It’s been an incredibly hot summer in more ways than one, which is why most folks try to keep as cool as can be in August.
To that end, I have already signed up for the High Summer readathon over at Seasons of Reading (hosted by the awesome Michelle Miller). It runs the full month of August and you are encouraged to read what you like here. My TBR for this late summer challenge is an all paperback stack of titles that I plan on relaxing with as much as possible:
First up is a novel that I read a long time ago and just recently brought back into my personal library; Swapping Lives by Jane Green.
Amber Winslow is seeking something new in her Connecticut housewife life and decides to trade a month of of experiences with Vicky Townsley, the editor of a fashionable British magazine.
As both ladies encounter the joys and the woes of each other’s lives, this ex is indeed an eye opener. However, will that new look at their worlds be for the better or the worse?
It’s been awhile since I’ve read Jane Green when I spotted this edition at a local rummage sale, the opportunity to get reacquainted seemed movie picture perfect:
My next pick was Beth Kendrick’s The Week Before the Wedding , set in the Vermont town of Valentine where Emily is hoping to start off her second marriage without a hitch.
Unfortunately for her, her former husband Ryan also happens to be in Valentine while scouting locations for his next movie.While he seems really happy for her, Emily is so certain about that or her current soon-to-be spouse Grant, who is beginning to pale in comparison.
This was one of the free library books that I hauled back in June(which is more of a wedding month to be sure) and felt like a light and lively read that reminds of an old school Hollywood romance-we shall certainly see!:
To round this TBR trio out, I went with a cozy fantasy that I’ve nothing but wonderful things about.
The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna tells the tale of Mika Moon, a witch who mostly keeps to herself apart from her online videos about being a “real” witch that she thinks no one watches.
As it runs outs, someone does watch them and recruits Mika to teach three young girls living on a remote island how to control their growing powers. It’s quite the challenge but she’s willing to give it a go and not just because of the house librarian Jamie is easy on the eyes (although he doesn’t trust her very much).
This sounds like a real charmer with a back to school vibe that works well for the end of summer:
Well, if you wish to join in the page turning fun, there is a link to the sign up post in the second paragraph of this posting. My thanks to Michelle Miller at SOR for giving us all a great excuse to stay cool with some good books during this time of massive heat waves.
The world may be getting rather hectic these days but there is a strong sense of hope in the air right now that should give us some positive energy to tap into for what lies ahead. In the meanwhile, having a little bit of a good time can be very restorative, whether you chose books, music or memories of both:
While most people are settling in for the summer with the various conventions and Olympic Games, my main event this season is Autumn in August, where I watch and review those films that give off that fall feeling.
Two of my selections this year are well known to me, starting with Kate & Leopold , where Meg Ryan gets a romantic history lesson from Hugh Jackman.
This 2001 romcom has Jackson as the Duke of Albany who accidentally time travels to modern day New York, due to the scientific antics of Stuart(Liev Schieber), who is Kate’s ex-boyfriend and downstairs neighbor.
With Stuart being trapped in a hospital after a fall, Kate winds up dealing with Leopold, who she thinks is a weird yet well meaning man for the most part. Can this relationship last beyond time or will the shifts in reality throw everyone off course?
I know this movie got mixed reviews but Jackman really makes this whole thing work as his character is incredibly believable and charming to boot:
Next up is another New York based film, Serendipity, also from 2001, where John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale agree to let fate decide if their love is meant to be.
After a meet-cute in Bloomingdale’s (how incredibly New York is that?!), Jonathan and Sara spend a magical evening together and despite their instant connection, Sara prefers to have a sign from the universe to determine their path to love.
Ten years later, each of them are in different relationships but somehow start to search for one another before any major commitment is made(with the help of some wacky friends of course!). This movie is such a lighthearted charmer with some nice wintery scenes to cool off to during these treacherous heat waves:
The next pair of autumn vibing movies are new views for me, beginning with Mona Lisa Smile
from 2003, set in 1953 at Wellesley College where art history professor Katherine Watson (Julia Roberts) is encouraging her students such as Betty(Kristen Dunst )and Joan(Julia Stiles) to take their studies much more seriously.
As Katherine and her girls attempt to challenge the norms of their day, the pushback is tough yet not totally discouraging either. Can Catherine truly expand these intellectual horizons from them or are the girls completely on their own here?
Granted, the reviews were not great for this movie(or the box office) but I’m willing to give this one a chance. The college setting alone has a good seasonal energy, not to mention a story about women trying to make their own choices about the direction of their lives is rather timely indeed:
While I haven’t seen this movie before, I have waited a long while to do so, thanks to a book.
Upon reading an advanced copy of The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society by Annie Barrows and Mary Anne Shaffer, I was delighted with this novel told in letters about what the small island of Guernsey did to survive the occupation by enemy forces during WWII.
