Yes, yes, yes! It is BOOK REVIEW DAY! My favorite!

I read four VERY different books this week. I really was all over the place with my selections. Yeah! I hope that there is one here for you!

Things You Save In A Fire by Katherine Center

I am a fan of Katherine Center. Last year, I read How to Walk Away and just loved it. You can read my review on that book here. So, when I saw that she was coming out with another book, I pre-ordered it months ago. Oh, how I am so glad that I did!

Cassie is a firefighter in Austin, TX. She’s had a rough go in life, so the camaraderie of the firehouse and her drive to help those in need make her a rising star in the department.

After winning an award for her bravery, she finds herself at an impasse with her life and her career. Does she stay in Austin and continue climbing the ranks, or does she start over outside of Boston and go help the mother that abandoned her on her sixteenth birthday?! She chooses to move across the country and discovers a few things along the way. So much hope and love in this book.

This book is definitely chick-lit, but much deeper in the “Katherine Center” kind of way. The way she writes is so beautiful, and you can picture the town and the characters so easily. I truly loved this book. It is all about forgiveness and new beginnings. I am such a fan of her work, and I hope that you will enjoy this one as well. Click here to grab a copy for yourself!

Watching You by Lisa Jewell

This was the book that I took with me on my Las Vegas trip, and it was the perfect choice! SOOOOO good!

This book as SO many characters! While it is easy to follow, it is hard to explain. So, let me just give you these details.

Tom is a teacher/principal at a local school. His specialty is coming into a troubled school, turning it around, and then leaving after about two years to go onto the next school. Strange things seem to follow him, and he is WAY too flirty with the young girls at his school. His wife is an interesting bird and his son hides out in his room taking pictures out of his window and making notes about the neighbors. Also, his newlywed neighbor, Josephine, is slightly obsessed with him.

There is a murder at the beginning of the book, but you have no idea who is murdered and who the murderer is until the end. It is such an interesting way to read a murder mystery. I just really loved it! So fun! Click here to grab a copy for yourself!

On Mystic Lake by Kristin Hannah

If you have read my book reviews for any length of time, then you know that I have such a love for Kristin Hannah. In the last year, I have read The Nightingale (click for review), The Great Alone (click for review), and Winter Garden (click for review). All AMAZING books that you can just feel in your bones and you hold with you long after you have finished the last page. I’m a huge fan!

I’ve mentioned before that Kristin did an interview recently and was asked about her favorite character that she has ever written. She named four characters from four different books, and I am working my way through those books. The first was Winter Garden, and I LOVED that book! So, enter On Mystic Lake.

On Mystic Lake is one of her earlier books written in the 90s. I still really enjoyed this book, but this is how it differs from my favorites: it is not historical fiction, it does not span decades, I didn’t feel the usual closure she offers in her books. But, I still LOVED this book.

Annie Colwater grew up in a small, logging town on Mystic Lake. Her dreams of success moved her away from family and friends as she went through Stanford and then settling down in Malibu with her husband and daughter. After seventeen years of being away, her life is now falling apart and she returns to the only town that can still offer her peace.

Nick Delacroix, one of Annie’s best childhood friends, never left his hometown. Now a police officer and a single father to the PRECIOUS Izzy, he spends his days trying to figure out how to survive the hard things life has given him.

This book has such an amazing message. We all have HUGE dreams when we are kids, and somewhere along the way life happens. Some hold onto those dreams, and some let them fade off into the sunset. How do stay true to yourself when life happens? Y’all. I just loved this book. And, I DARE you to not fall in love with Izzy. Precious, precious character.

Click here to grab a copy for yourself!

Good Luck Charm by Helena Hunting

Last month, I read Helena Hunting’s Meet Cute (you can read that review here) and I really enjoyed it. A fun and easy read. So, this month I decided I needed to finish out the month with another one of her fun and easy reads.

And, well . . . this book. My, my, my, my, my. It is rated R. As in a capital R. Then take that R, multiply it by three, add four, and then you may have an accurate representation of the rating here.

Let me also say that I really enjoyed this book! Definitely a different read after I had just finished On Mystic Lake, but it was enjoyable none the less.

Lilah and Ethan grew up together as childhood friends turned high school sweethearts. When he was drafted to the NHL out of high school, he broke things off with her, broke her heart, and left town to pursue his dreams. Now eight years later, he is back in town to deal with family health issues and their reunion is on the awkward side. Can they find their way back to each other now? And, do they have more than just teenage puppy love?

This book is what my sister-in-law would call “L.O.W.”. Meaning super cheesy, chick lit where you don’t have to think at all. And, y’all . . . I am here for it! Such a fast read with great characters! A perfect way to end the month! Click here to grab a copy for yourself!

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As always, send me your recommendations! XO