Linking up with Tanya for the last few months of Amazon purchases.

Swimsuit

I ordered this for myself and absolutely love it! I saw it on a few people on Instagram that are in similar shape/size to me and it looked so good on them. I was a little worried it wasn’t going to work for me, I hate pretty much all swimsuits on me. But I love this! I felt secure, it isn’t too cheeky, it held up the girls alright and it covers all the bits I don’t care to show. It is rather flattering and I highly recommend. Oh, it it is a great price considering. There are several colors/prints. The only thing I wish I could change, is that the cups were sewn in. But I wish that about nearly all swimsuits, so that is pretty common.

Beach Towel Clips

Nothing is more annoying than trying to relax and constantly having to adjust your beach towel. Love these, they are inexpensive and you get a ton. I keep them in my Bogg bag, my beach bag, some in my car. They are everywhere. You can even use them as a chip clip or paper weight as I have done in a pinch.

Nail Clippers

These are amazing for toenails! I feel like the older we get, the thicker our nails get. I love how easy these are to use and cut nails with. I don’t get jaggy corners with these, and they feel much more substantial that my old regular clippers. Highly recommend.

Swim Goggles

I ordered these for Zoe. We love the clip on the back, it keeps the goggles from getting tangled in her wet hair. What a game changer!! They came in their own protective carrying cases which was a nice touch.

Fabric Planters

I love how big these are, but also collapsible to store for future years. I have our tomato and pepper plants in these and it is the perfect size. I also like how light these are compared to heavy containers, so they can easily be moved if they aren’t doing well in a certain part of your yard.

Organic Expresso Beans

I do not understand why I cannot find expresso beans in hardly any grocery stores around me. Ground, plenty. But never whole beans. I guess it is for the best, as I have found this organic expresso bean that is really fabulous and a good price with next day delivery most of the time! This has been purchased several times over the last few months.

Parchment Cupcake Liners

Love these. Nothing sticks to these. I use them for muffins, cupcakes, egg bites, mini meatloaf, etc. I have repurchased this brand several times.

Mint Julep Syrup

Self explanatory, delicious.

Dish Soap

This is clean, smells amazing and works great! A bottle of this lasts me longer than other dish soaps I have used. It doesn’t dry my hands out or irritate them either, which I have had happen with other brands. I have repurchased this several times.

Hello Bello Body Wash

Grabbed this for Zoe’s bathroom. I switch between a few different brand and scents for her, and we have always liked the Hello Bello stuff. This is clean, no bad stuff or synthetic fragrances.

Reusable Water Balloons

Water balloons are fun, but they sure make a mess. Enter these reusable ones! They have a magnet type closure to them and provide hours of entertainment for the kiddos.

Unbleached Parchment Paper

I have talked about this a ton, repurchased several times. Love it!

Coming in with some more book reviews. Am I just a book blogger now? With some random Amazon posts thrown in. Anyway, I had so many good ones in a row with some of my favorite authors!

The Five-Star Weekend by Elin Hilderbrand

I just love Elin’s books and I am so sad that they could be coming to an end soon. I read somewhere this was her last one, or there would be one more. Not sure which is true. Either way, nothing wraps me in like her books. This was such an interesting concept with the five-star weekend, inviting a best friend from each era of your life. What a fun idea! Of course, when you get five women together, some drama is going to ensue. There were several twists, the biggest one I totally guessed almost immediately. That didn’t take away from the story though. I will say, if this was her last book, I was expecting more of an epic finale? That is what makes me think there has to be one more for Nantucket. We shall see. Either way, I enjoyed getting to know each of the five stars in this novel, and even Caroline, the daughter, was an interesting character. I couldn’t put it down, which makes it a five star book for me.

Bottom Line: Read it!

Mad About You by Mhairi McFarlane

I wasn’t sure how I felt about Harriet at the beginning of the book. But the deeper I got in to it and learned about her past with her ex….I was like oh wow. Her ex was exactly like someone I used to date. All the gaslighting and lies. I am very far removed from that relationship, but dang if it didn’t bring back some memories I long since repressed. So, while she wasn’t my favorite character in a book….I sure could appreciate where she came from. And Cal, I loved him! He had his own baggage as well. I wouldn’t call this one a romance so much. It wasn’t really focused on that, as much as Harriet’s story and her growth throughout the book. While I felt their connection was realistic, I didn’t feel the actual spark between them. But that is ok, because again, the book is more focused on other things. I love this author and will read everything she puts out.

