This monthly book review will be much shorter than my usual ones! I read 5 books this month, and while that isn’t what I normally read, I’m completely ok with it. I am in a reading slump right now…which is a bummer because it is my Spring Break! I don’t know if the reading slump leads to more time on my phone, or if more time on my phone leads to the reading slump….but the two are definitely connected! I know exactly where my reading slump started, and I will address it in great detail in the following book reviews…
The Heiress
Synopsis: When Ruby McTavish Callahan Woodward Miller Kenmore dies, she’s not only North Carolina’s richest woman, she’s also its most notorious. The victim of a famous kidnapping as a child and a widow four times over, Ruby ruled the tiny town of Tavistock from Ashby House, her family’s estate high in the Blue Ridge Mountains. But in the aftermath of her death, her adopted son, Camden, wants little to do with the house or the money―and even less to do with the surviving McTavishes. Instead, he rejects his inheritance, settling into a normal life as an English teacher in Colorado and marrying Jules, a woman just as eager to escape her own messy past. Ten years later, his uncle’s death pulls Cam and Jules back into the family fold at Ashby House. Its views are just as stunning as ever, its rooms just as elegant, but the legacy of Ruby is inescapable. And as Ashby House tightens its grip on Jules and Camden, questions about the infamous heiress come to light. Was there any truth to the persistent rumors following her disappearance as a girl? What really happened to those four husbands, who all died under mysterious circumstances? And why did she adopt Cam in the first place? Soon, Jules and Cam realize that an inheritance can entail far more than what’s written in a will––and that the bonds of family stretch far beyond the grave.
My Review: Talk about rich people behaving badly!! It seems that money and fame will make some people do anything for themselves. I usually like this trope, but the characters in this story were so unlikeable! The two main characters were supposed to be very nice and normal and likable, but I almost found it too unrelatable. At first they are painted as not caring at all about the money, but by the end of the book we realize that they do actually care. Still, I liked how the pages turned and it kept me entertained the whole story, which I really needed. I don’t usually pick up thrillers because I tend to get scared too easily, so this was the perfect fast-paced mystery that wasn’t creepy.
The Best Yes
Synopsis: Are you tired of living with the stress of an overwhelmed schedule and aching with the sadness of an underwhelmed soul? Do you find yourself unable to say no even when you should? Are you stuck under the weight of endless demands and responsibilities? The good news is: it doesn’t have to be this way. In The Best Yes, New York Times bestselling author Lysa TerKeurst guides you through the insightful lessons she’s learned about what it means to live out the purpose that God has in store for you. Lysa demonstrates the incredible power of two words–yes and no–and the way that these simple, daily decisions can shape the story of our lives.
My Review: This was a book I’ve had on my shelf for a long, long time and it was time to read it. I enjoyed some of the insights and reminders of saying no and saying yes, and it did cause me to think about some life decisions that we have been working through lately. I also enjoy Lysa’s writing style and find it easy to read- almost as if I’m having a chat with her in the same room. The only major, glaring problem with this book is that in the 10 years since this book was published, a lot has changed in Lysa’s life and reading it now knowing how she/her ministry/her family have changed put a little bit of a different tint on the book. I think I would have enjoyed this book a lot more if I wasn’t familiar at all with the author.
In the Company of Cheerful Ladies
Synopsis: Precious is busier than usual at the detective agency when she discovers an intruder in her house on Zebra Drive—and perhaps even more baffling—a pumpkin on her porch. Her associate, Mma Makutsi, also has a full plate. She’s taken up dance lessons, only to be partnered with a man with two left feet. And at Tlokweng Road Speedy Motors, where Mr J.L.B. Matekoni is already overburdened with work, one of his apprentices has run off with a wealthy older woman. But what finally rattles Mma Ramotswe’s normally unshakable composure is a visitor who forces her to confront a difficult secret from her past.
My Review: I usually have very little motivation to pick up the books in this series, but when I do it’s always so delightful and fun. I’m still working my way through the series (my goal is one book a month, but so far it’s more like one book every other month) and I haven’t found one yet that I don’t like!
Good Company
Synopsis: Flora Mancini has been happily married for more than twenty years. But everything she thought she knew about herself, her marriage, and her relationship with her best friend, Margot, is upended when she stumbles upon an envelope containing her husband’s wedding ring—the one he claimed he lost one summer when their daughter, Ruby, was five. Flora and Julian struggled for years, scraping together just enough acting work to raise Ruby in Manhattan and keep Julian’s small theater company—Good Company—afloat. A move to Los Angeles brought their first real career successes, a chance to breathe easier, and a reunion with Margot, now a bona fide television star. But has their new life been built on lies? What happened that summer all those years ago? And what happens now?
My Review: I hated this book. The main plot point was infidelity in marriage, and I kept waiting for there to be this grand redemptive arc….and there was not. I like my books to remove me from reality just a little bit, but this book read just like a real life situation that might happen to someone and would make me sad and feel grief…which is basically how I felt reading it.
The Covenant of Water
Synopsis: Spanning the years 1900 to 1977, The Covenant of Water is set in Kerala, on South India’s Malabar Coast, and follows three generations of a family that suffers a peculiar affliction: in every generation, at least one person dies by drowning—and in Kerala, water is everywhere. At the turn of the century, a twelve-year-old girl from Kerala’s long-existing Christian community, grieving the death of her father, is sent by boat to her wedding, where she will meet her forty-year-old husband for the first time. From this unforgettable new beginning, the young girl—and future matriarch, known as Big Ammachi—will witness unthinkable changes over the span of her extraordinary life, full of joy and triumph as well as hardship and loss, her faith and love the only constants.
My Review: Since this book is over 700 pages long, it was quite the journey! I really enjoyed reading the story and following the characters who intertwined in and out of each other’s lives. Sometimes it was hard to follow since the story literally spanned 3-4 generations of the same family and I sometimes had to remember who was connected to who and what character we were talking about. The writing was beautiful and it was absolutely worth the read, although it was a bit slower than what I normally reach for. I’m glad I read this one, but I would never read it again haha. I was also on a library deadline and so I was reading 100-200 pages a day, and when I got to the end of the book I felt so burned out from reading so much that I have struggled to pick up any other books since then. If you are a beginner reader, or only read less than 10 books a year, I would probably skip this one. But if you love to read and the size of the book doesn’t bother you, I would highly recommend it!
And that is it for March! I suspect that April and May will also be slower reading months, and then the summer will come and I will have a little bit more downtime! What have you been reading lately? Have you read any of these?