Since it is midway through the year, I thought I would give a bit of an update on my reading life so far. I’m ahead of my GoodReads challenge, so I’m pretty excited about that. Two weeks in Belize reading nearly a book every day was productive for my reading life!
I voluntarily reviewed complimentary copies of many of these books, all opinions are my own. This post contains affiliate links, see disclosures for more detail.
2020 Stats as of June 15:
Total Books Read: 102
Five Star Books: 4
Four Star Books: 49
Three Star Books: 38
Two Star Books: 11
One Star Books: 0
I also have zero DNF books and zero re-reads.
Q1: Best Book I’ve Read So Far
The Water Keeper by Charles Martin
About the Book:
Murphy Shepherd is a man with many secrets. He lives alone on an island, tending the grounds of a church with no parishioners, and he’s dedicated his life to rescuing those in peril. But as he mourns the loss of his mentor and friend, Murph himself may be more lost than he realizes.
When he pulls a beautiful woman named Summer out of Florida’s Intracoastal Waterway, Murph’s mission to lay his mentor to rest at the end of the world takes a dangerous turn. Drawn to Summer, and desperate to find her missing daughter, Murph is pulled deeper and deeper into the dark and dangerous world of modern-day slavery.
With help from some unexpected new friends, including a faithful Labrador he plucks from the ocean and an ex-convict named Clay, Murph must race against the clock to locate the girl before he is consumed by the secrets of his past—and the ghosts who tried to bury them.
My Thoughts:
“Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God
Oh, it chases me down, fights ’til I’m found, leaves the ninety-nine”
This song echoed through my head throughout my reading of this novel. The Parable of the Lost Sheep. There are so many parallels between Murph and that overwhelming love of God that seeks us out even when we are the only one who is lost. This is a story within a story within a story. A heart’s cry to love and to open ourselves up to love. Also about Whose we are. And who we are, but one leads to the other.
“We don’t love because people love us back. We love because we can. Because we were made to. Because it’s all we have. Because, at the end of the day, evil can take everything save one thing: your love. And when you come to realize that, that the only thing you really control in this life is your love, you’ll see, maybe for the first time, that we’re all just lost.”
Martin’s writing is stellar, as usual. His way of turning a phrase is exquisite, he puts so much meaning that can both be taken as face value with an exciting story, but also as much deeper and contemplative about life on another level.
Beautiful book with some difficult themes of human trafficking, but well worth the discomfort to find the joy that can be discovered on the other side of the darkness for all of us.
Q2: The Best Sequel I Have Read so Far
When You See Me by Lisa Gardner
About the Book:
FBI Special Agent Kimberly Quincy and Sergeant Detective D. D. Warren have built a task force to follow the digital bread crumbs left behind by deceased serial kidnapper Jacob Ness. When a disturbing piece of evidence is discovered in the hills of Georgia, they bring Flora Dane and true-crime savant Keith Edgar to a small town where something seems to be deeply wrong. What at first looks like a Gothic eeriness soon hardens into something much more sinister…and they discover that for all the evil Jacob committed while alive, his worst secret is still to be revealed. Quincy and DD must summon their considerable skills and experience to crack the most disturbing case of their careers—and Flora must face her own past directly in the hope of saving others.
My Thoughts:
Wow!
A bit of a slow starter–features many of Gardner’s familiar protagonists–Sgt. DD Warren, Special Agent Kimberly Quincy, and former victim Flora Dane. They all come together because newly discovered skeletal remains might be a victim of Jacob Ness, Flora’s former captor. Getting everything set up takes a bit of time, but once this book gets going, it is a thrill ride until the very end.
I love Gardner’s police procedurals and this one is no exception. Although this book stands alone, you will be missing out if you don’t read the books that come before because the characters’ backgrounds and journeys are vast and complicated.
The point of this book isn’t really to figure out “whodunit”, although that is an added bonus, it’s the twists and turns that the story takes to get there that make this author’s books shine.
Q3: New Release That I Haven’t Read Yet, But Want To
The Book of Lost Friends by Lisa Wingate
I love Lisa Wingate’s books, but just haven’t carved out the time to read this one yet. Hopefully will get to it this summer!
About the Book:
Bestselling author Lisa Wingate brings to life startling stories from actual “Lost Friends” advertisements that appeared in Southern newspapers after the Civil War, as newly freed slaves desperately searched for loved ones who had been sold away.
