Happy Monday! What’s On My Shelf

Happy Monday, my fellow book readers!

Can you tell that I’m excited to start another week?

I am sharing what’s on my shelf at the moment – what I recently finished reading, what I’m currently reading, and what I plan to read in the near future.

What I Read Last Week

The Favorite Sister by Jessica Knoll

Synopsis:

Five very successful women star in a reality series set in New York City called Goal Diggers, and no one predicted that season ends in murder…

Who was killed, and why?

Brett’s the favorite of LGBTQ fans and the object of jealousy from her cast mates. Kelly is Brett’s older sister and business partner and the newest cast member. Stephanie is the first black cast member with a rift between her and her former best friend, Brett. Lauren is Goal Diggers’ recovering addict— everyone loves a comeback story. And Jen plays a holistic hippie for the cameras, but is perhaps the most ruthless of them all when the cameras are off.

This is the literary equivalent of Real Housewives of New York – backstabbing, fame obsessed characters, and an inside peek at what goes on after the TV cameras are turned off – a must read for fans of this show or any reality show!

The Coincidence Makers by Yoav Blum

Synopsis:

What if the drink you just spilled, the train you just missed, or the lottery ticket you just found was not just a random occurrence? What if it’s all part of a bigger plan? What if there’s no such thing as a chance encounter? What if there are people we don’t know determining our destiny? And what if they are even planning the fate of the world?

Enter the Coincidence Makers—Guy, Emily, and Eric—three seemingly ordinary people who work for a secret organization devoted to creating and carrying out coincidences. What the rest of the world sees as random occurrences, are, in fact, carefully orchestrated events designed to spark significant changes in the lives of their targets—scientists on the brink of breakthroughs, struggling artists starved for inspiration, loves to be, or just plain people like you and me…

This plot just HOOKED me, line and sinker. I’m writing my review now, but in a nutshell, this book was really thought provoking and entertaining.

What I’m Reading Now

Other People’s Houses by Abbi Waxman

Synopsis:

At any given moment in other people’s houses, you can find…repressed hopes and dreams…moments of unexpected joy…someone making love on the floor to a man who is most definitely not her husband…

*record scratch*

As the longtime local carpool mom, Frances Bloom is sometimes an unwilling witness to her neighbors’ private lives. She knows her cousin is hiding her desire for another baby from her spouse, Bill Horton’s wife is mysteriously missing, and now this…

After the shock of seeing Anne Porter in all her extramarital glory, Frances vows to stay in her own lane. But that’s a notion easier said than done when Anne’s husband throws her out a couple of days later. The repercussions of the affair reverberate through the four carpool families–and Frances finds herself navigating a moral minefield that could make or break a marriage.

This book has been compared to Big Little Lies and I’m ready for another book like that! It has rave reviews. So far, so good!

What I’ll Read Next

How Hard Can It Be? by Allison Pearson

Synopsis:

I Don’t Know How She Does It introduced Kate Reddy, a woman as sharp as she was funny. As Oprah Winfrey put it, Kate’s story became “the national anthem for working mothers.”

Seven years later, Kate Reddy is facing her 50th birthday. Her children have turned into impossible teenagers; her mother and in-laws are in precarious health; and her husband is having a midlife crisis that leaves her desperate to restart her career after years away from the workplace.

Will Kate reclaim her rightful place at the very hedge fund she founded, or will she strangle in her new “shaping” underwear? Will she rekindle an old flame, or will her house burn to the ground when a rowdy mob shows up for her daughter’s surprise (to her parents) Christmas party? Surely it will all work out in the end. After all, how hard can it be?

I really enjoyed I Don’t Know How She Does It, because I just had a baby at that time and I related to Kate’s struggles as a working mom. Now, Kate has teenagers and I do too! I expect it to be as funny as the first book.

What are you reading?