It’s Monday, What Are You Reading? Weekly Wrap-Up

It’s been a whirlwind few weeks, I’m finally getting caught up with some of my reading. I’m still on track to meet my 2018 goal of reading 200 books, but as usual I’m going to come in right at the wire. Here is what I’ve completed over the past couple of weeks, what I’m reading now, and what’s up next. If you want to see some other lists, check out The Book Date

This post contains affiliate links, see disclosures for more detail. I voluntarily reviewed complimentary copies of most of these books, all opinions are my own and were not required.

Recent Reads:

The Witch Elm by Tana French, I gave this book 3 stars

About the book:

Toby is a happy-go-lucky charmer who’s dodged a scrape at work and is celebrating with friends when the night takes a turn that will change his life – he surprises two burglars who beat him and leave him for dead. Struggling to recover from his injuries, beginning to understand that he might never be the same man again, he takes refuge at his family’s ancestral home to care for his dying uncle Hugo. Then a skull is found in the trunk of an elm tree in the garden – and as detectives close in, Toby is forced to face the possibility that his past may not be what he has always believed.

My Thoughts: 

I generally really love French’s books, and this one is decent, but not nearly as good as some others.
Oh my word this book took me SO long to get through. The beginning DRAGS on forever and ever. It isn’t until the skull is found that the book picks up pace. Honestly, most of the beginning could have been condensed, and this story could have easily been told in 400 pages (or less) and not sacrificed a thing rather than over 500.
I actually really liked the mystery and how it unfolded, and the ending was really good. I just had to force myself to keep reading and to pick the book back up, I found myself watching tv or playing games on my phone rather than reading, and that’s not really like me.
Glad I read it, but I’m equally glad I’m finished.

Pieces of Her by Karin Slaughter, I gave this book 3 stars

About the Book:

Andrea knows everything about her mother, Laura. She knows she’s spent her whole life in the small beachside town of Belle Isle; she knows she’s never wanted anything more than to live a quiet life as a pillar of the community; she knows she’s never kept a secret in her life. Because we all know our mothers, don’t we?

But all that changes when a trip to the mall explodes into violence and Andrea suddenly sees a completely different side to Laura. Because it turns out that before Laura was Laura, she was someone completely different. For nearly thirty years she’s been hiding from her previous identity, lying low in the hope that no one would ever find her. But now she’s been exposed, and nothing will ever be the same again.

The police want answers and Laura’s innocence is on the line, but she won’t speak to anyone, including her own daughter. Andrea is on a desperate journey following the breadcrumb trail of her mother’s past. And if she can’t uncover the secrets hidden there, there may be no future for either one of them. . . .

My Thoughts:

Engaging read, but different from other Karin Slaughter books that I’ve read in the past. This one is not really a mystery or a crime novel, it’s more an exploration of relationships, particularly between a mother and a daughter. Although some criminal acts take place, the true “meat” of this book deals with relationships and the lengths a mother will go to help her daughter. I liked it, but it wasn’t really want I was expecting.
I didn’t care for Andrea at all, I thought she was way too wimpy, wishy-washy, and unmotivated for the age she was. I liked that she grew up a bit throughout the book, but it didn’t come quickly enough for me.

Who I Am With You by Robin Lee Hatcher, I gave this book 4 stars

About the Book:

Jessica Mason isn’t looking for love when she meets Ridley Chesterfield. Instead she is still reeling from the tragic, unexpected loss of her husband and daughter—and awaiting the arrival of her unborn child. Harboring the secret of her husband’s betrayal, her pain is deeper than anyone knows.

Ridley Chesterfield is hiding out in Hope Springs, Idaho, avoiding a political scandal and the barrage of false media headlines that have tarnished his good name. The last thing Ridley wants is a relationship—but when fate leads Ridley to form a friendship with his reclusive and pregnant neighbor, he wonders if this small-town hideout might be more of a long-term destination. 

When Jessica begins to read her great-grandfather’s Bible, she finds a connection with a man she never knew. Somehow the verses he marked and the words he wrote in the margins open her heart to healing. And as Ridley and Jessica help each other forgive the people who have wronged them, they must decide if the past will define them or if they will choose to love again. 

