I read 10 books in August, which is way more than a typical month, and I continue to have late night baby feedings to thank for all the reading I've been getting done. 

My Kindle has been a real work horse lately, and I've developed a newfound appreciation for it. It's just so much easier to read by the light of the Kindle in the middle of night and it's much easier to read that one handed than a physical book at the moment. 

I also continue to reach for lighter, faster and easier reads because my brain can't really process much heavier these days. 

So without further ado, here are the 10 books I read in August -- largely mysteries, thrillers and light-hearted fare. 

Five Stars

Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book certainly lived up to the hype, and I tore through it. High schooler Asher lives with his mom Olivia, a bee keeper, in a small town, and he loves his girlfriend Lily. This book is told through the perspective of Lily and Asher's mom after Asher is arrested for Lily's death. Lily's story is told backwards in time while Olivia's is told moving forward. It's hard to say too much without giving away one of the bigger surprises in the book, but boy this was so good, and I'm so glad I finally got it off the waitlist at the library.

Four Stars

Pretty Guilty Women by Gina LaManna
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book pulled me in from the first page and I totally flew through it. A man is killed at a wedding and four different women confess to the crime. But their stories don't quite match the evidence. The book jumps back and forth in time starting from the moment that guests arrive to the lavish wedding and wrapping up with all of them being interviewed by the police. Really enjoyed this as a fun and fast suspense book.

Birth: Three Mothers, Nine Months, and Pregnancy in America by Rebecca Grant
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I found this book super interesting perhaps because I’d just given birth myself. It followed three pregnant woman all of whom hope to give birth at a birth center as opposed to in a hospital. It follows each of their pregnancies as well as looking into how we ended up with the current maternal health situation that we have in this country.

A Very Typical Family by Sierra Godfrey
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is one of the rare books I liked even though I could not stand the main character. She is pretty much insufferable through out the entire book, and I really got sick of the giant pity party she was throwing herself, but the characters surrounding her were so weird and so quirky and the book's storyline was kind of out there, and yet I found myself flying through this book pretty highly entertained.

Three Stars

While Justice Sleeps: A Novel by Stacey Abrams
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Supreme Court Justice Wynn’s health has been deteriorating and he ends up in a coma two weeks before the end of the court’s term. With major decisions hanging in the balance, he chooses a questionable POA to carry out his wishes. This was a great thriller, but some of the science parts of the plot got a bit technical and were a bit hard to follow until later in the story, hence only three stars instead of four.

People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I usually tear through Emily Henry's books, but this one was only so so in comparison to some of her others. I think the main reason I wasn't quite as into this book is because I didn't love the main character. And since this book really centers around only two characters, not liking one of them made it hard to love the book overall. It was still a light and fast read, but I'd recommend most of her other books before this one.

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In My Dreams I Hold a Knife by Ashley Winstead
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I feel like this book came highly recommended at some point, but I only felt meh about it. The main character was highly unlikable and was trying too hard to prove herself basically the entire time. A group of friends heads back to college for a reunion. While they're there, they're forced to reckon with the murder of one of their friends that has remained unsolved to this day. The title of this book also didn't make a whole lot of sense to me because there was no knife. The murder weapon was a pair of scissors. I stuck with the story because I was invested in finding out who had done it.

Between Two Strangers by Kate White
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I usually love Kate White's mysteries, but this was just so so for me. A woman gets a call from a lawyer saying she's been left a large inheritance from someone she doesn't know. As she tries to figure out why she's been left this money, strange things start to happen, her apartment gets broken into, her art studio is targeted. By the end of the book, she's eventually able to put the pieces together, but this just moved a little slower for me over all.

The Only One Left by Riley Sager
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Several years ago, tragedy struck the Hope family when the matriarch and patriarch are found stabbed to death and one of their daughters is found hanging in the dining room. Police arrested the other daughter Lenora, but never had the evidence to convict her. Fast forward in time, Kit is hired as a home health aid for Lenora who still lives in the family home, but has suffered a stroke and needs around the clock care. The previous health aid disappeared without a trace, and Kit immediately experiences stranger sounds and noises as soon as she moves in. I usually love Riley Sager's books, but this one was a little slower than some of his others, hence the three star rating.

Must Love Flowers by Debbie Macomber
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was a sweet book about two woman who've suffered losses trying to determine what their lives look like and how they move forward. Joan is a widow who lost her husband four years ago, and has never been able to move forward. Maggie struggles to deal with an alcoholic father after her mother dies. The two woman form an unlikely friendship as they help each other move forward. This book was just a very cozy and comforting read.

This title might come as a surprise to some since I never blogged about being pregnant. The past year was full of complications, and there was never really a time that didn't feel scary to share the news. 

The birth was full of complications too that landed me in the ICU. Suffice it to say pregnancy and childbirth were not at all what I imagined they would be like. 

Here's one of the few pictures of me pregnant. This was me enjoying my last float in the pool the day before our baby was born. 

Now that I'm generally cleared for physical activity again, I'm slowly starting to find my way back to an exercise routine, and let me tell you, it looks a heck of a lot different than anything I did before.

I was slapped with exercise restrictions at 20 weeks pregnant. No more running, no heavy lifting. I could basically swim, walk or do yoga. It was a pretty devastating blow since I was just getting back to running after my hip injury. 

