You know your girl loves a good midi dress! I'm so excited that the two dresses I ordered from Target this week both worked great! Love it when that happens. Both of these dresses can be dressed up or down, and are just too good not to share.
So very happy to report that I have three 5 star books to tell you about today! Honestly, I haven't read that many 10/10 books this year, and I was beginning to get discouraged. My Goodreads goal is to read 100 books, and I'm on book number 72!
Meredith's family goes to Martha's Vineyard every year. Part of the tradition is a big game of Assassin. This summer is different because Meredith's sister has died tragically, and she's been having a hard time. But she teams up with a groomsman in her cousin's wedding to win the game and reconnect.
Alright, first I want to say this cover is so gorgeous, and that's why I picked this up. Ultimately, this book wasn't for me. It read like a YA and I kept forgetting that I was reading about adults. I kept getting confused - the whole thing felt very juvenile. I wish it was about teenagers, because it would have made a lot more sense.
Georgia is heading back home after a bad divorce. Sadly, she's there to settle her great grandmother's estate. Her great grandmother Scarlett was a best selling romance writer, and left a story unfinished. Another best selling author Noah is hired to finish it, much to Georgia's chagrin.
This is the much over done dual timeline WWII genre, but I still enjoyed this for the most part. The past point of view is the best, but the pacing is good because of the switching back and forth. I cried and and felt a roar in my ears during the climactic scene. It's super sad and touching. Lots of PG13 scenes FYI.
Izzy boards a plane, and happens to be sitting next to the super handsome Nate. They strike up a conversation, and just a few minutes later the plane is going down into the river. Years later they both find themselves in Afghanistan, where Nate is tasked with saving Izzy all over again.
This reads like a Colleen Hoover book, so if that's your jam, you'll like this. Super dramatic and soapy - but still engrossing. I wish that the original plane crash part was more of the book because that really sucked me in and it was over in just a few chapters. Also PG13 on this one.
Josie is celebrating her 45th birthday at a restaurant when she notices another woman across the room - Alix. Alix is also there for her birthday - also her 45th. Josie become enamored with her because they couldn't be more different even though they were born on the same day, in the same hospital. Josie is married to an old man, and in a rut. Alix is with a bunch of her beautiful friends and is a successful podcaster. When the two of them bump into each other a few days later Josie convinces Alix to make a podcast series about her.
Here's my first 5 star review of this post! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Guys, this is a ride. Things get strange fast, and I ate this up. The ending is also confusing - which is completely the point. I have a problem with the old man marrying such a young women - that never gets resolved or explained well enough to me. But this is a great thriller, and I highly recommend. Some language.
This is the 2nd book in the Eragon series that I am rereading. In this book Eragon continues his training to prepare to fight against the evil king.
This was never my favorite book of the series, even when I read it in 2004. It's a lot of explaining and details, but of course it's necessary to the development of the characters. Unfortunately the next book isn't at my library, so I'm wondering how to continue the series without buying it. 😓
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5 Stars for this one! Catherine and Ruth are a mother and daughter - truly them against the world. Catherine is ready to accept a new job and move away, Ruth will do anything to keep that from happening.
Normally, Sarah Pekkanen and Greer Hendricks write together, so I was surprised to see just Sarah's name on this one. I historically love all their books so this was an automatic read for me. It's really good. It's pretty straightforward - not too twisty. It's just a good mystery. Some of it is not really believable, but that's the case with most books honestly. The characters aren't super likeable, but I don't think they are supposed to be.
Sadie is a portrait artist, so when she is diagnosed with 'maybe temporary' face blindness after brain surgery - she's struggling to cope to say the least.
5 adorable stars! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (For what's it's worth, I also loved Katherine Center's The Bodyguard!) Is this a completely unbelievable premise - yeah duh - but it's so cute. Sadie really goes through it and you can see her growth throughout this story. It's a sweet and fun rom com! I think there is exactly one page that has language.
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-Kristen
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This past weekend we were able to take my sister and brother in law to their first FSU football game! It was sort of a big deal, because even though my sister grew up in Tallahassee, she never made it to a game. I went all the time, but I think she just was never interested when she was younger. My dad joined us too for the first home game of the season. It was the best game to go to because it was at night, so the temperature was a lot cooler. It was also an easy win - the score was 66 to 13.