My Thoughts:

What a beautiful, heartfelt book!
I always enjoy Hatcher’s books, because she has a way of creating characters that are both realistic and relatable, but also can teach subtle lessons about life and overcoming obstacles. 
Jessica and Riley have trials in their backgrounds and their present lives, and the melding of these storylines with those of Jessica’s great-great grandfather Andrew and his life during the Great Depression make for a richer and more meaningful evaluation of those trials. 
This book is only the first in the Legacy of Faith series, and it’s obvious that others in subsequent installments will continue to benefit from Andrew’s Bible passed through the family. The journey of life, reflected through the past, has so much to teach us today–about perseverance, trust, and faith. 
I also appreciated the supporting characters and their humor that balances more serious moments, and who doesn’t appreciate a headstrong dog? 
I look forward to the next book in the series to find out more about Andrew and his family and see how the faith of the past can help shape family through the generations.

The Other Mother by Carol Goodman, I gave this book 3 stars

About the Book:

When Daphne Marist and her infant daughter, Chloe, pull up the gravel drive to the home of Daphne’s new employer, it feels like they’ve entered a whole new world. Tucked in the Catskills, the stone mansion looks like something out of a fairy tale, its lush landscaping hiding the view of the mental asylum just beyond its border. Daphne secured the live-in position using an assumed name and fake credentials, telling no one that she’s on the run from a controlling husband who has threatened to take her daughter away.

Daphne’s new life is a far cry from the one she had in Westchester where, just months before, she and her husband welcomed little Chloe. From the start, Daphne tries to be a good mother, but she’s plagued by dark moods and intrusive thoughts that convince her she’s capable of harming her own daughter. When Daphne is diagnosed with Post Partum Mood Disorder, her downward spiral feels unstoppable—until she meets Laurel Hobbes.

Laurel, who also has a daughter named Chloe, is everything Daphne isn’t: charismatic, sophisticated, fearless. They immediately form an intense friendship, revealing secrets to one another they thought they’d never share. Soon, they start to look alike, dress alike, and talk alike, their lives mirroring one another in strange and disturbing ways. But Daphne realizes only too late that being friends with Laurel will come at a very shocking price—one that will ultimately lead her to that towering mansion in the Catskills where terrifying, long-hidden truths will finally be revealed….

My Thoughts:

This is certainly a twisty book. There are so many twists that my head was spinning. In the end, I liked how everything turned out once “all was revealed”, but it seemed like it took a bit too long to get there.
A few of the things that happened were just so unbelievable that I definitely had to do a suspension of disbelief. Every time I caught myself saying “This could totally never happen!” I told myself to be quiet and keep reading. It took me a lot longer to read than it should have because I kept putting it down to do other things. 
In general, I like Carol Goodman’s books and will continue to read them. She does a great job with the creepy Northeastern woods atmosphere, and since this one includes a mental hospital, that definitely added to the spooky factor.

Two Nights by Kathy Reichs, I gave this book 3 stars

About the Book:

Meet Sunday Night, a woman with physical and psychological scars, and a killer instinct. . . .

Sunnie has spent years running from her past, burying secrets and building a life in which she needs no one and feels nothing. But a girl has gone missing, lost in the chaos of a bomb explosion, and the family needs Sunnie’s help. Is the girl dead? Did someone take her? If she is out there, why doesn’t she want to be found?

It’s time for Sunnie to face her own demons—because they just might lead her to the truth about what really happened all those years ago.

My Thoughts:

This isn’t a terrible book, but it’s definitely not what I expect from Reichs either. It was a fairly straightforward mystery/thriller, with no real surprises. I really missed the forensic details of her other books. 
What I liked about this one: I loved Sunday and her snark. It made the book for me. I liked her paranoia and the measures she took to protect herself and outsmart the bad guys. 
What I didn’t like: The endless rehashing of every detail of the case every time a new character was introduced. Just say “I covered all of the relevant details with Capps” instead of writing it all out again. There was also one plot device that I figured out WAY before it was revealed. It was eh. Just tell us what is going on in the first place.

I will probably read another book in this series if she writes one, because I just loved Sunday.

The White Christmas Inn by Colleen Wright, I gave this book 4 stars

About the Book:

A New England inn seems like the picture-perfect place to spend the holidays. But when a snowstorm shuts the roads and keeps them all inside, the guests find themselves worrying that this Christmas may not be exactly what they dreamed of. 

