Weekly Recap #155: Week of 5/10 – 5/16
/33 Comments/by Suzanne
It’s time for another weekly recap post of all things happening on and off the blog. This week I’ll be linking to the Sunday Post, which is hosted by Caffeinated Book Reviewer.
I feel like I should just write “See last week’s recap” for what’s going on because it’s seriously just the same old, same old. My state has started to enter Phase 1 of reopening even though we still have over 1,000 new cases on average per day. I don’t really know why the 14 days of declining cases was even mentioned as the standard for Phase 1 when most of the states seem to be doing whatever the heck they want, whether it’s safe or not. We’re still not going out much at all, especially since we ventured out to the grocery store yesterday and saw that the majority of people we encountered still aren’t wearing masks even though cases are definitely still climbing here in my county and the two neighboring ones. So yeah, status quo.
I did finally finish binge watching Will & Grace and have moved on to Seinfeld. I’m almost 4 seasons in to Seinfeld, and while it’s funny, I can’t decide if I want to watch the entire series or not. It doesn’t feel like there’s a real storyline there; it’s more like every episode is just a standalone. That’s fine but at the same time, I’m just sitting here like “Okay, now I can say I’ve experienced Seinfeld. Next!” This is probably also compounded by the fact that my Netflix and Hulu queues look about like my TBR, lol.
Reading is going well for the most part. I’m finishing my May ARCs this week and hopefully starting on my June ones. I also finished up another book from my backlist that I promised myself I was going to read this year. If you’re in the market for a unique and surprisingly funny read about a zombie apocalypse, I highly recommend Hollow Kingdom by Kira Jane Buxton.
Anyway, that’s all I’ve got. I hope everyone out there is staying safe, healthy, and is practicing social distancing. Have a great week!
WHAT I POSTED LAST WEEK
- [10 May] Weekly Recap #154: Week of 5/3 – 5/9
- [11 May] Big Summer by Jennifer Weiner ★★★★½
- [12 May] Top Ten Tuesday – The Last Ten Books I Abandoned
- [13 May] Can’t Wait Wednesday – RECOMMENDED FOR YOU by Laura Silverman
- [15 May] Beach Read by Emily Henry ★★★★½
WHAT I’M READING THIS WEEK
UPCOMING REVIEWS
STACKING THE SHELVES
TOTALLY RANDOM
Review: BEACH READ by Emily Henry
/28 Comments/by SuzanneAlso by this author: Book Lovers
Published by BERKLEY on May 19, 2020
Genres: Women's Fiction, Romance, Fiction
Pages: 384
Source: Netgalley
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository
Goodreads
FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. All opinions are my own.
Emily Henry’s new novel, Beach Read, is a book you don’t want to judge by its cover. The cover is adorable of course and I love it, but it definitely gives off a vibe that this is going to be a fun, fluffy read to enjoy while you’re lounging in the sand. Beach Read is so much more than that though – it’s a beautifully written, multi-layered story with realistic and complex characters that will tug at your heartstrings the entire time you’re reading. I love a book that takes me on an emotional journey, and Beach Read made me laugh, it made me cry, and just ultimately had me fully invested in these characters and their lives from start to finish.
One of my favorite parts about Beach Read is that both protagonists are writers. January Andrews is a romance writer and is an ace at writing novels where true love wins and they all live happily ever after. Her belief system when it comes to love and romance is driven by her parents, but when her father dies, she learns something about him that shatters her view of him and of love and romance. Not only is it devastating to her personally, but it has given her a wicked case of writer’s block. With a book deadline looming and an agent hounding her relentlessly, January retreats to her father’s second home, a beach house located in a remote but charming small town. It is here that she runs into our second protagonist, Augustus (Gus) Everett, who is living in the beach house next door and who coincidentally is also a writer whose specialty is literary fiction. And if that’s not enough to entice you, he also just happens to be January’s main rival from her college writing program. January is not a fan of Gus’s at all and can’t imagine anything worse than having to live next door to him all summer while trying desperately to make her deadline.
I was sympathetic to January right away. She’s going through so much because of the losses she has suffered and now she has to deal with the tension with Gus on top of it. But, boy do these two have chemistry! It’s off the charts honestly and I love how much the actual writing process plays a role in how their relationship evolves from rivals/enemies to friends and maybe more. At first they’re just trading witty, sarcastic barbs, often about each other’s preferred fictional genre, but then they kick it up a notch and revisit their old rivalry with the ultimate challenge: January has to write a book that doesn’t end happily ever after, while Gus has to write a romance novel. Bring it!
I don’t want to say much more because I don’t want to spoil anything but the story takes a more emotional turn as Gus and January both get out of their comfort zones and write something so different and challenging. It becomes a way for both of them to work through their pain and struggles, because it’s not just January who is dealing with loss. Gus is as well. It’s these painful and personal journeys that add all of those wonderfully complex layers that took Beach Read well beyond the fluffy fun I was expecting.
Beach Read is, without a doubt, one of the most wonderful and heartwarming books I’ve read so far this year. The writing is gorgeous, the story just so easy to get immersed in, and the characters are unforgettable. This was my first time reading Emily Henry but it definitely won’t be the last!
Can’t Wait Wednesday – RECOMMENDED FOR YOU by Laura Silverman
/37 Comments/by Suzanne
“Waiting On” Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking the Spine, which encourages fellow bloggers to spotlight upcoming releases that we’re excited about. It is a meme that I have loved participating in for over a year now, but as Jill is no longer actively posting, from now on I’ll be linking to Can’t Wait Wednesday, hosted by Tressa at Wishful Endings, which is a spinoff of the original WoW meme.
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My selection for this week is RECOMMENDED FOR YOU by Laura Silverman. Laura Silverman’s Girl out of Water and You Asked for Perfect have been two of my favorite reads in recent years, so I was already planning to check out her upcoming release even without knowing what it’s about. Then I read the synopsis: To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before meets You’ve Got Mail, a competition between two rival teen booksellers, and the potential for an enemies to lovers romance. Ummm, yes please!
RECOMMENDED FOR YOU by Laura Silverman
Publication Date: September 1, 2020
From Goodreads:
To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before meets You’ve Got Mail in this charming and hilarious rom-com following two teen booksellers whose rivalry is taken to the next level as they compete for the top bookseller bonus.
Shoshanna Greenberg loves working at Once Upon, her favorite local bookstore. And with her moms fighting at home and her beloved car teetering on the brink of death, the store has become a welcome escape.
When her boss announces a holiday bonus to the person who sells the most books, Shoshanna sees an opportunity to at least fix her car, if none of her other problems. The only person standing in her way? New hire Jake Kaplan.
Jake is an affront to everything Shoshanna stands for. He doesn’t even read! But somehow his sales start to rival hers. Jake may be cute (really cute), and he may be an eligible Jewish single (hard to find south of Atlanta), but he’s also the enemy, and Shoshanna is ready to take him down.
But as the competition intensifies, Jake and Shoshanna grow closer and realize they might be more on the same page than either expects…
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I’d love to hear what upcoming book releases you’re waiting on this Wednesday? Leave me your link in the comments below and I’ll stop by and check out your CWW selection for this week. 🙂