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The one book everyone will be reading this summer: Into the Water

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Mysterious and a little creepy, Into the Water sucks you in and has you questioning everything. No one is reliable, and as the pieces snap together a very different picture is seen from what one expected at the beginning. If you enjoyed The Girl on the Train, then you won't want to miss Into the Water.

There’s a lot of buzz around Paula Hawkins’ new thriller, Into the Water, so I was super excited when I saw that the novel would be part of the BookSparks Summer Reading Challenge.

Here’s the back cover blurb:

A single mother turns up dead at the bottom of the river that runs through town. Earlier in the summer, a vulnerable teenage girl met the same fate. They are not the first women lost to these dark waters, but their deaths disturb the river and its history, dredging up secrets long submerged.

Left behind is a lonely fifteen-year-old girl. Parentless and friendless, she now finds herself in the care of her mother’s sister, a fearful stranger who has been dragged back to the place she deliberately ran from—a place to which she vowed she’d never return.

With the same propulsive writing and acute understanding of human instincts that captivated millions of readers around the world in her explosive debut thriller, The Girl on the Train, Paula Hawkins delivers an urgent, twisting, deeply satisfying read that hinges on the deceptiveness of emotion and memory, as well as the devastating ways that the past can reach a long arm into the present.

Beware a calm surface—you never know what lies beneath.

Mysterious and a little creepy, Into the Water sucks you in and has you questioning everything. No one is reliable, and as the pieces snap together a very different picture is seen from what one expected at the beginning. If you enjoyed The Girl on the Train, then you won't want to miss Into the Water.

My thoughts on Into the Water

I enjoyed the slow build of The Girl on the Train, and in many ways Into the Water does the same thing, slowly weaving together a story of suspense and murder. The beginning of the novel is a little disorienting as many characters/narrators are introduced, but suddenly the voices snap into place.

The town has a history of women drowning in the river that winds its way through the community. Nel Abbot was obsessed with the Drowning Pool, so much so that she was working on a book to tell the stories of the women who had drowned throughout the town’s history. But, when Nel drowns, it’s anyone’s guess if she jumped or if she was pushed. Theories float around as Nel’s daughter and sister unravel the town’s secrets and stumble into unexpected danger.

Mysterious and a little creepy, Into the Water sucks you in and has you questioning everything. No one is reliable, and as the pieces snap together a very different picture is seen from what one expected at the beginning. If you enjoyed The Girl on the Train, then you won’t want to miss Into the Water.

What will you read next?

P.S. I wrote a guest post for My So Called Chaos. Don’t miss Awesome Gifts for Book Lovers!

This book was sent to me to review and is part of the BookSparks Summer Reading Challenge. This blog uses affiliate and referral links. Clicking a link costs you nothing, but the small commission from your click/purchase helps support this blog. Thank you!

The post The one book everyone will be reading this summer: Into the Water appeared first on Happy. Pretty. Sweet..


Graeme Simsion is back with The Best of Adam Sharp

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I adored Graeme Simsion's first novel The Rosie Project, so I was eager to get my hands on his newest book, The Best of Adam Sharp, which is part of the BookSparks Summer Reading Challenge.

I adored Graeme Simsion’s first novel The Rosie Project, so I was eager to get my hands on his newest book, The Best of Adam Sharp, which is part of the BookSparks Summer Reading Challenge.

Here’s the book cover blurb:

Two decades ago, Adam Sharp’s piano playing led him into a passionate relationship with Angelina Brown, an intelligent and strong-willed actress. They had a chance at something more―but Adam didn’t take it.

Now, on the cusp of turning fifty, Adam likes his life. He’s happy with his partner Claire, he excels in music trivia at quiz night at the local pub, he looks after his mother, and he does the occasional consulting job in IT. But he can never quite shake off his nostalgia for what might have been.

And then, out of nowhere, from the other side of the world, Angelina gets in touch. What does she want? Does Adam dare to live dangerously?

Set to the soundtrack of our lives, The Best of Adam Sharp follows along with emotion and humor as one man looks back on his past and decides if having a second chance is worth the risk.

I adored Graeme Simsion's first novel The Rosie Project, so I was eager to get my hands on his newest book, The Best of Adam Sharp, which is part of the BookSparks Summer Reading Challenge.

My thoughts on The Best of Adam Sharp

Relationships are messy, and love can be complicated. That pretty much sums up this novel. The beginning was a little clunky with with Adam reminiscing about his past affair with Angelina and contemplating his current life with Claire. The dry storytelling made it hard for me to feel invested in any of the characters, but a desire to know what happens next kept me turning pages.

Music and nostalgia are central themes, as Adam, a sometime pianist, examines his relationships through songs. While music in many ways acted like another character, I felt that the songs often got in the way of the story. This might partly be because I’m only vaguely familiar with the oldies but goodies playlist and don’t have an emotional connection to many of the songs mentioned.

My biggest issue with this book was the almost lighthearted look at infidelity. Both times Angeline comes into Adam’s life she is married and using Adam as a way to figure out her current marriage. It’s hard to root for the guy to get the girl when the girl is married and clearly using the guy she is having the affair with. Love can be complicated, and relationships can be very, very, messy.

In the end, The Best of Adam Sharp just wasn’t for me. It didn’t sweep me away with a sweet romance like The Rosie Project did, and Adams’ affairs just didn’t sit well with me. I will say that the book ended in a way that made sense for the characters, and that’s always a good thing.

What are you reading?