Molly just needs to keep her head down and finish her latest book, but her writer’s block is crippling. The arrival of Marcus, a handsome widower with two young girls, is exactly the distraction she doesn’t need.

Hannah was hoping for a picturesque winter wedding, but her plans come crashing down when her fiancé calls everything off. She reconnects with her childhood friend, Luke, when he comes to check on his grandmother before the storm.

Jeanne and Tim don’t know how they’re going to keep the inn open another year—or how to bridge the distance between them in their marriage. With a flurry of unexpected guests, they’ll have to work together to fix all the problems that crop up. But will it be enough to rekindle their relationship?

As the characters’ stories intertwine, they start to find hope where they thought it had been lost. With faith, and a little bit of Christmas magic, the inn—and its inhabitants—might just make it through the holidays after all.

My Thoughts:

This book is like a Hallmark Christmas movie in book form–it really would make a great one! I loved the characters and their interplay. It’s such a classic Christmas trope of having everyone snowed in together, but it just works for the sweetness of this story.
And the food descriptions make it all the better. Yum. I want to stay there.
This is the perfect feel-good read for the Christmas season.

The Worst Holiday Ever: A Family Drama Romance Anthology, I gave this book 4 stars

About The Book:

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! OK—scratch that. It’s time for another obligatory family gathering. And nothing spices up the egg nog like bringing your partner home. Surely your belligerent brother-in law, your gimlet-eyed granny and your drunken uncle will keep it classy. With forced proximity and alcoholic beverages, what could possibly go wrong?

Stories and Authors
Decked Out by Eva Moore
A Perfect Fit by Adrienne Bell
Crazy Old Money by Kilby Blades
Stealing Christmas by Kari Lemor
Touched by Fate by Preslaysa Williams
Ringing in the Reefer by Marie Booth
The Thanksgiving Parade From Hell by R.L. Merrill
Thankful in Perdition by Erin St. Charles
Feliz Chanukah! by Meg Bellamy 

This anthology contains stories with numerous romance sub-genres and themes, including: contemporary romance, paranormal romance, LGBTQ romance, #ownvoices, plus-sized heroes, interracial/multicultural families, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Chanukah! Certain stories are for mature audiences.

My Thoughts:

I bought this book because I wanted to read Preslaysa Williams’ story–which is great! I loved how empowering her voice is thought the tale. The author made me root for the main character to discover that perfection is not the key to happiness, that contentment can only come from loving yourself in all of your faults.

I read the other stories because I just can’t leave a book unfinished. They made me chuckle and cringe in equal measure. We all have holiday stories like these that we can relate to, and some of them made me happy that my stories aren’t quite *this* bad! 

Fun book, perfect counter balance to the sometimes overly sweet offerings, this one has a bit of bite but is enjoyable just the same. The only problem I had was that I know that some of these stories contained characters from ongoing series, and I felt occasionally like I was coming into the middle (even though these stories stand alone) and I didn’t know background that I was supposed to know. That didn’t detract much though, and I still had a good time reading.

Summer at the Garden Cafe by Felicity Hayes-McCoy, I gave this book 3.5 stars

About the Book:

The Garden Café, next to Lissbeg library, is a place where plans are formed and secrets shared, and where, even in high tourist season, people are never too busy to stop for a sandwich and a cup of tea. 

But twenty-one-year-old Jazz—daughter of the town’s librarian Hanna Casey—has a secret she can’t share. Still recovering from a car accident, and reeling from her father’s disclosures about his long-time affair, she’s taken a job at The Old Forge guesthouse, and begun to develop feelings for a man who’s strictly off-limits.

Meanwhile, involved in her own new affair with architect Brian Morton, Hanna is unaware of the turmoil in Jazz’s life—until her manipulative ex-husband, Malcom, reappears trying to mend his relationship with their daughter. Rebuffed at every turn, Malcolm must return to London, but his mother, Louisa, is on the case. Unbeknown to the rest of the family, she hatches a plan, finding an unlikely ally in Hanna’s mother, the opinionated Mary Casey.

Watching Jazz unravel, Hanna begins to wonder if secrets which Malcolm has forced her to keep may have harmed their beloved daughter more than she’d realized. But then, the Casey women are no strangers to secrets, something Hanna realizes when she discovers a journal, long buried in land she inherited from her great-aunt Maggie. Ultimately, it’s the painful lessons of the past that offer a way to the future, but it will take the shared experiences of four generations of women to find a way forward for Hanna and her family.

