“We‘re a family. There are two kinds of family, those you‘re born into and those you put together from pieces that don‘t go anywhere else, and this is one of this families.”

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ It‘s difficult to talk about this book without giving anything away, so I‘ll just say this story took turns I certainly wasn‘t expecting and I raced through it alternating reading it and listening to the audiobook. Entirely entertaining! I‘d watch any movies based on Shari Lapena‘s books!

#bookreview #audiobook #libbyapp

The #audiobook is the way to go for this psychological thriller! The narrators were awesome.

Told through the voices of three children, this beautiful story captures snapshots and feelings of one life-changing summer. I'd hand this to anyone who is looking for an emotional story with an uplifting ending.

Need a captivating, unsettling and emotional psychological thriller to keep you up at night?!? Get your hands on The Night Swim by Megan Goldin. It is right up there with (better than, I think) Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train. It‘s impossible to put down and covers a serious and heavy issue - how our society (and legal system) treats victims of rape. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ #audiobook #thriller #summerreading

July was a great reading month for me! My favorites were Pizza Girl, The Book of Lost Names and The Mothers.

I‘m 2/3 of the way through and I still don‘t know what sister to trust and it is driving me bananas! Plus - look at this beautiful cover! #audiobook

Last week I read a review of this book in a weekly email I get on Saturdays but rarely open. I couldn‘t stop thinking about the book - well, the main character - an 18yo pregnant pizza delivery driver who becomes obsessed with a person who orders pepperoni and pickle pizzas. Five days later, I flew through this coming-of-age story in 24 hours, I want a large veggie pizza and I‘m definitely going to read that weekly email every week now. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Everyone‘s been affected by a piece of music - felt drawn to pick up your phone and look up the lyrics or find out more about the person who sang it.
In this book, we‘re presented with a gift of memories of a woman as she encounters a momentous piece of music. Within her memories, the author weaves letters, poems, questions and insight into the lives of the composer, Benjamin Britten and poet, Wilfred Owen. This books is art, captivating & unique.

Have you ever gotten sucked into a movie or show you didn‘t even want to watch - and then found yourself unable to do anything else for the rest of the day because you had to know how it ended? That happened to me yesterday - with this book.

Late night house cleaning session before we leave for vacation. Please tell me I‘m not the only one who cleans like a madwoman before leaving my house...

For the last four days, I‘ve thought about the characters in The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett constantly. I was absolutely mesmerized by this emotional family story - a spectacular story of race, identity and gender. Completely unlike my normal reading habits, I put aside all the other books I was reading and switched back and forth between the #audiobook (thank you, Libro.fm) and print - savoring every moment with these characters. 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

This is my current read and listen right now.
I can‘t stop thinking about the characters!
It is mesmerizing.

It‘s taken me longer than normal to listen to Michelle Obama‘s Becoming. I‘m sad I‘ll be finishing it tomorrow. Damn, I miss the Obamas.

LOVED THIS rom-com with intelligent and humorous characters! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Party of Two by Jasmine Guillory (June 2020) is the 5th in The Wedding Date books - you can read them in any order! I just loved how this story not only showed the path of the characters‘ relationship but also their paths of discovering who they are inside and outside of a relationship.
This book is out in June! Thanks to #netgalley and Berkeley Romance for the advanced copy.

Quite possibly in my top five books for 2020!
I fell into this book expecting something completely different - and it was much more rewarding that way.

This #audiobook is keeping me company as I cook, bake, wash dishes and do laundry today!

Remind me NEVER to attend a wedding on a haunted island in a storm! And, yes, those are chocolate chips haha #botm #fridayreads

If you read only one book this month, make it this one. 🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩

In this #memoir, Tracy Walder, shares her journey as an education major in a USC sorority house to working in the CIA and eventually the FBI - taking down terrorists through surveillance, undercover tactics and interviews. Her memoir, based on diaries, journals and news accounts, had to be reviewed by the CIA before publication, but to keep the narrative, Ms. Walder chose to keep the redacted parts by having them blacked out.

An enjoyable rom-com read! Tiffy needs somewhere to live and Leon needs money. She works days and he works nights. They decide to share the same flat at different times of the day and somehow never bump into each other. But they get to know each other through notes left in the flat. Guess what happens when they finally meet?! 🥰

The side stories in this book are what kept me going through a snoozy part in the middle.

My February Reads.
I‘m loving everything by Taylor Jenkins Reid!

Just finished up this book for our book club discussion tomorrow. I haven‘t read it in more than 20 years and honestly forgot almost everything about it. That‘s why these rereads are so good for me - to remember the story and read it with a fresh (older) perspective.

1. Book - Dear Sweet Pea by Julie Murphy and Audiobook - The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson
2. Biking & gardening
3. Where the Red Fern Grows and The Tattooist of Auschwitz (both for book club)

#weekendreads @rachelsbrittain

Finally located Volume One to request through the library! 🤞🏼🤞🏼🤞🏼 this will be a perfect book for the middle of February ❤️

Erik Larson is one of my favorite nonfiction writers. His writing is so well-researched and he can make any topic captivating! This, his latest, will be published 2/25. Thank you to Libro.FM and Penguin Random House Audio for the ALC! #audiobook #nonfiction #ww2 #eriklarson

Un-put-down-able is a word, right?
Because that‘s what this book is!

