Happy May everyone! We are just a hop, skip and a jump away from Summer, and we feel all sorts of happy about this. Our beach reads are on standby and we can almost taste the frozen fruity drinks that will carry us through until August. Though, first we have to survive May. Anyone else feel like this is the busiest month out of the entire year?! So many fun events - between school, Spring sports seasons wrapping up, Mother's Day, etc., it's a jam packed month. We're excited about it all, but at the same time wish we could split ourselves into two (or three?!) to accomplish it all. And on the blog front we have so many fun things planned for you guys! Like seriously we are squealing in excitement over some of the things we have in store for you for May! We're kicking off the month like we always do - Book Club! Grab your reds, your whites, or - if you're lucky enough to have skipped Spring and gone straight to Summer like we have - your frosé, and let's chat books! If you're not a reader, grab your drink and chat with us about The Vampire Diaries that Jen has been watching on Netflix during her workouts. Because I have all the comments and no one to share them with in my friend circle. Funnily enough, no one in my friend circle has watched this teenage, vampire fueled drama series. Go figure. WHAT WE READ.... CARRIE BETH My first read (or listen rather...y'all know I love Audible) was The Beach House by Mary Alice Monroe. I loved this book. It's a story about family, love, passions, life, death...it has it all. The setting is the Isle of Palms outside of Charleston, SC. I grew up visiting my grandparents that lived in coastal Carolina so there were so many parts of this that brought back so many memories. One of the main characters reminded me of my grandmother in the way she talked, the foods she prepared, and her laid back personality at the beach. Monroe also weaves in a bunch of information about sea turtles and the "turtle ladies" that help make sure their nests stay safe. I would definitely recommend this book as a great summer read! Next up was Losing Hope by Colleen Hoover. When I started I didn't realize that this story was actually the counterpart to Hopeless that I included in our February Book Club post. It's told from the other main character's point of view which I loved. I do feel like Hopeless should be read first to make sense of Losing Hope. However, I think I liked Losing Hope better than Hopeless if that makes sense. Or maybe I just liked knowing what was going on in the other character's mind! It's a typical Hoover novel. A love story with a lot of history. Two people who knew each other as children and then got separated by tragic events and come back together to realize they are soul mates. I keep trying with the Tijan novels. My very favorite book of last year was Ryan's Bed by Tijan. It stuck with me for a long time and I keep trying to find another one that moves me the way that book did. Cole by Tijan isn't that book, but I did enjoy it. It kept me wanting to listen every chance I got, so to me that is a sign of a good book. It's very similar to Carter Reed, another Tijan book I listened to a while back, which focuses on the mafia and a love story and there were actually some character references from Carter Reed in this novel. If you like that kind of book I would say try this one, but it doesn't compare to Ryan's Bed in my opinion. JEN So this month I read one book. One. So weak on my part. I love to read. April just didn't allow a whole lot of time for it. I usually at a minimum read myself to sleep every night, but in April I was so exhausted from mom life that the minute my head hit my silk pillow I was out. The one book I did manage to read was really fun though, and has me all sorts of excited for Summer! I grabbed The House on Mermaid Point by Wendy Wax when we were on our vacation to the Florida Keys this past February. There was a local bookstore and they had a display featuring books set in The Keys, so I picked up this one. I didn't realize The House on Mermaid Point was part of a series, but after reading it I think it is fine as a stand alone too. It alluded enough to events in past novels that you got an idea of what might have happened. The novel follows five women who are part of a reality television home renovation show called Do Over. The next season they are filming has them renovating a house on a private island off of Islamorada, and you quickly realize how many funny things the network is going to throw at them to make their show more reality tv and less reality. It was so fun for me to read about places we had been to on our own trips to The Florida Keys. The whole time I could just picture myself right on that private island soaking in that gorgeous scenery, and the characters are just so lovable that you find yourself wanting to be part of the Do Over team. Full warning though - the end had me tearing up, and I've already downloaded the next book in the series to my Kindle to read this summer at the beach to see how it all plays out. If love a good beach read as well as some HGTV then this book series should totally make its way to your reading lists! WHAT'S UP NEXT... CARRIE BETH Next up for me is The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah. I've thought about starting this book several times, but haven't really ever wanted to commit because I know it's a little heavier. However, some of my favorite books are those that really pull at the heart strings and those that deal with heavy topics, so I'm tackling this one next! JEN First up for me in May is the psychological thriller Not That I Could Tell by Jessica Strawser. I actually started this book in April, but only got a few pages in. It seems like a juicy one though. We'll see if it helps in the whole getting to sleep thing, or be more in the lines of keeping me up at night. What have you been reading lately? Anything we need to add to our reading lists this month? BOOK CLUB 2019 | January | February | March | April | Follow along with us on Goodreads! HAPPY READING! Come spend the day with us on: | Instagram | Pinterest | Facebook | Twitter |