What I Read – February 2019

It’s time for one of my favorite posts to do each month! I’m linking up with Steph and Jana for “Show Us Your Books”.

I read six books in February and I still have no idea how I found the time for all of them. This month seemed to be the month of easy/feel-good reads and that makes sense because there are some very hard things happening in my personal life right now and books tend to be my escape when life gets hard and things are bothering me. Here are my February reads!

Forever My Girl – Heidi McLaughlin

So this book wasn’t even on my radar until a friend at work told me about a movie that I needed to watch on Hulu. She told me it was based on a book and being the nerd that I am, I wanted to read the book before watching the movie. So I was in luck because our local library had a copy and I read the book and then watched the movie. It’s about a couple who were high school sweethearts and on the day they were to be married, the guy just leaves town with no warning and becomes a famous musician. He comes back to town for a close friend’s funeral and I’m sure you can see where the storyline is going to go from there. :o) I’m glad I read it instead of only watching the movie because even though the premise was the same there were quite a few differences between the two. They both were really good and remind me of a Hallmark style movie…just cute and feel-good-like and you know how it’s going to end, but it’s still fun to watch/read about! 4/5 stars

Library – Paperback

I’ll Be Your Blue Sky – Marisa de los  Santos

So this is the third book in a series that started with “Love Walked In” (which I read last month). I am pretty disappointed in myself because I didn’t realize there were 3 books in the series…I just thought this was the next one in line…and I didn’t realize anything about the second book until I was almost done with this one. But it was fine…this one could pretty much stand alone (I’m just weird and it bothers me that I didn’t/haven’t read the second one yet and it won’t be in order when I do). I really enjoyed “Love Walked In”, but I liked this one even better. The story goes between two story lines – Clare in the present day and Edith in the 1950’s. The way the author weaved the two stories together was just delightful and like I said about “Love Walked On”, the author writes in a beautiful style that just flows. I loved both the story lines and how it tied together in the end. Just a beautiful book! 5/5 stars

Kindle

Remember God – Annie F. Downs

I wanted to like this book so much, but it just is not one of my favorites from Annie. I have struggled on what to rate this and feel harsh giving it the rating I have, but I felt like this book was forced and that it was more of a pity-party for being single in this stage of life. I really appreciated her being so authentic and transparent because I can’t even imagine being vulnerable and letting so many people read about your thoughts and feelings, but it just seemed so “woe is me” like. There were some good thoughts in it and ones that made me stop to think and made me want to start taking notice of things to remember about God and to thank Him for, but it just fell flat for me compared to “Looking for Lovely” and “100 Days to Brave”. 2/5 stars

Paperback – I received a free copy of this book from B&H Publishers for the purpose of an honest review. All opinions are my own. 

A Fall of Marigolds – Susan Meissner

This book tells the story of two ladies’ lives separated by 100 years but are intertwined by a scarf and the memories that live within its threads. I have always enjoyed a book which weaves together a present-day story with a story from the past and this book did not disappoint. I looked forward to having time to pick this book up whenever I had a chance so I could see how the ladies’ lives ended up. I wanted it to be a 5-star read for me, but it fell a little flat because I felt like it was more wordier and slower than it needed to be. Maybe I’m just getting older and don’t have as much time and patience for books that seem wordy and take awhile to get to the point, because I feel like a few books I’ve read lately while I really liked them, this has been my number one complaint about them. Anyways…I did really enjoy this book and look forward to reading more by this author! 4/5 stars

Library Overdrive – Kindle

Matchmaking for Beginners – Maddie Dawson

This book was an unexpected delightful read and was perfect to read in the month which Valentine’s falls. First of all, I absolutely LOVE the cover. I think it is one of the prettiest I’ve seen in a while. Second of all, the storyline was so cute and I enjoyed all the different characters that made this book up.

I think the book description on Goodreads describes it well:
“Marnie MacGraw wants an ordinary life—a husband, kids, and a minivan in the suburbs. Now that she’s marrying the man of her dreams, she’s sure this is the life she’ll get. Then Marnie meets Blix Holliday, her fiancé’s irascible matchmaking great-aunt who’s dying, and everything changes—just as Blix told her it would.
When her marriage ends after two miserable weeks, Marnie is understandably shocked. She’s even more astonished to find that she’s inherited Blix’s Brooklyn brownstone along with all of Blix’s unfinished “projects”: the heartbroken, oddball friends and neighbors running from happiness. Marnie doesn’t believe she’s anything special, but Blix somehow knew she was the perfect person to follow in her matchmaker footsteps.
And Blix was also right about some things Marnie must learn the hard way: love is hard to recognize, and the ones who push love away often are the ones who need it most.”

I would have liked to give this 5 stars, but some of it felt a little “forced” to me…that’s the only word I can describe it as. But overall, I really enjoyed it and look forward to reading more by this author. 4/5 stars

Library Overdrive – Kindle

The Bookshop of Yesterdays – Amy Meyerson

This was a cute book and I enjoyed the premise/storyline of the book. The main character, Miranda, inherits a bookshop from an uncle she hadn’t seen for many years. Along with the bookshop, he left a letter and clues that takes her on scavenger hunt of sorts to reveal a long-time family secret. I really enjoyed the first part of the book, but I thought halfway through it lost steam and even though I wanted to read it through the end, I wasn’t as excited about it as I was at the beginning. I feel like this book had a lot of potential, but there was just something about it that kept me from really loving it. I love reading books that are about books and bookstores, so if you like that too, I would recommend reading this! 3/5 stars

Library Overdrive – Kindle

I hope one of these books makes it on your TBR list! If you have any good recommendations, please share!!!

Until next time…keep it simple!

Lindsey