P.S. If you are looking for more book suggestions, don’t miss The one book everyone will be reading this summer: Into the Water!

This book was sent to me to review and is part of the BookSparks Summer Reading Challenge. This blog uses affiliate and referral links. Clicking a link costs you nothing, but the small commission from your click/purchase helps support this blog. Thank you!

The post Graeme Simsion is back with The Best of Adam Sharp appeared first on Happy. Pretty. Sweet..

Woman No. 17 and more summer reading

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May has been rather busy, but I still managed to squeeze in some reading. Thanks to the BookSparks Summer Reading Challenge, I have a growing book pile of awesome reads that promise plenty of summer bookworm fun. Plus, I keep buying books, so there is no end in sight to my TBR pile. I’m okay with that.

Thanks to the BookSparks Summer Reading Challenge, I have a growing book pile of awesome reads that promise plenty of summer bookworm fun.

Woman No. 17 by Edan Lepucki

My 3rd pick from the summer reading challenge is this not quite thriller but oddly creepy novel about a housewife and her nanny. Lady Daniels has two children and is going through a trial separation from her husband while she attempts to write a book about raising her now 18-year-old non-verbal son, Seth. Lady hires S to watch her youngest son, Devin, but S is not all she seems, and as a matter of fact, neither is Lady. Overprotective to the point of obsession, Lady is blind to the needs of Seth and his budding relationship with S. Meanwhile, S has turned nannying into performance art as she becomes tangled up in Lady’s family life.

Reading this novel was like waiting for a train wreck to happen. Everyone is making bad decisions, and it seems like it’s only a matter of time before Lady’s and S’s secrets come crashing down. But, the explosive climax never came, and the tangled lives fell all too easily back into place. However, for a story with no likable characters, the novel is very well done.

This book was sent to me to review and is part of the BookSparks Summer Reading Challenge.

Thanks to the BookSparks Summer Reading Challenge, I have a growing book pile of awesome reads that promise plenty of summer bookworm fun.

Windfall by Jennifer E. Smith

This sweet, YA romance asks the age old question, “What would you do if you bought your best friend/crush a winning lotto ticket for his 18th birthday?” It was supposed to be a joke, but when Alice picks the winning lotto numbers, Teddy’s life is turned upside down as he claims the $140 million dollar prize. As Teddy is dazzled by all that money can by, Alice worries that she’s losing the boy she secretly loves.

So many parts of this book felt like they would really happen if someone you loved won the lottery. From losing the ticket to hiding it in a cookie jar to the spending frenzy, I’m pretty sure this is how the Mega Millions would play out for a lot of people. However, this being a YA romance, there’s a bankruptcy free happy ending.

This book was sent to me by BookLook Bloggers in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to the BookSparks Summer Reading Challenge, I have a growing book pile of awesome reads that promise plenty of summer bookworm fun.

A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas

I loved book 2 in this series, and I was desperate to know what happened after that cliff hanger ending. I don’t want to spoil anything if you haven’t read this New Adult fantasy series, so skip this review if you want to be surprised.

Rhys and Feyre are my favorite fantasy couple, and I’m pretty sure all of my discretionary income will be going towards these candles so my home can smell like the Night Court. Fangirling aside, I expected book 3 to tear me up with all the feels, and that did not happen. Don’t get me wrong. The book did a great job of wrapping up the main story, and I’m intrigued to see where the next three books will go. However, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows had more pain and suffering than this epic journey. Where were the high stakes? Where was the ruin?

There was only one point (near the end) when I was tempted to throw my book across the room because the one thing I didn’t want to happen happened. But, then, a little High Lord magic and everything is okay again. (Which is fine because I needed that happy ending… but, maybe a few other characters should have died? And, maybe we didn’t need to steal the ending from book 1.)

All that to say, I liked it, but it could have been better. A Court of Mist and Fury is still my favorite.

What’s on your summer reading list?

P.S. If you want more reading suggestions, don’t miss In Such Good Company and other books lately!

This blog uses affiliate and referral links. Clicking a link costs you nothing, but the small commission from your click/purchase helps support this blog. Thank you!

The post Woman No. 17 and more summer reading appeared first on Happy. Pretty. Sweet..

7 Books you’ll want to read this month

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Kick off your summer reading with the BookSparks Summer Reading Challenge! This year’s lineup is not to be missed. (The challenge is kicking off with Paula Hawkins’ new novel, Into the Water!) All summer long, I’ll be featuring awesome new books from fantastic authors as part of the BookSparks Summer Reading Challenge.

Now is the perfect time to start thinking about your summer reading list, and BookSparks has some great suggestions for June.

7 Books you’ll want to read this month

Looking for a summer reading escape? The BookSparks Summer Reading Challenge has seven books you'll want to read this month!

Every Last Lie by Mary Kubica

From the Amazon: Clara Solberg’s world shatters when her husband and their four-year-old daughter are in a car crash, killing Nick while Maisie is remarkably unharmed. The crash is ruled an accident…until the coming days, when Maisie starts having night terrors that make Clara question what really happened on that fateful afternoon. Tormented by grief and her obsession that Nick’s death was far more than just an accident, Clara is plunged into a desperate hunt for the truth. Who would have wanted Nick dead? And, more important, why? Clara will stop at nothing to find out—and the truth is only the beginning of this twisted tale of secrets and deceit.

