Happy weekend! Another week in the books!

• I got three runs in (6.5 miles, 5.5 miles, 5.5 miles) and I have a trail run planned for tomorrow. Total weekly mileage will end up around 30-35 miles depending on if I go for 13 or 17 tomorrow! I’m 16 weeks out from the Golden Ultra so time to lock in! Hard to believe that a weekly mileage of 35 isn’t even the distance of the 60k we run on day two of Golden. (insert mind blown emoji)
• Taught lots of fitness and trained some amazing clients, per usual! My yoga classes were packed out this week. We usually see things start to slow down in the hot yoga world this time of year but the yogis are showing up!
• Finn is in his final countdown to the end of school and for the last 26 school days they are doing an alphabet theme. Most days they just do classroom activities around the theme but some have the option to dress up or bring things from home. This week we had “R” – rainbow day and Finn LOVES all things rainbow so we went all out. His teacher loved his bright outfit and so did he!
• Benji is living his best life.
• Swim team is going so well and I’m so proud of the effort Finn is putting in. (And why does he look 15 in this photo!)

If you guys are on Strava, let’s be friends there!

ALL THINGS ENTERTAINMENT: READING, WATCHING, LISTENING

The big topic for this post is what I’ve been reading, watching and listening to lately. Lots to talk about! Let’s start with books.

READING 

• Drowning In Paper Flowers – full disclosure, I am 80% done with this book but it’s been so engaging and easy to read. No rating since I haven’t completed it but a good read! Cannot wait for the twisty ending!

THE LIE: Ruby Powell is the epitome of perfect. She’s beautiful, prominent, and wealthy. She lives in her dream home in the most affluent neighborhood in Dallas. She’s a doting mother, a devoted wife, and a respected member of her community. She takes pride in serving as the president of both her son’s elementary school PTA and her daughter’s high school soccer Booster Club. Her kids adore her, and her husband is still her best friend after eighteen years of marriage.

THE TRUTH: Ruby Powell is a full-figured, middle-aged housewife, living in a house she’s grown to despise. She’s a subpar mother. She detests her husband. And she’s addicted to anti-anxiety pills due to a recurring nightmare. She volunteers at both of her children’s schools, albeit for appearance’s sake only, because what would it look like if she were a stay-at-home mom who didn’t volunteer? Her teenage daughter loathes her, and her six-year-old son suffers from PTSD due to being the victim of a kidnapping when he was a toddler.

What happens when Ruby is no longer able to separate the truth from the lie?

A nightmare.
An affair.
A dead body.
A lifelong secret.
And the ending you never saw coming.

• Heart the Lover – 3.5/5 – this book was smart and witty and covers some big topics in a thoughtful and relatable way. The ending felt a little contrived to me but overall, I liked this book.

You knew I’d write a book about you someday.

Our narrator understands good love stories—their secrets and subtext, their highs and free falls. But her greatest love story, the one she lived, never followed the simple rules.

In the fall of her senior year of college, she meets two star students from her 17th-century lit class: Sam and Yash. Best friends living in the elegant house of a professor on sabbatical, the boys invite her into their intoxicating world of academic fervor, rapid-fire banter, and raucous card games. They nickname her Jordan, and she quickly discovers the pleasures of friendship and her own intellectual ambition. But youthful passion is unpredictable, and soon she finds herself at the center of a charged and intricate triangle. As graduation comes and goes, choices made will alter these three lives forever.

Decades later, the vulnerable days of Jordan’s youth seem comfortably behind her. But when a surprise visit and unexpected news brings the past crashing into the present, she returns to a world she left behind and must confront the decisions and deceptions of her younger self.

• Strangers – 4.5/5 – I feel like everyone has read this memoir and is talking about it. I found it 100% worth the hype and binge worthy.

In March 2020, Belle Burden was safe and secure with her family at their house on Martha’s Vineyard, navigating the early days of the pandemic together—building fires in the late afternoons, drinking whisky sours, making roast chicken. Then, with no warning or explanation, her husband of twenty years announced that he was leaving her. Overnight, her caring, steady partner became a man she hardly recognized. He exited his life with her like an actor shrugging off a costume.

