Chapter #31: What Happens When You're Jet Lagged

Spoiler alert: a shorter newsletter

Feeling My Shelf is a bi-weekly newsletter about books, life, and well, life with books. Grab your favorite caffeinated beverage and get comfy. First up, some recent reads.

Note: this week’s newsletter is way shorter than usual, because I’m currently traveling and once again wondering if hotel beds are more comfy or if I’m just really jet-lagged.

Intermission by Phyllis R. Dixon
I liked (but didn’t love!) this story following The Diamonds, a once-popular pop/R&B girl group from Memphis that reunites after 20 years apart. You get the POVs of the four members: Angel, the diva; Carmen, the mediator; Doreen, the party-girl-turned-Pastor’s-wife; and Jade, the people-pleaser. They didn’t part on the best of terms, but financial and legal troubles thrust the group back into the spotlight. It took them forever to reunite on the page, but when they finally did, the scenes were fun and full of drama—almost like watching a reality show.

Search History by Amy Taylor

A smart, witty, and incredibly self-aware portrayal of modern-day dating. It follows a 20-something-woman who becomes obsessed with her new boyfriend’s dead ex-girlfriend after some savvy internet sleuthing. She hasn’t had the best track record in dating, and is constantly overthinking, second-guessing, and comparing herself to what she reads and sees online. It’s incredibly cringe-worthy and all-too relatable, making for a fun, messy read. (Out on Nov. 7!)

Who doesn’t love a good time-loop story? In Maybe Next Time by Cesca Major, a stressed working mother in a strained marriage loses her husband at the end of a busy Monday only to wake up, and it be Monday morning all over again. And again. And again. And again. I’m diving into this today and already expecting to shed a bunch of tears.

Romance covers throughout the years. Lots of celebrities write memoirs. Why did Jada Pinkett Smith get vilified for hers? The makings of a literary It Girl. Feeling stressed? These 5 books can help. How to start your own book club this fall. 10 museums for book lovers to visit across the globe. Lewis Pullman Is the perfect romantic hero in Lessons in Chemistry. A retrospective on author Ann Petry.

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