A BIG FALL READING LIST...

Gosh it seems like yesterday when I posted my summer reading list - and now here I am posting a list for fall. Time is moving way too fast!! Anyway, did any of you read anything from the summer list?? I mentioned in a post a few weeks ago that this book was my favorite. So good...  This book was a close second. For the fall list, I'm highlighting four books and two cookbooks. AND I'm also including a list of 16 additional recommendations at the end of the post for your perusal!! So many of you have told me that you enjoy these posts, so I wanted to hook you up!! :) Enjoy!

1. The Magnolia Story by Chip & Joanna Gaines: Peeps - I got this book when it was released last Tuesday and finished it two days later - full-time job and week-long migraine included. If you think you know this couple just by watching marathons of their HGTV show, Fixer Upper, think again. This inspirational, super-sweet, hard-working couple has been THROUGH IT. The story starts when they met ends where they are now. What happens in between is proof that life and love can be hard - yet so rewarding, polar opposite personalities can thrive off one another, that hard work pays off, and that God is very real. Their journey (romantic and all!) filled me with so much inspiration - the kind that makes you feel like anything is possible. If you need a little lift in the midst of all of this mayhem going on in the world, then read this book - regardless of if you watch their show or not. I promise you won't be disappointed.

2. The Things We Wish Were True by Marybeth Mayhew Whalen: I admit that I don't really care for books where each chapter is about a different character. All that back and forth can be a bit much for me. But I like this one!! It involves a cast of characters in an all-American picturesque neighborhood in North Carolina. But things aren't as perfect as they seem. In the beginning, each character seems to have their own separate lives, but as the book goes on, they all intertwine - in good ways and in not so good ways. And it all starts with an accident at the neighborhood pool. Childhood secrets among the characters are dispelled and unforgiveness looms. Things and people aren't always what they seem and this book seems to be proving that...

3. The Woman In Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware: I love to curl up with a good mystery and this one looks good to me! Journalist Lo Blacklock has been invited on a small luxury cruise liner for work. The scenery is amazing, the food is good, and the cabins are lovely. Things are going well up until she witnesses a woman being thrown overboard. Despite what she saw, all of the passengers are "accounted for" and the cruise moves on as if nothing happened. She makes several attempts to report the story, but to no avail. Hmm...

4. A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman: The craziness in today's world makes me appreciate feel-good stories (real and fiction) now more than ever. Ove is an old, pist off man who is unhappy with everything and everyone for seemingly no reason. One day, he gets a new set of neighbors - a chatty couple with two young daughters. The couple sets him off by accidentally running over his mailbox with their U-Haul. But it seems like that's just what needed to happen in order for the couple to make a profound difference in Ove's life - and attitude.

5. The Seasoned Life by Ayesha Curry: My diet is so crazy right now that I have honestly shied away from buying cookbooks - which has been SO HARD to do. But a friend of mine recently invited me to Ayesha's book signing (which included a copy of her book), and I am so glad I went (see the pic of the two of us here)! She was super sweet in person and beautiful! I have to say that her cookbook is really, really good. The recipes are easy to make, family friendly, and healthy - yet they look incredibly delicious and flavorful. Lucky for me, they are really easy to adapt to my diet!! The first season of her show, Ayesha's Homemade, on Food Network debuted last Saturday, so you know her food has to be legit!

6. Celebrations by Danielle Walker: I totally admit that I've been kinda leery about Thanksgiving and Christmas due to my diet limitations. Eating however much of whatever I want is off the table this year... Ugh. But I think there is hope now because of this cookbook! I flipped through this book at a local bookstore last weekend and I came home and ordered it immediately! It has so many tasty-looking Paleo and adaptable AIP-friendly recipes that would be perfect for any type of celebration - especially Thanksgiving and Christmas - and any type of diet - good or not so good. The recipes are healthy, but they don't have the dry, tasteless, healthy look about them. I love that.

Additional Recommendations:

Novels

The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

Who We Were Before by Leah Mercer

When I'm Gone by Emily Bleeker

Five Stages of Falling In Love by Rachel Higginson

What She Knew by Gilly McMillan 

All The Breaking Waves by Kerry Lonsdale

Love Warrior by Glennon Doyle Melton

Better Than Before by Gretchen Rubin

Two by Two by Nicholas Sparks

52 Lists for Happiness by Moorea Seal (not a novel, but you know I love a good list!)

Cookbooks

Cooking for Jeffrey by Ina Garten (obviously!)

Skinnytaste Fast and Slow by Gina Homolka

Small Victories by Julia Turshen

French Country Cooking by Mimi Thorisson

Damn Delicious by Chungah Rhee (love her blog!)