41. Happy Place by Emily Henry

400  pgs.

2023
Adult romcom
Finished 5/30/23
Goodreads rating: 4.02
My rating: 3
Setting: contemporary cottage on the coast of Maine

My comments: Three best friends since college.  One last week together in a snazzy summer cottage on the coast of Maine.  Being forced together after a five-month break up after eight years together with the love of her life.  It was just too much.  "I love you forever"...."I'll do whatever is the best for you"...."should we finally talks about it since we never have".....that kind of ridiculousness.  It got old fast.  Narrator Julia Whelan is always wonderful to listen to, she does such a great job with voice.  But the story - sappy and sentimental with  (of course) an HEA...been there, done that, no more please.

Goodreads synopsis:  Harriet and Wyn have been the perfect couple since they met in college—they go together like salt and pepper, honey and tea, lobster and rolls. Except, now—for reasons they’re still not discussing—they don’t.

They broke up six months ago. And still haven’t told their best friends.

Which is how they find themselves sharing the largest bedroom at the Maine cottage that has been their friend group’s yearly getaway for the last decade. Their annual respite from the world, where for one vibrant, blue week they leave behind their daily lives; have copious amounts of cheese, wine, and seafood; and soak up the salty coastal air with the people who understand them most.

Only this year, Harriet and Wyn are lying through their teeth while trying not to notice how desperately they still want each other. Because the cottage is for sale and this is the last week they’ll all have together in this place. They can’t stand to break their friends’ hearts, and so they’ll play their parts. Harriet will be the driven surgical resident who never starts a fight, and Wyn will be the laid-back charmer who never lets the cracks show. It’s a flawless plan (if you look at it from a great distance and through a pair of sunscreen-smeared sunglasses). After years of being in love, how hard can it be to fake it for one week… in front of those who know you best?

A couple who broke up months ago make a pact to pretend to still be together for their annual weeklong vacation with their best friends in this glittering and wise new novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Emily Henry.

38. The Lantern Men by Elly Griffiths

#12 Ruth Galloway

listened on Audible

2020
373 pgs.
Adult Mystery
Finished 5/27/2023
Goodreads rating: 4.20
My rating: 3.75

Setting: Contemporary Norfolk, England

My comments: It's been two years, and Ruth and Kate - now nine - live with Frank in Cambridge where both Ruth and Frank teach.  The mystery for this episode, back in Norfolk, is a bit convoluted with a large group of ex-hippie-type people who hang around together totally supporting each other and the man who is arrested for the murder of two women.  At the end of this one Ruth has said no to Frank's marriage proposal and decides to move back to her much-loved cottage in Norfolk.  There will be an opening for the head of archaeology at her previous university, and she and Nelson have gotten closer and closer...so the next book is going to definitely take us in a more positive direction in that respect, I think.  Pretty decent mystery, but a little dragged out.

Goodreads synopsis:  Forensic archaeologist Ruth Galloway changed her life—until a convicted killer tells her that four of his victims were never found, drawing her back to the place she left behind.

34. Simon Sort of Says by Erin Bow

listened on Audible

320 pgs.

2023
Middle Grades CRF
Finished 5/15/2023
Goodreads rating: 4.32
My rating: 5

My comments:  Simon's a 7th grader and only child.  His mom is an undertaker and his dad is a Catholic deacon.  They move from Omaha, Nebraska to a tiny small town where, because of all its scientific and astronomical activity, no microwaves, cell phones, tv, anything of that sort is allowed.  Simon has been homeschooled for the past year and is heading back to school for the first time in 18 months or so, the first time since something pretty horrible happened to him - which he alludes to, and which slowly becomes known by about the middle of the book.  It's a book about friendship and family and trauma - and how both his parents and he deal with all that's happened.  He also raises a puppy to become a service dog, which is another interesting segment of the story which will greatly appeal to many kids.

32. Community Board by Tara Conklin

listened on Libby

272 pgs.

2023
Adult CRF/Chick Lit
Finished 5/9/2023
Goodreads rating: 3.34
My rating: 5
Setting: Contemporary fictional western Massachusetts town of Murbridge

My comments: Great cast of characters!  Darcy, the protagonist, is an absolute hoot.  After her marriage crumbles and dissolves, she heads home to western Massachusetts to her beloved parents.  However, when she gets there she discovers they have gone to Arizona to try out retirement there.  What follows is months of depression, but her antics throughout are basolutely riotous.  Most of it was really quite ridiculous, and I loved it and wanted more....and it included a great HEA!

31. It's One of Us by J. T. Ellison

30. The Lonely Hearts Book Club by Lucy Gilmore

listened on Libby

352 pgs.

2023
Adult CRF
Finished 5/2/23
Goodreads rating: 3.89
My rating: 4.5
Setting: contemporary small-town America

My comments: A beautifully character-driven novel.  An incredibly mean old man.  A librarian who only wants to please everyone.  A super-smart gay young man who has dabbled in many professions, still not finding his passion. A huge, scowling young man with a heart of gold.  A lonely mom who loes to cook, has no self-confidence and feels she has lost her only child. Add a few book discussions and lots of "feels" and you have this marvelous story about a book club of misfits.  I really liked it a lot.

May 2023 Book Bingo & Waiting to Read

 I'm digging myself in deeper and deeper...so many to read!

Final tally:  

1.  Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin - have on Libby returned

2.  The Door of No Return - Kwame Alexander - have on Libby returned

3.  Community Board by Tara Conklin - have on Libby

4   Unlikely Animals - Libby

5.  Someone is Always Watching - Libby

6.  Knitlandia by Clara Parkes - Audible/essays

7.  The Lantern Men - next one by Elly Griffiths - Audible

8.  America the Beautiful? One Woman in a Borrowed Prius on the Road Less Traveled by Blythe Roberson - Audible

9.  Simon Sort of Says by Erin Bow - Audible/2023 Mid Grade novel - reading

10.  The Midnight Children by Dan Gemeinhart - Audible/Mid Grade novel

11.  The Indigo Girl by Natasha Boyd - March bookgirls choice - Chirp

12.  The Persian Pickle Club - Sandra Dallas (1995) May Bookgirls KS, avail on Audible for a credit

13.  The Love Wager by Lynn Painter (2023) 2nd May Bookgirls NE, avail on Audible for a credit

14.  I Must Betray You - Ruta Sepetys Bkgirls Eastern Europe, #3 on WL at TPPL/Libby

15.  Demon Copperhead - Barbara Kingsolver (won the Pulitzer Prize 5/2023!) purchased on Audible

16.  Across the Desert - Dusti Bowling

17.  Warrior Girl Unearthed - Angeline Boulley, YA purchased on Audible w/ $10 credit

18.  Next New Syrian Girl - YA purchased on Audible

19.  Free Radicals - Lila Riesen - YA AfghanAmerican CRF - 2023 (24.50/1 credit)

20.  Deep (YA dystopia) on Kindle