What I’m Reading – June 2019

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Hey hey and happy Wednesday!! If you know me then you, know…this is my favorite post of the month!!! Why? Because I LOVE to read and I LOVE sharing what I’m reading with you each month!!

As you probably know by now, one of my new year’s resolutions this year is to read 120 books. So far this year (including this month) I have read 80 books! That’s more than halfway there so I feel like I will have no trouble hitting my goal this year.

I have been reading so much lately!! I don’t even really turn on the tv when I’m at home anymore, I just read books and you know what? I’m not evened about it. I also find that during the summer months I read more actual/real books than audiobooks. Don’t get me wrong, I still listen to a LOT of audiobooks but I find myself reaching for a real book most of the time now. Probably because I love reading by the pool…LOL!!

Anyway, enough talking about reading books, let’s see what I’m reading for the past month!!

First things first, I got on a bit of a Mary Kay Andrews kick. I think I have read ALL of her books by now but I missed her so I started reading them all over again.

ONE. The Fixer Upper by Mary Kay Andrews. I LOVE this book!! It’s about a woman who has to move back home to the south after a scandal at work leaves her jobless. While taking a break from her life she decides to renovate a house that has been in her family for years and gets into all sorts of mischief along the way.

“Entirely satisfying, an expert balance of warmth and compassion, terrific supporting characters, a little steamy sex, and just enough suspense to keep you from guessing how it will all go down.”  – Atlanta Journal-Constitution

TWO. Save the Date by Mary Kay Andrews. This book takes place in Savannah and is about a woman who has was recently divorced and has started her life over as the owner of one of the hottest flower shops in town. She is slowly getting her life together with the help of her best friend and co-worker, has the sweetest dog, and of course a mysterious man falls into her life at just the wrong time. I loved this story from beginning to end and it makes me want to visit Savannah even more than I already want to!

“Save the Date is a vintage Andrews rom com, a colorful bouquet of a book that’s filled with her trademark wry wit, good humor.” – examiner.com

THREE. Summer Rental by Mary Kay Andrews. This book is about four best friends who decide to take a month out of their busy lives and rent a house on the beach together at the end of a crazy summer. Each woman has something she’s hiding and all of the secrets eventually come out and they are all so relatable!!! I love these characters so much!!

“Mary Kay Andrews spins a beach-blanket sizzler around three lifelong friends . . . a warm-weather treat that has a lot going for it, not least the sunny forecast that summer love can blossom into a four-season commitment.” – Publishers Weekly

FOUR. The Weekenders by Mary Kay Andrews. This book starts off with a bang, and by bang I mean a murder! Our main character’s life is turned upside down in the matter of a few chapters when she finds out that her husband is dead, her weekend home on Belle Isle has been seized by the bank and bank accounts have been wiped clean. Add to this story a daughter with a serious medical condition, a brother with a shady past, a mother who is set in her ways, and an high school flame and you have a great read on your hands! I loved figuring out “who done it” and why and seeing the main character try to get her life back together while still holding her own. Again, I LOVED THIS BOOK!!!

“Atlanta’s prolific chick-lit queen returns to her roots as a mystery author with this frothy tale of divorce, shady real estate deals and murder…Venturing into plots a tad darker than usual, Andrews still finds room for humor, romance and zany characters worth spending a weekend with.” – Atlanta Journal Constitution

FIVE. Every Crooked Nanny by Mary Kay Andrews. This is the first book in the Callahan Garrity series by MKA and was actually written under a different name, Kathy Hogan Trocheck. These books take place in Atlanta and follow Callahan as she and her mother, Edna, run their cleaning business from their home. Callahan is an ex ATL cop and also does a little private investigating work on the side and it seems like everywhere she turns something crazy happens and she has to investigate it. This book follows Callahan as she gets hired by an old college friend to clean her house and falls into a potential nanny scam and real estate scam.

“Fresh, confident, intelligent and amusing. Grab a cold drink, put your feet up, and enjoy yourself.” – Sue Grafton

SIX. Happily Never After by Mary Kay Andrews. Callahan Garrity is back at it but this time instead of investigating crooked nannies she’s investigating an old singing group from the 60’s. She has been hired to find their long lost member but stumbles into something so much bigger!

“Callahan and her cohort of continuing characters…are great company…If Happy Never After were a song, we’d be dancing in the streets.” – San Jose Mercury News

And then I got on a Dorothea Benton Franklin kick…

SEVEN. The Last Original Wife by Dorothea Benton Franklin. This book is about a woman who is the last “original wife” of all of her husband’s friends. While all of the other husbands have dropped their first wives to “upgrade” to younger wives her husband stays married to her because he thinks he is doing her a favor. In a strange twist of events our leading lady decides to not waste her time on things that don’t matter to her anymore and live the life she has always wanted. I LOVE this book and I love the message it sends because time truly is precious and is NOT to be wasted on anyone or anything that doesn’t truly bring you joy!!