Bottom Line: Read it.

Same Time Next Summer by Annabel Monaghan

I absolutely loved Nora Goes Off Script, so I was super excited to read this. I got sucked right into Sam’s world. I felt like she was very relatable. And her family!!! I absolutely LOVED her family. I feel like Monaghan writes such unique, lovable characters and there was no shortage of them in this book. Wyatt and Sam’s history is so complicated. It was fun watching them fall in love, and then break apart. I won’t talk about what happens towards to end of the book so as not to spoil anything. I will just say it all felt right. I consumed this as audio and the narrator was fantastic.

Bottom Line: Read it

Coming at you with some more book reviews!

He Said He Would Be Late by Justine Sullivan

I went into this one thinking it was going to be suspenseful, but it was more of a domestic drama of sorts? Did Arno cheat or did he not? Liz focuses on this basically the entire book based off of one text and maybe a few other little things throughout. The book is very heavy on the little aspects of her daily life. At times, that sort of dragged for me. I can’t decide how I feel about Liz. I didn’t really care for her, she clearly has an alcohol problem and she wasn’t a very good mother. She had narcissistic tendencies and was selfish in every relationship she was in except maybe the one with Arno. But you can’t help but feel sorry for her. And some of her inner dialogue was funny/entertaining. My main issue with the book was the ending. I wanted more, it sort of ended abruptly.

I consumed this book as an audio book and quite enjoyed the narration. It really added to the book for me, and I believe the narration actually made me like the book more than had I read it on my own.

Bottom Line: It is worth the read.

**I received a copy of He Said He Would Be Late from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are of my own.**

The Suite Spot by Trisha Doller

This was such a fun read. I absolutely loved Rachel’s enthusiasm for her job in hospitality. It sucked how she was fired in the beginning, but obviously, it was for the best. I enjoyed her and her daughter’s adventure to Ohio and meeting Mason and watching his dream of the brewery hotel come together. The side characters from the island were so great and overall it was just such an enjoyable read. I loved that Rachel grew and started standing up for herself to get what she deserved and made her happy. Such a good slow burn. I am just sad, because now the book is over. It could have been a tad longer. I wasn’t ready to let it go.

Bottom Line: Read it!

Seven Rules For Breaking Hearts by Kristyn

This is an enemies to lovers, second chance trope. When Margo’s podcast cohost gets married it is a big deal. Why? Because their podcast is advice for single girls. Throw in someone from Margo’s past in the wedding party…and you know it is going to be interesting.

To be honest, I thought the reason that Margo didn’t like Declan was kind of weak. It was something stupid he did in high school. I never really felt the true chemistry between them. There were many moments throughout the book that I eye rolled through, as I felt like Margo was kind of immature. She was so focused on the rules and what she was and wasn’t supposed to be doing. Grow up and live your life. I didn’t DNF the book, so there is that. I am not one to hesitate to quit something. I love a good enemies to lovers trope. I wanted more from this one, but it also wasn’t the worst book I read lately. Maybe if I were a bitter 20 something I would have liked it better? But I felt a little old reading this.

Bottom Line: This passed the time just fine, but it wasn’t my favorite.

**I received a copy of Seven Rules for Breaking Hearts from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are of my own.**

Yours Truly by Abby Jimenez

I have become quite the fan of Abby Jimenez’s books, so I was really excited to dive into this one. This is sort of enemies to lovers, fake relationship, forced proximity, co-worker romance all rolled into one. While the fake relationship trope seems to be popular lately, I don’t mind, I quite enjoy it. Briana is a very strong female lead, and this time we have a male with anxiety problems. Usually it is the other way around. This made for an interesting dynamic.

I loved Briana and how fiercely she loved and protected the people around her. Jacob was such a sweet soul. Both had issues they had to work through. There was a lot of miscommunication and misunderstanding throughout this book. It caused a lot of angst, and a very slow burn. I do love a slow burn though! I will say, the heated scene happened so abruptly, I was a little let down by that after allllll the build up! I loved both of their family dynamics, all the delicious food, and Lieutenant Dan. Oh, Lieutenant Dan! I could not put this one down and it reached five star territory for me.

