First and foremost, I want to wish my favourite book bestie KRISTEN a VERY VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY today!! My reading life would be pretty lonely without having this wonderful person to chat with about books everyday. Make sure you wish her a happy day today if you get the chance!! How lucky is she to have SUYB on her birthday? (It fell on my birthday last year and that was great!!)

Anyway, I’m here to chat books with Steph and Jana and the internet’s best book bloggers today for Show us Your Books!! I’ve had a great start to 2019 in my reading life – no complaints whatsoever!!! I have historically read a lot in January over the past few years and this was no exception – the combination of going out less and colder days/nights really lends itself well to a reading hobby in the winter in Canada 🙂 I also made a big dent in some ARCs from Netgalley such that I have less than 20 books on my Netgalley shelf for the first time in YEARS! Some of those are still outdated so I need to get to them asap, but I’m feeling like it is manageable!!

Harry’s Trees by Jon Cohen
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Oh, how I loved this book. I savoured the first 60% of it and then plowed through the rest in one sitting. This book was magical, emotional, thought-provoking, whimsical, and lyrical. I loved all of it. This book is reminiscent of The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry and A Man Called Ove, but so very much its own book too. What books are to AJ Fikry is what trees are to Harry Crane in this novel – though books and fairytales play very much a part in this captivating story as well. There is also a wonderful little girl in this story for whom it is impossible not to root for. The small-town setting and quirky characters and magical realism component (but not fantasy in any way) really tipped this one into my favourites pile. I can’t recommend it enough – it feels a bit slow paced at the beginning, but stay with it – for me it was worth it!!

A Place for Us by Fatima Farheen Mirza
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book and these characters stirred so many feelings about race, culture, and family. The audio narration was fantastic and I really felt drawn to the story. I had previously tried this and lost interest but once I got to a certain point, I didn’t want to put these characters down. Such a powerful story about the little things that really change a family. This was an eye-opener for me about a Muslim family and the stark differences to my own family upbringing. I highly recommend it – and stay with it, the second half in particular was profoundly wonderful to me.

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

After immensely enjoying The Kite Runner a few years, I intended to read everything else Khaled Hosseini had written but I never quite got around to it. This book was so well done – of course I expected no less, but it was so different from The Kite Runner too and it felt much more conflicted and heart-wrenching. I loved this and all of the emotions that it stirred. So well written and so intense and such a harsh look into this period of time.

An Anonymous Girl by Greer Hendricks
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was quite the thrilling ride!! I felt for the main character throughout this book and I really felt like the plot moved quickly and in unexpected ways. An easy and suspenseful read that left me feeling intense fear for near the end, especially…wow. I need to pick up their first book now! Thank you to Netgalley & St. Martin’s Press for the advanced readers copy of this book.






The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I am uncertain of my feelings about this book. It was unlike anything I’ve read lately, and it was very interesting. It was also supremely confusing and I was both listening to it AND reading it in print/re-referencing parts of it. Maybe this was more me than the book – I read it during a busy week, but wow, I had to read a very detailed summary after I read it to make sure I got it all. (You can find that here, in case you’re interested in doing the same…lol). There were a lot of characters to keep track of, and the magical parts went a bit over my head at times but it was still good – I just don’t think I had the profound love for it that others experienced.
I will pick up the other two in the trilogy because I’ve heard they get even better, which I’m sure is true. This was a great winter book though – I’ll give it that. Their weather was cold and so was mine, so I felt some camaraderie there. Haha.

I Owe You One by Sophie Kinsella
My rating: 3ish of 5 stars

At first, I was not sure if I was going to like this book – I’d heard mixed things and a few of the characters drove me a bit crazy for the majority of the book but I was surprisingly still invested in the family business and the allure of the IOU note. I have to say that it definitely improved a bit and I read this in a day because I do enjoy character development. There were parts of this that I didn’t agree with and didn’t love, but the ending tied it together for me a bit.
Nothing earth-shattering here but this was overall a nice way to pass a cold winter’s day/night – though I’m still not the hugest Kinsella fan and I can’t unequivocally recommend this one.  Thank you to Netgalley and Random House/The Dial Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

