Hey friends! This year I’ve decided to share my book reports quarterly as opposed to monthly. Fewer posts with more book reviews jammed into them. Let’s go! My personal reading goal this year breaks down to 5 books a month. I’m aiming to read 60 books this year; so if I don’t hit my monthly 5, I’ll add on to the next. Do you set reading goals? I did it for the first time last year, and it really helped me to better manage my Netflix binging tendencies. 😉
Anyhow, this first quarter of 2021 my reading has been pretty varied, but it’s clear, as you’ll see below, that my Netflix habit heavily influenced my reading. 😉 Apparently it can both distract you from reading and inspire you to read more. Who knew?! 🙂
The Bridgerton Series
Yes, indeed I did fall down the Bridgerton rabbit hole, and I’m not sorry one bit. I LOVED the Netflix series so much that I just had to pick this book series up where the show left me hanging. And after having read all but two books in the series, I’m even more excited for the next season!
My favorite books of the series so far are: The Viscount Who Loved Me, An Offer From a Gentlemen, and Romancing Mr. Bridgerton. But every book has been an enjoyable read.
If you loved the Netflix series, I highly recommend reading the books. One thing to note is that every book focuses on a different Bridgerton character, so much so that you almost don’t hear much about any of the other characters outside of “their book”. So if there are certain characters you like more than others, some books you might not enjoy as much.
The Wives
This was the January book club pick for my Instagram book club. And I did find this physiological thriller to be a page turner, but I ultimately gave it 3 1/2 stars. The characters were unlikeable. And while the plot moved quickly and unexpectedly, I was unsatisfied with the ending. I couldn’t put the book down, but I didn’t like where the author took this story. Have you felt that way about a book? Like you wish the author took a different direction?
The Lazy Genius Way
The full title of the book is The Lazy Genius Way: Embrace What Matters, Ditch What Doesn’t, and Get Stuff Done, and that is exactly what this book delivers! If you haven’t already read this book, do it now!
It’s so helpful and so practical. So much so that I had quite a few “why have I never thought about doing this this way” moments. I listened to this one on Audible, but I plan to buy the hard copy so I can reread certain chapters. 4 stars
The Family Next Door
Sally Hepworth landed on my radar last year when I read and loved The Mother-In-Law, and she’s quickly becoming a favorite author of mine. Her writing style and character development remind me a lot of Liane Moriarty.
In The Family Next Door she writes a family drama and suspenseful mystery against the backdrop of an idyllic, suburban neighborhood. And while it took me a couple of chapters to really get into this story, by the end I had a hard time putting it down. There are a lot of characters and moving plot lines to keep track of, but it all comes together in the end. If you were a fan of Big Little Lies, I think you’d really enjoy this one. 4 stars
Clean
I read this as a self-imposed homework assignment. As many of you know, I’m a clean beauty advocate, a Beautycounter consultant, and I also run The Safer Beauty Tribe Instagram account. So I consider learning about skincare and the beauty industry as part of my job.
In Clean, James Hamblin explores the historical and cultural context to hygiene in general. He takes you on a journey through the world of skin care, from the ever-growing marketplace of cleansers and serums to the inside of a soap factory. He interviews researchers, dermatologists, and some well known skincare company founders, and he reveals the truth behind the alarmingly loose regulatory system for personal care products. It was really interesting………but I wouldn’t recommend this book unless you’re strangely fascinated by the skincare industry like I am. 😉 3 1/2 stars
Share Your Stuff, I’ll Go First
Absolutely LOVED IT, definitely 5 stars and will likely be in my top 5 of 2021! This is the April book pick for my Instagram Book Club, and I can not wait to discuss this one with the group! I shared my full review of this one here.
The Great Pretender
My Instagram book club read this one in February, and we had widely mixed reviews. It covers a lot of history in the mental health arena, going back to the 60s, and it moves back and forth in time. So it was sometimes hard to follow. I found myself having to backtrack quite a bit.
But on the whole, I found it fascinating. In this book Susannah Cahalan takes the reader on an investigative journey to research David Rosenhan’s 1970s undercover asylum study, On Being Sane In Insane Places, which completely exposed the field of psychiatry. I found Cahalan’s journalistic writing style very engaging. This non-fiction book reads more like a fast-paced mystery. But don’t expect to find any real answers. There is still so much we don’t know about mental health. 4 stars
The Midnight Library
This was recommended to me by two of my friends who have very similar reading taste, and it did not disappoint. I LOVED this book! But it deals with suicide and could be triggering, so be warned.
The best way for me to describe The Midnight Library would be to say – it’s kind of like a mashup of It’s A Wonderful Life and Sliding Doors. You’ve all seen the movie Sliding Doors right? It’s one of my favorites. Anyhow, in The Midnight Library, Nora Seed finds herself at a crossroads of sorts where she has an opportunity to explore how going back in time to change decisions she’s made in life would ultimately change the trajectory of her life.
And I think if you have ever wondered what your life would be like if you made different choices, you will enjoy where this story leads you. This is a book that makes you think and reflect. It fills you with so much gratitude for this journey called life. Absolutely, 5 stars from me!
The Four Winds
This was my first Kristin Hannah read, and it most definitely won’t be my last. Wow, she’s an incredible story teller!
This was the March book club pick for my Instagram book club, and we all really enjoyed it. All four of us gave it 4 out of 5 stars.
Set in Texas in the Dust Bowl era, Elsa Martinelli finds herself at the same crossroads many of her neighbors have faced. Should she stay and fight for her drought-devasted land or should she head west to California in hope of a better life for her children?
It’s heart-wrenching and depressing……because it’s a story about the Great Depression. But it’s also very compelling! Elsa’s personal journey to finding her own value and voice was my favorite part of the story. “Courage is fear you ignore”…..I won’t soon forget those words. This book definitely left a mark on my heart.
Into The Drowning Deep
I listened to this one on Audible after hearing about it on the 10 Things To Tell You podcast, and it was super entertaining! I give it 4 stars. I honestly didn’t expect to like it as much as I did because it’s just so far outside of what I normally enjoy reading. But the way it was described on the podcast piqued my interest. It is very much like a Jurassic Park meets the ocean kind of story.
It’s part mystery, part science, part adventure combined with a little mythology and horror, and I surprisingly really enjoyed listening to this story. Right up to the very end where I felt like the author rushed to conclude the book. But maybe that was the point? Maybe a second book is in the works? The ending did leave me wanting more.
Which I can’t even believe I’m saying about a book based on mermaids. Yes, mermaids, are what this story revolves around. But this isn’t a Little Mermaid kind of story. These aren’t nice mermaids…..or maybe they’re just misunderstood? Like I said, I was left with questions……
I think it was the main premise of the book that really drew me in. I mean, at the heart of every myth is some kind of truth, right? Myths aren’t just created out of thin air. At least, I don’t think so.
Anyhow, I’m not sure this is a great one to read while laying on a beach, but I’d definitely recommend it as a pool-side read. It’s easy to follow along (even while listening) and moves at a great pace.
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So, what have you read recently?
Doing my monthly round up in a couple weeks! I just post two months at a time. I just finished Here for It by R. Eric Thomas and Broken by Jenny Lawson and LOVED both of them! I would give hers 5 and his 4 but it was close. I still need to read midnight library!