The Leavers by Lisa Ko 

From the Amazon: One morning, Deming Guo’s mother, Polly, an undocumented Chinese immigrant, goes to her job at a nail salon—and never comes home. No one can find any trace of her. With his mother gone, eleven-year-old Deming is left mystified and bereft. Eventually adopted by a pair of well-meaning white professors, Deming is moved from the Bronx to a small town upstate and renamed Daniel Wilkinson. But far from all he’s ever known, Daniel struggles to reconcile his adoptive parents’ desire that he assimilate with his memories of his mother and the community he left behind.

The Shark Club by Ann Kidd Taylor

From the Amazon: One summer day on the beach in Florida, two extraordinary things happen to Maeve Donnelly. First, she is kissed by Daniel, the boy of her dreams. Then, she is bitten by a blacktip shark. Eighteen years later, Maeve has thrown herself into her work as a world-traveling marine biologist discovering more about the minds of misunderstood sharks. But when Maeve returns home to the legendarily charming and eccentric Hotel of the Muses where she was raised by her grandmother, she finds more than just the blood orange sunsets and key lime pies she’s missed waiting for her.

The Rules of Half by Jenna Patrick

From the Amazon: If Will Fletcher’s severe bipolar disorder isn’t proof he shouldn’t be a parent, his infant daughter’s grave is. Once a happily married, successful veterinarian, he now lives with his sister and thrives as the small-town crazy of Half Moon Hollow. But when a fifteen-year-old orphan claims she’s his daughter, Will is forced back into the role he fears most: fatherhood.
Her biological dad isn’t the hero Regan Whitmer hoped for, but he’s better than her abusive stepfather back in Chicago. Still haunted by her mother’s suicide and the rebellious past she fears led to it, Regan is desperate for a stable home and a normal family―things Will can’t offer. Can she ride the highs and lows of his illness to find a new definition of family?

American Family by Catherine Marshall-Smith

From the Amazon: Richard and Michael, both three years sober, have just decided to celebrate their love by moving in together when Richard―driven by the desire to do the right thing for his ten-year-old-daughter, Brady, whom he has never met―impulsively calls his former father-in-law to connect with her. With that phone call, he jeopardizes the one good thing he has―his relationship with Michael―and also threatens the world of the fundamentalist Christian grandparents who love Brady and see her as payback from God for the alcohol-related death of her mother. Unable to reach an agreement, the two parties hire lawyers who have agendas far beyond the interests of the families―and Brady is initially trusted into Richard and Michael’s care. But when the judge learns that the young girl was present when a questionable act took place while in their custody, she returns Brady to her grandparents. Ultimately, it’s not until further tragedy strikes that both families are finally motivated to actually act in the “best interests of the child.”

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

From the Amazon: Aging and reclusive Hollywood movie icon Evelyn Hugo is finally ready to tell the truth about her glamorous and scandalous life. But when she chooses unknown magazine reporter Monique Grant for the job, no one in the journalism community is more astounded than Monique herself. Why her? Why now? Monique is not exactly on top of the world. Her husband, David, has left her, and her career has stagnated. Regardless of why Evelyn has chosen her to write her biography, Monique is determined to use this opportunity to jumpstart her career.

Proof by C. E. Tobisman

From the Amazon: Still haunted by the betrayal that forced her to leave a prestigious law firm, Caroline Auden struggles to keep her fledgling practice afloat—and her paranoia in check. When her grandmother dies, she mourns losing the only constant in her life. But grief soon turns to suspicion when she discovers her grandmother left her entire estate—including a valuable antique watch, the family’s sole heirloom—to a charity called Oasis Care. On the surface, Oasis helps society’s outcasts, like Caroline’s alcoholic, homeless uncle. But as she digs deeper, Caroline uncovers a sinister plot that sends her running for her life on the dangerous streets of Los Angeles.

Throughout the summer, I’ll be reviewing certain books from the reading challenge as well as posting tons of book pics on Instagram. I can’t wait to dive into the June reading selection. Stay tuned!

This year, BookSparks has partnered with Apple iBooks as the official books sponsor for SRC. You can shop for all of the summer reading selections in the custom SRC store and read the books on your favorite device. Click HERE to visit the #SRC2017 iBooks store.

What’s on your summer reading list?

P.S. Don’t miss the book selections from May!

These books are being sent to me to review and are part of the BookSparks Summer Reading Challenge. This blog uses affiliate and referral links. Clicking a link costs you nothing, but the small commission from your click/purchase helps support this blog. Thank you!

The post 7 Books you’ll want to read this month appeared first on Happy. Pretty. Sweet..

The thriller everyone is reading right now: It’s Always the Husband

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I love it when a book sucks you in and makes you forget about life for pages and pages. While I prefer fantasy and historical novels, lately, I’ve been reading thrillers. It’s Always the Husband by first time novelist Michele Campbell is getting a lot of buzz. In fact, it’s on so many must-read lists it feels like everyone is reading it. It’s, also, part of the BookSparks Summer Reading Challenge!

It's Always the Husband by first time novelist Michele Campbell is getting a lot of buzz. In fact, it feels like everyone is reading it this summer.

Here’s the back cover blurb:

Kate, Aubrey, and Jenny first met as college roommates and soon became inseparable, despite being as different as three women can be. Kate was beautiful, wild, wealthy, and damaged. Aubrey, on financial aid, came from a broken home, and wanted more than anything to distance herself from her past. And Jenny was a striver―brilliant, ambitious, and determined to succeed. As an unlikely friendship formed, the three of them swore they would always be there for each other.

But twenty years later, one of them is standing at the edge of a bridge, and someone is urging her to jump.

