I went to a couple of years of summer camp (girl scout camp to be exact!) and I still have vivid memories of the early swims in the lake, the raising of the flag and making lots of friendship bracelets!
I love books that also make you a little nostalgic, and if you do too, you might like to check out Kristy Woodson Harvey’s upcoming release, #TheSummerOfSongbirds…publishing July 11th!
“The Summer of Songbirds is a lyrical and unforgettable celebration of female friendship, summertime freedom, and enduring sisterhood—and a love letter to the places and people that make us who we are. Four women come together to save the summer camp that changed their lives and rediscover themselves in the process.”
I just love this author- she writes the sweetest, most relatable, insightful stories, all tied together by a great group of characters. This book tells the story of four women, who after the pandemic, come together to save their treasured summer camp.
Summers spent at camp tied these women together for life and I loved reading about their current lives, how they came together, and how they ultimately won their camp back. This book is perfect for the summer months ahead, especially if summer camp was a big part of your own childhood!
QOTD: Did you ever go to summer camp? Do you have any favorite memories? I am discussing this upcoming summer release over on my bookstagram page @genthebookworm and I would love it if you joined in!
Disclosure: Some of the links above are affiliate links. This means if you click through and make a purchase, I may receive a small commission that helps support this blog at no cost to you. Thank you!
{Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for my gifted review copy}
Was was/is your first book of 2023?
A book about how books bring us together was my first book of 2023 (which I thought was quite fitting!) and I LOVED it!
Have you heard ofNo Two Personsyet? I was first introduced to author @ericabauermeister when I devoured her novel The Scent Keeper back in the spring of 2019.
And I am excited to announce that spring of 2023 is looking good too, with her newest work of fiction making its arrival on May 2nd!
“One book. Nine readers. Ten changed lives. New York Times bestselling author Erica Bauermeister’s No Two Persons is ‘gloriously original celebration of fiction, and the ways it deepens our lives.’
That was the beauty of books, wasn’t it? They took you places you didn’t know you needed to go…
Alice has always wanted to be a writer. Her talent is innate, but her stories remain safe and detached, until a devastating event breaks her heart open, and she creates a stunning debut novel. Her words, in turn, find their way to readers, from a teenager hiding her homelessness, to a free diver pushing himself beyond endurance, an artist furious at the world around her, a bookseller in search of love, a widower rent by grief. Each one is drawn into Alice’s novel; each one discovers something different that alters their perspective, and presents new pathways forward for their lives.
Together, their stories reveal how books can affect us in the most beautiful and unexpected of ways—and how we are all more closely connected to one another than we might think.”
The premise of No Two Persons had the potential to be complicated and hard to follow, but it was anything but and I was engrossed from the beginning. I loved starting out learning about the main character, who after a challenging young adulthood goes on to become a reclusive best-selling author. The subsequent chapters tell the story of one reader at a time, and each is done so well.
I found myself both sad to see each chapter end, as well as excited to learn how someone else was impacted by the book next. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again- fiction has as much potential to impact its readers as nonfiction/personal development does (which I am a big fan of!) And this book did just that- I loved this uniquely curious and moving read and I highly recommend it!
QOTD: What was your first book of 2023? And what format was it? Audiobook, kindle or a hardcopy? I would love to hear and you can join in on the conversation over on @genthebookworm right now!
Disclosure: Some of the links above are Amazon affiliate links. This means if you click through and make a purchase, I may receive a small commission that helps support this blog at no cost to you. Thank you!
While I don’t set New Year’s Resolutions, I do like choosing a word to focus on for the year ahead, and this year, my word is “connection”. And what better way to start off the year, than by sharing about some of the connections I have found here.
In addition to meeting so many amazing fellow book lovers I have also had the opportunity to connect with authors. And living in a very small state, I have really enjoyed meeting local authors, including these four! All of these authors are ones I connected with during 2022, and wanted to get on your reading reader for 2023!
“In the 1990s American workplace, survival of the fittest is sometimes less about clawing your way to the top than developing good camouflage. And Audrey Rohmer is doing her very best to blend in as an undistinguished middle manager. Uninspired by her job and uneasy about her father’s new marriage, Audrey coasts through the work week leaning on her “partner in apathy”–an admin assistant named Pooter–to keep her relationship with the married head of her department from becoming water cooler gossip.
But when an old family-friend-turned-Hollywood-superstar crashes on her doorstep in the midst of a publicity crisis, Audrey’s under-the-radar status quo gets upended, and the writing may literally be on the bathroom wall that secrets will find a way out.
Equally acerbic and heartfelt, In Light of Recent Events is both an endlessly engaging piece of storytelling and a fascinating commentary on workplaces, families, and fame.”
