My Top 10 Reads of 2021 – Part 2

Hi everyone!  Today I’m sharing My Top 10 Reads of 2021 – Part 2.  If you missed Part 1 of this series, you can find it Here .  These books were all 5 star reads for me.  You can click on the book’s cover to read my full review. I hope that you can find some time to relax and spend some time reading some of the year’s greatest books.

On a snowy evening driving back from an out-of-town event, Noelle Butterby is stuck on a highway suddenly closed due to a blizzard.  With no phone charger and no food or drink and the snow coming down heavier than ever, it looks like Noelle is in for a long wait.  When Sam Attwood, an American in town for business, raps on her window and offers her the use of his charger, she desperately accepts.  The two spend the next eight hours in his car-sharing about their lives believing that they will never see each other again.

The road opens and the two carry on with their lives.  But fate has other plans for this couple, as serendipity throws them together again and again.  Perhaps there is something more in play here besides mere coincidence?  If you’ve read this book, you’ll know why I’ve included it in My Top Ten Reads of 2021- Part 2.

Published: September 28th 2021 by Atria/Emily Bestler Books, 336 pages.

Add Eight Perfect Hours to your Goodreads shelf

Elle is a 50-year-old happily married mother of three.  She awakens one July morning in her favourite place – in the family summer camp nicknamed The Paper Palace.  This morning, however, is different than most mornings.  The evening before she and her childhood best friend snuck out of their dinner party and had sex for the very first time.

Over the course of twenty-four hours, Elle will have to make a decision.  Should she stay with Peter the husband she adores, or Jonas the man she grew up with and expected to marry had it not been for a tragic event. The story is told over 24 hours but also in reflections over the past 50 years.

Published: July 6th 2021 by Riverhead Books, 400 pages.

Add The Paper Palace to your Goodreads shelf

“When Fran Cooper accepts a mysterious temporary job as a PA to a celebrity, she is swept off her feet overnight. Working with internationally famous singer Juliette, Fran is the person charged with getting Juliette to the Crystal Ball, the glittering event when the world’s rich and famous gather on Panarea, a beautiful Mediterranean island, for a night like no other.
What Fran doesn’t know is that on this one night, everything will change for her too – that instead of standing on the sidelines, she’ll be putting on the most beautiful dress she’s ever seen and having the most unforgettable night of her life…” Publisher’s notes.

Published: Published November 11th 2021 by HarperCollins, 384 pages.

Add On a Night Like This to your Goodreads shelf

Before Stanley Tucci became a household name with The Devil Wears Prada, The Hunger Games, and the perfect Negroni, he grew up in an Italian American family that spent every night around the table. He shared the magic of those meals with us in The Tucci Cookbook and The Tucci Table, and now he takes us beyond the recipes and into the stories behind them.
Taste is a reflection on the intersection of food and life, filled with anecdotes about growing up in Westchester, New York, preparing for and filming the foodie films Big Night and Julie & Julia, falling in love over dinner, and teaming up with his wife to create conversation-starting meals for their children. Each morsel of this gastronomic journey through good times and bad, five-star meals and burnt dishes, is as heartfelt and delicious as the last. – Publisher’s notes

Published: October 5th 2021 by Gallery Books, 291 pages.

Add Taste: My Life Through Food to your Goodreads shelf

I only recently read The Last House on the Street which doesn’t publish until January 2022 so you will not find my review of this book yet. This book is an emotional, moving and important read.  Look for my review coming in the next two weeks.

“When Kayla Carter’s husband dies in an accident while building their dream house, she knows she has to stay strong for their four-year-old daughter. But the trophy home in Shadow Ridge Estates, a new development in sleepy Round Hill, North Carolina, will always hold tragic memories. But when she is confronted by an odd, older woman telling her not to move in, she almost agrees. It’s clear this woman has some kind of connection to the area…and a connection to Kayla herself. Kayla’s elderly new neighbor, Ellie Hockley, is more welcoming, but it’s clear she, too, has secrets that stretch back almost fifty years. Is Ellie on a quest to right the wrongs of the past? And does the house at the end of the street hold the key? Told in dual time periods, The Last House on the Street is a novel of shocking prejudice and violence, forbidden love, the search for justice, and the tangled vines of two families” – from the Publisher.

Publishes: January 11th 2022 by St. Martin’s Press, 352 pages.

Add The Last House on the Street to your Goodreads shelf

So there you have it – My Favourite Reads of 2021 – Part 2.  Have you read any of these books or have you added them to your reading list?  Let me know in the comments.  I hope that you have a wonderful day. ☺️