January 2024 Reads

This year I would really like to do two things in my reading life:

• Force myself to slow down and enjoy books, even if they are slow. This especially includes all of the backlist books that I have on my own shelves. I am also trying to read through the Louise Penny series and I’m attempting to read all of the Newberry Medal Award books. This means that I’m sometimes reading a book that is a little slower, but is for the sake of a bigger goal.
• I want to read more five star reads that I love.

Those two things are actually at war with one another haha. I was reading a Newberry Medal Award book and it was SO BORING. I really, really wanted to DNF it because I knew it was not going to be anything higher than 2 stars for me! I kept glancing at all the books I have on my shelf that I really want to dive into and devour!

I think it is good to have a little bit of both in my reading life- slowing down and building the muscles to read slower and more thoughtful books, while also enjoying reading fast paced and easy to consume books.

And this month was a good mix of both!

Twice in a Blue Moon

Synopsis: Sam Brandis was Tate Jones’s first: Her first love. Her first everything. Including her first heartbreak. During a whirlwind two-week vacation abroad, Sam and Tate fell for each other in only the way that first loves do: sharing all of their hopes, dreams, and deepest secrets along the way. Sam was the first, and only, person that Tate—the long-lost daughter of one of the world’s biggest film stars—ever revealed her identity to. So when it became clear her trust was misplaced, her world shattered for good.
Fourteen years later, Tate, now an up-and-coming actress, only thinks about her first love every once in a blue moon. When she steps onto the set of her first big break, he’s the last person she expects to see. Yet here Sam is, the same charming, confident man she knew, but even more alluring than she remembered. Forced to confront the man who betrayed her, Tate must ask herself if it’s possible to do the wrong thing for the right reason… and whether “once in a lifetime” can come around twice.

My Review: I really enjoyed this one! It was cute, funny and unpredictably predictable. It was the perfect book to start out the year!

The Many Lives of Mama Love

Synopsis: No one expects the police to knock on the million-dollar, two-story home of the perfect cul-de-sac housewife. But soccer mom Lara Love Hardin has been hiding a shady secret: she is funding her heroin addiction by stealing her neighbors’ credit cards. Lara is convicted of thirty-two felonies and becomes inmate S32179. She learns that jail is a class system with a power structure that is somewhere between an adolescent sleepover party and Lord of the Flies. Furniture is made from tampon boxes and Snickers bars are currency. But Lara quickly finds the rules and brings love and healing to her fellow inmates as she climbs the social ladder to become the “shot caller,” showing that jailhouse politics aren’t that different from the PTA meetings she used to attend. When she’s released, she reinvents herself as a ghostwriter. Now, she’s legally co-opting other people’s identities and getting to meet Oprah, meditate with The Dalai Lama, and have dinner with Archbishop Desmond Tutu. But the shadow of her past follows her. Shame is a poison worse than heroin—there is no way to detox. Lara must learn how to forgive herself and others, navigate life as a felon on probation, prove to herself that she is more good than bad, and much more.

My Review: WOW. I could not put this one down! It is exactly what I want in my favorite reads- memoir, fast-paced, relatable, informative and personal. I had my jaw on the floor for most of this book. I learned so much about the prison system and how corrupt it all is. I loved this book. I have heard some criticism of it that it’s not quite telling the whole story, and it kind of romanticizes the consequences of her actions. I can see that, but I still loved it and enjoyed reading it.

Well Said: Choosing Words that Speak Life

Synopsis: Maybe you knew how much something would hurt, but you said it anyway because it felt good in the moment. Maybe you’re fighting a habit of complaining or yelling, when you really want to be a person who speaks with kindness and patience. Or maybe you stay silent because you’re never quite sure what to say. Whatever your “maybe” may be, you are in the right place. As a wife, mom, and the creator of the popular Modern Farmhouse Family Instagram, Sarah Molitor has learned firsthand that yes, words can hurt―but they can also help and heal.

In Well Said, she uses authentic, relatable stories paired with Biblical truth to help readers

• Use their words to create grace-filled, positive relationships
• Develop a healthy, balanced approach to social media (and find their wisdom filter)
• Feel equipped to use words to forgive and reconcile differences so they can live freely and fully . . . and so much more.

Well Said helps you explore what it means to speak words that direct you to the very heart of Jesus. Sarah will be the trusted friend who walks alongside you, encouraging you to discover God’s true desire for the words we speak every day.

My Review: This book was such a good and sweet reminder about how I am using my words. I needed it! I love how Sarah shares her personal testimony and the transforming power of God’s grace and spirit in her life. It made it feel so much more personal and encouraging to take advice from someone who has struggled and overcome – as opposed to someone who is just really good at it all along and gives advice that doesn’t seem to acknowledge how hard it can truly be. I recommend this one to anyone who is struggling to speak life-giving words.

Our Town

Synopsis: Our Town explores the relationship between two young neighbors, George Gibbs and Emily Webb, whose childhood friendship blossoms into romance, and then culminates in marriage. When Emily loses her life during childbirth, the circle of life portrayed in each of the three acts—childhood, adulthood, and death—is fully realized.

My Review: Ok, I read it just so that I can read Tom Lake next. Also, Shark Heart alludes to the play Our Town and so I wanted to know what they were talking about. This was a quick read and I enjoyed it! It is a simple play with a good reminder of how precious life is, and how quickly it can pass us by.

