Notes 12.
Vacation reading and fits + finally seeing Sinners!
Welcome to Notes, my biweekly round-up of the books on my nightstand, the outfits I’m styling, musings from my journal, and snippets of my adventures around the city.
I’m back from vacation in Jamaica and it was a success!
This was very much an R&R vacation and my dream was to read ONE GOLDEN SUMMER on the beach (mission accomplished). I brought four books with me on vacation and I read every single one. Someone give me a gold star!!
Let’s chat through each of the books that I read:
ONE GOLDEN SUMMER* by Carley Fortune: I just feel like Carley Fortune’s books are meant to be read by a body of water (lake, pool, beach, etc.). This one is about Alice and her romance with Charlie, the cocky brother from EVERY SUMMER AFTER. I enjoyed watching Alice come out of her shell and her banter with Charlie. Even though they had completely different personalities, it felt like she was such a great match for him. And I could definitely feel the chemistry between them! Reading this book by the beach was truly a 10/10 reading experience for me, no notes.
SET PIECE* by Lana Schwartz: I think this is my favorite novella yet from 831 Stories! It’s a grown and sexy romance between a famous actor, Jack, and normal person, CJ, who’s a production designer. I’m a sucker for the celebrity/normal person trope. The fantasy of it is just too delicious. I was rooting for CJ and Jack from their first encounter and I loved seeing their relationship develop. And it was also really fun to read about the behind the scenes of a film set.
COUNT MY LIES* by Sophie Stava: It’s been a minute since I read a thriller, so this was a nice change of pace. Our main character, Sloane, lies her way into a nanny job with a seemingly perfect Brooklyn family. As Sloane’s web of lies builds and builds, you just know that something is going to happen. Although I enjoyed reading this, I did have to suspend my disbelief at certain points and just enjoy the ride.
NO ORDINARY LOVE* by Myah Arial: This was my first Myah Ariel book and I really liked it. It’s a celebrity on celebrity romance between Ella, a pop star, and Miles, a famous baseball player. Ella is going through a tricky divorce and is supposed to avoid scandal at all costs. But that plan goes out the window when Miles rescues Ella from a wardrobe malfunction, leading the media to speculate about the nature of the relationship. Not only did I love the music references, but I also enjoyed the journey of Ella figuring out who she is and what exactly she wants for the first time in her adult life. I will say the pacing felt off to me in the last third of the book, but overall I thought this romance was so enjoyable.
*Gifted by the publisher. All opinions are my own.
Packing for a beach vacation is so easy because you basically just need a bunch of bathing suits, some coverups, and a few cute dresses for dinner. Above I’m wearing a coverup from Amazon and below I’m in this Old Navy set (it looks like the top is sold out, but they still have the shorts) that’s literally perfect for vacation/summer.
I’m not gonna lie, I’m very behind on my journal at the moment!! I’ve been collecting junk, but I haven’t even set up my journal for May yet!
But I was really happy with the way these April spreads turned out. The spread on the left is about Sophie’s picnic surprise in the park. And then the spread on the right came from dinner with Sanj at a spot with really cute decor. As soon as I saw that pink and green striped tissue paper (it came with my food), I knew it would be going in my journal 😍
My sister and her partner were in town last week and I loved getting to hang out with them!
Over the weekend, we went to see Sinners (it was my first time, but they’d already seen it multiple times). Of course I loved it. And even though I’m a certified scaredy cat, it wasn’t too scary for me (it definitely helped that they told me when the jump scares were coming up!) Is it weird to say that the music was my favorite part? I don’t know, but that music did something to me!
It was a beautiful Saturday in New York City, so after the movie we walked around for a bit and enjoyed the sunshine before heading back to Brooklyn. Hoping I get to see them again very soon because even though they were here for five days, it felt like such a short trip!
I thought I’d try adding a new section to these biweekly reports! Here’s my round-up of a few recent posts on social that you might have missed:
A week in my life as a content creator
My book review for CAN’T GET ENOUGH by Kennedy Ryan (out now!)
An easy DIY gift idea
There’s so much going on in May- this month has been flying by already! I’ve got a work trip coming up this week and then next weekend it’s time for Cowboy Carter!!!
How’s your May going so far? Let me know in the comments!
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