[20] The Silent Bride by Shalani Boland
Fiction / Psychological, free on Amazon First Reads, buddy read with Courtney, read on Kindle

Synopsis: It’s Alice’s wedding day and as she walks down the aisle she doesn’t recognizes the man she’s supposed to marry. Everyone says it’s him – that she’s just confused – but she thinks something else is going on and it set on figuring it out.

Review: I really enjoyed this! I was dying to know what the heck was going on, and was pleased that I didn’t figure it out on my own. Is the writing amazing? Not really. Is it entertaining? Sure is! (And Courtney really liked it too – a much better pick that our first Amazon First Books buddy read.)

Recommend? Yes

[21] The Ex Talk by Rachel Lynn Solomon
Fiction / Romance / Workplace, saw on Instagram, read Kindle version

Synopsis: Shay and Dominic work together at a public radio station in Seattle and despise each other. Shay’s been there ten years and feel like she’s earned her position, whereas Dominic just walked in with his fancy journalism Master’s from Northwestern six months ago and has already been on air! The radio station is facing layoffs and Shay and Dominic are told to host a new show together, pretending to be exes, or they’ll be let go. They both begrudgingly agree, then discover maybe they don’t dislike each other as much as they thought.

Review: This set-up is out there, but the writing was fun, the banter was great, both characters are likable, and boy, was there ever chemistry! I really enjoyed this. And I liked that it wasn’t all fluff and they got into deeper topics like grief, misogynistic workplaces, race, and loneliness. Did the conflict at the end make me roll my eyes? Yes it did. Is that part of the romance trope? Yep, and I have to deal with it. Ha.

Recommend? Yes

[22] Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano
Fiction / Family Life / Siblings, recommendation from Val, read on Kindle

Synopsis: William Waters grew up unloved and unwanted, so when he meets Julia Padavano and her three sisters and parents in college, he’s relieved to finally have a family that loves and wants him. He’s immediately welcomed and quickly learns dating Julia means her three sisters will always be around. But William can’t hide the demons from his upbringing forever, and when they finally come out, it affects all the members of his new family, for decades to come. (Gah, I really try not to give away plot points that are more than 20% into the book when I write these, but these synopses are sometimes so bland… I promise you this book is not bland!)

Review: Val recommended this to me because she knows I love messy family dramas and this one takes me back to my roots! When I was beginning to read fiction again I loved character driven novels like this, and that love came back for this book. This is so beautifully written, with amazingly developed (and flawed) characters, and so many interesting topics – grief from losing a child, depression in the 80s, being gay in the 80s, loyalty to family, what it means to love someone for who they are, forgiveness… what a satisfying read. I will be thinking about these characters for a while. And bonus points that it was set in Chicago!

Recommend? YES!