What I've been reading lately

I love reading, and recently I’ve set a goal for myself to read more, and every single day. And as our world and news have been filled with darkness lately, I have been finding myself craving to escape to simplicity, or somewhere far away.

There really is such a thing as brain overload, and no matter how much I’ve tried these last few months to read self-improvement or personal growth books, they just weren’t “sticking”, a sign that I needed to take a break from the plethora of information thrown at us this year.

And to find that escape, I’ve turned to fictional books, and I have to say that it felt [mostly] great immersing myself in these.

I love historical novels, either fictional or based on real stories. I also love mysteries and feel-good reads, as well as a dark[er] story here and there - those I mostly enjoy in audiobook form with my husband. So here’s what I’ve read recently:

The House of Closed Doors, I came across this historical novel written by Jane Steen by chance, and shortly after beginning to read it, it felt like the escape I needed. Soon, I became enthralled by the story of this simple, naive character - Nell, and her world. Once I finished the book, I saw that the story continued with two more novels, Eternal Deception, and The Shadow Palace, which were equally captivating. Needless to say that I devoured these books, and if you’re into historical novels like I am, you’ll certainly love Nell’s story just as much.
Dreaming of Florence by T. A. Williams. This is definitely the feel-good book I was mentioning earlier, and while unrealistic when it comes to the way the story unfolds (it’s fiction after all), it is a delight to read just for the dreamy Florence landscape beautifully described in it. Oh, and the love story, of course. All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, and definitely recommend it.
Nantucket Nights by Elin Hilderbrand. I wasn’t blown away by this book, to be honest, and I only finished it because I hate quitting on a book. I have to admit I began reading it because the story takes place in Nantucket, and because I liked the idea of long-lasting female friendship, celebrated via an annual ritual of night swims in the ocean, and sharing of personal secrets. As the story took an unexpected turn, to say the least, and it revealed that this friendship was a lie, I became very disappointed in the direction the story went. This book just didn’t do it for me.
Magic Mirror (The Georgia Lee Maxwell Series, Book 1) by Michaela Thompson. This book is part one of a 2-series, and while I haven’t had a chance to read the second book yet, the first was absolutely entertaining. A cozy mystery, the main character, Georgia Lee Maxwell, finds herself entangled in far more than what she asked for when she decided to move to Paris, in order to get away from several uncomfortable events in her life. This book was just another welcomed escape, and not a disappointing one - I definitely recommend it for a light, yet captivating read.
Needful Things by Stephen King. This is what I refer to when I mean dark stories… after all, this is a Stephen King novel. In Castle Rock, his famous town, a new store opens “Needful Things”, where shoppers find the object of their absolute dream or desire, at a bargain price + playing a seemingly innocent trick on someone in town. In a week, the whole town meets with an apocalyptic fate, when its residents find themselves [unknowingly] pinned against each other by the store owner, who, turns out, is not human… In the author’s true style, the story reveals a [not so hidden] message about the vile side of human nature, and while this book was slow-building in my opinion, it was still captivating.