 Eyes of Silver, Eyes of Gold by Ellen O’Connell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book had been on TBR for awhile but something about the setting/time period didn’t have me reaching for it in earnest. I really, really enjoyed this though!! Parts of it were SO hard to read – there were a lot of family issues which were likely quite accurate for the time but SO difficult to read about. Some of the characters were TOTAL jerks, but that was what made the story redemptive and interesting too. I loved the main characters and their gumption and their love story. There were also some wonderful events that happened in the book that were so fun to read about – such as the horse race – I LOVED that. I highly recommend if you like historical fiction – this was a slight departure from my preferred regency-era historical fiction, but it was a nice change!!!


The Forgotten Room by Karen White
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I put off reading this book for WAY too long (seriously, Netgalley gave me this book as an ARC in 2015), for no real reason!! This was pretty fascinating though I did find myself a bit confused at times trying to keep the stories/women straight, especially because they were all in historical times (typically I’ve read books set in two time periods in which one is modern and one is historical). I liked this book a lot and was quite invested trying to figure out how all the pieces fit together – which was quite satisfying at the end. Thank you to Netgalley and Penguin Group/Berkley for allowing me to access this book as an advanced readers copy THREE YEARS AGO (sorry!!!!) 

 Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I feel like everyone online has been talking about this book for months and I had never even heard of it, nor did it seem like my preferred genre. Eventually, I couldn’t resist picking it up, and I’m glad I did. This wasn’t easy to read, and a friend described it to me as “lonely”, which I absolutely agree with – there is a lot of sadness and loneliness and hardship in these pages. As it picked up, I definitely flipped the pages quite quickly but I did find it a bit hard to get going with it. Fortunately, I had the benefit of a 7 day loan to push me into picking this up quickly and sticking with it until it got really really good near the end.

Kya’s character and the entire wonderful setting of this book were unbelievable and I enjoyed the cast of (likeable) supporting characters too. Parts of this were overly scientific, unsurprisingly due to the author’s background, but the writing was gorgeous and the plot thickened near the end and really left me with a lot to think about. I definitely recommend checking this one out – it falls in the literary fiction genre IMHO and is so worth your time overall.

Virgil Wander by Leif Enger
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Even though this book took me 4ish months to read, I really did love it. I felt like I hovered around 20% for a month or so and then once I got to about 50% it was much smoother sailing overall. The prose in this book is meant to be savoured though. The language is absolutely beautiful. The characters took a bit to keep track of, but they were so lovely and heartwarming. In some ways, it felt like this book wasn’t *about* very much, because it is very character-development heavy, but I loved it that way. It worked. Thank you to Grove Atlantic and Netgalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. 

 Verity by Colleen Hoover
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Based on a few friends’ reviews of this book, I expected it to be difficult to put down, and that was true. However, this book didn’t make me feel quite as on-edge as I was expecting (a classic problem of book hype for me). It was very captivating, and very intense and I definitely had no idea who to trust or what was going on midway through the book. The end also caused me to drop my jaw. It was emotional throughout and also an interesting set-up. I highly recommend this if you’re looking for something fast-paced that leaves you unsure of what to think throughout and even afterwards.

Hate Notes by Vi Keeland
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book surprised me in the best possible way. It was funny, the characters were awesome, there was a bit of a twist that I didn’t expect, and it had a happy ending overall. What more can you ask for in a contemporary romance?? It was so much better than I thought it would be an it’s on Kindle Unlimited so head over there if you like this genre.

Aside from these books, I also did a deep dive into Lauren Layne’s books this month thanks to KU and Hoopla as well as reading a few other romances from Netgalley that I won’t be reviewing in any detail (one was 2 stars). I re-read Siblings without Rivalry, which is well worth your time if you have more than one child. I am working through Lisa Kleypas’ Ravenels series and will report back on that one next month!! (Loving it so far though). I read the final book in J.T. Geissinger’s Slow Burn trilogy, Ache for You, and I really enjoyed it although it was totally different from the others and there was A LOT going on in the plot.