“What if society looked at addiction without judgment?
Unstitched shares the powerful story of one librarian’s quest to understand the impact of addiction fed by stigma and inevitable secrecy.
The opioid epidemic has hit people in communities large and small and across all socioeconomic classes. What should each of us know about it and do about it?
Unstitched moves listeners from feelings of helplessness and blame into empathy, ultimately helping friends, family, and community members separate the disease of addiction from the person underneath.
A stranger, rumored to be a heroin addict, repeatedly breaks into the small-town library Brett Ann Stanciu runs. After she tries to get law enforcement to take meaningful action against him – elementary school children and young parents with babies frequent the place after all – he dies by suicide. When she realizes how little she knows about opioid misuse, she sets out on a mission, seeking insight from others, such as people in recovery, treatment providers, the town police chief, and Vermont’s US attorney.
Stanciu’s journey leads to compassionate generosity, renewed faith, and ultimately a measure of personal redemption as she realizes she has a role to play in helping the people of her community stitch themselves back together.”
“A young, determined woman figures out life and love while staying true to herself in this whip-smart and genuinely witty debut.
Twenty-eight-year-old Hannah Spencer wants nothing more than to change everything about her life. After 10 years of living in cities, Nathan Wild has just moved back home to Vermont and doesn’t want to change anything about his.
Recently laid off from her depressing job in Boston and ready for a challenge, Hannah heads to Vermont for the summer to take care of her sister’s kids and do some serious soul-searching. There, against the stunning landscape of the Green Mountains, she embarks on an ambitious project: building a treehouse for her niece and nephew. As she hammers away, she formulates a plan to jump-start her life with a new job out West. But, will Nathan-next-door complicate her desire to change course?
A witty, romantic, and inspiring story of a young woman taking control and making tough choices about love and work to build the life she wants, The Treehouse on Dog River Road will have you rooting for Hannah every step of the way.”
“Tangled influences compel a young girl to hide her true nature until one weekend in her mid-20s when the truths she’s been suppressing call her to a crossroads she can’t avoid. Insulated from societal mores by her glamorous mother and humble father, six-year-old Beatrice-barefoot in ratty overalls-tunes into animals, senses the unspoken, and thrives. But when tragedy penetrates their rural Vermont bubble, Beatrice is thrust into a world that tells her she has no place unless she hides her depth, pretties up, and falls in line. She complies. Years later in San Francisco, incongruities in Beatrice’s life abound. What’s real is hidden. What’s false is celebrated. She numbs and sidesteps and, despite inner warnings, artfully outruns thoughts of her family, the girl she once was, and the woman she pretends to be. But when a cascade of events steers her back to her childhood home, a discovery in a rundown barn quiets her. In the still point, she sees her crossroads: should she carry on the known path or step into uncertainty? Her future rests on her interpretation of change. Anxiety and loss. Or hope and renewal. She must decide who she is. In beautiful, spare prose, The Wisdom of Winter explores the tenacity of misbeliefs, the magic in forgiveness, and the artistry of the natural world in healing the past.”
Question(s) Of The Day:
Do you have a word of the year for 2023? And do you have any authors that are local to you? Any that you have learned about on social media? I would love to hear over in the comments section of my @genthebookworm Instagram page.
Disclosure: Some of the links above are Amazon affiliate links. This means if you click through and make a purchase, I may receive a small commission that helps support this blog at no cost to you. Thank you!
Does this photo make you go down memory lane?! Then maybe you were also a 90s/early 2000s teenager too! Shout out to the other elderly millennials out there! 💃🏻
@getredprbooks sent out the most amazing package for this book, and I actually squealed with delight when I opened it! Blockbuster card… ✔️Choker necklace…✔️ Bubble Yum…✔️ Great Lash mascara….#MaybeItsMaybelline! 🎶💋
Paired with my own high school yearbooks, it was one of my most favorite photos to put together….I even included my own high school senior portrait which I dug out just for this special occasion! Jewelry from Claire’s of course…➡️💎📷
The Most Likely Club by author @elyssafriedland was one of my favorite women’s fiction reads this summer. This book had it all- and as a nearly forty year old, it was all too relatable and had me laughing aloud at times. Even better, it also had so much heart and took on the idea of what came to be for four high school best friends. 👯♀️👯♀️
I enjoyed the throw back references to the 90s, the long-lasting friendships, second chances and the hints of romance, But most importantly, I loved that it showed women coming together…especially where it matters. All four characters were unique and had their own paths and challenges along the way. 💖
This was the perfect mix of being an easy read while also having enough substance to balance it all out and I just enjoyed it so much! The Most Likely Club publishes 9.6.22. In Addition, it was picked as a Book Of The Month add-on read for September, so you can get a copy even sooner, HERE. Not a BOTM member yet? You can join using my referral link HERE! 📦
✨QOTD: Did your high school have #TheMostLikelyTo… feature in your yearbook? If so, were you selected for any of them? Ours did not, and I feel rather grateful for that now…😅 I am discussing this book over on my Bookstagram feed @genthebookworm and I would love it if you joined in on the conversation
Disclosure: Some of the links above are Amazon affiliate links. This means if you click through and make a purchase, I may receive a small commission that helps support this blog at no cost to you. Thank you!