All in all it was a late night, but a lot of fun! Next time I'm definitely bringing a seat cushion. I can't handle that bleacher in my old age. 😂
Do you want to know what the best part was? Blake and my brother in law Bryan have always been Florida Gators...and yet they lovingly joined us for this game and even wore FSU shirts. It was SO sweet, and honestly a few years ago I could have never imagined this scene. To be fair, I wore a Gator shirt when I went with Blake to a UF game a few years ago. I know they are supposed to be rivals, but I honestly like both teams.
-Kristen
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Just thought I'd pop on to say I'm hosting a GIVEAWAY over on Instagram! I'm celebrating hitting 2,000 Etsy sales. This giveaway included a couple of things from my shop, as well as a few fun things to get in the mood for Fall.
You'll have to leave a comment below to tell me if you entered! I'll give a bonus entry to blog readers.
It ends on 9/30/23
-Kristen
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Gosh, what a week! On Wednesday, we were faced with Hurricane Idalia. The eye of the storm went in about an hour east of us, and right in between where we live and my sister lives. We have lots of friends here and there and in the middle - so we were really anxious about the whole thing. For us, the storm was fairly insignificant. We didn't lose power and basically just experienced wind and rain. Lots of other people weren't as fortunate! We had planned to leave for Blue Ridge on Thursday so that added to the stress of all of it! Should we stay or should we go kinda stuff.
Well, we just tweaked our plans slightly, and were able to get away! Every year we try to do a vacation as party of 10 - which includes my parents, my siblings and their families. Normally, it's a cruise. But this year we thought we'd try something different!
We spent the long weekend in a mountain side cabin overlooking the Toccoa River. It was so beautiful and we had such a great time.
A few highlights:
- Tubing! (This was by far my favorite activity)
- A ride on the Blue Ridge Scenic Railway! My family rented out the caboose, and it was such a cool experience. The train takes you from Blue Ridge over the state line to Copperhill, TN. Well, actually the town is half in Georgia, and half in Tennessee. The train is all open air, but the caboose is private and climate controlled. Super comfortable and luxurious!
- Angry Hops Brewing! My family loves breweries, and we stopped at 3 this trip. Angry Hops was by far our favorite. Just good vibes, and delicious beer.
- A slight drop in temperature. Haha, these Floridians were very happy the weather was like 10 degrees cooler than home.
- The first FSU game of the season! It was the icing on the cake that we got to watch the game together. FSU in the fall was a core part of my childhood, so watching with my siblings is extra special. Plus they won, which was a mood booster!
I really didn't pick up my phone all that much on this trip, which is how I prefer it to be. But, I do always think I wish I had taken more pictures. Maybe I'll be a good blogger someday, ha!
Honestly, the very best part of the whole trip was my brother in law surprising us. The storm was so bad in their area, so he had many responsibilities at home. He wasn't sure he'd make it up there to join us. And honestly, we had kinda lost hope after a couple of days because work wasn't slowing down for him. But, I'll never forget how shocked we all were when he pulled up behind us on the road leading to our cabin. It was a great surprise!
-Kristen
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We love living in Florida, but yep, this is the reality of it! So thankful my mom and dad have put in a whole house generator. That takes a lot of the pressure off. At least we know our food won't go bad and we can take refuge in their A/C.
Pupdate
Isn't this picture of the pugs the cutest?! In my last three things post, I shared that Delly had a rough month. She had an unfortunate eye injury! Our poor girl is doing a lot better. She got to take the cone off and she's off all the medicines. She still has a significant scar, that we assume will heal some more. But, she's likely to have lost some vision. (She's approaching 13, she already has lost some eyesight.) She's so much better now, and we are relieved not to be running back and forth to the vet very few days. (Read: $$$)
Winston and Bailey went in for grooming and the groomer put the cutest bandanas on them. I couldn't stand it, it was so cute. They didn't keep them on very long, but I loved it while it lasted.
Work Headshots
We took some fresh office photos for social media and our website recently. It was also my 15th work anniversary. (I started in High School doing the DCT program where I'd go to school in the morning, and then work in the afternoon.) This day was SO hot, you can definitely see the glisten on my pink cheeks. But, that morning I was convinced I had had it with my hair and was ready to do a big chop. Then after I saw the pictures, I changed my mind. Even though all that hair is like 4,000 degrees...it looks pretty good, haha.
Bonus 4th thing: My Parent's 35th Anniversary!