Louisiana, 1875: In the tumultuous era of Reconstruction, three young women set off as unwilling companions on a perilous quest: Hannie, a freed slave; Lavinia, the pampered heir to a now destitute plantation; and Juneau Jane, Lavinia’s Creole half sister. Each carries private wounds and powerful secrets as they head for Texas, following roads rife with vigilantes and soldiers still fighting a war lost a decade before. For Lavinia and Juneau Jane, the journey is one of stolen inheritance and financial desperation, but for Hannie, torn from her mother and siblings before slavery’s end, the pilgrimage west reignites an agonizing question: Could her long-lost family still be out there? Beyond the swamps lie the limitless frontiers of Texas and, improbably, hope.
Louisiana, 1987: For first-year teacher Benedetta Silva, a subsidized job at a poor rural school seems like the ticket to canceling her hefty student debt—until she lands in a tiny, out-of-step Mississippi River town. Augustine, Louisiana, is suspicious of new ideas and new people, and Benny can scarcely comprehend the lives of her poverty-stricken students. But amid the gnarled live oaks and run-down plantation homes lie the century-old history of three young women, a long-ago journey, and a hidden book that could change everything.
Q4: Most Anticipated Release for the Second Half of the Year
All the Devils are Here by Louise Penny
It’s no secret that I adore the Chief Inspector Gamache series, this one is book 16 and releases September 1.
About the Book:
On their first night in Paris, the Gamaches gather as a family for a bistro dinner with Armand’s godfather, the billionaire Stephen Horowitz. Walking home together after the meal, they watch in horror as Stephen is knocked down and critically injured in what Gamache knows is no accident, but a deliberate attempt on the elderly man’s life.
When a strange key is found in Stephen’s possession it sends Armand, his wife Reine-Marie, and his former second-in-command at the Sûreté, Jean-Guy Beauvoir, from the top of the Tour d’Eiffel, to the bowels of the Paris Archives, from luxury hotels to odd, coded, works of art.
It sends them deep into the secrets Armand’s godfather has kept for decades.
A gruesome discovery in Stephen’s Paris apartment makes it clear the secrets are more rancid, the danger far greater and more imminent, than they realized.
Soon the whole family is caught up in a web of lies and deceit. In order to find the truth, Gamache will have to decide whether he can trust his friends, his colleagues, his instincts, his own past. His own family.
For even the City of Light casts long shadows. And in that darkness devils hide.
Q5: Biggest Disappointment So Far
The Jetsetters by Amanda Eyre Ward
This book had so many things that built it up in my mind: Reese Witherspoon chose it as one of her book club picks, it has an adorable cover, it’s about travel, and I have enjoyed books by this author in the past. Unfortunately it just didn’t deliver what I was expecting and was very muddled.
About the Book:
When seventy-year-old Charlotte Perkins submits a sexy essay to the Become a Jetsetter contest, she dreams of reuniting her estranged children: Lee, an almost-famous actress; Cord, a handsome Manhattan venture capitalist who can’t seem to find a partner; and Regan, a harried mother who took it all wrong when Charlotte bought her a Weight Watchers gift certificate for her birthday. Charlotte yearns for the years when her children were young, when she was a single mother who meant everything to them.
When she wins the contest, the family packs their baggage—both literal and figurative—and spends ten days traveling from sun-drenched Athens through glorious Rome to tapas-laden Barcelona on an over-the-top cruise ship, the Splendido Marveloso. As lovers new and old join the adventure, long-buried secrets are revealed and old wounds are reopened, forcing the Perkins family to confront the forces that drove them apart and the defining choices of their lives.
Can four lost adults find the peace they’ve been seeking by reconciling their childhood aches and coming back together?
My Thoughts:
Not sure how to rate this book, some parts are a 2, some are a 3, so I guess I’m rounding down from a 2.5
Overall it is super uneven, the pacing is strange–drags in some parts and then the ending is very abrupt. There are too many POV characters and none of them are explored thoroughly enough to make us root for them. It would have been better to have had Charlotte be the main character and then glimpses at the others through her eyes and then tell the truth. But for Charlotte’s surprising past, she is an ostrich with her head in the sand where it comes to her children and they don’t help matters because they don’t ever confront her or face their own struggles or problems head on with her (or even with themselves for that matter). There are some deep issues here–dealing with a hidden suicide, alcoholism, infidelity, and one character struggling with coming out to the family–yet none of them are handled with the depth that the subjects deserve. Because there are so many characters each issue is touched on but isn’t emotional enough or deep enough to connect with me as a reader.
So much of the book is completely unbelievable, although I did enjoy the descriptions of the tours they took and some of the history described, it again didn’t go far enough to paint a picture and put me in the story. I never “felt” like I was on a cruise or in Europe.
