished 3 books this week. It could have been 4, but I kept jumping between 2 different books, so they are both half-finished.

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Incense and Sensibility by Sonali Dev – The Rajes #3

I really enjoyed this one. I felt it had more similarities to Austen than the previous book in the series did, and I loved getting into Yash’s story. I am looking forward to book 4.

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The Lost for Words Bookshop by Stephanie Butland – Lost for Words #1

I actually read the second book in the series before I was aware this one existed, but I don’t think I lost too much by reading them out of order. This book centers on Loveday, who is in the second book but not the main focus. She has had a lot of sadness in her life and the book shows how she struggles to overcome it, flipping back and forth between the past and the present. It has some heavy themes, especially of domestic violence.

⭐⭐⭐💫

Winter in Paradise by Elin Hilderbrand – Paradise #1

Hilderbrand’s books are usually a quick read for me, and this was no exception – I read it in one sitting the other afternoon. I enjoyed this story of a woman whose husband dies but turns out to have had many secrets. It was a fun story, and I am looking forward to reading the rest of the trilogy.

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Focused Reading List

I really enjoyed the #25in2025 challenge that I completed last month; it was a nice way to make sure I read some of the backlist books I had on my TBR. My TBR has grown quite a bit over the last couple of years, and sometimes picking what to read next can be overwhelming. Since I enjoyed that challenge so much, I decided to make myself a focused reading list for the rest of the year.

My focused reading list has 25 books on it. They are all fiction and are all readily available to me, whether through the library/Libby/Hoopla, already on my Kindle, or as a physical book on my shelf. The publication dates range from 2011-2024. I am not limiting myself to these books if there is something else I really want to read, and I am still planning to read one nonfiction book each month.

Here is the list (alphabetical by author):

  • What You Are Looking For Is in the Library by Michiko Aoyama
  • Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldress – Legends & Lattes #0
  • A December to Remember by Jenny Bayliss
  • The Paris Cooking School by Sophie Beaumont
  • The Lost for Words Bookshop by Stephanie Butland
  • Happiness for Beginners by Katherine Center
  • Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare – The Infernal Devices #2
  • Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare – The Infernal Devices #3
  • Incense and Sensibility by Sonali Dev – The Rajes #3
  • The Emma Project by Sonali Dev – The Rajes #4
  • Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett – Emily Wilde #1
  • Yoga Pant Nation by Laurie Gelman – Class Mom #3
  • Smells Like Tween Spirit by Laurie Gelman – Class Mom #4
  • The Lonely Hearts Book Club by Lucy Gilmore
  • How to Stop Time by Matt Haig
  • Every Time You Go Away by Beth Harbison
  • Love, Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood
  • Funny Story by Emily Henry
  • The Bride Test by Helen Hoang – The Kiss Quotient #2
  • Modern Persuasion by Sara Marks – 21st Century Austen #1
  • Loveless by Alice Oseman
  • The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston
  • Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout – Amgash #5
  • The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods
  • More Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa – Days at the Morisaki Bookshop #2

I am really excited about this list and have already started reading some of the books!