Hi Friends and Happy Fall! Aren't you impressed that I am not rushing Christmas this year? It's the new me. I put up only a couple of things that most people won't see yet- the tree in my office and the tree in our master bedroom. Other than that, I am waiting until after Thanksgiving for the full thing. I am learning to slow down and enjoy every day and every season and it has done wonders for me, my attitude and outlook for sure!
Anyway, I digress. I am overdue to share some recent and current reads so thought I would link up with Shooting Stars Mag and share away and hope to get some great recommendations from you too, as always!
September
Nora Goes Off Script by Annabel Monaghan (Book Club Read)
Nora’s life is about to get a rewrite…
Nora
Hamilton knows the formula for love better than anyone. As a romance
channel screenwriter, it’s her job. But when her too-good-to work
husband leaves her and their two kids, Nora turns her marriage’s
collapse into cash and writes the best script of her life. No one is
more surprised than her when it’s picked up for the big screen and set
to film on location at her 100-year-old-home. When former Sexiest Man
Alive, Leo Vance, is cast as her ne’er do well husband Nora’s life will
never be the same.
The morning after shooting wraps and the crew
leaves, Nora finds Leo on her porch with a half-empty bottle of tequila
and a proposition. He’ll pay a thousand dollars a day to stay for a
week. The extra seven grand would give Nora breathing room, but it’s the
need in his eyes that makes her say yes. Seven days: it’s the blink of
an eye or an eternity depending on how you look at it. Enough time to
fall in love. Enough time to break your heart.
Filled with warmth, wit, and wisdom, Nora Goes Off Script is
the best kind of love story—the real kind where love is complicated by
work, kids, and the emotional baggage that comes with life. For Nora and
Leo, this kind of love is bigger than the big screen.
I am a sucker for a love story and this one did not disappoint!
The Breakaway by Jennifer Weiner
Thirty-three-year-old Abby Stern has made it to a happy place.
True, she still has gig jobs instead of a career, and the apartment
where she’s lived since college still looks like she’s just moved in.
But she’s got good friends, her bike, and her bicycling club in
Philadelphia. She’s at peace with her plus-size body—at least, most of
the time—and she’s on track to marry Mark Medoff, her childhood
sweetheart, a man she met at the weight-loss camp that her perpetually
dieting mother forced her to attend. Fifteen years after her final
summer at Camp Golden Hills, when Abby reconnects with a half-his-size
Mark, it feels like the happy ending she’s always wanted.
Yet
Abby can’t escape the feeling that something isn’t right...or the
memories of one thrilling night she spent with a man named Sebastian two
years previously. When Abby gets a last-minute invitation to lead a
cycling trip from NYC to Niagara Falls, she’s happy to have time away
from Mark, a chance to reflect and make up her mind.
But things
get complicated fast. First, Abby spots a familiar face in the
group—Sebastian, the one-night stand she thought she’d never see again.
Sebastian is a serial dater who lives a hundred miles away. In spite of
their undeniable chemistry, Abby is determined to keep her distance.
Then there’s a surprise last-minute addition to the trip: her mother,
Eileen, the woman Abby blames for a lifetime of body shaming and
insecurities she’s still trying to undo.
Over two weeks and
more than seven hundred miles, strangers become friends, hidden truths
come to light, a teenage girl with a secret unites the riders in
unexpected ways...and Abby is forced to reconsider everything she
believes about herself, her mother, and the nature of love.
I enjoyed this book by one of my favorite authors BUT it was not one of my faves of hers. Nice light read however!
October
Friends, Lovers and The Big Terrible Thing by Matthew Perry
“Hi, my name is Matthew, although you may know me by another name. My friends call me Matty. And I should be dead.”
So
begins the riveting story of acclaimed actor Matthew Perry, taking us
along on his journey from childhood ambition to fame to addiction and
recovery in the aftermath of a life-threatening health scare. Before the
frequent hospital visits and stints in rehab, there was five-year-old
Matthew, who traveled from Montreal to Los Angeles, shuffling between
his separated parents; fourteen-year-old Matthew, who was a nationally
ranked tennis star in Canada; twenty-four-year-old Matthew, who nabbed a
coveted role as a lead cast member on the talked-about pilot then
called Friends Like Us. . . and so much more.
In an
extraordinary story that only he could tell—and in the heartfelt,
hilarious, and warmly familiar way only he could tell it—Matthew Perry
lays bare the fractured family that raised him (and also left him to his
own devices), the desire for recognition that drove him to fame, and
the void inside him that could not be filled even by his greatest dreams
coming true. But he also details the peace he’s found in sobriety and
how he feels about the ubiquity of Friends, sharing stories about
his castmates and other stars he met along the way. Frank, self-aware,
and with his trademark humor, Perry vividly depicts his lifelong battle
with addiction and what fueled it despite seemingly having it all.
Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing
is an unforgettable memoir that is both intimate and eye-opening—as
well as a hand extended to anyone struggling with sobriety.
Unflinchingly honest, moving, and uproariously funny, this is the book
fans have been waiting for.
This is heart wrenching to write about now. Beautiful soul- gone too soon. This was an A+ book.
