Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Goodreads blurb: From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and Daisy Jones & The Six comes an epic new novel set against the backdrop of the 1980s Space Shuttle program about the extraordinary lengths we go to live and love beyond our limits. Joan Goodwin has been obsessed with the stars for as long as she can remember. Thoughtful and reserved, Joan is content with her life as a professor of physics and astronomy at Rice University and as aunt to her precocious niece, Frances. That is, until she comes across an advertisement seeking the first women scientists to join NASA’s Space Shuttle program. Suddenly, Joan burns to be one of the few people to go to space. Selected from a pool of thousands of applicants in the summer of 1980, Joan begins training at Houston’s Johnson Space Center, alongside an exceptional group of fellow candidates: Top Gun pilot Hank Redmond and scientist John Griffin, who are kind and easy-going even when the stakes are highest; mission specialist Lydia Danes, who has worked too hard to play nice; warm-hearted Donna Fitzgerald, who is navigating her own secrets; and Vanessa Ford, the magnetic and mysterious aeronautical engineer, who can fix any engine and fly any plane.
As the new astronauts become unlikely friends and prepare for their first flights, Joan finds a passion and a love she never imagined. In this new light, Joan begins to question everything she thinks she knows about her place in the observable universe. Then, in December of 1984, on mission STS-LR9, everything changes in an instant. Fast-paced, thrilling, and emotional, Atmosphere is Taylor Jenkins Reid at her best: transporting readers to iconic times and places, with complex protagonists, telling a passionate and soaring story about the transformative power of love, this time among the stars.
My take: 5 out of 5. this book is precious, as one of my friends in book club says, a clutch in your chest after reading type of book. Be forewarned, there was a lot of crying, and I did definitely not want it to end. I did not have TJR (even though I love her) as the queen of the geeky romance in my book (the title might have gone to Ali Hazelwood) but she might have won the crown. The science is so well done, gives you enough info for it to feel accurate and actually instructive, but not too much that it got boring or that it took away from the story. Oh and how beautiful a story. I loved all the characters, I rooted for them, I cried for them and I empathized with them. Even all the supporting characters were fully developed and so rich. This would make one heck of a movie or miniseries.
My Friends by Fredrik Backman
Goodreads blurb: “The world is full of miracles, but none greater than how far a young person can be carried by someone else’s belief in them.” Most people don’t even notice them—three tiny figures sitting at the end of a long pier in the corner of one of the most famous paintings in the world. Most people think it’s just a depiction of a wide expanse of sea. But Louisa, soon to be eighteen years old and an aspiring artist herself, knows otherwise. She is determined to find out the story behind these three enigmatic figures. More than two decades before, in a distant seaside town, a group of teenagers find refuge from their bruising home lives by spending long summer days on an abandoned pier telling silly jokes, sharing secrets, and committing small acts of rebellion. These lost souls find in each other a reason to get up every morning, a reason to dream, a reason to love. Out of that summer emerges a transcendent work of art, a painting that, after a chance encounter in an alleyway, will unexpectedly be placed into Louisa’s care. She embarks on a surprise-filled cross-country journey to discover how the painting came to be and to decide what to do with it. The closer she gets to the painting’s birthplace, the more anxious she becomes about what she’ll find. Louisa’s complicated life is proof that happy endings are sometimes possible, but they don’t always take the form we expect them to. Fredrik Backman’s signature charm, humor, and attention to the poignant details of everyday life are on full display in this funny, moving novel. His most heartfelt and personal tale yet, My Friends is a stunning testament to the transformative, timeless power of art and friendship.
My take: 4,75 out of 5 Fredrik Backman’s writing is always stellar, though usually more reserved. In this book however, the emotions are what really got to me, it’s heartwarming, life affirming and so raw and real at the same time. It made me think of his Beartown series but with even more heart. There were some stellar quotes in it, such as no price tag no art; Art is empathy and Imagination is a kids only power. I kind of wished the painting was cover of the book, but then its kind of nice that we get to imagine this painting that started it all.