TL;DR (unsurprisingly, there is a lot here): Please consider reading Harry’s Trees, A Place for Us, and Where the Crawdads Sing. I highly recommend Verity for a book that is impossible to put down. I loved Virgil Wander when I finished it but it took me a long time to get into, so there is that to consider 🙂

What have you been reading lately? My TBR is already pretty long but I am always happy to add to it!!! 🙂 Head on over to the link up to check out some other posts too!! PLUS, check out this readathon this weekend!! It’s a long weekend here, so I will for sure be participating in this and I’m going to set up my stack of books by Thursday!!

Happy December Reading Day!!! I read a wide variety of books this month and I can’t wait to chat about them!! Also looking forward to sharing my top books of the year later this month on Boxing day DEC 26 🙂 Check out the link up with Steph and Jana today and see what everyone’s been reading this month – you might even get some great gift ideas or something to curl up with over the holidays 🙂

Kingdom of the Blind by Louise Penny
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

I loved this, and it is a solid 4.5 stars for me. I didn’t love it QUITE as much as her previous two books, but I think I am just generally a bit more distracted in my reading life at this time of year (mid-December) and it felt easy to put this down at times, which is rare for me when I’m reading this series. That being said, I still really loved this. The world she has built and the characters are phenomenal. The characters absolutely made me laugh out loud several times while reading. The mystery here was interesting as was the leftover stuff from Glass Houses. I NEED the next book now, which is killing me because I am sure it will be at least a year from now…

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

In so many ways, this might be my favourite of the series. It’s serious, but it’s not as intense as the last four (I also adore Goblet of Fire until the end…)
Reading this aloud to my family was such a joy though. I forgot how GOOD this one is. My daughter was dying wanting to know who sent Harry the Firebolt and trying to figure out what was going on with Crookshanks and who the black dog was…her mind was blown at the end and it was difficult to answer some of her questions about the last couple of chapters.
I’d forgotten how great the quidditch is in this book too – the matches were so good and interesting and awesome! I forgot about some of the best characters too who really play big parts in this book.
Reading these first three books this fall to my family has been incredible but I’m resolute in waiting a few years until my 7 year old can handle the last 4 books in the series which are much darker and more complicated.
PS: I read the last 8 chapters of this book in one day and nearly lost my voice. I forgot how intense the ending is – and I totally remember now why I sat in a corner finishing this book in the hours before Y2K at a party with my family instead of “partying” (age 14 ;)).

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book has a lot of fun Harry Potter moments – finding out about Parseltongue, Ginny as a character, the Polyjuice potion, and of course, quidditch and all the interesting classes. Though this has never been my favourite in the series, talking it over with my daughter definitely led me to realize a lot of the foreshadowing that happens in this book for later in the series, and I appreciated that about it! The illustrated copy is gorgeous, of course.

Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed this – I’ve loved all of Moriarty’s books. This one doesn’t take the place of my top book by her (What Alice Forgot) or my most intense reading experience ever, also by her (Big Little Lies)…but it was still very good. I really enjoyed all of the characters and their humanity. It was an interesting premise and quite well written. Definitely a page-turner in a non-traditional way.

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was really intense and creepy and so well done on audio. I definitely had no idea how it would all play out until the end. It was also super weird to be simultaneously listening to this and reading Nine Perfect Strangers at the same time – they are sort of similar in that they both have groups of people thrust together and no one knows what exactly is going on, though one book is a bit more fatal than the other…

The War I Finally Won by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

4.5 stars – I really loved this book. It was almost as good as the first…might even have been better. The narrator, in particular, was fantastic. Ada is such a wonderful character and this was so well written and lovely. (middle grade historical fiction)

Take Me with You by Catherine Ryan Hyde
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I’ve heard this book raved about by a few different people and it never seemed like the right time for me to try it, but I don’t know why I felt that way. This is truly a book for everyone. It was so good. Heartfelt, interesting, and appealing in a way I didn’t expect. It actually did remind me a bit of Pay it Forward (I haven’t read the book yet but the movie, at least). There is some definite sadness and emotion here, but SO much hope.

