Happy Book Review Day! Woohoo!

So, this month was INSANE with the reading. Six books, y’all! SIX!

Reid was out of town a good portion of the month, so lots of night reading was done. Definitely made it wasy to fit in all the books!

And, this month, I was heavy on the suspense. Not typical for me, but I loved it. Mostly. This is a long post today. So, grab your coffee and here we go . . .

The Rose Code by Kate Quinn

Last summer, I read Kate Quinn’s The Alice Network. I loved it. So much. While it was historical fiction, it was based on a group of real women and their story in WWII. It was real, raw, and unbelievably inspiring. I couldn’t put it down.

So, this year, I was so excited to read her newest book, The Rose Code. It also was historical fiction based upon a group of real women and their story in WWII. It also was over 600 pages. If I could write a one sentence review on this, it would be…”It was inspiring, but she could have shaved off 200 pages”. Sad, but true.

The Rose Code follows three friends, Osla, Mab, and Beth, from three different walks of life. They are each recruited to a secret code breaking division of the English government, and spend years breaking enemy codes in an effort to bring an end to the war. There is heartbreak, meltdowns, love, friendship, treason…all the things.

I am always amazed to read books like this, and then discover that these women are real. That women were key in breaking enemy codes to win the war. So, very inspiring. The Rose Code showcased amazing women, and told their story well. Sadly, it was WAY TOO LONG. I mean, I loved the story, but it became work to finish this bad boy.

If you only read one of Kate Quinn’s books, read The Alice Network. The Rose Code was really good, just too long in my opinion. One thing that I must say…Kate Quinn is an amazing author. The detail brought forth in this book is insane. I can’t imagine her research process. She is truly gifted, and I look forward to reading her next book!

The Perfect Marriage by Jeneva Rose

Y’all! This book! OH. MY. GOODNESS!

I read The Perfect Marriage over Labor Day Weekend, and I STILL can’t stop thinking about it! SO, SO good!

Adam and Sarah Morgan met at a college party and instantly feel in love. Three years later, they are married and well on their way to making their dreams come true – Sarah, a criminal defense attorney, and Adam, an award-winning author.

Now, a decade later, Sarah is a named partner in her law firm and widely known to be the best criminal defense attorney in DC, while Adam has struggled with early success from his first novel, and then nothing since. OH . . . and his mistress just turned up dead, and Sarah has decided to defend him.

Y’all! Let me say that from the very beginning, I just KNEW who was guilty. And, then with every few chapters, my mind would change and I would be SURE that now I knew. It wasn’t until the VERY last chapter that I had the whole story. This book is like listening to a true crime podcast . . . you are so into it, confused the entire time, and can’t wait to get to the end so that you can move on.

I really LOVED this book. Entertaining and keeps you on your toes. Please read so that we can discuss!

Ugly Love by Colleen Hoover

If you have been reading my book reviews for awhile, you know that I am a huge Colleen Hoover fan. Over the years, I have read It Ends With Us, Regretting You, Verity, and Heart Bones. All of her books are chick lit with another layer of depth. Beautiful stories that give you all the feels, and she is one of the authors that I am consistently recommending to those of you that reach out to me.

Ugly Love . . . This book gave me all the feels. I laughed, I cried, I said “get it together” to a certain character out loud while by myself in carpool. All the feels.

When Tate starts graduate school to get her Masters in Nursing, she moves in with her brother in San Francisco as she tries to find a job, save money and get used to life in a new city. Miles, her brother’s next door neighbor, is a pilot that clearly has a hard past that he refuses to accept and deal with. Things get a little saucy between the two of them.

Each chapter goes back and forth with Tate discussing present day and Miles discussing six years earlier. This book is all about moving on from heartbreak and the “ugly love” that we all go through when we grieve. I connected to this book in a strong way. I’ve had my own “ugly love” experiences in life, and it is easy to judge how people handle it until you have gone through it. I basically wanted to dive into this book and wrap my arms around a couple of the characters. Bless them.

