Happy November AND Happy Book Review Day!!!! For October . . . a few days late! I think this is definitely worth the wait because in this review are two books that I just adored. I can’t WAIT to share them with you. Grab your coffee or your cocktail and settle in for a ride! Here we go . . .

The Family Remains by Lisa Jewell

So, Lisa Jewell . . . I typically love her books. They are entertaining, suspenseful, and a lot of the fun without the scary anxiety. This one, I didn’t love. BOO!

The Family Remains is the sequel to The Family Upstairs, which was super creepy, so fun, and I loved it!

This story revolves around the main characters remaining from the first book, and discusses how they have moved on, the issues that still torment them, and where they are moving in their journey ahead. There wasn’t much mystery to this one. Sure, a murder of a past character is thrown in. Along with the murder of another character. But, I really didn’t care who was to blame, or what anyone was really doing. I felt like the first book really didn’t need a sequel.

Ugh! Y’all know that I hate giving bad reviews. I will still be pre-ordering Lisa Jewell’s next book. I just should have skipped this one.

The House Across The Lake by Riley Sager

Casey, a successful actress, has lost her husband and dealt with it by becoming a raging alcoholic. After a rather public embarrassment, her mother sends her to the family lake house to heal, hide and get out of the spotlight. The problem? The lake is where her husband died.

Between drinking binges and spying on her high-profile neighbors, Casey discovers links to several missing girls in the area, studies the mysteries of Lake Greene, AND tries to find her missing friend. Y’all. Lots going on in this book, and HUGE twists and turns. When I said this was crazy, I meant it was CRAAAAZY! So fun!! Loved it. Please read so that we can discuss!!

It Starts With Us by Colleen Hoover

Back in February of 2020, I read the very popular It Ends With Us. It was beautiful, it was heartbreaking, it made me fall in love with Colleen Hoover. Centered around domestic violence, it was hard to read in places, but it made you cheer for Lily and her childhood best friend that was trying to help her. Due to the book’s popularity and all of us fans needing to know what in the world happened with Lily and Atlas, Colleen blessed us with this sequel. LOVE!

It Starts With Us starts a couple of hours after It Ends With Us ends, and takes us through Lily and Atlas finding each other again. It also continues to deal with Ryle and his abusive ways. This is less raw than the first book and is much more empowering to women in those situations, and for that, I just LOVED it! This book also dives deep into Atlas’ history with his mother and hurtful past.

This book is just precious. I love all of the characters (except for Ryle – BOO!) and I found myself just happy that Lily and Atlas had found each other again after so many years and experiences. I could have used another chapter or two for closure, but that just means Colleen needs to write me another book with the same characters! Ha! LOVED this!!

Trigger warning if you or a loved one has ever been in an abusive relationship! If you have, and have no one to talk to, please reach out. I am no expert, but I would be happy to help you find one.

Too Hot To Handle by Tessa Bailey

And . . . is it even a monthly book review if I don’t read something a little steamy? Tessa Bailey is one of my faves!

The Clarkson siblings go on a cross-country road trip to carry out their mother’s last wish: They must spend some time together and jump in the ocean across the country to feel inspired to find what they are meant to do and who they are meant to be. Considering the four of them are less than close, this trip is a disaster from the beginning. When their car breaks down in the middle of New Mexico, it gets even worse.

Rita, dealing with the loss of her mom and her career, isn’t the most pleasant when Jasper shows up to rescue the four from the side of a dirt road. Jasper, local bar owner, doesn’t have the best reputation in town, but has been trying hard to reinvent himself and move past the pain that he grew up enduring.

Classic chick-lit . . . two very different people find each other in the midst of an odd circumstance and decide maybe this could work. Cute book, rated R. Main takeaway? Jasper is precious.

This is the first in the series – one book is written about each sibling while on this road trip. Here is the deal . . . I didn’t like any of the other siblings, I barely liked Rita. So, I think that this is the first series that I may not finish. Shocking, I know. Anyone else read this book?

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That’s it for the October Book Review. Did you read any of these? As always, I would love your thoughts AND your recommendations! Have a great rest of your week! XO