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Have you ever taken a leap into a book club just because it might be fun?  It happens in a book one of us discusses today and it could happen to you too!  You could join us for Virtual Book Club on Friday, August 26 at 7:30pm CST.  You don’t have to commit to anything but one book at a time, and folks skip when the book or the date don’t work for them, and we do try to read different genres and authors, with exceptions for season pass authors.  To give it a try, sign up here, and start reading From Blood and Ash #1 by Jennifer Armentrout but only the first one for now, because we’re committing to discuss only one book.  

Ashley IN MEDIAS RES

• The Power of Agency: The 7 Principles to Conquer Obstacles, Make Effective Decisions, and Create a Life on Your Own Terms by Paul Napper
• The Simple Path to Wealth: Your road map to financial independence and a rich, free life by J. L. Collins
• Ninja Selling: Subtle Skills. Big Results. By Kendall Larry
• The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It by Michael E. Gerber
• A Year of Positive Thinking: Daily Inspiration, Wisdom, and Courage by Cyndie Spiegel

Nikki IN MEDIAS RES

• Bread and Wine: A Love Letter to Life Around the Table with Recipes by Shauna Niequist
• Crooked Kingdom (Six of Crows #2) by Leigh Bardugo
• Fire & Rescue Shifters: Complete Series Collection by Zoe Chant
• A Bollywood Affair (Bollywood #1) by Sonali Dev
• The Happiness Project: Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun by Gretchen Rubin

Ashley FIN

• A Bollywood Affair (Bollywood #1) by Sonali Dev
• Helfyre by Mariel Pomeroy
• The Widows of Malabar Hill by Sujata Massey
• Six of Crows (Six of Crows #1) by Leigh Bardugo
• Book Lovers by Emily Henry
• Ruin and Rising (The Shadow and Bone Trilogy #3) by Leigh Bardugo
• People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry
• Dear Girls: Intimate Tales, Untold Secrets & Advice for Living Your Best Life by Ali Wong
• The Pathfinder’s Journey: The Key to Your Dream Life Through Real Estate Investing by Eric & Tiffany Vogel
• The Bear’s Midlife Mate: Bear Shifter Romance (Mountain Magic Book 1) by Haley Weir

Nikki FIN

• That Sounds Fun: The Joys of Being an Amateur, the Power of Falling in Love, and Why You Need a Hobby by Annie F. Downs (audio)
• I Think You’re Wrong (But I’m Listening): A Guide to Grace-Filled Political Conversations by Sarah Stewart Holland and Beth Silvers
• Guy Stuff: The Body Book for Boys by Cara Natterson
• Her Deceptive Duke (Wicked Husbands #4) by Scarlett Scott
• Strong and Smart: A Boy’s Guide to Building Healthy Emotions by David Thomas
• Sutton’s Scoundrel (The Sinful Suttons #5) by Scarlett Scott
• The Demon in the Wood (Grishaverse #0.1) by Leigh Bardugo
• The Tailor (The Shadow and Bone Trilogy #1.5) by Leigh Bardugo
• The Widows of Malabar Hill by Sujata Massey
• The Lazy Genius Kitchen: Have What You Need, Use What You Have, and Enjoy It Like Never Before by Kendra Adachi
• Book Lovers by Emily Henry
• Six of Crows (Six of Crows #1) by Leigh Bardugo

Darling Readers, what a month it has been! I’ve been in Canada (yes, with Canadian Adam) and then into Wisconsin with a full-on spa day at Sundara in Wisconsin Dells. But, I still struggled multiple times over what to read during this Lemonade Summer. Yes, there is always a little bit of a struggle to find a book that will satisfy my current life and reading mood. But, usually I’m a little less indecisive and don’t have FIVE books In Medias Res at the end of the month. Oh, I’m sure there have been months when there’s been that many before, but probably not half of them hovering around the 40% mark, and quite possibly waiting there for the foreseeable future. (Hello, Amazon Prime Day KU Purchase!)

Today, though, as part of my reading life review, I want to take you back to last month when I admitted to a room of 400+ women real estate investors at InvestHERCon that I read a hella lot of books a year and write this here blog with my book buddy, who usually reads even more books than I do a year, even if it’s just by 5-10. After I made that announcement, I was hunted down – in only the best way- at the conference by a brand new author, Tiffany Vogel, who then asked me to join the launch team for her and her husband Eric’s new release The Pathfinder’s Journey: The Key to Your Dream Life Through Real Estate Investing. It released on July 8th, and even though I received a copy before the release, I didn’t get to reading it until last week. I’m super bummed that I waited that long to read it, even though it was just a couple weeks since release, because I have so many good things to say about this quick 160 page read. I read it with my KU subscription…then went ahead and bought my own digital copy for $.99. If you’re remotely interested in what Tiffany and Eric do when they’re not writing books, check them out at www.onpurposeinvestor.com and at The On Purpose Investor Podcast, on your favorite podcast player.

