My Reading Spot

I can’t believe it, but with the 4th of July behind us I feel like summer is halfway over!  June was a great reading month and I was able to read some great (and some not so favorite) books.  I finished two from my summer reading list and started 2 more that I hope to finish this week!  I thought I would share four of my favorites from June!

I’m usually a huge fan of non-fiction, but something about summer, fiction, and getting swept away in a good story just felt right!  Plus they were just so easy to read on the back porch or by the pool. So here we go, my favorites from June……

Still Me, JoJo Moyes

First off, from my summer reading list, I finally got around to reading JoJo Moyes 3rd book in the Me Before You trilogy, Still Me.  Honestly, I’ve been a little skeptical to read this book.  It’s been on my TBR list since it came out.  I was a big fan of Me Before You, but After You left such a bad taste in my mouth I just didn’t know if I wanted to commit to another book by Moyes. Then one morning I found Still Me (without a hold!) at the library and I figured why not – I could check it out for free and if I hated it after 50 pages I could return it.  Best thing about libraries, right?  As I was making small talk with the librarian when I checked my books out I asked her what she thought – and mentioned my hesitancy and she agreed – the 2nd in the series, was a flop but the 3rd was worth reading.  That combined with one of my BFF’s telling me that I really did need to read it, got me!  I guess there really is such a thing as 3rd party validation – because I just needed all those opinions.  I am SO glad that they were right!  I really enjoyed this third book and it gave me some closure to the characters and story line that the 2nd book didn’t offer.  Plus, it redeemed my faith in Moyes as an author!  I was swept up in the story line and loved the new characters we were introduced too.  This was the Louisa and story line I was hoping to find in the 2nd book.  And while I’m kinda sad I didn’t find in After You – I am SO glad Louisa came through in this one.  If you are a fan of Me Before You I am not quite sure you can totally skip the second book for it all to make sense, but just know that if you didn’t love the second book, give this third one a chance!  You won’t be disappointed.

The Girl You Left Behind, JoJo Moyes

After redeeming my faith in Moyes as an author I quickly returned to the library and check out The Girl You left Behind, which also looked amazing because of my love for historical fiction, especially during WWI and WWII.  The first half of this novel takes place in Germany during WWI (note NOT Nazi, WWII, that’s important!), and follows the story of a Sophie, her family and specifically a painting they have in their house that Sophies husband Édouard painted of her during better times.  The story questions, What would you do to save your family and what would you give up?  The second half of the book jumps to present day where we are introduced to Liv, who, coming out of a deep depression after losing her husband ends up in a legal war with the painting as the center of it.  I read a lot of reviews on Amazon and Goodreads about this book before I read it and I know there were a lot of people out there frustrated with the present day portion of the story and how long the legal battle took.  I didn’t feel that way at all! I felt they both needed their allotted part of the story to get a better background and understanding of the characters.  I could totally see some of this happening in real life too – and how Liv was portrayed and hated in the media because of the legal battle made me want to scream!…this was not something that happened in Nazi, WWII Germany – but during a whole different war.  I know if something like this happened in real life the media would get it all wrong and be all over it, just like in the book.  I was happy with the ending however, and really enjoyed this book.  It might make my top favorites of the year!  And now I am looking forward to reading more by Moyes too! YAY!

Beneath a Scarlet Sky, Mark Sullivan

This one was on my summer reading list too. I knew I would most likely really like it if I made time to get to it – I had it downloaded on my kindle since it was released (Shout out for Kindle Unlimited First Read books!) This book is based off a true story of an Italian teenage boy, Pino, who eventually becomes the personal driver for Adolf Hitler’s left hand in Italy as a spy!  It is SO interesting to read about WWII from this perspective and it’s based on actual events.  This is NOT a short book, (over 500 pages) there is a lot of description and history in this book, but I felt it was really well written and I didn’t get bored with it.  I couldn’t put it down – some parts were so intense! I know there are a lot of reviewers out there who felt like Pino should have made different choices towards the end with Anna, but since it’s based on actual facts, you can’t really change history.  And I have no room to judge, I have never lived in a time of war or witnessed things that Pino saw and heard on a daily basis.  I am excited because the rumor is that it will become a movie – and I agree, it would make an amazing one!  I just hope that the movie does the book and family justice.  If you enjoy WWII history, The Nightingale, or Lilac Girls, I recommend this book too!

Model Mormon, Rosemary Card

So, nonfiction and I have not been friends this summer. Not sure what is up with that…but I read this book Sunday morning and LOVED it.  Super good and easy read and one I would recommend to any girl 12 and up!  This is the story of Rosemary (Rosie), and her experience with growing up Mormon, a women and an international model.  I think we all have doubts of self worth no matter if we are a signed international model or not!  I loved SO many parts.  One quote that really stuck out to me about compliments we give each other was when she said,

“At the end of this life, would you rather hear “well done my good and faithful servant,” or “you look pretty” Let’s give compliments like Christ.”

I also loved her discussion about how we teach a lot in the LDS faith about how our body is a temple, and that is important, but what is most important is what goes on inside that temple.  So yes, we should take care of bodies, but we need to take care of ourselves, our spirits, and our souls first too!  Then came the chapter at the end about being brave and stepping into the dark and taking chances.  I am telling you – this book was speaking to me!  And I literally laughed out loud when she said, “I was Bednared by Bednar!”  I just can’t say enough about this book, and I don’t want to give it all away in this review!  It’s an easy quick read, (160 pages) but I think it would make a great book club book as well and you could read chapters at a time and discuss as you go!

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There you have it!  My top 4 books from June.  Have you read any of these?  What did you think?

Have you been reading this summer?  Share some for favorites with me in the comments.

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