November New Reads

Last month, I mentioned Colleen Hoover and Scarlett St. Clair with their excellent books. This month, I continued to read their pieces of work. I am up to date on Scarlett's books (impatiently waiting for book four) and have read Colleen's "It Ends With Us" and "It Starts With Us". I also finished L.J. Shen's "Beautiful Graves", which is based in northern Massachusetts. I also completed "November 9th", "Verity" and "Layla" by Colleen Hoover. Another book from a different author I enjoyed was "Every Summer After" by Carley Fortune. From the stories of Greek mythology to the dramatic love stories, the books are different in their own ways.

Let's start with a brand new read: "Beautiful Graves" by L.J. Shen. We follow Everlynne, or Ever, on a trip to Spain where she meets Joe. Tall, mysterious, vacation boyfriend Joe- who saves her life and falls for her on the same night. Once back in the United States, Ever's life takes a turn and she loses her connection with Joe. Will she ever find him in California or sometime in her life? After moving to Salem and running into Dom, she realizes she needs to move from her once-in-a-lifetime romance. But, she soon learns that Dom and Joe know each other too well for Ever's liking. The Grave brothers are her two loves- one from the past and one from the present. How will she handle being torn apart by the brothers? Who will she choose? Dom, Joe, or herself? Rating: 4/5 Stars

"Every Summer After" by Carley Fortune is a cute love story between Persephone and Sam. Every summer, Persephone and her family would go to a lake house to get away from the real world. Within each summer of them spending every day together, Persephone and Sam realize that they can not live without each other. When Persephone learns that Sam's mother had passed away from cancer, she makes the trip back to the lake and faces the heartbroken Sam once again.

We follow the characters through their summers together and through their time together around the funeral of Sam's mom. This beautiful love story is a dream come true for some readers- you know, finding a summer love and keeping them in your life. I would definitely recommend this summer romance book. Hopefully, I will find more of her books to read as her writing is very similar to Colleen Hoover. Rating 4.5/5 Stars.

Colleen Hoover's "It Ends With Us" and "It Starts With Us" is a two-part series following Lily Bloom and her two love interests. She arrives in Boston after her father's death, meeting the mysterious Ryle. After she moves to Boston from Maine, she starts her own flower shop business with Ryle's sister. After falling for Ryle, who is not a relationship type, they quickly fall in love and want a future together. The couple meets up for dinner with Ryle's sister and her husband at a local restaurant- where Lily runs into her first love, Atlas. Atlas was the homeless boy that Lily took in years ago, who then moved to Boston and lost communication with each other. Now, years later, Atlas is protective over Lily as Ryle starts to show concerning signs of possessiveness.

Lily and Ryle soon get married in Vegas as things turn dark in their relationship. As the couple separates while Ryle goes to England for a neurosurgery program, Lily finds out she is pregnant and is unsure of what to do. She flees to Atlas and asks him for help. One thing I wish the book mentioned in the beginning was a trigger warning for abuse. The book is filled with a few scenes of abuse, one ending up in the hospital. Overall, the book and storyline are well-written. It definitely kept me on my toes as I finished it in one day. Rating: 4.5/5 Stars.

"It Starts With Us" is a sequel following the love story of Atlas and Lily as they try their shot at a relationship. In this book, Lily is a single mother trying to balance the life of motherhood and her business, while stepping back into the dating world. While she focuses on herself, she also has to work around Ryle's feelings regarding his relationship with his daughter and with Lily getting back into dating. Atlas' restaurants are being vandalized by someone who plays a major role in his life. He meets his little brother, who is being abused by his biological mother and Atlas' stepfather. Atlas steps into the role of big brother and tries to adopt his little brother while helping Lily take care of her daughter. This storyline is beautifully written and definitely made my heart melt at times. Rating: 4/5 Stars.

I finished "November 9th" in four hours, I just couldn't put it down. Colleen's story follows Fallon, a young girl whose life took a turn after being burned in a horrible fire while she was the lead of a show. Fallon unexpectedly meets Ben, as he pretends to be her boyfriend during an awkward encounter with her father. The two take the day of November 9th and act as if they were truly together- only to be split up by Fallon's move across the country as Ben stays behind. The two promise to meet up with each other every November 9th, with one of them flying across the country to meet for the day. Love takes control of their life, and they realize that maybe one day together is just not enough. Life jumps up and down for the young couple- and Ben takes the five November 9ths that they have spent together and turns it into a novel.

This book had so many things happening- sadness and shock mainly. I could not put this book down for a single second. I had to keep reading so I could learn what would happen. The beautiful love story is one that I would reread again in the future and hope it becomes a movie in the future. Rating: 5/5 Stars.

Two more Colleen Hoover books that I found intriguing and different from the other books that Colleen writes. "Verity" follows Lowen, an inspiring writer, as she is asked to finish Verity Crawford's popular book series. Jeremy offers Lowen a place to stay in their house, while she looks through Verity's notes and manuscript. Lowen finds a very personal manuscript that Verity wrote about her and Jeremy's love life- including the deaths of their two girls and the car accident that left Verity bedridden, or so they thought.

This book was definitely a murder mystery that kept you wanting to read more to find out what truly happened to the characters. The storyline between the manuscript reading and Lowen's life at the house was interesting- you never knew what could truly happen in that house. Rating: 4/5 Stars.

"Layla" was more of a paranormal writing story that Colleen has done- it was not my favorite. It took me a few days to get invested in the story. The reader follows Leeds and Layla's love story which was sadly interrupted by a trauma that they both share. Leeds hopes to bring the romance back to their relationship by bringing Layla back to the place where they first met. Layla begins to act weird at night while Leeds tries to investigate the weird happenings in the house. This is where you meet "Willow", a lost soul trying to find out what happened to her.

I was not a huge fan of her writing style for Colleen- but she tried her best and did write a good story overall. I wish the book would bounce between Willow and her thoughts/experience, so we could understand her character more. Rating: 3.5/5 Stars.

I have more books to come as I have been reading "Confess" by Colleen Hoover and "Lightlark" by Alex Aster, which will soon become a movie.