Recently Read | July Edition

Happy Wednesday, friends! I have been having such great luck with books recently and it’s allowed me to fly through listening and reading to them. I went through to see how many books I’ve read this year and was a little sad that the number is only 14. I’m hoping to pick up the pace and read at least 4 books a month for the rest of the year, but it all depends on how quickly some become available from the library. I also have 3 free months of Audible (an Amazon Prime deal) which got me 3 free books for that time. Anyway, there’s still some summer left and I think that you’ll want to add these to your list soon!

Tell Me Lies || Lucy & Stephen have the most complicated college and post college relationship that so many of us can relate to. Both are running away from their past experiences and continue to make very poor decisions. Neither character is likeable and chapters alternate between their two points of views and also between the past of college and their present attending a wedding of a mutual friend. They’re addicted to one another, until they’re not. Was it the best book, definitely not, but it did keep my interest. There’s also a twist that ties the two together that I figured out about 3/4 of the way through the book.

Too Good To Be True || LOVED this book, but I’m just going to come out and say that the ending while wrapped up in a pretty bow, was wrapped up too nicely in a little bow. I couldn’t wait to find out what happened here. There are a lot of twists and turns, it’s not a thriller, just a really great work of fiction. Heather, Skye & Burke are all intertwined and when you find out how and why, you’re hooked. Skye meets Burke, this older guy that seems too good to be true and maybe he is. Is he lying, is he telling the truth about who he is? What about his life before Skye? Is Skye just so eager to be loved because of her OCD, that she’s willing to overlook some potential red flags that her friends see? And how does Heather from 17 years ago play into all of this? All these questions are reason enough to read the book!

In Five Years || I was so happy when this finally became available from the library because it felt like I had waited forever to read this book. It was worth the wait – I devoured the book in 2 days! This was so different from what I was expecting, in the best way possible and also had me absolutely bawling because of the powerful storytelling. Dannie is the most by the book and by the numbers person, always with a plan. When she wakes up in a different apartment and with a different man 5 years in the future she is struck by what her life could be. But just as quickly as she woke up in that different life, she is brought right back to her present and forced to figure out what it means. The next 5 years is just that – her figuring it out. This is a beautiful story of finding yourself and a beautiful once in a lifetime friendship. Honestly, I teared up just writing that because the story is so hauntingly beautiful – it will be a book that stays with you for a very long time.

Every Summer After || This debut novel from Carley Fortune is such a great read, especially during the summer! Percy & Sam met when her family bought the cottage next to Sam’s family on a lake where most people head to for summer, but Sam lived year round. While theirs was only supposed to be a summer friendship, it blossomed into so much more over the course of 6 summers. Until something caused them to not speak for over a decade, until one weekend where them reuniting was inevitable. With alternating times of the past and present, it was done so beautifully and I actually loved the retelling of their summers as young kids! I adored this book!

Tell me what I should read next!