A Trick of the Light

Synopsis: “Hearts are broken,” Lillian Dyson carefully underlined in a book. “Sweet relationships are dead.” But now Lillian herself is dead. Found among the bleeding hearts and lilacs of Clara Morrow’s garden in Three Pines, shattering the celebrations of Clara’s solo show at the famed Musée in Montreal. Chief Inspector Gamache, the head of homicide at the Sûreté du Québec, is called to the tiny Quebec village and there he finds the art world gathered, and with it a world of shading and nuance, a world of shadow and light. Where nothing is as it seems. Behind every smile there lurks a sneer. Inside every sweet relationship there hides a broken heart. And even when facts are slowly exposed, it is no longer clear to Gamache and his team if what they’ve found is the truth, or simply a trick of the light.

My Review: Although it’s not my favorite series ever, I am enjoying reading the Inspector Gamache series. The characters are so relatable and lovable, mainly because they are actually unloveable and flawed! I enjoy that I gain more understanding of each character as the series progressed. This book wasn’t my favorite in the series, but I did enjoy it.

Adopted for Life

Synopsis: The doctrine of adoption―God’s decision to adopt sinful men and women into his family―stands at the heart of Christianity. In light of this, Christians’ efforts to adopt beautifully illustrate the truth of the gospel. In this popular-level and practical manifesto, Russell Moore encourages Christians to adopt children and to help other Christian families to do the same. He shows that adoption is not just about couples who have struggled to have children. Rather, it’s about an entire culture within evangelicalism―a culture that sees adoption as part of the Great Commission mandate and as a sign of the gospel itself.

My Review: I have had this book on my shelf for YEARS, probably since we did foster care in our home. I wasn’t expecting this book to be more about the practical/how-to’s about adoption, but that is exactly what it was! I would highly recommend this book for anyone considering adoption but unsure how to proceed or even how to pray about it. This was not a lot of new information to me, just because I spent some years in that world, but there was also some really good reminders in there.

Shark Heart

Synopsis: For Lewis and Wren, their first year of marriage is also their last. A few weeks after their wedding, Lewis receives a rare diagnosis. He will retain most of his consciousness, memories, and intellect, but his physical body will gradually turn into a great white shark. As Lewis develops the features and impulses of one of the most predatory creatures in the ocean, his complicated artist’s heart struggles to make peace with his unfulfilled dreams. At first, Wren internally resists her husband’s fate. Is there a way for them to be together after Lewis changes? Then, a glimpse of Lewis’s developing carnivorous nature activates long-repressed memories for Wren, whose story vacillates between her childhood living on a houseboat in Oklahoma, her time with her college ex-girlfriend, and her unusual friendship with a woman pregnant with twin birds. Woven throughout this “heart-wringing” (Adam Roberts, internationally bestselling author of Salt) novel is the story of Wren’s mother, Angela, who becomes pregnant with Wren at fifteen in an abusive relationship amidst her parents’ crumbling marriage. In the present, all of Wren’s grief eventually collides, and she is forced to make an impossible choice.

My Review: LOVED IT. I am surprised that I did, because honestly there isn’t much of a plot! It’s more about the thoughts and feelings and grief of losing someone we love. I loved the lyrical writing and the fact that the pages were broken into smaller paragraphs, instead of chapters. I truly fell in love with these characters and felt like I was grieving with them. SO GOOD.

The Dark Frigate

Synopsis: Young readers who love a swashbuckling yarn will be captivated by The Dark Frigate, winner of the 1924 Newbery Medal as the year’s most distinguished contribution to American literature for children. Abounding in intrigue, battles, and acts of derring-do, the story takes place in the 17th century and charts a course from England to the Caribbean. The hero, Philip Marsham, lost his mother at an early age and was raised aboard various ships by his sea captain father. Alas, a premature death also claims 19-year-old Philip’s father, and now he’s truly alone in the world. When an accident forces him to flee from London, Philip looks to the sea for his livelihood.
Upon meeting some sailors bound for the port of Bideford, Philip joins them in signing on with the Rose of Devon,a frigate bound for Newfoundland. Their transatlantic passage is disrupted by an encounter with a floating wreck, and their rescue of the survivors is repaid with foul treachery by these “gentlemen of fortune” — a band of bloodthirsty pirates who coerce Philip and the rest of the crew into joining in their murderous deeds. Will Philip hang alongside them when the buccaneers are brought to justice?

My Review: Considering the fact that this was written in 1924, it was a little slow and a little hard to follow. I found myself not understanding some vocabulary and having to summarize to myself what had just happened. It was an adventure of a young boy, and the moral of the story is: you reap what you sow….eventually! I’m glad I can now say that I’ve read this one, but I won’t be reading it again.

The War that Saved My Life

Synopsis: Ten-year-old Ada has never left her one-room apartment. Her mother is too humiliated by Ada’s twisted foot to let her outside. So when her little brother Jamie is shipped out of London to escape the war, Ada doesn’t waste a minute—she sneaks out to join him. So begins a new adventure for Ada, and for Susan Smith, the woman who is forced to take the two kids in. As Ada teaches herself to ride a pony, learns to read, and watches for German spies, she begins to trust Susan—and Susan begins to love Ada and Jamie. But in the end, will their bond be enough to hold them together through wartime? Or will Ada and her brother fall back into the cruel hands of their mother?

My Review: This book was delightful! We listened to it on audio in the van while we drove around, and the whole family was very interested in it. When I asked the kids how many stars they would rate it, they all said five stars! We fell in love with the characters and found them relatable- except Mam, of course. Ezra even said “I’m glad you aren’t a mean Mom like Ada’s Mom”. Me too, kid, me too. I feel like we learned a lot from this story about WWII and about families and relationships in general. I have heard some rumblings in the Christian community that the foster mother is in a lesbian relationship – this *may* be true, as she refers to a dear friend who lived with her for many years, but it never outright says they were lovers or bound in any type of way. I feel like an adult could interpret it either way that they want to, and a kid probably wouldn’t notice at all.

That’s a wrap on January reads! I’ve got some good books on deck that I’m so excited to read in February!