Welcome to WWW Wednesday! This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and revived on Taking on a World of Words. Just answer the three questions below and leave a link to your post in the comments for others to look at. No blog? No problem! Just leave a comment with your responses. Please take some time to visit the other participants and see what others are reading. So, let’s get to it!
- What am I currently reading?
- What did I just finish?
- What am I reading next?
Happy Valentine’s Day
Currently Reading
I’ve had Happy Place since it came out, and a chat I was in yesterday inspired me to read a book just for me. Given the season and my top ten yesterday – I really wanted to read Happy Place. So I am! My nighttime book – Bye Baby – I’ve always thought looked good, and I will be starting it tonight – hopefully, it is!
Daytime book (physical book)
- Genre: RomCom
- Pages: 395
- Publisher: Berkley
- Publication Date: 04/25/2023
A couple who broke up months ago pretend to still be together for their annual weeklong vacation with their best friends in this glittering and wise new novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Emily Henry.
Harriet and Wyn have been the perfect couple since they met in college—they go together like salt and pepper, honey and tea, lobster and rolls. Except, now—for reasons they’re still not discussing—they don’t.
They broke up five months ago. And still haven’t told their best friends.
Which is how they find themselves sharing a bedroom at the Maine cottage that has been their friend group’s yearly getaway for the last decade. Their annual respite from the world, where for one vibrant, blissful week they leave behind their daily lives; have copious amounts of cheese, wine, and seafood; and soak up the salty coastal air with the people who understand them most.
Only this year, Harriet and Wyn are lying through their teeth while trying not to notice how desperately they still want each other. Because the cottage is for sale and this is the last week they’ll all have together in this place. They can’t stand to break their friends’ hearts, and so they’ll play their parts. Harriet will be the driven surgical resident who never starts a fight, and Wyn will be the laid-back charmer who never lets the cracks show. It’s a flawless plan (if you look at it from a great distance and through a pair of sunscreen-smeared sunglasses). After years of being in love, how hard can it be to fake it for one week…in front of those who know you best?
Nighttime book (digital book)
- Genre: Psychological Thriller
- Pages: 344
- Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
- Publication Date: 03/05/2024
“Powerful, relatable and crazily addictive, Bye, Baby takes an unflinching look at the battling forces of toxicity and love which define so many female friendships. I couldn’t put it down.” ––Rosie Walsh, New York Times bestselling author of Ghosted and The Love of My Life
Every friendship has its shadow…
On a brisk fall night in a New York apartment, 35-year-old Billie West hears terrified screams. It’s her lifelong best friend Cassie Barnwell, one floor above, and she’s just realized her infant daughter has gone missing. Billie is shaken as she looks down into her own arms to see the baby, remembering—with a jolt of fear—that she is responsible for the kidnapping that has instantly shattered Cassie’s world.
Once fiercely bonded by their secrets, Cassie and Billie have drifted apart in adulthood, no longer the inseparable pair they used to be in their small Hudson Valley hometown. Cassie is married to a wealthy man, has recently become a mother, and is building a following as a lifestyle influencer. She is desperate to leave her past behind—including Billie, who is single and childless, and no longer fits into her world. But Billie knows the worst thing Cassie has ever done, and she will do whatever it takes to restore their friendship…
Told in alternating perspectives in Lovering’s signature suspenseful style, Bye, Baby confronts the myriad ways friendships change and evolve over time, the lingering echoes of childhood trauma, and the impact of women’s choices on their lifelong relationships.
Just Finished
I picked up this Danielle Steel book because I haven’t read a book by her since my early twenties (maybe even my teens – she was a favorite of my mother, so they were always around the house for the reading) It was okay. Truthfully, I thought it needed a heavier edit pen. And I don’t think I’m ready yet to read about explosions in NYC – even if they are fictional. I may never be. It just feels too real. Other than that, I enjoyed the beautiful people in beautiful places with lots of money, which is what I remember from Steel’s books all those years ago.
- Genre: Contemporary Fiction
- Pages: 256 pgs
- Publisher: Dell
- Publication Date: 03/05/2024
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Danielle Steel, a stirring novel about a woman striking out on her own after loss as her adult daughters try to find their own independent paths in life.
Kezia Cooper Hobson, recently widowed, arrives in New York from San Francisco. Determined to make a fresh start, she has just completed the sale of her Pacific Heights home, not to mention her husband’s venture capital firm, and in doing so, is also freed from her responsibility as a board member of the company. Bringing with her only a few personal treasures, she is excited to move into the blank slate of a beautiful midtown penthouse, in the city that she has always loved. It is also where her two adult daughters now live.
As Kezia settles into her new apartment, she meets her movie-star next-door neighbor, Sam Stewart, whose terrace borders hers. Just a couple of weeks after she arrives, however, a devastating crisis strikes New York City. Kezia and Sam find themselves connecting over their strong impulse to help those in need. As they share a life-changing experience of volunteering, a bond is sparked and a friendship is formed.
Kezia’s daughters, Kate and Felicity, are taken aback by their mother’s new friendship, both more focused on their own love lives than hers. But Kezia is learning that the changes she’s making are just what she needs to open new horizons.
In this powerful and moving new novel, Danielle Steel illuminates the importance of human connection and embracing brave change, proving it’s never too late for a brand-new start.
Reading Next
I’m still excited to read A Haunting in the Arctic and Take Two Birdie Maxwell looks like a fun romcom to get lost in.
