**Review**

Waiting For Tom Hanks, Kerry Winfrey

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Confession: I LOVE rom-com movies. Like, love them more than Chris Evans. Okay, maybe not that much. (If I’m being honest, Chris Evans is my Tom Hanks.)

Until this year, I didn’t love reading rom-coms. In fact, I swore them off. Then I read one. And then another. And, well, turns out that I do love them.

Waiting For Tom Hanks was a fun read with characters I adored. I loved Annie and Drew but Chloe stoke my heart, and I cannot wait for @kerrywinfrey’s next book because it’s Chloe’s story!

Another thing I loved about Waiting For Tom Hanks? It wasn’t set in NYC. It was set in Columbus, Ohio and in an area I’ve actually spent time in. Earlier in my career, I worked on the  Max & Erma’s marketing team. That restaurant started in German Village, where this book takes place. I love being able to connect to a book’s setting.

If you love a solid rom-com with lovable characters and Midwestern settings, you’ll enjoy this one. 

**Review**

If Only I Could Tell You, Hannah Beckerman

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Beautiful. Tragic. Beautiful. What an emotionally draining read. It was also impossible to put it down, and I read it in under 4 hours.

The prose was absolutely beautiful. Figurative language that will gut you.

Audrey, Jess and Lily have survived the unthinkable. But, it takes them 28 years to come out on the other side.

I’m such a sucker for tear jerkers. As a mom and as a daughter who lost a parent to cancer, this story reduced me to tears more than once.

Thank you to the publisher for the gifted copy in exchange for an honest review.

**Review**

Love on Lexington Avenue, Lauren Layne

⭐️⭐️⭐️(Out 9/17/19)

Love on Lexington Avenue is a solid romcom read. It follows all the tropes we love. They hate each other. They like each other.

But the one trope I wish we could all put behind us is the one where the woman constantly sells herself short and believes she isn’t worthy of the man she’s admiring. We spend pages upon pages on her listing every reason why she’s not the one for him.

Claire is broken. Her now dead ex-husband was a cheater and a liar, but his adulterous ways led her to her new BFFs (who are highly entertaining and lovable). I do wish we got to see more of Claire’s growth on her own. 

**Review**
The Tattooist of Auschwitz, Heather Morris
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The one good thing about reading a lot of WWII historical fiction is I’m always prepared for an emotional and tragic journey. Because Lale and Gita are real people who lived to tell their story, I was able to read The Tattooist Of Auschwitz knowing that there would be at least one small happy ending.

That said, this book was emotionally challenging. The personal view of life in a concentration camp puts you right in the middle of the horrors and abuses. I’ll never understand the sadistic evil and pure hatred some feel towards others, but it is stories like the ones that belong to Lale and Gita that remind me that love wins.

**Review**

The Reckless Oath We Made, Bryn Greenwood

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This is one of those books that grabs you from page one. The writing is flawless. The story is engaging, challenging and unique.

Every single character is worthy of an entire book, but I adored Gentry. Normally multiple POVs can sometimes bog down a storyline, but not this one. The transitions are seamless, and each perspective provides further insight to Zee and Gentry, the main characters.

Zee is flawed. She’s selfish. She’s has a knack for finding trouble. Gentry heard voices and speaks in Middle English verse. Yet somehow, they are exactly what each of them needs.

In summation, read this book. Read it slow and devour the prose and lose yourself in the story.

**Review**

We Came Here to Forget, Andrea Dunlop

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Phew. What a ride this book was. From page one, I was intrigued with Katie and Penny. I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough… and it’s highly possible that I read ahead to get a few answers I was too impatient to wait for. (I love me some spoilers.)

We Came Here to Forget is a powerful, emotional story. I so want to go deeper into details, but I know not everyone loves spoilers as much as I do. Just know your heart strings will be pulled in a million different directions.

**Review**
The Mothers, Brit Bennett
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I came into this book knowing nothing. I didn’t read the jacket. I didn’t look at reviews. I just dove in head first.In the beginning I was confused by the POV. It felt disconnected.

My feeling was wrong. Guys. I was wrong. I felt disconnected, but I was so into the story and characters, that I devoured this book.

About halfway in, I was in love with the storytelling and unique POV. I couldn’t put the book down. Nadia and Aubrey were such robust and engaging characters. The mothers, with their iconic church lady gossip and observations, added another complex layer to this beautiful story.

I did not want it to end.

**Review**

The Secrets Of Lost Stone, Melissa Payne

⭐️⭐️⭐️

While I enjoyed the overall story and the way the characters connected, I could have done without the paranormal elements. They added an unnecessary creep factor that I wasn’t expecting based on the genre. In other words, don’t do what I did. Don’t read this while sitting in the dark in a creaky rocking chair while rocking your toddler to sleep.

Jess, Star, and Ben are Lucy’s “loose ends.” Each character has experienced pain and loss. It didn’t take me long to figure out how they were connected and what role each played.

The writing and storytelling kept me engaged despite the creepy factor and the obvious plot twists.