July brought about 27 books (some novellas and a mix of audiobooks and paper) to add to this year’s reading list – some really good ones, some okay ones, some informative ones, and a lot of loves stories mixed in!
I’ve decided to change up my posts with a little summaries with what I’ve been reading rather than individual posts. You can always find reviews of books as I read them over on Goodreads.
The Happiness Plan by Susan Mallery: 4 stars | audiobook | stand alone from a series | dysfunctional family, friends, finding oneself, closed door | This is a long awaited follow up from the Blackberry Island series finally telling Heather’s story. You don’t have to read the rest of the series to know what’s going on, but there are a lot of references in Heather’s story to previous books. We are also introduced to a few new friends. Full Review
Wildflower Season (The Carolina Girls #1) by Michelle Major: 4 stars | audiobook | series | friendship, small town, starting over, open door | I saw the 4th or 5th book in this series show up in a Hoopla promotional email and was interested, but I have a hard time starting in the middle of a series, so I went back to book 1 to begin there. It’s set on the North Carolina Coast and is a delightful introduction to a new group of friends beginning with Emma and Cam. Full Review
A Carolina Promise (The Carolina Girls #0.5) by Michelle Major: 4 stars | audiobook | series | romance | The audiobook for book #1 with a sweet novella about Holly and her future husband meeting in her nail salon. It was nice to see the background for that bride! Full Review
Mistletoe Season (The Carolina Girls #2) by Michelle Major: 4 stars | audiobook | series | friendship, small town, finding oneself, open door | When I start a series, I love just continuing on and on. She when I finished book #1, I immediately started book #2 for Anji and Gabe’s story. Full Review
A Carolina Christmas (The Carolina Girls #1.5) by Michelle Major: 4 stars | audiobook | series | Christmas, romance | This little novella was at the end of book #2 on audio, and was a delightful look into another Christmas romance involving a dog, being snowed in, and family with Bella and Sam’s story. Full Review
Wedding Season (The Carolina Girls #3) by Michelle Major: 4 stars | audiobook | series | friendship, second chances, adoption, open door | Right after finishing book #2, I started book #3 for the third friend’s story, Mariella and Alex’s story begins with a lot of hate and anger, but ends up being more than just a romantic partnership. Full Review
Paper Cuts (Secret, Book, and Scone Society #6) by Ellery Adams: 5 stars | hardcover | series | small town, books about books, mystery | This is a super sweet series with a dash of murder thrown in all set in a bookstore! It’s worth the read, but it’s definitely better when read as a series. Full Review
Springtime in Carolina (The Carolina Girls #2.5) by Michelle Major: 4 stars | audiobook | series | friendship, second chances, friends-to-lovers | This novella was at the end of the audio book of #3, so I was delighted to listen. It’s the story of Josie, the resident dance instructor, and Stuart, the bookstore owner, who have been friends for years. Full Review
Insta Kiss (The Insta Series #3) by Jen Atkinson: 5 stars | kindle unlimited | series | workplace romance, chaste love story, enemies-to-lovers | I discovered this series back in the spring and have loved every installment. Beth and Tate were a delight with some fantastic witty banter and a couple of delightful pets, a cute younger brother, and a snappy grandfather! Full Review
The Happy Life of Isadora Bentley by Courtney Walsh: 5 stars | kindle | stand along | finding oneself, childhood trauma, chaste love story, happiness | Isadora is spending her 30th birthday in Aisle 8 (that’s the candy aisle) as a treat – when being judged while checking out she finds a magazine with a list of “31 ways to be happy” which she scoffs at. Now she’s making it her mission to prove this “doctor” wrong … only she finds a whole new way of living in the process. This book is a delight!! Full Review
The Wish List (The Carolina Girls #4) by Michelle Major: 4 stars | audiobook | stand alone from a series | sisters, second chances, Christmas, closed door | We meet a trio of sisters who are all coming back to Magnolia to care for their mother this Thanksgiving and Christmas as she recovers from her stroke. Her mother was a famous feminist author who left her daughters to raise themselves. This was a sweet story that was multi-layered following the three sisters as they come into a new relationship with each other and their mother as adults. Full Review
A Lot Like Christmas (The Carolina Girls #3.5) by Michelle Major: 4 stars | audiobook | series | dysfunctional family, Christmas | Carli has a ton of jobs, all animal related, so she can take care of her father and brother, who are both gambling addicts and ridiculous. But her newest charge, queenie, has taken her heart – and then Mark, queenie’s owner, captures it too! Full Review
The Front Porch Club (The Carolina Girls #5) by Michelle Major: 4 stars | audiobook | stand alone from a series | friends, starting over, grief | This is the final book (that’s out) in The Carolina Girls series. I was delighted to be able to read these all in a row to be introduced to new characters and visit with a few old characters we were introduced to in previous books. Full Review
