January Book Review
Hey, friends! Happy Tuesday!
I have a super busy week ahead of me with both work and school, so it makes me super happy that it’s also Book Review day! I mentioned here that I have a new goal to read 75 books this year. I want to reread some from my endless collection, dive into a few more classics that I have yet to read, and really want to read more about American History. Today I have SEVEN new reads for you. I read some really good books this month, and some blah/okay ones. It happens. Let’s get started!
I was a big fan of the Pretty Little Liars series, and I also read and enjoyed Sara Shepard’s The Heiresses awhile back (you can find that review here), so I definitely wanted to check out The Perfectionists series. I cannot get trapped into another series, but since this series was only two books, I dug in. So cute! Five girls are all driven to be perfect—no matter the cost. At first the girls think they have nothing in common, until they discover that they all hate the same person, Nolan, has done things to hurt each of them. They come up with the perfect plan to murder him—jokingly, of course. But when he turns up dead in the exact way they’d discussed, the girls suddenly become prime suspects in his murder. Only, they didn’t do it. A very fun read!
This is the second book in The Perfectionists series where Nolan’s murder is solved, but he wasn’t the only one they fantasized about killing. When someone else they named dies, the girls wonder if they’re being framed. Or are they about to become the killer’s next targets? You’ll enjoy these two for sure!
I’m a huge fan of The Pioneer Woman’s show and cookbooks, so I couldn’t wait to read her memoir. Well… I just didn’t love it. It really wasn’t a memoir but a romance novel like story of meeting her husband and winding up in the middle of nowhere. It was written almost as if it was fiction, never referring to her husband by name, and overly embellished. I wanted more tales of her coming into her own as a cook or how she created what is now her TPW empire. While it does include a handfull of recipes, I was let down.
Okay, I really wanted to love this one too. I was hoping for more depth I guess. This is written more as a self help, journal your ideas, make lists kind of book with a little personal narrative of life thrown in. It’s written by Emily Ley, creator of The Simplified Planner whose background is to help women live simply to love more. Has anyone else read this one?
Back to a good one! I love Max Lucado’s books. They resonate well with me. I feel like they actually are speaking over my life during the season in which I read them. I have trouble with the concept of grace from time to time. Especially when giving it to myself. Lucado encourages the reader to not only receive grace but be changed by grace. It’s a shorter book than some by Lucado, so if you’re curious about his writings, this is a great one to start with.
This was my first Brene Brown read, but it certainly won’t be my last. She truly is as good as a lot of people say she is. “True belonging doesn’t require us to change who we are. It requires us to be who we are.” Social scientist Brené Brown, PhD, LMSW, has sparked a global conversation about the experiences that bring meaning to our lives—experiences of courage, vulnerability, love, belonging, shame, and empathy. While this book comes off as a deep read, you will be so encouraged to be who you are, love who you are, and simply live life courageously.
Oh, wow. I’ve heard that this book has helped tens of thousands of leaders turn a scattering of followers into a loyal tribe. I thought it was going to give me some new thoughts as a leader, especially a Christian leader, and encourage me to deepen relationships. What a yawn. I could barely finish this one, but I did. It spouted anecdotes of other leaders and what they did to build their tribes, but there was no personal take away for the reader.
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There you have it. SEVEN new reads in January. I hope you are inspired to read more this year, too!
Comment below with your favorite read of 2018 so far!