I'm back to share my latest reads with you including the book I just read while traveling to and from Nashville for a fun little trip! I've posted about some
past trips to Nashville here and even gave a mini trip round up on a
past book review post as well. Nashville and The Finger Lakes in New York are two of my favorite long weekend trips to go on, and I had a great time on my most recent trip per usual!
This was my fourth trip to Nashville but my first time getting to stay at the
Gaylord Opryland Resort.
My husband had a conference there for work, so I flew in late Friday
night to meet up with him. He had to work on Saturday but I had a great
time exploring the resort by myself. If you are ever in Nashville and
have a chance to stay here even just one night, it is so worth it! The
resort is HUGE and it has tons of beautiful botanical gardens that you
can walk through inside the hotel including beautiful waterfalls. There are tons of restaurants and bars in the resort and lots of
shops too - I had a fun time wandering around the gardens and then doing
some shopping Saturday morning before hitting up the hotel gym to get
my workout on.
There is also an indoor water park at the resort! I didn't really feel like floating down the lazy river by myself, but I did find that they have an adults only infinity pool in the upper portion of the resort which turned out to be such a fun spot to hang out at. There was a pool bar where I grabbed a fruity pineapple drink at (yes, I bought that drink just for that cup so I could take a picture with it - lol) and even though it was kind of chilly outside, the infinity pool was inside a solarium so I enjoyed relaxing and soaking up the sunshine and catching up on some reading (sneak peak at one of the books I read recently!)
After my husband was done his work conference Saturday I managed to pull myself away from the pool and we moved to an Air BnB in 12 South neighborhood for the rest of our stay. This was our second time staying in this area and I really think it's the perfect area to stay in Nashville! It's only about a 10-15 minute uber ride to downtown, but 12 South itself is very walkable with lots to do as well. It's a more quiet residential area but it still has cute coffee shops, the most amazing 1,000 layer donuts from
5 Daughters Bakery, and lots of bars, restaurants and shops as well.
The rest of our trip was spent doing the things we love in Nashville: heading downtown to listen to good country music and to grab some drinks at the honky tonks and roof top bars, eating hot chicken and mac and cheese, and venturing out into the country for an afternoon at
Arrington Vineyard. Lots of fun packed into a long weekend and officially one book started on the flight down, and finished on the flight back!
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By Shari Lapena. Synopsis from Amazon:
A weekend retreat at a cozy mountain lodge is supposed to be the
perfect getaway . . . but when the storm hits, no one is getting away
It's
winter in the Catskills and Mitchell's Inn, nestled deep in the woods,
is the perfect setting for a relaxing--maybe even romantic--weekend
away. It boasts spacious old rooms with huge woodburning fireplaces, a
well-stocked wine cellar, and opportunities for cross-country skiing,
snowshoeing, or just curling up with a good murder mystery.
So
when the weather takes a turn for the worse, and a blizzard cuts off the
electricity--and all contact with the outside world--the guests settle
in and try to make the best of it.
Soon, though, one of the guests turns up dead--it looks like an accident. But when a second guest dies, they start to panic.
Within
the snowed-in paradise, something--or someone--is picking off the
guests one by one. And there's nothing they can do but hunker down and
hope they can survive the storm--and one another.
I was excited to see another book out from Shari Lapena because I really loooooved
The Couple Next Door and also enjoyed
A Stranger in the House so I was pumped to read another thriller by this author. I also was excited about it because the story-line is essentially very similar to Agatha Christie's classic murder mystery
And Then There Were None. While I enjoyed this book, I think anytime you go into it expecting a mystery of the likes of Agatha
Freaking Christie, you will be slightly disappointed. The thing that bugged me with this book was that it was very hard for you as the reader to figure out
who done it. I don't think there were enough clues for us to logistically have been able to decipher who the murderer was which was slightly frustrating to me. Regardless, I still liked the eerie setting, the cast of characters, and following the storyline from multiple points of view because it really kept the book moving quickly. I started this book on Sunday morning and finished it Friday night all while working full time, working out daily for an hour plus, commuting 1.5 hours daily, and keeping a small social life ;) so it was overall still a quick and enjoyable read for me, and probably my favorite of the books that I read during this roundup. However, if you haven't: reading the original
And Then There Were None is still a necessity before you ever consider picking this one up!