I don’t even know who would really enjoy this–it isn’t light enough to be a fluff read, but it isn’t deep enough to be a real family drama. The cover is cute and the premise is great, too bad the execution of the premise is not as good as it could have been.
Q6: Biggest Surprise of 2020
In High Cotton by Ane Mulligan
I tend to stay away from historical fiction, so when Ane asked if I would read and review this book, I was a bit hesitant. Luckily for me, I was immediately captured by the story and I was very surprised at how much I loved it.
About the Book:
While the rest of the world has been roaring through the 1920s, times are hardscrabble in rural South Georgia. Widow Maggie Parker is barely surviving while raising her young son alone. Then as banks begin to fail, her father-in-law threatens to take her son and sell off her livelihood–the grocery store her husband left her. Can five Southern women band together, using their wisdom and wiles to stop him and survive the Great Depression?
My Thoughts:
I am not generally the biggest historical fiction fan, but this book has so much action and intrigue that it kept me captivated throughout.
Widow Maggie has her share of troubles–mostly instigated by her father-in-law Big Jim. He doesn’t believe she should have inherited the family store from her husband, and doesn’t think she is capable as a woman to run it. There are so many incidents, both frightening and overall disheartening, that Maggie sometimes feels on the verge of giving up. Yet she has to think about supporting her son Barry, and a group of women from the town band together to support each other through their various trials.
I was on the edge of my seat through most of this book. Many incidents come one on top of the other to propel the tension. I was worried for Maggie and her family and friends and kept reading to make sure that everything would turn out all right for them.
There is a subtle but meaningful spiritual thread throughout the book that focuses on trusting God to bring a person through hard times, and that God’s timing is always perfect, even if we think otherwise. And when Maggie has a difficult time with her faith and with trusting God, her friends are there to lift her up and encourage her.
This is a departure from Ane Mulligan’s humorous fiction, but it is still filled with the same small town characters and readers should warm to them and root for a happy ending for all.
Q7: New Favorite Author (Debut or New to You)
Saving Ruby King by Catherine Adel West
I blogged about this book earlier this week, so you can see my thoughts here: Saving Ruby King on Life Fully Booked I will definitely be watching for further books by this author, I was blown away by her debut.
Q8: Newest Fictional Crush
Good Girl, Bad Girl by Michael Robotham
I must admit, I’m not one for crushes on book characters. This prompt gave me the most trouble trying to come up with a response because I just don’t think of characters that way. The one that comes close is the Cyrus Haven character from this new Robotham series. He’s a psychologist who works with the police, but what I like about him is that he has flaws and seems very real.
About the Book:
A girl is discovered hiding in a secret room in the aftermath of a terrible crime. Half-starved and filthy, she won’t tell anyone her name, or her age, or where she came from. Maybe she is twelve, maybe fifteen. She doesn’t appear in any missing persons file, and her DNA can’t be matched to an identity. Six years later, still unidentified, she is living in a secure children’s home with a new name, Evie Cormac. When she initiates a court case demanding the right to be released as an adult, forensic psychologist Cyrus Haven must determine if Evie is ready to go free. But she is unlike anyone he’s ever met—fascinating and dangerous in equal measure. Evie knows when someone is lying, and no one around her is telling the truth.
Meanwhile, Cyrus is called in to investigate the shocking murder of a high school figure-skating champion, Jodie Sheehan, who dies on a lonely footpath close to her home. Pretty and popular, Jodie is portrayed by everyone as the ultimate girl-next-door, but as Cyrus peels back the layers, a secret life emerges—one that Evie Cormac, the girl with no past, knows something about. A man haunted by his own tragic history, Cyrus is caught between the two cases—one girl who needs saving and another who needs justice.
My Thoughts:
Solid book–good mystery with a satisfying conclusion.
I loved the introduction of Cyrus and Evie and will be very interested in the next book(s) in the series to further their relationship and uncover more about Evie’s past. There was just enough revelation in the first book to keep me intrigued to see what will be revealed in the second.
All of the characters in this book are detailed and I found them believable. Their motivations seemed accurate to what real people would experience. I also found Evie’s gift for knowing who is and isn’t telling the truth to be fascinating, and I liked when Cyrus gave it even more nuance by saying that the person might believe they are telling the truth, but it might not be the actual truth.
I look forward to reading book two soon.
Q9: Newest Favorite Character
Queenie Malone’s Paradise Hotel by Ruth Hogan
I just absolutely adored all of the characters in this book. Hogan has such a way with creating characters that I fall in love with and miss when the book is complete.