How did it come to this?
Kate married the gorgeous party boy, Aubrey married up, and Jenny married the boy next door. But how can these three women love and hate each other? Can feelings this strong lead to murder? When one of them dies under mysterious circumstances, will everyone assume, as is often the case, that it’s always the husband?

It's Always the Husband by first time novelist Michele Campbell is getting a lot of buzz. In fact, it feels like everyone is reading it this summer.

My thoughts on It’s Always the Husband:

I like suspenseful stories that aren’t too graphic and keep me guessing till the end, so I was eager to read Michele Campbell’s novel after seeing it on so many summer reading lists. It’s Always the Husband is well written, but the story never sucked me. I had a hard time believing that Kate, Aubrey, and Jenny could be friends for more than a week because the girls were so incompatible. The trio is like oil and water, but because they are Freshmen year roommates they have to be BFFs.

The book is divided into two parts. Part one mainly deals with the shenanigans of Freshmen year while the second part focuses on the murder investigation. My other issue with the book is the sheriff’s infatuation with the murder victim. Six months before she is murdered, the sheriff spends a few hours getting cozy with her while they wait out a storm. He doesn’t see her again till he is called in to view her body. I had a really hard time with his character because he felt like a creepy stalker, and of course, he immediately focuses his investigation on the husband…

There are plenty of twists, but in the end, I found the whole thing unsatisfying. There are no likable characters in this book, and I really would have liked to see more character development/motivation. Looking at other reviews, people seem to either really like or really dislike this book. While this thriller wasn’t for me, I do think a lot of other people will enjoy it. The novel isn’t gory or can’t sleep suspenseful, and I think there is, also, something to be said for reading books that aren’t quite your cup of tea. Those books help you figure out what you do like.

What are you reading?

P.S. If you are looking for more book suggestions, don’t miss 7 Books you’ll want to read this month!

P.P.S. This year, BookSparks has partnered with Apple iBooks as the official books sponsor for SRC. You can shop for all of the summer reading selections in the custom SRC store and read the books on your favorite device. Click HERE to visit the #SRC2017 iBooks store.

This book was sent to me to review and is part of the BookSparks Summer Reading Challenge. This blog uses affiliate and referral links. Clicking a link costs you nothing, but the small commission from your click/purchase helps support this blog. Thank you!

The post The thriller everyone is reading right now: It’s Always the Husband appeared first on Happy. Pretty. Sweet..

The book you’ll want to throw in your beach bag: Every Last Lie

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Despite this past week being crazy busy, I still made time for a little reading. (Got to unwind somehow…) Last summer, I read Mary Kubica’s Don’t You Cry, so I was eager to dig into her latest novel, Every Last Lie. Plus, it’s part of the BookSparks Summer Reading Challenge!

Last summer, I read Mary Kubica's Don’t You Cry, so I was eager to dig into her latest novel, Every Last Lie, and it doesn't disappoint.

Here’s the cover blurb:

Clara Solberg’s world shatters when her husband and their four-year-old daughter are in a car crash, killing Nick while Maisie is remarkably unharmed. The crash is ruled an accident…until the coming days, when Maisie starts having night terrors that make Clara question what really happened on that fateful afternoon.

Tormented by grief and her obsession that Nick’s death was far more than just an accident, Clara is plunged into a desperate hunt for the truth. Who would have wanted Nick dead? And, more important, why? Clara will stop at nothing to find out—and the truth is only the beginning of this twisted tale of secrets and deceit.

Told in the alternating perspectives of Clara’s investigation and Nick’s last months leading up to the crash, master of suspense Mary Kubica weaves her most chilling thriller to date—one that explores the dark recesses of a mind plagued by grief and shows that some secrets might be better left buried.

Last summer, I read Mary Kubica's Don’t You Cry, so I was eager to dig into her latest novel, Every Last Lie, and it doesn't disappoint.

My thoughts on Every Last Lie

I read this book in two days. I love the way the story slowly weaves together Nick’s last months leading up to the accident and Clara’s life after his death. A grieving Clara becomes suspicious about her husband’s death when her four-year-old daughter starts screaming about a bad man and a black car. As Clara starts piecing together Nick’s life before the accident, she learns that he’d been keeping secrets and that he might not have been the good man she thought he was. Wanting to protect his pregnant wife from his financial troubles, Nick stops confiding in Clara, and pretty soon he’s in over his head. But, will his problems cost him his life? As the suspects start mounting up, Clara can’t stop asking who killed Nick.

Reading Every Last Lie is like watching a spider spin its web. There’s a purpose to every point in the story, but it takes reading the whole book in order to unravel the truth about what happened to Nick. I really liked this psychological thriller because it felt grounded in the real world. In some ways, its exploration of grief reminded me of Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s short story, “The Yellow Wallpaper”. If you are looking for a new summer read, I definitely recommend picking up Every Last Lie.

What’s on your summer reading list?

P.S. If you are looking for more book suggestions, don’t miss You Will Know Me and Other Books!

P.P.S. This year, BookSparks has partnered with Apple iBooks as the official books sponsor for SRC. You can shop for all of the summer reading selections in the custom SRC store and read the books on your favorite device. Click HERE to visit the #SRC2017 iBooks store.

This book was sent to me to review and is part of the BookSparks Summer Reading Challenge. This blog uses affiliate and referral links. Clicking a link costs you nothing, but the small commission from your click/purchase helps support this blog. Thank you!

The post The book you’ll want to throw in your beach bag: Every Last Lie appeared first on Happy. Pretty. Sweet..

