I don’t know if time is moving faster or if I’m just getting older but as I type this there are 75 days until the end of the year. This is rather cosmic as my reading goal for this year is 75 books. I had been feeling very confident about being able to meet this goal but now I’m not so sure. I feel like my reading is slowing down as other aspects of my life speed up. I sincerely believe in progress not perfection so while I will make a valiant effort to reach my goal I refuse to get down on myself if I don’t quite make it.
I’ll post my reading journey progress at the end.
The Paris Apartment-Lucy Foley
Another mystery thriller! I enjoy this author and have read a few of her books. The premise of this book is that a sister is going to stay with her brother in Paris because she is having some unknown issue where she lives. Her brother is staying at a swanky apartment in Paris but he is not there when she arrives even though he said he would be. As soon as she gets into his apartment she knows that something bad has happened but she is clueless where to begin looking. I enjoyed the intensity of the story along with all of the characters. The story unfolds bit by bit but gives you enough that you want to continue reading. I liked this book so much that I’m likely going to read some of her older books.
The Honey Bus-Meredith May
This is a memoir and I typically do not like memoirs. With that said, I didn’t hate this one. I started reading the book and couldn’t get into it. I got the audio book and found it much easier to listen to it. I was not crazy about the voice of the narrator but it was still easier than reading. I most enjoyed the book when I upped the speed to 1.5. This made the speech pattern at a normal speed!
Anyway, the essence of this book is about being loved enough when you have an emotionally absent parent along with a couple of grandparents who are looking out for you. The grandmother is no great prize herself (not a spoiler) but the book demonstrates that you can thrive and not just survive as long as you have some love and attention in your life. The story was interesting and intriguing enough to keep me interested in listening.
Things We Do In The Dark-Jennifer Hillier
A woman is accused of killing her husband. While she is worried about that, she is more fearful that people will find out the secrets from her past. Another good book from an author whose previous work I have enjoyed. The book keeps you guessing as to who is who and what is what. There are so many options that it really does keep you guessing. Even when most of the mystery is revealed, there is even more left to be revealed making the ending quite satisfying.
The Hunting Party-Lucy Foley
This book was really good and rather unexpected. This author is very good at writing characters who are hiding secrets. No one is immune-everyone is hiding something. This is one of those books though where you don’t find out what’s happening until the very end. I generally find this really frustrating as I prefer to have situations unfold a bit at a time. I like to get a little something throughout the book. There were enough other secrets revealed throughout the book that I did enjoy it and will likely keep reading this author.
The No Show-Beth O’Leary
Another fun rom-com from an author whose work I have enjoyed in the past. This one is a bit more serious but you don’t really found out the seriousness until much later in the book. The premise is that this one man has stood up 3 women on Valentine’s Day and they all want to know why. He does work very hard to try and explain himself but one thing leads to another with lots of misunderstandings and unspoken feelings. There is lots of mystery about what is going on and why and the story is very good. I don’t want to give anything away so I will just say that I did not see it coming and was very satisfied when all was revealed.
2022 reading journey: Goal=75 books
Jan: 8 Feb: 4 Mar: 6 Apr: 6 May: 6 Jun: 6 Jul: 7 Aug: 5
Total: 48 (27 to go)!
As always, I’m open to any book recommendations. If you’ve read any of these, please let me know your thoughts in the comments.
