"Summer" Reading

I use the term "summer" reading loosely. The first book I am going to share I actually started back in January, on the way home after I found out my mom was being airlifted to Milwaukee to try and not panic the whole way there. I don't do the reading I should during the school year, and I was a little stressed and trying too hard to do too much anyway most of the spring. However, I finally finished the book earlier this summer, so it fits the title in that aspect!

***

Here's the description from Amazon:

"Four women bound by chance take the trip of a lifetime in Karen McQuestion's fifth novel The Long Way Home.

For Wisconsinites Marnie, Laverne and Rita, life isn't working out so well. Each is biding time, waiting for something better, something to transport them out of what their lives have recently become. And then there's Jazzy: bubbly, positive, and happy even though she hears voices of the departed. Brought together by a chance meeting, the women decide to join Marnie on a road trip from Wisconsin to Las Vegas where she intends to reunite with Troy, the boy she raised as her own—and who she’s been separated from since her boyfriend’s death. Little do they know that as the road trip unfolds, so will their lives—in directions they never anticipated. Humorous, heartwarming, and bittersweet, the journey has something special in store for each woman."

***
Even though it took me forever to get through, and even though I feel like a book that one can walk away from for months and pick up without losing a beat shouldn't get that good of a review, I really liked it. It was a good story line, with just enough suspense to make you want to keep reading. I'd agree with the 4-star rating it has on Amazon.

***
And book number two.

Amazon description:

"Former Broadway dancer and current agoraphobic Billy Shine has not set foot outside his apartment in almost a decade. He has glimpsed his neighbors—beautiful manicurist Rayleen, lonely old Ms. Hinman, bigoted and angry Mr. Lafferty, kind-hearted Felipe, and 9-year-old Grace and her former addict mother Eileen.

But most of them have never seen Billy. Not until Grace begins to sit outside on the building’s front stoop for hours every day, inches from Billy’s patio. Troubled by this change in the natural order, Billy makes it far enough out onto his porch to ask Grace why she doesn’t sit inside where it’s safe. Her answer: “If I sit inside, then nobody will know I’m in trouble. And then nobody will help me.”
Her answer changes everything.

By the bestselling author of WHEN I FOUND YOU, SECOND HAND HEART, and PAY IT FORWARD, DON’T LET ME GO is the heart-breaking, funny, and life-affirming story of a building full of loners and misfits who come together to help a little girl survive—and thrive—against all odds."

***
I picked this book because I had previously read another book by Catherine Ryan Hyde. The story line was a little bit darker than I was expecting, but yet a situation I could easily picture as reality for kids I've worked with. So, in that sense I liked the book and the story line. A little bit suspense, a little bit warm-hearted, it's a good read!

***
I don't really feel like I need to say this, but just in case, my opinions are just that. I've included the links to Amazon, but just for fun!

Are you reading anything good this summer? I am about half way through another book, but always looking for recommendations. I usually buy from Amazon straight to my Kindle, and stick to the cheaper books! Not that I wouldn't splurge on a good one, or something new if I knew it was worth it!