Bottom Line: Read it!

Book reviews coming in hot! I am going to split up this month’s reviews into two posts, as I want to make sure I get this one posted on the release date for R. S. Grey’s new book!

Billionaires Don’t Go to Camp by Amy Zeigler

I enjoyed this clean romance. It is sort of an enemy to lovers / forced proximity trope in that Clara demands justice for Elliot’s reckless driving. The judge has Elliot serve the community by helping at Clara’s camp.

I feel like we get to see the spark start to form between Clara and Elliot and get to learn about her passion for helping and Elliot’s drive for business. I was not a fan of Elliot at all in the beginning, but he really started to grow on me.

Bottom Line: This was a cute read with good development. I am not as big of a fan of clean romance as I am something with a little spice, but I really enjoyed the storyline and the camp in this one.

**I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.**

Secretly Yours by Tessa Bailey

I usually love Tessa Bailey, but this one fell a little flat for me. While I enjoyed the parts about Hallie and her grandma, and her love for Lorna and her wine store, and her relationship with her best friend….she came off as really immature for 29/30. Writing secret admirer letters, the way she handled the Corked’s competition, the fact that she was a virgin at her age?! Like that might have bothered me most actually, because when you get to the steamy bits of the book I had major eye rolls when it came to her virginity. So unnecessary.

And while I enjoyed Julian’s family business, his past, and his mom and sister….he wasn’t fully developed for me as a character. I never truly felt the spark between him and Hallie. And the conflict on his part towards the end was a major WTF. I don’t know. And him calling Hallie “soft” as a compliment. No. This book moves slow throughout, and while there were parts I liked, it just was a miss for me I think.

Bottom Line: Meh, it was alright. If you are fan of Tessa Bailey and you just want to read them all…then do. But you might be a bit disappointed in this one. It Happened One Summer was a lot better.

Blushing in the Big Leagues by R. S. Grey

I couldn’t wait to read Tate’s story, and of course, I blew through this one so fast! It was so cute! This might be my new favorite R.S. Grey books, I don’t know, it is hard to chose just one to be a favorite….but dang I really loved Tate and Grant! This one revolves around professional baseball, obviously. It is a forbidden romance trope with a MLB’s little sister, so that is super fun. I love that we really get to meet and invest in this core group of friends. I almost feel like maybe there could be a good on Daphne too??? Come on R.S. Grey!! I am not ready to leave the Pinstripes just yet!

Bottom Line: Read it!

Happy Place by Emily Henry

I really love Emily Henry’s writing and was excited when I saw that she had a new book out. She has become a must read for me. I really loved the way Happy Place was laid out. We start with finding out that Harriet is going to be on vacation with her friends in her happy place, only to discover that her and her ex broke up over 5 months ago and now they have to act like they are together because no one knows. I love a good forced proximity trope.

I could really feel the love that Harriet and Wyn still had for each other throughout. I loved how we went back and forth between the beginning of their relationship and current day. I enjoyed all the side characters, the location… I could barely put it down and had it finished in about 24 hours.

Bottom Line: Read it!

April books coming in hot! A few good ones, a few that I could take or leave.

Just My Type by Falon Ballard

This was a fun read. I love enemy to lovers, and this was also a second chance romance. Lana Parker was a strong female lead. I loved her group of girlfriends, they were such great side characters and made me want to join their friend group! Seth was a little bland at times, I wish we could have heard his POV throughout the book, it would have made him a stronger character. I loved the premise and flow of the book. There was a lot of growth in Lana, and I like to see that in our main character. I will say, the article excerpts at the beginning of each chapter were a little disappointing. I felt like they were low-effort considering the entire book revolves around Lana and Seth’s work. I wanted something a little more clever.

Bottom Line: Read it!

The 40-Day Sugar Fast by Wendy Speak

This is the best book I have read on my relationship with food. Hear me out. While not every devotional day in this book went very deep, or was super life-changing….there were a few days that just really clicked with me and are the things I needed to hear. Especially the last few at the end. This devotional made me realize that sugar was ruining both my physical health and my spiritual one. And it goes beyond just sugar, spending…time on social media…etc. When you run to any of those things instead of God, you lack the spiritual fruit of self control and you will never be satisfied. I definitely plan to pick this up at least annually, as there are many good nuggets.

