During the month of March, I finally got out of my reading slump that had been plaguing me since November! I read 8 books, and surprisingly, it was some of the non-fiction reads that really got me back into enjoying what I was reading! I read 4 fiction and 4 non-fiction books, and feel like I finally made a dent on my TBR stack! One of the reasons that it was such a successful reading month was because I had one trip that involved leaving the kids and having a 1.5 hour flight one way flight- I always get reading done on a flight! And then we also had a week of spring break, so I spent quite a bit of time reading during that time.
You Bet Your Stretch Marks
My Review: Bear with me while I type out ALL of my thoughts on this here book. This is the third in a type of series- they can all be read as stand-alone books, but I think that the author got a contract for 3 books, so she wrote them all with kind of a motherhood mantra title for each one, but each of the three books is very similar. It’s a Christian/motherhood pep talk from a woman who has a lot of followers online, and has kind of become one of the prominent voices for young, conversation mothers.
I have read all 3 of her books, and have really enjoyed each one. She does not shy away from hard truths or “telling it like it is”. As far as I’ve read, I don’t have any huge theological differences or anything that stands out as yikes. In fact, I love the underlying message of her work- motherhood is not a lesser calling, and we as mothers are not the victim in this situation. You bet your stretch marks that motherhood is worth it. I really appreciate this message in my own parenting, as sometimes I can get bogged down with the idea that I’m not doing any good work, since most of what I do in a typical day gets undone about as fast as I can do it!
So why did I only give this book 3 stars? Dear reader- it’s the tone. We talk to our kids all the time about how their tone communicates just as much as, if not more, than their actual words. Saying “I’m sorry” with a humble tone shows true sorrow, while saying “I’m SoRrY” with a sarcastic tone communicates exactly the opposite. Anyways- I feel as if the author of this series has kind of a “better than thou” attitude, and often communicates that the way she does things is the way the things should be done. This can get really murky, especially in the Christian world, and especially with a big online following, because I truly think that many women (especially young ones) take everything this author says as gospel. Like, literally the gospel.
The author gives several examples of “hardships” she has faced as a mother and these examples honestly made me cringe. I’m SURE that she has gone through much more difficult situations than the examples that she gave- but one such example was how offended she was when a priest at the Vatican asked her to not breastfeed there and rudely asked her to go outside. Ok, so that really could feel like a hardship. Here’s the rest of the context: Her family of 12, plus a private nanny, spent 8 weeks on a European vacation. I know “hardships” still happen on vacation and people being rude can really take the wind out of our sails no matter what the context, but I would have preferred some more relatable examples of motherhood hardships, ya know?
So- in the end- I actually do recommend this book! If it helps and encourages a young Mom (or a seasoned Mom), I think the book would be worth it. But if you start to feel like I felt- like I could never measure up to this particular author’s “success”, then put it down and don’t keep reading.
PHEW! That was a HOT TAKE.
That’s a Great Question, I’d Love to Tell You
My Review: Oh no, another hot take! Elyse Myers is a sweet and sassy influencer who shares openly about her struggles with her mental health, particularly in relation to OCD and depression. She is also very creative and always has the cutest graphics on her videos. I was excited to read her memoir and was especially excited that she even illustrated many little graphics throughout the book- so cute! Honestly, though, the graphics were the best part of this book. The rest of it wasn’t great. Instead of a memoir, I felt like I got disjointed essays about her love and dating life. That’s it. Literally every chapter of the book is someone she had a crush on, or someone she dated, or someone she shouldn’t have dated, and then a couple chapters woven through are about meeting her husband. I finished the book feeling confused and not sure if the story would turn out ok. I know from following her online that she is married with two kids, so I know that the story did indeed turn out ok, but no nuggets of that ending were given in the book. Anyways- skip this one, but keep following Elyse!
When You Trap a Tiger
My Review: This was the worst Newberry Medal book I have yet to read- and that’s saying a lot, because some of those earlier ones were just plain boring. I started to read this one with the kids and they all asked me to stop because it was slightly creepy. Now, this book features a Chinese-American family and is rich with fables, traditional medicine, and Chinese traditions. It has a bit of magical realism in it, but the lines were really blurry for me on if it was magical realism, or dreams, or just fictional stories. The story was quite sad, with the grandmother getting sick (and several descriptions of throwing up, which I’M OUT) and dying. In the end, her sister falls in love with another girl and I that was just kind of the final straw for me. There are so many great Newberry Medal books, so this one was a disappointment.
