Books I'm Digging in June 2018

This quote is basically summing up the last two weeks of the reading-paloosa wave I'm currently riding.

It all started with this Isabelle de'Medici's biography by Caroline F. Murphy. I ordered it after our trip to Florence and I wanted to dig into the family that built and controlled that little city like an empire for so many generations.

It turned out Isabella's life was fascinating and wonderful, until her father died and it became a hell. But, that's what makes it a good story. I couldn't put it down.

Following this kick, I quickly ordered a Josephine Bonaparte biography but haven't read it yet. Her story and legacy is beyond amazing. But before I go there ....

We starting watching heist movies with the girls. The Ocean's 11 movies are pretty tame and can be enjoyed by the whole family. And that lead up to seeing the new Ocean's 8 movie at the theaters last weekend.

This all made me long for Kat, Hale and the Heist Society series by Ally Carter. Yup, I've read the entire series twice. Yup, it took me about four days to read it all again. (Here's my original review of Heist Society.)

And yup, Ally Carter replied to me when I tweeted all this on Twitter. So, I was a superstar for about 10 minutes. Ahh!

Then, while riding this book high, the The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang was recommended to me. It's getting all kinds of buzz, and is "one of the most popular books of the year," so far. It's billed as "chick lit" but let's just call a "romance novel" what it is. I'm a huge fan of sexy rom coms but I really and truly did not like it about halfway in. I skimmed to the end, just to find out what happens to Stella. Nope. Not recommended.

However, at about the same time, I picked up (and by "picked up" I mean bought off Amazon for my Kindle ... seeking American-English books here in Paris isn't a game I want to play) this debut romance from Sally Thorne called The Hating Game. Romance novels about intense hate turning into intense love is a favorite of mine (hello Pride and Prejudice) and this one is very steamy and intense. But oh so good. So so good.

And thanks to her funny and sly writing style, I'm adding Sally Thorne to my list of favorite authors, pending her followups. The next one isn't due out for a few months, but I'm hoping it's as good. Fingers crossed!

Next, I will likely dive into that Josephine novel or a few books that have been languishing on my To Read pile. So many books, so little time.

Last, I've got a few friends at the ALA conference this weekend. ALA is the American Library Association, and it's where they see the newest books for the Fall. You know I love Fall Books! So, I'm starting to think ahead to all the best and brightest publishing in a few months.




Related links:
See all the past year's Fall Books I was anticipating
Binge all the Book posts. ALL of them!
Other Digging posts (not just books) 

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