We got back from a trip to the beach a couple weeks ago, and while we were there, I got in a couple of great stroller runs and one really lovely solo run. And then I hurt my toe, and I haven't been able to run since. 

I've been slowly increasing the distance I can go with the running stroller over the last few months. Running with a stroller is no joke. Throw a 23 pound baby and some hills into the mix, and I was huffing and puffing after barely a mile. 

I was really looking forward to some flat boardwalk stroller running. With the super hot summer we've been having, even the early morning runs were still pretty challenging. But it was nice to get out, and see some different scenery on our runs. And my child only protested slightly when I needed to take walk breaks. 

I also got in one glorious and lovely run by myself at the beach. With the blistering hot weather, it's been pretty much impossible for me to run over my lunch breaks these days, so it was nice to have a morning where someone else could stay with the kiddo and I could get some much needed solo run time. 

My endurance had been slowly coming back. The week before our beach trip, I did a 3.5 miler. It's a distance I never thought much of before, but these days every slight uptick in mileage is a big win in my book. 

But then the morning I got back from my wonderful solo run, I bashed my pinky toe into a baseboard at our beach house, and I haven't been able to run since. 

I've only been able to wear open-toed shoes (thank goodness it's summer). I got it X-rayed at urgent care when we got back and the doctor told me it was broken, which unfortunately was what I expected given the amount of swelling and discoloration. 

They taped it and gave me a walking shoe and told me to follow up with an orthopedic. 

I left a message for mine, but then the following day, urgent care called me back and told me the radiologist reviewed my X-rays and actually didn't see a break. So maybe it's not broken.

It's been a few weeks now and my toe definitely feels better. I think I'm going to still follow up with the orthopedist even though urgent care told me I didn't need to. 

I still haven't tried to put on a closed toed shoe and I definitely haven't attempt to run. 

I've taken two full weeks off any sort of exercise, and my toe does mainly seem to be doing better. It's less swollen, but if I push on it where the "break" looks like it was in the X-ray it definitely still hurts. 

So just when I was making some major progress on the running front, I have a stupid injury and I'm back to not running. We'll see how long this injury sidelines me. I'm hoping not for too long. I really, really would like to race in the fall, and good fall race times come from tough summer training runs. 

I'm definitely still adjusting to not having as much free time to read as I used to, especially now that the weather is warmer and I'm used to spending the summer months sitting at the pool with a good book. My days at the pool look a bit different now, and there's definitely no sitting and reading. 

But I still managed to read a few good books in May. 

Four Stars

The Mystery Guest by Nita Prose
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed the first book with Molly the Maid, and I was excited to see her back to her crime-solving ways in this follow up. When a famous author drops dead at a speaking event at her hotel, Molly is yet again a suspect, but so are many other people. Molly works to uncover the identity and motive of the true killer. Just like the first book this was fun and fast and a really enjoyable read.

Women of Good Fortune by Sophie Wan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was introduced to Sophie Wan at the Gaithersburg Book Festival, and when she did a reading from the book and I found myself laughing out loud, I knew I wanted to read it. The rest of the book didn't disappoint either. It was a fun read about three friends in China who are all largely unhappy with their place in the world. One is engaged to marry into a wealthy family and the friends plan a heist to steal the traditional wedding gifts. I enjoyed the story of the women, and I even came to like some of the more problematic male characters in the book.

Good Inside: A Guide to Becoming the Parent You Want to Be by Becky Kennedy
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It's weird to rate a parenting book, but raising kids is hard and there are a million theories on approaches to how to not mess up your kids. I liked the general premise of this book -- that children act out not because they're bad, but because they're dealing with some inside emotion that they haven't yet learned how to manage and that a parent's job is to help teach them how to regulate those emotions so they have vital coping skills for when they're older and life throws tough stuff at them.

The Dead Will Tell by Linda Castillo
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I took an unintentional short break from the Kate Burkholder series because I forgot to put this book on hold at the library for like a full month, but I was excited to dive back in to the next mystery with one of my favorite detectives. In this book, Kate investigates a murder in Amish County only to uncover that it has ties to a cold case from the 1970s. This book had a slightly different twist than some of the others that I've read in this series, and I really liked it, but don't want to say more for the spoiler.

