I’m back to posting my monthly book reviews instead of trying to review all of the books that I read for an entire quarter!
April’s books were all kinda ‘meh’ for me. Every single book I read earned 3 stars. No more. No less. Let’s take a look, shall we?
April Book Stats
Books Read: 8 books
Fiction: 5 Non-Fiction: 3
Book Reviews
Troubles in Paradise
Amazon Synopsis:
After uprooting her life in the States, Irene Steele has just settled in at the villa on St. John where her husband Russ had been living a double life. But a visit from the FBI shakes her foundations, and Irene once again learns just how little she knew about the man she loved.
With help from their friends, Irene and her sons set up their lives while evidence mounts that the helicopter crash that killed Russ may not have been an accident. Meanwhile, the island watches this drama unfold—including the driver of a Jeep with tinted windows who seems to be shadowing the Steele family.
As a storm gathers strength in the Atlantic, surprises are in store for the Steeles: help from a mysterious source, and a new beginning in the paradise that has become their home. At last all will be revealed about the secrets and lies that brought Irene and her sons to St. John—and the truth that transformed them all.
My Review: This book was light and fluffy and quite easily forgettable. It was the third in a seres, so I felt like I already knew the characters and was slightly invested in how the story turned out. There was lots of romance drama and a couple unexpected twists and turns. I did like how it didn’t make the characters perfect, but they all had flaws and still managed to make relationships work- with a bit of work. Also I really needed to read something set in a warm place because winter really seemed to drag into April this year.
Ask Again, Yes
Amazon Synopsis: Francis Gleeson and Brian Stanhope, rookie NYPD cops, are neighbors in the suburbs. What happens behind closed doors in both houses—the loneliness of Francis’s wife, Lena, and the instability of Brian’s wife, Anne, sets the stage for the explosive events to come.
In Mary Beth Keane’s extraordinary novel, a lifelong friendship and love blossoms between Kate Gleeson and Peter Stanhope, born six months apart. One shocking night their loyalties are divided, and their bond will be tested again and again over the next thirty years. Heartbreaking and redemptive, Ask Again, Yes is a gorgeous and generous portrait of the daily intimacies of marriage and the power of forgiveness.
My Review: I was not expecting that story! It was unlike any plot I had ever read before, that is for sure! Childhood friends are separated by a very traumatic event, only to find each other years later and build a life together. Honestly, I think that this book was just slightly too depressing for me. There wasn’t a lot of happiness or light-heartedness. I think that it gave a good perspective on walking through trauma, dealing with trauma, and how to build, create, and re-create relationships that have been affected by trauma. Overall, I can see why people really like this book, but it was just too depressing for me!
The One
Amazon Synopsis:
America Singer searches for her happily ever after in this swoon-worthy YA dystopian romance, perfect for readers who loved Veronica Roth’s Divergent, Lauren Oliver’s Delirium, or Renée Ahdieh’s The Wrath & the Dawn.
Entering the Selection changed America Singer’s life in ways she never could have imagined. Since she arrived at the palace, America has struggled with her feelings for her first love, Aspen—and her growing attraction to Prince Maxon. Now she’s made her choice . . . and she’s prepared to fight for the future she wants.
My Review: I am really enjoying this series! Some people say that it is cheesy, and I don’t disagree….but I love a little bit of cheese now and then! This series is like The Hunger Games meets The Bachelor and I find the world-building to be perfectly realistic while also not being in our own time and place. I was glad that in this story the love triangle has finally resolved and the plot is moving forward (it kind of dragged through books 2 and 3), and I’m excited to get my hands on the next book in the series! So far book 1 has been my favorite, but as you can see I have kept on reading.
Digital Minimalism
Amazon Synopsis:
Minimalism is the art of knowing how much is just enough. Digital minimalism applies this idea to our personal technology. It’s the key to living a focused life in an increasingly noisy world.
In this timely and enlightening book, the bestselling author of Deep Work introduces a philosophy for technology use that has already improved countless lives.
Digital minimalists are all around us. They’re the calm, happy people who can hold long conversations without furtive glances at their phones. They can get lost in a good book, a woodworking project, or a leisurely morning run. They can have fun with friends and family without the obsessive urge to document the experience. They stay informed about the news of the day, but don’t feel overwhelmed by it. They don’t experience “fear of missing out” because they already know which activities provide them meaning and satisfaction.
My Review: This book just did not do it for me. I agree fully with the concept- but I felt like the entire book could be summarized in the Amazon summary above. Being overly into our technology is not good. Getting rid of it all and trying to live Amish isn’t practical. So we need to strike an in-between where we use our technology as a good tool, but aren’t so self-reliant on it that we are overcome by it. Boom. Done. No need to read the book because that is all that I got from it 🙂
Booth
Amazon Synopsis:
My Review: n 1822, a secret family moves into a secret cabin some thirty miles northeast of Baltimore, to farm, to hide, and to bear ten children over the course of the next sixteen years. Junius Booth—breadwinner, celebrated Shakespearean actor, and master of the house in more ways than one—is at once a mesmerizing talent and a man of terrifying instability. One by one the children arrive, as year by year, the country draws frighteningly closer to the boiling point of secession and civil war.
