Hi guys!

I took another unintended hiatus and I can only apologise for that… but not too much because I know you guys understand and I have been trying to pop in to everyone’s blogs when I can, at least.

I hit a book slump and blogging slump hard and the best way to get over it? It was to stop trying. Honestly, the less I tried to force myself to blog and read and the more the motivation slowly returned. It was crazy stuff. I admit, writing the first couple of posts was difficult to say the least, writing words is so much more difficult after time away but I shook off the dust and soon the words started flowing.

So this is a sort of wrap up and update all in one. But since I’m posting it on a Sunday and have no real blog related updates it’ll be a Sunday Summary, makes sense, right?

What have I been doing whilst I’ve not been blogging? Did I tell you guys I’ve booked my holiday? If I haven’t then this is me telling you. We’re returning to New York in June and it’s going to be awesome. Hopefully, June weather will be a touch better than we had in September as we had a whole lot of rain which was not fun, but we did have fun. This time we’re trying to tick the other stuff off the list, like the Statue of Liberty and actually getting to see a decent view from a skyscraper. Our hotel has a rooftop bar and views of the Empire State Building so fingers crossed we manage to get a seat and have a couple of cocktails to enjoy that. I also will try and return with plenty of clothes and books because this is my last big trip for a while. I need to sort myself out and buy a house then.

I had my birthday in February, as well. I am now 28. My friends enjoyed informing me I was almost at 30 (and, on the topic, I was born in 1991 and so when you’re watching a documentary where the narrator person refers to that year as nearly 30 years ago you can bet I am kicking off about that. How rude!). I didn’t really do much on my actual birthday, I booked the day off of work and met up with a friend on her lunch break for a catch-up and presents, which was lovely. I did have a combined birthday night out with someone I work with and it was actually a really fun night out with the folks I work with. Drama free and a good laugh. I also met up with some friends the day after that night out for brunch at a lovely farm shop/café/tearoom/who knows what it was. Despite being knackered (because I never sleep well after drinking) I wasn’t hungover and the breakfast/brunch there was delicious. I definitely want to do that more often.

I also booked another short break whilst I've been away, but that’s to attend my step sisters wedding so I don’t know if counts as a true short break. Also, I’ve been forced to book a caravan with my brother so we can both have flashbacks to family holidays, but it’s down south (this is significant because the south of England is much warmer) by the sea (which is exciting because I live several hours away from the beach so I’m all kinds of excited about going to a beach). It should hopefully be nice, that’s my significant event for August so I need to sort out something to wear. What do folks even wear to weddings?

I can’t think of anything else exciting which has happened. Turns out you’ve not missed out on too much. I need to do more things to fill you in on. I suppose that means we need to move on to the books portion of this post.

These are my finished reads and I can’t say I disliked any of them. Ayesha At Last Might be my absolute favourite, I won’t lie, but the rest were decent. Long Shot I thought I would hate because of angst… but I actually quite enjoyed it. And I forgot how enjoyable I find all of Sarah Dessen’s books. Once and For All isn’t my favourite but she still managed to deliver a really lovely read (and I removed another unread book from my Kindle).

These are my abandoned books. I thought I’d love Truth or Beard (and why do I always want to type bread instead of beard?) but it turns out to be totally not for me. The MC was a little annoying, the bearded dude seemed interesting but then I could just tell side drama was coming and I just knew to call it quits. Rivers of London I read as part of an upcoming post. I say read, I read the first chapter and just knew I wouldn’t be enjoying that book. The other two books I read for the post aren’t on here because I’ve not committed to either DNF-ing or to start reading.

And these are the books that I haven’t committed to DNF-ing so I class them as currently reading (and I genuinely am currently reading Invisible Women). I will finish Offensive Behaviour, On The Come Up and Hunting Ground eventually (although Hunting Ground is a reread, to be fair). Invisible Women, though, is one of those rare non-fiction books I commit to reading and end up loving. I mean, it fills with me so much rage and has made me realise a few things, but it is so fascinating. Honestly, I recommend it and I will try and talk about it when I finish.

I finally watched The Hate U Give (I know, I made poor life choices not watching it sooner). It was utterly spectacular, I was crying watching it. The rest of you will judge me hard for not watching it sooner, I know, but I got there in the end and I have been telling everyone I know to watch it too. I don’t know how many people will listen to me, but I told them, at least.

