Fitness Junkie

Southern belle Janey Sweet and Beau Matthews have been best friends since childhood and business partners for most of their adult life. They have created the hottest wedding dress design company in NYC called B. After a lifetime of Janey kowtowing to Beau’s whims, the straw has finally broken the camel’s back. Beau has insisted that since Janey has gained weight she should take a few months off, get back in shape and “like” herself again. Janey is devastated. Work is her life and Beau is the air she breathes. Through the world of over the top NYC lifestyles and the price tag that goes with them, authors Lucy Sykes and Jo Piazza had me laughing out loud for this entire book! Janey and her best friend CJ set out to lose the weight with abusive trainers and restrictive bizarre eating plans. But maybe a kick in the butt was exactly what Janey needed to see the light again. She makes some outrageous new friends, accepts her recent divorce and has the best sex she has had since college. A hilarious spoof on insta selfie’s and obsessive botox, you may scarily see too much truth in this alternate reality. We all have a little bit of this in our lives but whatever makes you happy! Just make sure it really makes you happy, because thats what matters. Highly recommend this hilarious well written read to take to the beach for the last days of summer. Get ready for some fun!

The Address

Sara Smythe has been handed the opportunity of a lifetime. The year is 1884 and Sara is head housekeeper at a luxury hotel in London. When she assists a child of a guest named Theodore Camden, he is so grateful that he offers this industrious woman a ticket to America and an opportunity to run his up and coming apartment building in NYC, The Dakota. The chemistry between Sara and Theo is immediate and it takes only a few moments for Sara to grab hold of this chance to change her life. A hundred years later Bailey Camden is just out of rehab and desperately trying to get her interior design position back. Her wealthy cousin, Melinda Camden, offers her refuge and a job decorating her newly inherited apartment in none other than The Dakota. Alternating between the span of years, The Address narrates the lives of these two women with their uncanny similarities and vast disparities, especially for an unmarried woman in the late 1800’s. What a difference a century can make! Filled with historical detail, romance, an insane asylum and a murder, The Address was truly unputdownable. Definitely add this fabulous read to your summer picks.

When the English Fall

After a solar storm practically shuts down every city on the planet, there is pure and utter chaos. Jacob and his family live in an Amish community near Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Their lifestyle leaves them virtually the only people unaffected. Already self sufficient farmers and skilled workmen who use little or no electricity, these families continue on their peaceful, quiet daily routine. When news of the world outside their settlement starts to trickle in and violence and desperation inch closer, their ethics, practices and conscience must lead the way. Narrated by Jacob, a farmer living with his wife Hannah and their two children - they must choose how they can serve G-d and question what it will take to survive. This very simple story quietly examines technology, morality and the goodness that can be ripped from mankind when desperation occurs. What begins as “what would you do to save your family?” quickly transforms into “what  kind of life are we living every single day?” After my own summer melt down where I was reading books that although wonderful, were becoming indecipherable - When the English Fall completely woke up each of my senses. Similar to A Prayer for the Dying by Stewart O’Nan, this beautifully written novel by David Williams will leave you both fascinated and a little nervous. I don’t think it was meant to scare you as much as to force you to contemplate the choices we make every day. Highly recommend this fabulous new book! Absolute 5 STARS!