It was so fun to take my mom and dad out for their anniversary this week. It's their 35th! We hope to celebrate as a whole family (my siblings and their families too) in North Georgia soon, but we are kinda stuck waiting to see what this storm will do and if we are safe to go.
-Kristen
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If you are in need of a good book recommendation - I'm your girl! With over 28 Recent Reads Posts to date, you can also find a lot of my suggestions under the book tag. Additionally, follow along with what I'm currently reading over on Goodreads. I do still have a Bookstagram account, but I haven't decided what direction I want to take it in at the moment.
On top of all of that, you can shop my used books on Pangobooks.
Annabelle is excited to study at Oxford, but now she has the challenge to target Sebastian Devereaux to get him to support the Women's Suffrage Movement.
Honestly, I forget the majority of the plot on this one. Some parts were really cute, and it was a quick read. Books that take place in this time period are not my favorite, but I decided to give it a try after finding a copy at a used book store. It's definitely not time period correct, and while I should have probably assumed that based on the cover...it still bothered me.
William Waters grew up very lonely, but found his place on the basketball court. And once he meets and falls in love with Julia Padavano in college, he gains her huge family. The Padavano sisters are all so different, and what unfolds in those college years affects them all for the rest of their lives. This is supposed to be a modern Little Women retelling.
Gosh, this was really good. The characters are all so distinct, and the writing really puts you right into their family dynamic. It's over all a really good book- but honestly WAY too long. It needed to be trimmed up for sure.
Alexis is an ER doctor who is being crushed by her family's legacy. She finds herself attracted to Daniel, a guy who is 10 years younger than her and living a completely different life in a small town. She knows she can't give up her life, but knows he won't fit into hers.
Meh. I liked Yours Truly a lot better. This was fairly entertaining, but frustrating. And of course so many chapters I had to skip because of the explicit sex scenes.
Have you ever heard of Marjorie Post? I hadn't. But if I say Post Cereal or General Foods you know who she is. Her father invented Post Cereal, and she inherited his empire. She really did lead several different 'lives'! It's just that she had terrible taste in men. This was really interesting, and good example of why I love historical fiction so much - you can learn something!
Elsie is a theoretical physicist who is struggling to make a living. So she resorts to being a fake girlfriend for a service. Things catch up to her when she runs into the brother of her fake boyfriend at a job interview.
There was a lot to like about this book. I really loved the unique backdrop and the science aspects. The sub plot with the professor was really good too. This book also has a lot of explicit scenes that totally derail the actual plot. I just skip those chapters, but still it's just so unnecessary and annoying that almost all romance books these days are so explicit.
The Julia Quinn books aren't as racy as the Netflix series for sure! This was a fun prequel to the series about Queen Charlotte and her love story. If you've enjoyed the other books, I'm sure you'll like this too.
Okay, if you are looking for a 'clean' romance this is it! Amelia Rose is a famous singer who is dying to get away from her life. Her favorite movie is Roman Holiday, and she's inspired to go to the closest Rome to her. It just so happens to be a super tiny town in Kentucky.
This reads like an unrealistic Hallmark movie - but it's still adorable and easy to read.
Tricia and Ethan are newly weds who are house shopping. They get out to a rural home, and end up stuck there due to a snow storm. They quickly discover the house once belonged to Dr. Adrienne Hale, a psychiatrist who went missing years before.
Overall, this was outlandishly unrealistic. You have to suspend disbelief a lot. But, Freida does a twist like no other and I was definitely surprised a few times! I think I rated it 3 stars, which means I enjoyed it, but didn't love it.
A little throw back here! Eragon is a 15 year old boy who stumbles upon a dragon egg in the forest. Once she hatches they both go on a great adventure!
I picked this up, because I was in desperate need of an audiobook, and I selected 'available now' at my library and this was one of the first options. Eragon came out when I was 13 and my cousin and I definitely eagerly anticipated each book in this series. It brought back a lot of good memories, and it still holds up!
Did you watch Friday Night Lights? If so you know who Minka Kelly is! This is her memoir of her childhood and relationship with her mom. I love a good celebrity memoir, and better yet - the audiobook narrated by the author. It's hard to rate a memoir, as it's their personal experience. I learned a lot about her, and honestly it's amazing she ended up in Hollywood. Overall it's kind of a sad book, so if you have lost your mom or have had a rough relationship you may want to skip this.
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-Kristen
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