If Only I Could Tell You

I finished reading If Only I Could Tell You by Hannah Beckerman and it was a great book! I really enjoyed reading this story. I was very impressed!

Initially I was a little confused. The book bounced between three characters, and different time periods too. And for some reason, I confused two of the characters – they are estranged sisters. And I knew who they were, I just couldn’t always connect the right one. One was upset with the other, and sometimes I forgot which one was the one who hated her sister, and which one didn’t understand why her sister hated her. I’m not sure why I struggled with this, but for some reason I did.

Once I really figured out which sister was which, the book took a turn and I was so engrossed. I could not put it down! New little hints or pieces of information kept dropping, and I was so intrigued. The story was so interesting and I Just had to keep reading!

The story was so good, and it unfolded beautifully! Definitely recommend this book, its a great one! You can find it on Amazon here.

The Kensington Series

I just finished reading the Kensington Series by Allie Everhart. This series includes four books: Needing Her, Keeping Her, Protecting Her, and Only Her. It is kind of a follow up series to the Jade Series (check out this post ). The Jade Series is about Jade and Garret – and the Kensington Series is about Garret’s parents. You don’t have to read it to read this one, but there are definitely some of the same characters!

Garret and Jade were put through a lot of tests, and in this series we learn that his parents, Pearce and Rachel went through some similar things. In the Jade series, Pearce is a businessman and very serious, but occasionally did some surprising things. This series kind of opens the door to why he did some of those surprising things! We get to see a whole different side to him.

The wealthy people live very different lives than most of us, and sometimes it is hard to fit in… or be accepted. When Pearce falls for Rachel, he knows his parents will not approve, but he can’t help himself. He tries to protect her from them as long as he can, but they run into more than one road block along the way!

The Jade Series is my favorite, and I have read it several times. I think this is only second time I read this one, and I really enjoy it too! I forget this one is just as good! Allie Everhart’s website shares some info about the series, and you can find it on Amazon here.

Hello 2020!

Happy New Year! I cannot believe it is 2020! It sounds so weird, doesn’t it??

I finished out the year meeting my book goal. I read 61 books in 2019. I decided to re-read the Jade Series again by Allie Everhart, and those 8 books in a week really helped me finish the year strong!

I want to thank each and every one of you for following along! 2019 was great – and I hope 2020 is even better!

Wishing you all a safe and happy year!

When We Believed in Mermaids

I just finished reading When We Believed in Mermaids by Barbara O’Neal. I really did not know what to expect, it was recommended on Kindle Unlimited and had audio available. I was looking for something to listen to while cleaning.

I got sucked in fast though, it was such an interested story and I wanted to know what was going to happen! The story is told my sisters, jumping back and forth between their lives. It is done really well though, and not at all confusing. They remember back to when they were young, but done in memories so there really isn’t jumping between time periods, which I like.

Josie has been believed dead for 15 years, but when her sister Kit see her on the news, she knows she must find her. She drops everything and flies across the world, hoping to find her sister. They both had difficult childhoods, but they responded to them very differently. Kit is confident she still knows her sister well enough that she can figure out where she might be.

I really enjoyed reading this book! It is an interesting story and I loved it! You can find it on Amazon here, it is currently included with Kindle Unlimited!

Insatiable

I just finished reading Insatiable by Melanie Harlow. I completely stumbled upon it after I realized that I never cancelled Kindle Unlimited and I have been paying for it the last two months and didn’t even know!

I always set reminders on my phone when I need to cancel things like this. I found the reminder marked complete, so for some reason I thought I did it, but I did not. So I immediately downloaded several books, attempting to not waste the time I have left!

This book is a stand alone book, but still part of a series. Sisters that all have their own book for their story. This is the last in the series… so oops. Not that it really matters, there was some info about the sisters in this book, but not a ton. I really don’t think anything was revealed.

I did download the other books though, because this one was so good! The story was great, I really enjoyed it! There were some steamy scenes, but you could easily skip over them if that is not your thing.

You can check it out on Amazon here.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you all had a wonderful day! Our Thanksgiving was a little different this year. My parents always come, but this year their plans changed last minute after my grandmother fell and broke her hip.

Normally we cook way too much food, then go shopping. I still cooked way too much food, but decided not to go shopping. I am not looking for anything big, only for Christmas gifts. I did do a lot on online shopping, but stayed in my pajama’s all day! I’ll probably go out tomorrow, but just wanted to enjoy the day with my husband and pups!

Wishing you all a safe and happy day!

The Sun Is Also a Star

I loved the book so much, and hubs said he was actually interested in the movie, so we rented it from Redbox. I know nothing is ever as good as the book, this movie is no exception. But it was good.

There were some differences, but mostly I understand why they did what they did. The general story was spot on, and where I wish they would have done a few things differently, it was still very good.

Hubs liked it, without knowing anything about the book. After explaining some of the differences, he wasn’t that concerned. It was so fresh in my mind, since I just read the book, but I still think I would have caught on to some of the changes.

The biggest change that bothered me, was the relationship between the girl and her dad. It was very different, but I felt it was important in the book. They really focused mostly on the couple in the movie, which was fine. The book went into more detail about both of their families. The movie was two hours long, so I know they have to pick and choose what can be included.

Overall, I liked the movie… but I loved the book!

2018

I have mixed feelings about 2018. It is hard to call a year good, when it stared out in the worst way. But it was all uphill after that, and 2018 brought a lot of great things.

We lost our dog Emmitt at the beginning of the year. The day I was taking down my Christmas tree. It was unexpected and the choice we had to make was the hardest decision of my life. I still shed so many tears over that dog, and I think I always will. He was my first dog in my adult life, our first dog as a couple. Hubs called him my soul mate, and sometimes got jealous of the affection he had for me. He was my baby, and I still miss him every day. I hope he knows how loved he still is.

