currently reading: omg, I am reading such a fun book! Not Here To Make Friends came out a couple of weeks ago, and fans of reality shows like the The Bachelor should take note. Two producers of the show and best friends become enemies when after a year of silence, one of them joins the show as the villain on the show. This book is a delicious mix of rom com and behind-the-scenes of a reality show where the producers are full-on creating extra drama, and I am loving every word.

I’m also reading The Memo. This one comes out on Tuesday, and it’s one you’re going to hear about this summer. A woman is getting ready to go to her 15th college reunion, but she feels like a loser, like somehow she was left off the memo that explains how to be successful in life. And then she gets the first text, the one that comes from an anonymous sender that tells her she is in fact correct, and she didn’t get the memo her friends did. So she goes to the reunion and finds out who sent the text, but more importantly, she is offered the information that bring her all the success she feels like she’s missed out on. And she has to decide what she wants to do next. Does she take the memo and run with it, or does she keep living life on her own terms, even if that means she continues to feel like a loser?

A lot of early readers have been reading this book and posting on social media what they would have put in their own memos. So watch for BookTok and Insta videos where readers talk about this book and their own personal choices in their lives.

I’ve also started reading another book that came out earlier this year, Listen for the Lie. I was hooked from the first sentence, where a woman says that a podcaster is out to ruin her life so she’s going to buy a chicken. I was super interested in that. And then I realized that she just meant she was going to get some chicken to make for dinner, not like a pet she’d keep in the backyard. But it’s still a great story, and I forgave the chicken thing. So this one is about a woman who was accused of killing her best friend five years before. She left Texas because everyone thought she was a murderer and didn’t believe that she had no memory of that night. But now a podcaster has decided to take on the case, and he’s shown up to her small Texas town to try to find the truth.

I listen to true crime podcasts, and almost immediately I thought I knew who this podcaster is based on. I listened to that first season of his, and I see similarities. But that aside, this is a fascinating look at those who are affected by crimes that are not solved and prosecuted, and I am looking forward to seeing where it goes. This is beautifully written, with a strong plot and likeable characters, even the one who just may turn out to be a murderer (although at this point in the book, I don’t believe it).

up next: I won a copy of Tessa Bailey’s The Au Pair Affair on Goodreads, and it finally showed up on my doorstep. It’s a rom com starring a hockey player, which seems to be everywhere right now. It’s a big theme this year, so you can enjoy them or ignore them, whichever you like. But I am looking forward to jumping into this one, and while I am not a huge hockey fan, I am rooting for Edmonton to win the Stanley Cup this year.