My Reading Spot

Oh man!  February was a rough one around my house.  It seemed like once we got one kid better, another kid got something else.  It’s been a month full of fevers, coughs, colds and ear infections. My preschooler missed a whole week of school and it feels like my 2nd grader missed half the month. This past weekend I wasn’t feeling either, so I spent a couple days down myself.  That being said…we’ve had plenty of time to read this month. I finished 11 books! You can always find my master reading list from the year by clicking here.  But Today I wanted to share a couple of my favorites, especially since some are new releases coming out this month!  I’m so excited to share them with you!

I read The Rent Collector a few years ago and it was AMAZING.  One of my favorites of all time and if you haven’t read it I highly recommend it.  I just knew I would want to read Wrights new book, The Other Side of the Bridge. This is a story about two strangers, and two different stories, but can the bridge bring them together.  From the publisher,  Katie Connelly has lived in San Francisco all her life. Her late father made his career as an ironworker on the Golden Gate Bridge, and the many stories of him trying to save jumpers still haunt her.  Across the country, Dave Riley, a marketing executive in New York, encounters sorrows of his own. As he grasps at straws after tragedy strikes his family, a once whimsical daydream quickly turns into an obsession: he must ride his motorcycle across the Golden Gate Bridge on the Fourth of July.

I love reading books that are written in different points of view.  This wasn’t just that, but it was two stories, and finding out if and when they would come together and how!  Dave’s story was hard for me.  At times I just wanted to shake him and yell, but at the same time I just wanted to cry for him too.  I loved how his story ended.  I wasn’t as drawn to Katie as I thought I would be, but I still enjoyed her story nonetheless.  If you have read any of Wright’s other books I highly recommend this one.  It’s a book about life’s journey and finding peace, hope and love.  Such a good story!  It will be released March 6 so make sure you pre-order a copy on Amazon by clicking here.

Hello!  I  love it when I find a new author and I love her!  Last month I read An Inconvenient Romance by Linton and loved it.  Seriously, can I say enough times that it’s fun to find a new author that is clean and engaging, and not predicable at the same time?  A Tangled Inheritance was released last month and is Linton’s newest book.  This is a continuation of some of the same characters, but her books are not a series. A quick summary of this one from the publisher:  Nora Ellsworth, darling of London society, has her choice of eligible suitors, but since childhood, she has been expected to marry Jonathan Browning, a gentleman whose wealth and stability will someday secure the futures of Nora and her mother and sister. The family estate will pass to an odious male cousin upon the death of Nora’s father, and when he suddenly takes ill, her need to marry well becomes vitally important.

I loved the little twists and turns in this book, and that cousin!  Seriously, the descriptions of him just made me cringe, he was worse than any Mr. Collins ever could be.  I cannot wait to read more books by her in the future!  A Tangled Inheritance was released last month and you can grab a copy on Amazon today!

I saw a copy of Never That Far on Netgalley and I’ll be completely honest, I was totally drawn to the cover.  It’s the pretty cover!  Right?  Never That Far, Carol Lynch Williams.  The publisher reviews the book with this synopsis:  Libby Lochewood is twelve years old when her grampa dies of a heart attack. She is devastated at losing her best friend. Now that he’s passed on, it’s just her and her father, and he is so overcome by grief that he can barely get out of bed in the morning.

The night of the funeral, though, Grampa’s spirit appears in Libby’s bedroom and tells her three important things: first, that she isn’t alone or forgotten— “The dead ain’t never that far from the living,” he says; second, that she has “the Sight”—the ability to see family members who have died; and three, that there is something special just for her in the lake. Something that could help her and her father—if she can find it.

This book was magical!  I loved it.  It has a little bit of friendship, adventure, family, and the descriptions and setting made you fee like you were there!  It touches in a sensitive way about depression and grief, but not in a way that overwhelmed the story or makes it feel heavy.  I couldn’t help but think about that sweet story, Love Ruby Lavender by Deborah Wiles.  If you enjoy Wiles books I totally think you would love this new book!  Never that Far is set to be released on March 6 and you can pre-order a copy of it on Amazon today by clicking here.

Of course, then there is this book The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society – my sister told me it’s coming out as a movie in April so I had to jump on the bandwagon and read it.  I’ve tried to read it before and I don’t know what my problem has been, I just hadn’t been able to get into it.  But not this time…I loved it. If you know nothing about it, very long story short; it’s post war in London, and letters exchanged between an author and a group of people on the island of Guernsey.   It was the perfect distraction when I wasn’t feeling good this past weekend and the story was so super cute!  I’m super excited and maybe watched the trailer 1 or 2 or 5 times now. I’m totally throwing it in this post because I love it that much.  I can’t wait to see it!

And last, but not least, I read a couple non-fiction books in February too.  I always love to learn, but seriously, I was kinda disappointing with my nonfiction books this month.  I felt like a couple of the books were prettier than they had substance.  But not this one.  Girl, Wash Your Face, by Rachel Hollis was an encouraging and refreshing read.  If you have ever felt like you are stuck in life and want a pick me up, or feel like you are alone, this would be a good place to start. Apparently Hollis is a famous lifestyle blogger, that I somehow must be living under a rock, because I’ve never heard of her.  But after reading her story I’ve really enjoyed reading her blog and hearing her story.  I think one of my favorite quotes is,  “Embracing the chaos might be the journey we take to finding peace.”  Seriously, sometime when I get stuck on something I have to remind myself to let things go! This is SO hard for me!   Totally easy, quick read!  Stop believing lies about yourself and believe in who you are!  Embrace the journey. You can grab a copy of her book on Amazon by clicking here. 

There are a few of the books I’ve been reading.

Have you read any of them?

What have you been reading this past month?

Leave me a comment and share!