What I’ve Read Lately

This post has been two months in the making, but I finally sat down and put pen to paper (or in my case my fingers to the keyboard?)

You see, since 2022 started, I’ve been so swamped with work and school that I have completely and utterly neglected my goals for the year. I haven’t read as much as I wanted to and I haven’t posted as much as I wanted to. I decided to change that, and here we are two months later – I’m still trying to get my shit together. Since the year started, I’ve read a total of 15books (for context, in a good year I would already be at 25, if not more). But I recently decided to force myself to read, even if it was via audiobook, before and after busy work days, and this has been significant in helping my number go up. I am, at the time of this post, nine books behind schedule in my challenge.

Here are all the books I’ve read in the last two and a half months:

• One Italian Summer by Rebecca Serle
  • I read In Five Years by Rebecca Serle last year and absolutely loved it so I knew I would really love her new book. Her words made me laugh and they made me cry, they even made me ache for the relationship Katy had with her mom. In One Italian Summer, Kate has to live without her best friend. Carol, who was also Katy’s mom, passes away before the mother-daughter trip of a lifetime happened. They had planned two weeks in Positano, Italy, the magical place Carol spent the summer before she met Katy’s father. Katy had been waiting for this trip for years, and now with Carol gone, she has to embark on the adventure alone. As soon as she steps foot on the Amalfi Coast, Katy feels her mom’s spirit, and surrounded by the beautiful, and magical city, Katy begins to feel herself come back alive. That is, until Carol appears, right before her eyes. Her mother is in front of her in the flesh, healthy, sun-tanned, and thirty years old. Katy doesn’t understand what is happening, or how, but she knows that her mother is back. Over the course of her time in Positano, Katy gets to know this version of Carol, not her mother, but as the beautiful, thirty-year-old in front of her. She isn’t what she expected Carol to be, but soon Katy must reconcile the mother who knew everything with the young woman who doesn’t yet have a clue.
• Inheritance (American Royals #0.5) by Katharine McGee
  • I am a HUGE fan of the Royals series and this book really brought me back to the beginning, which I really appreciated. Katharine did a really good job of explaining the events that led up to the first book for us. In Inheritance, we learn that Princess Beatrice realized what is really expected of her as heir apparent—and it is not riding in cars, alone, with her Revere Guard. But what the Crown doesn’t know won’t hurt it…right? Princess Samantha is already bored of her own graduation party. She swears she isn’t looking for trouble, but when the king and queen are away, the spare will play and Nina never dreamed of acting on her feelings for Prince Jefferson. But on that night anything seemed possible: even the idea of a prince and a commoner. Meanwhile, Daphne is hiding more than one secret beneath her perfect exterior. A royal party might just be the window of opportunity she needs—until everything comes crashing down.
• Book Lovers by Emily Henry
  • I love Emily Henry’s books, and I was so excited to read this one. So excited, that I was willing to test out the audiobook “thing” with this particular book! Yes, this was my first audiobook! This book was about Nora Stephens’ whose entire life is about books. She reads them all, but she’s not that type of heroine. You know, the plucky one, she’s not the laidback dream girl or the sweetheart. She can be, for her clients, since she lands them enormous deals as a cutthroat literary agency, and for her beloved little sister Libby. Libby is the reason she agrees to go to Sunshine Falls, North Carolina for an entire month in August when her sister, Libby, begs her for a sister’s trip away. With visions of a small-town transformation for Nora, who she is convinced needs to become a heroine in her own story, but instead of picnics in meadows or run-ins with a handsome country doctor, or bulging-forearmed bartender, Nora keeps bumping into Charlie Lastra, a bookish brooding editor from back in the city. Constantly thrown together, again and again, in a series of coincidences no editor worth their salt would allow, Nora and Charlie, discover something that might unravel the carefully curated stories they’ve written about themselves.
• No Offense (Little Bridge Island #2) by Meg Cabot
  • Meg Cabot has been one of my preferred authors since I was a kid, and I read the first installment of this cute series last year. When I saw the next book available on my Kindle I jumped at the opportunity to read it, and it did not disappoint. The book takes place in Little Bridge, a small and beautiful island in the Florida Keys, which is home to sandy white beaches, lots of margaritas, sunsets, and the potential for new love. This book is about Molly Montgomery, who after a broken engagement, escaped to the Florida Keys for her dream job. Now, as Little Bridge Island Public Library’s head of children’s services, Molly is hoping that the messiest thing in her life will be her sticky-note covered desk. But fate, (per usual) in the form of a newborn left in the restroom, has other ideas. When the sheriff that comes to investigate the “abandonment”, John Hartwell folds all