In Strangers, Burden revisits her marriage, searching for clues that her husband was not who she always thought he was. As she examines her relationship through a new lens, she reckons with her own family history and the lessons she intuited about how a woman is expected to behave in the face of betrayal. Through all of it, she is transformed. The discreet, compliant woman she once was—someone nicknamed “Belle the Good”—gives way to someone braver, someone determined to use her voice.

• Don’t Believe Her – 4/5 – OMG THE ENDING.

My life is perfect. I have a beautiful little girl, and I am engaged to be married to the man I’ve had a crush on since I can remember. So when Nick, my handsome fiancé, tells me that his sister Carla is coming home, it’s truly the icing on the cake.

Carla was my best friend growing up, until she ran away when we were both sixteen. Since then, no calls, no letters, nothing. That was twelve years ago. Now, she’s back, and everyone is thrilled—except me.

From the moment she walks in the door, something feels off. Her stories don’t add up, and when I ask her questions, she changes the subject. When I try to discuss my concerns with Nick or Carla’s mother, Marjorie, they brush me off, telling me I’m imagining things. But something isn’t right. And the more time I spend with her, the more certain I become…this woman isn’t Carla.

• Theo of Golden – DNF – don’t judge me. I know this book is adored. I tried so hard and I just couldn’t get through it. I kept reading and reading and I was still at 35% lol. I quit and my grandmother shared the ending.

One spring morning, a stranger named Theo arrives in the small Southern city of Golden. He doesn’t explain much about where he came from or why he’s there—but when he visits the local coffeehouse, where pencil portraits of the people of Golden hang on the walls, he begins purchasing them, one at a time, and giving each portrait to the person depicted. In exchange, he asks only for the person’s story. And so portrait by portrait, person by person, secrets are revealed, regrets are shared, and ordinary lives are profoundly altered.

A story of giving and receiving, of seeing and being seen, Theo of Golden is an unforgettable novel about the power of generosity, the importance of connection, and the quiet miracles that happen when we choose kindness and wonder.

• It’s Not Her – 4/5 – a wild one! Delivered on the thriller front!

A scream shatters the silence…
Courtney Gray’s peaceful vacation turns into a nightmare when she discovers her brother and sister-in-law dead in their lakeside cottage. Her niece Reese is missing. Her nephew Wyatt is asleep upstairs—unharmed.

A town full of secrets…
As police swarm the quiet resort, dark truths about Courtney’s family—and the town itself—begin to surface. Is Reese a victim… or the killer?

A truth no one saw coming…
With everyone hiding something, Courtney races to uncover the terrible mystery. But the closer she gets, the harder it is to know who—or what—to trust.

• The Correspondent – (3.5/5) – Sybil is not an overly likable character but I deeply related to her. This is a complex book with a lot of themes to process. I appreciated the focus on letter writing as I think it’s a lost art.

Sybil Van Antwerp has throughout her life used letters to make sense of the world and her place in it. Most mornings, around half past ten, Sybil sits down to write letters—to her brother, to her best friend, to the president of the university who will not allow her to audit a class she desperately wants to take, to Joan Didion and Larry McMurtry to tell them what she thinks of their latest books, and to one person to whom she writes often yet never sends the letter.

Sybil expects her world to go on as it always has—a mother, grandmother, wife, divorcee, distinguished lawyer, she has lived a very full life. But when letters from someone in her past force her to examine one of the most painful periods of her life, she realizes that the letter she has been writing over the years needs to be read and that she cannot move forward until she finds it in her heart to offer forgiveness.

• Yesteryear – 5/5 – obsessed. So good. Let’s have a book club. Compulsively listened to this one and SHOCKED by the ending.

Natalie lives a traditional lifestyle. Her charming farmhouse is rustic, her husband a handsome cowboy, her six children each more delightful than the last. So what if there are nannies and producers behind the scenes, her kitchen hiding industrial-grade fridges and ovens, her husband the heir to a political dynasty? What Natalie’s followers—all 8 million of them—don’t know won’t hurt them. And The Angry Women? The privileged, Ivy League, coastal elite haters who call her an antifeminist iconoclast? They’re sick with jealousy. Because Natalie isn’t simply living the good life, she’s living the ideal—and just so happens to be building an empire from it.