Nighttime Book (digital book)
- Genre: Rom Com
- Pages: 368 pgs
- Publisher: Berkley
- Publication Date: 03/05/2024
Hollywood’s biggest rom-com star tries to revamp her damaged reputation by following a lead on an anonymous lost love in the new romantic comedy from New York Times bestselling author Allison Winn Scotch.
Birdie Robinson thought she’d gotten everything she wanted out of life: fame, adoration and an A-list career as Hollywood’s most beloved ingenue. But after an on-set public feud goes viral and the public turns against her, she’s forced to go into hiding in the one place where no one would think to find her: her childhood home, with her whole family gathered together for the holidays. Moored in her bedroom somewhere between self-pity and self-destruction, she finds an anonymous love letter from a former boyfriend and begrudgingly sets out to find the long-gone ex. If she stumbles into some personal enlightenment while helping her career, that’s a cherry on top.
Elliot O’Brien, star reporter, believes firmly in facts, and that meant-to-bes are the realm of fiction. And since he knows that life isn’t an actual rom-com, he’s spent two decades dodging his long-simmering feelings for his twin sister’s best friend, Birdie. But with his journalistic career cratering, he can’t rebuff his editor’s demand that he chronicle Birdie’s journey to solving the love letter mystery.
As they drive through the West Coast in an RV, Birdie and Elliot retrace her romantic history and come face to face with their own romantic missteps, all while grappling with whether or not happy endings are found only on the big screen–or whether their own happier ever after could be closer than they both ever imagined.
Daytime Book (physical book)
- Genre: Thriller
- Pages: 352 pgs
- Publisher: Berkley
- Publication Date: 02/27/2024
A deserted shipwreck off the coast of Iceland holds terrors and dark secrets in this chilling horror novel from the author of The Lighthouse Witches.
The year is 1901, and Nicky is attacked, then wakes on board the Ormen, a whaling ship embarked on what could be its last voyage. With land still weeks away, it’s just her, the freezing ocean, and the crew – and they’re all owed something only she can give them…
Now, over one hundred years later, the wreck of the Ormen has washed up on the forbidding, remote coast of Iceland. It’s scheduled to be destroyed, but explorer Dominique feels an inexplicable pull to document its last days, even though those who have ventured onto the wreck before her have met uncanny ends.
Onboard the boat, Dominique will uncover a dark past riddled with lies, cruelty, and murder—and her discovery will change everything. Because she’ll soon realize she’s not alone. Something has walked the floors of the Ormen for almost a century. Something that craves revenge.
What are you reading? Do you love it?
27 responses to “WWW Wednesday | Books I Am Reading This Week – February 14, 2024 #wwwwednesday #ReadersCommunity #BookTwitter #BookLover”
I haven’t read a Danielle Steele for decades either. Her books used to be everywhere at one time. I hope you enjoy Happy Place. I liked it but it wasn’t my favourite book by Emily Henry
I’ve never read a Danielle Steele but I do remember seeing them around years ago. I hope you Happy Place, I DNF’d as it didn’t grab me.
Oh, no! I’ve definitely heard mixed things about it.
I’ve got two in front of A Haunting in the Arctic, but I’m excited to get to it. I think the last time I read Steele was middle school!
My mother would have never let me touch them in middle school. When I called my brother a bastard and admitted I got that word from one of her books (I was 10 and it was in the title, for heaven’s sake) – she all of a sudden started noticing what I was reading 😂
Oh, how brave of you to tackle a Danielle Steele book! I just never caught on to her writing style. Yay for Happy Place. And happy reading, Tessa💜
As a teen, I loved reading about this world where everyone is rich and beautiful and still have small problems 😂
I used to read all Danielle Steel’s books, but stopped as they all started to sound the same. It sounds like her newer ones are different. I liked happy Place, but it wasn’t her best in my opinion. Enjoy your upcoming reads, Tessa.
It is a bit different but some of it is very much the same.
I’m currently listening to Sometimes I Lie and I just got to that part of the thriller story where too many things stop making sense and I NEED to finish it ASAP
I enjoyed that one!
I am reading fangirl down right now! It’s been good so far. Looking forward to making more progress today.
I’ll have to check that one out. I think I’ve seen it around.
A Haunting in the Arctic appeals to me. I’ll be looking forward to your reveal on that one!
As for reading, I’m currently halfway through a print proof copy of my own next release, LOL!
Very nice!!!
I am still reading the 13th girl. Nearly at the end and have an idea who the killer is.
Ooooo…Fun!
The main character has her point of view on who they are, but I think she is wrong. Something to do with the knocking from next door and a dog barking.
Loved Happy Place, hope you are!
Wednesday is my long work day and I go onsite, so I’m getting ready to pull it off my shelf now!
Oh my gosh!!! I picked up Happy Place yesterday because I really just wanted to read something I WANTED to! I’ve had it on my shelf for so long (pre-ordered, haha). I finished it this morning and I enjoyed it so much!! I hope you enjoy the rest of it!
Mine was preordered too. Great minds really do think alike 💕
Absolutely!! <3
Everyone keeps raving about Emily Henry so I’ll have to try her books.
Emily Henry’s Book Lovers is still my favorite! It’s set mostly in NC mountains 😊
This week I have been reading the memoir, Wintering by Katherine May, which I enjoying and being comforted by.
Blessings, Jessica 💌
I’ll have to check that one out. Being comforted is always much needed. Hope you have a good week, Jessica!