currently reading: I’m about a third of the way through Catherine McKenzie’s Please Join Us, which comes out Tuesday. It’s about a lawyer who finds herself struggling at work through no fault of her own. She gets an email that starts out “Please Join Us,” and she finds herself intrigued by a women’s empowerment group asking her to become a member. Her husband warns that her it wounds a little like a cult, but she doesn’t agree and goes away for a week to ranch in Colorado. She meets some other women and commits to the group, even though they ask her to do difficult things. This book is a little honest about the struggles professional women face, and it’s a little bonkers in a culty way. I can’t wait to find out what happens. I’ve also been listening to the audio book for The Overdue Life of Amy Bylers, which is good. Amy is a school librarian who has been raising her two children alone for several years, since her husband went on a business trip to Asia and decided to move there. Now he’s back and wants to get to know the kids again, so Amy decides to spend some time in New York City, visiting an old friend and going to a conference for other school librarians. It’s a little slow, but it’s sweet and written with emotionally intelligent characters, and the narrator does a good job. I think the best character is Amy’s teenaged daughter, who is keeping a reading journal at her mother’s request, and has incredible insights for a high schooler. I would love to read an entire book about her.

up next: Ten Speed Press was kind enough to send me this beauty to review. I am a huge pasta fan, so I am looking forward to reading this cookbook. I’ve poked around a little, to drool over the beautiful photos, but I haven’t done my deep dive yet. It’s by Odette Williams, who also wrote Simple Cake, and those are two of my favorite food groups right there, pasta and cake. Delicious!