The Housemaid by Freida McFadden (Book Club Read)
“Welcome to the family,” Nina Winchester says
as I shake her elegant, manicured hand. I smile politely, gazing around
the marble hallway. Working here is my last chance to start fresh. I can
pretend to be whoever I like. But I’ll soon learn that the Winchesters’
secrets are far more dangerous than my own…
Every
day I clean the Winchesters’ beautiful house top to bottom. I collect
their daughter from school. And I cook a delicious meal for the whole
family before heading up to eat alone in my tiny room on the top floor.
I
try to ignore how Nina makes a mess just to watch me clean it up. How
she tells strange lies about her own daughter. And how her husband
Andrew seems more broken every day. But as I look into Andrew’s handsome
brown eyes, so full of pain, it’s hard not to imagine what it would be
like to live Nina’s life. The walk-in closet, the fancy car, the perfect
husband.
I only try on one of Nina’s pristine white dresses
once. Just to see what it’s like. But she soon finds out… and by the
time I realize my attic bedroom door only locks from the outside, it’s far too late.
But I reassure myself: the Winchesters don’t know who I really am.
They don’t know what I’m capable of…
Oh I couldn't put this one down- addictive it truly was- such a great thriller...then I was so excited to learn that there was a sequel so I ripped through that one too!
The Housemaid's Secret- Freida McFadden
“Don’t go in the guest bedroom.” A shadow
falls on Douglas Garrick’s face as he touches the door with his
fingertips. “My wife… she’s very ill.” As he continues showing me their
incredible penthouse apartment, I have a terrible feeling about the
woman behind closed doors. But I can’t risk losing this job—not if I
want to keep my darkest secret safe…
It’s hard to
find an employer who doesn’t ask too many questions about my past. So I
thank my lucky stars that the Garricks miraculously give me a job,
cleaning their stunning penthouse with views across the city and
preparing fancy meals in their shiny kitchen. I can work here for a
while, stay quiet until I get what I want.
It’s almost perfect.
But I still haven’t met Mrs Garrick, or seen inside the guest bedroom.
I’m sure I hear her crying. I notice spots of blood around the neck of
her white nightgowns when I’m doing laundry. And one day I can’t help
but knock on the door. When it gently swings open, what I see inside
changes everything…
That’s
when I make a promise. After all, I’ve done this before. I can protect
Mrs Garrick while keeping my own secrets locked up safe.
Douglas Garrick has done wrong. He is going to pay. It’s simply a question of how far I’m willing to go…
The sequel did not disappoint and I can't wait for Book #3 to come out in June!
November
Revenge Wears Prada: The Devil Returns by Lauren Weisberger
Almost a decade has passed since Andy Sachs quit the job “a million
girls would die for” working for Miranda Priestly at Runway magazine—a
dream that turned out to be a nightmare. Andy and Emily, her former
nemesis and co-assistant, have since joined forces to start a high end
bridal magazine, The Plunge, which has quickly become required reading
for the young and stylish. Now they get to call all the shots: Andy
writes and travels to her heart’s content; Emily plans parties and
secures advertising like a seasoned pro. Even better, Andy has met the
love of her life. Max Harrison, scion of a storied media family, is
confident, successful, and drop-dead gorgeous. Their wedding will be
splashed across all the society pages as their friends and family gather
to toast the glowing couple. Andy Sachs is on top of the world. But
karma’s a bitch. The morning of her wedding, Andy can’t shake the past.
And when she discovers a secret letter with crushing implications, her
wedding-day jitters turn to cold dread. Andy realizes that nothing—not
her husband, nor her beloved career—is as it seems. She never suspected
that her efforts to build a bright new life would lead her back to the
darkness she barely escaped ten years ago—and directly into the path of
the devil herself...Featuring all new scenes with the villainess we love
to hate (hate to love?), Miranda Priestly, Revenge Wears Prada in
paperback is another publishing event!
I didn't even know there was a sequel to "The Devil Wears Prada". I found it by accident and I enjoyed every page! I kept picturing Ann Hathaway in the role of Andy since she played her in the movie and that worked for me! Light- Fun and such great Chick Lit :)
The New Couple by Alison James (Book Club Read)
The perfect marriage. The perfect house. The perfect secret…
As
I step through the cherry-red door of my new home, I know I should feel
like the luckiest woman alive. I have a handsome husband, a beautiful
daughter and now the house of my dreams. And to everyone else my life
looks perfect…
When the neighbours stop by to welcome us, I tell
them my name is Stephanie Hamlin and, under the watchful gaze of my
husband Richard, I introduce him and our curly haired little girl Poppy.
I smile as wide as I can and desperately hope I can fit in to this
exclusive place with its pretty communal gardens. Because I’ve risked
everything to be here.
Behind closed doors I try to relax, to
unwind in the huge clawfoot bath and forget about my complicated past.
It’s hard being the new couple on the street when you’ve got secrets.
Because the truth is, my charming husband isn’t really my husband.
And I’m not Stephanie Hamlin…
Even though Bethany is hosting this month, she asked me to pick the book so I did. Not sure when I bought this but it has been on my Kindle for awhile so I thought why not and held my breath- hoping the girls would like it. Oh boy...I couldn't put this one down either. Such a great suspenseful novel!
Daily Devotionals
In addition to my two books per month, I read devotionals every day to get my day started and practice my Catholic faith. It is like my oxygen and always sets the tone of the day. Occasional days, when I jump right into work and forget to start my day with these devotionals just aren't as happy so here are the ones I am reading this year...
and I cannot wait to start this one in a few weeks....
So...what are YOU reading?
