Diamonds in the Rough

Hey hey friends! I'm just checking in during this busy summer season. I'm sure everyone has been having fun in the sun - I know I have.  Maybe it's more like "fun in the shade" for me but what better place to read!?  I've mixed up my book game a bit lately. I used to have my favorite authors (I think I've mentioned this before). Once I'd read all their books, I would search out an author with a similar style and read all of their books. Search out a similar author...read all the books...cycle continues.  I'm expanding my horizons now - sometimes in a traditional way, sometimes in a not so traditional way.  My "traditional ways" I love include getting recommendations from my friends (which is the whole heart and soul of this blog), shopping book stores and browsing libraries.  My "not so traditional ways" are garage saling, social media sales and thrift shopping.  There's really no research or conversations in those non-traditional moments - you just make a quick decision based on the cover and a scan of the description.  You just never know what diamond you might find in the rough. 

I was giving my sister some books to read that I had recently finished and she suggested that I write a blog post about them. So I snapped a quick un-staged picture before she walked out the door (sorry not sorry). I should probably be doing something else...laundry is hanging on the clothesline ready to be taken in and I literally had my computer out to start working on my photo album from 2020...but writing to you all sounded like more fun (the photos have waiting 2 years, what's a few days more at this point!). One of these books was a book I read because I liked the author and the other two books were those "diamonds in the rough" finds.  Hope you enjoy them!

Forever, Interrupted is the book I mentioned above by an author whom I love. Taylor Jenkins Reid writes such amazing, dramatic novels.  Now that I'm thinking, I've actually reviewed two of her books. You can find the review on After I Do here and the review on The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo here.  The whole premise of Forever, Interrupted is a young woman, Elsie, meets Ben and has an instant connection. So instant that they rapidly fall in love, move in, and get married. However, things take a tragic turn when Ben is killed a week and a half after their wedding in a bike accident.  (I promise you, I'm not giving you a spoiler here - this is on the back of the book).  However, in the hours and days following Ben's death, Ben's mother, Susan, becomes a major character.  His mother has never met Elsie, actually never even heard of her - is this an intentional omission of Ben's or just a 'never the right kind of moment' situation? These two strangers are both in the depths of grief and have so many unanswered questions - questions that they realize there may never be an answer to. As I read, I saw chances for hope, paths through darkness and moments for forgiveness. The question is - will Elsi and Susan take these moments or let them slip by? I'll link the book below.  

Moving on to book # 2. If You Only Knew by Kristan Higgans. I'd never read one of Higgans' books - actually never heard of her (advance apologies if she is one of your favorites). I picked this one up as one of the "diamonds in the rough" and read it on vacation. Boy was it a great drama. We meet Jenny and Rachel, two sisters living in New York.  As I read, I realized I couldn't really relate to the whole concept of living in New York - I'm a small town girl.  Jenny designs wedding dresses that I suspect may cost more than my car. Even though I couldn't connect with living in New York, I could absolutely connect with the characters. They were all so relatable.  Jenny recently divorced her husband but is still friends with him...and his new wife. She moves closer to her sister and opens a wedding dress store for a fresh start. Her sister, whose kids are a bright light for Jenny, is a role model - has the perfect marriage, perfect house, perfect kids. However, perfect is in the eye of the beholder. Rachel faces her own struggles including her husband cheating on her. Will she stay with him, forgive and forget what's happened? Or will Rachel embark on the same journey as Jenny? As Rachel's perfect world is crumbling, Jenny finds herself connecting with her building superintendent, Leo. He is charming but closed off in a way that makes Jenny quesiton if he is a "player." She is hoping that love will win him over - I'm wondering, as you read, if you will want Jenny and Leo to make it or if you'll think she should have heeded the "player" warning bells.  I loved this book so much I plan to read more of Higgan's work...maybe another review to come!

And last but not least, book #3.  I picked up Ask Again, Yes from a garage sale for literally 50 cents.  Not making that up.  I figured that for 50 cents, I didn't really care if it was good or not. The book was well worn which tells me maybe it was well loved - tossed in and out of bags, car, beach chair.  It was fabulous! Ask Again, Yes was written by Mary Beth Keane, another author I hadn't even heard of. You meet two kids, Kate and Peter, when they are middle school age. They are next door neighbors and spend a lot of time together.  All this time together, along with the hormones of teenage years, leads to more than just friendship. There's tension and disconnect between the two families which boils over one night in events that no one can undo.  As you read, you follow Kate, Peter and their families as they deal with trauma, grief, loneliness, forgiveness and love.  I watched (or actually read but really I like to say I watched as I pictured it all in my mind) as Kate and Peter grow into adults facing all the tough stuff they've feared as they go this journey.  Will they stay connected or do the events of that one night cause them to forever lose each other, and even themselves?  Another drama, yes, but an oh so good one! 

As I read each of these books, I was struck by a thought that I just love the moment that I realize why the author chose the title of the book. Ask Again, Yes I figured it out on page 376. It was a light bulb and made complete sense. I wonder if the author thought of the title right away or if it came to them as the story developed, or maybe even in the moment as they were writing page 376. The title of my blog post was "A Few Recent Good Reads" (how creative) but right before publishing I changed it to "Diamonds in the Rough" haha.  

Post a comment of any books you've loved recently and let me know if you want to keep reading this blog!  Anyway, that's all I've got for you today.  Enjoy these books.  Books are linked below, or as always check out your local library and bookstore!  I am an Amazon associate and may earn a small comission for any purchase - thanks in advance!