Sounds Like Love by Ashley Poston
Goodreads blurb: A hitmaking songwriter and a bitter musician share a startling and inexplicable connection that they’ll do anything to shake, in the next sparkling, magical book from Ashley Poston. Joni Lark is living the dream. She’s one of the most coveted songwriters in LA…and she can’t seem to write. There’s an emptiness inside her, and nothing seems to fill it. When she returns to her hometown of Vienna Shores, North Carolina, she hopes that the sand, the surf, and the concerts at The Revelry, her family’s music venue, will spark her inspiration. But when she gets there, nothing is how she left it. Her best friend is avoiding her, her mother’s memories are fading fast, and The Revelry is closing. How can she think about writing her next song when everything is changing without her? Until she hears it. A melody in her head, lyric-less and half-formed, and an alluring and addictive voice to go with it—belonging, apparently, to a wry musician with hangups of his own. Surely, he’s a figment of her overworked imagination. But then the very real man attached to the voice shows up in Vienna Shores. He’s aggravating and gruff on the outside—nothing like the sweet, funny voice in Joni’s head—and he has a plan: They’ll finish the song haunting them both, break their connection, and hope they don’t risk their hearts in the process. Because that song stuck in their heads? Maybe it’s there for a reason.
my take: 4.25 out of 5. Ashley Poston books are always weird, but the weirdness allows for some awesome romance writing. This one is no exception. I don’t know if I would love or absolutely hate to be in someone else’s thoughts. I definitely would not want someone in mine, but a great meet cute it does make. The musical element of this book was top notch. Between the musical aura of the concert hall, to the songwriting to the actual accompanying song, this is the book for musically inclined romance book lovers. A great summer book for the songbirds out there.
The One and Only Vivian Stone by Melissa O’Connor
Goodreads blurb: “Intriguing, sparkling with wit, and suspenseful in all the right places.” —Abby Jimenez, New York Times bestselling author The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo meets The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel in this enchanting novel about estranged lovers reconnecting over mysterious tapes found in an attic and the old Hollywood secret hidden within them.
After her grandmother’s death, thirty-something Margot DuBois prepares to sell the house quickly so she can go back to her predictable life in Santa Barbara. There, no one knows she used to write and that her lack of success wrecked her confidence. But while cleaning out the attic, she comes across eight unlabeled cassette tapes. Unable to use the damaged tape player, she calls in a favor from Leo—her first love and first epic heartbreak—and they strike a deal: he’ll fix the player if he can hear what’s on the tapes. When they manage to listen, the two are shocked to hear the voice of comedic legend Vivian Stone. Why did she record these tapes and how did Margot’s grandmother get them? Between listening to Vivian recount everything from her forbidden love for Hollywood’s leading actor, to working under a misogynistic exec, to her chemistry with her costar-turned-husband on TV, Margot and Leo fall down a memory lane of their own. Margot is inspired by Vivian’s tenacity and courage to keep fighting for the life she wants, but everything changes when Vivian reveals a secret from her past in this moving exploration of how it’s never too late to start over
This is an ARC review thanks to a gift from the publisher.
My take: 4.25 out of 5 This book is very much in the vein of Evelyn Hugo and Great Big Beautiful Life, where you go back and forth in time through someone in entertainment who is looking back at life. This one is highly entertaining and engaging. I also love that it was tape players and not letters. As with some of the old books I do question if we need the current relationship and stories when the history is so good.
The Phoenix Pencil Company by Allison King
Goodreads blurb: In this dazzling debut novel, a hidden and nearly forgotten magic—of Reforging pencils, bringing the memories they contain back to life—holds the power to transform a young woman’s relationship with her grandmother, and to mend long-lost connections across time and space. Monica Tsai spends most days on her computer, journaling the details of her ordinary life and coding for a program that seeks to connect strangers online. A self-proclaimed recluse, she’s always struggled to make friends and, as a college freshman, finds herself escaping into a digital world, counting the days until she can return home to her beloved grandparents. They are now in their nineties, and Monica worries about them constantly—especially her grandmother, Yun, who survived two wars in China before coming to the States, and whose memory has begun to fade. Though Yun rarely speaks of her past, Monica is determined to find the long-lost cousin she was separated from years ago. One day, the very program Monica is helping to build connects her to a young woman, whose gift of a single pencil holds a surprising clue. Monica’s discovery of a hidden family history is exquisitely braided with Yun’s own memories as she writes of her years in Shanghai, working at the Phoenix Pencil Company. As WWII rages outside their door, Yun and her cousin, Meng, learn of a special power the women in their family possess: the ability to Reforge a pencil’s words. But when the government uncovers their secret, they are forced into a life of espionage, betraying other people’s stories to survive. Combining the cross-generational family saga and epistolary form of A Tale for the Time Being with the uplifting, emotional magic of The Midnight Library, Allison King’s stunning debut novel asks: who owns and inherits our stories? The answers and secrets that surface on the page may have the unerasable power to reconnect a family and restore a legacy.
my take: 4 out of 5. I do not know how to define this book. ITs a little bit fantasy, a little bit family drama and a dash of historical fiction. The book is very engaging but it somehow did not leave me as satisfied in its end as I wanted to. I also really do not understand the magic, I might need to see a movie of this, to see how the restoring happens, because the way I picture it sounds very weird!
