Books I Read in September

 My month started out so great with lots of good books and then somewhere mid-way through the month I lost all desire to read. I picked up 3 different books and made it just 10 or so pages into each one before setting them aside.  I just could not get into the story and I don't know if it was just me or if I picked out a bad batch of books or what.  I was having trouble focusing so I figured it was me and I'm not listing those that I didn't finish since I hardly even started them and really do need to give them another shot when I'm in a better reading mood.  

1. Nora Goes Off Script by Annabel Monaghan-- This was such a cute story! Nora writes screenplays for a living and when her latest screen play is picked up by a big Hollywood they want to come film a few scenes in her tea house.  When filming ends the star of the movie talks Nora into letting him stay and rest and recuperate in her tea house; offering to pay her $1,000 a day. But the extra time spent together is just enough to turn Nora's world upside down. 

2. Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid-- I finally caved and bought this book before our vacation after hearing so much hype about it... and honestly?! I didn't love it.  I thought it was a really unique writing style- the whole book is written as a series of interviews as if it's a documentary.  I thought the author did an amazing job with the story of this made up band and how they came to be before they crashed and fell apart.  But I'm not a huge "behind the scenes" fan about any band and so I found I just could not get into it. I didn't care about any of the band members individually whatsoever so their stories, while entertaining enough, were just not gripping for me.  Overall it was a very enjoyable read but I expected something completely different after hearing so much about it for so long. 

3. Open Road: A Memoir of Travel Through the National Parks by TW Neal-- I really enjoyed reading about the two separate month long trips that Toby and her husband took through the national parks.  While they in no way set a goal to visit them all they did see quite a few and had some very memorable adventures along the way. 

4. Love and Other Words by Christina Lauren-- It took me a little while to get into this sweet story but I ended up falling in love with both Macy and Elliot; the two main characters.  They meet as children shortly after Macy's mom dies and her father buys a vacation home next door to Elliot and his family. They become best friends and everything to each other but then something happens that sets them off onto separate paths until they collide nearly a decade later.  Told in two time lines from now and then it was a slow build to the big reveal of what broke them apart and they have to decide if love is worth fighting for.  It made me cry and the story was just so touching and a bit heartbreaking. 

5. Desperation in Death by JD Robb-- (Book #55 in the Eve Dallas series) I loved this book even though it was so hard to read. When Eve shows up at a call about the body of a dead girl she inadvertently stumbles upon a sex trafficking ring that is far greater reaching then anyone imagined. Hitting so close to home with her own background, Eve struggles to stand for the dead and abused without losing herself. 

6. The Bounty by Janet Evanovich & Steve Hamilton-- (Book #7 in the Fox and O'Hare series) In this book FBI agent Kate O'Hare and con man Nick Fox team up along with their dads to take down a German group known only as "the Brotherhood." Searching for a buried treasure the Nazi party hid during WWII, Kate and her team must keep the treasure out of the hand of the Brotherhood, but that is proving difficult as Interpol has a leak. Fast paced and fairly funny at times this was a good story.

7. The Ex Hex by Erin Sterling-- A cute and somewhat steamy novel; this book about witches seemed just perfect for fall.  When Vivi was just a teenager and had her first real heartbreak she cursed her horrible boyfriend; never thinking anything of it.  9 years later Rhys shows up in town and with one calamity after another following him around Vivi begins to realize that her curse actually worked and somehow the entire town is now at peril.  Thrown together Rhys and Vivi realize they still have strong feelings for one another and yet are pretty clueless on how to fix the hex.  

8. Summer on the Island by Brenda Novak-- When Marlow moves back to her family's summer home on a tiny island off the state of Florida, she brings two friends with her.  One who's reeling from the loss of her home in the California fires and one that is newly divorced and unsure what to do with her life moving forward.  Marlow is contemplating big life changes too and is also anxious to see her mother who is suffering more than usual with a "flare- up" of MS after the loss of Marlow's dad.  Striking up a romance with the boy next door was not on Marlow's radar for the summer either.  It was a cute novel and would make a nice beach read-- enjoyable but pretty predictable.  

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