Stephany Writes

Categories: Books

What I’m Reading (5.25.20)

Happy Memorial Day, friends! I don’t have any plans for today, which I’m sure is true for many of us. I may try to take a walk at my local nature preserve, but I’m worried it might be really busy on a holiday. We’ll see!

Last week was a solid reading week for me with three books finished. Yay! Back to my normal speed. 😉 Here are my reviews.

Books Finished

Lucy’s Little Village Book Club by Emma Davies (★☆☆☆☆)

One-sentence synopsis: In this book, we follow the lives of five members of a library book club: Lucy the librarian; Oscar, a recent widower; Lia, a young woman looking after her mother who has Alzheimer’s; Callum, a young man who wants to escape his troubled home life; and Hattie, a single mom who is new to town. 

I rarely give books one star, which means I hated it, because I don’t often read books I hate. That’s just not fun! But like I mentioned last week, I was coming off a crazy book slump where I abandoned five books in a row and I finally had to force myself to read and finish a book, and this is the one I chose. (Bad job, me!) This book was just not for me—the writing was cheesy, the characters one-dimensional, and the plot boring. It’s a book that came highly recommended from a #bookstagrammer whose taste I actually trust and I was totally grabbed by the sweet cover, but oof, I did not enjoy this book at all.

Hooking Up by Helena Hunting (★★★★☆)

One-sentence synopsis: After Amalie is humiliated on her wedding day, she flees to Bora Bora (where she and her new husband were supposed to have their honeymoon), only to be seated next to her soon-to-be-ex-husband’s cousin on the flight.

Oh, how I loved this book! Helena Hunting is becoming one of my favorite romance authors. I just love the way she writes characters and female friendship and romance. Her books are definitely more on the steamy side (enough to make me blush at times!), so they’re probably not the best for readers who love a closed-door romance (i.e., fade-to-black when it comes to sex scenes). But this book was everything I love in a romance: great characters who were easy to root for, a love story that felt believable and honest, and a dark moment that didn’t feel trite or silly. All in all, another great read from Hunting!

Lock Every Door by Riley Sager (★★★★☆)

One-sentence synopsis: Jules feels like the luckiest person alive to score a gig to be an apartment sitter at the notorious Bartholomew building where only the rich and famous stay… until she learns about this building’s sordid past and other apartment sitters start disappearing.

Sager is quickly becoming one of my favorite thriller writers, and he doesn’t disappoint with this novel! I loved the way the building was written like its own character—it seemed so beautiful yet creepy. The twist in this novel (and then the twist after the twist) was perfect. It was just ridiculous enough without being overly so to have me glued to my couch on Friday night, desperate to finish the novel. I loved the characters, the propulsive plot, and the satisfying ending so very much.

What I’m Reading This Week

Over the weekend, I started The F*ck It Diet: Eating Should Be Easy by Caroline Dooner, which came highly recommended by someone I follow online (and whose taste I trust). I’ve read 100 pages so far and it’s been very life-affirming for me, as someone who has spent the last year unlearning restrictive diet behaviors and becoming more attuned to diet culture and body positivity, and I’m excited to give a more thorough review when I finish it.

Alongside The F*ck It Diet, I’m also reading Final Siege by Scarlett Cole, a romantic suspense novel that has me thoroughly enthralled! I’m at the 50% mark with this book and I am on the edge of my seat!

What are you reading?

Categories: Books

What I’m Reading (5.18.20)

Happy Monday! Oh boy, did I have a rather difficult reading week. Book hangovers are no joke, friends! (More on that below.) I also found myself struggling mightily with my new mood reading plan. After finishing The Dearly Beloved early on in the week, trying to make a decision on what to read next felt impossible—nothing sounded good to me. Not on my bookshelves, not on my Kindle, not on my Goodreads TBR shelf. I found myself missing the structure of a TBR list. And I think I finally realized why I love being so structured with my TBR—no decision-making! As an Enneagram 9, decision-making is my constant struggle and when I don’t have a structured list to guide my reading, I feel out of sorts. So I put together a five-book TBR list this weekend, and I felt my shoulders relaxing and my mood lifting once I did. I made sure to choose books that wouldn’t be too heavy or require too much from me—pandemic reading, ya know?—but I’m feeling good about getting back to my structured reading lists!

Last week, I finished two books and both were great reads!

Books Finished

The Dearly Beloved by Cara Wall (★★★★★)

One-sentence synopsis: An exploration of the lives of two young ministers and their wives.

You guysssssss. This book put me in an epic book hangover! It might be in the running for the best book I’ve read in 2020 right now. It was just that good! I loved the way faith and non-belief coexisted in this novel, in a way that did not pit them against each other or make one seem like the “better” choice. The characters were exceptionally drawn, flawed and complicated but in a way that humanized them and made them easy to root for. I loved the exploration of family and friendship and faith and motherhood, and the way all of that shifts and changes through the years. I highlighted so many passages, and I’ll end this review with one of them:

Our love of God is not as important as our faith in God. Love wanes. Faith cannot. One can have faith and anger, faith and hate. One can believe deeply and still rail against God, still blame God. In fact, if one can hate God it is a sign of deep faith, because you cannot hate and at the same time doubt God’s existence.”

Hurts to Love You by Alisha Rai (★★★★☆)

One-sentence synopsis: Eve has had a crush on Gabe for years, so what happens when they’re stuck in a big mansion together for days?

Ooh, I loved a good forced-proximity romance! This is the third and final book in Rai’s Forbidden Hearts series, and it was my favorite one of the trilogy! I could really relate to Eve, who has a hard time with emotions and trust because she was emotionally abused by her father. Her struggles were immensely relatable to me, and I loved seeing her stand up to her father and understand her own value through it all. I also really loved the sweetness of her and Gabe’s relationship, and how they both helped each other as they faced their own harsh realities. All in all, a great wrap-up to the series!

What I’m Reading Now

Oh man, The Dearly Beloved put me in such an epic book slump. I started and stopped no less than five books. I couldn’t figure out what I wanted to read next, and all of the books I tried reading just felt lame and boring. I finally settled on Lucy’s Little Village Book Club by Emma Davies, and I really had to force myself to keep reading this book after 50 pages. It’s not a particularly outstanding book and the writing is actually kinda terrible, but I just need to get a completed book under my belt. I’m almost finished with it—less than 100 pages to go—and next up for me is Lock Every Door by Riley Sager. I need something fast-paced and well-written, and Riley Sager always delivers on both fronts for me.

Alongside Lucy’s Little Village Book Club, I’m reading Hooking Up by Helena Hunting. This is a new-to-me romance author and I recently read and loved another book from her (Shacking Up), and this one is meeting my needs perfectly.

What are you reading?

Categories: Books

What I’m Reading (5.11.20)

Happy Monday! My heart is so happy today. Spending Mother’s Day with my mom (and my brother!) was something my soul needed. I needed to see them and talk to them and laugh with them. I’m so glad we were able to hang out—and also shower my mom with lots of love! She definitely deserves it.

Last week was another solid week of reading for me! I’m on a three-books-a-week binge lately. I’m about seven books ahead of my goal of reading 135 books, so I’m pretty sure this will be another banner year of reading for me. I’ve said it so many times before, but I’m so, so glad that reading continues to be a comfort for me.

Books Finished

Love Lettering by Kate Clayborn (★★★★☆)

One-sentence synopsis: A year after Meg hand-lettered a secret message into Reid’s wedding program, he returns to find out how she knew his marriage was doomed to fail.

I mentioned last week that I was having a little trouble getting into this book, but now that I’ve finished it, I can fully sign off on it! It was such a fun read, and I loved learning more about the world of hand-lettering and the planner/paper goods industry. Reid and Meg were both such great characters—Meg with her bubbly personality and Reid with his more stoic one—and I found it hard to tear myself away from the book as it progressed. I also loved how NYC was essentially another character of the novel; I found that to be such a special touch. There was a secondary plot between Meg and her best friend, who had started drawing away from Meg and their friendship as a whole, and I was interested to see how the author would address this issue. I was coming off a book that seemed to glorify a toxic friendship, and I was really hoping this author would do better. Thankfully, she did. She addressed the situation in an honest, relatable way that I think most people with long-term friendships could identify with.

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid (★★★★★)

One-sentence synopsis: At 79 years old, movie star Evelyn Hugo tells her life story and the truth behind her seven marriages.

This is a book that I have been highly anticipating! I love everything TJR writes and I was positive that I would love this novel as well, especially since it came so highly rated by many trusted readers. And it most definitely lived up to the hype! Evelyn Hugo is a sensational character and the Hollywood setting of the 1950s-1980s was perfection. This book has made me look at movie stars in a completely different light, though. How did some of them get their breaks? What are they truly like outside of their media persona? What’s the real truth behind some of their mishaps and foibles? We really don’t know! It’s crazy to think about. There was a little “twist” in this novel, as Evelyn Hugo is telling her life story to a woman, Monique, a writer who isn’t sure why Evelyn specifically requested her for the story. It all comes to light in a way I really wasn’t expecting but didn’t feel too out-of-place in the novel. Anyway, this book was delightful from beginning to end and now I’m just dying for TJR’s next release!

For Better or Worse by Lauren Layne (★★★★★)

One-sentence synopsis: When Heather confronts her playboy neighbor about the live music he plays every night, sparks fly for these two very different people.

Ahhh… this book was so charming. I loved the verbal sparring between Heather and Josh, and the very natural way their enemies-to-lovers relationship evolved. I thought it was a little silly the way the author tried to keep us in the dark about Josh’s cancer (he’s in remission) because it’s right in the synopsis about it! I suppose the author was trying to mirror the way Heather was in the dark about it, too, because Josh finally talks about his cancer once it’s revealed to her. But I still found it all a little unbelievable at times. However, this book earns five stars because I had a stupid goofy grin on my face the entire time I read it. (Good thing nobody could see me! Ha.)

What I’m Reading This Week

I have about 100 pages to go in The Dearly Beloved by Cara Wall and I am loving this book! It’s a character-driven novel and the characters are so dynamic and fascinating that I’m finding the book hard to put down. It’s about two men who become ministers at the same church at the same time in 1963 and the way their faith evolves through this experience. And it’s also about their wives who are two very different women and choosing two very different paths as ministers’ wives. It’s not a Christian book in any way, but I think my faith background is helping me forge a special connection to this book.

I’m also dipping in and out of Hurts to Love You by Alisha Rai, which is the third book in her Forbidden Hearts series. I’m not very far into it—maybe 50 pages—so I don’t have much to say about it just yet!

What are you reading?

Categories: Books

What I’m Reading (5.4.20)

Happy Monday! I am really happy with my decision to read based on my mood. I really love not being tied to my TBR list and just picking a book that feels good to read in the moment. Who knows—maybe this will become my new way of reading! Ah, no need to make decisions about that just yet. 😉 All I know is that it’s working for now. Exciting! Last week, I finished three books and one of them might be the best celebrity memoir I’ve ever read. Ooh!

Books Finished

A Hundred Summers by Beatriz Williams (★★★★☆)

One-sentence synopsis: It’s the summer of 1938 and Lily is spending it at the beach with her family, but things get much more complicated when her former best friend and former fiance—now married to each other—arrive.

I really, really enjoyed this novel! It was a delight from start to finish. Beatriz Williams really knows how to write the 1930s socialite scene so, so well. The novel culminates with a cataclysmic hurricane that adds another layer of drama to an already-dramatic story, but it raised the stakes in an interesting way. A great read if you’re looking to take your mind off things, and since it was published in 2013, you may be able to download it from Libby right away!

Let’s Talk About Love by Claire Kann (★★☆☆☆)

One-sentence synopsis: After Alice tells her girlfriend that she is asexual, her girlfriend dumps her, causing Alice to wonder if she’ll ever find true, lasting, romantic love.

Asexuality isn’t something we get to read about in books, especially with a main character, so I had high hopes for this novel. Unfortunately, it didn’t really meet my expectations. I found Alice to be almost childlike in her approach to romance, which does a disservice to the representation of the Ace lifestyle. I was also horrified at the toxic friendship between Alice and her best friend, Feenie. The friendship was billed as being a “soulmate” kind of friendship, but it felt unhealthy and unrealistic and damaging. Meh. Not a book I’d recommend, unfortunately.

We’re Going to Need More Wine by Gabrielle Union (★★★★★)

One-sentence synopsis: Actress and activist Gabrielle Union pens essays about her life in Hollywood, her marriage to Dwyane Wade, her life as a Black woman, and much more.

I think I might have a new favorite celebrity memoir! Gabrielle Union has always been one of those actresses I know of, but don’t really know about. I remember her iconic role in Bring It On… but couldn’t really tell you what she’s done since then. (Which is my own whiteness showing.) In this essay collection, Union gets real about her life both as a young Black woman growing up in Omaha and as a Black actress trying to make it in Hollywood. The title is perfect because it truly did feel like sitting down with a glass of wine to hear stories from a girlfriend. Gabrielle is brutally honest in this memoir, especially about sexual assault (she was raped when she was 19) and the macro and microaggressions she has endured as a Black woman. I found Gabrielle’s voice to be fresh and sharp and funny, and I really hope she writes more essay collections because this one was truly a standout.