six-feet-three of himself into a tiny chair and insists that whoever left the baby is a criminal. This does not sit well with Molly who begs to differ and asks what he’s doing about the Island’s real crime wave (if thefts of items from homes that have been left unlocked could be called that). John would be pretty irritated if one of his deputies had a desk as disorderly as Molly’s, but it turns out to be a good thing that she doesn’t work for him, considering that he is extremely to her. Molly’s lilting librarian voice makes even the saltiest remarks go down sweeter, which is bad as long as she’s a witness but might be good once the case is solved—provided he hasn’t gotten on her last nerve by then. Recently divorced, John has been having trouble adjusting to single life as well as single parenthood. But something in Molly’s beautiful smile gives John hope that his old life on Little Bridge might suddenly hold a new promise—if only they can get over their differences. 
• The Princess Diarist by Carrie Fisher
  • This one I “read” via Audiobook. I realized, after my first foray into audiobooks, that non-fiction was a better route to take when reading via your ears and not your eyes. I think I liked the book better because of this. This book is about how Carrie Fisher discovered the journals she kept during the filming of the first Star Wars movie. She was astonished to see what they had preserved–plaintive love poems, unbridled musings with youthful naiveté, and a vulnerability that she barely recognized. Before her passing, her fame as an author, actress, and pop-culture icon was indisputable, but in 1977, Carrie Fisher was just a teenager with an all-consuming crush on her costar, Harrison Ford. With these excerpts from her handwritten notebooks, The Princess Diarist is Fisher’s intimate and revealing recollection of what happened on one of the most famous film sets of all time–and what developed behind the scenes. Fisher also ponders the joys and insanity of celebrity, and the absurdity of a life spawned by Hollywood royalty, only to be surpassed by her own outer-space royalty. Laugh-out-loud hilarious and endlessly quotable, The Princess Diarist brims with the candor and introspection of a diary while offering shrewd insight into one of Hollywood’s most beloved stars.
• It Ends with Us (It Ends with Us #1) by Colleen Hoover
  • This was my first ever Colleen Hoover book, and boy was I right to pick this one first! I had been seeing everyone on Instagram post about Colleen Hoover, so I googled which books I should start with and this was one of the options. You can say I’ve been converted. I love her books now, and I’m currently on my fourth one! Now about this masterpiece…The book introduces us to Lily. Lily is someone who has not always had it easy, but that’s never stopped her from working hard for the life she wants. She’s come a long way from the small town in Maine where she grew up— she graduated from college, moved to Boston, and started her own business. So when she feels a spark with a gorgeous neurosurgeon named Ryle Kincaid, everything in Lily’s life suddenly seems almost too good to be true. Next, we are introduced to Ryle. Ryle is assertive, stubborn, and maybe even a little arrogant. He’s also sensitive, brilliant, and has a total soft spot for Lily. And the way he looks in scrubs certainly doesn’t hurt. Lily can’t get him out of her head. But Ryle’s complete aversion to relationships is disturbing. Even as Lily finds herself becoming the exception to his “no dating” rule, she can’t help but wonder what made him that way in the first place. As questions about her new relationship overwhelm her, so do thoughts of Atlas Corrigan — her first love and a link to the past she left behind. He was her kindred spirit, her protector. When Atlas suddenly reappears, everything Lily has built with Ryle is threatened. I learned from this book that sometimes it is the one who loves you who hurts you the most.
• Take Me Apart by Sara Sligar
  • This was my book club pick for the book club at my work. I wasn’t sure I was going to like it at first, but I was pleasantly surprised. It did have moments, where I felt like there was too much going on that really, didn’t need to be, but overall I liked the book. It is a psychological and suspenseful story about a young archivist’s obsession with her subject’s mysterious death which threatens to destroy her fragile grasp on sanity…When the famed photographer Miranda Brand died mysteriously at the height of her career, it sent shock waves through Callinas, California. Decades later, old wounds are reopened when her son, Theo, hires ex-journalist Kate Aitken to create an archive of his mother’s work. From Miranda’s vast maze of personal effects, Kate pieces together a portrait of a vibrant artist buckling under the pressures of ambition, motherhood, and marriage. As the summer progresses, Kate navigates vicious local rumors and her growing attraction to the enigmatic Theo, all while unearthing the shocking details of Miranda’s private life. But Kate has secrets of her own, and when she stumbles across a diary that may finally resolve the mystery of Miranda’s death, her curiosity starts to spiral into a dangerous obsession.
• Rivals (American Royals #3) by Katharine McGee
