Happy Friday! I cannot wait to share today’s post because it’s all about books I absolutely loved! Now, when I picked these books up to read for the first time, I was not expecting to fall in love, but that’s exactly what happened. Y’all, these books are soooo good! Let’s jump right in!
Nora Goes Off Script by Annabel Monaghan
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Nora’s life is about to get a rewrite…
Nora Hamilton knows the formula for love better than anyone. As a romance channel screenwriter, it’s her job. But when her too-good-to work husband leaves her and their two kids, Nora turns her marriage’s collapse into cash and writes the best script of her life. No one is more surprised than her when it’s picked up for the big screen and set to film on location at her 100-year-old-home. When former Sexiest Man Alive, Leo Vance, is cast as her ne’er do well husband Nora’s life will never be the same.
The morning after shooting wraps and the crew leaves, Nora finds Leo on her porch with a half-empty bottle of tequila and a proposition. He’ll pay a thousand dollars a day to stay for a week. The extra seven grand would give Nora breathing room, but it’s the need in his eyes that makes her say yes. Seven days: it’s the blink of an eye or an eternity depending on how you look at it. Enough time to fall in love. Enough time to break your heart.
Filled with warmth, wit, and wisdom, Nora Goes Off Script is the best kind of love story–the real kind where love is complicated by work, kids, and the emotional baggage that comes with life. For Nora and Leo, this kind of love is bigger than the big screen.
My Thoughts
I had added this book to my summer TBR when I first saw it because the cover is so eye catching. Then I heard rave reviews from two friends that I really trust with my book recommendations, but I was worried I wasn’t going to feel the same. There was no need for worry because I devoured this book! It was absolutely phenomenal, y’all. Some books just have some sort of magic in them and this book is one of them!
Funny You Should Ask by Elissa Sussman
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Then. Twentysomething writer Chani Horowitz is stuck. While her former MFA classmates are nabbing book deals, she’s in the trenches writing puff pieces. Then she’s hired to write a profile of movie star Gabe Parker. The Gabe Parker–her forever celebrity crush, the object of her fantasies, the background photo on her phone–who’s also just been cast as the new James Bond. It’s terrifying and thrilling all at once… yet if she can keep her cool and nail the piece, it could be a huge win. Gabe will get good press, and her career will skyrocket. But what comes next proves to be life-changing in ways Chani never saw coming, as the interview turns into a whirlwind weekend that has the tabloids buzzing.
Now. Ten years later, after a brutal divorce and a heavy dose of therapy, Chani is back in Los Angeles, laser-focused on one thing: her work. But she’s still spent the better part of the last decade getting asked about her deeply personal Gabe Parker profile at every turn. No matter what new essay collection or viral editorial she’s promoting, it always comes back to Gabe. So when his PR team requests that they reunite for a second interview, she wants to say no. She wants to pretend that she’s forgotten about the time they spent together, years ago. But the truth is that those seventy-two hours are still crystal clear, etched in her memory. And so… he says yes.
Chani knows that facing Gabe again also means facing feelings she’s tried so hard to push away. Alternating between their first meeting and their reunion a decade later, this deliciously irresistible novel will have you hanging on until the last word.
A restless young journalist with big dreams interviews a Hollywood heartthrob–and, ten years later, it’s clear that their time together meant more than meets the eye in this sexy, engrossing adult debut novel.
My Thoughts
I know, I know. You shouldn’t judge a book by its cover and that’s what I almost did here. The cover is not my taste. It looks like a comic strip/graphic novel so I was thinking the story would have something to do with that. Like maybe one of the main characters loved comic books or worked at a comic book store? LOL I don’t know what I was thinking, but this book wasn’t on my list until I saw someone give it a stellar review and I ordered it on a whim. I am SO glad I did! This was so swoony! If you liked The Idea of You, you’ll love this one! If you love stories where the characters meet and are separated for a long period of time and then reconnect, you’ll love this one. If you love celebrity stories, you’ll love this one. It was SO good!
Beach Read by Emily Henry
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A romance writer who no longer believes in love and a literary writer stuck in a rut engage in a summer-long challenge that may just upend everything they believe about happily ever afters.
Augustus Everett is an acclaimed author of literary fiction. January Andrews writes bestselling romance. When she pens a happily ever after, he kills off his entire cast.
