Book 27 of 2026 📖 The Summer Pact by Emily Giffin (4.5/5⭐️)
Four freshmen arrive at college from completely different worlds: Lainey, a California party girl with a flair for drama; Tyson, a brilliant scholar and aspiring lawyer from Washington, D.C.; Summer, an ambitious, recruited athlete from the Midwest; and Hannah, a mild-mannered southerner who is content to quietly round out the circle of big personalities. Soon after arriving on campus, they strike up a conversation in their shared dorm, and the seeds of friendship are planted.
As their college years fly by, their bond intensifies and the four become inseparable. But as graduation nears, their lives are forever changed after a desperate act leads to tragic consequences. Stunned and heartbroken, they make a pact, promising to always be there for one another, no matter how separated they may become by circumstances or distance.
Ten years later, Hannah is anticipating what should be one of the happiest moments of her life when everything is suddenly turned upside down. Calling on her closest friends, it soon becomes clear that they are all facing their own crossroads. True to their promise, they agree to take a time out from lives headed in wrong directions and embark on a shared journey of self-discovery, forgiveness, and acceptance.
Oh this was such a lovely story! I finished my last book and was indecisive about what I wanted to read next. I picked up book after book that I just wasn’t feeling. Then I picked up this one and ran with it.
If I had started this on a Saturday afternoon instead of a Sunday afternoon I 100% would have stayed up reading until I finished it. But because it was Sunday and I’ve learned my lesson about staying up reading on school nights I had to save it to finish after work on Monday.
I love a story focused on friendships, and this definitely was one of those stories. Romance is great and all, but my heart is a sucker for ride-or-die friends.
Book 28 of 2026 🎧 Hidden Nature by Nora Roberts (4/5⭐️)
Natural Resources police officer, Sloan Cooper, and her partner had just taken down three men preying on hikers in the Western Maryland mountains. Driving back, she pulled in at a convenience store―and walked right into a robbery in progress. One gunshot from a jittery thief was about to change her world.
After being shocked back to life on the operating table, she has a long recovery ahead, so she moves back to her parents’ peaceful house in Heron’s Rest. As for the boyfriend who dumped her via text while she was in the hospital, good riddance.
She may be down, but she’s not out. So when a woman vanishes, leaving her car behind in a supermarket parking lot, Sloan searches online for similar cases. She finds them, spread across three states. Men and women, old and young―the missing seem to have nothing in common. And the abductions keep happening.
Luckily, the new man in her life shares her passion for solving this mystery. But it will take every ounce of endurance to get to the dark heart of this bizarre case―and she's willing to risk her life again if that's what it takes to stop the horror.
This is a fairly recent Nora Roberts release, and it took a hot minute for it to be my turn to borrow it on Libby. I don’t typically search out Nora Roberts’ books, but every one that I’ve read I’ve enjoyed! I think maybe this one was a Goodreads giveaway that I had entered and then ended up reserving on Libby when I didn’t get a copy because I thought it sounded good.
The only thing I didn’t like about this is how quick the resolution happened. I expected it to be more suspenseful, but it was too fast to hold me in any suspense.
I really liked all the characters in this book (well except the bad guys, obviously). The performer did a great job with the audio as well. It was long - nearly 15 hours - but at no point did I feel like the story was dragging. In fact I couldn’t believe how fast it went!
Book 29 of 2026 🎧 Ask for Andrea by Noelle W. Ihli (4.5/5⭐️)
He hunted them online, masquerading as an eligible bachelor. Then he played the perfect gentleman, a thick layer of charm and a thousand-watt smile hiding the fact that his first dates end in shallow graves.
He’s gotten away with murder three times now.
The only thing that might keep him from killing again? The women he murdered.
Meghan, Brecia, and Skye might be dead, but they’re not gone. They’ve found each other. And they won’t rest until they find a way to stop him.
Oh this book ❤️
It was so good! I don’t know where I got the recommendation, but I’m glad I took it. It was tragic, but hopeful, which honestly takes a true gift to be able to combine both of those things equally in the same story. The downside to listening to this on audio is that if I wasn't paying specific attention at the beginning of each chapter, I wouldn't know who was talking as the story rotated between three perspectives. That being said, there was a long pause at the beginning of each chapter, so it was easy to know when to re-focus.
FREE on Kindle Unlimited!
Book 30 of 2026 📖 Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke (4/5⭐️)
My name was Natalie Heller Mills, and I was perfect at being alive.
Natalie lives a traditional lifestyle. Her charming farmhouse is rustic, her husband a handsome cowboy, her six children each more delightful than the last. So what if there are nannies and producers behind the scenes, her kitchen hiding industrial-grade fridges and ovens, her husband the heir to a political dynasty? What Natalie’s followers—all 8 million of them—don’t know won’t hurt them. And The Angry Women? The privileged, Ivy League, coastal elite haters who call her an antifeminist iconoclast? They’re sick with jealousy. Because Natalie isn’t simply living the good life, she’s living the ideal—and just so happens to be building an empire from it.
Until one morning she wakes up in a life that isn’t hers. Her home, her husband, her children—they’re all familiar, but something’s off. Her kitchen is warmed by a sputtering fire rather than electricity, her children are dirty and strange, and her soft-handed husband is suddenly a competent farmer. Just yesterday Natalie was curating photos of homemade jam for her Instagram, and now she’s expected to haul firewood and handwash clothes until her fingers bleed. Has she become the unwitting star of a ruthless reality show? Could it really be time travel? Is she being tested by God? By Satan? When Natalie suffers a brutal injury in the woods, she realizes two things: This is not her beautiful life, and she must escape by any means possible.
I do not know how to sort my feelings about this book. I had seen it was kind of… controversial? No, that’s not the right word. It had a mixture of reviews. Some people really liked it, and some really hated it.
The main character was not exactly likable, though by the end, I was definitely feeling for her. This book felt long, but at no point I feel like I wanted to DNF it. I had no idea how it would wrap up, but I really liked how it did. Rating this was hard, because plot-wise, the majority of the book was just kind of meh and 3-star-ish. It was the end that provoked the most emotion in me and led me to contemplate a 4. But then I thought about how expertly the author told the story. The chapters hopped back and forth in timeline, and the way the author wove the storyline/time periods together was really impressive. So a 4 it was!
Book 31 of 2026 📖 Dear Debbie by Freida McFadden (3.5/5⭐️)
Debbie Mullen is losing it. For years, she has compiled all of her best advice into her column,Dear Debbie, where the wives of New England come for sympathy and neighborly advice. Through her work, Debbie has heard from countless women who are ignored, belittled, or even abused by their husbands. And Debbie does her best to guide them in the right direction. Or at least, she did.
These days, Debbie’s life seems to be spiraling out of control. She just lost her job. Something strange is happening with her teenage daughters. And her husband is keeping secrets, according to the tracking app she installed on his phone. Now, Debbie’s done being the bigger person.
She’s done being reasonable and practical. It’s time to take her own advice.
And now it’s time for payback against all the people in her life who deserve it the most.
I needed a quick read to end the month with as I knew I’d be busy wrapping up the school year and preparing for my first summer trip. This was it! I know some people don't like McFadden because her books lack depth, but thats exactly why I like them! Sometimes I need a 'light' thriller, and hers always do the trick. I was truly shocked by the ending, and I even had to go back a read a couple pages twice to make sure I understood what was happening.
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(Summaries are from Amazon, but all thoughts about them are my own!)
Reading Challenge: 16/52 physical books read in 2026
Total Books Read in 2026: 31
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