On the bookshelf -- February

Since rediscovering my love for reading this past summer, I've really enjoyed reading a wide variety of books. Since I hadn't read for fun in years, I didn't really know what types of genres I'd like to read. I already know that I don't love self-help books, but my mom does. So far, my favorite genres have been psychological thrillers & love stories. I know, I know, those are quite different genres lol.

The first book of 2020 that I've read is The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren. On the cover of the book it says that it's witty & downright hilarious & let me tell you something, they are not lying! This book is both too cute & too funny all wrapped into one book. There are parts of it that are predictable & other parts that I never saw coming. I typically like books that keep me on my toes & while this one isn't a thriller, I was so excited to keep reading to see what happened next. The story involves a set of female twins & two brothers. Hmm what do you think is going to happen? ;) This book had a couple raunchy moments, but overall I would say it's a very easy, quick & light read. I wish I could've read it sitting on a beach or sitting poolside, but cozied up on my couch with a blanket & hot cup of tea in my favorite mug will do!

HUGE fan of Kristin Hannah right here so I was really excited to read Night Road. Woof. Kristin Hannah used her characters to reach outside this book, cut open my chest, rip my heart out & stomp on it. That may sound dramatic but that's because this book was dramatic. Seriously. Broke my heart into a million pieces & then put it back together by the end. I was truly invested in the lives of the characters & couldn't put this book down. I read it in less than a week! The story line follows a set of twins, Mia & Zachary, & their friendship with a broken girl named Lexi. This book is all about friendship & forgiveness & loss. It's definitely not a light read. I cried multiple times while reading the book & then felt almost lonely when I finished. That's how close I grew to these characters & how invested I was in their story! Well done, Kristin Hannah.

We Met in December by Rosie Curtis was a really fun, light & airy read in a similar way to The Unhoneymooners. This book follows a thirty year old woman named Jess on her journey to rediscovering herself & her love for life. The majority of the story takes place in London, which in my opinion, is always fun to read about. The characters have different accents & I found myself trying to pronounce certain words in certain ways while I was reading! Jess recently got out of a relationship, quit her stable job & moved to London to follow her dreams & to start over. Jess moves into a house with four other people & from the very first night, she feels hopeful that this is going to be the start of something very beautiful -- including possibly a new relationship with her new housemate, Alex? You'll have to read it for yourself to find out what Jess learns on her journey to self-discovery & how she falls back in love with her own life. ;) Even though this book is called, We Met in December, it is a great read for February (Valentine's Month) because there's a few different love stories throughout the book.

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Hi everyone, Sara here! Alli's reviews on the first two books above are SPOT ON! The Unhoneymooners was a light & fun read & Night Road absolutely rocked my world. I think for me, Night Road was something that actually could happen in my life & so I spent a lot of time while reading it thinking about how I might react in that situation. Oh how I pray that I never find out! Both GREAT reads! I haven't read We Met in December yet, but it sounds like I need to!

The first book I am going to review is Next Year in Havana that I read for my book club. This book fluctuates between the current day life of Marisol (a journalist living in Miami) & the life of her late Grandmother, Elisa, who grew up as part of the high society in the late 1950s & 1960s in Cuba. I'm not a big fan of politics & this book focuses a lot on the political unrest & history of Cuba, so that part made it a little more challenging for me to read. However, I learned so much throughout & it was a good reminder of how privileged we are here in America & how many freedoms we take for granted. If you're part of a book club, this is an excellent choice, we had so much discussion!

I like to begin each year by reading a book on money. This year I chose, Love Your Life Not Theirs by Rachel Cruze. While I thought it was a good book with a lot of information, I didn't really feel like I learned anything new here. Although it was definitely a good reminder of where I want my focus to be with our money! Rachel is the daughter of Dave Ramsey, so if you have read any of his books then this is a pretty similar concept. I will say that I felt like Rachel focuses more on the emotional side of money than Dave does, so that part was interesting to me.

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Have you ever heard of the "goodreads" app? It's a free app that lets you track your reading progress, rate books you've read, keep a list of your want-to-read books, set yearly reading goals & follow along with what your friends are reading as well! It even gives you suggestions based off of your ratings & the types of books you read. We both really like it. You should check it out!