June bonus book: Arboria Park

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The BookSparks Summer Reading Challenge is in full swing, and today’s book review is a surprise pop up blog tour. Arboria Park is inspired by Kate Tyler Wall’s actual childhood neighborhood and her love of punk rock.

The BookSparks Summer Reading Challenge is in full swing! Arboria Park is inspired by Kate Tyler Wall's childhood neighborhood and her love of punk rock.

Here’s the back cover blurb:

Stacy Halloran has lived most of her life in 1950s-era housing development Arboria Park. But her beloved neighborhood may not survive much longer.

Despite her parents’ entreaties to “stay in the yard where it’s safe,” the Park is where young Stacy roams in quest of “real life.” Through her wanderings, she learns about the area’s agricultural history; meets people from backgrounds different than her own; watches her siblings develop interracial and same-sex relationships; helps launch the local punk-rock scene; and finally, settles as a wife and mother. As the neighborhood declines (along with her relationship with her mother), Stacy considers moving on to rescue herself and her daughter. But then a massive highway project threatens the ever-resilient Park―and it’s Stacy’s task to rally family, friends, and neighbors to save it.

The BookSparks Summer Reading Challenge is in full swing! Arboria Park is inspired by Kate Tyler Wall's childhood neighborhood and her love of punk rock.

My thoughts on Arboria Park:

The novel tells the story of a community through the eyes of Stacy and the people connected to her. In many ways it’s a coming of age novel about a neighborhood and the changes it goes through over the decades with class, race, and punk rock playing important roles.

Despite being labeled historical fiction, Arboria Park felt more like an issue book with the story coming in second to the message the author wanted to send. My number one complaint about books is not being able to get lost in the story, and that was the case here. However, just because this book wasn’t for me doesn’t mean it’s not for you. If you are looking for a novel that examines the evolution of a neighborhood while exploring place and time, you might want to check this out.

What are you reading?

P.S. For more book reviews, check out The book you’ll want to throw in your beach bag: Every Last Lie!

This book was sent to me to review and is part of the BookSparks Summer Reading Challenge. This blog uses affiliate and referral links. Clicking a link costs you nothing, but the small commission from your click/purchase helps support this blog. Thank you!

The post June bonus book: Arboria Park appeared first on Happy. Pretty. Sweet..

7 Books to add to your summer reading list

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Kick off your summer reading with the BookSparks Summer Reading Challenge! This year’s lineup is not to be missed. (The challenge is kicking off with Paula Hawkins’ new novel, Into the Water!) All summer long, I’ll be featuring awesome new books from fantastic authors as part of the BookSparks Summer Reading Challenge.

Now is the perfect time to start thinking about your summer reading list, and BookSparks has some great suggestions for July.

7 Books to add to your summer reading list

Now is the perfect time to start thinking about your summer reading list, and BookSparks has some great suggestions for July.

Hello Sunshine by Laura Dave

From the Amazon: Sunshine Mackenzie is living the dream—she’s a culinary star with millions of fans, a line of #1 bestselling cookbooks, and a devoted husband happy to support her every endeavor. And then she gets hacked. When Sunshine’s secrets are revealed, her fall from grace is catastrophic. She loses the husband, her show, the fans, and her apartment. She’s forced to return to the childhood home—and the estranged sister—she’s tried hard to forget. But what Sunshine does amid the ashes of her own destruction may well save her life.

A Game of Ghosts by John Connolly

From the Amazon: It is deep winter and the darkness is unending. A private detective named Jaycob Eklund has vanished and Charlie Parker is assigned to track him down. Parker’s employer, Edgar Ross, an agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, has his own reasons for wanting Eklund found. Eklund is no ordinary investigator—he is obsessively tracking a series of homicides and disappearances, each linked to reports of hauntings. Now Parker is drawn into Eklund’s world: a realm in which the monstrous Mother rules a crumbling criminal empire, in which men strike bargains with angels, and in which the innocent and guilty alike are pawns in a game of ghosts…

Eden by Jeanne McWilliams Blasberg

From the Amazon: Becca Meister Fitzpatrick―wife, mother, grandmother, and pillar of the community―is the dutiful steward of her family’s iconic summer tradition . . . until she discovers her recently deceased husband squandered their nest egg. As she struggles to accept that this is likely her last season in Long Harbor, Becca is inspired by her granddaughter’s boldness in the face of impending single-motherhood, and summons the courage to reveal a secret she was forced to bury long ago: the existence of a daughter she gave up fifty years ago. The question now is how her other daughter, Rachel―with whom Becca has always had a strained relationship―will react.

A Work of Art by Micayla Lally

From the Amazon: Letting go after her abrupt break-up with Samson is harder than Julene thought it would be, especially since her ex has wasted no time in burying himself in the local dating scene. But during an extended visit to her parents overseas, Julene rediscovers her love of art, and a burgeoning career develops. Samson, on the other hand, after trying valiantly―and unsuccessfully―to forget Julene, has settled instead on his own new career. When Julene returns home to Australia, a coincidental meeting leads to an emotional reunion―but her love and patience will be tested when she finds out just how busy Samson has been in her absence. Yes, they have both made mistakes they can work through and move past―but when a specter from Samson’s past looms, Julene wonders: Can she trust him again?