I was further thrilled to hear that a movie adaptation had been made but alas, streaming was unavailable to me at the time so I wasn’t able to see it. Well, now I have Netflix and if a British period drama starring Lily James and Penelope Wilton isn’t autumn themed enough, I don’t know what is!:
So, each week in August, I will be watching one of these movies and posting about it(they’re all available on streaming services if you wish to watch along) and hopefully, this quartet of fall fabulous films will keep us comfortably entertained until sweater weather sets in.
Picking something good to watch is always a tricky challenge but especially when the temperature both inside and out is getting too hot to handle there. Fortunately, finding the right mood media can be easier than settling some arguments and just maybe bring about a better understanding of it all by the time the end credits roll:
With the way these heat waves are going, those “dog days “of summer are sounding as old school as rotary phones.
Fortunately, reading is one trend that always stays in style and a great excuse to stay in the shade. I stocked up at my local library just before the worst of the warm weather and have already finished one of my trio of library loans over the July 4th weekend (more on that one later)!
That leaves me with two other great books to cool down such as Raiders of the Lost Heart by Jo Segura. Archeologist Corrie Mejia is given the chance of a lifetime as a mysterious figure recruits her for an expedition to recover an ancient knife said to belong to legendary Aztec warrior Chimalli, who she believes is her ancestor.
With such personal stakes, Corrie is eager to make this trip despite having to work with an old rival, Ford Matthews. Ford is hoping to find the knife and collect the reward promised by their mutual benefactor in order to help his ailing mother, making this team up strictly professional yet as they face various challenges along the way, love is the one treasure that is hard to avoid on this journey.
I’ve heard great word of mouth about this book and happy to see the action-adventure romcom genre being revived in such a fresh and engaging way. Should be the best kind of book bound blockbuster movie fun:
Speaking of movie fun, there seem to plenty of gothic thrills to be found in my next pick, Sarah Penner’s The London Seance Society.
The group of the title is a male dominated organization but in need of assistance in solving a murder mystery in their midst and the most qualified person to do that is renowned medium Valudine D’Allaire, along with her assistant Lenna.
Lenna is more of a skeptic yet joins D’Allaire to discover what happened to her sister Evie, who died under mysterious circumstances on All Hallows Eve. As the strange death at the Seance Society also occurred on the same date, there may be a connection between both unusual demises but are the culprits in or out of this world?
I’ve been curious about Penner’s work for awhile and I do have The Lost Apothecary on hand(saving that one for the fall season). However, something about this book intrigues me to take a seat and see what the literary spirits have in store here:
Not long after my library visit, Book of the Month Club released their July selections and one of them was an instant must-have for me.
Meg Shaffer follows up her magical novel The Wishing Game with a new standalone book entitled The Lost Story.
When Emilie seeks out well know finder of the lost Jeremy Cox, to recover her long lost sister Shannon, she has no idea how treacherous that trail is or who she will ultimately deal with.
Turns out Jeremy knows full where Shannon is as he and his former best friend Rafe met her years ago when they became lost in the woods as teenagers. The three of them wound in a magic kingdom called Shanadoah, where Shannon stayed behind as Queen Skya.
Going back there is not easy, as Jeremy and Rafe have been estranged from each other since those days and need to reunite in order to return. While Emilie is determined to find her sister, she isn’t sure what to expect and neither are the companions leading her there certain of what lies ahead for her or them.
I truly enjoyed The Wishing Game with its Willy Wonka inspired energy and now that Shaffer is giving a Chronicles of Narnia type of tale, my favorite fantasy themed cup runneth over indeed!:
My add-on that was The Love of my Afterlife by Kirsty Greenwood, which is already a Good Morning America book club selection to boot!
Our story begins as our leading lady’s life ends; Delphie finds herself in an afterlife waiting room due to an unfortunate hamburger incident and while there, meets Jonah, who never expected to have an untimely demise either.
As the two of them have the ultimate meet cute, it turns out that Jonah’s arrival was a mistake that is quickly corrected. Nevertheless, Delphie is certain that they are true soulmates and makes a deal to return to Earth to find him. However, she only has ten days to do so or back to the beyond she goes.
With such a literal deadline, Delphie takes chances that she never would have before and perhaps this last chance at love is making her life truly worth living.
This plot description just sounded so great and as I am a big fan of supernatural themed shows such as Ghosts and The Good Place, this seemed to be the ideal summer read for me:
So, I do hope that all of you are keeping as cool as can be with some great books this summer and taking a break from the overheated media(although reruns of favorite shows are fun) as well.
Oh, and the library book that made my holiday weekend extra entertaining? That happened to be Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid. While I did love Daisy Jones and the Six, it’s been tricky for me to finish another one of TJR’s books since then.
