The Two of Us by Taylor A. Torres (Purchase)

Mara has no intention of returning home, facing what she ran away from, and coming back to a place that caused so much pain for her. However, when she learns her father's cancer is near the end, she decides it's time to go home. It's been seven years since she saw Ambrose and seven years since her terrible mistake and when she returns home, she quickly learns he's still living across the street and she might not be able to avoid him. Mara and Ambrose have many layers, they were childhood best friends and through the years they have a lot of history and love but there's also trauma. Their love story isn't over and readers will be turning the pages to see what happened and whether they be able to move forward. This book does deal with the death of a parent, it has small-town vibes and tragedy. We don't always make the right choices or say the right things during hard times, but life keeps moving on and we need to figure out how to proceed. I really enjoyed this book, and I think more people need to read it. It is available on Kindle Unlimited, and I encourage you to give this one a read. 4/5 rating.

How to read more for less? If you're a part of the bookish community in any way, you'll notice many large book hauls and I want to tell you that you don't have to spend all of your money on books. If you want to, go ahead I won't judge but here are my tips on reading more for less. Yes, I'm a book blogger but more than anything I'm an avid reader and I love finding those five-star reads; jumping into new stories, and meeting new characters. Books are expensive, inflation is everywhere and I want to help those who want to read and want to do it with less money. 

Friday is here, and it's the last week of summer break for us. My son will be starting school next Thursday, and I will admit I'm a bit nervous for next week. My son has an anxiety disorder and going back to school will be a hard transition for him. I'm hoping for the best, but expecting it not to go smoothly. There will be a lot of reassurance and coaching as we settle back into the school routine. If you have a child who struggles with anxiety and panic- I feel you. We have a plan set with his therapist and I'm hoping we get more answers this year.

Let's Talk About Books will be a new series on my blog. Instead of writing a full-length post for each book, I'll include a few books to talk about. You'll notice I like to read a different type of book once I finish a book. I think grouping them into groups of four will give readers a great recommendation selection. If I read the same genre over and over, I will get burnt out and fall into a reading slump. This way I can keep reading and keep myself engaged. Happy reading!

This is the third book in the Lovelight Farms series, I didn't review the others but they're called Lovelight Farms, and In the Weeds. Each book covers a different couple at the farm and in Mixed Signals we read about Layla Dupree, the talented baker but someone who's very unlucky in love. These books were originally on Kindle Unlimited, I do believe they're now traditionally published. If you've read the other books in the series, you won't be disappointed with this one. 

The Naturals by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Reading Blog / Book Journal

Source: Purchased

Rating: 5/5

Jennifer Lynn Barnes is the author of The Inheritance Games series which I'm sure most of you have heard about. If you haven't read that series, please do. I knew she had a backlist of titles and I had a few of them on my wishlist. When Larry Reads on Youtube recommended this series, I thought I would give it a try. It was the encouragement that I needed to try more of her books. This series is quoted to be a "Criminal Minds" for a young adult audience. I'll admit, I've never watched Criminal Minds, I don't watch tv, nonetheless, I was very entertained and I highly recommend this series.

June was a great reading month for me and I read nine books. That seems to be my average in the last couple of months. 2023 has actually been a good reading year and I closed out June with 47 books read. I don't consider myself a fast reader, and I don't like to read more than one book at a time but I feel like I've done a great job selecting books that suit me. I've been trying to find different books or less talked about books and this will be a goal of mine going forward. I watch quite a bit of Booktube and I tend to see the same books over and over and I want to seek out more backlist titles and not just the popular or new-release books that everyone else seems to be reading. 

Crimson River by Devney Perry

Reading Journal/Review

Source: Purchased

Spoiler Free

The Eden series by Devney Perry has been a four or five-star series for me. I couldn't wait to pick up the fifth book in the series, Crimson River. In this romantic suspect novel, we have Lyla Eden, one of the Eden siblings who can always be found at her coffee shop. When her sister demands she takes the day off because it's been one hundred days since her last day off, no one could possibly imagine that Lyla would find herself the victim of an attack. When the local police department quickly has no leads, Lyla puts her trust in Vance who has come to track down the man who he believes has killed before. Vance has been trying to track down this man for years, and he won't give up.