It’s BOOK REVIEW DAY, friends!

Woohoo!

I had BIG plans this month to read a TON of books. But, then summer just got too much fun, and lounging with the kids during my free time became much more needed than reading.

So, this month, I read three books. Three books from authors that I just LOVE, and let me say that I had THE BEST month of reading. YEAH!

Here we go . . . Enjoy!

The Soulmate Equation by Christina Lauren

Christina Lauren is all about the chick-lit books that are super easy to read while on a beach, floating in a pool, or just sitting in your backyard relaxing. She always delivers something light-hearted and fun.

The Soulmate Equation, I feel, took it a little deeper with subject matter that the authors had not touched on before . . . struggling single mothers and alcoholism. So, I think that this cute, little chick-lit book was even more enjoyable as it was a touch more on the meaty side this time around.

Jess is a single mom that is a statistics consultant for local companies. When a local company creates a match-making company that matches clients based upon a statistical analysis of genetic markers, her and her best friend decide to give a sample to test the waters and see if this is something that could actually work. The biggest issue? The creator of the company and technology isn’t the nicest of guys, and just marked with her on the company’s highest compatibility level.

SUPER cute book. Sweet. Loveable characters. You find yourself cheering on the main characters and hoping that this company is for real. PERFECT for any upcoming vacations or lazy days you have planned!

Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid

So, I am thinking of running for President of the Taylor Jenkins Reid Fan Club. Not sure if that is a thing, but I may go ahead and create one.

I am a HUGE fan of her books. She writes the type of stories that you feel like you need to google to confirm the characters aren’t actually real people. I was CONVINCED that the band in Daisy Jones and The Six was real, and quite frankly, kind of bummed to realize that it wasn’t. She is just that great at bringing stories to life.

Malibu Rising is her latest release, and the book follows the Riva family around southern California. Mick and June Riva fall in love hard and fast in their early twenties, and by the time they are married, Mick has already made a big name for himself in the singing industry. He is the newest sensation with June by his side. This story takes you through three decades of the Riva children being born, of Mick deserting them time and time again as he falls in love with someone else, and of their mother’s desperation in longing for him and trying to care for their four children.

Now in the early 80s when partying was HARD in Malibu, the Riva children are learning to be adults on their own in the limelight of a father that abandoned them years before. Besides Mick, I really just loved the characters in this book. Real, raw, and broken, but loyal, loving, and kind with their little family of four. Taylor Jenkins Reid does it again. Big fan!

Everyone is Beautiful by Katherine Center

Oh, y’all. This book. We all need to read this book!

Everyone is Beautiful follows Lanie Coates, a married mom that has followed her husband across the country so that he can pursue his dream. She is knee deep in marriage and motherhood when she looks down and fifteen years have passed, her dreams have been left by the side of the road a long time ago, and the weight she gained during her first pregnancy still hasn’t left after her third child is walking around her new apartment in a strange, new city.

One day at the park, while wrangling all three of her children, a woman making small talk asks her when she is due. She isn’t pregnant. She is just a tired mom that is a little fluffy. And, in that one moment, she decides to take her life back. It will mean upsetting the balance a bit in her marriage and with her kids, but it means that she will find herself again. Find herself in the midst of change, heartache, dirty diapers, and lack of sleep. And, maybe she will realize that she has always been beautiful, inside and out.

Y’all. I finished this book on the 4th anniversary of losing my Sophie Caroline. I cannot tell you that this had to have been such a God thing to have discovered this book and then finished it on that day. Everyone is beautiful. The pain that we have been through, the strength that we have gained as we have come out of the other side of grief, the cracks in our armor that show our hard days . . . it only makes us all more beautiful. This book. Every woman needs to read this book.

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I so love this monthly book review post! As always, let me know which of these books you have read and if you loved them like I did. Also, please send me your recommendations! We are traveling a ton in July, and I am needing a few books to enjoy! XO