just finished: nothing, but I am very close to finishing to Two Old Men and a Baby. It’s a lot of fun!

currently reading: I spent most of my weekend with Lauren Layne’s To Sir, with Love. It’s a rom com that comes out this Tuesday, and it’s just delightful. Gracie Cooper runs her family’s champagne shop, but evil landlord Sebastian wants to buy her out and put up yet another huge New York skyrise. Meanwhile, the guy on her dating app that’s never met or even seen a photo of is stealing her heart with his supportive remarks and old-school chivalry. Anyone familiar with You’ve Got Mail or The Shop Around the Corner knows how this is going to go, but the ride there is absolutely charming. For a darker balance, I’m also reading Kate White’s The Fiancée, also coming out this Tuesday. Actor Summer is spending a week of vacation with her husband and his family, a thing they do every year. But this year, his brother has brought a new woman, also an actress, who Summer recognizes. But when Hannah acts like she’s never met Summer or been in the acting showcase with her, Summer begins to have serious doubts about this woman and her motives toward her brother-in-law. She shrugs off most of her concern, knowing that Nick doesn’t tend to keep women around very long. But then he proposes, and Hannah says yes, and Summer is concerned about what that women wants with the family. This domestic thriller has all the chills, tons of secrets, and lots of fun for a hot summer read. I’m also listening to voice galleys for YA book The Girl Least Likely about a girl who takes her stupid crush on her best friend and turns it into material for her new stand-up act. This is a fun book, with lots of smart characters and strong ties to it’s Maine setting. Watch for it this Tuesday!

up next: I have a bunch of books from earlier this year I need to get caught up on, so watch for a little of everything these next few weeks. But this weekend we did make time to go to our favorite indie bookstore in town, Rainy Day Books, (first time since they reopened! so happy to see them doing well!) so of course I did some damage. The pic is below, but I found a cookbook called Rage Baking that features a bunch of fierce women chefs sharing their recipes and encouraging women to bake and to get involved with social issues. I also got The Chicken Sisters, since I’ve heard such good things, the Lee Child edited How To Write a Mystery (am I thinking about giving it a try? maaaaaaaybeeeeee. we’ll have to see how things go), and a little gem of a book from Japan. Before the Coffee Gets Cold is about a small cafe that has one seat that allows you to travel back in time, but only for the length of a cup of coffee. It’s a short book—just about 260 pages, but in a small format—and I find everything about this book intriguing. It’s one of those kooky books that I would only find and pick up in an indie bookstore, but I have found some very special reads that way, and I am looking forward to seeing what this one is all about.

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I have set myself some reading goals for 2021. Some of those goals are about how many books I want to read (I set my Goodreads goal for 225), or listen to (60 audiobooks). But other goals are to finally read classics that I missed when I was younger (Little Women, Jane Eyre), to read a Shakespeare play (Othello or King Lear, because I am less familiar with those), and to read Alexander McCall Smith’s No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, because while I’ve read many of his books through the years, I have not ready any of his set in Botswana. I will try to check in quarterly and see how far I’ve gotten. Here’s my full list:

1. Read 150 books through NetGalley. 81/150

2. Read 50 books from Edelweiss. 4/50

3. Read 50 publisher arcs/Goodreads giveaways. 22/50

4. Listen to 60 audio books. 4/60

5. Read the following books: Little Women

6. Jane Eyre

7. Howard’s End

8. Othello or King Lear

9. The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency

10. Cause Celeb

11. The Buried Giant or Never Let Me Go

12. Fever Pitch

Overall, I’m at 104 out of 225, so that’s not too bad. I still have a lot of audiobooks to listen to get that number up, and I’m planning on tackling some of these specific titles in July. I have some more work to do, but I’m not feeling too bad about these numbers. I just need more time to read!