This was one of the longest weeks of my life and I'm glad it's over. I was under the weather, dealing with my poor mental health, and worked my butt off. I want to relax, unwind and not think about anything of substance for a few days. 

I've had a busy social schedule for the entire summer and it's finally winding down which I'm really looking forward to. Next week is August which means it's almost September which means it's almost the unofficial start of fall. And this fall will be a good one...or so I hope.

Let me not start waxing poetic about the start of fall the way I do every week so we'll dive right into the roundup.

This has been sitting on my TBR list for a very long time, ever since I got it in a Book of the Month. It's a book I haven't seen much talk about it and what I have seen has been really mixed. It sounded like a really wild, intense plot, and the summary was enough to hook me in from the first line. 

I had high hopes but the fact that it was such a far-fetched plot, not based on any sort of reality that you've come to know from other thrillers, scared me. When you go into something you've never read before, mixed with high hopes, you might get disappointed.

That being said, I was not disappointed with The Hunting Wives.  However, it was a really weird book and is definitely not for everyone. It's also not the type of book that leaves you feeling satisfied. I could've read a few more chapters where things were more neat and tidy but maybe that is the beauty of it. It left you wondering and with even more questions than you already had.

The Hunting Wives by May Cobb is not for everyone but if you want something different, weird, and thrilling, you might've just found your next read.

How are we in the last week of July? How is it almost August? How is half the year already over? Time is flying and I think this might be the quickest a year has gone in a while. I would be lying if I said I wasn't pumped for the summer to be over but what else is new? That is my attitude every year and especially coming off a heat wave in New York last week, I am ready for sweater weather.

July was pretty good to me though; I started to feel in the groove of my new job, saw friends and family, and stayed inside with air conditioning... kidding but also not. August will be pretty similar but a little slower so I can try to get my life together. 

I did a lot of shopping in July and loved so many things but these were at the top of my list! 

Happy Friday! This was a really long week, the longest in a while and I'm glad it's over. I feel really in the groove with my job and honestly, it feels like I've been here forever versus only 4 weeks. It feels like fate, like I was always supposed to be here. It's a really fantastic feeling. 

In the same breath, I need to get better at balance. I'm used to experiencing change; change is my middle name but it's been hard to adjust to working really hard five days a week, commuting into the city two days, and just trying to figure everything out. I need to get on a totally new schedule and be more disciplined if I don't want my career to be the only thing about me. 

It's something I haven't had to think of in a long time and it's tough. 

In other news, I'm headed upstate this weekend for a friend's wedding and I'm excited for a little day trip along with seeing my friends and celebrating love. It's going to be wonderful. 

This weekend kicks off a three-weekend wedding celebration; next weekend I have another wedding and then the week after I have a bridal shower. It's busy and before we know it, it'll be the fall season. 

Enough talking, let's get into the wrap-up.

Shari Lapena is one of my favorite true crime novelists. She is known for giving us a typical, cliched mystery, stringing us along, and then pulling the rug out from under us. Lapena is excellent at weaving multiple paths and then taking the one most surprising. At first, it might seem like you are reading a predictable mystery novel but eventually, you see it's quite the opposite.

That is precisely the formula "Someone We Know" follows. That, in addition to the weird plot this book already has made an incredible story. 

I sped through this book and couldn't stop reading until I knew exactly what was going to happen.

Let's get into the review...

I've droned on and on about how I've been in a nail polish rut, especially this summer. I just couldn't find my groove with summer shades but I finally have!

I haven't used Turquoise and Caicos by Essie in years, and I don't know if I've ever even owned it so I thought now was a good time to try it out again. I ordered it from Ulta and immediately used it a week or so ago, and was impressed. 

In my head, Turquoise and Caicos is the ultimate summer shade thanks to its blue-green tone and obviously the name. However, when I applied this polish to my nails I realized it's more of a seasonally universal shade and incredibly unique. 

 Happy Friday! It was my first full week at my new job and wow, it was a lot! And I say that in a good way. I'm getting in the groove of working and understanding all of my responsibilities while also jumping head first into tasks. It's really exciting, I'm learning so much and I realize every day that this is exactly what I wanted.

That doesn't mean it's not tough to get back into a routine where I'm new, while also juggling going into the office consistently twice a week, and actually doing work. Being new at a job is hard, mostly mentally, because I get hard on myself. That might be a post for another day but all in all, I'm exhausted.

