Slump Busters For Your Hardest Reading Days

SO...YOU'VE BEEN SLUMPED

Reading Slump: a reader's worst nightmare; not being able to pick up a book and read, because you just can't, you just can't read. -- Urban Dictionary 

Listen, if you haven't been in a reading slump, let me describe it to you.  You pick up a book that you read about ten pages These . You put said book down to go do dishes, doom scroll, or literally anything else.  You pick the book back up and read four pages, which you promptly have to reread because you didn't actually retain anything, and now the main character is talking to someone with a name that you're positive was never introduced.  You decide not to finish the said book...the book is the problem.  You rinse in repeat about three to four more times and BAM! you're in a slump.

Being in a reading slump is extremely discouraging.  Personally, I've lost MONTHS of reading due to one.  While time and patience are important, your first book back will hold a lot of influence. Here's a list of books that will help get you out of that reading slump and back into business.

FIVE BOOKS TO GET YOU BACK ON TRACK

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

This thriller was on everyone's radar in 2019, but I don't see it talked about much anymore.  This was one of those books that got me back into reading after a years long hiatus in my early 20s. This book is a psychological thriller that will have you begging for answers as to why Alicia Berenson, a famous artist, would kill her husband and quickly become mute.  Set from the point of view of her therapist, you are left with more questions than answers. Clear your schedule, because you won't be able to put this one down until the end.

Purchase here.

These Silent Woods by Kimi Cunningham Grant 

Finch is being raised in an isolated cabin in the wilderness with her father, Cooper, and her childhood has been good. Normal? No...but good.  As she matures, she yearns for more than such a confined life.  After a shocking death occurs around their home, Finch is determined to uncover the truth.  At the risk of putting her and her father in danger, she seeks answers.  The truth about the murder, and her father's past, threaten to surface.

This book pulled me out of a terrible slump while my son was a newborn.  I had tons of time, but couldn't get through a single book.  This short and fast paced mystery helped reignite the spark for me.

Purchase here.

The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren

Spring of 2022...I decide to take a couple days off reading. That quickly turned into the month of May.  I didn't want anything overly heavy and wasn't in the mood for anything dark like a thriller.  I needed a fluffy romantic comedy to read while it was light out at 9 PM.  The Unhoneymooners follows Olive, who is forced to go on her twin sister's honeymoon with the best man, Ethan, after everyone at the wedding --with the exception of these two--gets food poisioning.  Ethan is tall, dark, and rude, but anything can happen on a romantic getaway to Hawaii.  Full of tropes and an easily predictable ending, this novel is perfect for when you need feel good entertainment.

Purchase here

Underground Airlines by Ben Winters

The civil war ended with the United States reunited with the understanding that each state had a right to their choice on the matter of slavery.  Thus, the existence of the "Hard Four", the four southern states that still allow slavery in the present day.  Victor is an agent for the US government that specializes in hunting runaways.  When he is set on a case to find a runaway slave, Jackdaw, he quickly finds he has bitten off more than he can chew.  No one assumes the government is being 100% truthful, but just how far have they gone?

This book fueled my love for audiobooks.  Some days my mind can't sit and read a book, but I can listen to one while driving or doing some chores around the house.  I was never an audiobook listener before picking this one up last year.  I cut it very close to making it to work on time while sitting in the parking lot trying to make it to the end of the chapter.  This alternate history novel is a great listen for when you can't seem to get through anything.

Purchase here.

Verity by Colleen Hoover

I am not completely on the CoHo bandwagon...because this was the only one I've read.  But let me tell you, I read this in one sitting over the holidays with my family, and basically told everyone to stop talking to me.  Colleen Hoover perfectly weaves a mysterious thriller with domesticity and romance in this novel following Lowen, a writer who is contacted by Jeremy Crawford.  He is the husband of a bestselling novelist, Verity Crawford, and he wants Lowen to finish publishing the remaining series in her book after she is gravely injured.  Lowen quickly finds Verity's unfinished autobiography and finds secrets that were seemingly supposed to stay hidden.  Nothing is as it seems, and trust no one!

Purchase here.

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