WHAT I READ IN MAY 2023

This was a great reading month for me. Most notably, I had some leisurely reading over Memorial Day weekend. I had a book I loved (Elin Hilderbrand’s new book) and a few hours every day just to myself. A rarity nowadays. Made me excited thinking about more summer reading in the next few months.

Here’s what I read in May 2023:

FRIENDS LIKE THESE by Meg Rosoff

4.5/5 Stars

This is a coming of age novel set in NYC in the early 80s. Sometimes coming of age novels don’t do it for me, however, this one totally did. It’s slightly cliched and filled with familiar characters you’d expect from a coming of age novel– two girls befriend each other during a summer journalism internship, one fabulous and confident and the other self-conscious and middle class– but…. I was hooked. It is a quick read, like you could easily sit down and read it cover to cover in a day while on vacation! I loved reading

ROMANTIC COMEDY by Curtis Sittenfeld

4/5 Stars

Okay hear me out with this one…. I both really enjoyed and found myself bored while reading this. It’s split into two parts: the past (a few years before the pandemic) and the present (during the pandemic). The main character is a divorced writer for a late night comedy show and she has a bit of a connection with a pop star who is a guest star on the show one week… The first 40% of the book was so hard to get into and I was irrationally annoyed at the references and explanations of how SNL works (in the book it’s TNO). When the book switches to the present, I finally got hooked. The pace picked up dramatically from there and I finally couldn’t put it down. If you’re sensitive to a book set during COVID, skip this one for sure, but if you’re okay with a love story during the pandemic, give it a try!

MEET ME AT THE LAKE by Carley Fortune

3.5/5 Stars

Take my review here with a grain of salt. I didn’t love Carley Fortune’s Every Summer After and this one didn’t do it for me either. I just don’t think the genre is for me. Fern, the main character, meets an artist named Will ten years ago while working in a coffee shop. They have a magical day touring Toronto together and make plans to meet up again at her mother’s lakeside resort later… but he doesn’t show up. Ten years later, their paths cross again while Fern is trying to figure out her life plan… Should she revitalize the resort or sell it so she can follow her other dreams?

THE THING ABOUT HOME by Rhonda McKnight

3.75/5 Stars

I have mixed feelings about The Thing About Home. It flips between the present and the past. I connected so much more with the present story and actually really loved the story of the past, but the two felt forced into one book. I almost wish they had been two distinct stories. Casey Black is a successful influencer and has a public breakdown after her husband leaves her at the alter of their vow renewal. She escapes her cancelation by going down to the south to reconnect with long-lost family members. There she finds family, friendship, focus, and (!!) love.

THE FIVE-STAR WEEKEND by Elin Hilderbrand

5/5 Stars

Elin Hilderbrand does it again!!! If you’re looking for a, dare I say it, perfect beach read, you need to pick up The Five-Star Weekend. One thing I love about Elin Hilderbrand’s more recent novels is that they have everything you expect from her– delicious food descriptions, inside information about Nantucket, drama-galore– but she puts a unique spin on it. It’s not cookie cutter. Somehow she keeps raising her own bar and I thought her writing in The Five-Star Weekend was some of her best. Hollis is a popular food blogger and loses her husband to a car accident. She grew up on Nantucket but is now a “summer person.” She returns to the island to put on a fancy “Five-Star Weekend” with four of her friends, each from one era of her life. Each character, from Hollis herself to her friends to her young adult daughter, struggles with her own internal battle. It’s like the platitude, “be kind for everyone is fighting a hard battle.” I simply couldn’t put it down.

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