Hi there, and welcome to Thinking Out Loud Thursday! Today, I’m sharing what’s been on my mind lately—and I’d love for you to link up and share your thoughts too. It's the first Thursday of the month and this is when I share what I read the previous month. Let's look at what I read in April!
Story of My Life by Lucy Score
I have fallen in love with Lucy Score's books. She wrote the three-book Knockemount series (Things We Never Got Over, Things We Hide from the Light, and Things We Left Behind). Story of My Life is the first book in her new Story Lake series. Unfortunately, the second book in this series isn't coming out until March of 2026. This one was a fun read! Here's the summary ~
A Gilmore Girls meets Schitt’s Creek redemption romcom.
Hazel Hart was a successful romance novelist until a breakup drives her straight into writer’s block. Having failed (and failed some more) to deliver her new manuscript, she’s hiding from the world behind a wall of old takeout containers until her publisher lays down the law. If she misses her next deadline it’s The End.
Desperate for inspiration, Hazel impulse-buys a historic home online and flees Manhattan to tiny Story Lake, PA. Upon her dramatic arrival—involving an incident with a bald eagle—she discovers the charm of her new home may have been slightly exaggerated.
The house is a wreck and the town is struggling after their biggest employer shut down. Also, since her raccoon-infested home came with a seat on the town council our introverted heroine is stuck with a front row seat to all the small-town shenanigans.
But Hazel isn’t worried. Not since all six-feet-three inches of grouchy contractor Campbell Bishop slapped a bandage on her forehead and unintentionally inspired the heck out of her. There’s only one thing to do: Hire Cam and his equally gorgeous brothers to renovate her new spider museum… er… house.
Okay two things. A fake date for “research purposes” will really put her work-in-progress on track. Before Hazel knows it, she’s writing a romance novel and living one. At least until the drywall dust settles, the town she’s falling in love with faces bankruptcy, and growly Cam remembers why he can’t live happily ever after.
As a world-renowned chef, single dad Archer never planned on moving to a small town, let alone running a pancake restaurant. But Dream Harbor needs a new chef, and Archer needs a community to help raise his daughter, Olive.
Iris has never managed to hold down a job for more than a few months. So when it’s suggested that Archer is looking for a live-in nanny, she almost runs in the opposite direction.
Now, Iris finds herself in a whole new world. One where her gorgeous new boss lives right across the hall and likes to cook topless… Keeping everything strictly professional should be easy, right?
Betting on Good by Wendy Francis
This was one of my Amazon First picks from last month. It was an okay read. Especially for free! Did anyone else pick this one?
A Kentucky Derby weekend for two couples tests the high-stakes boundaries of friendship and marriage in a witty, winning, and emotional novel by the author of Feels Like Summer.
Amid the heralded springtime traditions and fabulous splendor of the Kentucky Derby, two Boston couples—longtime friends—indulge in a once-in-a-lifetime getaway. The weekend feels like a winner.
It’s a milestone-birthday present for the newly—and reluctantly—turned forty Drew Starling. Her husband, Nate, has spared no expense, despite the mounting gambling debts that Drew knows nothing about. He’s certain that with his lucky charm, Drew, by his side, he can reverse his misfortunes at Churchill Downs. Joining them are friends Leslie and Graham, floundering in a twelve-year marriage that desperately needs a change of scenery, a new spark. Graham especially looks forward to being in the Starlings’ charmed orbit this weekend, though he won’t say why.
When the bourbon begins to flow and the horses thunder down the track, secrets and simmering tensions soon spill. As sure as the bugler’s call and the winner’s purse, the stakes of marriage and friendship on this revelatory weekend have never been so high.
The Guest List by Lucy Foley
I loved this book! It's actually our May selection for the library book club I'm in. I thought it was April, but it wasn't. So now I'm a month ahead in my book club reading! LOL This mystery kept me guessing through the whole book.
A wedding celebration turns dark and deadly in this deliciously wicked and atmospheric thriller reminiscent of Agatha Christie from the New York Times bestselling author of The Hunting Party.
The bride – The plus one – The best man – The wedding planner – The bridesmaid – The body
On an island off the coast of Ireland, guests gather to celebrate two people joining their lives together as one. The groom: handsome and charming, a rising television star. The bride: smart and ambitious, a magazine publisher. It’s a wedding for a magazine, or for a celebrity: the designer dress, the remote location, the luxe party favors, the boutique whiskey. The cell phone service may be spotty and the waves may be rough, but every detail has been expertly planned and will be expertly executed.
But perfection is for plans, and people are all too human. As the champagne is popped and the festivities begin, resentments and petty jealousies begin to mingle with the reminiscences and well wishes. The groomsmen begin the drinking game from their school days. The bridesmaid not-so-accidentally ruins her dress. The bride’s oldest (male) friend gives an uncomfortably caring toast.
And then someone turns up dead. Who didn’t wish the happy couple well? And perhaps more important, why?
When Books Went to War by Molly Guptill Manning
This was actually our book club book for April! I read it super fast so I could finish before book club. It was such an interesting read. Very informative and intriguing.
When America entered World War II in 1941, we faced an enemy that had banned and burned 100 million books. Outraged librarians launched a campaign to send free books to American troops, gathering 20 million hardcover donations. Two years later, the War Department and the publishing industry stepped in with an extraordinary program: 120 million specially printed paperbacks designed for troops to carry in their pockets and rucksacks in every theater of war.These small, lightweight Armed Services Editions were beloved by the troops and are still fondly remembered today. Soldiers read them while waiting to land at Normandy, in hellish trenches in the midst of battles in the Pacific, in field hospitals, and on long bombing flights. This pioneering project not only listed soldiers’ spirits, but also helped rescue The Great Gatsby from obscurity and made Betty Smith, author of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, into a national icon.
I'm on a roll with series - this is the third book in a five-book series by Allen Eskens. I loved the first two books (The Lies by Bury and The Guise of Another). This one didn't disappoint either!
FEATURING THREE CHARACTERS FROM THE BESTSELLING BOOK-CLUB FAVORITE THE LIFE WE BURY, THIS NOVEL EXPLORES A RIVETING MURDER CASE TOLD FROM TWO OPPOSING PERSPECTIVES. Detective Max Rupert and attorney Boady Sanden’s friendship is being pushed to the breaking point. Max is convinced that Jennavieve Pruitt was killed by her husband, Ben. Boady is equally convinced that Ben, his client, is innocent. As the case unfolds, the two are forced to confront their own personal demons. Max is still struggling with the death of his wife four years earlier, and the Pruitt case stirs up old memories. Boady hasn’t taken on a defense case since the death of an innocent client, a man Boady believes he could have saved but didn’t. Now he is back in court, with student Lila Nash at his side, and he’s determined to redeem himself for having failed in the past. Vividly told from two opposing perspectives, the truth about the stunning death of Jennavieve Pruitt remains a mystery until the very end. From the Trade Paperback edition.
Now it's your turn - what are you thinking out loud about today? Link up and share!