EIGHT. All Summer Long by Dorothea Benton Franklin. This book is about a power couple from New York City who decided to move to South Carolina after the husband retires from his job. Our leading lady is more than a little nervous because she has always lived in the big city and her interior decorating business is still there but they have decided to make it work. This book is about friends who are more like family, secrets and true love. I LOVED this book!!

 I’m always willing to go wherever in South Carolina’s Lowcountry Dorothea Benton Frank takes me. – Richmond Times-Dispatch

NINE. By Invitation Only by Dorothea Benton Franklin. Let me just say that this was one of my favorite books by this author this month!! This book is about two families who have come together because of an engagement. The groom is from the deep south and was raised on a working orchard/farm with his family and the bride is from high society Chicago. The groom’s family hosts the engagement party at their farm and the wedding is to be held at a fancy hotel in Chicago. Of course there are twists and turns to this story and the ending it totally unexpected but I LOVED it!!!

“South Carolina’s Low Country is the heart of this tender paean to young love and midlife makeovers, but Benton Frank also blends the allure of big-city swagger into her smart and funny account of modern wedding madness.” – Publishers Weekly

TEN. The Dream Daughter by Diane Chamberlain. I was actually sent this book from a publishing house to read as a part of the paperback being released and since I am a HUGE Diane Chamberlain fan I was super pumped! This book legit had me hooked from the first few pages and I read it in two days. It’s about true love, time travel, the things we do for our families, The Beatles, sacrifice and so much more!! You HAVE to check it out!!

“Carly is a likable heroine…she’s caught in a heart-wrenching dilemma as she realizes time travel is, ‘if anything, an inexact science.’ The story is well-paced and the ending satisfyingly sweet.” – Kirkus

ELEVEN. Silent Sister by Diane Chamberlain. This book also had me hooked from the first page and I LOVED figuring this book out as well. It’s about a woman who grew up with an older brother whom she adored and an older sister that committed suicide. Her whole life she has looked up to the sister she never knew and when her father recently passed away she finds out that her sister could actually be alive…SUCH A GREAT READ.

“Chamberlain’s powerful story is a page-turner to the very end. A must for all mystery lovers and those who like reading about family struggles.” – Library Journal

TWELVE. The Hopefuls by Jennifer Close. This book was actually my least favorite of the moth. I had high hopes going in because I have LOVED Jennifer Close’s other books but this one was kind of depressing?? It’s about a woman who follows her husband from NYC to Washington DC for a job. She doesn’t really want to leave and is pretty miserable for (what seems like) most of the book. She makes a friend while in DC and they wind up following them to Texas for a year and the whole thing was just a little awkward? I don’t know, maybe I was just in a weird place when I read it but it wasn’t a fave.

“Inspired by Close’s own experiences moving to Washington for her husband’s work on the Obama campaign, The Hopefuls is blisteringly honest about the circus of American politics and Washington’s exhausting culture of competition—one that that renders people outside of political circles virtually invisible.” – Meredith Turits, Elle 

THIRTEEN. The Assistants by Camille Perri. This book is about a woman who is an assistant to the biggest media conglomerate in the country. She is over-educated and underpaid but is making it work when one day a technical error means she can pay off the balance of her student loans and change her life forever…

“Anyone who’s ever struggled to pay down a student loan and make the rent on that rat-infested apartment will savor this wry, keenly observed debut.” – People 

FOURTEEN. Next Year in Havana by Chanel Cleeton. I read so many amazing reviews on this book before reading it and I think I expected too much from it because honestly, I struggled to finish it. This book is about a woman whose family fled from Cuba when her grandmother was 19 years old. It flips back and forth from the grandmother’s life in Cuba at 19 and the woman’s trip to Cuba in the current day. She uncovers some family secrets and learns about the real Cuba and not just the front that is put on for tourists.

“A beautiful novel that’s full of forbidden passions, family secrets and a lot of courage and sacrifice.” – Reese Witherspoon

FIFTEEN and SIXTEEN. Glass Houses by Rachel Caine and Dead Girls Dance by Rachel Caine. And last, but not least, I decided to find some good “fluff” books to read to get out of my reading slump and found the Morganville Vampire series. It was written a few years ago by Rachel Caine and there are 16 books in all and last month I read the first two. If you are into good YA vampire books then these will be quick reads for you. I am still reading the series now so I would say I liked it!!

If you LOVE to read as much as I do then check out my IG account because I am hosting a little book giveaway of a few of the books I have recently read but aren’t keeping…

And there you have it, all of the books I read in the month of June. You can also check out all of the books I read in January, February, March, April, and May. And if we have the same taste in books you can check out my favorite chick lit authors here!