I know I always say this, but there are so many good books on my list this month! I mean there are some real winners here, and I don’t think there are any duds, although I guess that could change since some of them are coming up next and haven’t actually been read yet.
What have you been reading lately? Does your reading change at all in the fall? I know some people like to read darker, more atmospheric stories, and some like to fully embrace the scary stuff around Halloween. I do this, but only minimally. Scary books are usually not for me, but I did write a post with some creepy but not too scary books for people who like to do this kind of reading in the fall.
If you have any recommendations for books I could read next month that are spooky but not terrifying, let me know! I would love to pick one or two to scratch that itch in a few weeks, but not if it will cause me nightmares. In the meantime, keep scrolling to see what’s been on my TBR recently.
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Just Finished:
The newest release from one of my favorite authors, The Gold in These Hills is a beautiful story of love and forgiveness. What would you do if the person you love most betrayed you with a terrible secret? This dual-timeline novel paints a powerful picture of Christ’s love for us and brings myriad historical details to create a powerful story that will leave you thinking.
This book is unlike anything I’ve ever read. It’s basically Jesse Itzler’s account of an experiment he decided to do on himself where he invites a Navy SEAL to live with him for a month and train him. Referred to only as ‘SEAL’ throughout the book, this man agrees on the condition that Jesse will do anything he asks. I listened to this one on audio and it was pretty short, only about five hours. I couldn’t stop listening because it was just so interesting! *Content Warning: This book is 10/10 on the bad language scale. Do not under any circumstances listen to this without earbuds if your mom or kids are around.*
If you are a fan of the enemies-to-lovers trope then you will likely enjoy the third book in Denise Hunter’s Chapel Springs series. The book opens with a historical house that the elderly owner is giving away to a deserving project. A former foster kid himself, Cole wants to use the house to provide a home for kids that are aging out of foster care. Desperate to prove herself and brings jobs and tourists to the community, PJ has plans to turn the house into a bed and breakfast with gourmet restaurant. The owner decides that PJ and Cole will both reside in the house and implement their projects for one year, at which point a winner will be decided. Let the games begin and the sparks fly!
In Progress:
It’s entirely possible that I will be a raving Michael Crichton fan at some point in the near future. I read The Andromeda Strain last month and loved it, and of course I like the Jurassic Park movies as much as the next person. This is the second book I’ve picked up by him and it’s about time travel. I’m not very far in so I can’t share any specific thoughts yet, but I can’t get over how intriguing and inventive all the premises of his books are, and I can’t wait to keep reading.
Again, I’ve only just started this book but I’m intrigued by the description of book. It’s set in the 17th century but with fantasy elements where people can manipulate different objects (like wood or stone) based on the colors they control. This is a YA book that got a lot of hype when it first came out in 2018 but for some reason I kept putting it off until I stumbled across it at the library recently and was reminded of the interesting premise.
This is book three in the Christianson Family series that I have recently designated as my new audiobook series. I used the Lazy Genius’s ‘decide once’ principle and determined that I would just keep listening to the next book in this series every time I needed an audiobook until they are all done. There are six books, one for each of the six siblings in the family as they leave they find their places in the world and find their perfect mates (because these are romances, make no mistake). This one follow Grace Christianson, an aspiring chef, as she steps out of her comfort zone and takes a cooking class in Hawaii. There she meets Max Sharpe, a hockey player who is taking the same class, and the two hit it off immediately, which is why she can’t understand why he keeps pushing her away — but Max has his reasons. This has been my favorite in the series so far.
Up Next:
This is the last book in the Chapel Springs series I mentioned above. Ryan is divorced, but not because he wants to be. He never stopped pining for Abby, and when he gets the chance to pretend they are still married as they celebrate her parents’ anniversary he goes for it. Will he be able to win her back before the week is over?
Is there anyone in the world who hasn’t read this classic Agatha Christie mystery? The answer is yes — yours truly. But I’m here to remedy that travesty soon! I really can’t wait to jump in although my daughter doesn’t understand why because the copy I got at the library is not nearly as attractive as the one pictured above (I shared about her confusion on Instagram last week).
Last month I read In The Woods and really enjoyed it, although the ending made me sad. Now I’m ready to jump into the book that comes after and see what happened next for detective Cassie. The set up is that she is called to the scene of a murder where the victim looks just like her and has an ID with a previous alias Cassie used while undercover. Intriguing, no? Now she has to go back undercover to figure out who this girl was and who killed her.
Here’s the thing. I picked this book kind of by accident because I mixed up this author with another one. I didn’t realize the mistake until I got home, so I’m listing this as a TBR pick but I haven’t completely decided if I’ll read it or not. It’s about a former chief of staff for a senator who finds herself a as single mom after her divorce. Forced to quit her job, her only hope of salvation is the funeral parlor she just inherited from her aunt. She moves from Virginia to Florida in order to start over and figure out new, unbelievably different way of life.
If you want more book recommendations from other readers, check out Modern Mrs. Darcy’s monthly quick lit as well!
Ooh, I loved The Likeness! I’ve read about 7 Tana French books (most recently, one that does NOT involve Dublin detectives) and that one is my favorite so far. Let me know what you think after you’ve finished it–my review is here! I agree about the ending of In the Woods; it was too simplistic and left some things unresolved.