Images from Goodreads

[34] Your Perfect Year by Charlotte Lucas
Fiction / Humorous, free from Amazon for World Book Day

Synopsis: Jonathan Grief is meticulous, particular, and lives an extremely prescribed life. While he’s working out on January 1st, someone leaves a day planner with the handwritten title “Your Perfect Year” on his bicycle. The planner is filled out for the entire year with positive quotes and tasks, and mentions the name “H.” Jonathan tries to find the owner, but also begins to follow some of the agendas, and finds his attitude adjusting for the better.

Review: This story is told in somewhat dual timelines (which eventually meet up) between Jonathan and the person who created the planner, Hannah. Jonathan’s character is interesting, and his transformation throughout the book is inspiring. Hannah is going through some interesting (and heavy!) stuff, but her pollyannaish attitude is pushy and annoying, and I didn’t care for her half of the story as much! I wonder if you could just read Jonathan’s chapters, ha!

[35] I’m Fine and Neither Are You by Camille Pagán
Fiction / Contemporary Women, saw on Kindle Unlimited list

Synopsis: Penelope Ruiz-Kar is miserable working full time and taking care of her children and household. She’s in awe of her best friend, Jenny Sweet, also a mother, who seems to have the perfect life. When Jenny shockingly dies, Penelope realizes things were not what they seemed at Jenny’s home, and vows to make things better in her own life. Penelope and her husband, Sanjay, both share a list of changes they want the other person to make.

Review: Ha, I totally read the blurb on this book incorrectly. I thought the premise was Penelope and Jenny giving each other a list of changes to make, not Penelope and her husband. But since Jenny dies right away, that doesn’t quite work (or make sense?!). I am definitely NOT the target audience for this book, but I think it’s good for me to read things that are not from my perspective, and I ended up enjoying this!

[36] From Sand and Ash by Amy Harmon
Fiction / Cultural Heritage, recommended on Sarah’s Bookshelves Live episode 51

Synopsis: Eva Rosselli, an Italian Jew, and Angelo Bianco, an American Catholic, were raised together in Florence and fall in love over time, but Angelo follows his father’s wishes and becomes a priest. Despite this, Angelo vows to Eva’s father that he will always protect her, even as Racial Law becomes effective, Nazis invade Italy, and raids begin happening. Angelo brings Eva to Rome, where he’s a priest, and hides her in a convent, but Eva does NOT want to hide, and their feelings for each other resurface, even during this extremely tumultuous time.

Review: It seems like WWII and a love story don’t belong together, but they work here. Harmon gives the appropriate seriousness to the war, while still sharing a sweet and forbidden love. Much of this book is based on real events (the Catholic church did harbor Jewish people in Italy) and real people – some of those real people even show up in the story. I appreciated that the book showed me what it might have been like in Italy during WWII, and I liked Eva and Angelo’s story.


Other reading updates:

  • All three of these books had a main character whose mother left the family or died when the main character was growing up – Jonathan’s mom left, Penelope’s mom left, and Eva and Angelo’s mothers both died. Weird coincidence.
  • Twice I’ve had Libby tell me a new-ish book is available, but when I try to send it to my Kindle it says “unfortunately your library has no version of this title that works with your Kindle device.” Womp womp. I don’t want to read a book on my phone. Luckily there are lots of other books available on Libby (and from other sources!).

  • Our library posted on Facebook that they don’t have the infrastructure to do curbside pickup. I’m kind of sad, because I most often read newer books in print from the library… but I also don’t get book FOMO, so it’s all good. Those books will always be available for me to read, and anyone reading them now will want to talk to me about them whenever I get around to reading them myself!