The Castaways
My Review: This book advertised itself about waking up in Paradise, but then finding out that it wasn’t all that great after all. I was picturing a resort situation gone wrong, but instead this was a plane crash on a deserted island situation. Things got a little bit twisty when the plane disappeared for two years, but then a passenger shows up out of nowhere. One girl goes in search of the answers and of course, all on her own without any trained professionals manages to find both the plane and what happened to it. This was a decent thriller that wasn’t too twisty (although there was death). I found the characters pretty unlikeable, but I liked it enough that I finished reading it! Also- Theo and I are watching Lost right now, and the plot of this book mirrors Lost almost exactly haha.
The Situation Room
My Review: Here’s a fun fact about me: I am not at all into politics. But I LOVE any book, show, or article that will show me the “behind the scenes” or the “real life” of a political figure. This book was all about the room where presidents go to make really big calls/decisions. It’s a room that is underground and outfitted with all the tech needed to watch/update/call/receive messages from other areas of the world. This book walks through the history of the Situation Room, and all the presidents that have used it (or refused to use it, even though they were in office). I loved this broad overview of US history and how it walked through all the different situations that have occurred from commands in The Situation Room. I might have skimmed some of this book, but overall I found it so interesting and compelling!
Mistaken Identity
My Review: This story was incredible! This is the story of two families, whose daughters were involved in a terrible car accident. One daughter was identified as deceased, while the other was in a coma. The two girls had many physical similarities, and the person who identified them mixed them up. So, the family of the deceased girl ended up spending 5 weeks by the side of the girl who was alive, and the family of the girl who was alive ended up burying their daughter, having a funeral service and walking through five weeks of immeasurable grief before the mix-up was discovered. CAN YOU EVEN IMAGINE? I felt like this book was written so well, honoring all the different perspectives of the people involved in the situation. There was a lot of Christian-ese in this story, which did not bother me at all (in fact, it really blessed me), but I know that some reviewers wish they could just get the story without feeling preached at.
Beautiful Ugly
My Review: Ok, where am I getting all these domestic thrillers from? I think everyone wants to write the next Gone Girl, but so far it just hasn’t really happened. This is the story of a man/author whose wife has gone missing. He ends up on a very remote island but weird things keep happening and he’s creeped out and kind of scared for his life. He is also a very unlikeable character, so I could never figure out if I was supposed to be worried for his life, or glad that he feels threatened. Basically, that sums up the book. I kept waiting for it to have some big reveal and find out what was going on with the missing wife, and when that happens in the last chapter of the story I was not very impressed…..
Worth Fighting For
My Review: I adore every single book in this series. LOVE THEM. I love the romance. I love that they are based on Disney stories. I love that they are clean romances, so I can recommend them to almost anyone! These books really are just a delight. Worth Fighting For is based on the story of Mulan, and I love how the author creatively included bits and pieces of the Mulan story. I was just a bit disappointed that she never said “Lets get down to business”, but oh well. I already put the other two books in the series on hold and I can’t wait to read them 🙂
Ordinary Time
My Review: Annie B Jones is a delight, just plain and simple. We honestly have almost nothing in common on paper, but I can relate to almost every word that she writes. I loved this book and the sweet essays that she wrote on growing up in the church, finding church as an adult, running a business, living in a small town, being married, having a brother- somehow I felt like I could even relate to the chapter about not having children! This was such a sweet book and I enjoyed it from cover to cover. Highly recommend.
I’ve struggled with reading many of the influencer books; I feel like they try to take what worked on a social media platform and stretch it out into book form but they are often lacking in cohesive details and going further from a little blurb to being a “real” book (but hey, more power to them to landing these book deals; it for sure is more than I’ll ever have!). I really enjoyed all the series in the Disney themed stories too. I feel like each author did a great job bringing in those Disney story tropes and making them fit more modern day re-tellngs.