This book is definitely rated R, FYI. You will fall in love with all the characters, except maybe one…

The ONLY issue I had with this book…I wish that Miles and Tate were older in the present day of this story. There were such deep aspects of this story, and 23/24 years old does not a grown mature person make. We grow SO much in our twenties, and I don’t know why I got hung up on that. I mean, I can buy into anything in a book, but this just got me. I had to push through and imagine them a bit older. 

LOVED this book, and am thinking of running for President of the Colleen Hoover fan club.

Not A Happy Family by Shari Lapena

I am always up for a fun murder mystery! Shari Lapena is the queen of writing fun thrillers that are hard to put down. Also, I find in her books that I change my mind as to the murderer so much while reading, that by the end I don’t even care who is the guilty party. I just loved being entertained for a few hundred pages!

Since starting my monthly book reviews, I’ve read The Couple Next Door, A Stranger in the House, An Unwanted Guest, and Someone We Know. All fun!

Not A Happy Family is about Fred and Sheila Merton. They are an extremely wealthy couple that live outside of New York City in an affluent neighborhood. Their three grown children, Catherine, Dan, and Jenna, are all grown and living very different lives. This family does not put the “fun” in dysfunctional. They are a total disaster! While they all put on the smiles at the annual family Easter dinner, fights and drama erupt and have people charging out the door just to escape the madness.

Tuesday morning arrives, and the cleaning lady shows up to find Fred and Sheila brutally murdered. Who could have done this? This family was wealthy, well-respected, and kept their issues quiet. Now, however, the secrets are about to come spilling out.

So fun, y’all! I read this in about a 24 hour period. I was doing some routine colonoscopy prep (sorry for that information) and had a great deal of hanging around the house and waiting in medical buildings to tend to. So, PERFECT, read for that time. I truly changed mind about who was guilty numerous times throughout this book. Perfect colonoscopy/medical procedure read. Ha!

The Guilt Trip by Sandie Jones

This is the most suspense novels that I have read in a month EVER! But, I just LOVE a book that starts with the crime, and then works from the beginning to see who was the victim and who committed the crime. A fun way to read as you enjoy the twists and turns and spend every chapter blaming someone else! 

The Guilt Trip begins with a detective talking with someone in the hospital about the victim and crime. Who is being spoken to? Who is the victim? No clue!

Will & Ali are getting married at a destination wedding in Portugal. To celebrate properly, they bring two other couples to stay in an amazing home on the beach and get the party started. As the festivities go on, secrets start to come out, friendships and marriages are pushed to the edge, and everyone begins to question the loyalty of all around them. This will definitely be a wedding to remember.

This was fun, y’all! I really enjoyed it, and loved that my mind kept changing about what I thought the outcome would be. Check it out!

Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty

This makes me so, so sad. Ugh. This book.

Please let me tell you that I am a huge Liane Moriarty fan. Whenever anyone asks me for a book recommendation, I usually tell them to read What Alice Forgot immediately. I love that book. I’ve read it twice over the years, and I still think about it from time to time. Big Little Lies…LOVED the book, not so much the series. I’ve read most of her books and have always been a fan. Until her last book, Nine Perfect Strangers. Not a fan, but thought it was an “off” book and decided to wait for her new one.

Oh y’all. I’m bummed. I think maybe I shouldn’t have been so excited.

Apples Never Fall follows a tennis family in Australia. The parents were coaches and ran a tennis business for years and the four children all played tennis as children and have now grown up and hold various jobs. After a rather stressful family dinner, the mother goes missing. The main suspect quickly becomes the father and the children are split as to who believes he is guilty or innocent.

Listen . . . I am a fan of suspense novels. I am a fan of novels with deep emotional family dramas. However, I am not a fan of books where there is really no one to cheer for and actually picking up the book to read feels like a chore rather than a fun hobby. Boo! So bummed. Sorry y’all!

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That’s it for today! As always, send me your book recommendations and let me know your thoughts on the books above! XO