To be honest, I was feeling a little bit of a reading slump at the end of February/beginning of March. I did manage to pick up some fast-paced books that got me back into the groove this month!
I read 9 books this month. Here are some of my stats, taken from my StoryGraph account.
And here are the 9 books I read (reviews can be found below the pictures!)
The Favorites
My Review: This is the story of two ice dancers who are passionately pursuing gold medals at the Olympics. This book is D.R.A.M.A. I could not put it down, but I also found myself rolling my eyeballs so hard they may still be stuck there. The two main characters fall in love, they fall out of love, they get with other people, they go missing for a few years, they fall back in love, they want to kill each other, they almost get gold, their feelings get in the way, etc, etc. I know that sounds really negative, but I actually did like this book- like a reality TV show you can’t look away from, even though you know it’s BAD NEWS. Haha. If you like fast-paced books that teach you a topic you know nothing about (assuming most people know nothing about ice dancing), and you are here for the reality TV type drama- then this book is for you.
Happier at Home
My Review: I gave this one 3.5 stars. It was good. She spends a month focusing on different areas of her life that she wants to be more content with/improve upon. I know those two things sounds contradictory- how can you be content AND improve on something, but she proves in this book that you can. I did enjoy reading it, and got a few little tidbits from it for myself, but it wasn’t a life-changing book for me.
A Girl Called Samson
My Review: This was our book club pick for March! I probably wouldn’t have picked it up if it wasn’t for book club, so I’m loving this little club that helps me get out of my comfort zone. This is historical fiction based on a true story of a young girl who pretended to be a boy so she could go to war during the Revolutionary war. I learned so much about that historical time period. In our book club we talked about how hard it would have been to be a girl fighting in a man’s battle, but also how brave and courageous she was. There is also a romance in the story, but we were disappointed to find that the romance part was fiction. If you love historical fiction, you have got to pick this one up!
The Crash
My Review: I strongly disliked this book, but I did read the entire thing. It was too far-fetched and I hated the twist at the end. It felt like the book was well-written and then they got to the end and thought “I need a twist! What could I do here?” and randomly pulled “a twist” out of an AI bot or something. I also don’t usually enjoy dark books, and while this one wasn’t overly creepy, it was a bit dark for me. I’m kind of over closed room mysteries where the entire book happens in one room. So, anyways- not for me.
Gay Neck: The Story of a Pigeon
My Review: Last month when I read my Newberry Medal book, I was so hopeful that the books were starting to get less old-fashioned and more interesting. But this month proved that I am still indeed in the weeds of the ancient Newberry Medal books. This is the story of a pet/trained pigeon who does a lot of flying in the Alps and then who is shipped off to Europe to be a carrier pigeon. I know that sounds like it would be FASCINATING…but it wasn’t. I found myself skimming most of this book, and even though I’ve always loved birds, I was just not even interested in this bird.
The Wedding People
My Review: LOVED it. This one lived up to all the hype for me. This is the story of a woman who books one night at a fancy hotel on the coast of Maine. She has one purpose: to bask in luxury and then end her own life. What she doesn’t realize is that the entire hotel is booked with a lavish wedding. As she runs into all the “wedding people” in the lobby and the elevator, they change her life- and she, theirs. Spoiler: she does not commit suicide. This book was so endearing. I just loved the (sometimes unlovable) characters. I love how people can give life to one another, even when we don’t know that we are.
What the Chicken Knows
My Review: So, I love chickens. I currently have 25 grown chickens, 20 baby chicks, and an incubator running in the room I’m sitting in. However, while all my chickens are adorable and some of them are named, they are not pets to me. The author of this book LOVES chickens and keeps them as pets. She talks about how they talk, how they are intelligent, how they are so sweet, etc. I liked learning a couple of chicken facts here and there, but mostly this book wasn’t for me because my chickens aren’t like children to me, unlike the author.
Redeeming Love
My Review: I read this book years ago when I was in high school. I remember loving it and it was very Christian trendy to read this book. Then a couple years ago, they came out with a movie and people got very big mad about the movie. There were lots of articles and opinion pieces about how inappropriate the movie is for Christian audiences. I actually went to the theatre with a bunch of friends and saw the movie, and since then I’ve been meaning to re-read the book to make sense of the controversy over it all.
So, I went into the book this time around feeling a bit judgy towards it. And yet while I was reading, I was just amazed at the beauty of the story, which is based on the book of Hosea in the Bible. There is not doubt about it, Francine Rivers crafted an incredible story. Sure, it was very cheesy here and there. I had some complaints about how the husband figure is portrayed as perfect, with basically zero flaws. I can see where reading this as a teen may have misled me into thinking that husbands are perfect with zero flaws. I can also see where the movie was a bit…over the line? The book is very closed door romance, but the movie did have quite a bit of nudity/sexual exposure (I mean, it is the story of a prostitute). I personally did not find hardly anything wrong with the book from a moral standpoint. I can see where the movie may be something to be taken a little more seriously, but overall I also enjoyed the movie.
Create Your Own Cozy
My Review: This was a sweet little book with 100 ideas to create your own cozy. It had a lot of pages where journaling/answering questions was encouraged, so I highly recommend owning your own copy of this book. While my style (and lifestyle ha) is pretty much the exact opposite of the author’s, I still enjoyed reading through this and finding a lot of little house/organizing tidbits. This would make a great coffee table book, and a great wedding/bridal shower gift!
Currently Reading:
The Omnivore’s Dilemma
Famous Last Words
The Bucket List Family
I read A Girl Called Sampson and I really ended up loving it; I hadn’t read much about that time period either and was astounded at how brave she was but I too was disappointed that the romance was fictional.