Awesome Summer Reads

Believe it or not, during my busiest season at work, every year we take some time to go up to the lake to our favorite resort and relax for a few days. 

It's never long enough, and it seems that just as I'm getting into the hang of just doing nothing, it's time to pack up and come home. 

Of course, when I get back to work I pay for it dearly...but it sure is wonderful at the time and I look forward to it every year.

I joke with Sweetie that that's pretty much the extent of my 'lazy days of summer' - those 4 days at the lake. 

One of my favorite things about doing nothing is that I can indulge in my favorite hobby - reading book after book after book. I used to do just that as a kid, I was an avid reader and could get lost for hours upon hours with a good book. I used to climb up into a big tree in the campground we summered at, and settle myself in with a book and read away the day. 

I don't have time for that any longer, but I've discovered another way to get my book 'fix' while still getting my chores done around the house. 

Audio-books. Yup, I've been converted. I'm officially an audio-book addict. 

I finally got my library card for our mountain top library, and I borrow audio-books from the library and read them on my phone or iPad using Overdrive and the Libby app.  I know, I know....I'm late to the party, I'm sure you all have been doing this for ages. My daughter bugged me for years to get my library card and borrow eBooks for free....what took me so long? 

Well, now I'm on board and completely hooked on audio-books. I listen to them on my phone using earbuds while I vacuum, mop, dust, weed-whack, weed the garden....anything that requires me moving around. I listen to them on my iPad without earbuds while I'm doing something stationary....getting ready for work, folding laundry, making the bed, cleaning out the fridge, cooking....you get the drift.  While at the lake, I listened using my earbuds so as not to disturb Sweetie or anyone else around us...but I was still able to take in all the lovely sights all around me. 

It's a perfect solution, marrying my love of books and my busy, busy life. 

So what have I been reading? Oh my gosh, some awesome books, and of course I have to share them here with all of you!

Ok here we go:

The first audio-book I tried out was this one:

The Stranger In The Woods

The Stranger In The Woods, by Michael Finkel. 

I have always been drawn to stories of real folks who follow their dream and move away from the city to carve out a new life in the country. 

This book takes that concept to the extreme, without a doubt, but I found it fascinating. 

I gave the fridge and freezer a great clean-out the day I was 'reading' this one! It sure made that task far more enjoyable!

Amazon says:

Many people dream of escaping modern life, but most will never act on it. This is the remarkable true story of a man who lived alone in the woods of Maine for 27 years, making this dream a reality; not out of anger at the world, but simply because he preferred to live on his own.A New York Times bestseller: In 1986, a shy and intelligent twenty-year-old named Christopher Knight left his home in Massachusetts, drove to Maine, and disappeared into the forest. He would not have a conversation with another human being until nearly three decades later, when he was arrested for stealing food. Living in a tent even through brutal winters, he had survived by his wits and courage, developing ingenious ways to store edibles and water, and to avoid freezing to death. He broke into nearby cottages for food, clothing, reading material, and other provisions, taking only what he needed but terrifying a community never able to solve the mysterious burglaries. Based on extensive interviews with Knight himself, this is a vividly detailed account of his secluded life - why did he leave? what did he learn? - as well as the challenges he has faced since returning to the world. It is a gripping story of survival that asks fundamental questions about solitude, community, and what makes a good life, and a deeply moving portrait of a man who was determined to live his own way, and succeeded.

Next up was one that had been on my list since last year. 

The Glass Castle

 The Glass Castle, a memoir by Jeannette Walls. 

Whoa, this was seriously one of those books I could not put down. If you have not yet read this book, please add it to your list - you will not be disappointed! 