It‘s like this book was written to be an #audiobook! Have you listened to it?!?

I read some beautiful but hard and gritty books in 2019. The themes often made me angry or left me wiping away tears. As I reflect on this year of reading, I find that even in these difficult reads, I see hope. I see hope in people/characters who experienced loss of some kind or another and then found themselves embraced by a new community - sometimes unexpectedly. And those are the types of books our world needs right now. Realistic and hopeful.

Happy PUB DAY to this amazing book!

I finished 8 books (4 audio and 4 print) in November and DNF 2 (not shown)! Don‘t make me pick a favorite because they were all different and all based on my mood. Ha!

This amazing opportunity only lasts through December 2! Learn more here: http://libro.fm/referral?rf_code=lfm78389

#realpeoplemonday #audiobooks #shoplocal #smallbusinesssaturday #cybermonday #blackfriday

My #weekend #audiobook - I love Ruta Sepetys‘ beautifully researched writing and characters!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

So adorably entertaining. Three separate (but connected) short stories of teenage romance during the biggest snowstorm ever on Christmas Eve.
There‘s a #Netflix movie out now, too!

Nothing More Dangerous by Allen Eskens is on sale 11.12.19 and I devoured it this past weekend, thanks to an #arc from #netgalley and #mulhollandbooks

A well-written story of the summer of 1976 when a white teenage boy is awakened to the racial and social tensions in his small Missouri town.

This is going to be a fantastic story for college literature classes and book clubs to discuss!
#recommendsday

This is the story of a young girl in Nazi-occupied France. It's a story about standing up with love and kindness during a time of war. It's something our country's youth needs right now. Buy it & gift it to an important young person in your life. Buy it, read it and pass it on to a local classroom or school. Check it out from your library. Both the #audiobook (thanks, Libro.fm and Penguin Random House Audio) and the printed copy are astounding.

I was absolutely captivated by this collision of secrets, history and love. The audiobook was unbeatable; an engaging narrator and news reports, journals, etc. narrated by others really added an extra touch. This is one of the only stories I've ever finished and immediately wanted to start reading again.

I received an ALC from Libro.Fm and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Grabbed this #audiobook #ALC from #librofm and the little boys and I are listening to a chapter each day on our drive to school. The narration is a full cast and it is wonderful!

Anyone else have to hide books from their kids so you can read something different once in a while?! Little Blue Truck has been a favorite in our household for 3+ years. I just pulled this out of hiding and I know I‘ll have excited boys when they see it is back on the book shelf. It was a #switchwitch gift 2 years ago!
#raisingreaders #littlebluetruck #aliceschertle #picturebook #halloween #fall #pumpkin #momlife #boymom

This is what I was doing the second I finished #reading The Nightingale this afternoon. I mean, I was listening to the #audiobook from #hoopla - don‘t worry. This was a difficult book for me. World War ll fiction is something I need to read especially about of women and mothers - #historicalfiction shows me history through the eyes (and hearts) of the people who lived it. #bookclub

Grabbed this #audiobook from the #October #ALC list from Libro.fm 😍 SO SO GOOD

#historicalfiction #yalit #rutasepetys

Have I mentioned how much I love being a librarian?! We had author Mindy Mejia at our library this week and people came from all over to hear her speak. My favorite part of an author visit is hearing the author read her own writing.

P.S. We ran out of chairs and we sold out of her books!

#ilovemylibrary

Started this last night on my #kindle - it‘s an #arc from #netgalley
Publication date is January 2020!
Book 2 in the Hot & Hammered series

My current #audiobook and also for #bookclub in October. Not completely loving it yet...

If you're one of the many #littens who loves to get their paws on an #ARC and you haven't heard of #bookishfirst yet, feel free to use my referral code to get yourself 100 points toward an #ARC of your choosing!
Referral code: 798a9945d9157bf55
https://www.bookishfirst.com/users/sign_up

I got my paws on an #ARC of this true crime #memoir coming out October 15 and you should definitely put it on your list! #nonfiction #stolenidentity
Thanks to the publisher and #netgalley!

I thought this was going to be a woman firefighter falls in love with a coworker sort of book.... but there were so many other themes in this book and I appreciated them - a young person in the role of caregiver, coping with past traumas, family dynamics. It was good! #botm

Comfy clothes and my #weekendread while the little boys snooze and the big boy works on a project in the garage.

The 2nd book in the Bexley Squires series does not disappoint! It is a quick read with great characters and twists and turns that will keep you guessing the whole time. Temperance Rose's dog is kidnapped, and when the dog is returned, her million dollar collar is missing. So, she hires Bexley to find the collar and the thief. But, as Bexley digs deep into her investigation, she finds much more dangerous secrets lurking below the surface.