  • I had been waiting for this book, and boy did it not disappoint. The most disappointing thing, in my opinion, is that now I have to wait two years for book four! Beatrice is now officially queen, and for the American royal family, everything is about to change. Princess Samantha has fallen in love with Lord Marshall Davis—but the more serious they get, the more complicated things become. Is Sam destined to repeat her string of broken relationships…and this time will the broken heart be her own? Nina and Daphne have spent years competing for Prince Jefferson. Now they have something in common: they both want to take down manipulative Lady Gabriella Madison. Can these enemies join forces, or will old rivalries stand in the way?
• Verity by Colleen Hoover
  • This was the second Colleen Hoover book I read, and BOY WAS IT CRAZY. Towards the end, I had so much anxiety trying to figure out what was going to happen that I couldn’t sleep. I ended up finishing the book at 3 in the morning. In Verity, we meet Lowen Ashleigh a struggling writer on the brink of financial ruin who accepts the job offer of a lifetime. We also meet Jeremy Crawford, husband of bestselling author Verity Crawford, who has hired Lowen to complete the remaining books in a successful series his injured wife is unable to finish. Lowen arrives at the Crawford home, ready to sort through years of Verity’s notes and outlines, hoping to find enough material to get her started. What Lowen doesn’t expect to uncover in the chaotic office is an unfinished autobiography Verity never intended for anyone to read. Page after page of bone-chilling admissions, including Verity’s recollection of the night her family was forever altered. Lowen decides to keep the manuscript hidden from Jeremy, knowing its contents could devastate the already grieving father. But as Lowen’s feelings for Jeremy begin to intensify, she recognizes all the ways she could benefit if he were to read his wife’s words. After all, no matter how devoted Jeremy is to his injured wife, a truth this horrifying would make it impossible for him to continue loving her.
• Every Summer After by Carley Fortune
  • I started and finished this book on the same day. I’m so glad I was influenced to buy it because I could not put it down. It was also a nice read after the suspense I felt reading Verity! They say you can never go home again, and for Persephone Fraser, ever since she made the biggest mistake of her life a decade ago, that has felt too true. Instead of glittering summers on the lakeshore of her childhood, she spends them in a stylish apartment in the city, going out with friends, and keeping everyone a safe distance from her heart. Until she receives the call that sends her racing back to Barry’s Bay and into the orbit of Sam Florek—the man she never thought she’d have to live without. For six summers, through hazy afternoons on the water and warm summer nights working in his family’s restaurant and curling up together with books—medical textbooks for him and work-in-progress horror short stories for her—Percy and Sam had been inseparable. Eventually, that friendship turned into something breathtakingly more, before it fell spectacularly apart. When Percy returns to the lake for Sam’s mother’s funeral, their connection is as undeniable as it had always been. But until Percy can confront the decisions she made and the years she’s spent punishing herself for them, they’ll never know whether their love might be bigger than the biggest mistakes of their past.
• Ugly Love by Colleen Hoover
  • This might be my favorite Colleen Hoover to date, but don’t quote me on that. I most definitely ugly cried during this riveting love story. When Tate Collins meets airline pilot Miles Archer, she knows it isn’t love at first sight. They wouldn’t even go so far as to consider themselves friends. The only thing Tate and Miles have in common is an undeniable mutual attraction. Once their desires are out in the open, they realize they have the perfect set-up. He doesn’t want love, she doesn’t have time for love so that just leaves the sex. Their arrangement could be surprisingly seamless, as long as Tate can stick to the only two rules Miles has for her: never ask about the past and don’t expect a future.
• Golden Girl by Elin Hilderbrand
  • I actually just finished this book last night, and I loved it. I’m starting to really like Elin’s books as well, and I’m already adding more of her magic to the list. I really loved the concept of this book…On a perfect June day, Vivian Howe, author of thirteen beach novels and mother of three nearly grown children, is killed in a hit-and-run car accident while jogging near her home on Nantucket. She ascends to the Beyond where she’s assigned to a Person named Martha, who allows Vivi to watch what happens below for one last summer. Vivi also is granted three “nudges” to change the outcome of events on earth, and with her daughter Willa on her third miscarriage, Carson partying until all hours, and Leo currently “off again” with his high-maintenance girlfriend, she’ll have to think carefully where to use them. From the Beyond, Vivi watches “The Chief” Ed Kapenash investigate her death, but her greatest worry is her final book, which contains a secret from her own youth that could be disastrous for her reputation. But when hidden truths come to light, Vivi’s family will have to sort out their past and present mistakes—with or without a nudge of help from above—while Vivi finally lets them grow without her.

I am jumping back into a Colleen Hoover book, starting today, so stay tuned! I’ll post another “what I’ve read” when I knock out (or catch up) more books!