Books I Read in August

 Oh I had such an enjoyable month reading!  I bought myself a few books for the plane and Disney trip but didn't end up having time to do much reading after walking around the parks all day.  But I'm definitely looking forward to my September book pile and review already! 

1. Isle of Palms by Dorothea Benton Frank-- My mom gave me this book to read after she finished it; I love most of Frank's book and found this one to be delightful too. It didn't hurt that I actually visited the Isle of Palms on my trip to Charleston with my husband 5 years ago so I had a pretty good picture in my head of the setting. One summer Anna finally decides to buy a house and move back tot he Isle of Palms after having lived with her father for her daughter's entire life.  She wants to surprise her college age daughter with a house of their own. It leads to an entire summer of change-- she opens up her own salon, makes a bunch of new friends, it leads to a new relationship for her, her daughter, and even her father.  

2. The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han-- After watching the whole series on Netflix I decided to read through the book series; it was a cute story.  Belly spends every summer with her mother and brother in Cousins at the beach house of her mother's best friend. Having grown up in the beach house with Suzannah and her sons Conrad and Jeramiah, Belly is looking forward to another summer of swimming, flirting, and fun.  But her long-time crush Conrad is moody and distant, her brother leaves part-way through the summer for college campus tours with their dad, and everything is so very different this summer.

3. The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn-- Even though this book is over 400 pages; I read the entire thing in just under 2 days.  It was so good! Mila is a student with the aims of being a historian and building a better life for her son.  Then when Hitler's army invades her country she signs up and hones her sharpshooting skills to become a famous sniper called Lady Death.  She ends up being sent on a goodwill ambassador trip to the U.S. where she becomes friends with Eleanor Roosevelt.  Told in two alternating timelines I thought it was a compelling story and equally enjoyed the author's notes in the back about what things she changed and why.  

4. XOXO by Axie Oh-- I needed a book or author that started with X to finish up my library's alphabet challenge and stumbled upon this adorable young adult story. Jenny is a very busy Korean American student practicing to be a an award winning cellist.  Then she meets Jaewoo one night and finds herself exploring more of LA with him before he leaves to head to back to South Korea than she ever has.  Within months Jenny finds herself flying to Korea with her mother to help with her sick grandmother.  The Korean school she attends is filled with performers and artists... like Jaewoo who just happens to be Korea's latest pop star.  This was such a cute little love story and the cast of characters were adorable.   

5. Where the Grass is Green and the Girls are Pretty by Lauren Weisberger-- A college admissions scandal negatively affects the lives of 3 women; Peyton, a well-known news anchor, her daughter Max who was going to go to Princeton, and Peyton's sister Skye who has been trying to put together a large scale charity project using funds from a family friend.  I thought this book was just okay and I had a hard time really getting into it. I was glad I stuck it out though as the ending was great.  

6. Vacationland by Meg Mitchell Moore-- I thought this was such a sweet story!  Kristie has just lost her mom and only surviving relative when she heads to Maine to follow up on a letter her mother gave her on her deathbed.  Louisa is vacationing at their family home in Maine for the summer with her 3 kids while her husband stays home to work on his podcast business. She's struggling to finish writing the book she's been putting off for most of the year. Knowing her father is deteriorating with his Alzheimer's and not knowing her mother Annie is struggling with big lifestyle changes to come.  As one summer day slips into another all these women find their lives and stories intersecting in a million little ways.  

7. The Year the Swallows Came Early by Katheryn Fitzmaurice--  This was such a sweet middle-grade fiction novel. Groovy (also known as Eleanor) dreams of becoming a chef and has the best time cooking up new recipes for her dad... until the day he's arrested.  Her life continues to change with new friendships, a new business venture, and a box of belongings left to her by her great grandmother. The year the swallows came early is heartwarming tale of forgiveness, family, and friendship.  

8. We Can't Keep Meeting Like This by Rachel Lynn Soloman--  Another super cute book by Rachel! I loved these characters so much. Quinn has just finished her senior year of high school and is spending the summer working in the family wedding planning business; but secretly she is unhappy and so uncertain about her future.  Enter Tarek, the super cute catering college Freshman she's had a crush on for over a year. Tarek just loves love and rom com's and grand romantic gestures while Quinn is the queen of not getting involved.  Of course the two are thrown together often and as Quinn spends a summer getting to know herself (and Tarek) the more she learns that's it's okay to not always have all the answers. 

9. It's Not Summer Without You by Jenny Han-- In the second book of the series Belly is dealing with the death of Suzannah and her first summer not going to Cousins and to the beach house where she has spent every summer of her life.  I really don't feel like I can give much more of a summary without giving away major plot points and twists.  It was a cute book and I read both this 2nd book in the series and the 3rd all in one day.

10. We'll Always Have Summer by Jenny Han-- The final book of the series started with a small taser of Belly's wedding and the whole book builds up to who she ends up marrying. 

11. Out of the Clear Blue Sky by Kristan Higgins-- You know a book that starts out with the main character letting a skunk loose in her ex-husband's new house with his new (much younger) soon to be trophy wife is going to be good and funny! When Lillie abruptly finds herself living alone after sending her son off to college she's not sure if she's more surprised, hurt, or angry.  She ends up throwing herself into her job as midwife, reconnecting ties with her family and an old family friend Ben, begins toying with her ex and tries to make his life difficult.  It was a quirky and funny book and I really enjoyed it. 

12. The Love hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood-- Oh I just loved Olive and Adam and all their friends.  When Olive tries to convince her best friend that she's totally over her ex-boyfriend she ends up kissing a random guy in the school hallway.  Turns out that guy is Adam Carlson; a professor known for how difficult he can be... but somehow he agrees to be Olive's fake-date and the two strike up a mutually beneficial deal.  Only trouble is that the mor time Olive spends with him, the more she end up liking him.  

Linking up with: Spread the Kindness, On the Edge,