Battle of the Bookstores by Ali Brady
Goodreads blurb: and romance spark when two bookstore managers who are opposites in every way find themselves competing for the same promotion. Despite managing bookstores on the same Boston street, Josie Klein and Ryan Lawson have never interacted much—Josie’s store focuses on serious literature, and Ryan’s sells romance only. But when the new owner of both stores decides to combine them, the two are thrust into direct competition. Only one manager will be left standing, decided by who turns the most profit over the summer. Efficient and detail-oriented Josie instantly clashes with easygoing and disorganized Ryan. Their competing events and contrasting styles lead to more than just frustration—the sparks between them might just set the whole store on fire. Their only solace during this chaos is the friendship they’ve each struck up with an anonymous friend in an online book forum. Little do they know they’re actually chatting with each other. As their rivalry heats up in real life, their online relationship grows, and when the walls between their stores come tumbling down, Josie and Ryan realize not all’s fair in love and war. And maybe, if they’re lucky, happily ever afters aren’t just for the books.
My take: 3.75 out of 5. The book has some Great banter and a very satisfying enemies to lovers trope. I kind of love the change of tradition in here as the romance bookstore owner is a man, and the literary snob is a woman, that was both refreshing and made for some great conversation. It also might have an absolute perfect proposal within.
Good Dirt by Charmaine Wilkerson
Goodreads blurb: The daughter of an affluent Black family pieces together the connection between a childhood tragedy and a beloved heirloom in this moving novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Black Cake, a Read with Jenna Book Club Pick
When ten-year-old Ebby Freeman heard the gunshot, time stopped. And when she saw her brother, Baz, lying on the floor surrounded by the shattered pieces of a centuries-old jar, life as Ebby knew it shattered as well. The crime was never solved—and because the Freemans were one of the only Black families in a particularly well-to-do enclave of New England—the case has had an enduring, voyeuristic pull for the public. The last thing the Freemans want is another media frenzy splashing their family across the papers, but when Ebby’s high profile romance falls apart without any explanation, that’s exactly what they get. So Ebby flees to France, only for her past to follow her there. And as she tries to process what’s happened, she begins to think about the other loss her family suffered on that day eighteen years ago—the stoneware jar that had been in their family for generations, brought North by an enslaved ancestor. But little does she know that the handcrafted piece of pottery held more than just her family’s history—it might also hold the key to unlocking her own future. In this sweeping, evocative novel, Charmaine Wilkerson brings to life a multi-generational epic that examines how the past informs our present.
This is an ARC review thanks to a gift from the publisher.
my take: 3,5 out of 5 After reading Black Cake, I was dying to read this book. It is a good family story, It just did not grab me as much and the characters I really did not engage with. There are also complicated timelines (i feel is was complicated without it needing to be) and the mystery is just not compelling.
