I’m afraid I didn’t do a very good job of keeping up with my reading for the month of June. Must be all that gardening and taking care of the dogs! It’s been a long time since I’ve read only four books in a month. I did better than that while I was still working. I did read a number of magazines though. Everything from Writer, 2 issues of Writer’s Digest, Dogster, Mary Jane’s Farm, Traditional Home Garden, Coastal Living, Smithsonian, and Yankee, to Country Living. Below is the summary of the books that I did read.

1. Voracious-Cara Nicoletti (Non-fiction)

The author is a voracious reader as well as a voracious cook. She is a butcher, cook, and pastry chef in New York City. She discusses her favorite literature from various times throughout her life and cooks a food that related to her during the story. She shares the recipes. I found it to be an enjoyable book to read, but I will never make any of the recipes because they all require an ingredient or tool that I would need to go out and buy. I cook and bake quite a bit, so I do not see the average person pulling off these recipes. It was fun to read none the less.

2. Miss Benson’s Beetle-Rachel Joyce

Margery Benson is a rule abiding teacher living an unremarkable life. One day, things change, and she advertises for an assistant to go with her on a quest to look for the golden beetle of New Caledonia on the other side of the world. Her life becomes a series of life changing adventures. This starts out seeming like a simple straightforward book. The more I read, the more it made me think. I think this is really about friendship and life choices, and isn’t the goal of good books to make us think? It certainly did.

3. On a Coastal Breeze-Suzanne Woods Fisher

This is the second book in a series of the “Three Sisters Island” series. It takes place on an island near Mount Desert Island and Bar Harbor, Maine, so I’m all in on this series! Each book focuses on one sister but includes views from all the family members and sisters. In this one, Madison Grayson is a newly licensed family therapist hanging out her shingle in a basement office and the church has the offices above. Her childhood nemesis shows up as the new pastor and she has to decide what the dynamics of her relationship with him are now. I have enjoyed both books I have read in this series. I will certainly read the next one. This is an inspirational series and mentions God throughout. It does not detract from the story though if that’s not your thing.

4. In a Book Club Far Away-Tif Marcelo

Three military wives become best friends and family. They are there for each other in every way until a betrayal alters their lives. Ten years later, a medical emergency brings the three together again. And they are there for their friend. Can they overcome the past and continue on with their long ago started book club and the rest of their lives, together? A good book about relationships of all types. I enjoyed the book.

Of these four books, if you want to read a book that sucks you in and keeps calling you back, read On a Coastal Breeze. If you want to read a book that makes you think, long after you have finished it, then read Miss Benson’s Beetle. I enjoyed both, but they are different kinds of books. I enjoyed all four of these books. It just depends what you are in the mood for.