My August reading is off to a great start, and I am excited to share that I had my first #FiveStarRead of the month! 🤩
Mika in Real Life surprised me, in the best possible way. It’s been a while since I read a book about family that just felt so real, and human. Don’t let this cute book cover deceive you, because while this book is totally heartwarming, it’s also real and covers some heavy topics that made this book really stick. 💗
Mika is a Japanese-American woman in her mid-30s who’s life looks nothing like the one she had once imagined. Mike is at a low point when her daughter she had given up for adoption 16 years earlier, reaches out to her, hoping to connect. ☎️
In her quest to be a person her daughter Penny is proud of, Mika creates a few white lies which, of course, end up snowballing into something way bigger than she ever imagined. While this storyline seems predictable at first, it ends up being the foundation of a novel that captures the essence of what makes a parent and what makes a life. 📖
Not only is Mika endearing but she’s also beautifully flawed. Author Emiko Jean delves into how our own pasts have made us who we are, and how our families expectations have shaped us but also don’t make us. The Japanese American immigrant experience was woven in throughout this story. In addition, the side characters are multifaceted and add so much to this brilliant novel. 🙌
I can’t say enough about this book and I know it will stick with me for a long time. It was also picked as the @gmabookclub August selection and I highly recommend adding to your end of summer reading list. Is Mika In Real Life on your reading radar yet? ☀️📝
✨QOTD: What was your last five star read? I am discussing this one over on my @genthebookworm Instagram feed and I would love to hear your thoughts!
Disclosure: Some of the links above are Amazon affiliate links. This means if you click through and make a purchase, I may receive a small commission that helps support this blog at no cost to you. Thank you!
“A disillusioned millennial ghostwriter who, quite literally, has some ghosts of her own, has to find her way back home in this sparkling adult debut from national bestselling author Ashley Poston.
Florence Day is the ghostwriter for one of the most prolific romance authors in the industry, and she has a problem—after a terrible breakup, she no longer believes in love. It’s as good as dead. When her new editor, a too-handsome mountain of a man, won’t give her an extension on her book deadline, Florence prepares to kiss her career goodbye. But then she gets a phone call she never wanted to receive, and she must return home for the first time in a decade to help her family bury her beloved father. For ten years, she’s run from the town that never understood her, and even though she misses the sound of a warm Southern night and her eccentric, loving family and their funeral parlor, she can’t bring herself to stay. Even with her father gone, it feels like nothing in this town has changed. And she hates it. Until she finds a ghost standing at the funeral parlor’s front door, just as broad and infuriatingly handsome as ever, and he’s just as confused about why he’s there as she is. Romance is most certainly dead . . . but so is her new editor, and his unfinished business will have her second-guessing everything she’s ever known about love stories.”
You may know how I tend to feel about ghosts in books (👎) but this worked! 👻 I also love a book that takes you behind the scenes in the publishing world!!
Author Ashley Poston’s writing flowed so well and I loved the myriad of eccentric characters and the unique storyline totally sucked me in.
This book is quirky, endearing, witty and full of hope and if you are looking for a unique romance read, I highly recommend adding this one to your summer reading list, ASAP!! You can grab your copy HERE.
Disclosure: Some of the links above are Amazon affiliate links. This means if you click through and make a purchase, I may receive a small commission that helps support this blog at no cost to you. Thank you!
