Recently Read | Volume 14

Happy Monday, friends! Hope you are all coming off a fun and festive weekend! This will be my final book post of 2021 and I think I will round the year out with 37 books read / listened to- which I am pretty happy with! I never really set reading goals for myself, but I do find it really nice to just listen to a book while I am doing laundry or some other mundane task, makes it go by even faster! There were 3 books I started in the last two months that I could just not muscle through – they didn’t keep my attention / were just too hard to follow / were too boring. I have zero time for any book that just doesn’t do it for me, you know?! Here are the 4 books rounding out my 2021 list!

The Therapist || When Alice & Leo move into a gated community, she starts to get to know the neighbors and it feels like they are keeping something from her – a secret. When she finally finds out, she starts to feel a connection with the previous owner. What plays out is a who done it where everyone in the neighborhood is a suspect. I did not see the twist and those are the kind of books I love! This was a great thriller!

Little Secrets || Holy wow – this book is so good and going down as one of my top 5 for the year! I audibly gasped at one of the twists and I didn’t see any of it coming! Marin really has the perfect life – she has a successful career as a hairstylist to the stars, a wonderful and successful in his own right husband and a little boy that she so desperately wanted after many years of trying. Right before Christmas that all changes when her son goes missing and Marin’s life is upended. She is a shadow of herself and trying desperately to save her marriage and her husband is coping in his own ways. After she finds out some rather shocking news, she isn’t about to lose her husband too and this is where it starts to get really good! This is a thriller through and through – so so good and you must read it!

One Day You’ll Thank Me || I have wanted to read Cameran Wimberly’s book since it came out, but unfortunately this really fell flat for me.The essays that she writes in each chapter aren’t anything ground breaking. She shares her experience deciding to have a child, how motherhood changed her and a little bit about her time on Southern Charm.I really wish she had gone into more detail about her experience on the Real World and also on Southern Charm, but it was super brief. It was a quick read, but nothing that made me stop in my tracks.

Malibu Rising || Taylor Jenkins Reid is one of my favorite authors so I was really looking forward to this book, but I think all the different characters threw me off and confused me. Then again, it could have been that I was reading this during middle of the night feedings, but I am usually pretty good at keeping track of everyone. Four siblings have been throwing their annual end of summer party for years and the summer of 1983 is the one that will be remembered by all, forever. Each of the siblings is dealing with their own issues, all of which can somehow be drawn back to their famous father who wasn’t really around for any of their lives. The book covers the party over a 24 hour period, but also does a good job of catching you up to the present times. I cant say they was a true main character or protagonist, but there was certainly an antagonist! It wasn’t my favorite TJR book, but still one I flew through in about 3 days!

I am currently listening to Where We Belong and waiting for a few other books to become available from the library. Do you make reading goals? Will you make them for next year?

8 Comments

  1. December 13, 2021 / 9:10 am

    How funny that we both read 37 books this year, and I’m about to read The Therapist and Malibu Rising as well. I’m off to check out Little Secrets because I think I’d love that one!

  2. December 13, 2021 / 11:39 am

    You ROCKED it this year! I’ve been in a reading rut this past month or so with all the stress and travel, but hoping to relax with a good book this evening <3

  3. December 13, 2021 / 1:26 pm

    I loved Little Secrets. It was really good. I want to read the Therapist too, but never have gotten around to it.

  4. December 13, 2021 / 2:37 pm

    My reading goal this year was 75 and I bumped it to 85 and then to 100. I am at 94/100 this year since I have listened to more books.

    I felt the same way about Cameran’s book. It had some fun parts but over all wasn’t anything new. I’ve read a few B.A. Paris books but not this one so I will add it to the list.

  5. December 13, 2021 / 6:00 pm

    I really liked malibu rising, we read it for book club. I do agree there were a lot of characters to keep track of, so that may have made it confusing, especially during night feedings! I set a goal of at least reading my 9 book club books and anything beyond that is lagniappe!

  6. December 14, 2021 / 7:29 am

    I only read 8 books this year and really fell short of my reading goal. Adding The Therapist and Little Secrets to my library list!

    Jill – Doused in Pink

  7. December 14, 2021 / 9:19 am

    I read Malibu Rising this past summer and I thought it was pretty good. And you have me intrigued with Little Secrets! I’m not a big thriller person, but this one sounds good! I love a good twist!