Happy Tuesday! This is a supersized Tuesday Book Release Day post. I didn’t share our weekend yesterday, so I am sharing some highlights today AND I have five new releases for you. So grab your to be read list and read on. There is one spooky story and quite a few Christmas books out today and in the coming weeks. Be sure to check back soon to see my 2021 Christmas or holiday book recommendations.

We had a very low key Saturday! I got up and met my friends Jamie and Kerry for a nice long walk. As usual, we attempted to solve all the problems in the world while we were moving.

When I got back Jeff and I took a load to the dump. It felt good to clear some things out of the yard that we no longer use. We took the kids to swim and got some things done around the house while they were gone. I watched “You’ve Got Mail” while I was working and it was wonderful. I’ve hear a bunch of people say it’s their favorite fall movie and I get it. Luke wanted to make the smoothies from his cookbook. They were delicious! I love that he’s really having fun in the kitchen.

It POURED on Saturday afternoon, but we were rewarded with a gorgeous sunset and rainbow!

On Sunday, we woke up to chilly weather. I met Jodi early for a run.

We had a visit from our fox. He’s looking healthy this year and now that the corn is harvested we’ll see a lot more of him.

Then Luke had a soccer game and I got to wear my new soccer earrings! 😍 Don’t forget you can use code SUNSHINEANDBOOKS10.

I made a quick run to Aldi for some pumpkins. They have giant pumpkins for $2.99 each! It’s the best deal in town. I bought five and put them on the porch with a few lights.

Luke and I went to watch Jack play golf. We caught the last four holes. The sky was gorgeous!!

I changed into my pumpkin earrings for the afternoon. I think I need to find some fun golf earrings to cheer Jack on. Code SUNSHINEANDBOOKS10 here, too.

Oh William by Elizabeth Strout

I would like to say a few things about my first husband, William. 

Lucy Barton is a writer, but her ex-husband, William, remains a hard man to read. William, she confesses, has always been a mystery to me. Another mystery is why the two have remained connected after all these years. They just are. 

So Lucy is both surprised and not surprised when William asks her to join him on a trip to investigate a recently uncovered family secret—one of those secrets that rearrange everything we think we know about the people closest to us. What happens next is nothing less than another example of what Hilary Mantel has called Elizabeth Strout’s “perfect attunement to the human condition.” There are fears and insecurities, simple joys and acts of tenderness, and revelations about affairs and other spouses, parents and their children. On every page of this exquisite novel we learn more about the quiet forces that hold us together—even after we’ve grown apart. 

At the heart of this story is the indomitable voice of Lucy Barton, who offers a profound, lasting reflection on the very nature of existence. “This is the way of life,” Lucy says: “the many things we do not know until it is too late.”

Once Upon a Wardrobe by Patti Callahan

Megs Devonshire is brilliant with numbers and equations, on a scholarship at Oxford, and dreams of solving the greatest mysteries of physics.

She prefers the dependability of facts—except for one: the younger brother she loves with all her heart doesn’t have long to live. When George becomes captivated by a brand-new book called The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and begs her to find out where Narnia came from, there’s no way she can refuse.

Despite her timidity about approaching the famous author, Megs soon finds herself taking tea with the Oxford don and his own brother, imploring them for answers. What she receives instead are more stories . . . stories of Jack Lewis’s life, which she takes home to George.

Why won’t Mr. Lewis just tell her plainly what George wants to know? The answer will reveal to Meg many truths that science and math cannot, and the gift she thought she was giving to her brother—the story behind Narnia—turns out to be his gift to her, instead: hope.

Off Season by Jennifer Weiner (e-short story only)

Sarah Vernon has spent twenty years trying to make it as a novelist…and she’s never even come close. None of her novels has sold more than five thousand copies, and she’s never earned enough money to make fiction her full-time job. After her last disappointing publication, Sarah’s agent dumped her, and it seems like her dream is dead. Sarah vows that she’ll do anything for one last shot at the bestseller list.

Enter Will Presser. Nicknamed The Viper, Will is a literary agent whose career-making reputation precedes him. A business dinner ends with a nightcap at Will’s apartment—and a night Sarah can’t remember. When she wakes up the next morning, Will says he’s got a plan to make her new book a hit. He sends Sarah off to Elder Island, a summer playground for the rich and famous that empties out between September and May, for her own personal writer’s retreat. He’s left word that Sarah needs complete privacy in order to write, and Sarah’s too bewildered and flattered by Will’s attention to do anything but pack her bags and board the ferry.

