Two Nights in Lisbon by Chris Pavone

This was different than I expected because I thought it would be just a straight thriller, but then you start realizing that something else is going on partway through the book, and you try to figure out what is happening. This book is about Ariel Pryce, who wakes up on a vacation in Lisbon and is worried to realize that her new husband is missing. She tries to track him down and spends the next two days looking for him, trying to get the police and the embassy to help her. And then you realize other things are happening and that there is more going on than you realized at first... I thought this book was really satisfying and interesting, and it was so nice to see true justice exacted on someone who was really terrible. 

You Think It, I'll Say It by Curtis Sittenfeld

I burned through these short stories really quickly and thought they were so good. I really liked each one of them and how they represented such different people. I feel like a short story is such an interesting genre that I don't read enough of, but every time I do, I am so engaged and interested and wish I read more of them. I don't have anything specific to say about any of the specific stories, but it was definitely worth the read. 

Just Haven't Met You Yet by Sophie Cousens

After reading This Time Next Year, I figured I could read another Sophie Cousens romance in an afternoon and relax a little more. This one was less enjoyable than This Time Next Year though, and I ended up skimming a few chapters because I was wanting to get to the good part, where she realizes who she's in love with. Laura is obsessed with meet-cutes and with having a great romantic story, because of her parents' sweeping love story that she's heard since birth, and then she accidentally ends up with the wrong man's luggage at the airport and decides that this must be the man for her. She somehow ends up getting a cab driver to drive her all around the island of Jersey looking for this guy, and it becomes increasingly evident that she should be with the cab driver to everyone except her. It took a while but eventually everything got figured out. I thought it was cute and that was all. 

Second First Impressions by Sally Thorne

I was so annoyed by this that I ended up not finishing it. Is it lame to still review it on here and count it as one of my books? No. I spent a number of hours listening to this story and I just couldn't rack up the energy or the interest to try and finish it. Ruthie works at a retirement community and is such a nervous person that it's hard for her to even leave the property without having panic attacks. Then Teddy, a huge, muscular, tattooed man comes and ends up working as an assistant at the community. For some reason, he is clearly attracted to her and acts like she's the most interesting person on earth even though she DEFINITELY IS NOT. I just found their dynamic weird and creepy and completely not believable, and I didn't want to find out how they got together because it did not make any sense to me. 

This Time Next Year by Sophie Cousens

I don't know where I heard about this book, but it seemed like a light, fluffy, quick romance that would be easy to inhale as an e-book on my phone. (I don't know why, but I've been reading a LOT on my phone lately, which I never, ever used to do except when nursing. I've gotten a lot more reading done this way this last month.) This book is about Minnie Cooper (yep), who was born on the same night and in the same hospital as Quinn Hamilton, and has spent her whole life feeling resentful toward him for stealing her name. I thought it was a cute story and I kind of liked all of the near-misses where they kept almost running into each other throughout the book. I wasn't super overly invested in it, though, but I was happy that it worked out in the end. 

Eat a Peach by David Chang

I didn't realize I was going to be reading another Asian-American immigrant/child of immigrants story, after reading We Were Dreamers and Portrait of a Thief, but it turned out to be a part of Eat a Peach too. David Chang is a famous restauranteur who opened Momofuku in NYC in the early 2000s, and his memoir is unexpectedly candid about his flaws and his mistakes. He doesn't even spend a lot of time apologizing for what he's done; he just acknowledges them and talks about his mental health problems and the things he was going through at the time. He was blunt and sarcastic and definitely not a stereotypical memoir-type author, and I thought it was a really interesting view into the life of a professional chef.

That Sounds Fun: The Joys of Being an Amateur, the Power of Falling in Love, and Why You Need a Hobby by Annie F. Downs

This is another one of these unexpectedly Christian authors that I accidentally stumbled across and ended up reading her book. I liked the idea of the title, because I feel like books that are about hobbies and being an amateur sound up my alley, and will be motivating to help me try new things and get out of my ruts. And I thought this was a fine book, with cute essays and stories, but honestly nothing super shocking or brand new. It was only about 6 hours and I got through it super quickly and don't remember anything super concrete about it, even though it was just a few weeks ago. So it was so-so.