Warm, Cozy Reading

As the leaves start turning and the fields start drying, the first signs of fall are approaching us quicker than we would like to think. It’s time where farmers start their harvest planning and a time where cooler temps start to creep up on us. It’s also time to reflect on the past, because all too soon we will be closing the chapter on this year and opening the door to the next.

Cooler temps means curling up with a good book and a cup of warm steaming tea to some. I thought this was a good time to talk about my favorite books. During the summer it seems like time to read is hard to come by. While my reading list never depletes I’m always excited to start a new book.

When I was younger I never could get into reading until I had one amazing teacher who really helped me figure out what types of books I liked and could really get into. For most young readers I feel this is the same problem most of them have.  Since then I’ve always had a book. I strongly believe that if you stop reading you stop learning. And for me I never want to stop learning. 

Here are a few of my favorites. (No specific order)

The Perks ofBeing a Wallflower – By: Stephen Chbosky
“Standing on the fringes of life offers a unique perspective…but there comes a time to see what it looks like from the dance floor.
Since its publication, Stephen Chbosky’s haunting debut novel has received critical acclaim, provoked discussion and debate, grown into a cult phenomenon with over two million copies in print, spent over six months at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list, and inspired a major motion picture.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a story about what it’s like to travel that strange course through the uncharted territory of high school. The world of first dates, family dramas, and new friends. Of sex, drugs, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Of those wild and poignant roller-coaster days known as growing up.”

50 Shadesof Gray trilogy – By: E.L. James

“When literature student Anastasia Steele goes to interview young entrepreneur Christian Grey, she encounters a man who is beautiful, brilliant, and intimidating. The unworldly, innocent Ana is startled to realize she wants this man and, despite his enigmatic reserve, finds she is desperate to get close to him. Unable to resist Ana’s quiet beauty, wit, and independent spirit, Grey admits he wants her, too—but on his own terms.

Shocked yet thrilled by Grey’s singular erotic tastes, Ana hesitates. For all the trappings of success—his multinational businesses, his vast wealth, his loving family—Grey is a man tormented by demons and consumed by the need to control. When the couple embarks on a daring, passionately physical affair, Ana discovers Christian Grey’s secrets and explores her own dark desires.

Erotic, amusing, and deeply moving, the Fifty Shades Trilogy is a tale that will obsess you, possess you, and stay with you forever.

This book is intended for mature audiences.”

The Hunger gamesTrilogy – By: Suzanne Collins

“In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. Long ago the districts waged war on the Capitol and were defeated. As part of the surrender terms, each district agreed to send one boy and one girl to appear in an annual televised event called, "The Hunger Games," a fight to the death on live TV. Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she is forced to represent her district in the Games. The terrain, rules, and level of audience participation may change but one thing is constant: kill or be killed.”

The Lucky One –By: Nicholas Sparks

“In his 14th book, bestselling author Nicholas Sparks tells the unforgettable story of a man whose brushes with death lead him to the love of his life.

After U.S. Marine Logan Thibault finds a photograph of a smiling young woman buried in the dirt during his tour of duty in Iraq, he experiences a sudden streak of luck -- winning poker games and even surviving deadly combat. Only his best friend, Victor, seems to have an explanation for his good fortune: the photograph -- his lucky charm.

Back home in Colorado, Thibault can't seem to get the woman in the photograph out of his mind and he sets out on a journey across the country to find her. But Thibault is caught off guard by the strong attraction he feels for the woman he encounters in North Carolina - Elizabeth, a divorced mother -- and he keeps the story of the photo, and his luck, a secret. As he and Elizabeth embark upon a passionate love affair, his secret soon threatens to tear them apart -- destroying not only their love, but also their lives.

Filled with tender romance and terrific suspense, THE LUCKY ONE is an unforgettable story about the surprising paths our lives often take and the power of fate to guide us to true and everlasting love.”

Safe Haven – By:Nicholas Sparks

“When a mysterious young woman named Katie appears in the small North Carolina town of Southport, her sudden arrival raises questions about her past. Beautiful yet self-effacing, Katie seems determined to avoid forming personal ties until a series of events draws her into two reluctant relationships: one with Alex, a widowed store owner with a kind heart and two young children; and another with her plainspoken single neighbor, Jo. Despite her reservations, Katie slowly begins to let down her guard, putting down roots in the close-knit community and becoming increasingly attached to Alex and his family.

But even as Katie begins to fall in love, she struggles with the dark secret that still haunts and terrifies her . . . a past that set her on a fearful, shattering journey across the country, to the sheltered oasis of Southport. With Jo's empathic and stubborn support, Katie eventually realizes that she must choose between a life of transient safety and one of riskier rewards . . . and that in the darkest hour, love is the only true safe haven”

Next ones to start!! 

