Summer Reading: May 2014

Thanks to our little vaca in Curacao and then a story gathering trip to south Georgia, which included a weekend in St. Simons!, I was able to read a lot this month. Not a bad start to what promises to be a fun summer.

Last year I had the lofty goal of reading a certain amount of books, and then was disappointed when I didn’t reach it. This year my goal is going to be much simpler. I am going to attempt to read three books a month, and write my reviews. So many times I read books quickly and then will give them away, without jotting down some thoughts. Here goes…

Hero at Large by Janet Evanovich

Cover via Amazon

I literally read this entire book during the five hour plane ride to Curacao. I both love and hate these type of books. They are easy to read and fun for planes, but you really need to read them in one sitting. The story was cute, I like Evanovich’s other “romances” that aren’t Stephanie Plum books. It wasn’t Earth shattering, but it wasn’t terrible either.

The Matchmaker of Perigord by Julia Stuart

Cover via Amazon

I literally have no idea how this book came into my possession, but I saw it on the shelf and grabbed it for Curacao. I’m trying to refrain from buying any new books until I’ve read what I’ve got on my shelf. This was a good beach read. It was a little slow in parts, and you really have to under French culture to appreciate it I think, but it was definitely cute. The character and scenery descriptions were Stuart’s strongest point. Gave me a case of French wanderlust, bad!

Reconstructing Brigid by Lee Nichols

Cover via Amazon

This was a spur of the moment purchase at a flea market in south Georgia. I have to admit the purple cover got me to shell out the $2. This was probably my “favorite” book in May. The story had some inconsistencies, but overall it was a perfect beach read. It was binge worthy but I was also able to find good stopping points when it was time for bed, if that makes sense. I really loved the mystery aspect of the book as well as the love story. It felt a little like an episode of ABC’s Castle in that regard. The way the book ended made me think Nichols might want to turn the story into a series, and that would be totally fine by me—I'd buy them.

I’ve already started Summer Blowout by Claire Cook for June and it’s proving to be quite a funny little book. Otherwise I have no idea what I’ll end up with for this month. Probably another ragtag collection of “off the shelf” stuff, which is either going to go really well or really…not so well. I'd love to hear some suggestions on what to read next!