My Thoughts:

Sweet sequel to The Library at the Edge of the World. I liked getting caught up with the characters and finding out what happened to them. The story feels very complete to me now, everyone has started on a positive path to the future, despite misunderstandings and personal trials. 
The parts about the library book club made me laugh out loud, because it’s so incredibly typical of a book club to either go off the rails about some small detail, or get fixated on the cover, etc. It is just hilarious because it’s so realistic and made me realize that all book clubs are the same.

Dead Girl Running by Christina Dodd, I gave this book 3 stars

About the Book:

I have three confessions to make:
1. I’ve got the scar of a gunshot on my forehead.
2. I don’t remember an entire year of my life.
3. My name is Kellen Adams…and that’s half a lie.

Girl running…from a year she can’t remember, from a husband she prays is dead, from homelessness and fear. Tough, capable Kellen Adams takes a job as assistant manager of a remote vacation resort on the North Pacific Coast. There amid the towering storms and the lashing waves, she hopes to find sanctuary. But when she discovers a woman’s dead and mutilated body, she’s soon trying to keep her own secrets while investigating first one murder…then another. 

Now every guest and employee is a suspect. Every friendly face a mask. Every kind word a lie. Kellen’s driven to defend her job, her friends and the place she’s come to call home. Yet she wonders–with the scar of a gunshot on her forehead and amnesia that leaves her unsure of her own past–could the killer be staring her in the face?

My Thoughts:

This book had a lot of promise, and overall the mystery was fairly good. There were a couple of things that didn’t work for me.
One, there were too many characters. And again with my pet peeve of WHY OH WHY do authors insist on naming characters with similar names? I got Max and Mitch mixed up so many times and that was an important distinction. This book honestly would have worked better as a Lifetime TV movie because of the extensive cast of characters.
Secondly, the romance/sex scenes/flirting/whatever you want to call all of that just did not fit with this book and really pulled me out of the story whenever they came up. 
As a straightforward mystery/suspense/thriller, Dead Girl Running is actually decent. I liked the setup, the suspicion of multiple people, and the way things played out overall with solving what was going on. I just didn’t think the addition of random kisses and the like had any place in the story and felt quite out of sync with the rest of the tale.
I will read more of the series because I liked Kellen and want to see what comes up next.

One Day in December by Josie Silver, I gave this book 2.5 stars

About the Book:

Laurie is pretty sure love at first sight doesn’t exist anywhere but the movies. But then, through a misted-up bus window one snowy December day, she sees a man who she knows instantly is the one. Their eyes meet, there’s a moment of pure magic…and then her bus drives away.

Certain they’re fated to find each other again, Laurie spends a year scanning every bus stop and cafe in London for him. But she doesn’t find him, not when it matters anyway. Instead they “reunite” at a Christmas party, when her best friend Sarah giddily introduces her new boyfriend to Laurie. It’s Jack, the man from the bus. It would be.

What follows for Laurie, Sarah and Jack is ten years of friendship, heartbreak, missed opportunities, roads not taken, and destinies reconsidered. One Day in December is a joyous, heartwarming and immensely moving love story to escape into and a reminder that fate takes inexplicable turns along the route to happiness.

My Thoughts:
I was expecting more from this book seeing that it has been so gushed over lately, and a choice for Reese Witherspoon’s book club. I found it to be ok, fairly predictable.
I wasn’t a huge fan of the Laurie/Jack pairing in the first place. Maybe it’s because I’ve never experienced “love at first sight”, but really who has? Enough to spend an entire YEAR looking for this person you glimpsed for about one minute? And her decision to not tell Sarah that Jack is that guy just didn’t make any sense. This entire book would probably have been eliminated with that one conversation, so I guess it couldn’t happen. 
I felt like this book was trying to be Bridget Jones, but Laurie was just too wishy-washy for so long and not nearly as funny.
I give it an extra half star for the ending bit, which I really enjoyed and thought was fresh and fun. 

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens, I gave this book 5 stars

About the Book:

For years, rumors of the “Marsh Girl” have haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet town on the North Carolina coast. So in late 1969, when handsome Chase Andrews is found dead, the locals immediately suspect Kya Clark, the so-called Marsh Girl. But Kya is not what they say. Sensitive and intelligent, she has survived for years alone in the marsh that she calls home, finding friends in the gulls and lessons in the sand. Then the time comes when she yearns to be touched and loved. When two young men from town become intrigued by her wild beauty, Kya opens herself to a new life–until the unthinkable happens.

