Reading Lately #8
Y’ALL!!! I finished four books since my last Reading Lately post a month ago!!! I can hardly believe it. Just a couple of years ago (and last spring, actually!), it was a struggle for me to get through even one book in four months. And I just finished four in one month. WHO AM I? Honestly, I think I’m reading so much because my TBR list is growing exponentially and I’m scared I won’t get to read all the books on it, haha.
I finished one digital-turned-physical book and three books on Kindle. I’m really trying to get through all of my Prime Reading loans so I can cancel my Amazon Prime account later this year. I’m currently reading two more Prime loans on Kindle and have two more on deck. I’m using StoryGraph to track my reads as well as my growing TBR list. (I set a goal of reading 15 books this year and will be increasing it to 24!) Add me as a friend: my username is cottoncashmerecathair!
Browse all of my Reading Lately posts!
For ease, and especially for my fellow Kindle readers, all of the links below go to Amazon. If you are able, please support your local bookstores right now (and always)! Bookshop.org donates a percentage of sales to local bookstores, and if you’re local to me, check out Rediscovered Books—I buy physical books there. There are also a number of Black-owned bookstores that need support. Find one near you in this list of over 50 Black-owned bookstores arranged by state (all have online stores and a couple are online only).
Recently Read: April—May 2022
When We Believed in Mermaids by Barbara O’Neal (Kindle): I really enjoyed this book; it’s one of those books where you just want to keep reading because you want to know what happens next. If you love the separated-sisters-live-different-lives trope in The Vanishing Half, you’ll enjoy this book. Kit’s sister Josie died over a decade ago in a horrific train accident while abroad. Or not? While working as a doctor, Kit sees Josie on TV in footage from a club fire in New Zealand, and with the nudge of her mom, sets off to find her. The chapters alternate between each sister’s perspective and backstory, which is often tragic (trigger warnings for sexual assault, rape, drug use, alcoholism, suicide, child abuse, parental death). There’s also a secondary, steamy story between Kit and a Spanish man she meets while in New Zealand. Highly recommend!
Weather Girl by Rachel Lynn Solomon: I started this book on Kindle (borrowed via my public library) and then purchased a physical copy when my loan was up because I’m a sucker for books that have to do with weather (even adjacently haha). This is a super cute novel about a broadcast meteorologist named Ari who got her dream job working for her childhood idol at a news station in Seattle. (I love the mentions of weather throughout the story!) But, things are not going so well: Ari’s engagement recently ended, and there’s tension between her boss and her boss’s ex-husband in the studio. She conspires with a colleague to try to get their bosses back together, and in the meantime, they fall for each other! It’s a super sweet and somewhat predictable story that I loved.
The Proposal by Jasmine Guillory (Kindle borrowed via library): I had a hold set on this book, and when it became available (and no one else was on the wait list), I decided to go ahead and read it. I didn’t think I’d get through it in two weeks, but I did! This is the sequel to The Wedding Date. It’s not a true series in that you don’t follow the same main characters in every book, but the characters do intertwine, so if you don’t want to be spoiled then read them in order. This one follows Carlos and Nik; Nik is unexpectedly proposed to at a pro baseball game, which she promptly declines, all while Carlos watches from a distance. He and his sister save Nik from the media…and then they become inseparable, but not without some bumps in the road and surprise feelings along the way.
One Hour Content Plan by Meera Kothand (Kindle): I learned about Meera from a blogging podcast, and I immediately went to Amazon to check out her books! She has about a dozen books, all relating to different aspects of content creation and blogging. This book is a relatively quick read, but I spent time taking notes so it took me longer to get through it. (There’s also a lot of bonus content available on her website.) This is a great book to read if you’re just getting started as a blogger. It’ll help you build a solid foundation so you can start your blog on an immediate path to success rather than the winding road I (and many other bloggers that started years ago) took.
Currently Reading
Have We Met? by Camille Baker (borrowed on Kindle): Apparently this is another romance, but I haven’t quite gotten to that part yet haha (probably a good thing, as I’m feeling a little burnt out on romance now). Corrine moves back to Chicago following the death of her best friend, and she inadvertently becomes friends with her kinda-cousin and her friends. After a drunken night, a mysterious app called Met appears on her phone and won’t go away. It tells her it’s going to send four people from her past and that one of them is her soul mate, and she has to figure out which one it is… It’s a fun novel so far!
Stories That Stick by Kindra Hall (borrowed on Kindle): This is a great nonfiction book on how to tell stories and in turn make connections in your business. I had heard really good things about this book, and so far I’m really enjoying it. It’s a fairly quick read for me, and I’m looking forward to hopefully learning more about how to be a good storyteller as it pertains to blogging/content creation!
To Be Read
My TBR list is too long to list out each book individually (plus there are a lot of books I want to read and plan to borrow), so here are a few books that are up next. I’m planning to cancel my Amazon Prime account this year, so the books I borrowed via Prime are top priority. Check out my entire growing TBR list (which also includes the books on my wish list through the library) on StoryGraph!
Adulting by Liz Talley (borrowed on Kindle)
Decluttering at the Speed of Life by Dana K. White (borrowed on Kindle)
Divergent Mind by Jenara Nerenberg (borrowed on Kindle)
We Should All Be Millionaires by Rachel Rodgers (borrowed on Kindle)
Woman Last Seen in Her Thirties by Camille Pagán (borrowed on Kindle)