September Reads

Hi you guys! I hope you’re all doing well and enjoying the beautiful fall weather. It’s been stunning here in Minnesota these past few weeks, and I’m soaking up every bit of it before winter arrives.

This past weekend, Adam and I attended a wedding in South Dakota for an old college friend of his. If you know anything about the Dakotas, you’ll know it’s mostly trees and farmland. But the stunning fall colors made the five-hour drive so much more enjoyable!

Speaking of fall, I can’t wait for this weekend! The forecast looks perfect, and we’re heading to the pumpkin patch and apple orchard for our annual trip with some of our closest friends and their boys. We started this tradition three years ago when they only had their oldest, so it’s amazing to now have three little ones exploring together. The past couple of years, the weather has been freezing cold, so I’m extra excited that this year we should finally have great weather for it!

The past couple of weeks have felt so busy and I’ve been feeling so exhausted between busy season at work, not sleeping well, and Ava teething right now, I’ve been behind on spending the time to sit down and write like I want to. With that said, I am definitely behind on updating you all on the books I read in September so let’s dive into it!

I am going to present this in a little bit different format than how I’ve done it previously so let me know your thoughts or feedback on this post, I would love to hear it! GoodReads will be linked for each book so you can read the description there and I will let you know my thoughts on each book.

Every Move You Make by C.L. Taylor

The book was not awful, but the author wrote from too many characters’ points of view, which made it hard to follow and remember each one’s story throughout the book. It is interesting because the author states in the notes at the end of the book, her personal experience with stalking which helps to bring first-hand experience as she writes the different points of view. Like I said, this is not a bad book but following so many characters at a time is a bit challenging and the ending is also not bad but nothing that was jaw-dropping to me.

Bodies To Die For by Lori Brand

This book was not the typical thriller I would read and while multiple murders take place in the book, I didn’t find it as thrilling or hair-raising as other thrillers, however, I thought the story was fun and something different than what I normally read. Being interested in fitness, it was fun to read a book related to bodybuilding competitions and some of the things that go into prep for one. I also really liked the message that the author delivered at the end.

A Lovely Lie by Jaime Lynn Hendricks

I really enjoyed this one! I love it when a story shifts between past and present from chapter to chapter, and this book does just that. The characters are pretty unlikeable but I actually found that to be a positive, as you don’t side with anyone and cannot put the book down to uncover what happened over 20 years ago. Parts of the ending I could see coming but there were some aspects that I did not see coming. I would absolutely recommend this one!

The Lies I Told by Mary Burton

I am a sucker for books about an unsolved murder and this one, is just that! I really enjoyed this one and loved the fact that the murdered sister and the main character were twins, giving even more motive to finding out who killed her sister. It also brings in other issues related to the grieving process that I think others can relate to. I gave it 4 stars because there were pieces of the ending that I thought were slightly predictable but I was still surprised by other ways that it played out as well.

Last Night at Villa Lucia by Simon McCleave

The final book I read for September was probably my favorite of all of them! First of all, the setting is a private villa in Italy that sounds so dreamy, it felt like an escape to a dream destination every time I picked up the book. There were characters that you sided with and others that were not so likeable which made it thrilling to read each time and try to figure out who did what. I also really like the ending and how everything was tied together.

As always, let me know if you decide to read any of these and what your thoughts are, and please let me know if you have any recommendations from what you’ve been reading lately.

Stay hungry my friends!