The Pathfinder’s Journey is the narrative self-discovery story of fictional Charlie and Liza Webber, who are introduced to Financial Freedom through Real Estate by their new neighbor, Dan. You follow the Webbers through their first few years as real estate investors, as they learn what the Vogels call The Five Pillars of Success: Discover Your Why, Create Your Roadmap, Change Your Mindset, Design Your Lifestyle, and Set Big Goals. For each of these Pillars, the Vogels give the examples that the Webbers and their investing network took, but also give the readers the names of more books, podcasts, and media to consume in order to expand on the concepts given in The Pathfinder’s Journey. (Yes, I read and consume this same media!) What I really love about this book, besides their shout-outs to even more resources for the beginning investor, is that they’re showing the hard and easy parts of real estate investing. The easy part is doing the homework, reading the books, listening to the podcasts, and watching the YouTube videos. The hard part is changing your mindset into believing that you CAN do what you’ve set out to do, silencing and ignoring the naysayers in your life (including your own brain), and putting your entire life on hold to focus on the long-term goals you’ve set for your life. Filled with actionable steps to take, The Pathfinder’s Journey will help new investors get over the hump of analysis paralysis AND be a great resource for seasoned investors to hand off to their mentees as a blueprint for success. Five-Star Review from me.

As a roundup to my month, I’ve been listening to a playlist curated by The Popcast’s Erin Moon entitled “Running Up That Hill for 80’s Babies.” You can check it out on Spotify Here. [Nikki here: Cosign this playlist recommendation – it’s magical!] With my Spotify Premium subscription I also get the amazingness that is the option to autoplay similar songs when my music ends. So when this playlist ends even MORE AMAZING 90s NOSTALGIA starts playing and I can’t get enough of it. 10/10 Highly Recommend. Might also be part of the reason why I can’t find a good mood read lately. Whoops.

~Ashley

Oh darling readers, I need to echo Ashley’s readerly struggles this month.  I began the month in vacation mode, and for me this year that meant some big book energy at the beach.  Last year’s beach reads included the Shadow and Bone Trilogy, so what better for this year than Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom.  My reading schedule was impacted by the format of my reads (e-book and dead tree, respectively), and the fact that I didn’t start Six of Crows until the pre-vacation chaos hit led to some beach struggles (because sand + kindle = bad).  And that my friends is why I didn’t finish Crooked Kingdom yet, and why I started Bread and Wine, without which my IN MEDIA RES would be much more normal (for me).  We don’t need to talk about the two other books I finished today to bring my total down to five.

I also want to add that even for vacation, this feels light for me.  Three of the books on my list come in well below 100 pages, and I am definitely not the target audience or age for two of them, so they were very quick reads for me.  The rest…well, those feel right on, and even the short books, and the titles I previewed for my people were good too.  Other than my mood read struggles and my format struggles (I’m looking at you physical books), I feel pretty fantastic about my reading life this month.  I’ve read some really fun, amazing titles for the blog, some fun KU titles for me, gotten some solid kitchen inspiration from my beloved Kendra Adachi, and dove back into the Grishaverse (and yes, watched the first episode of Shadow and Bone too and plan for more soon).  I’m calling it a great reading month, and want to share a few specifics too.

If you want to have better conversations (not speeches) about politics, please consider reading I Think You’re Wrong (But I’m Listening) (which is currently on sale for a great price) and listening to Pantsuit Politics.  They were definitely preaching to the choir with me, but I still got some great tips I’ll have ready for the next controversial conversation.  If your kitchen is driving you crazy, please read or listen to The Lazy Genius Kitchen.  Kendra shares how to think about all things related to your kitchen and SHE IS A JOY!  I own two versions of this book, plan to borrow another, and I am not sorry.  Kendra also loves fabulous YA fantasy books, so I feel like she’d want me to add in, if you’ve read and enjoyed the Shadow and Bone Trilogy, JUST KEEP READING and Six of Crows is the start of the next duology.  Yes, it’s different, and yes, you need to get to the end of Shadow and Bone first to prevent spoilers.  Also, I’m giving Leigh Bardugo a season pass.  I’ll get caught up on her backlist eventually and I’m SO PUMPED!

Last but not least, the book I didn’t know I needed in my life, especially as it feels like all the things are trying to eat me, That Sounds Fun.  I’ve been listening to the podcast for years, and I adore Annie F. Downs, but hadn’t read any of her books.   So when I realized I was soon to break my audiobook streak and didn’t have one on hold I could quickly get, I decided to shift this from e-book to audio format for my consumption and it was SO AMAZING to have Annie read this to me.  Through essays, she explains why we need fun, just for fun’s sake, and how to reclaim the fun in our lives with several examples of her own.  It didn’t hurt that I listened while doing other things and it helped me rack up minutes in the summer reading challenge where I’m trying to beat my children simply because of the amount of smack the oldest has talked about beating me.  He knows how much I read, or he thought he did.  We only have until the end of the month, so I think I can hold out, and I might need to pick up another audiobook to help.

What is bringing you joy in your reading life this summer?  Mood reading?  Competition?  Something more?  

~Nikki

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