The Lucky River Ranch series, Book 1-3
my take: Definitely a BRAD series, It started fun and cute with Cash (3 stars), the family kept it fun with Wyatt (2.75 stars) but by the time I go to Sawyer (2.5) the smut outweighed the plot so much that I just lost interest, and really I might not sign up for the fourth brother when it comes out in December
Cash by Jessica Peterson
Goodreads blurb: Butting heads leads to knocking boots in this wildly sexy enemies-to-lovers, grumpy/sunshine, small town cowboy romance by Jessica Peterson. My dad and I have been estranged for years. But as his only living relative, it’s no surprise I inherit his massive cattle ranch when he dies. Something that is a surprise? The stipulation in his will, which requires me to live on the ranch and actively manage it for a year before I can access my inheritance money. I haven’t stepped foot in Hartsville, Texas, population one thousand, since my parents split when I was six. Now a city girl through and through, I never imagined having to move back to cowboy country. But I need the money to invest in my company, and a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do. There’s just one giant roadblock to my plan: the ranch’s foreman, grumpy cowboy Cash Rivers. I don’t care how good he looks in his Wranglers and chaps. He’s rude, he’s growly, and he wants me gone. I’d fire him in a heartbeat, but I need this cowboy to teach me the ropes of running a ranch. We’re enemies from the get-go. But turns out, Cash is really good at this ranch thing. He’s got strong hands, an intelligent mind, and let’s just say everything really is bigger in Texas. Working alongside him leads to conversations beneath the stars. Throw in some cheek-to-cheek dancing at the local dive bar, and it all feels so right that I start to fall in love with life on the ranch. And maybe with him, too. But my stay in Hartsville is only temporary. And you know what they say about cowboys: they may break horses, but they also break hearts. If only Cash hadn’t already lassoed mine…
Wyatt by Jessica Peterson
Goodreads blurb: Roping horses leads to riding cowboys in this sexy friends-to-lovers, fake-dating, lessons-in-seduction romance by Jessica Peterson. Wyatt Rivers is the perfect no-strings hookup—a cowboy Casanova who rocks a Stetson, looks smokin’ hot in his Wranglers, and never rests his head on the same pillow twice. He’s exactly what I’m looking for. If only Wyatt wasn’t also my best friend… I’m back in my hometown of Harstville, Texas, for a few months while I wait for my dream job to start thousands of miles away. While I’m here, I hope to end an epic dry spell in the bedroom, preferably with a local cowboy. If the rumors are true, they really do ride harder and stay on longer. Wyatt and I have been best friends since second grade, and I’ve been in love with him for almost as long. But he’s as wild and untamed as a colt that can’t be broken—not to mention, totally out of my league with his good looks and heartbreaker reputation. Then I get to thinking: since Wyatt is such an expert, why doesn’t he teach me the ropes of how to find a hookup? He begrudgingly agrees, and a little fake flirting suddenly leads to fake dating, which leads to real kissing, which leads to real…well, everything else. And let me just say, the rumors are absolutely true. Now, I want so badly to be Wyatt’s last rodeo. But I’m leaving town, and even if I wasn’t, I’m not sure Wyatt would ever change his playboy ways. I know cowboys can’t be tamed. Apparently, neither can hearts…
Sawyer by Jessica Peterson
Goodreads blurb: Dirty dancing leads to a chance at forever in this sizzling single parent, found family, small town romance by Jessica Peterson. As a recently divorced single mom, I have zero interest in flirting with guys while on a rare girls’ weekend away with my sisters. I just want to have fun, celebrate my new job, and listen to live music at a honky tonk. But when I literally stumble into the most gorgeous guy ever on the dance floor, those plans go up in smoke. Growing up on the barrel racing circuit, I’m not immune to the charms of a cowboy. But this particular one is hot as hell: Sawyer’s got a mustache, some sexy tattoos, and a very filthy mouth. Needless to say, we end up naked in his swanky hotel room. It’s the best sex of my life. And the way Sawyer treats me like a queen? Let’s just say a girl could get addicted to that kind of adoration. Good thing he’ll always be just a one night stand I can look back on with a smile. I’m rebuilding our life from scratch, and I need to focus on my three-year-old daughter and the dream job I just landed. Imagine my surprise, then, when I move to Hartsville and run into a tattooed cowboy with an endearing daughter of his own. Now Sawyer wants more than the occasional playdates between our girls. But the closer we become, the more determined this sexy single dad is to keep me forever. As much as I am falling for Sawyer, I’m terrified. I’ve been down this road before with my ex, and I wonder if I can trust this cowboy. Will he rope the moon for me? Or is my heart destined to be trampled all over again?
The Ex-Wives Club by Sally Hepworth
Goodreads blurb: When a restaurateur and serial philanderer turns up stone-cold dead, his trio of exes falls under suspicion in a sharp-witted and suspenseful short story by the New York Times bestselling author of Darling Girls. Celebrity chef Ian Curley is found dead in his walk-in freezer. The prime suspects are his three ex-wives, who meet up every Friday evening in their favorite corner booth of his restaurant. It’s a tradition for Anita, Mary-Jane, and Rosie to drink, dine, and commiserate. But commit murder? All aggrieved, each one has a motive and an alibi. And a brilliant detective has reservations. Who did it? The night will tell. Sally Hepworth’s The Ex-Wives Club is part of Alibis, a collection of stories about lies, truth, and deception. It’s just a matter of what you can get away with. They can be read or listened to in one sitting.
My take: 3 out of 5. a fun short novella on Amazon, fun mystery with a really unexpected twist. A little quick read especially if you are a Sally fan or a Lisa Jewell one.
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