July book report, and my holiday reads

Usually I take everything with me on holiday - laptop, Kindle, iPad and iphone.

This time I thought there was no point in taking the iPad and my Kindle, and now I know that was a mistake. I don't enjoy the experience of reading on my iPad so I took ages with book 1.

I much prefer reading on my old-school Kindle precisely because there is nothing else to do with the Kindle but read. So it is exactly like an old-fashioned paper book.

I only took one "paper book" with me to the beach, Me Project, and that was really so that I'd have something to read on the actual beach where there is... sand!

That turned out to be an excellent idea and I flew through the book.

So, onto the reviews:

4 books got 4* and 2 books got 3*.

From the right:

1. The blue bistro - Elin Hilderbrand
This is the 2nd one by this author and while I love all the talk of the beach and Nantucket (on my wish list!), I never fall madly in love with the characters.

Still, nice enough story and I always enjoy peeks at the behind-the-scenes of restaurants.

2. The Cry - Helen Fitzgerald
I'm almost 100% sure Helene (with the 2 sets of twins) recommended this to me yearrrrs ago. Anyway, I bought it and I was just never in the mood for thriller-type books.

But it was on my ipad and I needed something to read fast after my slow reading of book 1 above.

Well, I FLEW through this book. I was completely hooked from the get-go and read it in about 4 hours tops. Loved it.

Favourite quote - "happiness cannot be built on the pain of others"

3. The Me Project - Kathi Lipp
I bought 2 of these types of books years ago - this one and The Marriage Project. I'm a sucker for a ___ days to ________ situation. I have even written two exactly like this :)

This one has a little project for 21 days to walk you back to finding your purpose God's given you despite being in the throes of child-rearing and such.

It was lovely, easy reading and such good action steps. Once this study is back in order (I'm having my desk painted BRIGHT yellow), I want to start working through it again, maybe with my Bible buddies.

Loved it!!!

4. The Husband's Secret - Liane Moriarty

Gee whiz - is there anything this woman writes that's not good? This book is amazing - I super duper loved it! Just get it!

And if you haven't read it yet, does Cecilia remind you of anyone?

5. After the wedding - Roisin Meaney

I've read 6 of her books now and loved each and every one of them. They're all set in Ireland (which has my heart!) and are simply delightful and charming.

This one can be read on its own but if you're going to read all her books as you should, then make sure you read One Summer before this one as the cast of characters is the same.

6. Make it happen - Lara Casey

Otherwise known as The book I read when my flight home was cancelled

I adore Lara's blog and Instagram, but I didn't LOVE this book. It was good enough but there are other books in this genre I'd recommend over this one.

Also, I knew the story from listening to the Jess Lively podcast.

My books for July - a really good reading month even though it was off to a slow start.

What did you read in July? Have you read any of these books? What did you think?
PS Is anyone local interested in joining a Book Club with me?

PPS those are affiliate links. At no extra cost to you, if you shop through those links, I'll get about 20c (for real - why do I bother?!)/ R2 :)