Happy new year and new reads, my friends! Doing a monthly recap of my reads is a new type of post that I started last year and I REALLY enjoyed writing them (I don’t know if y’all enjoyed reading them, though 😂) so I’m going to continue them this year. This month I read four books … a little slower pace than months when I am devouring books every single day. BUT! That said, I don’t think I had a single dud so all four reads were 🤌🏻*chef’s kisses*.

lucky

I kicked off the new year with Lucky by Marissa Stapley! Similar to past books I’ve read, I didn’t really know what this book was about BUT I had it in my TBR list because it had Reese’s Book Club stamp of approval on it. Recently there have been some books from her Book Club list that have been duds for me (ahem, Paper Palace anyone?) so I was a little wary to be reading this BUT! It was actually really FUN and quick. I read this book on Kindle so I’m not sure how thick/long it was but I read it in essentially one sitting. It felt SUPER short and the story moved really quickly. It’s about a conwoman named Lucky who is wanted by the police for her latest heist… but then realizes she also has the winning lottery ticket for this HUGE jackpot. She’s in a conundrum of – cashing in this lottery ticket would allow her to stop conning for a living but she also can’t identify herself and cash the ticket in without alerting authorities and getting arrested. I REALLY liked this book. It wasn’t a complicated story to follow at all but it also wasn’t super heavy or deep. It really struck a beautiful balance between being entertaining but easy. I started off 2022 with a good book pick! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

the 7 1/2 deaths of evelyn hardcastle

!!!!! This one!! The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle was our book club pick for January for Pen & Page Gals and… I’ll already spoil it for you a bit and say that I REALLY liked it. But if you want to know more of what this book is about or my thoughts, you’ll have to tune into this month’s episode to hear!

surprise me

The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle hurt my head a little bit only in the sense that it was a mystery to be solved and there were so many characters/elements to the story. After I finished it, I wanted something silly and fluffy that I could read as an “escape”. Surprise Me by Sophie Kinsella was a random pick off my TBR because I’ve been a BIG fan of Sophie Kinsella’s books since her Shopaholic series (which I read in college). This book is about a married couple who have been together for about a decade and have twins. One day, they are at the doctor’s getting a physical and the doctor mentioned that life expectancy is so great these days that the pair of them can expect to live another 68 years! The sound of spending the next 68 years together sounds so … overwhelming for them that they decide to spice things up in their marriage by surprising one another! They do this hilariously a few times but pretty soon a big understanding happens between the two and it threatens to shake the foundation of their marriage as they know it. Sounds interesting, right? It was a fun read but I’ll admit it wasn’t the best/my favorite Sophie Kinsella book; she’s written much better ones. One sort of unexpected pro from reading this book is that I thought of MY husband and I when reading it and I decided that surprises ARE a fun way to “keep things fresh” in a marriage. J & I have been married for 12 years (will be 13 this year) and while having a comfortable rhythm and routine IS nice, it’s also nice to mix things up a bit, right? I told J that this year his new year goal should be to surprise me once a month (can be anything, a gift, an experience, a date, or just as simple as flowers). He was REALLY down to do this so … I think I’m going to blog about what the “surprise” was every month this year! Anyway, back to the book, I give it a very standard ⭐️⭐️⭐️.

apples never fall

The last book I read this month was Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty. I LOVE Liane Moriarty’s books and I’d been waiting for months for this newest title by her from the library. After waiting forever (and still seeing that there were tons of people ahead of me in the library line) I decided to rarely treat myself and buy the hardcover of this book. The plot of this story centers around the Delaney family: Stan & Joy Delaney are retired but ran a successful tennis coaching school/business for many years and are looked up to by many as having a great marriage. Their four adult children all grew up playing tennis as kids but none of them play it as adults and have their own individual struggles as they attempt to get jobs, find love, etc. One day, Joy goes missing without a word and Stan shows up with strange scratches all over his face. Suddenly the Delaney family finds themselves at the center of a very media-heavy missing persons search with all suspicions pointing fingers at Stan. Where is Joy? And what, if any, was Stan’s involvement? OK — sounds intriguing, right? Sounds like those true crime podcasts that I’ve recently found myself obsessed with? Guys. I LOVED this book. I can’t spoil it anymore than that; there were a few moments through the story when I was preparing myself to be disappointed but it was only because I forgot that Liane Moriarty is the MASTER of keeping her readers guessing until the literal last page. I LOVED THIS BOOK. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. Go grab it.

Also, want to know something funny? The day after I finished reading this book, I got a ping on my phone that the library copy was ready for me to borrow 🙃