The March Read/Watch/Listen List

Feeling all the small-town vibes + a movie about a romance author

Hi there!

Before we get started on the Read/Watch/Listen recommendations for the month, I wanted to share a new feature I’m trying out, an experiment, if you will. It’s called “On the Blog.”

For a number of reasons, I’ve revived my blog on my website. However, I know there’s no good way to follow blogs easily anymore, so I’ll be linking to those posts here in case you want to check out what’s happening over there. I plan to use the blog for more informal posts. And of course, you’ll still be getting newsletter-exclusive content here as well. :)

We’ll see how this goes! Feel free to let me know in the comments if you like this new feature. (And if you want to know more about my thoughts behind this, I did a deeper dive in my newsletter for writers The Nourished Writer in this post: Building Your Platform on Your Own Land.)

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On the Blog

• My Nerdy Post About My Reading Stats for Last Year

• The Fun of Finding New-to-You Music

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Alright, on to this month’s Read/Watch/Listen recommendations!

Read

The Sweetheart List by Jill Shalvis

I’m currently researching small-town stories for…reasons. ;) This means I ordered a pile of them and got a big stack from the library. I’ve been working my way through them. I’ve DNFed (did not finish) a number of them (not necessarily because they were bad but they just weren’t the vibe I was looking for), but once I got to The Sweetheart List by Jill Shalvis, I was all in. Shalvis is a master at the genre and it shows. I loved the characters and the found-family aspect. The whole thing just gave me the warm and cozy vibes I was looking for. And though this is part of a series, the books are connected by location, not people, so you can jump in wherever.

Also, it looks like it’s $1.99 in ebook today!

From the back cover:

When Harper Shaw's life falls apart, she knows it's time for a change. She removes everything that doesn't spark joy--from her soul-sucking job to eating kale to making lists--and sets off for the last place she was happy, Lake Tahoe (who wouldn't feel good there, right?) to fulfill her dream of opening her own bakery.

With her Sugar Pine Bakery in between a tavern, owned by sexy, grumpy Bodie Campbell, and a bookstore, run by her new BFF, she feels a peace she's never experienced since...well, forever.. Then she meets Ivy, a teenage runaway, who barrels into her heart. She sees a lot of herself in Ivy and takes her under her wing, but the teenager has secrets...

When those secrets explode, it changes Harper's new world, and she'll learn, it's never too late to start over, it's never too late to figure out your life, and best of all, it's never too late to let yourself believe in love.

My Kitchen Year by Ruth Reichl

This is one of those books that I go back to every few years for a comfort reread. This chronicles Ruth Reichl’s experience in the year after Gourmet magazine shut down. Ruth Reichl was the editor-in-chief and she’s grieving the loss. The book is a cookbook/food memoir hybrid. The recipes aren’t always my jam, but I adore her essays in between. They track her through the four seasons and how food and cooking can be healing. It’s a lovely book.

Watch

Mean Girls -the new one (Paramount+)

I, of course, love the original version of this movie, so I was both looking forward to this remake and also wary because…remake. When I first started it, I was like, “Wait, what? Why are they singing?” Yeah, so I had not gotten the memo that this remake was the musical version. LOL. I mean, I love musicals, so it’s fine, but it just threw me at first. The key to my enjoyment of this one was viewing it as a separate thing from the original and not comparing. The cast was fantastic and the songs were catchy. I liked seeing how social media played a role now because that wasn’t around for the first movie. Overall, this was a good time!

Summer Villa (Amazon Prime w/ Hallmark add-on)

So, I found my way to this one because of the audiobook I’m recommending below. Hilarie Burton Morgan talked about getting offers for Hallmark movies in that audiobook, so then I needed to go find one of hers. :)

You have to go into these types of movies with the right expectations. The stories are simple and straightforward but sweet. The acting can vary, but I’m happy to report I thought the acting in this one was good. Plus, the premise got me…

A blocked romance author and her teen daughter go to her editor friend’s villa in France to try to write her book, but the friend’s brother is also there (a chef whom she’s had a bad encounter with.) He’s gotten a bad review that tanked his restaurant and is there to regroup. This has an enemies-to-lovers trope, but of course once the three spend time together, things change. The heroine’s daughter loves to cook so starts learning from the chef. There’s a cooking contest. (Spoiler) Everyone lives happily ever after.

