Love is in the air for a High Summer of reading

Well, it’s been an interesting couple of weeks to say the least but I am glad to be back in Blog Land in time for Seasons of Reading’s next readathon, High Summer, which lasts the whole month of August.

For this particular readathon(hosted by Michelle Miller), you can read what you want, no genre requirements. I, however, decided on a theme for myself: RomCom-ish. The trio of books that are on my TBR for this event have a romcom sort of vibe(at least to me, anyway) and hopefully provide some much needed relief from the summer heat:

My first selection was a book gifted to me by Harper Collins and it’s a new to me author to boot!

Holly Michelle’s Last Night Was Fun has quite the meet-cute here; Emmy Jameson’s sole goal in life is to exceed at her job as a data analyst for a baseball team.

When she receives the title message via text, Emmy and the sender soon realize that he was given her number by the woman he recently dated as a fake out. That odd coincidence turns into a budding friendship with no real identities exchanged yet their bond  feels strong enough that Emmy asks him to be the plus one for at her sister’s wedding.

Upon meeting in person, she finds that her mystery texter is Gabe Olsen, her rival at work. While neither of them are thrilled about this discovery, they do go to the wedding together, mainly to see if those online sparks can connect them in real time. Is this love or just an awkward moment meant to be deleted?

The premise sounds entertaining (with shades of You’ve Got Mail) and should be a good time with a slow burn romance, a flavor of storytelling ice cream that I tend to eat up with a spoon:

Next up is The Truth According to Ember by Danica Nava, which has more workplace romantic encounters of the awkward kind(I swear that I didn’t choose that element for this TBR but recognizing it now!).

In order to finally get the job of her dreams, Ember  Lee Cardinal gets creative with her resume and does land a plumb spot as an accountant. While she’s able to learn on the job well enough to get a promotion, what could put her professional career in jeopardy is the handsome IT guy, Danuwoa Colson.

Not only does their employer have a rule against inter office dating, Danuwoa has no idea about the secrets and lies that Emmy has had to tell/keep here. Is it possible for them to have a real relationship without putting their jobs on the line?

I’ve been saving this book for summer reading, even as the author has just released a new title this season (Love Is A War Song, which has cowboys and music, including a song on Spotify!) that I hope to get to soon. Plus, this story feels like a present day spin on the 1988 classic film,Working Girl, in the very best sense:

To round things off, I chose Passion Project , a debut novel by London Sperry.

Set in New York City, our guide is Bennet Taylor, a temp worker in her twenties who has lost her zest for life, partly due to mourning the loss of her first love.

While bailing on a blind date, she meets Henry Adams(the guy she was supposed to meet up with!) and winds up telling him all about her having no vested interest in anything. He decides that they need to work on this problem together and makes a deal with Bennet to meet up every Saturday to do something new.

That plan slowly but surely begins to work, causing Bennet to emotionally come back to life yet there are still some issues that require more than an adventurous outing to help her move forward. Can Henry be that friend who does that for her or is he much more than that?

I do like the NYC setting here, especially for a potential romance, and yes, I’m going to invoke Gilmore Girls for it’s blend of humor, heart and drama as a key factor in my selection process for this one:

If you’re interested in signing up for the High Summer readathon, there is still plenty of time to join in the fun(the link in the previous sentence should help) and thank you to Michelle Miller for giving us all a grand excuse to stay in the shade with a good book there!

As for this blog, my Autumn in August will soon begin with a rewatch of Death Comes to Pemberley via PBS Passport(a more reasonably priced streaming service than certain others , just saying!). I might also slip in a library haul post later this week but don’t hold me to that!

It was nice to take a mini break but I am glad to be showcasing more good books, especially between the scorching heatwaves and even more scorching headlines in recent days.

 One thing that I have noticed in pop culture lately is the craving for a kinder, more authentic brand of decency and goodwill, along with a renewed sense of community (the current run of superhero movies attests to that) and true,such longings aren’t guarantees of better times to come. Yet just the fact that more and more people are responding positively to such ideas gives me hope and maybe that hope is the first step down the road towards a better tomorrow.

In the meantime, let’s try to have a good rest of the summer together: