Stephany Writes

Categories: Books

What I’m Reading (4.8.24)

Come and Get It by Kiley Reid (★★☆☆☆)

Print • Library • Contemporary Fiction • 2024

Short synopsis: It’s 2017 at the University of Arkansas. Millie Cousins, a senior resident assistant, wants to graduate, get a job, and buy a house. So when Agatha Paul, a visiting professor and writer, offers Millie an easy yet unusual opportunity, she jumps at the chance. 

I had the weirdest reading experience with this book, as I honestly couldn’t have told you its plot most of the time I was reading it, and I’m still struggling to understand the point of this book. This book is mostly about Millie, who is trying to graduate college after taking some time off, and it’s also about Agatha, a professor at the college who is trying to gather research for her next book. It’s also about three girls on Millie’s floor who are sharing an apartment and all of the difficulties that come with trying to live with people who are so vastly different than you. This book should have resonated with me because I felt deeply impacted by the storyline of one of the roommates, Kennedy. She was struggling to find her place at school and had a hard time connecting with anyone else. I also really struggled during my first year of college, and I could relate to everything Kennedy was going through. (Oh, that moment of connection with someone else in your class and hoping you were finally going to make your first friend! I remember that feeling so well.) However, this story wasn’t about three girls making it through a year of college… it was mostly about Agatha and Millie, and I just found them totally boring and their storyline a slog. This book has a 3.46 rating on Goodreads and I should have trusted all of the other people who gave this book a low rating because it just wasn’t very good.

Black Girls Must Die Exhausted by Jayne Allen (★★☆☆☆)

Audiobook • Library • Contemporary Fiction • 2021

Short synopsis: Tabitha Walker thought she had it all—great job, great boyfriend, great friends and family. But then it all comes crashing down with a life-altering diagnosis that would affect her ability to have children in the future. Suddenly, she’s faced with an impossible decision of what to do next.

Ughhh… this book. What a disappointment. Let’s get into my issues with it. First, Tabitha was a hard character to root for. She had a martyr-like demeanor and seemed to think her life was in shambles even though she had so much good going on! I couldn’t understand her attraction to her boyfriend whom she had been dating for a full year and had never been to his apartment or met his family. Girl, he’s a walking red flag. Get out! Honestly, all of the men in this novel were pretty mediocre at best and all of the women deserved better. There was some casual fatphobia in this novel that really grinded my gears, especially once a character started to lose weight and it was mentioned how now she can be on dating apps since she’s looking “better.” Fun fact: There is not a weight limit on dating apps! And do you want to date someone who only dates women who are a certain size? Ugh. After reading this book and disliking my time with it, I wanted to seek out reviews from Black women to see if I missed something with my white perspective. What I found were tons of negative reviews from Black women, which was a bit of a relief. As one reviewer put it, this book “felt about as deep as a kiddie pool.” The final nail in the coffin for this one was the ending, which was so bad that I would have thrown my book across the room if I hadn’t listened to it on audio. Skip this book!

Ander and Santi Were Here by Jonny Garza Villa (★★★★★)

Print • Owned • Contemporary Romance • 2023

Short synopsis: Ander is a nonbinary Mexican-American teen who is taking a gap year after high school before enrolling at School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Santi is an undocumented Mexican who starts working at Ander’s family’s restaurant, and they swiftly fall in love. But can their love sustain Ander’s upcoming move to Chicago, or worse, can it keep Santi safe from the ICE agents roaming around their town?

I’m writing this review a few hours after I finished this book, and I can feel the book hangover swiftly approaching. I miss these two people already and just want to start the book all over again. This book was sensational in so many ways. I loved the way the Spanish elements were completely infused into the book: the food, the language, the culture, the art. I loved the way Ander and Santi fell in love and how palpable their chemistry felt through the pages. I was deeply moved by the exploration of undocumented people and the way the system works for people who may not be the “ideal” immigrant that the news likes to talk about. Santi left Mexico because it was unsafe for him to be there, but he’s not a standout student or a model minority. He’s just a guy who wants to live a quiet, happy life, and not be afraid every minute of the day. I could feel the tenseness of Santi as he navigated life in the United States as an undocumented person. It’s stressful and harrowing. This is a book that shines a light on what the experience may look like for undocumented people. They just want the right to live a safe, stable life, like the rest of us. This book had a lot going on, as you can see, but it all works together beautifully. This book has earned its place on my favorites shelf, for sure.

What are you reading?

Categories: Books

Bookish Q&A

A few weeks ago, Engie posted a bunch of fun bookish questions that she got from a podcast and I am fully stealing these prompts to reflect on my own reading life. Let’s get into it!

1) How do you define mood reading and are you a mood reader?

I define mood reading as taking into account your emotions and how you’re feeling currently when choosing what book to read next. Mood readers don’t stick to a strict TBR list when deciding their next book. Rather, they might have a stack of library books at their bedside table and once they finish their current read, they will peruse that stack of books to decide which one feels right for them to read right now. Maybe that’s a romance because they just read a heavy book or because they’re having a tough week and want something light. Or maybe that’s a fast-paced thriller to get out of a book slump.

I am not a mood reader. I have a very strict TBR list that I try not to deviate from. (More on that below!)

This is not to say I am never a mood reader. Usually, if I’m going through something really difficult (a big change, grief, high anxiety, etc.), I will stick to solely reading romances because they’re easy and light and exactly what I need at the moment. But generally, mood reading is not my thing.

2) Do you have a TBR? Do you stick to it?

Yes and yes. I keep many different TBR lists, such as shelving things as Want to Read on Goodreads, keeping up a list of romances I want to read, and buying books (my bookshelves are their own version of a TBR list). I pull from those lists to create a smaller TBR that I follow. Here’s what it looks like right now:

I read one romance in between each of my other categories:

  • Must Reads – books I want to read ASAP (these are books that have been recommended to me a lot or are very buzzy right now)
  • Books I Own – I pick a section of one of my bookshelves and choose an unread book to slot into the category
  • Goodreads TBR – I use a random number generator to generate a number that correlates to my Goodreads want-to-read shelf

3) Do you cry reading books? If so, what books have made you cry?

It’s rare for me to cry but it does happen. I remember tearing up at the end of The People We Keep by Allison Larkin, but mostly for happy reasons. I cried a lot when I read Two Kisses for Maddy by Matthew Logelin—that book tore me up. I’m sure there have been other instances but I can’t remember them off the top of my head!

4) Do you use reading to escape, learn, or critically reflect?

I use reading to escape and to learn. I credit reading as to why I went from a very conservative Republican (I was hugely anti-abortion and a huge George Bush fan at one time!) to a liberal Democrat because I took the time to read about different perspectives and cultures, and it caused me to do a deep internal shift on my values and what I want from our society as a whole. I love the escape I get from reading (romance is my favorite genre, after all!), but I also want to continue learning and growing as a person through what I’m reading. That’s why I am so committed to reading diversely and reading as many books about social justice and antiracism as possible.

5) What is a book that made you laugh out loud?

Oh, this is hard because it’s rare for a book to make me laugh out loud. This is going to be a very odd choice but the books that Amber Ruffin and her sister Lacey Lamar have published have had a very cheeky tone to them, even when they’re talking about really awful racist incidents they’ve dealt with. Some of the back-and-forth banter in their books has made me laugh out loud. (You’ll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey: Crazy Stories About Racism and The World Record Book of Racist Stories)

6) What is a book that you don’t really know how to feel about?

Hmm… maybe Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng. On the one hand, I understood that she was trying to show us a dystopian society that doesn’t look too scarily different from our current reality. But on the other hand, I’m not really sure the point she was trying to make and I think a lot of it got lost in flowery language.

7) Are you more likely to read on a sunny day or a cloudy day?

The weather doesn’t dictate when I’m going to read—I read almost every day regardless of the weather.

8) Do you usually “set the mood” when you read? Candles, lights, etc.?

Nope. I mean, I’ll make sure I have good lighting (whether that’s natural or artificial) so I’m not straining my eyes to read, but I don’t set up any sort of cozy ambiance when I’m reading. I do love to read in my cozy chair in my room and maybe I’ll have a cup of coffee next to me, but that’s about it for setting the mood.

9) Can you leap from book to book or do you need buffer time between books?

I am most definitely a leaper! That’s the benefit of not being a mood reader—I know exactly what’s coming up next to read so I grab the book, a new bookmark, and get to it!

Do you read to escape, learn, or critically reflect?

Categories: Books

What I’m Reading (3.22.24)

Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie (★★★★☆)

Print • Owned (Amazon) • Mystery • 1937

Short synopsis: The tranquility of a lovely cruise along the Nile is shattered by the discovery that Linnet Ridgeway has been shot. She was young, stylish, rich, and beautiful, a girl who had everything – until she lost her life. Despite the exotic setting, nothing is ever quite what it seems…

My second Agatha Christie novel for this challenge, and it was another 4-star read for me! It’s a slower-paced novel, with the murder not happening until more than 100 pages into the novel, but once that happens, everything kicks into high gear and doesn’t stop moving until the end. I had a feeling about this murder and who might be the culprit, and while my instincts were correct, the reasoning was all wrong. There were a lot of characters to keep track of, but thankfully I could flip back to the first chapter where everyone is introduced and their reasons for being on the ship are revealed. That was helpful! This was my second Christie novel where everything took place in a closed environment (this time, it was a ship) so I think I need my next Christie to have a different type of setting/plot. But so far, so good on this challenge of mine!

The Exiles by Christina Baker Kline (★★★★☆)

Audiobook • Library • Historical Fiction • 2020

Short synopsis: The Exiles is the story of three women—Evangeline, Hazel, and Mathinna—who are all struggling to survive in their own ways. It’s the 1840s and Evangeline is sentenced to 14 years in prison for assault (the circumstances of which are a little suspicious). She’s also pregnant and has to endure a harrowing overseas journey to complete her sentence at Van Diemen’s Land, a penal colony in Australia. Hazel is also on that journey—she’s been sentenced to 7 years for stealing a silver spoon. And Mathinna is an Aboriginal girl who has been forcibly removed from her tribe and “adopted” by the white governor of Van Diemen’s Land. 

This was such a heavy book. It was one of my suggestions for March book club, and I think it will lend to a very good discussion, but I couldn’t listen to more than an hour a day of the novel because it was so harrowing. (I really struggle with plots about prison; it’s a big anxiety trigger for me.) But it was also so interesting. I knew little about how Australia was colonized and even less about how it was essentially colonized as a penal colony. It’s something I would get an offhand reference to in historical romances (“he was convicted and sent to Australia”), but I hadn’t realized how horrific it truly was, and how it displaced Aboriginal people. There were a lot of hard things in this novel, but this was also a beautiful portrait of female friendship and female empowerment. I loved the way the women came together in this story, and I thought the novel wrapped up in a wonderful way. It’s a novel I would have a hard time recommending to everyone, but if you’re not scared off reading a heavy historical book, pick this one up.

Heartbreaker by Sarah MacLean (★★★★☆)

E-Book • Library • Historical Romance • 2022

Short synopsis: Adelaide Frampton is known as the Matchbreaker—she uses her superior skills as a thief to help brides avoid the alter. Henry, Duke of Clayborn, has spent his life building an impeccable reputation free from salacious gossip. When the two find themselves on a breakneck journey across Britain to stop a wedding, Clayborn finds it impossible to resist this woman who both frustrates and fascinates him.

I haven’t read a Sarah MacLean romance in quite a while, and I missed her books! In my opinion, she’s writing the best historical romances out there, even if they may be a bit anachronistic. But eh, it doesn’t bother me and I’d much rather read about a badass group of women taking over London than the true reality of women during this time period, you know? This book was so much fun—I loved Adelaide’s character so much and the way she easily went toe-to-toe with Henry. The way they fell in love with each other was so sweet, and I loved the way everything came together at the end. There were so many badass ladies in this novel—from the leader of the “girl gang” that Adelaide is a part of to all the women who are part of their network in different inns and bars throughout London. If you’re looking for a fun historical romance that’s full of female empowerment, give this one a try! (And, really, all of Sarah MacLean’s romances.)

What are you reading?

Categories: Books

My Bookish Red Flags

Do you have any bookish red flags? I can’t remember where I heard people talking about this concept (maybe it was an episode of Currently Reading?), but I was immediately here for the topic. While I don’t think I have relationship red flags, I for sure have bookish ones. Let’s discuss.

1) I use my Kindle without a cover. I used to have a cover for my Kindle, and maybe someday I will again, but for now, I like being able to hold a naked Kindle in my hand. It’s so much easier! I have a little pouch that I’ll put my Kindle in if I’m going to take it out of my apartment so it’s protected during travel, but otherwise, I let it be naked and free.

2) I read in the bathtub. We all know I love my bubble baths and what I love most about them is being able to sneak in some reading time while I’m taking a bath. It can be a dangerous prospect (see above: naked Kindle), but I have a lifetime of reading in the bath under my belt so I’m much better about keeping my book/Kindle dry than I was when I was a kid. (We won’t talk about the number of times I dropped a Baby-Sitter’s Club book in the bathtub, oops.)

3) I prefer Goodreads to StoryGraph. I know it’s not cool to like Goodreads anymore, and I do appreciate that StoryGraph is a woman-owned company, but I am still partial to Goodreads. All of my friends are there so I get to keep up on what they’re reading. And I find the interface easier to navigate than StoryGraph. (I have started using StoryGraph this year—I’m rating books once I finish reading them—but until more people are using that app, I’ll stick to Goodreads.)

4) Even if a book is highly recommended (either by a friend or a podcast), I won’t add it to my list if it has less than a 3.7 star rating on Goodreads. This is my most toxic trait, I think. Sometimes a podcaster will rave about a book and tell me why they loved it. If it sounds like a book I would like, too, I’ll pull up my Goodreads app to add the book to my shelf. But if I find out it has a 3.6 rating on Goodreads, I exit out of the app without adding it to my want-to-read shelf. Why do I do this to myself?

5) I don’t buy books that have ugly covers. I opted for the Kindle version of My Brilliant Friend rather than buying the book because I really don’t like the cover. There have been a few Agatha Christie mysteries that I’ve wanted to buy for my reading challenge but all of the covers are so displeasing to the eye that I’ve put off purchasing them. (And I’ll probably end up just getting the Kindle versions because I need my book covers to be pretty!) Sometimes, I’ll opt to pay more for a hardcover version of a book if the paperback isn’t aesthetically pleasing. RED FLAG.

What are some of your bookish red flags?

Categories: Books

What I’m Reading (3.11.24)

The Many Daughters of Afong Moy by Jamie Ford (★★★★☆)

Print • Owned (indie bookstore) • Fiction (Speculative?) • 2022

Short synopsis: After experiencing a lifetime of debilitating depression, Dorothy begins an experimental treatment designed to mitigate inherited trauma. In doing so, she intimately connects with past generations of women in her family—starting with Afong Moy, the first Chinese woman to come to America.

This book was compulsively readable. It had such an easy writing style, even though the topics being discussed could be harrowing. This is a story of generational trauma and the impact it has on generations of a family. It’s also about so many badass women doing what they can to survive throughout history. It’s truly amazing to see the legacy of Afong Moy’s family line throughout the years. The heart of this novel, though is Dorothy and wanting to create a better legacy for her daughter, Annabel. I really loved the ending sequence of this book, although some of it felt a bit out there for me (who likes books firmly rooted in reality) because it showcases how one simple change can have lasting impact. All in all, I loved this book and would easily recommend it.

You, with a View by Jessica Joyce (★★★★★)

E-Book • Library • Contemporary Romance • 2023

Short synopsis: Noelle is grieving the unexpected loss of her grandma when she comes across a box filled with love letters and pictures of a man who was not Noelle’s grandfather. She creates a viral Tik Tok video to find the man in the pictures. She finds the man, but what she doesn’t expect is that the man’s grandson is Theo, her former high school nemesis.

I loved, loved, loved this romance. I had the silliest grin on my face the entire time I was reading. It was the kind of book I couldn’t put down but also wanted to savor. And I was seriously sad when I finished it because I just wanted more of Noelle and Theo. The author covered a lot of subjects in this novel—grief, success, failure, love, family, etc.—and she did it all with a deft hand. I loved the natural arc of Noelle and Theo’s relationship, as well as their own character arcs as they are dealing with their own issues that they need to deal with. There is a dark moment in this book, but it wasn’t one stemming from miscommunication or anything over the top. It felt like a really honest moment that could happen in any relationship, and it was resolved perfectly. I can’t wait to reread this book at some point, and I’m super excited to learn that the author has a new romance coming out in July!

The Final Revival of Opal & Nev by Dawnie Walton (★★★★★)

Audiobook • Library • Fiction • 2021

Short synopsis: An electrifying novel about the meteoric rise of an iconic interracial rock duo in the 1970s, their sensational breakup, and the dark secrets unearthed when they try to reunite decades later for one last tour.

I tried this novel in print first, but it wasn’t working for me so I set it down in favor of listening to the audiobook. And that was the right choice because I ended up loving this book. This novel is narrated by a full cast of characters (with Bahni Turpin as Opal, which was perfect casting) and I couldn’t get enough of it. There is a very specific scene that was very hard to listen to—it made my stomach turn but it was so well-written with vivid detail that I had to commend the author for making me feel so much for something that never even happened! This novel can be compared to Daisy Jones and the Six because both novels are (fake) oral histories of iconic (fake) 70s-era bands, but that’s where the similarities end. I loved both books immensely for vastly different reasons. This book had a message to it and by the end of the novel, I felt so deeply for these characters and their stories, and so grateful to Dawnie Walton for writing this story.

What are you reading?