It’s Monday, What Are You Reading? 8-4-25

Road-trip weekend to Maryland this past weekend to visit our two-and-a-half-year-old granddaughter AND her one-month-old baby sister was wonderful, although way too brief. We stayed close to home, taking walks, going to the playground and Farmer’s Market and out for pizza. Lovely time with family!

Needless to say, I didn’t get much reading in over the weekend! However, on the road, we almost finished listening to The Defense by Steve Cavanagh. It’s a pretty violent thriller narrated by the reluctant defense lawyer in the murder trial of a Russian mob kingpin. First in a series!

The Defense is 416 pages, and the audio, narrated by Adam Sims, is over 10 hours, so it will count towards Big Book Summer when we finish it this Friday.

Since my last post, I finally finished The Children’s Book by A.S. Byatt! It was a big book — the first print book on my Big Book Summer challenge list, and I’ve even started the next one (which there’s no way I’ll finish reading by Labor Day).

Currently Reading

After Happily Ever: An Epic Novel of Mid-Life Rebellion by Jennifer Safrey

Princesses Neve, Della, and Bry are sisters-in-law, having married into the royal Charming family, and for the last thirty-plus years, they’ve been living a coveted happily-ever-after life in the idyllic kingdom of Foreverness. — Publisher’s Description

A fun book by a local author about fairytale princesses about to turn 50!

Trouble Ahead by Bill Fleming and Joe Peters

This is my lunchtime reading at work. I sit outside so no one talks to me while I’m at lunch! haha I’m not kidding

Smart Girl Summer by Kristin Rockaway

It has been taking me way too long to finish this one. I set it aside and haven’t really picked it back up.

Recently Read

The Children’s Book by A.S. Byatt

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • MAN BOOKER PRIZE NOMINEE • From the Booker Prize-winning, bestselling author of Possession: a story that spans the Victorian era through World War I about a children’s author and the passions, betrayals, and secrets that tear apart the lives of her family and loved ones.

Currently Listening To

The Defense by Steve Cavanagh

Eddie Flynn used to be a con artist. Then he became a lawyer. Turns out the two aren’t that different.

Recently Listened To

Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry

A REESE’S BOOK CLUB PICK ∙ AN INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER ∙ Two writers compete for the chance to tell the larger-than-life story of a woman with more than a couple of plot twists up her sleeve in this dazzling and sweeping novel from Emily Henry.

Not my favorite Emily Henry, but easy listening! Possibly too much “women’s fiction” content for readers looking for a steamy enemies to lovers romance and too many steamy scenes of passion for the readers enjoying the women’s fiction parts of the book.

This post is linked up to It’s Monday, What Are You Reading, hosted by The Book Date. It’s Monday! What Are You Reading is a place to meet up and share what you have been and are currently reading each week. Visit the link-up for more books to your groaning TBR pile.