Fatal Affair by Marie Force
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Wow, this was a fun start to a very long series. This reminds me a bit of James Patterson’s Women’s Murder Club series and a touch of Sandra Brown (without the OMG twist component). Looking forward to continuing with this – if you enjoy police procedural type books with some romance thrown in, this might be a fun one to try.

 Winter in Paradise by Elin Hilderbrand
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Once I got into this book, it began to drive me crazy because it reminded me so much of another book or movie or TV show – I still can’t quite place it, but it was a weird experience! I liked this enough and tore through it pretty quickly – I will for sure continue with the series after the cliff-hanger ending in this first book. (This for sure does not have to be read in the winter unlike her “Winter” quartet which feels more Christmassy and wintery)

Kiss Me at Christmas by Valerie Bowman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was a cute historical romance and I look forward to continuing with some others in the series. It was definitely quite Christmassy at times which was nice too 🙂 Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC. 

Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I listened to this in one day. I really enjoyed a lot of Elizabeth Gilbert’s anecdotes and I found this book inspirational though it might not change my entire life. It definitely inspires me to just give things in my creative life a shot even if I’m not sure how important they will be or how much I’ll “change the world”. I especially loved her story about her Amazon story and Ann Patchett – super fascinating!!! There is a lot here if you have any dreams to be a writer, but I think this could really apply to anyone with some desire to “create” in any way. I find her life generally interesting even though I’ve never read Eat, Pray, Love. 🙂

A few other books I read or am reading this month: Professor Feelgood (loved this one, maybe even more than the first), A Gentleman in Moscow (almost halfway through this), Crenshaw with the kiddos, and Lauren Layne’s books 🙂

TL;DR – I will always and forever recommend Louise Penny’s series – they start to really pick up around A Reason for Murder, imho, but they are best read in order. I know people have started at book 4, fallen in love, and then later gone back – so that’s an option too! 😉 The last 5 or so have been unbelievable. Of course, I recommend Harry Potter especially as a family read-aloud 😉 but for other less obvious choices, I recommend Take Me With You, Nine Perfect Strangers, And Then There were None, and Fatal Affair.

What have you been reading lately?! How are you doing with your 2018 reading goals? I am 11 books away from my goodreads goal of 200 books!!

Wow, so exciting to be celebrating 4 years of Show us Your Books this month!! Though I cannot say I have been here since the beginning, I think it’s been 3 years for me (ish!) I love this link up and this community of readers. Thank you so much for running the link up every month, Steph & Jana!! 🙂

My reading was a bit all-over-the-place this month. A few duds and a few wonderful reads and a few DNFs (which I don’t even bother mentioning really). Here are a few books I read:

Amazing books I am happy to chat about forever:

99 Percent Mine by Sally Thorne
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I am not at all surprised that I loved this book – I adore The Hating Game and I had been anticipating this one for quite some time. I was overjoyed to receive an ARC from Edelweiss and the publisher (thank you SO much!!!) and I read it the same day it came in on my kindle app. The characters were so well done, the story was fun and so readable, and I know I will re-read parts of it for years to come much like I’ve done with The Hating Game.
I particularly really liked Darcy and her personality and loved that she had a twin brother – it was so fun to read about even though they had their ups and downs. If this is your genre of choice, definitely add this to your TBR – comes out Jan 2019 🙂

Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend

I had seen this book compared to Harry Potter by several friends, and I thought for many years that nothing could compare – and truly it can’t, but this is the closest I’ve seen!!! I am so excited about this series. It has some similar characteristics to HP – somewhat neglected 11 year old protagonist, magical worlds, loveable mentor, funny best friend, interesting setting, etc. but it is so different too. I absolutely loved it and cannot WAIT for the second one which comes out this fall!! 🙂 If you are a HP fan, please consider checking this out! If you aren’t, you might not love this as much but maybe someone else in your life will!! 🙂

My Favorite Half-Night Stand by Christina Lauren
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I didn’t want to race through this book in one sitting, but that’s what happened. These characters were SO much fun to read about. I loved the online dating component – that’s how I met my husband though it wasn’t Tinder and it was maybe a bit more like the app in this book. I struggled a bit at times with the female character not being able to express herself, but I understand why she was like that and it was very realistic for her life events. Her group of friends and her career and all of it – just so fun. I love these authors – I haven’t read a book of theirs yet that I did not completely love. I also want to mention that this book was SOOO hilarious at times too and it’s been awhile since a book made me laugh so much. Thank you Netgalley for “granting my wish” with this one!! 