The Captain’s Daughter by Meg Mitchell Moore

From the Amazon: Growing up in Little Harbor, Maine, the daughter of a widowed lobsterman, Eliza Barnes could haul a trap and row a skiff with the best of them. But she always knew she’d leave that life behind. Now that she’s married, with two kids and a cushy front-row seat to suburban country club gossip in an affluent Massachusetts town, she feels adrift. When her father injures himself in a boating accident, Eliza pushes the pause button on her own life to come to his aid. But when she arrives in Maine, she discovers her father’s situation is more dire than he let on. Eliza’s homecoming is further complicated by the reemergence of her first love–and memories of their shared secret. Then Eliza meets Mary Brown, a seventeen-year-old local who is at her own crossroad, and Eliza can’t help but wonder what her life would have been like if she’d stayed.

American Family by Catherine Marshall-Smith

From the Amazon: Richard and Michael, both three years sober, have just decided to celebrate their love by moving in together when Richard―driven by the desire to do the right thing for his ten-year-old-daughter, Brady, whom he has never met―impulsively calls his former father-in-law to connect with her. With that phone call, he jeopardizes the one good thing he has―his relationship with Michael―and also threatens the world of the fundamentalist Christian grandparents who love Brady and see her as payback from God for the alcohol-related death of her mother. Unable to reach an agreement, the two parties hire lawyers who have agendas far beyond the interests of the families―and Brady is initially trusted into Richard and Michael’s care. But when the judge learns that the young girl was present when a questionable act took place while in their custody, she returns Brady to her grandparents. Ultimately, it’s not until further tragedy strikes that both families are finally motivated to actually act in the “best interests of the child.”

The Shark Club by Ann Kidd Taylor

From the Amazon: One summer day on the beach in Florida, two extraordinary things happen to Maeve Donnelly. First, she is kissed by Daniel, the boy of her dreams. Then, she is bitten by a blacktip shark. Eighteen years later, Maeve has thrown herself into her work as a world-traveling marine biologist discovering more about the minds of misunderstood sharks. But when Maeve returns home to the legendarily charming and eccentric Hotel of the Muses where she was raised by her grandmother, she finds more than just the blood orange sunsets and key lime pies she’s missed waiting for her.

Throughout the summer, I’ll be reviewing certain books from the reading challenge as well as posting tons of book pics on Instagram. I can’t wait to dive into this month’s reading selection. Stay tuned!

This year, BookSparks has partnered with Apple iBooks as the official books sponsor for SRC. You can shop for all of the summer reading selections in the custom SRC store and read the books on your favorite device. Click HERE to visit the #SRC2017 iBooks store.

What’s on your summer reading list?

P.S. Don’t miss the June book selections!

P.P.S. There’s a SOAK sandals giveaway happening now!

These books are being sent to me to review and are part of the BookSparks Summer Reading Challenge. This blog uses affiliate and referral links. Clicking a link costs you nothing, but the small commission from your click/purchase helps support this blog. Thank you!

The post 7 Books to add to your summer reading list appeared first on Happy. Pretty. Sweet..


The novel you’ll want to read on vacation: The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

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I’ve wanted to read Taylor Jenkins Reid’s The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo ever since I saw that it was part of the BookSparks Summer Reading Challenge.

I've wanted to read Taylor Jenkins Reid's The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo ever since I saw that it was part of the BookSparks Summer Reading Challenge

Here’s the cover blurb:

Aging and reclusive Hollywood movie icon Evelyn Hugo is finally ready to tell the truth about her glamorous and scandalous life. But when she chooses unknown magazine reporter Monique Grant for the job, no one is more astounded than Monique herself. Why her? Why now?

Monique is not exactly on top of the world. Her husband has left her, and her professional life is going nowhere. Regardless of why Evelyn has selected her to write her biography, Monique is determined to use this opportunity to jumpstart her career.

Summoned to Evelyn’s luxurious apartment, Monique listens in fascination as the actress tells her story. From making her way to Los Angeles in the 1950s to her decision to leave show business in the ‘80s, and, of course, the seven husbands along the way, Evelyn unspools a tale of ruthless ambition, unexpected friendship, and a great forbidden love. Monique begins to feel a very real connection to the legendary star, but as Evelyn’s story nears its conclusion, it becomes clear that her life intersects with Monique’s own in tragic and irreversible ways.

I've wanted to read Taylor Jenkins Reid's The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo ever since I saw that it was part of the BookSparks Summer Reading Challenge.

My thoughts on The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

Taylor Jenkins Reid’s The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo is just the sort of dishy, Hollywood-inspired drama that makes for great summer reading. Evelyn Hugo feels like she could have been a real movie star, and her Elizabeth Taylor-esque list of husbands is just the start.

In the novel, two stories unfold at once as Monique interviews the movie legend and as Evelyn tells the story of her past. There’s plenty of Hollywood intrigue, which feels ripped from the headlines, but the real focus of the story is who was Evelyn Hugo’s great love. The revelation happens relatively early in the story, but I won’t ruin the surprise. However, it does take the story in a direction readers might not expect.

The ending is a bit predictable, or perhaps inevitable is the better word, but the book is definitely worth packing for your next vacation.

What’s on your summer reading list?

P.S. If you are looking for more book suggestions, don’t miss 7 Books to add to your summer reading list!

P.P.S. This year, BookSparks has partnered with Apple iBooks as the official books sponsor for SRC. You can shop for all of the summer reading selections in the custom SRC store and read the books on your favorite device. Click HEREto visit the #SRC2017 iBooks store.

This book was sent to me to review and is part of the BookSparks Summer Reading Challenge. This blog uses affiliate and referral links. Clicking a link costs you nothing, but the small commission from your click/purchase helps support this blog. Thank you!