As the tenor of the world shifts, the Booths emerge from their hidden lives to cement their place as one of the country’s leading theatrical families. But behind the curtains of the many stages they have graced, multiple scandals, family triumphs, and criminal disasters begin to take their toll, and the solemn siblings of John Wilkes Booth are left to reckon with the truth behind the destructively specious promise of an early prophecy.
My Review: So, I feel conflicted about this review. As a novel, I found this book long, drawn-out, and fairly boring. There were a lot of characters to try to keep track of and it was hard to connect to any character on a deeper level. HOWEVER- this book is also brilliant. I cannot wrap my mind around how Karen Fowler took a piece of history and wrote a novel from it. I appreciated how she didn’t make it just about John Wilkes Booth- but about his family and the great dysfunction that they lived in. I found this book fascinating from cover to cover. It is absolutely worth a read if history interests you or if you love historical fiction but are tired of all the WWII spy novels.
The Cruelest Month
Amazon Synopsis:
Welcome to Three Pines, where the cruelest month is about to deliver on its threat.
It’s spring in the tiny, forgotten village; buds are on the trees and the first flowers are struggling through the newly thawed earth. But not everything is meant to return to life. . .
When some villagers decide to celebrate Easter with a séance at the Old Hadley House, they are hoping to rid the town of its evil—until one of their party dies of fright. Was this a natural death, or was the victim somehow helped along?
Brilliant, compassionate Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Sûreté du Québec is called to investigate, in a case that will force him to face his own ghosts as well as those of a seemingly idyllic town where relationships are far more dangerous than they seem.
My Review: Ah, Louise Penny and Inspector Gamache- why is it that I am not falling in love with your series the way that everyone claims I would? What am I doing wrong? This is the third in a series and each one I have really had to push myself through. People sing the HIGHEST PRAISES of this series, but I’m just not feeling it. I’ve heard I have to get through the 4th book and then I won’t be able to put it down, so I’m giving it one more chance. Hopefully next month I’ll have a five star review on the next book in the series. This one was a slog and I really struggled to keep the characters straight as there was a lot of them.
God Bless This Mess
Amazon Synopsis:
Suddenly in the spotlight, twenty-four-year-old Hannah Brown realized that she wasn’t sure what she wanted. After years of competing in beauty pageants, and then starring on The Bachelorette and Dancing with the Stars, she had become incredibly visible. There she was, in her early twenties, with millions around the world examining and weighing in on her every decision. She found herself wondering what it would mean to live on her terms. What it would mean to stop seeking approval from others and decide—for the first time—what it was she wanted from her own life.
An honest and earnest examination of her own mid-twenties, God Bless This Mess is a memoir thatdoesn’t claim to have all the answers. Hannah knows she doesn’t have all the answers. What she does have is the insight of someone who has spent critical years of her youth under public scrutiny. Thus what emerges is a quarter-life memoir that speaks to the set of difficulties young women face, and how to move through them with grace. By pushing against her engrained need to seek approval, and learning how to think critically about her own goals and desires, Hannah inspires others to do the same—and to embrace the messiness that comes hand-in-hand with self-discovery (even if that sometimes means falling flat on your face).
Using her time on The Bachelorette as a launching pad, Hannah doesn’t shy away from the most painful experiences of her life: moments when her faith was tested, when she feared it was lost, and the moments when she reclaimed it on national television. “And Jesus still loves me.” Fans will be inspired by the never-before-told stories: the ones about facing depression and anxiety during her pageant years, the ways in which therapy and journaling have proven to be a saving grace, and the previously private moments—both at home and on television—that have shaped the star’s outlook.
My Review: Confession: I used to watch the Bachelor/Bachlorette franchise. The last few seasons I watched, I was far more interested in deep dives of what was happening behind the scenes instead of what was actually happening on the screens. So I’m a sucker for a tell-all that gives some details of this FASCINATING franchise. I feel like it is such a reflection of culture and humanity and our deep desire for personal connection (which is ironic because I don’t think that is actually ever fulfilled by going on this show). Anyways- I read this book from cover to cover in one day. I love memoir and when people put pen to paper about their own story. The story that Hannah Brown wrote about her own life stretches from childhood all the way through her fame on reality TV. She writes a lot about some of the junk that she has been through. Half of me felt like she had been through A LOT and it made sense why she felt like life was such a mess. But the other half of me felt like she truly played the victim and wallowed in self-pity over some things that were really not that big of a deal (she talks about how insecure she was about having dimples. Ok, I get it. We don’t get to pick what we are insecure about. But, also? There are way bigger self-image issues than dimples). I also would never take advice from her and this book was packed with long, rambling advice talks throughout the book. I enjoyed reading her story and really did appreciate her honesty. It did give a little behind the scenes into the Bachelor show, but not too much. I was surprised by all the names she named and the details she went into, and it would be very interesting to hear the other side of the stories.
The Pursuit of God
My Review: My copy of this book was a 31 day devotional, and I truly enjoyed going through it for the past month or so (it took me longer than 31 days!). While wordy and hard to understand at times, if I just took the time to read and focus deeply on what he was saying, it was a big blessing to start my day focusing on the Lord and the pursuit of Him. I recommend this one!