Once my favorite activities were off the table, I lost a lot of my aerobic endurance fitness, but I focused on what I could do. I got into a nice swim habit and spent a lot of time training my deep core and pelvic floor, knowing that would make postpartum recovery easier. 

Because of said complication, I was medically required to have a C-section. Having your abdominal wall and like seven other layers of stuff cut open requires some major recovery time followed by some major rehab work. 

In the first two weeks postpartum, I focused my efforts on deep breathing and reconnecting my brain to my core muscles. I was in quite a bit of pain, and other than sitting on the sofa, breathing and trying to go for some short walks around my house there wasn't much more I could be doing. Oh and trying to keep a tiny human alive on like no sleep. 

By week three, much of the soreness from the surgery had started to fade. At my two week doctor appointment, my OB was happy with how the incision was healing and encouraged me to start scar massage to help prevent the build up of scar tissue. 

So I added that in, along with some gentle core engagement work and slowly began to increase the distance I was walking. (We're talking going from like a quarter mile to a half mile, and then eventually progressing up to a mile).

My goal each day was a daily walk to get me and the baby some fresh air (assuming the weather was decent), some time spent breathing and doing those introductory core engagement exercises plus my scar massage. It maybe sounds like a lot, but I was only a few weeks post-major surgery so everything was really short durations and low intensity.

I'm about 8 weeks out now, and I've slowly started lengthening my walks and increasing some of the load on my core exercises. For example I've progressed from doing a wall plank to a plank on an elevated surface. I've also done a handful of strength training sessions with dumbbells. Again these are very short maybe 20 minutes or so that I can fit in during a nap. It also helps that I'm following a plan from a physical therapist that helps me map out how I should be progressing different things.

I'm itching to start running again, but I'm forcing myself to spend the time on the rehab first, and to try not to rush. A C section is major surgery, and the last thing I want is to injure myself because I jumped back into something too soon. I know I need a strong core to stabilize me while I run (and just exist day to day). I have big hopes of running some races later this year and into the spring, so I'm forcing myself to spend time building a solid foundation so that I don't suffer further set back when I start running again. I'm super impatient so this isn't easy,  but I keep telling myself it will pay off in the long run.

I wasn't sure what reading would look like in July what with a newborn to take care of and all. But turns out all those late night feedings leave a lot of time for sitting around and reading a Kindle in the dark. So I got through plenty of books in July. 

I kept things mostly light. The book needed to have a fast moving plot and not make my completely sleep deprived brain think too hard. Most of the books I read seemed to meet that target. 

Four Stars

The Five-Star Weekend by Elin Hilderbrand
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was another easy summer read from Elin Hilderbrand. Every time I read one of her books, I'm sad she's planning to retire next year. This book centered around Hollis Shaw after she loses her husband in a car accident. She decides to bring together four friends from different points in her life for a "five star weekend" on Nantucket. The women don't know each other well and so their weekend together has so of the highs and lows you might expect when a group of strangers get together. A fun and fast summer read.

What the Neighbors Saw by Melissa Adelman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Can't remember who recommended this to me, but I love a book set in/near DC, and this one delivered. Alexis and Sam are eager to move out of their DC row home to one of the more exclusive neighbors in the suburbs to make room for their growing family. But the 'burbs are expensive and they settle on a falling down home, still outside their price range, in an elusive neighborhood that they think will be safe. But soon after they move in a neighbor dies on a running trail and Alexis starts to learn that everything in their fancy neighborhood isn't all it appears.

The Only Survivors by Megan Miranda
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I've enjoyed the last several of Megan Miranda's books, and while this one was good, I didn't love it quite as much as some of her others. In this book, a group of friends gets together each year to commemorate a tragic accident that happened when they were in high school that left them as the only survivors. But recently two of the survivors have died mysteriously and so when the group gets together this year things are tense as they strive to figure out what is happening to them.

The Senator's Wife by Liv Constantine
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I tore through this twisty book that opens with two senators and their wives on vacation together. By chapter one of the senators and one of the wives are dead and the other two eventually marry. The remaining wife has major surgery planned and brings in in home care to help her recovery, but her condition gets worse instead of getting better. This was a fast and suspenseful read set in DC.

Three Stars

Bad Summer People by Emma Rosenblum
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was another fun summer book about a group of people that spends the summer on Fire Island every year. The book opens with a little kid finding a dead body that has fallen off the boardwalk, then you jump back in time to the start of the summer when all the families are just arriving. There's lots of gossip and backstabbing and a young good-looking tennis pro that draws lots of attention. The book is told from multiple character's perspectives and all of them could have a motive and all of them could be the one that ends up dead at the end. A light summer read.

The Villa by Rachel Hawkins
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I was on the waitlist for this book for a really long time and had been looking forward to reading it, but it was a little bit slower than I expected. Emily and Chess head on a girl's trip to Italy. They've been friends for ages, but don't keep in super close touch anymore. Chess has become a famous self-help author/influencer, and Emily writes cozy mysteries. They both plan to use the time at the house to work on their writing. But the house has secrets waiting to be uncovered and Emily and Chess have secrets of their own. This book was interesting, I was just hoping for a slightly faster pace.

The Chateau by Jaclyn Goldis
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book started a bit slowly, but picked up toward the end. Four friends are invited to one of their grandmother’s chateaus in France 20 years after they spent time studying abroad there. The grandmother claims she has to set the record straight on a few things, but is murdered before she can. The friends struggle to figure out who did it, unsure if they can trust each other at all anymore.

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