That streak was thankfully broken by this novel featuring the comeback of a controversial tennis star, known as “The Battle Axe” determined to reclaim her record breaking title from a promising up and comer.
The emotional journey that Carrie goes on is as gripping as any sports event being played live (and I am so not a sports person!) and just as exhilarating when the end result approaches. Such a great read and one that I am glad to have started my summer with; hopefully the best is yet to come:
Things get so busy around the end of one month and the beginning of another that I took a brief blog break to do my bookish best to finish up my reading for Sci-Fi Summer, the latest Seasons of Reading readathon.
Since fantasy is an available option for this challenge, all of my picks were in that category. A couple of them are even considered to be “romantasy”, that currently popular sub genre, and I can now see why this fanciful theme has become such a diverting choice for readers these days; it’s rather fun and goodness knows we are in dire need of that this year!
Anyway, I completed two of the three titles on my list and got a good quarter of the way through the third(which I plan to continue with despite the end of the challenge). The first one was Half a Soul by Olivia Atwater, where our Regency era English heroine, Dora Ettings, has had part of her inner spirit ripped away from her due to a bargain her late mother made with a fae nobleman.
Now, seen as an oddity by most and unlikely to ever be properly married, Dora is fine with that as long as she can help her beloved cousin Vanessa make a match. Vanessa, however, is more interested in finding a “cure” for Dora’s condition and even manages to get the official sorcerer for the Prince Regent, Elias Wilder, to look into the matter.
However, Elias is very preoccupied with a troubling case of a strange plague that appears to be magical in nature. When Dora decides to get involved in the investigation, things become more peculiar than anyone could have imagined and then some!
This story was a real delight, with a blend of humor and occasional whimsy that never wore out its welcome. Atwater certainly knows her way around fairy lore and Regency themed social satire very nicely indeed. If you’re looking for a Jane Austen or Bridgerton type of tale mixed with magic, this should be your go-to cup of tea:
After that, it was time for Heather Fawcett’s big bestseller in this category,Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia of Faeries .
The story is told via a journal that our leading lady, a professional scholar of magical beings , is keeping during her latest expedition to Ljosland to learn about the courtly fae folk who are said to live there.
While making a less than favorable impression on the locals, Emily has to also deal with the unexpected arrival of Wendell Bambleby, a colleague who over relies on his charms and appears to trying to overtake her research.
Nevertheless, she makes some intriguing discoveries and despite wanting to stay neutral, winds up on an adventure or two to save a pair of young people from the clutches of energy draining fairy folk.
Wendall, who Emily suspects is not entirely mortal, reluctantly agrees to help but perhaps his interest in Emily’s work is more than just an attempt at academic poaching. Perhaps he feels some affection for his seriously studious partner and it might be mutual yet there’s plenty of danger afoot to deal with first.
This book,much like Wendall, has its unique set of charms that manages to toe the line between faerie tale adventure and low key romance without toppling over into cutesy territory. One of the best elements of the book is the chemistry between Wendall and Emily, which has such a refreshingly old school Hollywood vibe to it; the most modern reference I can make to this are Rick and Evie from the first two Mummy movies(a classic couple, imo). I can see why Fawcett already has a sequel out to this and hopefully many more to follow:
At the moment, I am in the midst of A Fate Inked in Blood by Danielle L. Jensen, a Book of the Month Club selection that I saved for summer reading and that was a good plan that’s paying off super sweet!
The novel is centered around Freya, a Viking woman born with a power from the goddess Hlin that makes her a potentially mighty shield maiden who, according to prophecy, will unite the people into one kingdom. For years, she was made to conceal her ability but due to the treachery of her vile first husband, is forced to marry a local chieftain who is determined to make this prophecy come true.
Freya is frustrated by the push and pull of this situation and to make matters worse, she finds herself attracted to her bodyguard, Bjorn, the son of the chieftain who is less than thrilled about this arrangement as well.
So far, the story is greatly entertaining and packed with enough drama to satisfy any fan of a fantasy TV aeries on cable, streaming or the CW(which I used to enjoy back in the day). Seeing Freya start to discover the depths of her own power is thrilling to behold and I look forward to more page turning good times here:
My thanks to Michelle Miller at Seasons of Reading for giving us all a great excuse to dive into science fiction and/or fantasy fun to start summer off right!
Well, I wish everyone a happy Fourth of July long weekend that’s only a few days away and here’s to more good books to keep us during the heat waves to come. It’s funny how fantasy is getting quite the glow up nowadays; seems this genre thrives well as the real world gets more and more chaotic.
Hopefully, these tales will be of some welcome relief as the follies of reality rage on and perhaps, help us make it through to the other side with a renewed sense of grace and savvy for what lies ahead. We shall see, in the best sense of that term:
