Happy Tuesday! It’s almost the end of the month, so I am sharing the books I read this month and what I am currently reading. I am linking up with Joanne and Dara for Share Your Shelf so be sure to check it out on the first Thursday of next month for other great bookish posts. August was a great month of reading for me. I started out the month strong by writing my thoughts on the first two books after I finished them and then I completely forgot to do it. Oops! Here are the eleven books I read this month.

Close Knit by Jenny Colgan ☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️

I was happy to travel back to Scotland and the characters in the northern islands. This book took place in spring, but I enjoyed it in the summer. Gertie has always been shy and has never left town. She works at the grocery store and is still intimidated by the cool kids from high school. She lives at home and her social circle is made of the Knitting Circle (KC), a group of women that knit and chat. When she is approached by Morag, the pilot, and her best friend Nia.., she decides to take a risk and take a job with the airlines. She needs to take charge and be a little bossy, which is the exact opposite of Gertie. There are plenty of missteps and laughs. The suspense of the story happens right at the end when the students from the local school take their annual outward bound trip and a horrible, unexpected snowstorm leaves them stranded on a mountain. Gertie’s quick thinking, knitting circle, and new found confidence help save the day.

Pink Whales by Sara Shukla ☀️☀️☀️1/2 – ☀️☀️☀️☀️

I picked this book up at the library on the beach reads shelf. I’d never heard of the book or the author, but I decided to give it a try when the inside book jacket said “We’re gonna need a bigger monogrammed tote bag”. Could there be a quote that describes me more? I’m not sure! At first, this book was fun and light. Dev and Charlie move from North Carolina to an exclusive beach town in New England. Charlie is a stay at home mom to young twins. She is not chic and she does not wear white. Her bag is not monogrammed. In fact, she is usally wearing the clothes she slept in the night before and doesn’t even carry a bag. Her husband Dev is joining a nearby medical practice with his ex-girlfriend and current friend. There are yacht club parties, crazy workout classes, and plenty of opportunities to day drink. While Charlie tries to find her way in this new town, her husband is working more hours than she imagined and seems to be pulling away. There is fun drama among the wealthy ladies and their husbands, but there is also another storyline that is much heavier. Dev is fighting against the opioid crisis every single day. I did not see that part of the story coming. It makes sense in the storyline, and it shines a light on the drug crisis across communities. I enjoyed watching Charlie navigate this new society and felt the heartache of Dev and his patients. It was a good book.

Meet Me at the Seaside Cottages by Jenny Colgan ☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️
**2026 Sunshine & Books Summer Beach Read**

This is the next book in the Scottish series by Jenny Colgan. Technically Goodreads calls it two series (MacIntyre and Mure), but they are in the same town so I’m putting them together. Essie grew up in a small village in the Scottish isles and was very happy to move away when she graduated. She enrolled in college and got a great job in Edinburgh. It’s all going so well – good job, good boyfriend, good apartment – until she’s fired and has to move back home to live with her mother. Their relationship has been strained since her parents divorced and Essie blamed her mother for everything. Janey is happy to welcome her daughter home, but has also created a life she loves. She bought a small seaside cottage, loves her job, and has great friends. When Essie comes crashing back home, they have to figure out their relationship and it isn’t easy. Essie tries to find a way back to Edinburgh and surprises herself with everything she learns in the process. It was a great story and I loved the setting and the mother-daughter relationship.

Severe and Unusual Weather by Jessie Ann Foley (kids)

Nadine moved in with her grandmother which means she’s the new kid in town. As the new kid, she knows to keep her head down, not attract attention, and hope she gets to move back home soon. Her mom is in rehab after a long descent into addiction. Nadine becomes friends with her next door neighbor, the outcast of the grade. In honor of the town’s anniversary, the mayor has tasked the class with presenting something about the town for the big fair they are hosting. About 13 years ago, there was a devastating tornado and the more research Nadine and Francis for their project the stranger that tornado gets. The two find themselves solving a mystery and trying to save the town. It was full of suspense and great kid detectives.

The Martian by Andy Weir (audio) ☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️

Oh my goodness! I loved this book! It is completely outside of my preferred genre, but I loved it. **SPOILER ALERT COMING** Six astronauts landed on Mars and are prepared to spend a few weeks there. It doesn’t go as planned and they have to leave quickly. Mark Watney doesn’t make it to the MAV (Mars Assension Vehicle) in time and they leave him behind. Everyone thinks he is dead until a sattelite tech notices that there are changes to the area where Mark was. This discovery changes everything. Mark Watney is a botanist who is not afraid to try anything. Through hundreds of sols (days on Mars), Mark figures out how to stay alive, how to communicate with Earth, and how to get home. It’s a great book and the narration was so great, too!

