Per always, I’m three books short on my 2022 reading goal, but there’s still time left, so here’s to hoping! Regardless, I have some fun ones to share, and I’m saving the best for last!
Four Aunties and a Wedding by Jesse Q. Sutanto. This hilarious sequel to Dial A for Aunties is jam packed with all of the quirky shenanigans I loved in the first book. Having moved on from all the drama surrounding an accidental murder, Meddy, Nathan, and the aunties are pre-occupied with planning what should be the best day of their lives, Meddy’s wedding! But their pre-marital bliss is short lived when the last person the family would suspect turns on them and threatens to ruin not just the wedding day, but their lives as well! Laugh out loud funny and comically impossible, this book was a touching and quick escape from reality!
The Ex Hex and The Kiss Curse by Erin Sterling. I think I mentioned one or both of these in BlogOWeen, but wanted to share again, if you’re new around here! These are the perfect mixture of romance, spook, and hilarity, making them very well-rounded Halloween reads. Both stories follow relatively similar plots and characters, but I loved knowing what to expect and what I was going to get out of these. Witch meets warlock, witch is annoyed by warlock, potential earth-shattering spooky crisis that can only be solved by witch and warlock joining forces, and despite a general distaste for one another at the start, they ultimately fall in love and save the world. And they all lived spookily ever after! Seriously though, I enjoyed both books, and can definitely see myself rereading in spooky szns to come!
City of Bones by Cassandra Clare. The first volume of The Mortal Instruments series, City of Bones is actually a reread for me. I started the series back when Kyle and I first started dating, and for no reason at all, didn’t finish it. Not at all unlike all things Harry Potter and Twilight, this series narrows in on the dangerous and sometimes unseen entities of the world, living among us but abiding by different laws and covenants. In this first book, we meet Clary, a 15 year old whose world is suddenly turned upside down when her mom disappears and Clary learns that no one, most of all herself, is who she thought they were. Working to regain memories that were erased from her own mind, she learns about who she really is, and gets into lots of trouble along the way. If you’re intrigued but not sold on reading the book, The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones movie adaptation is streaming on Netflix, and stars none other than Emily in Paris and Vecna, Lily Collins and Jamie Campbell Bower, and is definitely worth the watch!
The Summer I Turned Pretty, It’s Not Summer Without You, and We’ll Always Have Summer by Jenny Han. I love this series so much that I read it not once, but twice this year. Jenny’s absolutely masterful bottling of adolescent nostalgia is so perfect and these books (along with the To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before series) transport me right back to my childhood bedroom, the thrill and heartbreak of first loves palpable. This coming of age series follows Isabel “Belly” Conklin, as she navigates her parent’s divorce, first love, first heartbreak, and loss. It is so, incredibly touching, and the tv adaptation on Amazon Prime Video, thanks to Jenny’s involvement and a beyond stellar cast, really does the books justice. For me, this series is one that I wish I could reread for the first time over and over again. If you’re with me on this, are you team Jeremiah or team Conrad?
I’ve got a couple of holiday books on the roster that I’m hoping to share later, but please let me know in the comments if you’ve got book recommendations for my 2023 goal!
Currently listening to: “At Christmas” by Hanson
xoxo happy reading!
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