I’m always reading at least three books at once. I’ve pretty much always been that way. I’ll read one main book that I’m very interested in, typically a novel, and then two nonfiction books as well. My love for books is why I created the Hello Gorgeous Book Club. Just call me Rory Gilmore!
I come by my love for reading naturally. My Mawmaw always had a Danielle Steel novel in hand. She also passed along her love for classic films to me, but we can talk about that another day. 🙂
Before summer arrives, I thought I’d share five of my favorite novels, in time for your upcoming summer beach vacation. One of my favorite things to do on vacation is to get lost in a great book with my toes in the sand. Personally, I’m an audio book fan, but there is something so delicious about holding a fresh new book in my hands.
These books aren’t in any specific order (except #1 will ALWAYS be my #1!) and they’re a mix of Christian and non-Christian authors.
Five Favorite Novels:
- Redeeming Love: Be still my heart. Francine Rivers wrecked me with this book. There will never be another book I love more than this story of Angel and Michael Hosea. “Redeeming Love” is a retelling of the Bible story about Gomer and Hosea. The author uses the characters to show us how God endlessly pursues us. I believe every woman hsould read this book before getting married! I’m thinking I may just read it again as my next book… Which will be at least my third time!
- Tattooist of Auschwitz: Name a good book about WWII or the holocaust and I’ll read it every.single.time. I first discovered this book because of the Goodreads awards, and I’m so glad I found it. It’s truly a haunting story, depicting what life and love was like in concentration camps during WWII. It’s not your happy-go-lucky romance novel. It’s dark, it’s gritty, it’s heartbreaking… But it’s also beautifully written and eye-opening. You can’t help but immediately love the main character, Lale.
- Candle in the Darkness: I read this book several years ago and it still sticks out in my mind. It’s part one of a three part series, each book telling a story about a different woman’s journey through the Civil War and slavery. The characters are all intertwined and the author does an amazing job of showing the same circumstances from different perspectives. I fell in love with this author, Lynn Austin, after reading this book and went on to read many more of her books.
- Before We Were Yours: This book was introduced to me through our book club, it was our February book this year. It was slow to start. In fact, I found the opening to be confusing and there to be a lot of characters. The more I got into the book, I couldn’t get enough. I was hooked. It was based off true events and I can’t believe that people got away with things like this for as long as they did. It feels a bit like a Nicholas Sparks book, but in the best way possible.
- Something Borrowed/Something Blue: I watched the movie before I read the book, which is a BIG no-no in my book. I never like to see the movie first because I feel like the movie almost never lives up to the book, with the exception of “The Notebook.” That movie was just way better than the book in my opinion. This book was another one that surprisingly lived up to the movie version for me and I just loved it so much…. Honestly, it’s probably because of John Krasinski, I love him so much. The sequel was so good and I keep hoping that they make it into a movie as well.
These are just five of my favorite summer reads. What is your favorite novel? Let me know in the comments so I can add your suggestions to my want to read list on Goodreads. I love finding new books to read. Currently, I’m reading “See Me” by Nicholas Sparks and I’m not obsessed. I’m just getting through it so I can move on to something else, you know what I mean?
Photos by Kara Coleen.
I’ve read 3 of your top 5 books – they are definitely good. I read a lot of different book genres including science fiction, fantasy, historical fiction, Christian fiction plus an occasional Christian non-fiction. My favorite book of 2018 was The Long Way Gone by Charles Martin. He is an amazing storyteller. I couldn’t put it down and cried on an airplane next to a stranger as I was reading it and I am not a crier. Highly recommend it. If you are looking for something more fluffy for a beach read, try Becky Wade’s Bradford Sisters series. They are cute and fun!