Photo Credit: Lisa Fotios @ Pexels.
The Weekly Book Date is where I talk all things books from the previous 7 days.
Up until Friday (1 March), this week’s WBD was going to be epically short because I hadn’t read, bought or pre-ordered any books. Like I mentioned in Five Star Reads – February 2024, I’ve been distracted by working on my family tree and I’ve definitely neglected reading. Thankfully Friday brought with it 2 x purchases and 3 x future books I’m really excited about in addition to the 2 x books I’m currently partway through.
All the best, Louise x
Currently Reading (2):
Disclaimer: The reason that I haven’t finished reading either of these books yet isn’t because I’m not enjoying them (I totally am).
(1: Kindle) The True Love Experiment by Christina Lauren from last week’s WBD.
(2: Paperback) Play for Me by Libby Hubscher (2023)
When her new job takes her to a New England boarding school, she’s surprised to find her roommates are all men – including a very handsome one who plays by his own rules.
Sophie Doyle has her dream job as the head athletic trainer for her favourite baseball team (go Red Sox!), a handsome boyfriend, and easy access to the finest cannoli in Boston. When she loses all three and the World Series to boot, she’s forced to apply for the open trainer position at an arts-focused boarding school in New Hampshire. The only available room is a glorified closet in an apartment with three guys: Jonas Voss, the aloof and attractive orchestra teacher, and his two rambunctious roommates.
Sophie knows that training a bunch of privileged high school kids whose idea of a play is A Chorus Line instead of a walk-off homer is going to be a big change from the pro athletes she’s used to. She wasn’t expecting that these students would have big-time talent and even bigger-time problems. Sophie has troubles of her own—Jonas is a full-fledged grump who clearly doesn’t want her near him or the precious piano he never plays.
With sunny optimism, Sophie sets out to win over Jonas and help the kids she’s growing attached to. But when her relationship with Jonas moves to the major leagues and plans change at the end of the season, they have to choose whether they are playing for keeps.
Tags: New-to-Me Author
What I Bought This Week (2):
There weren’t enough UK Kindle Book Deals in March 2024 for a full post but I did find 2 x amazing deals: Beach Read, which is the only Emily Henry book I haven’t read so far and was 99p and California Golden, which I’ve had on my Amazon Wish List for months and was £1.49.
(1) Beach Read by Emily Henry (2020)
Augustus Everett is an acclaimed author of literary fiction. January Andrews writes bestselling romance. When she pens a happily ever after, he kills off his entire cast.
They’re polar opposites.
In fact, the only thing they have in common is that for the next three months, they’re living in neighboring beach houses, broke, and bogged down with writer’s block.
Until, one hazy evening, one thing leads to another and they strike a deal designed to force them out of their creative ruts: Augustus will spend the summer writing something happy, and January will pen the next Great American Novel. She’ll take him on field trips worthy of any rom-com montage, and he’ll take her to interview surviving members of a backwoods death cult (obviously). Everyone will finish a book and no-one will fall in love. Really.
Tags: Favourite Author
(2) California Golden by Melanie Benjamin (2023)
Southern California, 1960s: endless sunny days surfing in Malibu, followed by glittering neon nights at Whisky A-Go-Go. In an era when women are expected to be housewives, Carol Donelly is breaking the mold as a legendary female surfer struggling to compete in a male-dominated sport–and her daughters, Mindy and Ginger, bear the weight of her unconventional lifestyle.
The Donnelly sisters grow up enduring their mother’s absence–physically, when she’s at the beach, and emotionally, the rare times she’s at home. To escape questions about Carol’s whereabouts–and chase their mom’s elusive affection–they cut school to spend their days in the surf. From her first time on a board, Mindy shows a natural talent, but Ginger, two years younger, feels out of place in the water.
As they grow up and their lives diverge, Mindy and Ginger’s relationship ebbs and flows. Mindy finds herself swept up in celebrity, complete with beachside love affairs, parties at the Playboy Club, and USO tours to Vietnam. Meanwhile, Ginger–desperate for a community of her own–is tugged into the vibrant counterculture of drugs and cults. Through it all, their sense of duty to each other survives, as the girls are forever connected by the emotional damage they carry from their unorthodox childhood.
