I had heard about this book on several podcasts I listen to so I decided to grab it from Book of the Month. I’m so glad I did! Before I Let Go is one of my favorite reads of 2023!
Yasmine and Josiah are a divorced couple raising two kids and running a successful restaurant business together. They appear the be the perfect divorced couple – they get along well and coparent beautifully. But as each of them tries to recover from heartache and trauma they begin to realize how much they miss each other and how great they were together. This is an amazing story of two people who once loved each other and how they navigate their next steps in the midst of everyday responsibilities and well-meaning friends and family.
Warning – there are some steamy bedroom scenes and a miscarriage happens off page.
I’ve seen online that this book is now part of a series. I can’t wait to read the next installment.
This was a delightful story from the very beginning! If you’re familiar with Katherine Center, you know what to expect by now – strong female lead meets cute boy, there’s some confusion and conflict and then a good “happily ever after” finish.
Hello Stranger introduces us to Sadie. She’s a portrait artist with a big problem. Due to a recent brain surgery she has a condition called face blindness. Again, Sadie paints portraits for a living so this is a problem for her in many ways. We also meet Joe, Peanut, Mr. Kim, Sue and the rest of Sadie’s group of family and friends – even though she doesn’t recognize any of them except Peanut. Thank goodness, Prosopagnosia doesn’t apply to dogs – at least Sadie’s doesn’t.
Sadie must prepare to win a huge portrait contest while learning how to paint {and see} faces again. Along the way she deals with dysfunctional family issues, a geriatric dog and his very attractive {maybe?} vet, a cute {again, maybe?} neighbor who might be a little overly helpful to the whole building, and oh yeah, recovering from brain surgery.
This was a very enjoyable read – so enjoyable I finished it in 2 days! Definitely grab this one if you’re looking for a fun, easy escape with a little bit of seriousness {brain surgery!}
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A great read with my least favorite rom-com trope.
My thoughts:
I have to admit the “fake dating” trope is my least favorite. Knowing a relationship starts off with lies just really bothers me – even if it’s not real as in fictional. But this story and these characters and Katherine Center’s writing style won me over. Hannah is a tough cookie Executive Protective Agent assigned to protect Jack Stapleton – Hollywood’s golden boy. In order to protect him and help deal with family issues they have to pretend to be boyfriend and girlfriend. Normally, this would turn me off in a second but the way these characters are written and their dialogue kept me engaged and even laughing out loud. I loved this story and these characters. I definitely recommend this one for a beach read or just an escape into the worlds of Hollywood and Texas.
“…I wondered if having faith in yourself was just deciding you could do it – whatever it was – and then making yourself follow through. So I decided something right then: Every change you take is a choice. A choice to decide who you are.”
*Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for the advanced digital copy of this book.
Publisher’s Synopsis:
Katherine Center’s The Bodyguard is “My perfect 10 of a book. As funny and sweet as all the very best nineties rom-coms, but with Center’s signature heart-tugging depth. I wish I could erase it from my mind just to read it again for the first time. A shot of pure joy.”—Emily Henry, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Book Lovers
She’s got his back. Hannah Brooks looks more like a kindergarten teacher than somebody who could kill you with a wine bottle opener. Or a ballpoint pen. Or a dinner napkin. But the truth is, she’s an Executive Protection Agent (aka “bodyguard”), and she just got hired to protect superstar actor Jack Stapleton from his middle-aged, corgi-breeding stalker.
He’s got her heart. Jack Stapleton’s a household name—captured by paparazzi on beaches the world over, famous for, among other things, rising out of the waves in all manner of clingy board shorts and glistening like a Roman deity. But a few years back, in the wake of a family tragedy, he dropped from the public eye and went off the grid.
They’ve got a secret. When Jack’s mom gets sick, he comes home to the family’s Texas ranch to help out. Only one catch: He doesn’t want his family to know about his stalker. Or the bodyguard thing. And so Hannah—against her will and her better judgment—finds herself pretending to be Jack’s girlfriend as a cover. Even though her ex, like a jerk, says no one will believe it.