One thing that made me laugh in this story is how a number of people in random places (including France!) recognized the romance author on sight like she was a famous movie star. Y’all. That’s not how it works. Unless you’re A REALLY BIG DEAL like Nora Roberts or Colleen Hoover or Stephen King, most authors can move through life with no one ever recognizing them (unless they’re at a writing conference or something.)

Also, the printout of her completed manuscript at the end of the movie is laughably short. The thing is double-spaced and looks to be about 100 pages thick. When you print out an 80-100k word manuscript and it’s double-spaced, it’s a lot of paper. My guess is that they made it the length of a screenplay because movie people know screenplays not novels, lol. Anyway, I found those things fun to find.

The Greatest Night In Pop (Netflix)

If you were around in the eighties, you remember how big a deal “We Are the World” was. This documentary is the story behind it with lots of actual behind-the-scenes footage. We watched this as a family and everyone enjoyed it. It was very well-done and also pushed all my nostalgia buttons.

American Nightmare (Netflix)

I vaguely knew of this true crime story (sometimes called the Gone Girl case), but after watching the full story…NEW FEAR UNLOCKED. Wow, this story is absolutely bananas and terrifying.

Here’s the description from Netflix: After a harrowing home invasion and kidnapping in 2015, a couple is accused of staging the ordeal when the woman reappears in this true-crime docuseries.

This was compelling to watch and a well-done documentary. Check the trigger warnings, though.

The Many Lives of Martha Stewart (Max)

I know Martha is divisive. But y’all, I’m drawn to her. I love when people are really excellent at what they do and are painstaking about quality. I love seeing women who are smart and savvy and who don’t give a damn about society’s expectations of them. This documentary is a 4-parter and covers a lot of different eras of Martha’s career, but the thing that stood out to me is how many times this successful woman was asked when she’d “find a partner” or if she felt incomplete without a relationship. Like it didn’t matter that she’d accomplished so much. If she didn’t have a dude, she was a failure. Ugh. Anyway, I raced through the documentary and my husband ended up getting caught up in it with me too, lol.

The Great Food Truck Race (Max)

With the fam, I’m watching our usual faves: Survivor, The Amazing Race, and American Idol, but we’ve also started working our way through the seasons of The Great Food Truck Race. It’s easy watching, low-stress, and low-stakes, so it’s good for when you’re tired.

Listen

The Rural Diaries: Love, Livestock, and Big Life Lessons by Hilarie Burton Morgan

I picked up this audiobook for two reasons. One, I love memoirs about moving to a farm or the country. And two, I used to love the TV show One Tree Hill, and Hilarie Burton Morgan starred in that. This was an easy listen (she narrates) and the stories vary from fun ones (she opened a candy shop with Paul Rudd and his wife) to more serious ones about her pregnancy struggles. (Check triggers.) Overall, I really enjoyed the listen.

From the back cover:

While Hilarie Burton’s hectic lifestyle as an actress in New York and Los Angeles gave her a comfortable life, it did not fulfill her spiritually or emotionally. After the birth of their first son, she and her husband Jeffrey Dean Morgan, the star of The Walking Dead, decided to make a major change: they bought a working farm in Rhinebeck, New York, and began a new chapter in their lives.

The Rural Diaries chronicles her inspiring story of farm life: chopping wood, making dandelion wine, building chicken coops. Burton looks back at her transition from urban to country living—discovering how to manage a farm while raising her son and making friends with her new neighbors. She mixes charming stories of learning to raise alpacas and buying and revitalizing the town’s beloved candy store, Samuel’s Sweet Shoppe with good friend Paul Rudd and his wife Julie, with raw observations on the ups and downs of marriage and her struggles with infertility. Burton also includes delicious recipes that can be made with fresh ingredients at home.

Burton’s charisma, wide eyed attitude, and fortitude—both internal and physical—propels this moving story of transformation and self-discovery. The Rural Diaries honors the values and lifestyle of small-town America and offers inspiration for anyone longing to embark on their own unconventional journey.

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Alright, y’all, that’s all I’ve got for you today!

I’d love to hear what you’ve read, watched, or listened to lately that you loved. :)

*Book links are affiliate links but I have not been asked to promote the books.