I’d Rather Be Reading: The Delights and Dilemmas of the Reading Life by Anne Bogel
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is the perfect book for book lovers. I intended to savour this, and I will, the next time I  read it, but instead I read it in one sitting. This type of book is not typically my favourite format, but I found myself nodding my head and feeling so well understood throughout all of these essays. SO good. Whether you are a MMD fan or not, this is still very fun to read if you love books. 



Mister Romance by Leisa Rayven
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I saw this recommended in a Facebook group and was honestly not expecting TOO much from it but thought it would pass my time nicely – I ended up loving it. This was a great romantic comedy. I am dying to get my hands on the second in the series and I think I will end up buying it eventually because it’s about her sister and I really enjoyed this author.

Very well done books: 

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I highly doubt that I would have enjoyed this book half as much or I might have DNFed it if I didn’t listen to it on audio. The audiobook was a great companion though – I really enjoyed following this epic family story over the course of decades. It was so sad at times and so hopeful at times too. I knew nothing about this time period in Korea/Japan, so that was very interesting too.

Ghosted by Rosie Walsh
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book reminds me of something else but I can’t quite place it – there is an element to it that is familiar but not quite. Anyway, enough about that – I couldn’t really put this book down. I found it fast-paced and was very curious to see how it would all work out. It’s not really a thriller, and not suspenseful or scary but there is a WTF element so I guess I would maybe classify it a bit as a psychological romance?! I really enjoy books set in Britain and I liked this reading experience quite a bit even if parts of it seemed a bit unbelievable/coincidental.

Less by Andrew Sean Greer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

3.5/5 stars but I would have likely never finished it in print – the audio was quite well done. Not sure that I am the target audience for this book although I did find parts of it absolutely hilarious and other parts very thought-provoking. Certainly well written. The ending definitely redeemed other parts of the story. Reminded me a tiny bit of Ove but on a road trip.

Promises and Primroses by Josi S. Kilpack
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I can’t wait to continue with this series. I loved these characters and this book was so fun to read. I have enjoyed most of the books I’ve read from this publisher, so I was happy to discover a new author via Netgalley.

This book kind of has two separate generational stories going on, and they were both great but I preferred the younger generation. Looking forward to more in this Mayfield series. Thank you Netgalley and Shadow Mountain Press!

 Books I did not 100% fall in love with but you might:

Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

3.5 – I wish I liked this series more. I want to like them because I love J.K. Rowling…..they just take me so long to get through and my attention wanes. This one was certainly better than book 2 which I DNF and now I can read the 4th, which I might try on audio to change it up a bit. Part of what I struggle with while reading these books is the length & detail – just too long for this genre.

Mirage by Somaiya Daud
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

It took me a lot longer than I expected to get through this book, but I still enjoyed it overall. I think it was just at slightly the wrong time (busy busy time of year). Interesting concept, great world building and I will likely continue with the series to see how it all goes. I did enjoy the character development too. If you enjoy YA fantasy, this is a tiny bit similar to Cinder (minus the fairy tale retelling).

Undue Influence: A Persuasion Retelling by Jenny Holiday
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I love Persuasion, so the elements of this that were similar to that made my heart swell. The characters were great. This is not my typical type of romance, but I enjoyed it more than I expected to and I am anxious to read everything she has written now.

I also read TJR’s Evidence of the Affair (not my favourite – I generally hate reading about affairs), America’s Sweethearts (not bad but forgettable overall), and Savor You, which was the conclusion to a contemporary romance that I really really liked.

Currently reading: Stretched Too Thin on audio, The Dream Daughter via Netgalley and Virgil Wander (that one is going to take me awhile…haha).