I read The Hotel Nantucket back in April and it made for the perfect spring vacation read! I am a big fan of author ElinHilderbrand’s older books and this one brought me right back ! I enjoyed that it featured the hospitality industry, much like The Blue Bistro did…which is my favorite Elin book! 💙
It has a large cast of characters who all have their own storylines but also all intertwine. I even loved the paranormal element which I wasn’t sure about at first! 👻
All in all, this was just the perfect easy and engaging read! It had enough depth to not feel like total fluff, and the food descriptions and amazing summer vacation location just made it so incredibly fun to read. 👏
I loved it so much I knew I needed a hard copy for my shelf and @bookofthemonth came through when it was one of the June add-ons! And how perfect does it look with this adorable cookie I found at @klingersbakery today? 👙💓
{Want to join Book Of The Month? You can use my referral link HERE!}
I found this book totally engrossing and the ending felt so satisfying and full circle that this one really deserves all the stars! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Whether you are an #ElinHilderbrand fan already, or just want a fun summer read that will keep you totally entertained, I highly recommend adding The Hotel Nantucket to your reading list! 📚
This title publishes next week, 6.14.22, which is the perfect timing for beach bags everywhere! ☀️👜
✨QOTD: Do you have a favorite beach read author? Did you choose any add-ons for your June Book Of The Month box? I am discussing The Hotel Nantucketover on @genthebookworm and I would love to hear your thoughts!
Disclosure: Some of the links above are Amazon affiliate links. This means if you click through and make a purchase, I may receive a small commission that helps support this blog at no cost to you. Thank you!
{Gallery Books #partner. Thank you for my gifted copies to read, review and share with you!}Something Wilder by Christina Lauren
Have you picked up the May 2022 #NewBookRelease Something Wilder yet?! This just might be my favorite Christina Lauren book yet! I absolutely loved this adventure fueled romance, most of which I read in a single sitting.
I enjoyed following the main characters on an unexpected treasure hunt, while at the same time rekindling their connection after then years apart. It really was the perfect escape-read contemporary romance that I didn’t know I needed.
This book kept me guessing as there were several moments I didn’t see coming, and I absolutely loved how it all came together in the end. This book took some intense thinking and research on the author’s part – and it was a totally fun and unique spring read! You can order your copy using my affiliate link HERE.
QOTD: Have you read a a book yet by the author duo Christina Lauren? What are your favorites? I am discussing this over on my Bookstagram account @genthebookworm and I would love to hear your thoughts!
Disclosure: Some of the links above are Amazon affiliate links. This means if you click through and make a purchase, I may receive a small commission that helps support this blog at no cost to you. Thank you!
You know those books that slowly make their way onto the reading scene and then they are absolutely everywhere?!
Remarkably Bright Creatures was recently this book…And when @Readwithjenna picked it as their May book club pick, the reading FOMO really hit me hard, and I knew I had to pick it up ASAP!
At first I wasn’t sure I would enjoy a book that had a giant Pacific octopus as one of the narrators, but I shouldn’t haven’t worried because Marcellus ended up being the star of the show! This is a feel good book that also is deeply rooted in the realities (and challenges) of life….which is my kind of read.
Its literary fiction that felt super readable and the characters are genuine and also completely unforgettable. This really was a remarkable book, and one I will hold in my reading memories forever.
In addition, it was absolutely amazing via audiobook, and I highly recommend it, as the narrators truly brought this story to life.
Have you read this one yet and/or is it on your TBR list?! I am discussing this book today over on @genthebookworm and I would love to have you share your thoughts!
Disclosure: Some of the links above are Amazon affiliate links. This means if you click through and make a purchase, I may receive a small commission that helps support this blog at no cost to you. Thank you!
I picked up Our Little World on a whim earlier this year. I hadn’t heard much about it yet, which also meant I was going into it with not a lot of expectations either way! And this book, it ended up blowing me away!!
This spring 2022 release atmospheric and totally compelling. It’s a coming of age story set in a cul-de-sac in the 1980s. It’s a small town mystery but it’s also a character driven novel focused on relationships, especially sisterhood, after a young girl named Sally goes missing. The story is told through the adolescent eyes of Bee, and the angst, worries and emotional ups and downs are totally spot on.Our Little World is not exactly a past paced page turner, but it’s no less intriguing because of it. It totally has #NowAndThen movie vibes and was just exactly the kind of book I didn’t know I needed!! I loved this book and highly recommend it!
I highly recommend adding this one to your spring reading list, and then coming back to tell me your thoughts when you read it!! 📝
Our Little World hit bookstore shelves today (5.3.22!) and you can grab your copy using my Amazon affiliate link HERE.
✨QOTD: Do you like reading hyped books or do you prefer to go into a new read with less expectations overall? I discussed this book over on my Bookstagram feed @genthebookwormand I would love to hear your thoughts!
Disclosure: Some of the links above are Amazon affiliate links. This means if you click through and make a purchase, I may receive a small commission that helps support this blog at no cost to you. Thank you!
Something Wilder by Christina Lauren
Our Little World is not exactly a past paced page turner, but it’s no less intriguing because of it. It totally has #NowAndThen movie vibes and was just exactly the kind of book I didn’t know I needed!! I loved this book and highly recommend it!