A Carolina Dance (The Carolina Girls #5.5) by Michelle Major: 4 stars | audiobook | series | new motherhood, second chances | Trinity finally gets her happy ending!! Full Review
The Real Fake Fiancé (Love in Mirror Valley #3) by Sara Jane Woodley: 4 stars | kindle unlimited | series | best friends to lovers, chaste love story, small town | Dee’s boss is coming into town because the dating app she works for has been bought by a larger company. When he tells her he needs some evidence this app actually works, she panics and claims her sister’s love story as her own with her best friend standing in as the partner. Full Review
Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld: 5 stars | hardcover | stand alone | rom com, late night, comedians, pandemic | Anne Vogel put this in her summer reading guide this year and also chose it as one of her book club selections so I decided to read it. Then one of the people whose reads I follow on Goodreads DNF’d it at 42% saying “she just couldn’t care to finish it because it was condescending to romance writers.” I don’t think it’s really about romance writers at all, it’s more like a book about how one person doesn’t really believe in love and then finds it. Full Review
Part of Your World (Part of Your World #1) by Abby Jimenez: 5 stars | hardcover | series | re-read, social status, medicine, open door (slightly) | This is a re-read for me. I put it on hold at the library to read before the new one in the series that came out in April but I just got it, so I decided to read it – and in to late night sessions. Full Review
Meeting at the Altar (Brothers of Lucky Seven Ranch, #3) by Kristine W. Joy: 4 stars | kindle unlimited | series | chaste love story, small town, marriage of convenience | Finally Bailey gets her second chance with Sawyer when they meet at the altar of the “blind date marriage” they signed up for on a reality dating show. It was nice to see the other two brothers and their relationships and get caught up with them! Full Review
Hey Hun: Sales, Sisterhood, Supremacy, and Other Lies Behind Multilevel Marketing by Emily Lynn Paulson: 4 stars | arc via NetGalley | memoir | multilevel marketing, personal story | I am quite intrigued about the inside workings of MLMs and really appreciated reading Emily’s experience at the top of the pyramid. She dissects the ways in which MLMs manipulate women to keep them involved and thinking they’re actually doing something good. This was an intriguing look inside the system. Full Review
Dedicated to the One I Love by Beth K. Vogt: 4 stars | kindle unlimited | stand alone | chaste love story, writers, partnership, epistolary | I was intrigued by this cover and delighted to read their writing back and forth and then meet realizing they aren’t quite who they thought the other one was. Full Review
The Sweetheart List (Sunrise Cove #4) by Jill Shalvis: 5 stars | hardcover | stand alone from a series | closed door, birth parents, starting over | I’ve been loving this series so I was delighted to go back to Sunrise Cove – although almost no one from those previous books makes an appearance (or at least I didn’t remember them and therefore didn’t catch it). There’s a beautiful story of Ivy finding her birth father and him responding so well! Full Review
Hello Stranger by Katherine Center: 5 stars | hardcover | stand alone | closed door, face blindness, mistaken identity | Katherine Center is a default read for me and so I was delighted by this arc earlier this year. I decided to reward myself with a re-read on a quick 2 day trip to Indiana this week and was not disappointed. Full Review
Greenlights by Matthew McConauhey: 3 stars | audiobook | celebrity memoir | small town life, actor, wisdom | I picked this up on Hoopla because it was available and I needed another book to listen to – and I do appreciate a celebrity memoir read by the author. I had to listen at 1.0 speed though (which I never do) because of the heaviness of his accent. Full Review
Hedging your Bets by Jayne Denker: 4 stars | eGalley | stand alone | small town, romance, open door | I received this from NetGalley last week because I reviewed her earlier book. It doesn’t come out until next January – was a delightful stand alone that can also be seen as a follow up to her earlier work. Full Review
Happy Place by Emily Henry: 5 stars | hardcover | stand alone | second chance, friendship, Maine | I’ve been a big fan of Emily Henry’s adult fiction that’s come out these last 4 years. This one is set in Maine at Harriet’s Happy Place where she’s going on last time because the rest of her life is falling apart. Full Review
Love in the Time of Serial Killers by Alicia Thompson: 4 stars | paperback | stand alone | true crime, academia, open door, grief | I got this from a Goodreads giveaway a few months back after seeing that a reader whose taste I like loved it. It’s right in my wheelhouse of reads. Full Review
The Magnolia Sisters (The Magnolia Sisters #1) by Michelle Major: 4 stars | audiobook | series | small town, sisters, single parents, open door | I was delighted to find another series set in the fictional town of Magnolia – this one takes place prior to the series I read earlier this month that started with The Wildflower Inn. Three newly found sisters come together after their father’s passing and his will is read. Turns out they inherited everything – even though only 1 knew of his paternal status during their life. Full Review
My Virtual Bookshelf 