In no particular order here are nine books that I recommend! Everything from lighthearted to spooky to breaking your heart in two only to mend it back together again. I hope you enjoy these! Let me know if you read any.
1. Something Borrowed - Emily Giffin
This is a super cute light read that is perfect for the summertime. You come rushing into the life of Rachel who is an attorney in New York City and absolutely hates her job. Rachel seems to always be overlooked and is on the sidelines while her childhood and current best friend, Darcy, is the apple of everyone's eye. Things get sticky when Rachel gets a little too tipsy and lands in the same bed as Darcy's fiance, Dex. Unknown to Darcy, Dex and Rachel begin an affair where Rachel realizes just how much she loves Dex and just how wrong Darcy is for him. Blow up those kiddie pools ladies, lift your feet up on that pineapple-shaped float while you read what happens between these two best friends.
2. The Home for Unwanted Girls- Joanna Goodman
One of the best books I have read. This is a story based on true events and I found myself looking up the history of the story after I read it. Between the pages of The Home for Unwanted Girls, you will find a young girl English Canadian, Maggie, who falls in love with a French Canadian boy, Gabriel, that her parents do not approve of because of his family's poverty and that they are french. Maggie finds herself pregnant at 15 with what could be Gabriel's baby (yes, this part is super messy and will have you raging). Maggie is shooed away to her aunt and uncle's house to be kept from Gabriel. Once the baby is born, Elodie was immediately taken to an orphanage in Quebec. Years go by and Maggie cannot get her little girl, Elodie out of her head so she seeks out to find her only to find that all of the orphanages were turned into asylums for the mentally ill. I do not want to give away what happens but I can say the events that take place in this story are ones that will make you laugh and cry. Truly a must-read that I cannot recommend enough.
3. Crazy Rich Asians- Kevin Kwan
One of the funniest books that I have read in the last year. Lightweight so you can read it in a few days. I immediately started googling flights to Singapore after reading this book. Rachel Chu is a professor in New York City who is dating another professor, Nicholas Young. Nick talked Rachel into going to Singapore during their summer break so they could attend Nick's best friend's wedding and also so Rachel could meet his family. She thought this trip would be nice and relaxing only to find out that Nicholas Young was in fact from the richest family in Singapore which he conveniently forgot to mention. From a humble single-parent upbringing, Rachel immediately finds herself out of place and with a brand new target on her back. Rachel has to find out if her love for Nick is worth the drama that comes with his life. Super funny even though it is sprinkled with some sad nuggets of gold.
4. The Turn of the Key- Ruth Ware
This is the spooky book on the list! I wasn't into thrillers until I discovered Ruth Ware. I got sucked into her books and never found my way back out again. I loved this book so much that I entered a contest (and won) so that one of my friends could read it too. Rowan Caine stumbles upon a glorious live-in nanny position with a generous salary. She dives at the chance and to her delight, lands an interview. After a train ride and long drive from the station, she ends up at Heatherbrae House nestled in the Scottish Highlands. This old manor is fitted with all the luxuries of a modern-day home which at first she loved as well as the picture-perfect family that came with the home. You follow along with Rowan's story as she writes her memories of the days spent in Heatherbrae House from her prison cell awaiting trial for murder. Only to find out that Rowan knows more than you could possibly imagine. A security system named Happy, elusive parents, crazy unruly children, a mysterious groundskeeper, and a garden of poisonous plants; what could possibly go wrong?
5. The Proposal- Jasmine Guillory
A super cute quick romance about falling in love regardless of how hard you try not too. This book starts out with Nikole, her model boyfriend of five months, and his bros at a Dodgers game. You can tell immediately that Nikole doesn't want to be at the game as she is working diligently on chasing the deadlines for her next column. To her surprise, her boyfriend gets down on one knee with the Jumbotron showing this to the whole stadium of fans. With thousands of faces on her, Nikole rejects the proposal. As the stadium goes into an uproar a hot doctor, Carlos, comes to her rescue with his sister. Thinking that Carlos would be the perfect rebound because she assumes he doesn't want anything serious, Nikole learns how to open her heart and let someone in through lots and lots of food, laughter, and sex.
6. The Tattooist of Auschwitz- Heather Morris
You'll cry during this one. I have always loved reading books about the holocaust and this one did not disappoint. Based on true events (already crying again) you follow the story of two holocaust camp prisoners finding each other through everything horrible that you could possibly imagine. The fact that a lot of this really happened gutted me. I wrote an email to the author when I was finished asking about the diamond (if it was one from the camps) and never got a response. Just read it, okay. ;) You follow the life of Holocaust survivor Ludwig (Lale) Sokolov on his gutwrenching journey through the holocaust camps. The officers discover that Lale can speak several languages and decide that he would be good for the tattooist position where he marks fellow prisoners with their number that they will now be known by. A young woman comes through his line who he instantly falls for. That day Lale makes a vow that he will get this young woman, Gita, out and they will marry. With an extraordinary amount of bravery, Lale uses his position over the next two and a half years to help others in the camp by trading jewels that he smuggled from the dead bodies of Jews for medicine and food. Lale does everything humanly possible (and then some) in order to live up to his vow and save as many people as he possibly can along the way. Truly and incredible story.
7. Regretting You- Colleen Hoover
One of the best books that I read this year. You follow the life of a mother, Morgan, and her daughter, Clara. I loved having the two perspectives as it shows you just how different people can deal with the same situation. Morgan is a very uptight mom who tries to control every aspect of her daughter, Clara's life. Unbeknown to Clara this is all so that she can have a better life than Morgan did. Morgan didn't want her daughter to end up pregnant and married as a teenager like her. The only thing that anchored their house was Morgan's husband and Clara's father, Chris. Everything comes crumbling down when Chris dies in an accident that left behind a lot of questions. Morgan falls into the arm's of a friend and Clara goes after the boy that she was forbidden to see. The secrets and lies pile up so high that they eventually cause the biggest tear possible between Morgan and Clara. The amount of twists and turns in this book leaves you wanting to keep reading more and more. Even after I finished the last page I found myself wanting to know what happens years down the road from where Colleen left off.
8. It Ends with Us- Colleen Hoover
Hands down my all-time favorite book. I told you this list was in no particular order. You read through a handful of years of the main character, Lily's life. You watch her fall in love for the first time with a boy, Atlas, that her parents hate because he wasn't good enough for her. You deal with the mental turmoil of not feeling grief for Lily's father dying. You find yourself rooting for the hot surgeon, Ryle, on the roof and cheer when he proposes. Then you get all sorts of screwed up when you beg him to change and for them to stay together only to realize that this mindset is the same that a woman in this very situation would go through. Must read. Absolute must. I ended up giving my copy away to my infusion nurse. It was that good. Trigger warning: domestic abuse.
9. The QB Bad Boy and Me- Tay Marley
I am super excited to say this book is written by a fellow Wattpad writer who got her book published through Wattpad's publishing agency. Dreams come true! The QB Bad Boy and Me is an adorable story about falling in love for the first time. You follow two high school seniors, Dallas and Drayton, who try to navigate the feelings they have for each other. Both with very different backgrounds you find yourself rooting for the love that is growing between them and frowning at the pages when Drayton does something stupid. Tay was able to successfully show that there are more layers to the football star, Drayton than most of us give Jocks credit for. I loved the different aspects of this book. Super cute and fun read.
Thank you so much for checking out my May book picks! If you haven't read my own book you can for free on Wattpad!
X,
Autumn
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