We did our best to move forward, and I do believe it brought us closer together. We focused on ourselves for a while.

I corrected my vision. More than half of my life I lived with contacts and glasses, and fixed it in a 10 minute procedure. By far, one of the best decisions I have ever made. I remember hearing people say that, and thought they were being dramatic. But no, it is truly life changing. I can see the clock in the middle of the night. I can sit at the back of a crowded conference room and read the entire presentation. I go camping without having to worry about my contacts. I am so grateful we live in a world where Lasik is possible!

We got Rusty. We got him sooner than we were planning, but looking back, it was perfect timing. He was meant to be with us, and he has changed my world! I learned that raising a puppy is hard. He’s worth it, but boy there were days I was at my wits end! Rusty is so high energy and so different from Emmitt, I struggled a lot. But he is the sweetest, most loving boy, and he has captured my heart. I already worry about the day I will have to go through what we did with Emmitt again, but I hope and pray that day is way way in the future. Rusty’s breed are often called velcro dogs, because they are attached to your hip, but I often wonder if he is more attached to me, or me to him.

My whole family came to visit! My house was full with my parents and their dog, sister and brother in law, their 3 kids – plus Rusty was only 3 months. It was a crazy week, but we had a lot of fun! The girls are at the age where they can do so much, and have SO much personality doing it! Baby boy is walking and playing, and he loved Rusty! That boy will need a dog one day!

I started a new position at work and I absolutely love it. I really feel like I thrive in this role, and that is a great feeling! I never planned or expected to take this route, but it truly has been one of the best things for me! Exciting things are happening at work, and I am so looking forward to see what things will look like this time next year.

We went to Hawaii on a vacation of a lifetime! We went on a full week cruise seeing several islands, and an active volcano! It was truly a dream vacation, and I hope we get to do it again one day! I have always wanted to go to Hawaii, and it definitely exceeded all of my expectations!

Hubs started a new job too, and he is very excited about it. He is liking what he is doing and having fun doing it, so that makes me happy. He is looking for a career, and I think he might have found it! Work is still work, but he doesn’t dread it like he once did, so that’s better for both of us! It has been a little tricky for us, he has less flexibility now, but I know in the long run it will pay off! And thankfully my job allows for more flexibility, so for the most part it works out.

I have good memories of this year, great time with my husband and friends, experiencing so many firsts with Rusty. So many firsts without Emmitt.

I hope everyone has fond memories of 2018, and will make wonderful new memories in 2019! May 2019 be a great year for everyone!

My Husband’s Wife

I just finished reading My Husband’s Wife by Jane Corry. The book is narrated by two characters, and set in two different time periods. It was done very well, and I didn’t get confused! With books like this, I always appreciate when different characters are easy to follow.

I will say though, it did kind of take me a while to figure out what the book was going to be about. That sounds weird, but with two characters, the stories were very different but crossed over, I just couldn’t quite figure out where it was going. Then it jumped way in the future!

This book was also kind of easy to for me to put down in the beginning. Not in a bad way, but when I finished a chapter I stopped reading. I really haven’t had a good “can’t put it down” book in a while. (Accepting recommendations!) There were definitely moments, and with the jumping back and forth I sometimes felt like I had to finish one character to get to the next. Part of the problem (hate to call it a problem) was that I read this book on paper. And the day I started it, it ended up with puppy teeth marks. So I had to be selective when I read!

By the last 4th of the book, I was definitely into it, the story took a very interesting turn and I was hooked! I was intrigued with where the story was going to end up. I do feel like the synopsis on the back of the book was not an adequate description of the book!

The story is about a young girl, and a twenty something newly-wed. They are neighbors, and the newlywed sometimes helps look after the girl who lives with her single mom. The newlywed is lawyer, married to an artist. They have their struggles, and the young girl has a difficult time in school.

Fast forward 12 years, the young girl is grown and the lawyer has made a name for herself. Their paths cross again, and cause major changes in both of their lives. The book is good, not great. I like the author and would read other books by her again!

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Road Trouble

I just finished Road Trouble by Allie Everhart! It is her newest book, it was released yesterday! She always announces her releases in advance, and I preorder them every time. What I have yet to master, is being between books when a new book is released. I always feel like I need to finish the book I am reading, then I rush through it and almost don’t enjoy it because it is not Allie Everhart’s new book!

This time, I took a pause in my current book. I am not as into it as I thought I would be, and knew it wasn’t a “I can’t put it down book” like this book would be. And Allie’s books are fairly quick reads, and usually finish in a day or two. And really it was kind of perfect timing- none of my shows were on last night due to the election, so I could read all I wanted!!

This book is a stand alone book, and it did not disappoint! I do hope we’ll see these characters pop up again (Allie is great about that) and the story was great! Different than her other books, but in all the best ways!

Sage is a young girl and is going through a tough time. Kyle has struggles of his own, including road trouble, and ends up stuck on the side of the road. Sage stumbles upon him and tries to help, but he wants nothing to do with her.

They are both fairly new to a small town, where the rumors run like wild fire! Being the new guy, most people don’t trust him, but for some reason Sage sees good in him.

The story is light and fun, but also heartfelt. Allie (I hope she’s okay with being on a first name basis with me!) has a beautiful writing style. I love all of her books, and couldn’t pick a favorite if I had to. Every time I read one, I want to go back and read them all again! I haven’t read the Jade series yet this year, so I probably will once I finish my current book!

I definitely recommend this book! I could not put it down, and that is becoming more and more important to me as a reader. Allie Everhart will not disappoint!