What I Read in September 2023

Hello friends!  Thanks for stopping by Thinking Out Loud Thursday.  It's been a hot minute since I wrote a blog post.  October started with a very busy schedule, so I'm a bit behind on my blogging.  Catching up today with a post about the books I read in September.

I totally blew it with the first book I read which was Maybe Now.  I love Colleen Hoover and I thought Maybe Now was the first book in a three-book series.  Well, I was wrong!  Maybe Now is the third book, not the first.  It was a good book, but I kept feeling like I had missed something.  I had - everything that was in the first two books!  It was still enjoyable, but it probably would have been a whole lot better if I'd read the series in order.  If I had read them in order, it would have gone Maybe Someday, Maybe Not, and then Maybe Now.  Here's the summary from the first book in case you want to read them in the right order ~

At twenty-two years old, Sydney is enjoying a great life: She’s in college, working a steady job, in love with her wonderful boyfriend, Hunter, and rooming with her best friend, Tori. But everything changes when she discovers that Hunter is cheating on her—and she’s forced to decide what her next move should be.

Soon, Sydney finds herself captivated by her mysterious and attractive neighbor, Ridge. She can't take her eyes off him or stop listening to the passionate way he plays his guitar every evening out on his balcony. And there’s something about Sydney that Ridge can’t ignore, either. They soon find themselves needing each other in more ways than one.

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Our library book club book this month was The Silent Patient.  This book had been on my list to read for a while so I was glad to have an excuse to move it forward.  I found this book so intriguing and it made for great discussion at book club.  Here's the summary ~

The Silent Patient is a shocking psychological thriller of a woman’s act of violence against her husband—and of the therapist obsessed with uncovering her motive.

Alicia Berenson’s life is seemingly perfect. A famous painter married to an in-demand fashion photographer, she lives in a grand house with big windows overlooking a park in one of London’s most desirable areas. One evening her husband Gabriel returns home late from a fashion shoot, and Alicia shoots him five times in the face, and then never speaks another word.

Alicia’s refusal to talk, or give any kind of explanation, turns a domestic tragedy into something far grander, a mystery that captures the public imagination and casts Alicia into notoriety. The price of her art skyrockets, and she, the silent patient, is hidden away from the tabloids and spotlight at the Grove, a secure forensic unit in North London.

Theo Faber is a criminal psychotherapist who has waited a long time for the opportunity to work with Alicia. His determination to get her to talk and unravel the mystery of why she shot her husband takes him down a twisting path into his own motivations—a search for the truth that threatens to consume him....

Things We Left Behind was the third book in the Knockemout book series.  DISCLAIMER:  These books have parts that are a bit spicy, so if that's not your thing don't read them.  All three books in the series are free if you have Kindle Unlimited.  Here's the summary of the third book.

Lucian Rollins is a lean, mean vengeance-seeking mogul. On a quest to erase his father’s mark on the family name, he spends every waking minute pulling strings and building an indestructible empire. The more money and power he amasses, the safer he is from threats.

Except when it comes to the feisty small-town librarian that keeps him up at night…

Sloane Walton is a spitfire determined to carry on her father’s quest for justice. She’ll do that just as soon as she figures out exactly what the man she hates did to—or for—her family. Bonded by an old, dark secret from the past and the dislike they now share for each other, Sloane trusts Lucian about as far as she can throw his designer-suited body.

When bickering accidentally turns to foreplay, these two find themselves not quite regretting their steamy one-night stand. Once those flames are fanned, it seems impossible to put them out again. But with Sloane ready to start a family and Lucian refusing to even consider the idea of marriage and kids, these enemies-to-lovers are stuck at an impasse.

Broken men break women. It’s what Lucian believes, what he’s witnessed, and he’s not going to take that chance with Sloane. He’d rather live a life of solitude than put her in danger. But he learns the hard way that leaving her means leaving her unprotected from other threats.

It’s the second time he’s ruthlessly cut her out of his life. There’s no way she’s going to give him a third chance. He’s just going to have to make one for himself.

I'm slowly, but surely, listening my way through The Covenant of Water.  The audio book is 31 hours long!  Maybe I'll have it finished my the time I report on the books I've read this month.

Now it's your turn - what are you thinking out loud about today?  Link up and share!

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