Linking up with Steph and Jana today for Show us Your Books!! My reading was alllll over the place this month. I am not a person who does a lot of reading on vacation (when I am on a vacation with my children, at least) because I am 100% exhausted all the time and cannot keep my eyes on a page. So that was August in a nutshell, but I got back into it after we got home and here are a few of the books I liked this past month!! 🙂

Josh and Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating by Christina Lauren
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book was exactly what I’ve come to expect from Christina Lauren and it was hilarious, charming, and fun to read. I love their writing and characters 🙂 Hazel was so much fun and I think all of us might wish we could be as much ourselves as she is.

The Secret, Book and Scone Society by Ellery Adams
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book was a fun cozy mystery and the first in a new series although Adams has written tons of other books too. I really liked the friendships that developed in this book and the setting as well as ALL the bookishness! The mystery itself didn’t captivate me as much because I’m more used to fast-paced thriller mysteries, but I still enjoyed this one. All the talk of scones also made me just a little bit hungry…haha.

Lies by T.M. Logan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I had expected this to be quite an intense and wild ride based on the synopsis and I was not wrong. This reminded me a bit of the “ahhh what the heck is going on here?” seen in novels like Gone Girl though it’s completely and totally different. I truly felt for the main character here who was quite naïve but that seemed to suit him well. Highly recommend if you are looking for a fast paced unputdownable psychological book.

Thanks to St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley or the ARC of this book which is being published today.

A Duke by Default by Alyssa Cole
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I think I liked this one a bit more even than the first in this series, partially because I listened to half of it and the audiobook narrator did fantastic accents which made this sooo loveable! I really enjoyed the development of Portia’s character although the ending felt a bit rushed (i.e. with her sister etc). I can’t wait to continue this series because it has been so much fun so far. Plus…helloooo gorgeous covers!!!

The Governess Game by Tessa Dare
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was such a great historical romance, so I need to go back into Tessa Dare’s other works and devour them sometimes. I really liked the first in this series and this one was wonderful too (although I do feel that they sort of stand alone too). I loved the children in this book and the way that Amelia could relate to them. I loved them as a couple. I enjoyed the setting and the glimpses of the other friends from The Duchess Deal. This passed the time very pleasantly overall 🙂

Thank you to Edelweiss and Avon for the ARC of this book. 

Burn for Me by Ilona Andrews
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Kristen has consistently professed her undying love for this author and this series in particular, but it had been on my back burner for awhile this year. Finally I couldn’t resist it any long and I’ve definitely drank the kool aid now. I will absolutely be making my way through the rest of this series asap. The world building is fascinating here, not too intense or difficult to understand, but SO interesting. The characters are SO well done, and I love Nevada as a strong female lead and her family standing behind her. This book really reminds me of something else that I haven’t quite been able to put my finger on yet, but I really, REALLY liked it. This cover basically does nothing to describe the book either, FYI. Alexandra, you will like this series too so get to it!! 🙂

 This Is Day One: A Practical Guide to Leadership That Matters by Drew Dudley
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This wasn’t my first time reading about leadership – but it was certainly the most interesting time. I took entire courses on training and leadership during my Master’s degree, but this whole system is revolutionary, approachable, and applicable to anyone – NOT just CEOs or managers.

Drew Dudley’s fun and conversational tone in this book and his ability to share personal anecdotes and other stories definitely illustrated his message in a unique and highly readable way.

I don’t always turn to non-fiction in my reading life, but I am so happy that I picked this up and I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for some extra motivation to start your own day one and live life to the fullest, regardless of who you are or where you hope to go.

Drew Dudley’s Ted Talk is also excellent and a good place to start if you are wondering if this book is for you. https://www.ted.com/talks/drew_dudley…

Thank you to Netgalley and Hachette Books for the ARC of this book. This book first came onto my radar because he is a friend of a friend – I am so pleased he is getting the recognition he deserves in this field!!!

Tiffany Blues by M.J. Rose
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book sat on my kindle for quite awhile before I got to it. I’m still not really sure what genre to classify it into – I guess historical fiction overall, but not a time period I often read about. It reminded me a bit of Rules of Civility and The Great Gatsby which makes sense because it is set in that time period in New York area. Overall, I really liked this even though it fell a bit flat in some parts. I would recommend it – the whole background of the Tiffanys was very cool and the mystery part was interesting too. 3.5/5 stars.
Thank you to Netgalley and Atria Books for the ARC.

Always and Forever, Lara Jean by Jenny Han
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

After watching To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before on Netflix, I devoured this final book in the trilogy. To me, it wasn’t quite as good as the first two just because it had a different tone, but I understand why and I still loved it. Lara Jean and Peter Kavinsky are some of my favourite characters of all time.

Love and Other Words by Christina Lauren
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book was decidedly less funny than Christina Lauren’s others books I’ve read so far, but I loved it nonetheless. I did have a few minor issues with it, but I loved the closeness of their friendship and the ending completely wrecked me. This was book was intense emotionally but I liked the writing a lot.

Ignore It!: How Selectively Looking the Other Way Can Decrease Behavioral Problems and Increase Parenting Satisfaction by Catherine Pearlman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book came highly recommended from two parents I admire and it has absolutely changed the way I think about parenting. We haven’t succeeded 100% with implementing the ideas presented here yet, but we are working on it. I think it will be a great fit for our family.

This month, I also read Kiss the Girl and I hate you, I Love You which I had received on Netgalley and I didn’t enjoy them enough to write more about them. 

TL;DR: I recommend Lies, Josh & Hazel, the entire Lara Jean trilogy, Burn for Me (if that genre is your thing), Ignore it! if you are looking for some parenting advice, and This is Day One if you like non-fiction with great anecdotes. 

Currently reading: a few books from Netgalley (still working my through a backlog there) including Girls Night Out, Undue Influence, and The Proposal. 

Linking up with Steph and Jana today for Show us Your Books June!! I’m going to try my best to reply to comments via e-mail despite blogger still not EMAILING ME any comments.

Here are some of the books I read in the past month since the last link up. I didn’t share every book here – you can check out my Goodreads for everything I read 🙂

The Heart’s Invisible Furies by John Boyne
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Despite hearing from several trusted bookish friends that this book was incredible, I put off picking it up for quite awhile because it just didn’t sound like my kind of book. I think I actually finally picked it up at EXACTLY the right time though because it held my attention the whole time and I absolutely loved this story.

Cyril’s character was so wonderful. The story of his life was at times heartbreaking to read but there was also so much happiness at times too. Overall, this was such an interesting look at a setting and time period I was completely unaware of, and I appreciated that so much for what it was. One other thing I loved SO much about this book was the way it was written. Often times, an entire chapter would start right in the middle of a different part of Cyril’s life and you could kind of guess or figure out how he got there until it was made obvious. That element was SO much fun as a reader.

This story was highly readable and although it *is* long, I was quite consumed by it, which isn’t always the case with this type of story. There are parts of it that are a bit racy/overly descriptive and a fair amount of swearing/talk about sex but it is all in the frame of a character trying to figure out his sexuality and what to do about it in a country where homosexuality is not accepted.

Send Down the Rain by Charles Martin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book absolutely took me awhile to get into, but at about 30% I was all in and finished the remainder of the book in a day. I think it was because it was a bit unclear at the beginning what (and who) the story was actually about. So if you’re a bit lost at the beginning, forge ahead!!! For some reason (probably the setting and the back-and-forth of the past and present) this book reminded me a tiny bit of Beach Music though it is not nearly the same epic as that one was. Still, the ending of this was superb and the whole storyline was unlike anything I’ve read lately so I really, really liked it. This will certainly not be my last book by this author.  Thank you to Netgalley and Thomas-Nelson publishing for the complimentary advanced readers copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

How Hard Can It Be? by Allison Pearson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It took me way too long to finish this book, but once I really got into it, I really, really liked it. I haven’t read the first Kate Reddy book but this one was hilarious and the parenting/relationship issues were spot-on and very funny. I’m sure this might have been even more funny if you were closer in age to Kate, but I still really related to her dilemmas. I had a bit of a feeling that one of the major plot points was coming, but it didn’t matter in the least because there were a few big surprises and the ending was quite heartwarming. Definitely appreciated the British setting and phrases too 🙂 This would make a great summer read if you like contemporary family type fiction. Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for sending me an ARC of this funny book. 

