It is Thanksgiving week friends & I am so excited to have all of the holiday foods! We were in Baton Rouge for the football game last weekend & it was pretty amazing to see Joe Burrow play. We have a low-key Thanksgiving planned & it’s going to be nice to be at home for the long weekend. I’m hoping to enjoy some family time & do some reading. I haven’t done book reviews since June, but I didn’t want to overwhelm anyone with everything I’ve read since then, so I’ve rounded up some of the best that I’ve found!
American Royals (5/5 stars)
What if George Washington had been named America’s first king instead of America’s first president? In this story, you end up with his descendants still ruling as the monarchs of America & the Princess Beatrice as the first female heir to America’s throne. The closer Beatrice gets to the throne, the more stifling her structured life becomes. Next in line is Princess Samantha, who flaunts the rules for attention, then her twin brother, Jefferson, who has romance problems of his own. You also get the point of view of Nina, a commoner with palace ties, & Daphne, in the nobility but with plenty of her own problems. There was royalty, love triangles, lots of drama – this was such an entertaining read! There’s a sequel coming, but not until the summer.
Dear Wife (4/5 stars)
Beth Murphy is finally on the run from an abusive husband. Sabine Hardison is missing from her home in Arkansas. Sabine’s husband Jeffrey is the top suspect & Marcus, the officer assigned to the disappearance will stop at nothing to find her. This story is told through 3 points of view, moves quickly, has plenty of twists & turns, & characters that you actually care about. I tore this through this one trying to figure out how the characters fit together & what all of their secrets were!
One True Loves (5/5 stars)
Can a person have more than one true love? Emma’s husband went missing after a helicopter crash years & she’s finally moved on with her life. But when her husband is found alive, Emma has a husband & a fiance to choose between. This book was so different from the other two by TJR that I’ve read, but it was so good! It was so fascinating to see Emma struggle with who she was when she married & who she became in the years since her husband disappeared. For such a heartbreaking & sad topic, this was so beautifully written & truly moving.
The Idea of You (5/5 stars)
This book destroyed me for a good few weeks after I finished it. The premise is simple – Solene Marchand takes her teenage daughter to see the hottest boy band around & meets one of the band members, who is 20 years younger than her. The two begin a secret, whirlwind, passionate affair, which becomes complicated when their relationship hits the media & becomes a viral sensation. Don’t let the description fool you – this is a really great love story and Robinne Lee’s writing is outstanding! If you’re as destroyed as I was, there’s a Facebook group where you can find support, lol.
A Stranger on the Beach (5/5 stars)
Things in Caroline’s beach house aren’t as perfect as they seem: her husband is lying to her, the money is disappearing, & there’s a stranger outside. Caroline turns to the stranger (Aiden) for a quick fling, which meant a lot more to him than it did to her. Then Caroline’s husband goes missing. It goes back & forth between Caroline & Aiden’s perspective, so you’re not sure who to really trust. But it’s so much more than the typical, unreliable narrator story. I did not see the ending of this one coming, which is rare for me!
The Perfect Wife (5/5 stars)
Abbie wakes up in a hospital with no memory of how she got there. Then her husband, a tech giant, informs her that he’s brought her back through a miracle of technology & science. Once she’s home & piecing together memories, Abbie isn’t sure she can really trust her husband. This is one of the most original books that I’ve read! It takes the same premise as others (wife doesn’t remember what happened, suspects husband might be involved) & turns it on its head.
The Family Upstairs (4/5 stars)
When Libby was 10 months old, she was found by police in a house with her parents & a stranger dead downstairs, the other children are missing. When Libby turns 25, she inherits her birth family’s mansion & their secrets. The story goes back & forth between present day & the past, slowly teasing out what really happened in the house. I didn’t enjoy this one as much as I’ve enjoyed others by Lisa Jewell, but it was a good, quick read & was plenty creepy!
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