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Best Books to Read Now - January 2020

Reminder/ Caveat/ Disclaimer: This is my (hopefully) monthly list of books I’ve read and enjoyed. These are not reviews, I do not include books I didn’t enjoy because life is too short to speak badly of books!

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Welcome to the Best Books to Read Now Book Club! My (hopefully) monthly blog featuring my reading list, my TBR pile and the books I think you and your best friends should be reading. 

If you’re not sure whether you’ll agree with  my recommendations, check out my blog post on My Reader Wheels and my podcast, Women With Books . Those should help you decide if you’re going to be into my recommendations.

The best book club recommendations for you and your friends!

The best book club recommendations for you and your friends!

I want to cry, y’all.

First, take a moment to look at those books. The past few months have been a GOOOOOOOD time to read books.

So there’s that. These are all awesome books and there’s a genre here for everyone.

But then I realized.

Lauren.

Mia.

Julia.

Kate.

These women… well, I might be slightly presumptuous to call them all friends but I. KNOW. THEM. I’ve hung out with everyone but Mia and only because she lives very very far away. But I’ve talked to Mia (here) (And Julia HERE) (and Kate HERE) (and Lauren HERE) and I can tell you these women are LEGIT.

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They have it all. They’re talented, intelligent, funny, interesting and DAMN GOOD AUTHORS.

Don’t believe them. They TOTALLY KNOW ME.

Don’t believe them. They TOTALLY KNOW ME.


A Beastly Kind of Earl - Mia Vincy
Amazon || Apple Books

The MUCH anticipated second book from Ms. Vincy, it’s loosely connected to her award winning debut last year, A Wicked Kind of Husband. This book was also charming in UN-anticipated ways, funny and bright and sparkling, in a refreshing Beauty and the Beast take.


Love Lettering - Kate Clayborn
Amazon || Apple Books

What can I say about this book that hasn’t been said? It’s a romance, but it’s also a book about friendship and New York City and discovery. And the beauty of letters. It’s sweeter than you expect and understatedly sophisticated, but that’s Kate Clayborn for you.

The Whispers of War - Julia Kelly
Amazon || Apple Books

Now I think I CAN call Julia a friend, since I’ve helped her remove a hedgehog from her laundry room. I mean, if that doesn’t say ride or die, what does? This is also a MUCH anticipated book, the second historical fiction from Ms. Kelly. Once again, she takes a smaller, unknown story about women from World War II and brings it to life in heartbreaking and heartwarming ways.

Marriage on Madison Avenue - Lauren Layne
Amazon || Apple Books

IT IS HERE! I just included the 2nd book in this series in November and the third installment is here! This is a friends to lovers romance, which (to be 100% honest) is NOT my usual catnip. BUT Ms. Layne surrounds the couple with enough external conflict (and has made us wait for this story for SO LONG) that it worked for me!!

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I love this life. I love my JOB! I get to befriend fabulous women who are ALSO amazing authors and then I get to tell everyone to buy their books?!

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And now for a completely different note. I’ve mentioned it on Instagram briefly but I made a quarterly resolution to NOT BUY ANY MORE BOOKS.

I know.

Yes, I’ve been examined by doctors. Several, in fact.

But I bought A LOT of books in the last few months of 2019. And people keep sending them to me! And last month I just looked at my TBR pile and I said, I want to focus on all the amazing books I have stored up.

I’m not saying it won’t be hard, but I’m really really excited by this. So for the next three months (because my March reads might be in April’s BEST BOOKS BLOG), you should only see older releases OR the books I’ve been sent by publishers to review/ blurb.

Me snuggling up with my TBR pile!!!

Me snuggling up with my TBR pile!!!

As always, I’ll be talking more about the books I don’t finish and why I think they didn’t connect with me in my newsletter this month.

Do you like books on sale?
Make sure you’re following me on Facebook because that’s where I post great books on sale!

And what about you?
I’d love to hear what you’ve read and loved lately or what you’re looking forward to reading next!  If you want these book recommendations (and a sneak peek at my TBR list and advanced reading copies) sent straight to your inbox, remember to sign up for my newsletter where I’ll be including all the best book club recommendations throughout 2020!

Best Books to Read Now - November 2019

Reminder/ Caveat/ Disclaimer: This is my (hopefully) monthly list of books I’ve read and enjoyed. These are not reviews, I do not include books I didn’t enjoy because life is too short to speak badly of books!

Best books to read in 2019.png

Welcome to the Best Books to Read Now Book Club! My (hopefully) monthly blog featuring my reading list, my TBR pile and the books I think you and your best friends should be reading. 

If you’re not sure whether you’ll agree with  my recommendations, check out my blog post on My Reader Wheels and my podcast, Women With Books . Those should help you decide if you’re going to be into my recommendations.

The best book club recommendations for you and your friends!

The best book club recommendations for you and your friends!

Oh man. I’m sorry. I knew it had been a minute since I’d done one of these posts but I didn’t realize I’d skipped TWO MONTHS!

What have I been reading?

Well, a lot. And not a lot.

I’ll explain. I finished writing a book, editing it, and then editing it again. And then I had to do some work to get THE ROYAL BODYGUARD ready for its release. And honestly, I’ve started reading A LOT of books, but these are the only ones I’ve finished. I’ll go into more detail in my newsletter about why I didn’t finish reading more books in the last few months (spoiler: It’s a combination of DNF’s and my writing process). But in the meantime, let’s look at what I finished AND enjoyed!

Love on Lexington Avenue - Lauren Layne
Amazon || Apple Books

This one came out in September I think? And it’s the second in a trilogy that I love sooooooooooooo much. I call it Sex and the City for the Hallmark Channel. Three women who are brought together by one lying, cheating jerk become friends at his funeral and promise to help each other navigate dating and relationships. I can’t WAIT for the third book, in January, too!

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My Fake Rake - Eva Leigh
Amazon || Apple Books

Y’all. Eva Leigh has become one of my favorite historical romance authors this year. This book comes out on November 26th and is a slow burn, friends to lovers, fake relationship delicious story with two scholarly main characters.

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It Had To Be You - Susan Elizabeth Phillips
Amazon || Apple Books

I already wrote about this in my Best Football Romances post but yes, for real, I had to re-read this first book in SEP’s Chicago Stars series. Like I said, at this point it qualifies as an “old school” romance but the development of the relationship between Phoebe and Dan is a masterclass, IMO.

A Wedding in December - Sarah Morgan
Amazon || Apple Books

If you want a holiday book that is basically a luxurious winter getaway in paper form, grab this book. The story centers around a Christmas wedding at a luxury resort in Aspen and if you’re anything like me, you’ll fall for the descriptions of the accommodations, the food, the shopping trips and the scenery as much as the multi-generational stories of romance, second chances and family.

What you need to do when you get this Sarah Morgan book.

What you need to do when you get this Sarah Morgan book.

And like I said, there were some books I did not love this month…. I’ll be talking more about those and why I think they didn’t connect with me in my newsletter this month.

Do you like books on sale?
Make sure you’re following me on Facebook because that’s where I post great books on sale!

And what about you?
I’d love to hear what you’ve read and loved lately or what you’re looking forward to reading next!  If you want these book recommendations (and a sneak peek at my TBR list and advanced reading copies) sent straight to your inbox, remember to sign up for my newsletter where I’ll be including all the best book club recommendations throughout 2019!

And one more book!

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Like I mentioned, my latest release, THE ROYAL BODYGUARD came out last week! It’s also a Best Book To Read Now, if I may say so.

Claim your copy here:

Some links on this page may be affiliate links, which means I could receive a few coins for posting them. As always, thank you for your support and encouragement!