Alone in an isolated mansion, Sarah’s writing has never come more easily. She spends hours each day lost in a trance, falling into the world of her story. She tries not to worry about the nightmares that plague her…or the mornings she wakes up with dirt on her feet and blood under her fingernails. ​

Everything Will Presser touches becomes a success, and, now, Will Presser has touched me, Sarah thinks. 

But Elder Island isn’t the pretty summer playground it seems to be, and Sarah’s going to learn that success comes at a cost, and that, whenever you sign a deal, it’s always wise to read the fine print.

A Season for Second Chances by Jenny Bayliss

Annie Sharpe’s spark for life has fizzled out. Her kids are grown up, her restaurant is doing just fine on its own, and her twenty-six-year marriage has come to an unceremonious end. Untethered for the first time in her adult life, she finds a winter guardian position in a historic seaside home and decides to leave her city life behind for a brand-new beginning.

When she arrives in Willow Bay, Annie is enamored by the charming house, the invigorating sea breeze, and the town’s rich seasonal traditions. Not to mention, her neighbors receive her with open arms—that is, all except the surly nephew of the homeowner, whose grand plans for the property are at odds with her residency. As Christmas approaches, tensions and tides rise in Willow Bay, and Annie’s future seems less and less certain. But with a little can-do spirit and holiday magic, the most difficult time of her life will become…a season for second chances.

Dear Santa by Debbie Macomber

Lindy Carmichael isn’t feeling particularly joyful when she returns home to Wenatchee, Washington, for Christmas. The man she thought was “the one” has cheated on her with her best friend, and she feels completely devoid of creativity in her graphic-design job. Not even carolers or Christmas cookies can cheer her up—but Lindy’s mother, Ellen, remembers an old tradition that might lift her daughter’s spirits.

Reading through a box of childhood letters to Santa and reminiscing about what she’d wished for as a young girl may be just the inspiration Lindy needs. With Ellen’s encouragement, she decides to write a new letter to Santa, one that will encourage her to have faith and believe just as she’d done all those years ago. Little does Lindy know that this exercise in gratitude will cause her wishes to unfold before her in miraculous ways. And, thanks to some fateful twists of Christmas magic—especially an unexpected connection with a handsome former classmate—Lindy ultimately realizes that there is truly no place like home for the holidays.

The Pioneer Woman Cooks Super Easy by Ree Drummond

Between my family, my website, my cookbooks, and my TV show, I make a lot of food around here! And as much as I’ve always loved cooking (and of course, eating!), it seems that more and more these days, I’m looking for ways to simplify my life in the kitchen. I find myself gravitating toward recipes that are delicious but don’t require a lot of prep or fuss, because they free me up to have more time (and energy) for other areas of my life. This also makes cooking less of a chore and more of a pleasure—exactly what cooking should be!

The Pioneer Woman Cooks—Super Easy! will free you up and transform your cooking life as well, with 120 recipes that range from effortless breakfasts to breezy skillet meals to speedy soups to ready-in-minutes Tex-Mex delights, so you’ll have lots of options for any given meal. Many recipes in this cookbook call for step-saving (and sanity-saving) shortcuts that will revolutionize the time you spend making meals for your family, and all of them are utterly scrumptious! I’ve absolutely fallen in love with this new generation of recipes, including Butter Pecan French Toast, Buffalo Chicken Totchos, Speedy Dumpling Soup, Broccoli-Cheese Stromboli (so great for kids!), and an entire section of pastas and grains, such as One-Pot Sausage Pasta and colorful and fresh Hawaiian Shrimp Bowls. You’ll find yummy meals such as Pepperoni Fried Rice, Chicken-Fried Steak Fingers, and ultra-tasty Chicken Curry in a Hurry . . . as well as assemble-in-the-baking-dish casseroles, throw-together sheet pan suppers, and simply decadent desserts such as Mug Cakes, Coconut Cream Pie, and Brownie S’Mores Bars that you’ll dream about.

There’s something for everyone in this cookbook, and not a single recipe, ingredient, or step is complicated or difficult. Now that’s the kind of cooking we can all get behind!

**As always, the summaries come from the author or publisher because they know it best.**

If you are looking for other newly released books, check out the Tuesday Book Release Day page. If you are looking for great summer books, check out my Summer Beach Reads 2021. There are quite a few Christmas books on this list. If you are looking for other Christmas books, check out my 2020 Christmas Book List.

I am currently reading The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid as fast as I can. I got it on my kindle from the library and it expires on Thursday. I am over half way and really enjoying it. I’d love to hear what you are reading or looking forward to reading. Have a great day full of sunshine and NEW books!

**This post contains Amazon Affiliate links. Thank you for reading and supporting Sunshine & Books.**