Thanks for joining me again today for one of my 50 by 50 goals – my quest to carve out more time to read, a joyful hobby that enhances each week! My newest reads are 4, 5 and 6 on my goal towards reading a minimum of a dozen more books by the time I turn 50. Pretty cool that I’m already halfway there, discovering three awesome new beach reads that kept me highly entertained!
My number 3 read was SMALL GREAT THINGS by Jodi Picoult. I woudn’t class this as a beach read but I will encourage you to add it to your TBR, it’s incredibly thought-provoking, addressing some very tough topics that we need to be having more conversations about.
What I do consider a beach read is a book that captures your attention and imagination but is a lighter read, allowing you to put it down and comfortably return to later to enjoy. They are book with excellent character development and emotion with compelling plots that are very relationship driven. And generally, they have happy ending… because, really, who wants to be caught crying on the beach?
I picked up THE LYING GAME by Ruth Ware on an airport layover. It’s the story of four high school friends who share a deep love for each other and secret that binds them for life. Years later, their secret is coming to the surface and they must all confront the past and how it has shaped their present.
Friendship is at the core of this novel and I enjoyed how each of the women had their own approach to relationships and life. I also truly enjoyed the air of mystery and suspense throughout the novel. The ending is unexpected, yet oddly satisfying.
THE HOUSE ON HARBOR HILL by Shelly Stratton is a book that I received as part of my Once Upon A Book Club membership. Once Upon a Book Club is a cool mail order club that I discovered where they select a novel and then send it along with gifts that are paired to the story. When you reach a page in the book where the gift is appropriate, you open it. So it’s like getting little extra surprises along the way of reading that help enhance the story and give you a little tangible treat.
I decided to use this service to inspire my 50 by 50 book goals and it’s definitely working! I love the selection I was sent THE HOUSE ON HARBOR HILL, and I loved having the incentives of opening gifts while reading. It definitely had me finding more time to read more often to get to the goodies.
In THE HOUSE ON HARBOR HILL follows the path of a young woman who is estranged from her husband, trying to forge a life of her own. Along they way she makes new friends in an unusual way and when their lives converge, it presents a set of new challenges for all. It’s a very heartfelt story of three individuals who think they need very different things, but what they all truly need is a chance to heal.
THE OPTIMIST’S GIDE TO LETTING GO by Amy E. Reichert was the focus of a special Mother’s Day-themed box from the Once Upon A Book Club. I’d heard of the book before and it is one that was on my TBR, so that was an awesome coincidence. It’s a wonderful novel primarily centered on the complex relationships between mother’s and daughters.
There are secrets, there are sorrows, there are triumphs and there are joys. It’s a wonderful blend of the moments that define our lives and the memories that can stop us from living. I will give a slight forewarning that this is one beach read that could evoke a tear or two as you relate to some of the more powerful moments, so maybe better for the privacy backyard than the public beach?
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One (1) Rural Mom reader will win one (1) $25 Amazon Gift Card so that you may purchase a few new beach reads to enjoy!
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What are you reading this month? Please share, I’d love to be inspired by your ideas!
The Optimist’s Guide to Letting Go sounds like something I’d like to read.
I would love to read the lying game
I’ve heard a lot of good reviews of Small Great Things that I just picked it up to read this week.
I am reading the Outsider
I would like to read The House on Harbor Hill
I would like to read the Lying Game.
I’ve been rereading the Wild Card Series Anthology
I would like to read The House on Harbor Hill.
I just started reading The Crossing by Michael Connelly.
i’m reading The Wanders Meg Howrey
The Lying Game looks good.
I am reading Einstein’s Beach House.
I am now reading Still Waters by Heather Graham/Karen Harper.
It’s a good read.
thank you
Barbara Montag
FYI PInterest pics are not working.
Loved Ruth Ware’s The Woman in Cabin 10. Must read this new one.
I’m reading Our Better Angels by Jon Meecham
I am reading The Outsider by Stephen King. In fact, I’m almost finished with it!
I would love to read the Optimist guide to letting go.
I am reading “KINGS OF THE SEA” by J.D. Davies, it’s very educational.
I would love to read The Vacationers by Emma Straub.
Since I am extreme love of film, I would love to read the book on Film Noir. I think it was just released, but I would to own a copy of it.
Year One by Nora Roberts
I may pick up the Jodi Picoult, Funny seeing it here as someone just mentioned her novels and I have not read any.
I would love to read Small Great Things because I’m ready for a more though-provoking serious book right now. And I love Jodi Picoult!
I’m reading a book about Buddha this month, after that will be one of the Stephen King’s that I haven’t started yet!
I would like the Ruth Ware book
I am reading Redeeming Love – a great book so far. Thank you
I’m reading The Address by Fiona Davis this month. Thanks for the giveaway!
I would like to read The House on Harbor Hill.
I’m reading No Man’s Land by David Baldacci
I have been reading Gone With the Wind.
I am looking forward to reading it’s your universe!
I am reading Marinating in Murder by Linda Wiken
I would love to read the Lying Game!
Kate Lloyds starting from Scratch
harry potter books!
I have been meaning to read the twilight saga
I would like to read Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult.