What could possibly go wrong??? Hannah hardly believes it, herself. But the more time she spends with Jack, the more real it all starts to seem. And there lies the heartbreak. Because it’s easy for Hannah to protect Jack. But protecting her own, long-neglected heart? That’s the hardest thing she’s ever done.
“Great rollicking fun! Prepare to laugh and swoon and grin your pants off.”—Helen Hoang, New York Times bestselling author of The Heart Principle
“Absolutely, unequivocally delightful!”—Jodi Picoult, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Wish You Were Here
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK • ONE OF NPR’s BEST BOOKS OF 2022
A must-read debut! Meet Elizabeth Zott: a one-of-a-kind scientist in 1960s California whose career takes a detour when she becomes the unlikely star of a beloved TV cooking show in this novel that is “irresistible, satisfying and full of fuel. It reminds you that change takes time and always requires heat” (The New York Times Book Review).
“It’s the world versus Elizabeth Zott, an extraordinary woman determined to live on her own terms, and I had no trouble choosing a side…. A page-turning and highly satisfying tale: zippy, zesty, and Zotty.” —Maggie Shipstead, best-selling author of Great Circle
Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, Elizabeth Zott would be the first to point out that there is no such thing as an average woman. But it’s the early 1960s and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute takes a very unscientific view of equality. Except for one: Calvin Evans; the lonely, brilliant, Nobel–prize nominated grudge-holder who falls in love with—of all things—her mind. True chemistry results.
But like science, life is unpredictable. Which is why a few years later Elizabeth Zott finds herself not only a single mother, but the reluctant star of America’s most beloved cooking show Supper at Six. Elizabeth’s unusual approach to cooking (“combine one tablespoon acetic acid with a pinch of sodium chloride”) proves revolutionary. But as her following grows, not everyone is happy. Because as it turns out, Elizabeth Zott isn’t just teaching women to cook. She’s daring them to change the status quo.
Laugh-out-loud funny, shrewdly observant, and studded with a dazzling cast of supporting characters, Lessons in Chemistry is as original and vibrant as its protagonist.
My thoughts:
I thoroughly enjoyed this book! It had all the emotions – heartbreak, joy, laughter, anger and so much more! Elizabeth Zott was a woman way ahead of her time and I loved her. The cast of characters in her family added to the joy of this story. I imagine this novel will end up on a lot of Best of 2022 lists.
I saw this fun idea on Kaytee’s {from Currently Reading Podcast} Instagram account and decided to try it! And maybe since I’ve posted my list out to the world, I’ll actually get the reading done. 😉
There are several NetGalley reads waiting for me so my “dead tree” book pile is small for this month. But I’m really wanting to read these 3 – Stealing Home by Sherryl Woods, Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi and The Unraveling of Cassidy Holmes by Elissa R. Sloan.
Have you read any of these books? I’d love to know your thoughts on them!
Wow! This is one of those books that will stay with me for a long time. Two sisters – twins – run away from home to see more of the world and escape their narrow small town. One twin decides to start passing as white and the other continues to live as a black woman. Years later, their daughters meet and we learn how life has treated them as they live in each race.
This book made me think, made me cry and made me laugh. I highly recommend this one!
This was my first book from Book of the Month – a subscription service that sends a book {or two or three} to your house each month. I’m loving this service so much! Your first book is $9.99 and the book is a hardback, great quality book. Each month, I select my favorite from 5 curated choices for $14.99 and any additional books are $9.99 – free shipping! If I want to skip a month, that’s totally fine. If you enjoy having a book in your hands to read, I definitely recommend checking out Book of the Month. {Disclaimer: I do earn credits if you sign up using my affiliate link.}
I had heard about this book on several podcasts I listen to so I decided to grab it from Book of the Month. I’m so glad I did! Before I Let Go is one of my favorite reads of 2023!
Adventures in Reading, Travel, Life 