The next few weekends are filled with weddings and bridal showers so it'll be busy but then I can chill out, and before we know it, it'll be September and the fall season will be in full swing. I can hardly wait! 

Enough rambling, let's dive head first into the roundup!

The Guest List by Lucy Foley made such a splash when it was released in 2020 and I loved it, even though it was met with mixed reviews. When The Paris Apartment was announced as Foley's next book I was over the moon. I have a renewed love and obsession with Paris and add a little thriller/mystery with Foley's eccentric, intertwined characters and I knew it was going to be good.

I had no idea how good it was going to be.

This is definitely one of my favorite thrillers of the year; Foley's writing felt familiar, like being wrapped in a warm blanket but faced with a new story. It did take me a little while to read I think only because I have been distracted and not reading as fast as I usually do, but I really enjoyed it.  It was an excellent, twisty novel and in my opinion, better than The Guest List.

Let's get into the review! 

 Eczema is a bitch and she is my biggest problem. All the skin on my body, aside from my face, has been an itchy, scaly, horrible mess for months and nothing has been working. I've tried every cream, every oil, every tip, and trick... even medication lotion from my dermatologist and nothing works. Everything makes it worse!

Until now...

During the winter months, I got sent a beautiful PR package from Josie Maran that contained their new body butter. I've used Josie Maran products in the past and really loved them - her body butter is some of the best in the industry because of its rich, luxurious, thick texture along and the hydration is top-notch. 

Happy Friday! I finished up the second week of my new job and it has been so amazing. I feel like I'm learning so much and being challenged, it's everything I've wanted. I'm also exhausted and it was a short week; I can't believe next week is mid-July, it's insane how fast time is moving when you're busy.

With the 4th of July behind us and the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale happening now, fall is upon us and I simply can't wait. I bought two sweaters (to wear in a cold, air-conditioned office) and it just made me so excited for the cooler weather. I love sweaters, jeans, and boots and I just need that weather now, even if we are less than halfway through the summer.

Aside from trying to learn the ropes of a new job, trying to stay calm with a lot of social events happening in the next month, and organizing my life so it doesn't fall apart, I have more than enough on my plate. I've scaled back posting to 3x per week for the past few weeks and will probably continue until I get into a better routine. We shall see what happens! 

For now, let's get into the roundup.

 I've had this novel sitting in my Netgalley for quite a while and I finally read it a few weeks ago and wanted to kick myself for not reading it sooner. Nora Goes Off Script is a quick, easy, romantic and heart-felt read that oddly kept me on my toes, made me cry, and left me wanting more. It was everything you want in a novel to pull you out of a reading slump while also breaking your heart. 

Nora Goes Off Script was published on June 7th, 2022, and is available for purchase now. If you love romance novels with epic twists and lots of miscommunication, I think you will love this! 

I am someone who will do anything to feel better, make my life easier, or just try something new and innovative. That's why I respond so well to all the new products that the wellness industry releases. I'm big on anything minimally invasive and will help me feel my best. 

Enter The Patch Brand.

*Full disclosure, the brand sent me the entire line to try a few months ago and I've been wearing and testing them since then and wanted to wait until I tried them all, multiple times, to put together a brand buzz review. This post isn't sponsored but I received the items for free!

I've tried wellness patches before and I think they are the best, easiest, and most carefree way to add a little self-care into your life. All you do is slap the patch onto your skin and let it do its job at making you feel better.

The Patch Brand has five different wellness patches, all targeting different areas:

• Focus
• Energy
• Immunity
• Sleep
• Stress

 Happy Friday! We won't be celebrating the 4th of July this weekend since women are now second-class citizens in the United States. Freedom of choice is no more! I didn't say anything this week on the blog because everything was pre-written and published (I also started a new job this week so I couldn't update any posts) but if you follow me on Instagram, you saw my real-time reactions to this abhorrent Supreme Court decision.

I've made a number of donations to Planned Parenthood and the National Network of Abortion Funds and just trying to educate as many people around me about the disgusting ways we are going backward. This is also a good time to remind you of Fundrage, a Google Chrome extension that allows you to make donations to previously vetted causes, based on what you're currently reading about on the Internet. They're doing incredible work as well! 

Wear white this weekend, minus the red & blue, and do something for yourself. 

Let's get into the roundup!