About the Book:
Tilly was a bright, outgoing little girl who loved fizzy drinks, naughty words, and liked playing with ghosts and matches. When her beloved father suddenly disappeared, she and her fragile, difficult mothermoved into Queenie Malone’s magnificent Paradise Hotel in Brighton, with its endearing and loving family of misfits—including the exuberant and compassionate Queenie herself. But then Tilly was dealt another shattering blow when her mother sent her off to boarding school with little explanation and no warning, and she lost her beloved chosen family.
Now an adult, Tilda has grown into an independent woman still damaged by her mother’s unaccountable cruelty. Wary of people, her only true friend is her dog, Eli. When her estranged mother dies, Tilda returns to Brighton and the home she loved best. With the help of the still-dazzling Queenie, she sets about unraveling the mystery of her exile from The Paradise Hotel, only to discover that her mother was not the woman she thought she knew at all…and that it’s never too late to write your own happy ending.
My Thoughts:
Ruth Hogan is becoming a must-read author for me. Her books are reminiscent of Jenny Colgan with a touch of Sarah Addison Allen’s magical realism. I adored Tilly and her perceptions about life, but I also liked how Tilda discovered more about her past through the eyes of her mother. There are definitely some heartbreaking parts of this novel, but also some surprises because it’s not easy to tell who is real, who is a ghost, or who is somewhere in between. I loved the mother and daughter theme and this book made me think about the choices we make for the sake of love and how those ultimately play out.
I often don’t like books with children because I don’t think they are portrayed accurately for their age, but Hogan hits the nail right on the head with Tilly absolutely perfectly. I anxiously await Hogan’s next book!
Q10: A Book That Made Me Cry
I had to pick two books for this answer, because they both made me cry big tears.
You Were There Too by Colleen Oakley
About the Book:
Mia Graydon’s life looks picket-fence perfect; she has the house, her loving husband, and dreams of starting a family. But she has other dreams too — unexplained, recurring ones starring the same man. Still, she doesn’t think much of them, until a relocation to small-town Pennsylvania brings her face to face with the stranger she has been dreaming about for years. And this man harbors a jaw-dropping secret of his own—he’s been dreaming of her too.
Determined to understand, Mia and this not-so-stranger search for answers. But when diving into their pasts begins to unravel her life in the present, Mia emerges with a single question—what if?
My Thoughts:
I’m gutted.
What a heartbreaking book.
But yet…a beautiful story of love, and loss, and love, and real life.
Usually when I read a book like this, I think “Why don’t they act like a real person would in this situation?” I never said that once about this novel, they all acted exactly like they should, and that is what makes this book so utterly gut-wrenching, because of the stark reality, even in the face of fanciful unexplained circumstances.
I loved Mia and Harrison and Oliver. Tears are still in my eyes.
I wanted a different ending, and yet this was the perfect ending.
Fans of Karma Brown will really like this book.
In Five Years by Rebecca Serle
About the Book:
Where do you see yourself in five years?
Dannie Kohan lives her life by the numbers.
She is nothing like her lifelong best friend—the wild, whimsical, believes-in-fate Bella. Her meticulous planning seems to have paid off after she nails the most important job interview of her career and accepts her boyfriend’s marriage proposal in one fell swoop, falling asleep completely content.
But when she awakens, she’s suddenly in a different apartment, with a different ring on her finger, and beside a very different man. Dannie spends one hour exactly five years in the future before she wakes again in her own home on the brink of midnight—but it is one hour she cannot shake. In Five Years is an unforgettable love story, but it is not the one you’re expecting.
My Thoughts:
What a heartbreakingly perfect book.
All the feels…and lots of tears. Don’t read this in a place where you can’t cry publicly, because you probably will.
I loved all of the characters and miss them already even though I just finished. I also adore the author’s true love for the city of New York and her homage to it in so many ways throughout the book.
Beautifully written and touching.
Q11: Book that Made Me Happy
500 Miles from you by Jenny Colgan
Jenny Colgan’s books make me happy in general. Her Little Beach Street Bakery series, her Cafe by the Sea series and this one, which is the third book in the Bookshop on the Corner series.
About the Book:
Lissa, is a nurse in a gritty, hectic London neighborhood. Always terribly competent and good at keeping it all together, she’s been suffering quietly with PTSD after helping to save the victim of a shocking crime. Her supervisor quietly arranges for Lissa to spend a few months doing a much less demanding job in the little town of Kirrinfeif in the Scottish Highlands, hoping that the change of scenery will help her heal. Lissa will be swapping places with Cormack, an Army veteran who’s Kirrinfeif’s easygoing nurse/paramedic/all-purpose medical man. Lissa’s never experienced small-town life, and Cormack’s never spent more than a day in a big city, but it seems like a swap that would do them both some good.