They’re polar opposites.
In fact, the only thing they have in common is that for the next three months, they’re living in neighboring beach houses, broke, and bogged down with writer’s block.
Until, one hazy evening, one thing leads to another and they strike a deal designed to force them out of their creative ruts: Augustus will spend the summer writing something happy, and January will pen the next Great American Novel. She’ll take him on field trips worthy of any rom-com montage, and he’ll take her to interview surviving members of a backwoods death cult (obviously). Everyone will finish a book and no one will fall in love. Really.
My Thoughts
You may be thinking: Really? You didn’t think you’d love Beach Read? An Emily Henry book? Y’all, I read this Emily Henry book before Emily Henry really became Emily Henry: the Nick Saban of rom com books. I picked this as my Book of the Month in the summer of 2020 when it first came out. I hadn’t heard much about it and I was worried it was going to be one of those summer beach reads that tried to be too literary and I would have to DNF. Boy, was I wrong. One of my favorite memories from that summer was reading this book on my back porch at night. Y’all, this book was just amazing. I reread it a year after I read it for the first time and loved it just as much. One of the best books out there.
Beartown by Fredrik Backman
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The #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Man Called Ove returns with a dazzling, profound novel about a small town with a big dream—and the price required to make it come true.
People say Beartown is finished. A tiny community nestled deep in the forest, it is slowly losing ground to the ever encroaching trees. But down by the lake stands an old ice rink, built generations ago by the working men who founded this town. And in that ice rink is the reason people in Beartown believe tomorrow will be better than today. Their junior ice hockey team is about to compete in the national semi-finals, and they actually have a shot at winning. All the hopes and dreams of this place now rest on the shoulders of a handful of teenage boys.
Being responsible for the hopes of an entire town is a heavy burden, and the semi-final match is the catalyst for a violent act that will leave a young girl traumatized and a town in turmoil. Accusations are made and, like ripples on a pond, they travel through all of Beartown, leaving no resident unaffected.
Beartown explores the hopes that bring a small community together, the secrets that tear it apart, and the courage it takes for an individual to go against the grain. In this story of a small forest town, Fredrik Backman has found the entire world.
My Thoughts
I have never been so close to DNFing a book and then loving it as I was with this book. At one point early on, I closed the book and told myself I would just skim the rest to see what happened. But something told me to keep reading. I’m so glad I didn’t quit this book. Yes, there are a TON of characters and yes, the writing style takes a little getting used to, but it was so incredibly good. The characters and their world will stick with you for the longest time after you finish the book.
To Have and to Hoax by Martha Waters
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Five years ago, Lady Violet Grey and Lord James Audley met, fell in love, and got married. Four years ago, they had a fight to end all fights, and have barely spoken since.
Their once-passionate love match has been reduced to one of cold, detached politeness. But when Violet receives a letter that James has been thrown from his horse and rendered unconscious at their country estate, she races to be by his side—only to discover him alive and well at a tavern, and completely unaware of her concern. She’s outraged. He’s confused. And the distance between them has never been more apparent.
Wanting to teach her estranged husband a lesson, Violet decides to feign an illness of her own. James quickly sees through it, but he decides to play along in an ever-escalating game of manipulation, featuring actors masquerading as doctors, threats of Swiss sanitariums, faux mistresses—and a lot of flirtation between a husband and wife who might not hate each other as much as they thought. Will the two be able to overcome four years of hurt or will they continue to deny the spark between them?
My Thoughts
I got an ARC of To Have and to Hoax a few months before it came out and I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to get into it. Historical fiction/romance is sometimes tricky for me. I don’t love when there are a lot of titles and names to keep track of (Duke, Lord, Lady, Baroness, etc.) but this one reads like a contemporary with a historical setting. I highly recommend this series if you love Bridgerton. It is my favorite!
I’d love to hear if you’ve read any of these and what you thought about them!
Check out my past Friday Five posts!
5 Books to Read When you Become Obsessed with Bridgerton
5 Favorite Books from Popular Authors
5 #1 Books from the Past 5 Years
5 Most Anticipated Beach Reads: Romance Edition
5 Most Anticipated Beach Reads: Mystery/Thrillers Edition
