Happy Tuesday! I have been in a bit of a reading slow down, but I’m still linking up with Steph and Jana to show you my books.
Last month, I told you I was reading Elin’s new book What Happens in Paradise. Well, I finished it and I really liked it. A lot of people aren’t liking this new series, but I do. Both books make me want to hop on a plane/time machine to go back to the pre-hurricane St. John Elin describes. The island sound beautiful, the people lovely, the drinks refreshing, and the food delicious. ☀️ ☀️ ☀️ ☀️ ☀️ 
I read Husband Material by Emily Belden. This is the story of a young widow who is creating an app to help her find the perfect husband. No one she associates with knows that she is a widow, until one day her husbands ashes appear on her doorstep. She has to figure out her life as a known widow while people from her past start showing up in her life. I enjoyed this book and found myself routing for Charlotte throughout the whole story. ☀️ ☀️ ☀️ ☀️ **Thank you NetGalley for a ARC in exchange for an honest review.**
I read Adequate Yearly Progress by Roxanna Elden and I really wanted to like it. Everything I’d read about the books had my hopes high. It is about a high risk high school in a district that just hired a gimmicky superintendent. As a teacher, I thought the book would be ridiculous enough to be funny. But I found myself struggling to read it as realistic. Maybe it hit too close to home as a teacher. Maybe it annoyed me that unrealistic initiatives do come around like they did in the book. Either way, I didn’t like it and it took me a long time to read it. ☀️ ☀️ 
I just finished American Royals by Katharine McGee on Sunday night. I was a little surprised to find it was YA when I checked it out of the library. I loved the book! I can’t wait for the next in the series to come out. The book is based on the premise that George Washington decided to be king instead of president. The book takes place in modern times and follows the lives of the American royal family. It was fun and gave this American a taste of what it is like for the British to follow their royals. ☀️ ☀️ ☀️ ☀️ 
Currently Reading: The Overdue Life of Amy Byler by Kelly Harms. I’ve wanted to read this book for quite some time and am loving it already. 
Have a great day full of sunshine and books!
Thanks for the recommendations Sarah- I am trying to like the Paradies series since Elin is my favorite author but I am struggling- yikes :/
American Royals sounds interesting. I have seen the cover but wasn’t sure what it was about.
Husband Material was a three star read for me too! I’m asking for American Royals for Christmas because everyone is racing about it!
Husband Material sounds cute and fun.
I really like The Overdue Life. There were several parts that actually made me LOL.
I can’t wait to finish it!! It’s great!
i keep seeing American Royals around, didn’t know it was YA and didn’t know the premise… sounds interesting. the overdue life of amy byler is on my list!
I read Winter in Paradise last winter. I think I’ll read the follow up this winter!
Many of these are on my to read list. The amy byler one was cute, I thought kinda long but got through it.
As a teacher I am thinking I probably would feel the same way about Adequate Yearly progress!
Sorry to hear you didn’t really like Adequate Yearly Progress; I have that one to read/review, so we’ll see how I like it! lol Husband Material sounds good though!
-Lauren
http://www.shootingstarsmag.net
I really enjoyed the overdue life and Im glad I got to it this past month.
I really enjoyed Elin’s new series too; the only thing I can think of is that it has a bit of mystery in it and her books are usually more straight forward than that? I’m not sure. I know I picture the island each time I read I and had it not been for that darned hurricane my family and I most likely would have been visiting there this year as it was our top pick after last year’s vacation.
I am going to start Husband Material next I think!
I like Amy Byler a lot. Hope you do, too!