Hey everyone! First of all I want to say a HUGE thank you to everyone who has reached out to me about my post this week. Sharing real and heavy things can be daunting but thankfully I have so many AMAZING people in my life who only encouraged me yesterday. You guys are the best and made me feel so surrounded with love. I know this season of life is temporary and that the Lord has a bigger plan for me. Just trying to see past the yucky stuff right now. Anyways, I always love to share about what I am reading and I have quite a few books on my "to read list." Here are my top 5 that I am super excited about.
Still Me by Jojo Moyes
This is the third book involving Jojo Moyes' character, Louisa Clark. I LOVED her in Me Before You and After You. She is quirky, funny, and utterly charming with all of her little faults. She seems like a real person whom you would want to be friends with. Who doesn't love that?? I'm sure by now most of you have read Me Before You or at least seen the movie. The next book is definitely worth a read but I am excited to see Louisa off on her own in New York. I will let you know how it goes!
Amazon Synopsis:
Louisa Clark arrives in New York ready to start a new life, confident that she can embrace this new adventure and keep her relationship with Ambulance Sam alive across several thousand miles. She steps into the world of the superrich, working for Leonard Gopnik and his much younger second wife, Agnes. Lou is determined to get the most out of the experience and throws herself into her new job and New York life.
As she begins to mix in New York high society, Lou meets Joshua Ryan, a man who brings with him a whisper of her past. Before long, Lou finds herself torn between Fifth Avenue where she works and the treasure-filled vintage clothing store where she actually feels at home. And when matters come to a head, she has to ask herself: Who is Louisa Clark? And how do you find the courage to follow your heart—wherever that may lead?
Red Rising by Pierce Brown
I know I am a little late to the game here because this came out in 2014 but Mark is OBSESSED with it and I have heard so many good things from friends. My girlfriend Ashley gave me the first two books so I am saving them for spring break. She says I will devour them so I am stoked! Here is the synopsis from Amazon:
Darrow is a Red, a member of the lowest caste in the color-coded society of the future. Like his fellow Reds, he works all day, believing that he and his people are making the surface of Mars livable for future generations. Yet he spends his life willingly, knowing that his blood and sweat will one day result in a better world for his children.
But Darrow and his kind have been betrayed. Soon he discovers that humanity reached the surface generations ago. Vast cities and lush wilds spread across the planet. Darrow—and Reds like him—are nothing more than slaves to a decadent ruling class.
Inspired by a longing for justice, and driven by the memory of lost love, Darrow sacrifices everything to infiltrate the legendary Institute, a proving ground for the dominant Gold caste, where the next generation of humanity’s overlords struggle for power. He will be forced to compete for his life and the very future of civilization against the best and most brutal of Society’s ruling class. There, he will stop at nothing to bring down his enemies . . . even if it means he has to become one of them to do so.
The Last Mrs. Parrish by Liv Constantine
I have heard that this book is sooo good! I can't wait to read this and it seems right up with my alley with all the twists and turns. I love a good thriller!
Amazon Synopsis:
Amber Patterson is fed up. She’s tired of being a nobody: a plain, invisible woman who blends into the background. She deserves more—a life of money and power like the one blond-haired, blue-eyed goddess Daphne Parrish takes for granted.
To everyone in the exclusive town of Bishops Harbor, Connecticut, Daphne—a socialite and philanthropist—and her real-estate mogul husband, Jackson, are a couple straight out of a fairy tale.
Amber’s envy could eat her alive . . . if she didn't have a plan. Amber uses Daphne’s compassion and caring to insinuate herself into the family’s life—the first step in a meticulous scheme to undermine her. Before long, Amber is Daphne’s closest confidante, traveling to Europe with the Parrishes and their lovely young daughters, and growing closer to Jackson. But a skeleton from her past may undermine everything that Amber has worked towards, and if it is discovered, her well-laid plan may fall to pieces.
With shocking turns and dark secrets that will keep you guessing until the very end, The Last Mrs. Parrish is a fresh, juicy, and utterly addictive thriller from a diabolically imaginative talent.
The Alice Network by Kate Quinn
This has been on my "to read" list for awhile now and I am super excited to actually start reading it. I love historical fiction especially anything that has to do with WW I or II. I am really intrigued about the idea of a female spy in the early 1900s and her role in the WW. This should be a good one!
Amazon Synopsis:
1947. In the chaotic aftermath of World War II, American college girl Charlie St. Clair is pregnant, unmarried, and on the verge of being thrown out of her very proper family. She's also nursing a desperate hope that her beloved cousin Rose, who disappeared in Nazi-occupied France during the war, might still be alive. So when Charlie's parents banish her to Europe to have her "little problem" taken care of, Charlie breaks free and heads to London, determined to find out what happened to the cousin she loves like a sister.
1915. A year into the Great War, Eve Gardiner burns to join the fight against the Germans and unexpectedly gets her chance when she's recruited to work as a spy. Sent into enemy-occupied France, she's trained by the mesmerizing Lili, the "Queen of Spies", who manages a vast network of secret agents right under the enemy's nose.
Thirty years later, haunted by the betrayal that ultimately tore apart the Alice Network, Eve spends her days drunk and secluded in her crumbling London house. Until a young American barges in uttering a name Eve hasn't heard in decades, and launches them both on a mission to find the truth...no matter where it leads.
The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah
Oh I am soooo excited to read Kristin Hannah's newest novel. I have loved pretty much everything she has written and I hope this one doesn't disappoint. This book is set in Alaska in the 70's which is so different from anything else I have read. I love how Hannah draws you into the characters and really makes you feel a connection, even if it's a situation you have never been in. I am super interested how she is going to develop a relationship between Ernt and Cora.
If you haven't read The Nightingale or Firefly Lane by Hannah, go get them now! Both are so good!!
Amazon Synopsis:
Ernt Allbright, a former POW, comes home from the Vietnam war a changed and volatile man. When he loses yet another job, he makes an impulsive decision: he will move his family north, to Alaska, where they will live off the grid in America’s last true frontier.
Thirteen-year-old Leni, a girl coming of age in a tumultuous time, caught in the riptide of her parents’ passionate, stormy relationship, dares to hope that a new land will lead to a better future for her family. She is desperate for a place to belong. Her mother, Cora, will do anything and go anywhere for the man she loves, even if means following him into the unknown.
At first, Alaska seems to be the answer to their prayers. In a wild, remote corner of the state, they find a fiercely independent community of strong men and even stronger women. The long, sunlit days and the generosity of the locals make up for the Allbrights’ lack of preparation and dwindling resources.
But as winter approaches and darkness descends on Alaska, Ernt’s fragile mental state deteriorates and the family begins to fracture. Soon the perils outside pale in comparison to threats from within. In their small cabin, covered in snow, blanketed in eighteen hours of night, Leni and her mother learn the terrible truth: they are on their own. In the wild, there is no one to save them but themselves.
In this unforgettable portrait of human frailty and resilience, Kristin Hannah reveals the indomitable character of the modern American pioneer and the spirit of a vanishing Alaska―a place of incomparable beauty and danger. The Great Alone is a daring, beautiful, stay-up-all-night story about love and loss, the fight for survival, and the wildness that lives in both man and nature.