Sunday at Tiffany’s– By: James Patterson

“Jane Margaux is a lonely little girl. Her mother, a powerful Broadway producer, makes time for her only once a week, for their Sunday trip to admire jewelry at Tiffany's. Jane has only one friend: a handsome, comforting, funny man named Michael. He's perfect. But only she can see him. Michael can't stay forever, though. On Jane's ninth birthday he leaves, promising her that she'll soon forget him. Years later, in her thirties, Jane is just as alone as she was as a child. And despite her own success as a playwright, she is even more trapped by her overbearing mother. Then she meets someone-a handsome, comforting, funny man. He's perfect. His name is Michael . . .”

Gone Girl – By:Gillian Flynn

“Just how well can you ever know the person you love? This is the question that Nick Dunne must ask himself on the morning of his fifth wedding anniversary, when his wife Amy suddenly disappears. The police immediately suspect Nick. Amy's friends reveal that she was afraid of him, that she kept secrets from him. He swears it isn't true. A police examination of his computer shows strange searches. He says they aren't his. And then there are the persistent calls on his mobile phone. So what has happened to Nick's beautiful wife?”

The Fault in our Stars – By: John Green

“Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel’s story is about to be completely rewritten.

Insightful, bold, irreverent, and raw, The Fault in Our Stars is award-winning-author John Green’s most ambitious and heartbreaking work yet, brilliantly exploring the funny, thrilling, and tragic business of being alive and in love”

The Likeness – By:Tina French

“Tana French's In the Woods and The Likeness captivated readers by introducing them to her unique, character-driven style and her new mystery, Broken Harbor, is eagerly anticipated. Her singular skill at creating richly drawn, complex worlds makes her novels not mere whodunits but brilliant and satisfying novels about memory, identity, loss, and what defines us as humans. With Faithful Place, the highly praised third novel about the Dublin Murder squad, French takes readers into the mind of Frank Mackey, the hotheaded mastermind of The Likeness, as he wrestles with his own past and the family, the lover, and the neighborhood he thought he'd left behind for good.”

I know this muchis true – By: Wally Lamb

“On the afternoon of October 12, 1990, my twin brother, Thomas, entered the Three Rivers, Connecticut, public library, retreated to one of the rear study carrels, and prayed to God the sacrifice he was about to commit would be deemed acceptable. . . .

One of the most acclaimed novels of our time, Wally Lamb's I Know This Much Is True is a story of alienation and connection, devastation and renewal, at once joyous, heartbreaking, poignant, mystical, and powerfully, profoundly human. “

On the Road –By:Jack Kerouac

“On the Road chronicles Jack Kerouac's years traveling the North American continent with his friend Neal Cassady, "a sideburned hero of the snowy West." As "Sal Paradise" and "Dean Moriarty," the two roam the country in a quest for self-knowledge and experience. Kerouac's love of America, his compassion for humanity, and his sense of language as jazz combine to make On the Road an inspirational work of lasting importance.

Kerouac's classic novel of freedom and longing defined what it meant to be "Beat" and has inspired every generation since its initial publication more than forty years ago.”

The Fade Series –By: Kate Dawes

“Olivia Rowland leaves her Midwestern life behind after graduating from college and heads off to Los Angeles to work for a Hollywood talent agent. Life in L.A. is a culture shock, but nothing compared to the jolt she gets when Max enters her life.

Max Dalton is Hollywood's youngest and brightest movie producer/director/writer. He's wealthy, successful, hot, and there's never a shortage of women throwing themselves at him, but there's only one woman he wants, and he intends to make it happen.

As Max pursues Olivia, he finds that she presents a whole new challenge for him. When Olivia finally gives in the stage is set for a perilous, yet passionate relationship. Together they discover each other's deepest desires, and darkest secrets....”

Reading to me is something that calms me down, clears my head of the present and for just one moment I can live a life that isn’t mine. As the change in season is upon us we ask ourselves, what did we like about the month that just passed? What is in store for us in the next month? And are we ready for what the future my hold for us?

We don’t get where we are going without going through things that make us cherish the people that we have around us. The celebration of someone’s life makes you reflect on your own and want to make yourself a better person. Over the last years I’ve had my ups and downs, as many of you have also had. It’s not how many times we’re knocked down its how many times we stand up again and forage our way forward.

So as you cuddle up with the cooler weather. I ask you, are you ready for what your future holds?

I’d love to know what some of your favorite books are, and hope you take a look and enjoy some of my favorites and soon to be favorites!