Happy After All by Maisey Yates

 

"It's a truth universally acknowledged--at least, in a romance novel--that the moment the main character has her life in order, the exact person she doesn't want to meet will come along and knock all that careful order into disarray. For example, when a respectable motel owner who has decided to focus on her writing career and her own personal happiness is beginning to feel satisfied with the way she's rebuilding her life, a disastrously gorgeous man will walk in and disrupt everything."

Amelia fled to Rancho Encanto to rewrite her life. She's not looking for romance. Then Nathan Hart comes to her motel to write for the summer. He's aloof and keeps to himself, but Amelia can't help feeling a spark of attraction between them. Not only are they both writers, they're both grieving loss and trying to move forward and heal. But heartbreak is hard to overcome. 

"We would never have met if our lives hadn't crashed and burned. But it doesn't feel like something that happened because of tragedy. It feels like a small miracle. An oasis in the middle of the desert, which in many ways is what Rancho Encanto is."

This is such a good book! I loved how Yates starts each chapter with a romance trope, and how Amelia, a romance writer, uses that framework to narrate her own story. I thought it was very clever and fun. But this is not a simple summer romance. There's a range of emotions in this one: laughter and loss, hurt and hiding from that sadness, grumpiness, joy, lots of tears, and love. Both Amelia and Nathan had to navigate their own grief in order to find healing and hope. I also loved Amelia's found family full of quirky characters living in this small desert community. They made me smile. 

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Happy Reading!

The Collected Regrets of Clover by Mikki Brammer

 

First line:  The first time I watched someone die, I was five.

Setting:  New York City, present day

Main Character:  Clover Brooks, a death doula who has dedicated her life to helping people as they reach the end of theirs. She keeps a record of all their regrets, but ignores her own. Because while Clover is very good at dealing with death, she's not so good at dealing with her own life.  "I didn't expect to get to my mid-thirties and still have only one friend. That's the thing about loneliness:  no one ever chooses it."

 My thoughts:  Clover's journey is one of uncertainty, love, fear, hope and second chances. She's a bookish introvert who struggles to make friends. And she's never been in love. I liked her a lot. And the people she meets along the way are so great. They each help her expand her small world in some unique way. I got caught up in this story right from the first page and didn't want to stop reading. This book made me feel all the feels: it's moving, humorous, charming, sad, satisfying, and heartwarming. 

Favorite Quote:  "The secret to a beautiful death is to live a beautiful life. Putting your heart out there. Letting it get broken. Taking chances. Making mistakes." 

Here's to living a life with fewer regrets.

Happy Reading!

The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams

 

This is a thoughtful and poignant novel about how books and reading can provide help, healing and hope, bring people together, and create lasting friendships. And I loved it.

It begins with Mukesh Patel, a lonely and grieving widower, whose wife loved books; Mukesh wants to connect with his granddaughter, Priya, but doesn't know how. An overdue library book of his wife's leads him to the local library where he meets Aleisha, a lonely teen working at the library for the summer who doesn't actually read much, and who has no idea what book to recommend to Mukesh. 

But then she's given a list of eight books with the heading: "Just in case you need it," and she starts to read them...and recommend them to Mukesh. And these books help Mukesh connect with his granddaughter, and with Aleisha, and pushes him to socialize more; they also help Aleisha connect with her mentally ill mother, and with a boy she meets on the train. Many other lives are touched in this book because of this one reading list. 

The Reading List is a captivating novel that touched my heart and kept me reading all day long. I loved the characters. And the ending totally made me cry. It's a good one...and another book that's perfect for Susan's Bookish Books Reading Challenge.

Happy Reading!

Don't go into the woods!

Going on a hike!!

Ashlough Forest, one of the most beautiful places on earth!

Look out for some photos when I get back...

