On the bookshelf in July
I read five books, & listened to one, in the month of July:
by Lucy Score
4/5 stars
“Hazel is given a one-two punch when she's forced to move out of her Upper East Side apartment and is given a final warning from her publisher.
If she doesn't turn in a book by her next deadline, they're cutting her loose.
Hazel rashly decides to leave what's left of her city life behind and impulse buys a house in rural Pennsylvania sight unseen. How better to entertain the loyal readers she still has and rediscover her writing mojo than immersing herself in small-town life?
Too bad this town looks to be on its last legs. At least she's finding swoon-worthy inspiration from her hot, grumpy contractor Cam and his animal-rescuing, community-involved family. It's all just research. What could go wrong?”
by Lucy Score
4/5 stars
“Literary agent Zoey Moody doesn't like small town life, but here she is: exiled from Manhattan's publishing scene and trapped in a tiny Pennsylvania town with her BFF and only remaining client, Hazel. The problem? She's totally broke.
All she needs is for Hazel's next romance novel to become a gigantic hit, and Zoey will be back in New York. Nothing will stand in her way. Nothing except her six-foot-two-inch landlord, Gage Bishop. He's smart, serious, and sexy. Worst of all, he's ready to settle down.
Zoey might be the most beautiful woman Gage has ever met, but it's clear they're all wrong for each other. She's allergic to commitment and can't work a calendar app; he's looking for a wife and has the next five years all planned out. She's afraid of animals. He lives in a literal barn. But when Gage's world is rocked by a devastating family secret, he turns to Zoey for one night to forget everything. That one night just might change everything…or ruin it.”
by Peter James
4/5 stars
“John Grebble wakes up to discover he’s been declared dead. His bank account is frozen, his car repossessed, and his entire existence erased. Someone wants him gone—permanently.
Within hours, his world unravels. His debit card is declined. His car is towed away. His office locks him out. The police treat him like a criminal. According to every system, every database, every official record—John Grebble is no more.
But John is very much alive. And as he tries to uncover who could have pulled off such an elaborate erasure of his identity, he realises this isn’t just a mistake—it’s personal. Someone with intimate knowledge of his life has gone to extraordinary lengths to scrub him out completely. And this is just the start…”
by Mary Kay Andrews
4/5 stars
“After she discovers her sister Tanya dead on the floor of her fashionable New York City townhouse, Letty Carnahan is certain she knows who did Tanya’s ex; sleazy real estate entrepreneur Evan Wingfield. Even in the grip of grief and panic Letty heeds her late sister’s “If anything bad happens to me―it’s Evan. Promise me you’ll take Maya and run. Promise me.”
With a trunkful of emotional baggage...
So Letty grabs her sister’s Mercedes and hits the road with her wailing four-year-old niece Maya. Letty is determined to out-run Evan and the law, but run to where? Tanya, a woman with a past shrouded in secrets, left behind a “go-bag” of cash and a big honking diamond ring―but only one a faded magazine story about a sleepy mom-and-pop motel in a Florida beach town with the improbable name of Treasure Island. She sheds her old life and checks into an uncertain future at The Murmuring Surf Motel.
The No Vacancy sign is flashing & the sharks are circling...
And that’s the good news. Because The Surf, as the regulars call it, is the winter home of a close-knit flock of retirees and snowbirds who regard this odd-duck newcomer with suspicion and down-right hostility. As Letty settles into the motel’s former storage room, she tries to heal Maya’s heartache and unravel the key to her sister’s shady past, all while dodging the attention of the owner’s dangerously attractive son Joe, who just happens to be a local police detective. Can Letty find romance as well as a room at the inn―or will Joe betray her secrets and put her behind bars? With danger closing in, it’s a race to find the truth and right the wrongs of the past.”
by Ashley Flowers
5/5 stars
“Nicole “Nic” Monroe is in a rut. At twenty-four, she lives alone in a dinky apartment in her hometown of Mishawaka, Indiana, she’s just gotten a DWI, and she works the same dead-end job she’s been working since high school, a job she only has because her boss is a family friend and feels sorry for her. Everyone has felt sorry for her for the last seven years—since the day her older sister, Kasey, vanished without a trace.
On the night Kasey went missing, her car was found over a hundred miles from home. The driver’s door was open and her purse was untouched in the seat next to it. The only real clue in her disappearance was Jules Connor, another young woman from the same area who disappeared in the same way, two weeks earlier. But with so little for the police to go on, both their cases eventually went cold.
Nic wants nothing more than to move on—from her sister’s disappearance and the state it’s left her in. But then one day, Jules’s sister, Jenna Connor, walks into her life and offers Nic something she hasn’t felt in a long time - hope. What follows is a gripping tale of two sisters who will do anything to find their missing halves, even if it means destroying everything they’ve ever known.”
by Allen Levi
5/5 stars
*my book club’s book for July!
I actually ended up listening to this one on Spotify while we drove to & from Texas.
“His name is Theo. And he asks a lot more questions than he answers.
Theo visits the local coffeehouse, where ninety-two pencil portraits hang on the walls, portraits of the people of Golden done by a local artist. He begins purchasing them, one at a time, and putting them back in the hands of their “rightful owners.” With each exchange, a story is told, a friendship born, and a life altered.
A story of giving and receiving, of seeing and being seen, Theo of Golden is a beautifully crafted novel about the power of creative generosity, the importance of wonder to a purposeful life, and the invisible threads of kindness that bind us to one another.”
monthly book club!
books I purchased this month: shop here
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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