Tags: New-to-Me Author
Cover Reveals (3):
(1) Dr. Single Dad (Doctors #5) by Louise Bay (11 April 2024)
Unexpected fatherhood, a newborn daughter and a nanny in the bedroom next to his he can’t stop fantasizing about.
When a one-night stand announces I just became a father to a baby girl, my world is thrown into turmoil. My choice: single fatherhood or sign adoption papers. The decision is easy.
Within hours, I’m on a plane to collect my daughter. I barely know one end of a baby from the other. I know I’m in over my head, but I have the perfect plan. I’ll hire live-in help, have limited involvement with the kid, and keep my life just the same.
I finally find a nanny who lives up to my exacting standards. But the only problem is, every time I look at her, the future I thought I wanted starts to crumble.
Nothing in my life is going according to plan… and the wriggling poo machine in my arms is unexpectedly worming her way into my heart.
Life was ordered and logical until I got myself two roommates and I’m falling in love with both of them.
Tags: Favourite Author / Favourite Series / Nannies / Secret Babies
(2) Dinner for Vampires by Bethany Joy Lenz (22 October 2024)
In the early 2000s, after years of hard work and determination to breakthrough as an actor, Bethany Joy Lenz was finally cast as one of the leads on the hit drama One Tree Hill. Her career was about to take off, but her personal life was slowly beginning to unravel. What none of the show’s millions of fans knew, hidden even from her co-stars, was her secret double life in a cult.
An only child who’d often had to fend for herself and always wanted a place to belong, Lenz found the safe haven she’d been searching for in a Bible study group with other Hollywood creatives. However, the group soon morphed into something more sinister—a slowly woven web of manipulation, abuse, and fear under the guise of a church covenant called The Big House Family. Piece by piece, Lenz began to give away her autonomy, ultimately relocating to the Family’s Pacific Northwest compound, overseen by a domineering minister who would convince Lenz to marry one of his sons and steadily drained millions of her TV income without her knowledge. Family “minders” assigned to her on set, “Maoist struggle session”–inspired meetings in the basement of a filthy house, and regular counselling with “Leadership” were just part of the tactics used to keep her loyal.
Only when she became a mother did Lenz find the courage to leave and spare her child from a similar fate. After nearly a decade (and with the unlikely help of a One Tree Hill superfan), she finally managed to escape the family’s grip and begin to heal from the deep trauma that forever altered her relationship with God and her understanding of faith.
One Tree Hill is definitely the TV series I’ve rewatched the most. After reading The Rural Diaries: Love, Livestock, and Big Life Lessons Down on Mischief Farm by Bethany’s co-star, Hilarie Burton Morgan, I knew a lot of unsavoury things were happening BTS on OTH but it’s still crazy to think that Bethany was living a secret double life during filming in what sounds like a terrifying cult.
(3) The Jewel of the Isle by Kerry Rea (26 November 2024)
If Emily Edwards knows one thing, it’s that you don’t go to a remote island by yourself. Ever the type A personality, Emily doesn’t want to hike around an unfamiliar island, but she’s determined to fulfil her late father’s national park bucket list, starting with Isle Royale National Park—home to wolves, bears, and hundred-year-old shipwrecks. She has no choice but to hire a tour guide, and there is only one that isn’t booked solid.
Ryder Fleet, co-owner of Fleet Outdoor Adventures, wouldn’t call himself a wilderness expert, and he definitely doesn’t know how to find true north. But when his dormant adventure guide business suddenly finds life again after a random inquiry, Ryder somehow finds himself on a ferry to Isle Royale with a very beautiful, no-nonsense woman. What this woman doesn’t know is that his brother Caleb, who died two years ago, was the outdoorsman of their business, while Ryder just did the marketing. But how hard could it be to hike up a few mountains?
Pretty difficult, actually, when murder is involved. Emily’s perfectly planned trek turns disastrous when she and Ryder witness a brutal crime and are suddenly forced to evade a group of archaeologists on the hunt for a jewel. As they spend nights together too close for comfort, they realize their shoddily built fire isn’t the only thing that’s kindling, and that they must trust each other if they want to escape the island with their lives—and hearts—intact.
Tags: Favourite Author
I’m so happy we’re getting a new book by Kerry Rea even if we do have to wait until November. The 2 x books Kerry has written so far were both Five Star Reads: Lucy on the Wild Side (November 2022) & The Wedding Ringer (December 2022).
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Louise Hall 