Bottom Line: Read it!

The next three are novellas by Ali Hazelwood. You can consume them all in one as Loathe to Love You, or separate. I chose to write about them separately below.

Under One Roof by Ali Hazelwood

This was such a cute, quick read. I liked how it started out in present time, then went in reverse over the last five months. I wish we would have gotten Liam’s side of the story, it would have been fun to know what was going on in his mind. But, obviously since this is a novella, there isn’t a ton of character development. In fact, I didn’t really feel the moment when these two felt a spark. While I really love Ali Hazelwood’s longer novels, I wish we could get away from the exact same copy and paste characters in each book. While I love she focuses on STEM women, they are usually annoying characters and the men are always dull and boring with super huge *insert eggplant emoji here.** While the formula worked for me in the first two books of hers I read….I want something more now! I enjoyed this one, but I have a feeling the next two in the series are going to basically be copies of this story. And that is a little disappointing.

Bottom Line: I think this series of three novellas is worth a read, but I wouldn’t rush to purchase them.

Stuck with You by Ali Hazelwood

This might have been my favorite out of the three? I feel like we really got to know Sadie and Erik more than the others. I could feel the chemistry more, they had a lot in common with their interests. It was steamy and fun! But again, big guy, small girl, science thrown in. Same formula.

Below Zero by Ali Hazelwood

This one was cute, but once again…same formula. For the third time in a row in one novella, I thought that was a bit much. I enjoyed the actual plot…of being stuck and the whole rescue. That part was fun. And I liked how each novel started in the current and went back to how the characters first interacted. But again. Three times in a row is a bit much.

Houseplants for a Healthy Home by Jon VanZile

I have gone all in on embracing the green thumb life. This book is full of different house plants and it talks about their benefits to promote healthy living, as well as general care for them. It is an easily digestible read, each page is set up the same. There are plants that help clean the air, promote digestion, better sleep, combat anxiety and depression, relieve pain, fight cold and flu, help with ear aches, PMS, there are even plants that act as an aphrodisiac. We are definitely adding more around here.

The book is very basic, I wish it had real photographs instead of illustrations. But it was just what I needed to get started. It is very easy to look up certain plants, as it is laid out alphabetically.

Bottom Line: Read it! You will definitely learn something.

Mama Bear Apologetics by Hillary Morgan Ferrer

We live in a society that breaks further and further away from Christian morals and values. There are so many lies fed to us every day. As parents, we are the gatekeepers to our children and what they are exposed to. Our kids are facing attacks on their faith that we never had growing up. I made a lot of notes while reading this book and I actually am hoping to start a local book club inspired from it!

Bottom Line: Read it!

Gardening for Everyone by Julia Watkins

I grabbed this from the library and fully intend to purchase a copy for myself. This book is full of beautiful photos, crafty ideas and knowledge/education about all things gardening. I really liked the layout and the way everything was presented. I found great value in this over other gardening books I checked out the same day.

Bottom Line: If you are a beginner gardener like me, definitely grab this.

Pineapple Street by Jenny Jackson

I love a good family drama, but I feel like this one doesn’t have a strong plot/storyline. Nothing really happens. I mean, nothing monumental. It is filled with immature, catty characters. I felt like the book was virtue signaling a lot of the time. I didn’t quit it, and I am not afraid to tell a book bye. So there is that. I did enjoy reading it at times. But it took awhile to get into and I rolled my eyes a lot while reading it. I feel like this book is getting a lot of buzz and it is lost on me as to why.

Bottom Line: The best thing about this book is the cover. I gave it a solid 3 stars. I wanted it to be better, but still enjoyed parts of it.

Exes and Ohs by Amy Lea

I am trying to decide how I feel about this one. Trevor is amazing. I loved him throughout the book. Tara? Ugh. She got on my nerves! She is so immature for someone who is 30. I really don’t think that someone of this age would act so childishly at times. I liked the idea of going back through your exes, assuming they were half way decent people. But I also subscribe to the “they are exes for a reason” theory more often than not. I like slow burns and forced proximity, and we get both of that in here.

Bottom Line: This is another 3 star book for me. Trevor was a much stronger character than our leading lady, and frankly, he deserved better than her!