Amazon says: 

The Glass Castle is a remarkable memoir of resilience and redemption, and a revelatory look into a family at once deeply dysfunctional and uniquely vibrant. When sober, Jeannette’s brilliant and charismatic father captured his children’s imagination, teaching them physics, geology, and how to embrace life fearlessly. But when he drank, he was dishonest and destructive. Her mother was a free spirit who abhorred the idea of domesticity and didn’t want the responsibility of raising a family.
The Walls children learned to take care of themselves. They fed, clothed, and protected one another, and eventually found their way to New York. Their parents followed them, choosing to be homeless even as their children prospered.
The Glass Castle is truly astonishing—a memoir permeated by the intense love of a peculiar but loyal family.

Next on my list: 

The Couple Next Door

The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena. 

This book kept me on the edge of my seat, and really kept me guessing right up until the end. Awesome, electrifying read!

Amazon says:

It all started at a dinner party. . .

A domestic suspense debut about a young couple and their apparently friendly neighbors—a twisty, rollercoaster ride of lies, betrayal, and the secrets between husbands and wives. . .

Anne and Marco Conti seem to have it all—a loving relationship, a wonderful home, and their beautiful baby, Cora. But one night, when they are at a dinner party next door, a terrible crime is committed. Suspicion immediately lands on the parents. But the truth is a much more complicated story.

Inside the curtained house, an unsettling account of what actually happened unfolds. Detective Rasbach knows that the panicked couple is hiding something. Both Anne and Marco soon discover that the other is keeping secrets, secrets they've kept for years.

What follows is the nerve-racking unraveling of a family—a chilling tale of  deception, duplicity, and unfaithfulness that will keep you breathless until the final shocking twist.

After that book, I was in the mood for another suspense novel, so next I selected:

The Woman In Cabin 10

The Woman In Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware had been on my wish list for quite some time, but had never popped up on my Kindle Daily Deals or on Book Bub. But my awesome little mountain top library had it!

This book did not disappoint, it was well worth the wait! If you haven't already read it, make sure you add it to your list....and plan on doing little else for the day other than reading this book, if you are not into audio-books like me! 

Amazon says:

In this tightly wound, enthralling story reminiscent of Agatha Christie’s works, Lo Blacklock, a journalist who writes for a travel magazine, has just been given the assignment of a lifetime: a week on a luxury cruise with only a handful of cabins. The sky is clear, the waters calm, and the veneered, select guests jovial as the exclusive cruise ship, the Aurora, begins her voyage in the picturesque North Sea. At first, Lo’s stay is nothing but pleasant: the cabins are plush, the dinner parties are sparkling, and the guests are elegant. But as the week wears on, frigid winds whip the deck, gray skies fall, and Lo witnesses what she can only describe as a dark and terrifying nightmare: a woman being thrown overboard. The problem? All passengers remain accounted for—and so, the ship sails on as if nothing has happened, despite Lo’s desperate attempts to convey that something (or someone) has gone terribly, terribly wrong…
With surprising twists, spine-tingling turns, and a setting that proves as uncomfortably claustrophobic as it is eerily beautiful, Ruth Ware offers up another taut and intense read in The Woman in Cabin 10—one that will leave even the most sure-footed reader restlessly uneasy long after the last page is turned.

I switched things up a little with my next choice: 

Necessary Lies

Necessary Lies by Diane Chamberlain. This was not a suspense novel, however it did draw me in completely and I found it most difficult to put down. I found myself thinking about Jane and Ivy long after I finished this book, the author did such an amazing job of making the characters come to life.

Amazon says:

After losing her parents, fifteen-year-old Ivy Hart is left to care for her grandmother, older sister and nephew as tenants on a small tobacco farm. As she struggles with her grandmother's aging, her sister's mental illness and her own epilepsy, she realizes they might need more than she can give.

When Jane Forrester takes a position as Grace County's newest social worker, she doesn't realize just how much her help is needed. She quickly becomes emotionally invested in her clients' lives, causing tension with her boss and her new husband. But as Jane is drawn in by the Hart women, she begins to discover the secrets of the small farm―secrets much darker than she would have guessed. Soon, she must decide whether to take drastic action to help them, or risk losing the battle against everything she believes is wrong.