The Wash-Ashores by Hannah McKinnon ☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️
**2026 Sunshine & Books Summer Beach Read**

I love Hannah McKinnon’s books and their Cape Cod setting feel perfect for summer! Francine is returning to her grandparents’ Cranberry Inn after spending wonderful summers there as a child. Only this time, she is taking it over for the summer. Her grandmother is ready to retire and Francine wants to see if she can run it successfully. The employees are a great group of people. The guests are interesting and can be quite a lot. I loved picturing the changes Francine made at Cranberry Inn, especially in the library! I would love to spend a few nights at the inn and enjoy the incredible food and beach! Reading this book will have to do for now.

The House Next Door by Ellen Oh

In case you hadn’t noticed, I do not like scary books. I don’t even love suspenseful books. I picked this one up because it was nominated for a our state book award. The house next door to Rory’s house is terrifying. When a new family moves in with a boy just his age, Rory has face his fears if he wants to be friends with the new neighbor. There are rumors of ghosts giving warnings of “no children should live in this house” and children that do live there falling down the stairs. There are scary creatures that only come out at night to attack the children and perhaps a bigger monstor behind them. The book has a happy ending, but it was pretty scary to get there. Yikes!

Five-Star Summer by Sarah Morgan ☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️
**2026 Sunshine & Books Summer Beach Read**

I think this was my first Sarah Morgan summer book and I am so glad I read it. Evie has been promoted to hotel manager of a beautiful hotel in Cornwall. She grew up in the town and in the hotel because her single father has been working there for most of her life. Evie has so many ideas of how to make the hotel more profitable and keep it current, but the staff still views her as little Evie and isn’t willing to change much. Abby’s mother owns a major hotel chain, including the one Evie is running, and is sent there undercover to help the hotel survive. Abby knows that she lived in Cornwall for the first few years of her life, but her mother is very slow to share any other details. Abby and Evie meet and they hit it off immediately. As they develop their friendship and work relationship, Abby’s conscience starts to kick in about lying. Abby is trying to discover the secrets of her mother’s past and Evie is trying to make her mark on the hotel and it all comes to a head in one big “whoa!” moment. This was a great summer read and now I want to go to Cornwall for a few weeks in the summer!

Once and Again by Rebecca Serle ☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️
**2026 Sunshine & Books Summer Beach Read**

I am not typically a fan of magic in books, but Rebecca Serle does it so well! In this book, all of the women in Lauren’s family have a silver ticket that gives them one do-over, a chance to turn back time. Lauren knows that her mother used her ticket to save her father after an accident when she was 15. Lauren is holding on to her ticket, until one summer. Her husband has taken a job in NYC and Lauren stays in California with her parents and grandparents. She runs into her old boyfriend and they reconnect while he is in town.
Actually, I am having a hard time reviewing this in a way that doesn’t give it away, so I’m going to stop here. I really enjoyed the book and thinking about what would happen if you had one do-over. How that might affect other parts of your life and the things you really enjoy. It was great! Go read it!

The Experiment by Rebecca Stead

Ok, so I wasn’t so sure this was going to be a book I liked, but I really did. Nathan is an 11 year old in New York City and is an alien. He and his family are here on Earth conducting experiments. There are 12 other families conducting the same experiments and the kids meet online once a month to catch up on their lives. This is all Nathan knows, until one day he develops a bump on his back. He and his family are whisked away to the mothership and his whole world is turned upside down. There was some suspense and adventure in this interesting coming of age story.

The Book Club for Troublesome Women by Marie Bostwick ☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️

I picked this book for our school book club on the advice of my mom. I thought it was great! There are four women that have moved into a beautiful new neighborhood outside of Washington, DC in the 60s. The women formed a book club and their first book was The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan. The women all appreciate the book in different ways and the story follows them through the ups and downs of their lives. There is the day to day stuff, but also features the women fighting the social norms of the time as they navigate working, standing up to their husbands, finding things they enjoy outside of being housewives. Their book club blossoms into true lifelong friendship and I loved it. Our book club meeting isn’t for almost a month, but I am excited to hear what everyone thinks of the book.

Currently Reading: Love You More by Emily Giffin
**2026 Sunshine & Books Summer Beach Read**

You can always checkout what I’ve been reading on my Books 2026 page. I have all of my yearly reading pages linked here if you want to see what I’ve been reading for the last 8 years.

I started back to school yesterday, so I don’t think I’ll have another eleven book month in September. I do have three fall books I am excited to start after the pool closes so hopefully I’ll finish all of them. I have one more book to read to meet my Goodreads 2026 challenge. I read a ton last year and wasn’t sure how many I’d get to this year so I set my goal 5 books higher than last year’s goal. Have you read any of these books? What did you think? What was a great book you read in August? Have a great day full of sunshine and books!

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