Five Star Friday - December 2023

Five Star Friday is my version of the monthly wrap-up. On the first Friday of each month, I will share my five-star reads from the previous month. Fingers crossed, I have lots of books to tell you about.

This month, I was able to read 27 books, and I had  3 five-star reads. 

---

Recipe for a Charmed Life by Rachel Linden
Published by Berkley on January 9, 2024
Age/Genres: Adult, Enchanted Realism, Fiction

Goodreads

After a day of unrivaled disappointments, a promising young chef finds every bite of food suddenly tastes bitter. To save her career, she travels to the Pacific Northwest to reconnect with her estranged mom, and discovers a family legacy she never suspected in this delicious novel from the bestselling author of The Magic of Lemon Drop Pie.

American chef Georgia May Jackson has one goal—to run her own restaurant in Paris. After a grueling decade working in Parisian kitchens, she is on the cusp of success. But in one disastrous night, Georgia loses her sous-chef position, her French boyfriend, and her sense of taste! Renowned for her refined palate and daring use of bold flavors to create remarkable dishes, Georgia is devastated to discover her culinary gift has simply...vanished.

When she receives a surprising invitation from her estranged mother, Georgia flees to a small island near Seattle hoping the visit will help her regain her spark in the kitchen. There she tentatively reconnects with her mom, a free-spirited hippie eager to make up for her past mistakes. But there’s something about the enigmatic island Georgia just can’t piece together. Good luck charms keep appearing in the oddest places. Her neighbor is a puzzlingly antagonist (and annoyingly handsome) oyster farmer. And her mom keeps hinting at a mysterious family legacy.

With the clock ticking and time running out to win her dream job in Paris, Georgia begins to unravel some astonishing secrets that make her wonder if the true recipe for a charmed life might look—and taste—very different than she ever imagined.

Rachel Linden did it again! She gifted me with a book that filled me with warmth and joy. I will start with something I have seen popping up in many reviews. This book includes more romance than The Magic of Lemon Drop Pie, but I had no issues with that. I loved this pairing, and I had my reasons for wanted to see this union succeed. Overall, I adored this book of family, forgiveness, and love. The touches of magic and romance elevated an already wonderful tale which left me brimming with happiness and joy.

[review]

---

The Bright Spot by Jill Shalvis
Published by Avon Books on January 16, 2023
Age/Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Fiction

Goodreads

New York Times bestselling author Jill Shalvis returns to Sunrise Cove with a heartwarming story about the choices we make and the love we let into our lives...

Luna Wright is a lot of things, but sweet and trusting isn’t on the list. However, she’s a sucker for the underdog and a hard-luck story. Adopted at birth, with scant knowledge of her biological family, she’s created her own inner circle, a motley crew which includes her bestie Willow, to help her run the struggling but charming Apple Ridge Farm.

With a farm-to-table café as well as a menagerie of rescued animals (complete with a baby goat who keeps escaping to the pantry to eat the secret stash of decidedly not organic potato chips), it’s the best home she’s ever known. But when the owner Silas, who they secretly call The Grinch, passes away, Luna discovers the farm is now under control of his investment manager, the enigmatic Jameson Hayes….and her. And that Silas had many, many secrets.

Now Luna’s carefully controlled corner of the world is threatened and she—along with some help from her friends—has to dig deep to find true strength and the real meaning of love and family.

And the hits keep on coming! I have been a long time fan of Shalvis', but my adoration of her books started with the Wildstone series. These books still had all Shalvis' signature elements, but there was a bit of a shift leaning more towards "women's" fiction which really works for me. In The Bright Spot, Shalvis has created a wonderful world filled with quirky characters, farmland, and baby goats. From the first few pages, I had knew this was going to be a hit for me. Overall, this was an incredible return trip to Sunrise Cove. This book was packed with humor and warmth and captured my heart.

---

The Last Love Note by Emma Grey
Published by Zibby Books on November 28, 2023
Age/Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Fiction

Goodreads

You may never stop loving the one you lost. But you can still find love again.

Kate is a bit of a mess. Two years after losing her young husband Cameron, she’s grieving, solo parenting, working like mad at her university fundraising job, always dropping the ball—and yet clinging to her sense of humor.

Lurching from one comedic crisis to the next, she also navigates an overbearing mom and a Tinder-obsessed best friend who's determined to matchmake Kate with her hot new neighbor.

When an in-flight problem leaves Kate and her boss, Hugh, stranded for a weekend on the east coast of Australia, she finally has a chance, away from her son, to really process her grief and see what’s right in front of her. Can she let go of the love of her life and risk her heart a second time?

When it becomes clear that Hugh is hiding a secret, Kate turns to the trail of scribbled notes she once used to hold her life together. The first note captured her heart. Will the last note set it free?

The Last Love Note will make listeners laugh, cry, and renew their faith in the resilience of the human heart—and in love itself.

Those who know me will not be surprised to see this book a hit for me. I always adore a story of grief, loss, and healing, and I got that plus a whole lot more with The Last Love Note. This was a story of grief, the pain of loss, and picking up the pieces, but I would also call it a love story. Kate had quite a journey ahead of her. It was filled with many ups and downs and difficult decisions. In the end, I loved how it all worked out. Overall, this was a painfully beautiful story that had me laughing and crying in equal measures. My heart ached, my heart broke, but it was put back together by the end.

---

Honorable Mention

December was packed with great reading. Here are my honorable mention books. All earned 4.5 stars.

• Principals of (E)motion by Sara Read
• The Mystery Guest by Nina Prose
• The Strangers on Montagu Street by Karen White
• The Getaway List by Emma Lord
• Take Two, Birdie Maxwell by Allison Winn Scotch
• Christmas in Peachtree Bluff by Kristy Woodson Harvey
• Canadian Boyfriend by Jenny Holiday
• Ready or Not by Cara Bastone

What were the best books you read last month?
Let us know in the comments!