Until one morning she wakes up in a life that isn’t hers. Her home, her husband, her children—they’re all familiar, but something’s off. Her kitchen is warmed by a sputtering fire rather than electricity, her children are dirty and strange, and her soft-handed husband is suddenly a competent farmer. Just yesterday Natalie was curating photos of homemade jam for her Instagram, and now she’s expected to haul firewood and handwash clothes until her fingers bleed. Has she become the unwitting star of a ruthless reality show? Could it really be time travel? Is she being tested by God? By Satan? When Natalie suffers a brutal injury in the woods, she realizes two things: This is not her beautiful life, and she must escape by any means possible.

• Margo’s Got Money Problems – 3/5 – this was highly entertaining but not my favorite. It’s being made into a TV series and I’ll give it a go!

As the child of a Hooters waitress and an ex-pro wrestler, Margo Millet’s always known she’d have to make it on her own. So she enrolls at her local junior college, even though she can’t imagine how she’ll ever make a living. She’s still figuring things out and never planned to have an affair with her English professor—and while the affair is brief, it isn’t brief enough to keep her from getting pregnant. Despite everyone’s advice, she decides to keep the baby, mostly out of naiveté and a yearning for something bigger.

Now, at twenty, Margo is alone with an infant, unemployed, and on the verge of eviction. She needs a cash infusion—fast. When her estranged father, Jinx, shows up on her doorstep and asks to move in with her, she agrees in exchange for help with childcare. Then Margo begins to form a plan: she’ll start an OnlyFans as an experiment, and soon finds herself adapting some of Jinx’s advice from the world of wrestling. Like how to craft a compelling character and make your audience fall in love with you. Before she knows it, she’s turned it into a runaway success. Could this be the answer to all of Margo’s problems, or does internet fame come with too high a price?

• Don’t Open Your Eyes – 4/5 – a wild ride and never saw the ending coming!

Annabelle Reynolds has everything she’s ever wanted. A devoted husband, two wonderful daughters, and a career she loves. She couldn’t be happier. So why is she suddenly plagued by disturbing dreams of a future where she hates her husband and her daughters’ lives are at risk? At first, she chalks the dreams up to an overactive imagination. But when details from her dreams, details she couldn’t possibly have predicted, begin to materialize, she realizes these aren’t just dreams but rather premonitions of a terrifying future. They all point to a singular choice, an unknown moment that holds Annabelle’s life in the balance.

Then Annabelle has a dream that her daughter Scarlett is in immediate danger. Someone wants Scarlett dead, and Annabelle has no idea who or why. Suddenly, every choice she makes is fraught with peril, with no inkling of which move could bring this terrifying vision to life. As Annabelle’s present life starts to collide with the future in her dreams, she wrestles with how much control she really has over her destiny and whether she can change what is meant to be.

• We Are All Guilty Here – 3/5 – this was okay but I won’t be reading the other books in the series.

Welcome to North Falls. A small town where everyone knows everyone. But nobody knows the truth. Until the night of the fireworks. When two teenage girls vanish, and the town ignites.

For Officer Emmy Clifton, it’s personal. She turned away when her best friend’s daughter needed help—and now she must bring her home. But as Emmy combs through the puzzle the girls left behind, she realizes she never really knew them. Nobody did.

Every teenage girl has secrets. But who would kill for them? And what else is the town hiding?

• She Didn’t See It Coming – 4/5 – fun and had an unexpected twist!

When a beloved wife and mother disappears, a luxurious condo building transforms into a potential crime scene, and the investigation begins: can the detectives find her before it’s too late?

Bryden and Sam have it all: thriving careers, a smart apartment in a luxury condominium, supportive friends and a cherished daughter. The perfect life for the perfect couple.

Then Sam receives a call at his office. Bryden – working from home that day – has failed to collect their daughter from daycare. Arriving home with their little girl, he finds his wife’s car in the underground garage. Upstairs in their apartment her laptop is open on the table, her cell phone nearby, her keys in their usual place in the hall.

Except Bryden is nowhere to be seen. It’s as if she just walked out. How can she have disappeared from her own home? And did she even leave the building at all?

With every minute that passes – and as questions swirl around their community – Bryden and Sam’s past seems a little less perfect, their condominium less safe, their friends, neighbors and relatives no longer quite so reliable . . .

• The Bright Years – (4.5/5) – can you tell I love thrillers and family dramas the most? This was beautiful. I am reading her new book, The Burning Side, right now.

Ryan and Lillian Bright are deeply in love, recently married, and now parents to a baby girl, Georgette. But Lillian has a son she hasn’t told Ryan about, and Ryan has an alcohol addiction he hasn’t told Lillian about, so Georgette comes of age watching their marriage rise and fall.

