1) Elin Hilderbrand who is my age peer but somehow always manages to make me and her middle aged women prIf I want a summer book my go-to options are:
1) Elin Hilderbrand who is my age peer but somehow always manages to make me and her middle aged women protagonists feel dumpy and old.
2) Emily Henry, who writes about people in a completely different stage of life than I am, but who imbues them with such warmth and realism that I can't help but root for them.
Funny Story has romance, sadness, humor, family drama, spicy scenes, wacky friends, books*, and my favorite recurring Emily Henry character of all: summer. We all know how her stories end, and that's okay. Give me the predictable ending as long as I have some sand in my shoes by the end of it.
*but not in the "if you do not read 200 books a year you're merely a dressed-up chimpanzee and not an intelligent human" way that some books about reading tend to be
This was so good it makes me want to go back and dock another star from Happy Place. ...more
I put this book on my work Secret Santa wish list and received it just in time for Sloth Week, which is the week from 12/26 to 1/1 where I don't have I put this book on my work Secret Santa wish list and received it just in time for Sloth Week, which is the week from 12/26 to 1/1 where I don't have to do ANYTHING.
Mae is 26, working at a job she hates, and living with her mother and brother. For her entire life, her family (even her father) spends Christmas in a cabin in Utah with her parents� friends from college and their families. It’s Groundhog Day (movie) meets Hallmark Christmas movie as Mae struggles to make the RIGHT decisions to finally make it through the week at the cabin without having to start over. I had to suspend my disbelief at not just the time travel, but the fact that multi-family friendships like this even still exist.
Three and a half stars rounded up to four. There were too many people in the cabin (skip Aaron, Kyle, and the twins, they are inconsequential) and I think there should have been one more reboot but I’m not complaining. I cried at the end because I am a sap. Read this next Sloth Week....more
Another book set on Nantuck—whaaa? St. John?? Whoa! That’s fine. The temperature has been in the twenties this week so I’m here for island escapism. IAnother book set on Nantuck—whaaa? St. John?? Whoa! That’s fine. The temperature has been in the twenties this week so I’m here for island escapism. Irene Steele’s life is miserable in that lovely privileged way that I seem to enjoy: she’s has quite enough money, her sons are grown and ignore her, her husband is always away on business but knows how to phone it in, her job is phasing her out because she’s in her fifties. AND THEN she gets a call that her husband died when the private helicopter he and his girlfriend were in were struck by lightning in St. John. Turns out he owns a multi-million-dollar hidden love villa with a gorgeous view on an island where everyone is friendly, the food is great, the water is warm, and grief is merely an inconvenience, really.
It has all of the usual Hilderbrand traits (island food, hamfisted expository, miserable privileged people) but it was just what I needed. I will continue with this trilogy and dream of sand and water and the best widowhood ever!
Nina Hill’s mother is a glamorous globetrotting photojournalist. She got pregnant, had the father (who was married at the time) sign away his rights, Nina Hill’s mother is a glamorous globetrotting photojournalist. She got pregnant, had the father (who was married at the time) sign away his rights, hired a nanny for Nina and kept on globetrotting. Nina is adorable, intelligent, and anxious. She works at a bookstore in LA and competes in bar trivia contests. One day, her life changes when a lawyer arrives and informs her that not only has her father died, but she has inherited a large, rich family. There’s also a romantic interest because of course. It’s completely unrealistic and very booksnobby but I enjoyed every page. Four stars, and I was especially tickled by Nina’s planner entries.
Also, this needs to be beamed into the brain of every author who creates a bookish character: NOT EVERY READER IS A HARRY POTTER FAN!!!! For the love of Pete can we stop treating that series like a secret handshake? ...more
The cover and description suggest a very light meetcute romcom book. Our protagonist, January Andrews, is a romance author who is broke and depressed The cover and description suggest a very light meetcute romcom book. Our protagonist, January Andrews, is a romance author who is broke and depressed by recent family events. She is secluding herself in a Michigan beach home for the summer to finish her (unstarted) book before the September 1 deadline. Augustus Everett is the hunk next door, who also happens to be an author of literary (manly) fiction, AND was January’s college crush. He’s struggling to get through his own book. While there were definitely moments of light, humor, and passion, there were some pretty dark parts tucked away in this book. It took me a month to finish because I kept feeling sad whenever January and Gus had a date.
Four stars, would have been five but I think there were so many tiny subgroups of characters that I started wondering why some were even included. Trigger warnings for child abuse, cults, murder by arson. I told you there was a lot!...more
I read a Jennifer Weiner book a while back, thought it was okay. Then Mrs. Everything came out and I heard fantastic things about it and didn’t read iI read a Jennifer Weiner book a while back, thought it was okay. Then Mrs. Everything came out and I heard fantastic things about it and didn’t read it. Then this book came out and I loved the beachy cover so I jumped on it. I read that it was a story about a murder at a beachy wedding. But almost halfway through � no murder.
The first half is about Daphne and how she went from feeling bad about her size to being a body-positive influencer. There are pages and pages of documentation of her struggles with being large and the people who treated her poorly because of it. Including a sad summer with her grandmother which was fleshed out in great detail, when it could have been a sentence or two. Daphne agrees to be in her estranged friend Drue’s wedding. A chunk of time is skipped, and then it’s the wedding weekend and another dozen people abruptly added to the character list.. Finally, FINALLY, the murder happens.
And it was okay. I dutifully read the rest as it unfolded, hmmm-ing and huh-ing at appropriate moments but never feeling truly invested in the outcome.
Also Daphne, despite supposedly being a don’t-judge-by-looks person, judges EVERYBODY she meets by their looks.
