Julie's Journal : What I Read This Summer

Summer isn't my favorite time of year weather wise, and these last couple of weeks have absolutely consisted of the type of weather that makes me want to stay inside and read.  My car said it was 106 degrees on my way home yesterday.  No thank you.  Fortunately, I've had some good reading material this summer!

Most recently, I read Nora Goes Off Script by Annabel Monaghan.  Nora is a single mom who makes a living writing Hallmark type romance screenplays.  She is somewhat relieved to be rid of her deadbeat ex-husband, but she wrote a screenplay based on their life and it caught the attention of a major movie studio.  Now her home is becoming a movie set for a weekend.  When filming is over, she finds the star of the movie camped out on her front porch.  He asks if he can stay for a week and she agrees.  During his stay they develop a romance and he begins to bond with her kids.  When he gets called back to LA he promises he will be back, but then all communication between them stops.  I wasn't sure how the author was going to resolve the conflict, but she did and in my opinion in a satisfying way.  Monaghan has a new book out, Dolly All the Time.  I'm on hold for it on Libby.

The Astral Library by Kate Quinn is a new release this year.  Alix is a former foster kid.  Her three jobs are barely enough to keep her afloat, but on the worst day of her life she loses one of the jobs and gets kicked out of her apartment, where she's just renting a couch to sleep on.  At the end of her rope, she retreats to her favorite place, the reading room at the Boston Public Library.  As happens in all the best stories, a door opens for her and she steps through to another world.  There she meets a librarian who explains that she can choose a book to move in to.  She can live in the world of Sherlock Holmes, Jane Austen, Shakespeare or numerous other stories.  But before she can choose the Library comes under attack.  She must work with the librarian to protect the patrons and stand up to the dreaded Board of Directors.  This book was not what I expected but it was charming and fun and I really enjoyed seeing Alix find her place in the library.

Sea of Charms by Sarah Beth Durst is the third book in the Spellshop series.  Marin lives her life on the sea.  She and her boat roam the waters delivering goods and messages across the Crescent Islands.  She is perfectly content on her own, but she gradually ends up with a crew.  She has a sentient plant named Ree, a sea serpent friend named Perri, and a new crew member, Dax, who is in fact a master musician.  She begins ferrying refugees to new homes after the capital city, Asylium, falls to rebels.  Marin makes new friends, even when she doesn't really want to, and figures out how to free her family from her past mistake.  I'm excited for the next installment in this series, The Magical Cheese Emporium, but it doesn't come out until next summer. 

If you need a good cry This Book Made Me Think of You by Libby Page is the book for you.  Tilly is grieving her husband.  He's been gone for not quite 6 months when her birthday rolls around in January.  She gets an unexpected phone call from a local bookshop asking her to stop by.  When she arrives she discovers that her husband has left her a gift.  One book a month for the next year.  Each comes with a letter he left for her.  At first she is resistant to the idea - she hasn't been able to read since he was first diagnosed - but eventually she sees the love that went into the gift.  The year of books includes a cookbook, travel guides, a book to help her sort through his belongings, and of course fiction.  Through the year, she works through her grief, makes new friends, finds peace with her mother-in-law, and becomes part of the community around the bookstore.  I loved this story, but I cried through the whole thing!

What good books have you read this summer?