2023 Summer Reads

EEEEKKK!!!! I’m so excited to share some of the books I’ve read over the summer with you! It’s been a long while since I’ve written a book post because I’m always so hot or cold when it comes to reading. I’m either neglecting my family in order to finish a book or I don’t pick up my Kindle for weeks. There’s no middle ground! This summer I’ve read a lot when we were traveling and then other than that, I only read for about 15-30 minutes in bed every night. With that said, I’ve read some AMAZING books you need to read STAT!

Only the Beautiful-Oh my heart! This book gave me all the feels! This book is split into two parts. The first part is about a girl who’s parents and brother die in an accident leaving her an orphan. She’s forced to become the maid for her parents’ employer. I don’t want to share too much about what happens but she has a DIFFICULT life and happens to be connected to the woman who’s covered in part two of the story. The woman in part two is living in Europe during WWII and is a nanny for a large family. I tend to pick up books based on someone’s recommendation without even knowing a thing about the book. That’s exactly what happened with this one and you guys…I’m STILL thinking about this story! It touched my heart in every way possible. START READING IT TODAY!! It’s a heart wrenching story about the difficulties families faced during WWII. And I highly recommend it!

The Five-Star Weekend-I HAD to pick this up while I was visiting Shay and her family on Nantucket. Right? In Hildebrand’s latest, one woman decides to host an amazing weekend with five friends from different stages of her life. {Can you even imagine if you invited five friends from different stages of your life? }. They didn’t all know each other. Some didn’t get along and while the storyline was great, it made it extra special reading about all these locations that are actually places on Nantucket. It was the perfect beach read and if you’re looking for a great chic-lit story {that’s meatier than a Hallmark movie}, this is the one!

These Silent Woods-Once again I picked this up based on a friend’s recommendation and am so glad I did! Almost throughout the entire story we don’t know why a dad and daughter are tucked away hiding in the woods. We learn at the very end of the book what’s happened and my goodness-this was a heart warming story about grace, forgiveness, and receiving gifts you don’t even deserve. Another gem of a book I highly recommend!

Before We Were Innocent-I believe Amazon recommended this one directly due to my love of a thriller. In this novel, two friends are accused and eventually cleared of their third friend’s death. Ten years later one of the girls finds herself in a situation and the other reconnects with her to help. It brings the past right back to the surface. It was just “okay” to me, but I appreciate Amazon’s recommendation. ;). Has anyone else read this one?

Hello Beautiful-Guys, it was a bit of a nod to Little Women with a novel about four sisters and how their lives intertwined. I’d explain this as a family drama type of book that was really good. {But just unfortunately for this one I read some REALLY amazing others the same summer. Odds are if I read it with a different line up of others I might appreciate it more. Know what I mean?}

The Golden Couple-This has been sitting on my kindle for months, but after I downloaded it I never heard any glowing reviews. The “golden couple”, Marissa and Matthew, start seeing a therapist who commits to being able to fix any problem in ten sessions or less. As the therapist meets with the couple more, we get to see more and more layers of this “golden couple”. I enjoyed this thriller but honestly, I thought the end was a bit confusing. If you’re a thriller fan, go ahead and read it! It’s enjoyable and kept me guessing. {Partly because even after reading I was like, huh?}. And then let me know what you think!

Romantic Comedy-You guys probably know I’m not a fan of a really girly chic-lit type of book. If in the first chapter of a book I can tell what guy and girl are eventually ending up together, then I feel like I’m wasting my time reading it. I predicted it in the first chapter. Know what I mean? Romantic Comedy is just that but a bit amped up. This takes place behind the scenes on a Saturday Night Live-ish type show so reading all the back story {which is probably totally made up and very different than SNL} was super interesting. Part of the story took place during the pandemic and I enjoyed that part as well. If you’re into these types of books, then I recommend.

The Light in Hidden Places-And ANOTHER book you’ve gotta read STAT! I realized when I was linking this one for you it’s actually listed as a “Young Adult” book so appropriate for teens as well! This is based on a true story of a teen girl who showed amazing courage and bravery in the throes of WWII. I held my breath as I read, cried at different times, and also held the biggest smile. Friends, you will love this one!

Whew! I’m telling you it’s been a really great summer of book reading for me! What have you been reading? And what do you recommend? I’m already excited about adding some new goodies to my kindle!

XO