Hello and welcome back to my channel!

Oops, wrong social media outlet. I definitely don't have a YouTube account but have always wanted to say that, lol. Realistically I feel like I'm a terrible blogger as well these days - I much more prefer the easy-to-share diary on Instagram but for situations like book reviews where I need some more space to type, I love dragging the good ole' blogger blog platform out to share my thoughts with you guys!

Here's a super recap up of what I've been up to since my last round up of books I've read!
After we got back from our last trip to Chincoteague we only had a few days at home before heading off on our next trip. We worked from home, hit up the gym a few times (nothin like working out in a mask during a global pandemic!) and I frantically did laundry and tried to get my life together before our next trip.

During that time I started reading An American Marriage, but as soon as we got to Philly airport to set off on our next trip to NANTUCKET, I knew it was time to pause that one and read a little something more fitting for a trip to the Island.

So I tucked my kindle back into my carryon and pulled out Summer People - signed by THE one and only Elin Hilderbrand, and read that book for the rest of our trip to Nantucket!

We had such a fun time in Nantucket. Coronavirus definitely changed the experience, but it still felt nice to be away from home in such a quaint little town. They don't call it the "gray lady" for nothing though - it was literally cloud EVERYDAY we were the but the first day! Luckily our flight to Boston was on time, we hit very minimal traffic driving to Hyannis, and we caught an earlier ferry so we arrived in time to sneak a little beach time in on our first day in town!

This picture was taken at Steps Beach which was just SO beautiful. The ocean was calm, there were tons of shells laying around, and it was the perfect beach experience to kick off out trip (and make use of the only sunny day we were there - lol).

Luckily I don't need a sunny day to wear a sun dress OR to have a good time. Our next full day we were in Nantucket I woke up earlish and went for a 45 minute jog around Nantucket to get my bearings for where we were staying mid-island. The island really is pretty small - in 45 minutes I was able to do some exploring and find the downtown and make it back to the Air BnB. Going for a jog has always been one of my favorite ways to explore new places - you never know what kind of views will you find. Granted, it's pretty easy to find some gorgeous views like this when you are staying on such a picturesque island like Nantucket!

After my jog I made it back to the Air BnB with time to spare before we have bikes delivered to do some more exploring! We used Easy Riders who was located mid-island near us but they actually will come deliver bikes to wherever you are staying. Since we didn't have a car this trip and UBER was kind of touch and go because of COVID, it was nice to have another option to get around! We biked around to do some more exploring - I lead the way downtown this time with hubby since I was such a pro at getting around after my jog (lol) and we eventually ended back up at Island Kitchen for brunch close to our house. See that orange drink up there? Yeah, it's a "Fromosa" with is supposed to be an elevated version of a mimosa: champagne mixed with OJ sherbet instead of juice. It made for a cute picture but unlike many things on Nantucket that I think are worth the price, it basically tasted like $15 worth of watered down cheap champagne, so save your drinking pennies and only order food here - LOL.

Speaking of saving your pennies: the rest of our day was pretty chill! We decided to bike out to Cisco Brewers which was about a half hour{ish} ride away. I say {ish} because unlike my jog downtown, I had no idea how to get there and tried listening to google maps spew directions from the basket of my bike at me while biking along in Nantucket, so it took one or two wrong turns to get there, lol. BUT! Low and behold we arrived! And once again because of COVID (damn pandemic) and a holiday weekend it would have been a 1.5-2 hour wait JUST to be seated. So, I did what any self respecting/slightly wine obsessed individual would do: I put my mask on, grabbed a bottle of rosé to go, plopped it in my bike basket, and biked right back home again.

On July 4th the actual holiday we had the most beautiful walk with friends on the 'Sconset Bluff Walk. We had tried to find this on our last trip to Nantucket when we biked 18.5 miles there and back (we did not realize it was that far!!!) but had no clue where to find the actual bluff walk when we arrived in Sconset. Luckily this time we had a local with us (hi Rebecca!) and it was so cool to see all the huge houses, amazing flowers, and hazy views looking out at the ocean.

For dinner on July 4th we splurged on a fancy dinner downtown at Cru. The lobster rolls here are just SO delicious. This restaurant is located right next to the harbor in Nantucket so it's got a great setting to be able to people watch and look out at some pretty boat views too!

Our last full day in Nantucket was another cloudy and overcast day, but we decided to venture to the beach anyway. We packed up some beach chair backpacks and hopped back on our bikes to bike over to Surfside beach which was MUCH different then Steps beach. This beach was a lot larger and had more waves unlike the calm water at Steps beach. Both were nice, but there was no swimming in the ocean this day for me, it was more of a plop-down-in-the-beach-chair-with-your-towel-as-a-blanket-for-warmth and read a good book in a pretty setting kind of day :)

SO: was this one a good book??? Let's get to my full reviews and find out!

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An American Marriage

By Tayari Jones. Synopsis from Amazon:

Newlyweds Celestial and Roy are the embodiment of both the American Dream and the New South. He is a young executive, and she is an artist on the brink of an exciting career. But as they settle into the routine of their life together, they are ripped apart by circumstances neither could have imagined. Roy is arrested and sentenced to twelve years for a crime Celestial knows he didn’t commit. Though fiercely independent, Celestial finds herself bereft and unmoored, taking comfort in Andre, her childhood friend, and best man at their wedding. As Roy’s time in prison passes, she is unable to hold on to the love that has been her center. After five years, Roy’s conviction is suddenly overturned, and he returns to Atlanta ready to resume their life together.

This stirring love story is a profoundly insightful look into the hearts and minds of three people who are at once bound and separated by forces beyond their control. An American Marriage is a masterpiece of storytelling, an intimate look deep into the souls of people who must reckon with the past while moving forward—with hope and pain—into the future.

This book gave me a lot of emotions. It’s going to be hard to review without giving away any spoilers, so I’ll stick the to basics. First and foremost, the author is a very talented writer. I admire her skill, but this book also reads a little more in depth than some of the more “fluffy” books I’ve read. She’s big on imagery and comparing things. Sometimes she wrote in such a way that I really didn’t know what was happening next until it happened and I had to re-read sections to make sure I didn't miss anything. She’s not big on details but more on moving the plot and emoting what the character is feeling. It was an enjoyable literary change up for me.

Subject matter wise: at the heart of the story it’s about an innocent black man named Roy who gets thrown into jail for a crime he didn’t commit. It’s painful to read how the justice system failed him and painful for me as a white reader to try and understand how this can also happen way too often in real life as well. The story continues to develop while Roy is in prison and eventually gets out and how his marriage evolves and struggles throughout it. This is not a happy book, but a heart-wrenching and thought provoking book. It made me feel the feels, made me think about racism, about the covenant of marriage, and a lot of other things and overall I’m really glad I read it.