So, um, today is my birthday … *throws confetti*

I’ll be celebrating later today with Jared and my parents. Yesterday the celebration kicked

Such a fun movie!

off early with book shopping, dinner and a movie. We saw “La La Land” … Jared suggested it without realizing it’s a musical (he hates musicals!). It was a beautiful film!

Anyway, about the books … in addition to the three I purchased yesterday at Barnes & Noble (thank you for the gift card, Jared!), I picked up a couple of others at book swap on Thursday night. All but one of them were books I’d already been wanting to read, so I don’t have to worry too much about falling farther down the TBR hole (for the moment).

What did I pick?

I’m so glad you asked.

After book swap, I took home “No One Knows” by J.T. Ellison and “Behold the Dreamers” by Imbolo Mbue. I owe Kat a thank-you for bringing both of them!

In case you’re wondering, the titles I took to book swap were “All the Ugly and Wonderful Things” by Bryn Greenwood (it was Anna’s copy but she hasn’t read it yet), and my ARCs of “Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk” by Kathleen Rooney (per Anna’s request) and “The Good Daughter” by Alexandra Burt. Kat took home “The Good Daughter.” I look forward to hearing what they think of their selections.

Yesterday, I deliberated for what felt like an eternity before I picked three books at B&N. It used to take me forever to find a book I absolutely knew I wanted to read; thanks to Goodreads, it’s now a struggle to sort through my lengthy TBR and narrow it down to what I can afford.

I brought home two historical fiction novels, both set in the ’20s (an era I absolutely love): “Radio Girls” by Sarah-Jane Stratford and “Villa America” by Liza Klaussmann. Because of my growing love for suspense-thrillers, I also purchased “I Let You Go” by Clare Mackintosh.

Even though I blame Goodreads for making me want to read ALL THE BOOKS, I also appreciate Goodreads because my ultimate buying decisions were based on average ratings. I really struggled to choose between “I Let You Go” and “Still Missing” by Chevy Stevens, but that battle came down to 1.) a really high average rating for “I Let You Go” and 2.) the fact that I purchased another Stevens book back in November (“That Night”) which I have yet to read.

I’m so excited to read and review these books … hopefully they won’t sit for too long before I get to them (although my stack of books I want to read next never seems to get any smaller).