October Reads and Reviews

Somehow we're almost through with the month of November, but I still have lots of fun books to share that I read in October! Let's get right to them-


Yours Truly by Abby Jimenez


For the most part I really enjoyed this book- Abby always writes such great characters with so much depth and the conversations always seem so realistic. My only complaint about this was all of the fake drama- I usually love the fake relationship trope, but this time it just seemed so forced and dramatic for me. I liked the side characters a lot, particularly the grandpa and Jafar! Such a fun and easy read.

My rating - 3.5/5


When in Rome by Sarah Adams


This was another cute romance by an author I love to read and I know it'll just make me feel happy on the inside when I read it! This was a bit more of a slow burn to me- it took a while for me to get into it but once I did I couldn't stop. I liked the town setting and all of the quirky town people, and also loved the developing relationship. Super sweet and clean romance!

My rating - 4/5


The Golden Spoon by Jessa Maxwell


The Great British Bake Off meets Clue? Sign me up! A really quick and easy read with some baking drama and a murder mystery thrown in. Not the best writing ever, but I really enjoyed the story line and need more GBBO-esque books. 

My rating - 3/5


How to Fake it in Hollywood by Ava Wilder


Another fake dating story - this one was a bit more of a miss for me. The pace was all over the place for me and I found myself getting bored at a lot of parts then getting really into it, then it dropping off again. The plot also seemed kind of random with adding in drama whenever possible for no reason. In the end I did enjoy it but could have done with a bit more editing in it.

My Rating - 3/5


Audio Books

Practice Makes Perfect by Sarah Adams - Second book in the When in Rome series, and I adored this!! The narration was really good and I just loved the characters and plot. So, so good.

How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix - This was my book club pick for October and it was so creepy and gross. I don't know how he comes up with these ideas in his books but they're always bonkers. It made for a great discussion and a good Halloween read.

The Honeymoon Crashers by Christina Lauren - This was a quick audio-only book that is a follow up of the Honeymooners. The experience was definitely unique with the audio and it kind of took away from the story for me. It was fine but not great.

Comments

  1. NGSNovember 11, 2023 at 4:14 PM

    When in Rome. Such sweet characters, but they ARE NEVER GOING TO MAKE IT. I was so depressed by the end of that book. LOL.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Gretchen BraunNovember 22, 2023 at 10:54 AM

      haha I thought the same thing!! the newness of it will wear off and then what will happen?

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Relationship Rules I Broke (and WEDDING PHOTOS!)

Image
Happy Thursday everyone! Today I have a different type of post to share today.  I don't talk about relationships or my dating life much on the blog, but I'm switching it up today!  I got married last Friday, and I thought it would be fun to share some relationship rules that I broke while Dan and I dated. I'll also be sharing some wedding pictures!  We got married at the Butterfly Falls at the Hidden Valley Inn in Belize (more on the Inn in upcoming posts!), and the pictures turned out absolutely amazing.  Since we had a "just the two of us" ceremony, there's not much to talk about the actual wedding.  In lieu of a full post on that, I'll be sharing some background information on our relationship, along with wedding photos and some #ThrowbackThursday pictures.  I hope you enjoy (and I promise- back to running stuff next week!) Guys are immature, so date someone older I've always read in magazines (which, by the way, have the worst datin
Read more

Towpath Half Marathon Recap

Image
Hi everyone and Happy Tuesday!  Today I'll be recapping my race this weekend, the Towpath Half Marathon.  Overall, I had a great experience at the race and would definitely recommend it!  Before I dive into the mile-by-mile recap, I just wanted to give some overall thoughts and reviews of the race as a whole. The Towpath Marathon features three races- a full marathon, half marathon and 10k.  All three races are in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, but all run different courses.  The half and 10k start at the Brandywine Ski Resort, while the full starts at the Boston Mills Ski Resort (where the expo is held). The course is mostly on a narrow crushed limestone trail that is relatively flat.  There are a few sections that were paved and a few small walking bridges that provided the only real inclines.  It's really hard to pass people (particularly near the turn where it's two-way traffic) since the trail is so narrow. There are a lot of water stations, and each o
Read more

Review- Group Power

Image
Happy Weekend everyone!  Today, I'll be doing a review of another group exercise I do at my gym called Group Power !  Let's get right into it. First off, the description in our program guide is "This 60-minute barbell program strengthens all your major muscles in an inspiring, motivating group environment with simple, athletic movements such as squats, lunges, presses and curls." I don't exactly look like this when I'm curling..but you get the idea! Let me tell you, this is one intense workout!  For the entire 60 minutes, we're constantly moving and lifting and by the end I'm a pool of sweat!  We work out all the major muscle groups - Legs, Chest, Triceps, Biceps, Glutes, Shoulders, and Core with light to moderate weights.  We also use a step to do exercises like chest presses and split squats. For each song, we focus on one muscle group, and do a variety of exercises with lots of repetitions, set to the beat of the music.  The tempo of the
Read more