Set in rural Grace County, North Carolina in a time of state-mandated sterilizations and racial tension, Necessary Lies tells the story of these two young women, seemingly worlds apart, but both haunted by tragedy. Jane and Ivy are thrown together and must ask themselves: how can you know what you believe is right, when everyone is telling you it's wrong?

I decided I needed something a little lighter for my next read, so I selected this completely charming novel:

Three Wishes

Three Wishes by Liane Moriarty.  I read another book by the same author last year, and I enjoyed it immensely, so I was excited to see this one available through my library. 

Well, it did not disappoint! I was drawn in from the first page, and found myself laughing out loud at the antics of these three sisters. 

Amazon says: 

Lyn, Cat, and Gemma Kettle, beautiful thirty-three-year-old triplets, seem to attract attention everywhere they go. Together, laughter, drama, and mayhem seem to follow them. But apart, each is dealing with her own share of ups and downs. Lyn has organized her life into one big checklist, Cat has just learned a startling secret about her marriage, and Gemma, who bolts every time a relationship hits the six-month mark, holds out hope for lasting love. In this wise, witty, and hilarious novel, we follow the Kettle sisters through their tumultuous thirty-third year as they deal with sibling rivalry and secrets, revelations and relationships, unfaithful husbands and unthinkable decisions, and the fabulous, frustrating life of forever being part of a trio.

After that lighthearted read, the next was definitely more somber, but equally entrancing: 

People Who Knew Me

People Who Knew Me by Kim Hooper. 

As someone who lived in NYC during the terrible tragedy of 9/11, there was no way I could pass up this book. It's a debut novel by Kim Hooper, and I will be looking for more of her work in the future, no doubt. 

Amazon says:

Everything was fine fourteen years after she left New York.
Until suddenly, one day, it wasn’t.
Emily Morris got her happily-ever-after earlier than most. Married at a young age to a man she loved passionately, she was building the life she always wanted. But when enormous stress threatened her marriage, Emily made some rash decisions. That’s when she fell in love with someone else. That’s when she got pregnant.
Resolved to tell her husband of the affair and to leave him for the father of her child, Emily’s plans are thwarted when the world is suddenly split open on 9/11. It’s amid terrible tragedy that she finds her freedom, as she leaves New York City to start a new life. It’s not easy, but Emily---now Connie Prynne―forges a new happily-ever-after in California. But when a life-threatening diagnosis upends her life, she is forced to rethink her life for the good of her thirteen-year-old daughter.
A riveting debut in which a woman must confront her own past in order to secure the future of her daughter, Kim Hooper's People Who Knew Me asks: “What would you do?”

I finished that book yesterday, while prepping some of our homegrown produce in my kitchen. I immediately started another book, one my daughter has been telling me for years to read:

The Language of Flowers

The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh. 

I'm flying through this book, I'm about half-way through, and it has completely drawn me in from the start.  I just wonder what took me so long to finally get around to reading it?

Amazon says: 

The Victorian language of flowers was used to express emotions: honeysuckle for devotion, azaleas for passion, and red roses for love. But for Victoria Jones, it has been more useful in communicating feelings like grief, mistrust and solitude. After a childhood spent in the foster care system, she is unable to get close to anybody, and her only connection to the world is through flowers and their meanings. Now eighteen, Victoria has nowhere to go, and sleeps in a public park, where she plants a small garden of her own. When her talent is discovered by a local florist, she discovers her gift for helping others through the flowers she chooses for them. But it takes meeting a mysterious vendor at the flower market for her to realise what's been missing in her own life, and as she starts to fall for him, she's forced to confront a painful secret from her past, and decide whether it's worth risking everything for a second chance at happiness. The Language of Flowers is a heartbreaking and redemptive novel about the meaning of flowers, the meaning of family, and the meaning of love.

Have you read any of these books? Do you have any others to recommend for my summer reading list? I'd love to hear your thoughts!