Five on Friday - Cute Sandals, Cute Wedges, a New Mug, and Two Books You Need to Read This Summer

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Happy Friday, y’all!  We have had such a busy week!  We got back from the beach and then came straight back into the craziness.  Summer is not usually this busy for us, but all of our concerts and appointments just happened to fall in the same week, and I am POOPED.  I wish I could say we had nothing going on today, but we have another appointment for Maui, a sleepover for Jacob tonight, and dinner with my father-in-law for Father’s Day tonight as well.  Whew. 

Next week should finally be a little slower!  At least I hope so…

Until then, here are some favorites from the week…

O N E – Sandals

I bought these sandals for our beach trip, but unfortunately, our mail has been having MAJOR issues the last couple of months as they started routing it through a new facility, and they delivered while we were gone. 

They were worth the wait, though, and I’ve already been wearing them a great deal since we got back.  These sandals are stylish and comfortable, and they are the perfect shoes because they go with pretty much everything.  You can dress them up or dress them down, and the quality is excellent.  They do run slightly small, so if you are in between sizes, size up.  I’m typically a 7 or 7.5, and the 7.5 fits perfectly.  I probably could have sized up to an 8!

 

T W O – Wedges        

I’ve already talked about these wedges a few times on the blog, but I’m going to mention them again because they are just PERFECTION.  They go with everything, they’re super comfortable (I walked all over the place at the beach in these), and they are so dang cute.  They pair perfectly with skirts and tanks, shorts, jeans, and long dresses.  And they come in a TON of colors.  I also wanted to mention them again because right now they're 30% off!

 

T H R E E – New Mug

We visited my friend, Khristina’s, pop-up book fair this past weekend as she’s preparing to open her very own brick and mortar book shop, and since she’d already sold out of the books I wanted, I left with this mug.  Is it not the cutest?!  And this is absolutely accurate.  The oxford comma is so important, I can’t even fathom why there has been a push to do away with it.   

Local friends, if you’d like to get your hands on one, reach out and I’ll send you the info for her shop!

F O U R – The Arrangement by Robyn Harding

Ooooh y’all, I loved this book so much!  I flew through it and didn’t ever want to put it down. 

From Amazon:

Natalie, a young art student in New York City, is struggling to pay her bills when a friend makes a suggestion: Why not go online and find a sugar daddy—a wealthy, older man who will pay her for dates and even give her a monthly allowance? Lots of girls do it, Nat learns. All that’s required is to look pretty and hang on his every word. Sexual favors are optional.

Though more than thirty years her senior, Gabe, a handsome corporate finance attorney, seems like the perfect candidate, and within a month, they are madly in love. At least, Nat is…Gabe already has a family, whom he has no intention of leaving.

So when he abruptly ends things, Nat can’t let go. But Gabe’s not about to let his sugar baby destroy his perfect life. What was supposed to be a mutually beneficial arrangement devolves into a nightmare of deception, obsession, and, when a body is found near Gabe’s posh Upper East Side apartment, murder.

Emotionally powerful and packed with page-turning suspense, The Arrangement delves into the sordid, all-too-real world of shadowy relationships between wealthy, powerful men and the young women who are caught in their web.

Was the sugar baby/sugar daddy storyline a bit cringey?  Yes.  But did I devour every single page of this book like it was my job?  Also, YES.  This was the absolute perfect beach read… it was an easy read, a thrilling read, and it was such a page turner.  This one is definitely rated R, so if you’re not into that, I would skip this one.

 

F I V E – The Mother-In-Law by Sally Hepworth

I devoured this book in just a couple of days while we were at the beach, too.  I’m a huge Sally Hepworth fan, and this book did not disappoint. 

From Amazon:

From the moment Lucy met her husband’s mother, she knew she wasn’t the wife Diana had envisioned for her perfect son. Exquisitely polite, friendly, and always generous, Diana nonetheless kept Lucy at arm’s length despite her desperate attempts to win her over. And as a pillar in the community, an advocate for female refugees, and a woman happily married for decades, no one had a bad word to say about Diana…except Lucy.

That was five years ago.

Now, Diana is dead, a suicide note found near her body claiming that she longer wanted to live because of the cancer wreaking havoc inside her body.

But the autopsy finds no cancer.

It does find traces of poison, and evidence of suffocation.

Who could possibly want Diana dead? Why was her will changed at the eleventh hour to disinherit both of her children, and their spouses? And what does it mean that Lucy isn’t exactly sad she’s gone?

Fractured relationships and deep family secrets grow more compelling with every page in this twisty, captivating new novel from Sally Hepworth.

This one was also a page-turner, and it had some meat to it, too, so if you haven’t read it, add it to your list!  It was more of a mystery than a thriller, so if you’re not the thriller type, I think you’d still enjoy it.

 

Friday Funnies

On the Blog This Week

 What I Wore – May 2024

Our 2024 30A Beach Trip by the Numbers

Our (Loose) Summer Schedule

Our Week – The One with Summer, Week 2 (Back from the Beach and Two Birthday Celebrations)

 

 

Happy Friday, y’all!

*Linking up with A Little Bit of Everything for Friday Favorites.