When a shocking blow scatters their fragile trio, Georgette tries to distance herself from reminders of her parents. Years later, Lillian’s son comes searching for his birth family, so Georgette must return to her roots, unearth her family’s history, and decide whether she can open up to love for them—or herself—while there’s still time.

Told from three intimate points of view, The Bright Years is a tender, true-to-life debut that explores the impact of each generation in a family torn apart by tragedy but, over time, restored by the power of grace and love.

• The Perfect Divorce – 4/5 – if you read The Perfect Marriage, you MUST read The Perfect Divorce. These books are so wild!

It’s been eleven years since high-powered attorney Sarah Morgan defended her husband, Adam, against the charge of murdering his mistress. Sarah has long since moved on, starting a family with her new husband, Bob Miller, and changing careers. Her life is back to being exactly how she always wanted … or is it?

After discovering Bob engaged in a one-night stand, Sarah wastes no time filing for divorce. However, amid their ugly separation, new DNA evidence is uncovered in the case against Adam, forcing the police to reopen the investigation and putting Sarah right back in the spotlight. Everyone wants to know what really happened, most of all former deputy Marcus Hudson, who is hell-bent on finding the truth.

But when the woman Bob slept with is reported missing, he and Sarah start to fight dirty, and a high-stakes game of cat and mouse ensues. Filled with page-turning suspense and Jeneva Rose’s signature twists and turns, this book will have readers wondering, Can Bob and Sarah achieve the perfect divorce? Or will it be “till death do us part”?

• Her Last Breath – (4/5) – do not read if you have any issues with claustrophobia but this book hooked me in immediately. The ending is a little fantastical but the book is great!

When Tess reluctantly joins her adventurous best friend Allie on a caving expedition, she expects to confront her claustrophobia—not a stranger who traps her in a fight for her life. A man who claims to be a fellow caver harasses them at the cave’s entrance. Confident, take-no-shit Allie insults the guy—and he retaliates. Soon, Tess is trapped inside a narrow crawl space hundreds of feet underground, fighting to stay alive.

Hours later, Tess emerges alive—but the nightmare is far from over.

As Tess recounts her harrowing story of survival, the detective interviewing her shares new and shocking secrets about Allie’s true past. Together, they begin to suspect the brutal attack wasn’t so random after all. In the hospital, as Tess pieces together the events with a detective, she learns shocking truths about Allie’s past that reframe everything. Was the attack truly random? Who was Allie beneath her dazzling interior? And most chilling of all—has Tess really escaped the danger, or is it still closing in?

WATCHING 

We must discuss The Pitt. Season one absolutely destroyed me. I started it last fall but finished the last 5-6 episodes recently. Cried my eyes out during every single one of those last 5-6 episodes.

I have heard from people who work in healthcare that it’s considered one of the most accurate medical dramas ever produced. It makes me both sad and glad that I didn’t listen to my mid-life crisis that wanted me to go back to school for nursing. After my mom’s transplant journey, I explored going back to school for nursing. Ultimately, I didn’t move forward with it because of logistics and finances but working in medicine deeply calls to me.

I am trying to get myself strong enough to start season 2.

Love Story also wrecked me. ATE THIS ONE UP! I had zero clue about anything Kennedys before watching but it left me with a hunger to learn more.

I have become a Noah Kahan fan over the last year and this documentary touched me deeply. It was really cool to hear his story and really heartbreaking to hear the way he struggles with depression and body dysmorphia. Goes to show that happiness is an inside job and no amount of fame, money, followers, things is a magical solution.

Lastly, Finn was recently introduced to Cheaper by the Dozen and is OBSESSED. Y’all he cracks up and has watched these movies over and over again. 10/10 recommend adding to your next family movie night.

LISTENING

Speaking of Noah Kahan, his new album, The Great Divide, is lovely. Faves are End of August, Downfall and Porch Light.

Also into Dermott Kennedy’s new album, The Weight of the Woods. Faves so far are Endless and Refuge.

On another music note, I make a ton of playlists on Spotify for my yoga classes, fitness classes and running. You can follow me there!

THE END – YOUR TURN! 

That’s all from me for now! I’d love to hear what you’ve been reading, watching and listening to. Give me all the recommendations!