On the bookshelf in January
I read eight books in the month of January:
by Yasmin Angoe
4/5 stars
“Isla Thorne had a rough start in life. Orphaned young, she spent her formative years in a group home where she met her best friend, Eden Galloway. At sixteen, they decide to run away to LA…but Eden never makes it.
It’s been ten years since Eden vanished. And Isla’s determined to find her.
She begins at the last place Eden visited: the Corrigan mansion in Virginia. Eden claimed to have unfinished business there. Posing as an aspiring journalist, Isla insinuates herself into the wealthy family’s home and begins searching for the truth.
The more she digs, the more Isla discovers Eden isn’t who she thought she was. Was she even a victim, or did Eden plan this all along? Desperate for answers and to keep her identity hidden, Isla finds an ally in one of the Corrigan sons. But as she wades deeper into this power-hungry family’s secrets and lies, she finds herself in the crosshairs of a bloodline that’s more lethal than loyal.”
by Carola Lovering
5/5 stars
“It's 2013, and twenty-three-year-old Brooklyn barista Molly Diamond has just locked eyes with Jake Danner, the front man of an up-and-coming Southern rock band. It's not long before Molly and Jake fall deeply in love, inspiring each other's writing and planning for a life together filled with creativity, passion, and adventure.
But nearly a decade later, Molly is teaching yoga and living in the posh Connecticut suburb of Flynn Cove with her young daughter and husband Hunter--who is decidedly not Jake Danner. Molly is lonely in picture-perfect Flynn Cove--until Sabrina walks into her studio. A newcomer in town, Sabrina has her own reasons for seeking out Molly, and their blossoming friendship will set both women on a collision course of deep-rooted secrets, lies, and manipulation.
Meanwhile, a new version of Jake's hit song is on the radio, forcing Molly to confront her past and ask the ultimate questions: What happens when life turns out nothing like we thought it would, when we were young and dreaming big? Does growing up mean choosing with your head, rather than your heart? And do we ever truly get over our first love?”
by Sally Hepworth
4/5 stars
“There's only been one time that Rose couldn't stop me from doing the wrong thing and that was a mistake that will haunt me for the rest of my life.
Fern Castle works in her local library. She has dinner with her twin sister Rose three nights a week. And she avoids crowds, bright lights and loud noises as much as possible. Fern has a carefully structured life and disrupting her routine can be...dangerous.
When Rose discovers that she cannot get pregnant, Fern sees her chance to pay her sister back for everything Rose has done for her. Fern can have a baby for Rose. She just needs to find a father. Simple.
Fern's mission will shake the foundations of the life she has carefully built for herself and stir up dark secrets from the past, in this quirky, rich and shocking story of what families keep hidden.”
by Emily Stone
4/5 stars
“When Lexie learns of her father’s death, she doesn’t know how to feel; they’ve barely spoken in the last ten years. And she’s even more confused when she discovers he’s left her half of his holiday travel company, a successful niche business specializing in trips that explore the holiday traditions of cultures all over the world.
Meanwhile, the other half of the company has been left to her father’s handsome but bad-tempered young executive, Theo. And the will stipulates that the two of them must find a way to run the company together for a year before they decide its fate.
Lexie intends to leave once the year is over, even though, as a wanderer herself, she finds the company’s mission more compelling than she first thought. And a work trip to sizzling Spain reveals a chemistry between Lexie and Theo that is impossible to deny.
There may have been some snap judgments made about each other. But mixing business and pleasure isn’t always a good idea.”
by Ruth Wariner
5/5 stars
“Ruth Wariner was the thirty-ninth of her father’s forty-two children. Growing up on a farm in rural Mexico, where authorities turn a blind eye to the practices of her community, Ruth lives in a ramshackle house without indoor plumbing or electricity. At church, preachers teach that God will punish the wicked by destroying the world and that women can only ascend to Heaven by entering into polygamous marriages and giving birth to as many children as possible. After Ruth’s father—the man who had been the founding prophet of the colony—is brutally murdered by his brother in a bid for church power, her mother remarries, becoming the second wife of another faithful congregant.
In need of government assistance and supplemental income, Ruth and her siblings are carted back and forth between Mexico and the United States, where Ruth’s mother collects welfare and her stepfather works a variety of odd jobs. Ruth comes to love the time she spends in the States, realizing that perhaps the community into which she was born is not the right one for her. As she begins to doubt her family’s beliefs and question her mother’s choices, she struggles to balance her fierce love for her siblings with her determination to forge a better life for herself.
Recounted from the innocent and hopeful perspective of a child, The Sound of Gravel is the remarkable memoir of one girl’s fight for peace and love. This is an intimate, gripping tale of triumph, courage, and resilience.”
The Marriage Act (Dark Future #2)
“Britain. The near-future. A right-wing government believes it has the answer to society’s ills — the Sanctity of Marriage Act, which actively encourages marriage as the norm, punishing those who choose to remain single.
But four couples are about to discover just how impossible relationships can be when the government is monitoring every aspect of our personal lives — monitoring every word, every minor disagreement — and will use every tool in its arsenal to ensure everyone will love, honor and obey.”
The Family Experiment (Dark Future #3)
by John Marrs
2/5 stars
“Some families are virtually perfect…
The world's population is soaring, creating overcrowded cities and an economic crisis. And in the UK, the breaking point has arrived. A growing number of people can no longer afford to start families, let alone raise them.
But for those desperate to experience parenthood, there is an alternative. For a monthly subscription fee, clients can create a virtual child from scratch who they can access via the metaverse and a VR headset. To launch this new initiative, the company behind Virtual Children has created a reality TV show called The Substitute. It will follow ten couples as they raise a Virtual Child from birth to the age of eighteen but in a condensed nine-month time period. The prize: the right to keep their virtual child, or risk it all for the chance of a real baby…”
by Sarah Harman
4/5 stars
*my book club’s book for January!
“Florence Grimes, age thirty-one, always takes the easy way out. Single, broke and unfulfilled after the humiliating end to her girl-band career, she has only one reason to get out of bed each day: her ten-year-old son Dylan. But then Alfie Risby, her son’s bully and the heir to a vast frozen-food empire, mysteriously vanishes during a class trip, and Dylan becomes the prime suspect.
Florence, for once, is faced with a task she can’t quit: She’s got to find Alfie and clear her son’s name or risk losing Dylan forever—never mind that she has no useful skills (let alone investigative ones) and that all the other school moms hate her. Oh, and she has a reason to suspect Dylan might not be as innocent as she’d like to believe.”
HERE is a link to all the books I’ve purchased recently
My heart was so full heading into the 2023 Christmas season! I finished up reading the entire Bible. Bible Recap: A One-Year Guide to Reading & Understanding the Entire Bible was such a great resource that helped me better understand what I was reading & how it applies to my life! It was amazing to me how much was familiar & how much I didn’t know I was missing. Having a better understanding of the Bible & being in the word every day has brought so much peace into my life! If you’ve been feeling the pull to read your Bible more, I highly recommend Bible recap to help you on your journey. I’m excited to start over & eager to see what new things I will pick up on & learn.
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