The post The novel you’ll want to read on vacation: The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo appeared first on Happy. Pretty. Sweet..

The book you’ll want to read poolside: Rich People Problems

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If you are looking for a juicy novel to read poolside, you won’t want to miss Rich People Problems, Kevin Kwan’s latest novel about Asia’s uber-wealthy. Plus, it’s part of the BookSparks Summer Reading Challenge.

If you are looking for a juicy novel to read poolside, you won't want to miss Rich People Problems, Kevin Kwan's latest novel about Asia's uber-wealthy.

Here’s the cover blurb:

When Nicholas Young hears that his grandmother, Su Yi, is on her deathbed, he rushes to be by her bedside—but he’s not alone. The entire Shang-Young clan has convened from all corners of the globe to stake claim on their matriarch’s massive fortune. With each family member vying to inherit Tyersall Park—a trophy estate on 64 prime acres in the heart of Singapore—Nicholas’s childhood home turns into a hotbed of speculation and sabotage. As her relatives fight over heirlooms, Astrid Leong is at the center of her own storm, desperately in love with her old sweetheart Charlie Wu, but tormented by her ex-husband—a man hell bent on destroying Astrid’s reputation and relationship.

Meanwhile Kitty Pong, married to China’s second richest man, billionaire Jack Bing, still feels second best next to her new step-daughter, famous fashionista Colette Bing. A sweeping novel that takes us from the elegantly appointed mansions of Manila to the secluded private islands in the Sulu Sea, from a kidnapping at Hong Kong’s most elite private school to a surprise marriage proposal at an Indian palace, caught on camera by the telephoto lenses of paparazzi, Kevin Kwan’s hilarious, gloriously wicked new novel reveals the long-buried secrets of Asia’s most privileged families and their rich people problems.

If you are looking for a juicy novel to read poolside, you won't want to miss Rich People Problems, Kevin Kwan's latest novel about Asia's uber-wealthy.

My thoughts on Rich People Problems

I didn’t realize that this was the third book in a series, so I found the beginning a little disorienting. However, I was quickly sucked into the family drama and the fantastic cast of characters. A big chunk of the novel focuses on who will inherit Tyersall Park, Su Yi’s impressive Singapore estate. If that sounds boring, it’s definitely not. This is Bergdorf Blondes set in Asia. Like a glitzy soap opera, Rich People Problems dazzles the reader with name-dropping, couture-wearing characters, who show that money does not solve all problems. Now, I really need to read the first two books.

What’s on your summer reading list?

P.S. If you are looking for more book suggestions, don’t miss The novel you’ll want to read on vacation: The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo!

P.P.S. This year, BookSparks has partnered with Apple iBooks as the official books sponsor for SRC. You can shop for all of the summer reading selections in the custom SRC store and read the books on your favorite device. Click HEREto visit the #SRC2017 iBooks store.

This book was sent to me to review and is part of the BookSparks Summer Reading Challenge. This blog uses affiliate and referral links. Clicking a link costs you nothing, but the small commission from your click/purchase helps support this blog. Thank you!

The post The book you’ll want to read poolside: Rich People Problems appeared first on Happy. Pretty. Sweet..

Mid-week read: The Guineveres

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The BookSparks Summer Reading Challenge is in full swing, and today’s book review is a surprise pop up blog tour. Sarah Domet’s The Guineveres is a haunting tale that unfolds like a lazy summer day.

The BookSparks Summer Reading Challenge is in full swing. Read next: Sarah Domet's The Guineveres, a haunting tale that unfolds like a lazy summer day.

From the Amazon:

To four girls who have nothing, their friendship is everything: they are each other’s confidants, teachers, and family. The girls are all named Guinevere―Vere, Gwen, Ginny, and Win―and it is the surprise of finding another Guinevere in their midst that first brings them together. They come to The Sisters of the Supreme Adoration convent by different paths, delivered by their families, each with her own complicated, heartbreaking story that she safeguards. Gwen is all Hollywood glamour and swagger; Ginny is a budding artiste with a sentiment to match; Win’s tough bravado isn’t even skin deep; and Vere is the only one who seems to be a believer, trying to hold onto her faith that her mother will one day return for her. However, the girls are more than the sum of their parts and together they form the all powerful and confident “The Guineveres, bound by the extraordinary coincidence of their names and girded against the indignities of their plain, sequestered lives.

The nuns who raise them teach the Guineveres that faith is about waiting: waiting for the mail, for weekly wash day, for a miracle, or for the day they turn eighteen and are allowed to leave the convent. But the Guineveres grow tired of waiting. And so when four comatose soldiers from the War looming outside arrive at the convent, the girls realize that these men may hold their ticket out.

The BookSparks Summer Reading Challenge is in full swing. Read next: Sarah Domet's The Guineveres, a haunting tale that unfolds like a lazy summer day.

My thoughts on The Guineveres:

This book has been on my to-read list for a while, so I was excited to get a chance to read it for a pop-up book review. Four girls named Guinevere have been abandoned at a convent, and all the girls want is to go home… or at least to leave. When the War brings comatose soldiers to the convent, the girls dream of life in the world and of making homes with their wounded soldiers.

I loved the way the story slowly unwound itself, revealing The Guineveres’ dark histories and glimpses into their futures. The narrator, Vere, often speaks in the first-person-plural, which is just one of the ways the author shows that these four girls think of themselves as one. But this is, also, a novel about growing up and growing apart, and by the book’s end, The Guineveres are no more.

Beautifully written, The Guineveres is a bittersweet tale of friendship and first love and the power of forgiveness.

