My plan was to write a witty introduction to this week’s reading summary this morning before heading to Jonesboro to see Dad. Right now, life has a way of looking at my plans, laughing, and throwing a curve ball my way. I’m still standing, but I’ve prepared the white flag of surrender so I can yell “Uncle!” to end this current round of the karmic game. How’s that for an intro? Luckily, I had written the rest of the weekly update last night. Here’s what I’ve been reading lately.
What I Finished This Week
The House of Hidden Letters by Izzy Broom. As part of the Summer Beach Read Challenge, I needed to read a book with something you would expect to find at the beach on the cover. My assigned genre was historical fiction. I am thrilled that I found The House of Hidden Letters! Told in alternating time lines, the novel traces the story of Skye, a modern woman who has left her British home and career to flee her abusive husband. When she lands in Greece, she finds a community of friends and an unexpected mystery. Hidden in the chimney of her restoration house, Skye discovers a pack of love letters written by Katerina, a young woman trying to survive the Italian invasion of the Greek isles during World War II. Katerina’s story is one of love and murder. The young woman is traumatized by the Nazi general living next door in the occupied land. If you have followed my reading journey for very long, you probably know by now that I love this era of history and Broom’s story was engaging while presenting a portion of the Great War with which I was not familiar. I found the novel to be a fairly quick read and I was always excited to see how the story would progress (much to the chagrin of the other novels I was reading at the time). 4 stars.
Fix Her Up by Tessa Bailey. For this week’s audio book, I borrowed Fix Her Up from my local library using the Libby app. That means that the book didn’t cost me anything and would fulfill that prompt for The 52 Book Club Challenge. This Tessa Bailey book tells the story of Georgie and Travis. Georgie is the youngest child who chose to launch her own business rather than working with the family. Her chosen career is that of a children’s entertainer — specifically, a clown. Obviously she receives no respect for her choice from her siblings or parents. They view her as an immature failure who simply needs to be tolerated and not respected. Travis has returned to his childhood home after injury ended his promising career in Major League Baseball. Despite his success, the only voice that Travis hears is that of his alcoholic father who repeatedly proclaimed that Travis would never amount to anything. Georgie wants the respect of her family; Travis needs to land a new job as a sports commentator. In order to help each other reach their goals, the two decide to masquerade as a couple. This cute romance was a really fun book to listen to. The narration by Charlotte North was exceptional. Be warned though — in typically Bailey fashion, the spicy scenes are off the charts! I would normally listen to an audio book on my commute; since my mother was in the car with me most of the week, this was definitely not a book that was going to get much airplay. 4 stars.
What I’m Currently Reading
The Godfather by Mario Puzo (p. 315 of 428). I have put off reading this book for much of the year. The prompt was to read a book inspired by the top grossing movie from the year that you were born. In 1972, that film would have been Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather. I wasn’t really that interested in reading something about the mafia and the thoughts of exploring the lives of Coppola or Brando didn’t appeal to me either. So I decided to bite the bullet and read the novel that inspired the film. Since I’ve not watched the movie before, I had an erroneous idea of what the story was about. I was expecting lots of murders gruesomely described. While the mob wars are certainly present, the focus of the story is about the Don and his children. It’s a story about loyalty, betrayal, and revenge set against a sprawling family saga. I’m really enjoying the read much more than I expected and plan to watch the movie later this week.
Reckless at Heart by Zoe York (p. 235 of 596). The novel’s opening line grabbed my attention: “Dad, I’m pregnant.” A single dad to a teenage daughter, Owen is not prepared to watch his daughter repeat the same mistakes he did as a young father. When the girl announces that she is going to use the services of a midwife, Owen is anything but pleased. Now Owen must come to terms with the fact that he finds himself attracted to the midwife that is caring for his daughter. Why did I pick this one up? The prompt for the summer challenge called for a romance that included the name “Rebecca” in the acknowledgements. (That was surprisingly more difficult to find than I had expected!) I’m not expecting a 5 star read here, but it has proven to be an easy read to pass the time while at the rehab center.
Present Over Perfect: Leaving Behind Frantic for a Simpler, More Soulful Way of Living by Shauna Niequist (0:28 of 4:15). On Sunday afternoon, I had a few minutes alone in my car while running some errands, so I decided to get an early start on my next audio book. The book appears to be about moving from exhaustion and burnout to peaceful living through simplicity. That’s definitely something that I need to hear right now. I’m reading this to fulfill the prompt of a comma in the subtitle.
Reading for Me 
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