The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I really loved this one – super fun characters, great pace, great chemistry – loved Stella and her personality and her interesting job. Michael was great too as the male lead – very different from others I’ve read lately, so that was quite refreshing. I listened to this and I think I would have enjoyed it a bit more in print but I *couldn’t* wait that long to get it from the library!! I will absolutely be buying this sometime.

A Princess in Theory by Alyssa Cole
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I loved the characters and the set up of this novel. It was just so fun and different! Such a unique fictional cultural component. I figured a few things out ahead of time while reading this but it didn’t take away from the plot points. Highly recommend this one if you are looking for a bit of a departure from the usual royal romance reads.

The Thing About Love by Julie James
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Well, this was a super enjoyable way to pass an evening. I had forgotten how much I loved FBI fiction. 🙂 This had been on my radar for awhile and a friend mentioned it last week which gave me the nudge to read it immediately. These characters were so much fun – and I really liked their undercover project too. My favourite read from her so far.

You Are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life by Jen Sincero
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Although this book was inspiring at times, there were parts that I totally didn’t agree with. I listened to it and I’m grateful to have the kindle version too so that I can see some of her lists in print.

If you’re looking for a bit of extra motivation to change your life in some small way, this one is a good one to pick up. Just don’t paraphrase parts of it to your husband unless you want him to DREAM BIG and start talking about quitting his day job to follow his dreams. 😉

Listen to Me and Close to You by Kristen Proby
My rating: 3-4 of 5 stars

This might even be 4 stars based on enjoyment. These characters were adorable. I liked the second one a bit better than the first in the series even though both were fun and I will probably continue with it because my library has them all 🙂 Kristen, you will probably like this series!! (and the author’s name! haha) Total fluffy enjoyment perfect for the beach or pool or a random weekend night.

The Start of Something Good by Jennifer Probst
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This passed the time (literally one evening in one sitting) just fine but a friend asked me about it several weeks after I read it and I barely remembered it – so there’s that. It wasn’t bad, but I’ve liked a couple of her other books better.Thank you to Netgalley and Montlake Romance for the ARC of this novel. All opinions expressed here are my own.

The List by Patricia Forde
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This had been on my Netgalley shelf (thank you, Netgalley and Sourcebooks Jabberwocky for the ARC!) for WAY too long (like over a year?!) so when I saw it on audio on Hoopla, I downloaded it immediately. This wasn’t my favourite for this genre but it was definitely a unique concept and I appreciated that about it. It’s about a society in which words are limited to only 500 and Letta is a wordsmith who is responsible for sharing those words with people. It was an easy read and had some interesting ideas, but it fell a bit flat for me overall. Most of all, I am just super in love with the cover…isn’t it gorgeous?

And…the best reading experience I had in the last month was this one with my daughters (All the tears! All the emotion! What an amazing story!!!)

Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Reading this with my children was such a joy, tears at the end and all. I had forgotten what an amazing book this is. Charlotte’s friendship is something that I wish to strive for in my own life. A few favourite quotes:

“Why did you do all this for me?’ he asked. ‘I don’t deserve it. I’ve never done anything for you.’ ‘You have been my friend. That in itself is a tremendous thing. I wove my webs for you because I liked you. After all, what’s a life, anyway? We’re born, we live a little while, we die. A spider’s life can’t help being something of a mess, with all this trapping and eating flies. By helping you, perhaps I was trying to lift up my life a trifle. Heaven knows anyone’s life can stand a little of that.”
― E.B. White, Charlotte’s Web

“It is not often that someone comes along who is a true friend and a good writer. Charlotte was both.”

I also re-read The Royal We this month after watching the royal wedding and THAT WAS LOTS OF FUN!!! :):)

Currently reading: Spin the Golden Light Bulb and Everything I Never Told You <— finding this one a little bit heavy but still good so far.

By the way, I can’t stop talking about how incredible Us Against You is and it came out last week, so if you’ve already read Beartown and enjoyed that, you should definitely consider picking this one up. If you haven’t read Beartown yet, what are you waiting for? 😉 (I know we all have different tastes but these are books I *cannot* stop recommending).