What I’m Reading This Week

Time for another Anna Karenina update. I’m a little more than halfway through this tome and I’m really enjoying it. There are definitely sections that are kinda boring to me and I slog through them, but then things get exciting again (like scenes with Anna and Vronsky! And Kitty and Levin! <3). I love the honest way relationships are written in this novel.

In other reading updates, I started The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid yesterday. I’m reading this to fulfill May’s challenge for the 2020 Unread Shelf Project, which is to read a backlist title. I am a TJR superfan, so I can’t believe I’ve yet to read this book but I’m about 60 pages in and loving it.

I’m also reading Love Lettering by Kate Clayborn, a contemporary romance set in NYC. At times, the pace of the novel is slow and a little boring, which aren’t two adjectives I’m normally use for romance novels, but not so much that I’m not invested in the lives of the characters. I’m willing to see how it all plays out!

What are you reading?

Categories: Books

What I’m Reading (4.27.20)

I’ve never been a mood reader—I’m someone who follows a very specific TBR list and never veers from it. There’s something about working my way down this list of books that I carefully chose for myself to read that makes me oh-so-happy. But following a specific TBR list is tougher when I can’t just request books from the library and have a limited selection via Libby. Now, I could focus on only reading from my bookshelves (both my physical bookshelf and my Kindle bookshelf), but that option didn’t feel right to me.

So I’ve decided to become a mood reader. This goes against everything I’ve ever believed about myself as a reader, but I think it’s what my reading life needs right now. I’ve thrown away the TBR list and I’m focusing on what feels good to read. What will make me happy? What books fill me with readerly excitement? What stories will satisfy me? It’s an entirely different way of choosing what to read, but I think it’s exactly what I need right now.

Last week was a good reading week, although I definitely felt less inclined to pick up my Kindle than usual. I think it’s normal for reading to ebb and flow during this time, and I’m still finishing books at a record pace, but I can feel myself slowing down. We’ll see what this upcoming week brings for my reading life!

Books Finished

American Sweethearts by Adriana Herrera (★★★☆☆)

One-sentence synopsis: Juan Pablo and Priscilla have been an on-and-off couple for 16 years… can they make this one last attempt at love work?

I liked this book, but as with nearly all of this author’s work, I wish it had had one more round of tighter edits. (I used the “Report Content Error” function on my Kindle way too frequently while reading.) Herrera’s strong suit is creating vibrant characters and dialogue that is so real that you feel like you’re living inside the scene. I loved the emphasis on therapy and LGBT+ rights and family and friendship. One of my main gripes with this novel, however, was the distinction Herrera kept making between JuanPa and Priscilla’s sad single lives in comparison to their couple friends. I really hate when authors make it seem like the only way for a person to be happy and whole is to be coupled up. Every single couple in this novel was in a fairy tale relationship where everything was so perfect and the people were sooo in love with their partners. Which is great! Happy for them! But it started to feel disingenuous and I just really wanted one of the characters to have a happily single friend. We exist, you know! Ugh.

Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate (★★★★★)

One-sentence synopsis: Twelve-year-old Rill has to keep her four younger siblings together after they are taken away from their parents and put into an orphanage. 

What a horrifying, fascinating, propulsive novel! The Tennessee Children’s Home Society was a real orphanage run by Georgia Tann that kidnapped children who were living in impoverished homes and sold them to wealthy parents. This story is not an easy read, but it is one that will stay with you for a long time. Our main character Rill was someone who was so easy to love and root for, and I wanted more than anything for her to find safety and happiness. This book will definitely be a strong contender for my favorites list of 2020!

Instacrush by Kate Meader (★★★★☆)

One-sentence synopsis: Theo and Elle give into temptation on a Christmas Eve night which results in a surprise pregnancy and a commitment neither of them were anticipating.

This hockey romance was just plain fun! I loved Theo’s character—he was such a ray of sunshine next to Elle, who definitely struggled to open up and reach out. I grew frustrated with how long she waited to tell Theo about her parents (who are professional con artists), but I also understand not wanting their toxicity to infect Theo and Elle’s precarious relationship. While I normally don’t love the surprise pregnancy trope, it ended up working out really perfectly for the plot and these characters. Another win from Kate Meader!

What I’m Reading This Week

Right now, I’m finishing up A Hundred Summers by Beatriz Williams, a book I bought on Kindle a really long time ago. It’s the perfect light read that I need and the 1930s time period is such a great setting.

As far as romance goes, I’m currently reading Let’s Talk About Love by Claire Kann. It’s a YA romance with an asexual main character. Asexuality is nonexistent in romance, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed that this novel is a good representation of this identity.

What are you reading?