Three Stars

Meet Me at the Lake by Carley Fortune
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

While I didn't love this book as much as Fortune's first book, it was still an enjoyable and easy read. Fern's mom owns a lake resort that gives major Dirty Dancing vibes. When she's killed in a car accident the resort passes to Fern. Fern's moved to Toronto and has no desire to go back to her sleepy lake town, but she knows she has to sort out what to do with the resort. When she arrives she finds Will, a man she met one day 10 years ago checking in. Fern's ex also works at the resort. Things are awkward, but the tension makes for a good story. I struggled with both Will and Fern's characters at points, which is why this is only 3.5 stars, but overall it was still a fun summer read.

Life has been more than a little hectic lately with since I went back to work in January and since the little guy started daycare in April. My free time for reading has felt like it's disappeared, and we've also been battling a string of nonstop sickness in our house since starting daycare. I didn't mean to fall this far behind on book recaps, but alas here we are. 

So here's a round up of the handful of books I've read over the last three months.

February Books

Four Stars

The Whispers by Ashley Audrain
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Nothing like a good neighborhood drama to really suck you in. There are secrets in the neighborhood and uncertainty and competition between the women who live on this street. But when a young boy falls out his bedroom window, the neighborhood rallies in some ways and in other ways, they try to dig deeper to find out what was really going on in that house. This was a good book that had me continually trying to guess what was coming next.

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Three Stars

The Other Mothers by Katherine Faulkner
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I thought this book took a little while to get going. A young nanny is found dead and the police rule her death a tragic accident. But when the girl's mother seeks out Tash, a freelance journalist and insists there had been foul play, Tash finds herself being sucked into a group of glamorous, rich mothers from a local children's playgroup. The circle welcomes her and soon Tash finds herself sucked into their world. She claims its all part of the investigation, but she might be in too deep. This book picked up a lot toward the end, but I wish it had had a bit of a faster pace throughout.

March Books

Five Stars

The Women by Kristin Hannah
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Even though I definitely thought the first half of this book was stronger than the second half, this is a five star book. It was beautifully written. I keep telling everyone to read it and I keep wanting to talk about it. After her brother is killed in the Vietnam War, Frankie McGrath signs up to be an Army nurse. The first half of the book covers her time during the war, and the second half covers life when she gets home. Parts of this book made me so mad I wanted to chuck it across the room, but I loved it. I also felt a really personal connection to this story since my aunt served as an Army nurse in Vietnam -- in one of the hospitals mentioned in this book -- and it was something that I didn't know much about. This book touches a lot on how the women who served in Vietnam were often unseen and their service was unvalued when they came home. It's a must read.

Three Stars

One in a Millennial: On Friendship, Feelings, Fangirls, and Fitting In by Kate Kennedy
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I wanted to love this book so much and I thought I would with all the nostalgia it packed into it, but I found the essays to be a bit of a mixed bag. Some were really good and enjoyable, and others I just struggled to get through.

Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I was really excited for this book that reimagined the Ted Bundy story through the lens of one of the women in the sorority house in Florida, but I found it fell a little flat for me and at times felt like a real slog to get through. I did like the push back that Bundy was this incredibly intelligent person, but I just think I had such high expectations of this book, and while it wasn't bad at all, I just found it a bit slow.

April Books

Four Stars

The House of Eve by Sadeqa Johnson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I really loved this book. It follows two Black women in the 1950s. Ruby lives in Philadelphia and is dreaming of being the first in her family to go to college. Eleanor just moved to Washington, D.C. to attend Howard University where she meets and falls in love with a man from a very wealthy family, where she also feels she doesn't fit in. I didn't realize when I picked up this book that it would center so much on babies and trying to build families, but I loved the way Johnson bounced back and forth between both characters and their unique circumstances and how she eventually brought them together.

Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was such a fun and fast read. A group of female assassins have been working together since they were in their 20s. They're now in their 60s and ready to enjoy retirement -- except their employer puts a hit out on them. This was a great read with characters I loved working together to take down the man.

First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was another fun and twisty read. Evie Porter isn't who her boyfriend Ryan thinks she is. In fact, Ryan is her mark and while she's awaiting the next instructions from her boss on how to gather the intel she's been assigned to gather, she learns this job might not be as straight forward as it seems. This book flashes back and forth in time so you get a glimpse at Evie's other jobs and what led her to this life. I enjoyed the twist at the end and thought this book was great overall.

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