I think we’re all caught up, what have you guys been doing since I’ve been gone? Any books recs I missed out on? Tell me anything and everything.

Hi guys… long time no speak. You might have noticed I have been weirdly absent on here lately and posting even more sporadically than usually. I’m here to explain why a little, but mostly to ask for some help.

Where do you turn for recommendations when you’re stuck for reading ideas?

I have been in that awful funk of a reading mood where you know you want to read something but for the life of you you can’t figure what book your brain is hoping you’ll read next (which has impacted my blogging some).

I have always been a mood reader and the unpredictability of my reading mood can be frustrating as hell but the past few weeks it has been out to get me. It’s a serious personal attack because I have no clue what I want to read. not even an inkling.

As a mood reader I find picking my next book to be the worst kind of struggle. Sometimes I am eager to read the same kind of book over and over until my brain rebels, and sometimes each read must be the polar opposite otherwise a funk will set in. I can find a book which is perfectly fitting for my mood one day but is exactly what I don’t want to read the next. It’s a constant struggle to make sure I stay invested in whatever I read and lately it’s been more of struggle than I’m used to. I am getting bored for no reason and really finding it hard and just curl up with a good book. If I don’t read them fast (and I don’t always have the time for that) then I won’t finish it at all and I’m hating how many books I feel like DNF-ing recently.

Some might say don’t force yourself to read and you’ll come across the perfect book when you’re ready. I laugh in the face of such logic, I want to read now god damnit! I will force myself to read everything until the prefect book appears.

I have tried to read old books gathering digital or actual dust on my shelves. I’ve tried turning to bloggers whose opinions I trust to see what they’re enjoying lately. I’ve tried looking at popular books lists and latest releases. But to no avail. I don’t know what I want to read and I fear I will never find it and I’ll be stuck putting down books left and right for all eternity. (No, you’re being dramatic).

So tell me what you do when you don’t know what to read next? Is there a tried and true method which works for you or are you utterly confused by the mere concept of mood reading and have your future reads written down as a nice orderly list?

Second Chance With Her Billionaire (Billionaires for Heiresses #1) – Therese Beharrie

I requested this book on Netgalley on impulse. It arrived in my Mills & Boon Insiders email and I knew the author name immediately, Nick had mentioned several of her books, so I knew I should take the chance whilst there was one up for request.

I have no regrets.

It was an emotional rollercoaster of a book and I adored every second of it.

I was hesitant when I saw it was a second chance romance where the couple were previously married. I couldn't figure out how it could be written for me to believe the couple actually were meant to be together and deserved a HEA. I thought they would have too many issues between them and I'd be struggling to believe their reunion. After all, there had to be a reason they didn’t work out together and I couldn’t see how that giant obstacle could be overcome.

I was wrong. It worked perfectly.

Inside these pages, I discovered a beautifully written romance of two characters, Summer and Wyatt, who so obviously belonged together but were pushed apart by each other, but also by their own past. The pair so obviously loved one another, from the first time they are on the page together their connection was undeniable. Their divorce happened for very real reasons, their own personal issues meant that the first time around as much as they meant to each other it could never have worked. But this time around, no matter how much they may not have realised it, they were meant to be together. They needed the two years apart to grow and learn more about themselves so they could come together once more and work on the issues they had as a couple too.

I did not expect to become so invested in their lives and their struggles. I didn't want to put the book down once I started. I loved Summer as soon as she was eyeing up the waiter hoping he could act as a buffer for the awkward moment she would see her ex-husband again. And I fell for Wyatt as soon as I learnt of his past and felt for him when I realised how his past would affect how he felt about the divorce as Summer asked for the divorce not him. It was just spectacular and I was emotionally invested from the first page.

It killed me seeing both of them avoiding talking about their divorce and both misunderstanding what happened there. And then when they did discuss it I was crying as they still weren't listening to each other and I so desperately wanted them to work things out with each other. I don’t think I’ve been so invested in a couple getting back together as I was here. I genuinely teared up a little bit reading this because it was heartbreaking how much they loved each other and how they truly were what the other wanted. They were each other's rock in a lot of ways and so it hurt they weren't together.

Honestly, I've not read any of Therese Beharrie's books before but I feel like I need to get all of them now.

Have you read anything by Therese Beharrie, any recommendations on which I should get next? And if you haven’t, has my review convinced you to give it a try?