Only Eileen Hershberger never returns from her hike. And when someone finally finds her camera, it's miles downriver. The police in Helmer think she's probably dead. But her brother, Chris, and his friends are headed to Ashlough Forest to search for her. Because they spotted something strange in three of her photos; something tall, and clawed, and terrifying. And if she's still alive, then she's in real trouble, and they're determined to find her. Or at least find out what happened to her. What they don't know is that while they're hunting for Eileen, something else is hunting them.

My thoughts:  This is a well-written, fast and fun read. I didn't think it was super scary, but the suspense definitely builds as the creature in the woods circles ever closer to Chris and his friends. And there are some very tense moments along the way. I appreciated that Chris and his friends weren't stupidly reckless in their efforts to find Eileen. Even when things go wrong--and things do go terribly wrong--they try to hold it together, and I liked that about them. The other side of the story revolves around Detective Carla Delago and her suspicions that there's more to Eileen's disappearance than just one missing hiker. That part of the story wasn't quite as gripping, but it was still good. And there are two unexpected twists at the end. All in all, this was an entertaining read. Even though it makes me determined to never go hiking in the woods alone again!

Happy Reading!

 

 

The Silent Land by Graham Joyce

"If there are few moments in life that come as clear and as pure as ice, when the mountain breathed back at her, Zoe knew she had trapped one such moment and it could never be taken away.  Everywhere was snow and silence. Snow and silence; the complete arrest of life; a rehearsal for and a pre-echo of death."

Zoe and her husband, Jake, are skiing in the French Pyrenees when they are caught in an avalanche. Zoe is buried in snow, struggling to dig herself out. Then, like a miracle, Jake finds her. Together they make their way down the mountain. Only when they get to their hotel no one is there. The nearby town is deserted, too. Zoe and Jake can't figure out where all the other people went, or why. And every time they try to leave to get help, they find themselves right back where they started. Still, it's not too bad having this winter wonderland all to themselves. And they still have each other. But all is not right. Especially when Jake guesses the truth about their situation; something Zoe doesn't want to believe.

This novel by Graham Joyce ended up being a completely different kind of story than I was expecting. (Though I did guess the truth about Zoe's and Jake's situation before they did.) The Silent Land is not quite a supernatural fantasy, mystery or horror story, although it does have elements of all three. And it's that intriguing mix of elements, combined with a more introspective look at death and life and love, that makes this book such an interesting read. I wish I could tell you more, but I don't want to give anything away.  This is the kind of book every reader should discover for herself. I can't guarantee you'll like it, though I did, but I can say that it is one of those thoughtful books that will linger in your mind when you're done.

Happy Reading!

The Book of Tomorrow by Cecelia Ahern

"What if, what if, what if...What if we knew what tomorrow

would bring?  Would we fix it?  Could we?"

Like a topple of dominoes, Tamara Goodwin's happy life has crashed to the ground.  Her father committed suicide, leaving behind a mountain of debt.  Her mother now seems lost in a fog of grief.  The bank repossesses their house.  With no money, Tamara and her mother are forced to leave Dublin and move in with Tamara's strange Uncle Arthur and even stranger Aunt Rosaleen.

Stuck out in the middle of nowhere with no car and no friends, there's not much for Tamara to do.  But then she meets Sister Ignatius, keeper of bees and secrets; Weseley, the cute boy-next-door type; and Marcus, the charming driver of the local bookmobile.  It's in this "Travelling Library" that Tamara finds an old leather bound diary.  And it doesn't take her long to realize that this diary is special ... maybe even magic.

"That night I sat staring at the diary for hours.  I kept it open on my lap, waiting for the words to arrive ... when I woke up at one A.M., the diary was still open on my lap, every single line filled in my handwriting.  Gone was yesterday's forecast and in its place was another entry, a different entry for tomorrow."

With the help of the diary Tamara can now change her future, but should she?

I've never read Cecelia Ahern before but I'm really glad I stumbled across this book at the library.  Her plot is tightly woven and character-driven.  Tamara's grief and anger at her father's death is completely believable, as is her curiosity in the face of her aunt's strange (and increasingly creepy) behavior.  I will definitely be reading Cecelia Ahern again!