Two stars (which doesn’t mean it sucked, just that it was okay) and I’ll go read Mrs. Everything instead and rely on other authors for beach reads....more
I couldn't concentrate on most the book because of fucking Eleanor leaving the goddamn DOG AT THE STORE ALL DAY !(**spoiler alert** (language warning)
I couldn't concentrate on most the book because of fucking Eleanor leaving the goddamn DOG AT THE STORE ALL DAY !(^(*@!^&(! That thrummed in my head the entire time - was that just an oversight that the editor didn't pick up? Nope, it was on purpose.
I'm okay with books where I don't like the main character but all I could think of is how she didn't end up arrested for all of the shit she pulled. Eleanor, Joe, and annoyingly precocious Timby all deserve each other. Yo Yo deserves better. ...more
The famous beach read author tries her hand at a beachy murder mystery. I became a little tired of being flogged with the economic differences betweenThe famous beach read author tries her hand at a beachy murder mystery. I became a little tired of being flogged with the economic differences between Benji’s parents (Tag and Greer) and Celeste’s parents (Bruce and Karen). There was a real romanticization of paycheck-to-paycheck working class families � I could practically hear “Livin� on a Prayer� every time we were treated to Bruce and Karen’s stories.
I ranked it 4 stars at the time I read it in August, but I just changed it to two stars because even though the reveal could have been explosive, the ending was so flat. Oh wellsies, rich people be riching, I guess....more
Sunshine is a farmer’s daughter who moved to the big city with her handsome husband and, homesick for the farm, began to cook her childhood favorites Sunshine is a farmer’s daughter who moved to the big city with her handsome husband and, homesick for the farm, began to cook her childhood favorites on Youtube. She parlayed this into Youtube stardom, a cookbook deal, and a proposal to have a TV show on the Food Network.
Except, she’s not anything that she claims to be. Her secret is exposed and she loses her house, husband, money, prospects � everything. She has no choice but to go back to her actual family in her actual hometown and try to put the pieces back together. The characters were all unlikable but worse, had no depth to them. There’s a “babies/children fix everything!� theme that’s never my thing. I HAAAAAAAAATED the ending. HAAAAAAATED it. There were levels of UGH that ruined what started out as a one-day beach read.
A line from the protagonist: …the way Jersey actually looked pretty from across the river.
I needed a beachy read, and this one sort of delivered. It’s the story of 39-year-old twins who live on Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket, and of courseI needed a beachy read, and this one sort of delivered. It’s the story of 39-year-old twins who live on Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket, and of course they are both very different and of course there are family misunderstandings that cause strife. I didn’t even see a beach until about halfway through the book. Every minor character has a huge backstory. And babies and motherhood fix everything.
I keep reading Hilderbrand’s books because they keep coming up as good beach reads; however, I think I keep picking the wrong ones because they don’t ring my bell like they should. I liked The Island, and I abandoned A Summer Affair. There is a dog in the story. If you’re like me, you’ll want to know if the dog lives. (view spoiler)[Not only does the dog live, but he even ‘narratesâ€� the epilogue! (hide spoiler)]This would have been 2.5 stars, but because Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ only allows full star ratings, it’s a three.
I was yearning for a light read, and I think this book was a dollar. It’s a collection of three short romance stories centered around a magical ChinesI was yearning for a light read, and I think this book was a dollar. It’s a collection of three short romance stories centered around a magical Chinese restaurant in a beach town. It’s established in the first story that the first fortune you receive from the Fortune Cafe’s fortune cookie comes true. Each story was penned by a different author. All of our heroines have strongly present (for better or worse) mothers and love interests who REALLY overstep their boundaries but in a Hallmark movie “Let me fix things� way. I preferred the first and third stories. Three stars, but I probably won’t be continuing the Tangerine Street series unless the future books are a buck or I can get them from the library....more
This is another example of publisher cover/title shenanigans, because there is no bookshop on the corner in this book at all. Jenny Colgan wrote the LThis is another example of publisher cover/title shenanigans, because there is no bookshop on the corner in this book at all. Jenny Colgan wrote the Little Beach Street Bakery books, which I enjoyed. This is her most recent book and I loved it even more!
Nina is a laid-off librarian who decides to buy a van and run a mobile bookstore. She ends up doing just that � in a rural village in Scotland.
THAT MEANS KILTS! I didn’t expect kilts!!!
What I liked best about this book was that instead of Nina having problems that the big, strong, (kilted!!!!) man solves, Nina solves other peoples� problems. That’s nice in a book like this.
Four stars and I want to be Jenny Colgan’s friend. And KILTS!...more
Like the prior book in the series, this is a fluffy, warm, yeasty, sweet read, with a very similar plot.
Just like the first book, Polly loses almost eLike the prior book in the series, this is a fluffy, warm, yeasty, sweet read, with a very similar plot.
Just like the first book, Polly loses almost everything but (after a few dozen pages of moaning) retains her pluck. There is a mean bakery villain, fallout from an adulterous relationship, cute villagers, warm bread, money worries*, a return to America for Huckle and a big storm. Just like the first book.
It was a quick, fluffy read and I'm looking forward to the upcoming book set at Christmastime, where there will be Christmas baking and probably money troubles and maybe a big storm.
*Seriously, Polly and Huckle - get your financial ish together.
tiny Huckle rant: (view spoiler)[If he's such a fan-freaking-tastic business guy who can make money like THAT why does he suddenly lose all ability to do anything once he gets to England? Couldn't he work in London 3 days a week and spend the other 4 with Polly? (hide spoiler)]...more
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