The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera

I've had this book on my shelf for a REALLY long time. I finally started it and was surprised how readable it ended up being. After all, it is LIT-erature. Classics and readability don't always go together. And the out of order storytelling became a little hard to follow in places but overall, the story of Tomas and Tereza as well as some side characters including Tomas's side piece.

Three stars
This book came out in 1984
Hard copy I didn't keep
Opinions are my own

Can’t Help Falling in Love by Samantha Chase

This book is a prime example of why I started tagging books fast, fun, and fluffy. Not a LOT of character development, and, when it happens, it's sort of in a rush at the end. But it's still a fun story and is perfect for escaping the world for awhile.
Hunter Jones has a little boy but the boy's mother has been pulling away more and more, taking less and less care of the child. Now she's disappeared completely and he's not sure what to do. He's definitely not prepared to have some unknown woman yelling at him.
Violet Drake grew up with an unreliable parent before being stuck into foster care. She has no use for people who have children but can't take care of them. Normally a travel writer, Violet is just in Magnolia Sound to help her super-pregnant friend until her husband comes back on leave. Violet is definitely not expecting to fall in love twice. Once with Hunter and once with his son.
There were definitely too many misunderstandings at the end of the story.

Three stars
Follows And Then One Day

Followed by Last Beautiful Girl
This book came out August 10th, 2020
Borrowed as ebook from the library
Opinions are my own

We Need to Talk by Celeste Headlee

Interweaving her own experiences with harder research, Headlee teaches us how to better communicate. Of course, a lot of it comes down to listening. But there is a lot that has to do with empathy for... well, everyone. Or mostly everyone. She is a radio host and did interviews for a living so the audiobook is quite delightful to listen to. However, I think that much of this information could be gleaned from the TedTalk that Headlee based the book off of. If you want to get down to the nitty gritty, I suggest finding that. If you like your information a little more filled out, this is going to be the place to come to.

Three stars

This book came out September 19th, 2017
Borrowed this as an audiobook from Hoopla
Opinions are my own

Considering Kate by Nora Roberts

Kate Kimball has been on the greatest stages of the world. But she is done with the world of ballet; she just wants to retire home in West Virginia and open up a school. First, she will need to have her building renovated. But Brody O'Connell, her contractor, is infuriating. And handsome. And a good dad to his son.
Brody doesn't want to deal with a stuck-up woman like Kate. His wife was a woman from that world and her family turned their backs on her when she married Brody. But she is different. Decisive as well as beautiful and she fits so perfectly into his life.
This book very much mirrors the first book in the series down to the misunderstandings that occur when our protagonists meet. The frills are different and Katie is much more forward than her mother was but quite a bit of overlap that some readers may not enjoy.

Three stars
This book came out February 1st, 2001
Follows Waiting for Nick
Borrowed as ebook from CloudLibrary
Opinions are my own

The Vineyard at Painted Moon by Susan Mallery

 If you looked at it from the outside, Mackenzie Dienes really does seem to have it all. A job she adores, a handsome husband, and a family that has welcomed this orphan into their ranks. But if you look a little harder, you'll see that there are cracks in the perfection. Yes, she has been working her ass off to develop the family's wines but there always seems to be something keeping her from truly becoming a part of the family legacy. Then there's the fact that she and her husband haven't really been together in years. And she is somewhat doubting whether it was ever truly a love match. 

When she has the chance to reach for her dreams, it threatens to upend her entire life.  

Like many of Mallery's non-series books of late, this book is a little lighter on the romance and more on the plot development. Even with the plot development, the book was a slooooooow build and I kept putting the book down and picking it up again trying to figure out why we needed exactly so much back story. I wish we could have learned more about some of the other characters - the main focus was on Mackenzie with a bit more about her best friend/sister-in-law Stephanie. It did eventually pay off with a satisfying ending.

Three stars
This book comes out February 9th

ARC kindly provided by HQN and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

Lucky Ride by Deborah Coonts

Lucky is barely back from China when she is dumped into another mystery, one that is tied to her mother's past. Could it be that Mona had another child at some point? Too bad the girl that is claiming that relationship is under suspicion for murder. Without a rest, Lucky is thrown into the world of rodeo.
I keep going back and forth on finishing this series. There are only three more books after this one but the fluff is really starting to outweigh the parts that I enjoy. This is starting to feel like the same ol' same ol' with Lucky having a case, being stonewalled by her parents, and having to blunder around until a solution presents itself. I still enjoyed parts of the book, mostly Lucky herself who, excepting around her parent, is a shining example of a character who excels competency-porn in the confines of her work life.

Three stars
Follows Luck the Hard Way
Followed by Lucky Score
This book came out June 21st, 2017
Borrowed as an ebook from Hoopla
Opinions are my own

Last Stand: Ted Turner's Quest to Save a Troubled Planet by Todd Wilkinson

One of the ladies in my general book club recommended this book about 8 or 9 years ago and I'm sort of wishing I had read the book then; it would have resonated more deeply closer to the time it was written. 
I live near Bozeman (at least by Montana standards) and so knew that Ted Turner's ranch was nearby and was interested in learning more. Wilkinson certainly provided it. He is a very good writer who has written a lot about the Yellowstone area and honed his craft nicely. His talent shows through in the book even if the topic of Ted Turner gets a little stale after awhile.

Three stars

This book came out April 2nd, 2013
Hard copy from library
Opinions are my own