New Year, New Books: Reading List 2019

New Year, New Books

Reading List for 2019

I am constantly adding books I would like to read to my Pinterest board, or to my Notes app on my phone.  Coming up with books I would like to read for this 2019 was not difficult. The hard part was narrowing down my selection to twelve.  I figure I can comfortably get through a book a month (hoping for more since I have a back up list ready to go if I do complete my twelve) with all the other “have to do’s” that come up.  

Here is my reading list for the new year in no particular order.  

I Owe You One by Sophie Kinsella ---Sophie Kinsella is one of my favorite authors.  Her writing is witty and funny! I’ve read all of her books, and I am excited to add another one to my reading arsenal.

“Fixie Farr saves an investment manager’s laptop from being destroyed, meaning he owes her a favor. She cashes in to get her friend a job—all while Fixie and investment hottie Sebastian’s relationship begins to evolve.” (Amazon)

 Next Year in Havana by Chanel Cleeton

“After the death of her beloved grandmother, a Cuban-American woman travels to Havana, where she discovers the roots of her identity–and unearths a family secret hidden since the revolution.” (Amazon)

Surprise Me by Sophie Kinsella-- Here she is again on my list.  I saw it and had to add.

“A story about a married couple who is told they will have 68 more years together, after being married for 10 years, and they panic wondering how they will keep their marriage fresh so they concoct a plan Operation Surprise Me to keep things from becoming boring.” (Amazon)

The Beginning Place by Ursula K. Le Guin--This will probably be my first book of the year.  A friend of mine gave it to me as a gift, and I am looking forward to diving in.

“Irena Pannis was thirteen when she first found the beginning place. Now, seven years later, she has grown to know and love the gentle inhabitants of Tembreabrezi, or Mountaintown, and she sees Hugh as a trespasser.

But then a monstrous shadow threatens to destroy Mountaintown, and Hugh and Irena join forces to seek it out. Along the way, they begin to fall in love. Are they on their way to a new beginning...or a fateful end?” (Amazon)

Save The Date by Morgan Matson--This looks like a fun drama-filled family novel when the main character’s family is all coming together under the same roof for her older sister’s wedding and everything seems to be going wrong.

“Charlie Grant’s older sister is getting married this weekend at their family home, and Charlie can’t wait—for the first time in years, all four of her older siblings will be under one roof. Charlie is desperate for one last perfect weekend, before the house is sold and everything changes. The house will be filled with jokes and games and laughs again. Making decisions about things like what college to attend and reuniting with longstanding crush Jesse Foster—all that can wait. She wants to focus on making the weekend perfect.  The only problem? The weekend is shaping up to be an absolute disaster.” (Amazon)

6.  Small Great things: Jodi Picoult---A good friend of mine has read every Jodi Picoult book and has said nothing but great things about them. I have read one or two, but would like to make my way down that author list as well.

“Ruth Jefferson is a labor and delivery nurse at a Connecticut hospital with more than twenty years’ experience. During her shift, Ruth begins a routine checkup on a newborn, only to be told a few minutes later that she’s been reassigned to another patient. The parents are white supremacists and don’t want Ruth, who is African American, to touch their child. The hospital complies with their request, but the next day, the baby goes into cardiac distress while Ruth is alone in the nursery. Does she obey orders or does she intervene?” (Amazon)

Girl wash your face Rachel Hollis-- I have this book.  I’ve had this book for a while.  I have read chapter one. It’s not that I don’t like the content or the writing.  The first chapter was great and very relatable. At the end of the day, when I lay down to read, I tend to grab a fiction story where I can escape the stressors of the day behind me.  I don’t typically pick up “self-help” books. I do, however, think this book is more than that. It’s more of a conversation with a friend. One I intend to finish this year.

“As the founder of the lifestyle website TheChicSite.com and CEO of her own media company, Rachel Hollis developed an immense online community by sharing tips for better living while fearlessly revealing the messiness of her own life. Now, in this challenging and inspiring new book, Rachel exposes the twenty lies and misconceptions that too often hold us back from living joyfully and productively, lies we’ve told ourselves so often we don’t even hear them anymore.” (Amazon)

Letters to my daughter by Maya Angelou---  Maya Angelou.  Need I say more.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “Maya Angelou shares her path to living well and with meaning in this absorbing book of personal essays.  Here in short spellbinding essays are glimpses of the tumultuous life that led Angelou to an exalted place in American letters and taught her lessons in compassion and fortitude: how she was brought up by her indomitable grandmother in segregated Arkansas, taken in at thirteen by her more worldly and less religious mother, and grew to be an awkward, six-foot-tall teenager whose first experience of loveless sex paradoxically left her with her greatest gift, a son.”

Watching You by Lisa Jewell-- I was a fan of Gone Girl and Girl on the Train.  I read this one had the same page turning, mind blowing capabilities.

“Tom Fitzwilliam is beloved by one and all—including Joey Mullen, his new neighbor, who quickly develops an intense infatuation with this thoroughly charming yet unavailable man. Joey thinks her crush is a secret, but Tom’s teenaged son Freddie—a prodigy with aspirations of becoming a spy for MI5—excels in observing people and has witnessed Joey behaving strangely around his father.  One of Tom’s students, Jenna Tripp, also lives on the same street, and she’s not convinced her teacher is as squeaky clean as he seems. For one thing, he has taken a particular liking to her best friend and fellow classmate, and Jenna’s mother—whose mental health has admittedly been deteriorating in recent years—is convinced that Mr. Fitzwilliam is stalking her.” (Amazon)

The Lost Girls by Heather Young---Lots of twists and turns, with the past colliding with the future.

“A stunning debut novel that examines the price of loyalty, the burden of regret, the meaning of salvation, and the sacrifices we make for those we love, told in the voices of two unforgettable women linked by a decades-old family mystery at a picturesque lake house.  In 1935, six-year-old Emily Evans vanishes from her family’s vacation home on a remote Minnesota lake. Her disappearance destroys the family—her father commits suicide, and her mother and two older sisters spend the rest of their lives at the lake house, keeping a decades-long vigil for the lost child.   Sixty years later, Lucy, the quiet and watchful middle sister, lives in the lake house alone. Before her death, she writes the story of that devastating summer in a notebook that she leaves, along with the house, to the only person who might care: her grandniece, Justine.” (Amazon)

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin -- Lately I have been really into psychological thrillers.  It could possibly be all the Lifetime movies I tend to watch, so this one was right up that alley.

“If you like darker, more intense novels, then you’ll love this psychological thriller. Mara Dyer can’t remember anything that happened the night of the accident that killed her best friends. Even after starting a new school and befriending the sexy, confident Noah Shaw, Mara’s sinister experiences, nightmares, and dark hallucinations continue to unfold in a breath of chilling twists. It’s an enticing read that’s sure to have you up all night.” (Amazon)

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater--This one sounded like a tender story, even if it is about a wolf boy.  I’m a sucker for fighting for the one you love.

“For years, Grace has watched the wolves in the woods behind her house. One yellow-eyed wolf—her wolf—is a chilling presence she can't seem to live without.  Meanwhile, Sam has lived two lives: In winter, the frozen woods, the protection of the pack, and the silent company of a fearless girl. In summer, a few precious months of being human… until the cold makes him shift back again. Now, Grace meets a yellow-eyed boy whose familiarity takes her breath away. It's her wolf. It has to be. But as winter nears, Sam must fight to stay human—or risk losing himself, and Grace, forever.” (Goodreads)

Happy Reading!!! ~Esmeralda