My Thoughts:

A rich, resonant novel that will stay with me for a long time. A very unique storyline with characters I really cared about . A mystery that kept me turning pages to see how everything would ultimately shake out. A love story that spans decades. I cannot recommend this book highly enough, it is worth the time to read and savor.

Currently Reading

Sweet Little Lies by Caz Frear

About the Book:

In this gripping debut procedural, a young London policewoman must probe dark secrets buried deep in her own family’s past to solve a murder and a long-ago disappearance.

Your father is a liar. But is he a killer? 
Even liars tell the truth . . . sometimes.

Twenty-six-year-old Cat Kinsella overcame a troubled childhood to become a Detective Constable with the Metropolitan Police Force, but she’s never been able to banish these ghosts. When she’s called to the scene of a murder in Islington, not far from the pub her estranged father still runs, she discovers that Alice Lapaine, a young housewife who didn’t get out much, has been found strangled.

Cat and her team immediately suspect Alice’s husband, until she receives a mysterious phone call that links the victim to Maryanne Doyle, a teenage girl who went missing in Ireland eighteen years earlier. The call raises uneasy memories for Cat—her family met Maryanne while on holiday, right before she vanished. Though she was only a child, Cat knew that her charming but dissolute father wasn’t telling the truth when he denied knowing anything about Maryanne or her disappearance. Did her father do something to the teenage girl all those years ago? Could he have harmed Alice now? And how can you trust a liar even if he might be telling the truth?

Determined to close the two cases, Cat rushes headlong into the investigation, crossing ethical lines and trampling professional codes. But in looking into the past, she might not like what she finds. . . .

Give Me Your Hand by Megan Abbott

About the Book:

You told each other everything. Then she told you too much.
Kit has risen to the top of her profession and is on the brink of achieving everything she wanted. She hasn’t let anything stop her.
But now someone else is standing in her way – Diane. Best friends at seventeen, their shared ambition made them inseparable. Until the day Diane told Kit her secret – the worst thing she’d ever done, the worst thing Kit could imagine – and it blew their friendship apart.
Kit is still the only person who knows what Diane did. And now Diane knows something about Kit that could destroy everything she’s worked so hard for.

Up Next:

Watching You by Lisa Jewell

About the Book:

Melville Heights is one of the nicest neighborhoods in Bristol, England; home to doctors and lawyers and old-money academics. It’s not the sort of place where people are brutally murdered in their own kitchens. But it is the sort of place where everyone has a secret. And everyone is watching you.

As the headmaster credited with turning around the local school, Tom Fitzwilliam is beloved by one and all—including Joey Mullen, his new neighbor, who quickly develops an intense infatuation with this thoroughly charming yet unavailable man. Joey thinks her crush is a secret, but Tom’s teenaged son Freddie—a prodigy with aspirations of becoming a spy for MI5—excels in observing people and has witnessed Joey behaving strangely around his father.

One of Tom’s students, Jenna Tripp, also lives on the same street, and she’s not convinced her teacher is as squeaky clean as he seems. For one thing, he has taken a particular liking to her best friend and fellow classmate, and Jenna’s mother—whose mental health has admittedly been deteriorating in recent years—is convinced that Mr. Fitzwilliam is stalking her.

Meanwhile, twenty years earlier, a schoolgirl writes in her diary, charting her doomed obsession with a handsome young English teacher named Mr. Fitzwilliam…

A Bound Heart by Laura Frantz

About the Book:

Though Magnus MacLeish and Lark MacDougall grew up on the same castle grounds, Magnus is now laird of the great house and the Isle of Kerrera. Lark is but the keeper of his bees and the woman he is hoping will provide a tincture that might help his ailing wife conceive and bear him an heir. But when his wife dies suddenly, Magnus and Lark find themselves caught up in a whirlwind of accusations, expelled from their beloved island, and sold as indentured servants across the Atlantic. Yet even when all hope seems dashed against the rocky coastline of the Virginia colony, it may be that in this New World the two of them could make a new beginning–together.

Have you read anything interesting lately? Have you read any of these books? I’d love to hear your opinions!