In London, the gentle Cormack is a fish out of the water; in Kirrinfief, the dynamic Lissa finds it hard to adjust to the quiet. But these two strangers are now in constant contact, taking over each other’s patients, endlessly emailing about anything and everything. Lissa and Cormack discover a new depth of feeling…for their profession and for each other.
But what will happen when Lissa and Cormack finally meet…?
My Thoughts:
This is the third book in the Bookshop on the Shore series, but it can be read as a standalone. However, you’ll miss the wonderful character connections that make Colgan’s books so superb.
I always like returning to a place in a book that I’ve visited before and getting caught up with everyone again–as well getting to know new characters. I really enjoyed both Lissa and Cormac and their adventures both apart and together. Their very real dealings with PTSD, but also the heartwarming connections that both of them learn to make when they are forced outside of their comfort zones.
If you’re looking for a book with great characters, some romance, a bit of humor, and all over good story, then Colgan’s books are definitely ones to pick up.
Q12: Most Beautiful Book You Have Bought or Received
The Fifth Avenue Story Society by Rachel Hauck
What a gorgeous cover! It just invites me right in.
About the Book:
An invitation to join The Fifth Avenue Story Society gives five New York strangers a chance to rewrite their own stories.
Executive assistant Lexa is eager for a much-deserved promotion, but her boss is determined to keep her underemployed.
Literature professor Jett is dealing with a broken heart, as well as a nagging suspicion his literary idol, Gordon Phipps Roth, might be a fraud.
Uber driver Chuck just wants a second chance with his kids.
Aging widower Ed is eager to write the true story of his incredible marriage.
Coral, queen of the cosmetics industry, has broken her engagement and is on the verge of losing her great grandmother’s multimillion-dollar empire.
When all five New Yorkers receive an anonymous, mysterious invitation to the Fifth Avenue Story Society, they suspect they’re victims of a practical joke. No one knows who sent the invitations or why. No one has heard of the literary society. And no one is prepared to reveal their deepest secrets to a roomful of strangers.
Yet curiosity and loneliness bring them back week after week to the old library. And it’s there they discover the stories of their hearts, and the kind of friendship and love that heals their souls.
My Thoughts:
3.5 stars, rounded up
I love Rachel Hauck’s writing style, she draws me into the story and I am captivated until the end. This offering is intriguing, but there are a couple of things that didn’t work that well for me in this novel.
One, you really need to have read The Writing Desk fairly recently (or remember it well) to get the full impact Jett’s storyline. His research into one of the main characters of that book are a major plot point, and I can see how one would be bored during those parts and maybe a bit lost if you haven’t read it. I personally loved that book, but it was a while ago so I needed a refresher. The second thing was that every character had a “big” secret, and I thought some of them were drawn out a bit too long, and their reactions and things they said seemed forced because they were trying to cover those secrets.
Those aside, I grew to really like all of the characters and cheered them on through their various emotional and spiritual journeys. I loved the theme of “the truth shall set you free” and how it manifested itself in many different ways throughout this book.
All in all, a great book from Hauck and worth the time to read it.
Q 13: What Books Do You Need to Read by the End of the Year?
Way, way too many to list. But I’ll put one here, because it’s by one of my most favorite authors and I will buy anything she writes. I’ve been a fan of Fannie Flagg’s books since I read Coming Attractions in 1981 (Later renamed to Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man ) This upcoming book (releases October 2020) is a follow-up to the beloved Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe
The Wonder Boy of Whistle Stop by Fannie Flagg
About the Book:
Bud Threadgoode grew up in the bustling little railroad town of Whistle Stop with his mother, Ruth, church-going and proper, and his Aunt Idgie, the fun-loving hell-raiser. Together they ran the town’s popular Whistle Stop Cafe, known far and wide for its fun and famous fried green tomatoes. And as Bud often said of his childhood to his daughter Ruthie, “How lucky can you get?”
But sadly, as the railroad yards shut down and Whistle Stop became a ghost town, nothing was left but boarded-up buildings and memories of a happier time.
Then one day, Bud decides to take one last trip, just to see what has become of his beloved Whistle Stop. In so doing, he discovers new friends, as well as surprises about Idgie’s life, about Ninny Threadgoode and other beloved Fannie Flagg characters, and about the town itself. He also sets off a series of events, both touching and inspiring, which change his life and the lives of his daughter and many others. Could these events all be just coincidences? Or something else? And can you really go home again?
I’d love to see others’ responses to these questions, feel free to put your URL in the comments!
