Friday, May 26, 2023

Five on Friday - Favorite Bingeable Summer Reads

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I do the majority of my reading for the year in June and July when the kiddos are out of school.  There’s just something about warm weather and laying by the beach or pool with a good book that makes me feel like I’m living my best life! 

During summertime, I tend to read lighter, easier reads – nothing too heavy – but I also want them to be page-turners that I don’t want to put down.  Today, I’m going to share a few of my all-time favorite bingeable, but also light, reads that are perfect for summer break.

O N E – Something Borrowed and Something Blue by Emily Giffin

Emily Giffin is the queen of chick lit in my opinion!  If I had to pick a favorite book of all-time, Something Borrowed would probably be it, and Something Blue is the sequel that’s also a must-read! 

While she’s a traditional chick lit writer, her books do tend to be a bit meatier which I love, and she’s truly a great writer.  I actually own (and have read) every single book that she’s ever written – she’s my favorite author – but, in my opinion, these are her two best ones!

From Amazon:

Rachel White is the consummate good girl. A hard-working attorney at a large Manhattan law firm and a diligent maid of honor to her charmed best friend Darcy, Rachel has always played by all the rules. Since grade school, she has watched Darcy shine, quietly accepting the sidekick role in their lopsided friendship.

But that suddenly changes the night of her thirtieth birthday when Rachel finally confesses her feelings to Darcy's fiance, and is both horrified and thrilled to discover that he feels the same way. As the wedding date draws near, events spiral out of control, and Rachel knows she must make a choice between her heart and conscience. In so doing, she discovers that the lines between right and wrong can be blurry, endings aren't always neat, and sometimes you have to risk everything to be true to yourself.

The smash-hit debut novel for every woman who has ever had a complicated love-hate friendship.


 

T W O – The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisburger

I’m pretty sure that most people have already read this one, but I couldn’t not include it as it’s one of my all-time favorites, too.  It’s well-written and witty, and it keeps me turning the pages every time.  I’ve actually read this one more than once!  If you haven’t read it, grab a copy ASAP… you have been missing out!  And the book is most definitely better than the movie, as they usually are.  So if you’ve seen the movie already, don’t let that turn you off from reading the book.

From Amazon:

Andrea Sachs, a small-town girl fresh out of college, lands the job “a million girls would die for.” Hired as the assistant to Miranda Priestly, the high-profile, fabulously successful editor of Runway magazine, Andrea finds herself in an office that shouts Prada! Armani! Versace! at every turn, a world populated by impossibly thin, heart-wrenchingly stylish women and beautiful men clad in fine-ribbed turtlenecks and tight leather pants that show off their lifelong dedication to the gym. With breathtaking ease, Miranda can turn each and every one of these hip sophisticates into a scared, whimpering child.

Andrea is sorely tested each and every day—and often late into the night—with orders barked over the phone. She puts up with it all by keeping her eyes on the prize: a recommendation from Miranda that will get her a top job at any magazine of her choosing. As things escalate from the merely unacceptable to the downright outrageous, Andrea begins to realize that the job a million girls would die for may just kill her. And even if she survives, she has to decide whether or not it’s worth the price of her soul.

 


T H R E E – People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry

I just read this book for the first time earlier this year, and y’all, IT WAS SOOOO GOOD.  The two main characters, Poppy and Alex, are truly just the most likeable people, and I couldn’t get enough of this story about their journey together over a decade.  This book also weaves in many stories about traveling, and that’s always a fun topic for a summer read!  I can’t recommend this one enough!

From Amazon:

Two best friends. Ten summer trips. One last chance to fall in love.

Poppy and Alex. Alex and Poppy. They have nothing in common. She’s a wild child; he wears khakis. She has insatiable wanderlust; he prefers to stay home with a book. And somehow, ever since a fateful car share home from college many years ago, they are the very best of friends. For most of the year they live far apart—she’s in New York City, and he’s in their small hometown—but every summer, for a decade, they have taken one glorious week of vacation together.
 
Until two years ago, when they ruined everything. They haven't spoken since.
 
Poppy has everything she should want, but she’s stuck in a rut. When someone asks when she was last truly happy, she knows, without a doubt, it was on that ill-fated, final trip with Alex. And so, she decides to convince her best friend to take one more vacation together—lay everything on the table, make it all right. Miraculously, he agrees.
 
Now she has a week to fix everything. If only she can get around the one big truth that has always stood quietly in the middle of their seemingly perfect relationship. What could possibly go wrong?
 

 


F O U R – In Five Years by Rebecca Serle

I read this book a few years ago and I still think about it frequently because it was that good.  It is most definitely one of my favorite reads of all-time.  This one is a bit heavier than the others in this list, and it will likely bring you to tears, but it’s most definitely a story that you’ll never forget.  I think I read this one in less than two days because I could not put it down.

From Amazon:

Where do you see yourself in five years?

Dannie Kohan lives her life by the numbers. She is nothing like her lifelong best friend - the wild, whimsical, believes-in-fate Bella. Her meticulous planning seems to have paid off after she nails the most important job interview of her career and accepts her boyfriend’s marriage proposal in one fell swoop, falling asleep completely content.

But when she awakens, she’s suddenly in a different apartment, with a different ring on her finger, and beside a very different man. Dannie spends one hour exactly five years in the future before she wakes again in her own home on the brink of midnight - but it is one hour she cannot shake.



F I V E – The Thousandth Floor Trilogy by Katharine McGee

This book trilogy is technically categorized as young adult fiction, but y’all, do not let that turn you off from reading it!  This entire trilogy was fantastic.  I was hooked from the very first page of the very first book.  It’s juicy and gossipy, and it will have you wondering what’s going to happen until the very end.  I pretty much put everything on the backburner for a few days while I binged these three books.  They are all so good and they are quintessential summer reads. 

From Amazon:

Welcome to Manhattan, 2118.

A hundred years in the future, New York is a city of innovation and dreams. But people never change: Everyone here wants something...and everyone has something to lose.

Leda Cole's flawless exterior belies a secret addiction - to a drug she never should have tried and a boy she never should have touched.

Eris Dodd-Radson's beautiful, carefree life falls to pieces when a heartbreaking betrayal tears her family apart.

Rylin Myers' job on one of the highest floors sweeps her into a world - and a romance - she never imagined...but will her new life cost Rylin her old one?

Watt Bakradi is a tech genius with a secret: He knows everything about everyone. But when he's hired to spy by an upper-floor girl, he finds himself caught up in a complicated web of lies.

And living above everyone else on the thousandth floor is Avery Fuller, the girl genetically designed to be perfect. The girl who seems to have it all yet is tormented by the one thing she can never have.

Debut author Katharine McGee has created a breathtakingly original series filled with high-tech luxury and futuristic glamour, where the impossible feels just within reach. But in this world, the higher you go, the farther there is to fall....

 




Friday Funnies





 

On the Blog This Week

 Red, White, and Blue Apparel for Kids

Our Week – The One with Olivia's Dance Recital

 


Happy Friday, y’all!

*Linking up with A Little Bit of Everything for Friday Favorites.

3 comments:

  1. I’ve read all these but Five Year…I’ve have to try it. Happy long weekend.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I have read a couple of these, but the others I need to check out. Ohh, I LOVED People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry!! I read that last year and I really enjoyed it.

    Carrie
    curlycraftymom.com

    ReplyDelete
  3. I NEED to start reading again! These look like great books! The memes crack me up!

    ReplyDelete

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