I’m reading A Gentleman in Moscow for fun and Without You There Is No Us for my book club. Both are interesting but pretty dense, thus far.
I would love to read Small Great Things.
I would like to read The House on Harbor Hill
I am currently reading Four of a Kind by Kate Kessler.
I am reading the kids summer book list so I can ask questions to find out if they read and comprehended these books.
I would like to read The Optimist’s Guide to Letting Go.
i would like to read the lying game.
I’ve been reading Forever My Girl
I have been wanting to reread The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change for a while. It will be next for me.
I’m currently reading Bran New Death
Leaving Cloud 9
I would like to read The Lying Game!
I would love to read Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult
This month I’m reading 2 books, a biography of Son House called Preaching the Blues and This Book is Full of Spiders by David Wong.
I’m reading It Was Me All Along by Andi Mitchell
I would love to read the house on harbor hill
I’d like to read the The Lying Game: A Novel. Looks super interesting
any good drama book
These look like great summer reads
I would like to read The House on Harbor Hill
I am reading the Murderbot diaries.
I’m reading a biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer
I still don’t know what book I am going to read but probably a mystery book!
I like the reviews for The House on Harbor Hill, like to read.
I would like to read the optimist guide of letting go.
I’m getting ready to start Heavens on Earth!
I am reading Letters to the Lost by Brigid Kemmerer.
THE LYING GAME by Ruth Ware sounds like a great read!
I am currently reading a book called Vox.
I would love to read big little lies
I am reading My Dear Hamilton by Stephanie Dray.
I would like to read Big Little Lies. I have heard the show is good so I imagine the book is too.
I am reading The Outlander.
I am rereading the Harry Potter series.
I want to read The Lying Game. I really enjoy thrillers that span over the decades and follow the long term ways people are affected by their past.
Right now I am reading Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris.
I am reading one of the books from The Secret
right now i am reading born a crime by trevor noah
I would like to read the Lying Game
I’m currently finally getting around to reading Stephen King’s It.
The sorcerers daughters…Taking a while to get into it
tales from known space by larry niven
like to read The House on Harbor Hill.
I would like to read Small Great Things
I would like to read all of these. Just finished re-reading all the Harry Potter books.
I am reading North and South by John Jakes.
I would like to read the lying game
Sex and the City and Us.
I would love to read SMALL GREAT THINGS by Jodi Picoult. I’ve read some of her other books and really enjoyed them.
I would love to read The Lying Game and The House on Harbor Hill.
“Dream Boy” by Jim Grimsley
I just picked up a copy of Rainbow Rowells “landline” today. It’s too hot to do anything outside, so I’ll sit inside and read.
I would like to read the Optimist guide of letting go.
I would like to check out The House on Harbor Hill.
I am reading the annihilation trilogy
I’d like to read the Lying Game
I’ve been working in my yard so much I haven’t had time to read. I love Jodi Picoult’s books and want to read Small Great Things.
I am really looking forward to reading The House on Harbor Hill! Sounds like I will greatly enjoy it!
I’m curious about The Lying Game. I’m about to start A Conjuring of Light by V.E. Schwab
-Lauren
http://www.shootingstarsmag.net
I’d like to read THE OPTIMIST’S GIDE TO LETTING GO by Amy E. Reichert.
Thanks for the contest.
I’d like to read THE OPTIMIST’S GIDE TO LETTING GO by Amy E. Reichert.
I would like to read Big Little Lies 🙂
Right now I am working my way through several different light romance series, largely because for some reason I have at least one of them on my shelf, and I seem to be constitutionally unable to read just one! I find it rather fascinating that there can be such a wide variation in the readability and interest grabbing writing in the same series, all by the same author, since some of the books keep my interest all the way through, and others end up being just scanned to get a feel of what the story line is.
I’d like to read Small Great Things.
I would like to read The House On Harbor Hill from your list.
I just started reading a book that takes place in Gettysburg “Though War Shall Rise Against Me”.
I am going to be reading “The Fault in Our Stars”
I’m reading Wives & Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell.
I am reading the Autobiography of Captain James T Kirk
I would like to read The House On Harbor Hill.
I would like to read The Lying Game
I am reading The Widening Circle: A Lyme Disease Pioneer Tells Her Story by Polly Murray
I’m reading the English wife right now.
I just finished “How to Walk Away” and enjoyed it!
I would like to read The House on Harbor Hill sounds like a great read.
I am reading The first Days by Rhiannon Frater. I have read it before just re reading it!
Unchanged is what I’m reading
I don’t have a lot of time for reading but I have about 150 books on my Kindle. I’m a fast reader so I expect to be through all of them by the end of the year. I just finished Cat’s Eyewitness by Rita Mae Brown and she is one of my favorite authors.
Would luv to read The Fault in our Stars
I am reading “Johnny Got His Gun” this month.
I would love to read The House on Harbor Hill.
im reading Pretty Little Liars.
Reading books by Lisa TerKeurst.
I’d like to read small great things
I’m reading The Lying Game. I’m hooked!
I just started Surprise Me by Sophie Kinsella!
I would love to read It”s Your Universe: You Have the Power to Make It Happen the most of all items on your great list.