 Do you have a favorite coming of age novel?

P.S. For more book reviews, check out 7 Books to add to your summer reading list!

This book was sent to me to review and is part of the BookSparks Summer Reading Challenge. This blog uses affiliate and referral links. Clicking a link costs you nothing, but the small commission from your click/purchase helps support this blog. Thank you!

The post Mid-week read: The Guineveres appeared first on Happy. Pretty. Sweet..

4 Books to finish off your summer reading

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The BookSparks Summer Reading Challenge is wrapping up with 4 fabulous books that are perfect for finishing off your summer reading.

The BookSparks Summer Reading Challenge is wrapping up with 4 fabulous books that are perfect for finishing off your summer reading.

Sour Heart by Jenny Zhang 

From the Amazon: A fresh new voice emerges with the arrival of Sour Heart, establishing Jenny Zhang as a frank and subversive interpreter of the immigrant experience in America. Her stories cut across generations and continents, moving from the fraught halls of a public school in Flushing, Queens, to the tumultuous streets of Shanghai, China, during the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s. In the absence of grown-ups, latchkey kids experiment on each other until one day the experiments turn violent; an overbearing mother abandons her artistic aspirations to come to America but relives her glory days through karaoke; and a shy loner struggles to master English so she can speak to God.

Narrated by the daughters of Chinese immigrants who fled imperiled lives as artists back home only to struggle to stay afloat—dumpster diving for food and scamming Atlantic City casino buses to make a buck—these seven stories showcase Zhang’s compassion, moral courage, and a perverse sense of humor reminiscent of Portnoy’s Complaint. A darkly funny and intimate rendering of girlhood, Sour Heart examines what it means to belong to a family, to find your home, leave it, reject it, and return again.

The Leavers by Lisa Ko

From the Amazon: One morning, Deming Guo’s mother, Polly, an undocumented Chinese immigrant, goes to her job at a nail salon—and never comes home. No one can find any trace of her.
With his mother gone, eleven-year-old Deming is left mystified and bereft. Eventually adopted by a pair of well-meaning white professors, Deming is moved from the Bronx to a small town upstate and renamed Daniel Wilkinson. But far from all he’s ever known, Daniel struggles to reconcile his adoptive parents’ desire that he assimilate with his memories of his mother and the community he left behind.
Told from the perspective of both Daniel—as he grows into a directionless young man—and Polly, Ko’s novel gives us one of fiction’s most singular mothers. Loving and selfish, determined and frightened, Polly is forced to make one heartwrenching choice after another.

Girl in Snow by Danya Kukafka

From the Amazon: When a beloved high schooler named Lucinda Hayes is found murdered, no one in her sleepy Colorado suburb is untouched—not the boy who loved her too much; not the girl who wanted her perfect life; not the officer assigned to investigate her murder. In the aftermath of the tragedy, these three indelible characters—Cameron, Jade, and Russ—must each confront their darkest secrets in an effort to find solace, the truth, or both. In crystalline prose, Danya Kukafka offers a brilliant exploration of identity and of the razor-sharp line between love and obsession, between watching and seeing, between truth and memory.

Stealing Snow by Danielle Paige

From the Amazon: Seventeen-year-old Snow has spent the majority of her life within the walls of the Whittaker Institute, a high security mental hospital in upstate New York. Deep down, she knows she’s not crazy and doesn’t belong there. When she meets a mysterious, handsome new orderly and dreams about a strange twisted tree she realizes she must escape and figure out who she really is.

Using her trusting friend Bale as a distraction, Snow breaks free and races into the nearby woods. Suddenly, everything isn’t what it seems, the line between reality and fantasy begins to blur, and she finds herself in icy Algid–her true home–with witches, thieves, and a strangely alluring boy named Kai, none of whom she’s sure she can trust. As secret after secret is revealed, Snow discovers that she is on the run from a royal lineage she’s destined to inherit, a father more powerful and ruthless than she could have imagined, and choices of the heart that could change the fate of everything . . . including Snow’s return to the world she once knew.

This breathtaking first volume begins the story of how Snow becomes a villain, a queen, and ultimately a hero.

Throughout the summer, I’ll be reviewing certain books from the reading challenge as well as posting tons of book pics on Instagram. I can’t wait to dive into this month’s reading selection. Stay tuned!

This year, BookSparks has partnered with Apple iBooks as the official books sponsor for SRC. You can shop for all of the summer reading selections in the custom SRC store and read the books on your favorite device. Click HERE to visit the #SRC2017 iBooks store.

What’s on your summer reading list?

P.S. Don’t miss the The novel you’ll want to read on vacation: The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo!

These books are being sent to me to review and are part of the BookSparks Summer Reading Challenge. This blog uses affiliate and referral links. Clicking a link costs you nothing, but the small commission from your click/purchase helps support this blog. Thank you!

The post 4 Books to finish off your summer reading appeared first on Happy. Pretty. Sweet..

Woman No. 17 and more summer reading

7 Books you’ll want to read this month

The thriller everyone is reading right now: It’s Always the Husband


The book you’ll want to throw in your beach bag: Every Last Lie

June bonus book: Arboria Park

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June bonus book: Arboria Park

The BookSparks Summer Reading Challenge is in full swing, and today’s book review is a surprise pop up blog tour. Arboria Park is inspired by Kate Tyler Wall’s actual childhood neighborhood and her love of punk…

The post June bonus book: Arboria Park appeared first on Happy. Pretty. Sweet..

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