The Friends We Keep / Jane Green / 384 p.

Evvie, Maggie, and Topher have known each other since university. Their friendship was something they swore would last forever. Now years have passed, the friends have drifted apart, and none of them ever found the lives they wanted – the lives they dreamed of when they were young and everything seemed possible.
   Move forward to their 30th reunion when they reunite and delight in being together again.  However, there is a secret that threatens to derail their plans for a happily ever after.
    This is a story about friendship and forgiveness. 

The Sound of Glass by Karen White / 448 p.

Merritt Heyward has been a widow for two years and unexpectedly receives news that she has inherited a home from her late husband's (Cal's) family located in Beaufort, SC. Merritt leaves her home in Maine to hopefully begin a new life in South Carolina.
    Merritt's stepmother (also a widow) shows up in SC with a 10 year old step brother Merritt barely knows.  There's so much that she doesn't know and Merritt wants to keep it that way.  Unfortunately, her stepmother is there to stay and so much family history is about to enter her life.
     I enjoyed the Southern customs and her stepmother's constant positivity. In the end it is Merritt's half brother and Cal's brother (who Merritt didn't know existed) that bring her to a new place in her life.

Milk and Honey / Rupi Kaur / 202 pages / Anthology

Milk and Honey is a collection of poems that are structured in a simple manner,

usually

with one

or two

words per

line.

It dives into topics on falling in and/or out of love, what it means to be a woman, and how one can overcome some of the most cynical moments of her life.

I loved these poems— I had to listen to the audiobook a second time because I wanted to remember some of them.  The ones on healing and coming hand-to-hand with fellow women were the most powerful, and had made me reflect back on myself and what I could do to become a better person.  Give it a listen, folks, 'cause I'm recommending it to all of you!

Make Your Bed / Admiral William H. McRaven / 130 pages

This book is an expanded edition of a commencement address Admiral McRaven gave to the 2014 graduating class of the University of Texas at Austin.  In it he gives ten basic lessons to live by that can change yourself and the world for the better.  Each chapter is devoted to a lesson and how it impacted him in his life.  These are small, powerful lessons that anyone can follow.  The book is a short read.  I plan to give a copy to my three young adult sons next Christmas.