Happy Monday, friends! I am starting this week on Chip duty, which means spending my evenings with him (and sleeping over at my mom’s place) and the late mornings/afternoons at my place to give the girls some attention. It feels a little hectic (and I always hate spending nights away from my cats), but I also love getting one-on-one time with Chip! He’s the best boy and I’m excited to hang out with him this week. π
It was a good reading week for meβthree books finished! Let’s review:
When a Scot Ties the Knot by Tessa Dare (β β βββ)
Short synopsis: Shy, socially awkward Maddie discovers an easy way to make sure she never has to attend a ball: She invents a sweetheart named Captain Logan MacKenzie. She believes she properly deceived her family for yearsβuntil the real Captain MacKenzie shows up on her doorstep!
What a fun premise! I could most assuredly relate to Maddie and being socially awkward (she has what are essentially panic attacks whenever she’s in a crowd). Unfortunately, most of this novel just didn’t work for me. I didn’t find the romance to be very believable and lacked the depth I wanted from my romances. I wanted to feel something for the characters, and there was just nothing there. It was all a bit… boring? Eeks. I usually love Tessa Dare’s historical romances, but this one just very much missed the mark.
The Real Doctor Will See You Shortly: A Physician’s First Year by Matt McCarthy (β β β β β )
One-sentence synopsis: A memoir of a medical intern’s year spent in various departments in a New York hospital.Β
This memoir was so good! This is the second memoir written by a physician that I’ve read, and this subgenre really appeals to me. Matt is vulnerable about his mistakes, especially during his first few months as an intern, and it was really amazing to see his growth as a physician throughout the year. At times, this book could be triggering for me, only because I’ve had way too much experience with ICUs in the past few years, as both of my grandparents were ICU patients who passed away in the hospital. But Matt’s engaging writing style and hopeful tone kept it from being too much for me, thankfully. Definitely a memoir I would recommend!
All the Single Ladies: Unmarried Women and the Rise of an Independent Nation by Rebecca Traister (β β β ββ)
One-sentence synopsis: A research-based look at why more women are choosing to stay single and unmarried at this point in history.
I have complicated feelings about this book. On the one hand, as someone who has been single for most of her adult life, I am grateful this book exists. I felt so seen while reading it. We’re at such a defining moment in history where women can be unmarried and still live big, full, exciting lives. It wasn’t always possible to do thatβit was only in the 1970s that unmarried women could even open their own bank account! On the other hand, I don’t believe those who got married young have trapped themselves. If I had found my person in my early twenties, I would have gotten married! But I didn’t, and I haven’t, so I remain unmarried and happy in my singledom because I have the freedom that wasn’t afforded to my mom or my grandma or the legions of women that came before me. There were times when this book felt a little too academic, and I really despised the chapter of “Where Are They Now,” which basically just tells us if the women Traister interviewed for the book are married or not (…which seems to defeat the purpose of the book???) Anyway, I am still piecing together my thoughts on this book, so I’ll probably write a blog post about it in the future.
What I’m Reading This Week
- The Versions of Us by Laura Barnett (e-book) – This has been a really fun read so far! It’s about two characters who have a chance meeting one afternoon while they’re in college and the different paths their lives can take if they act (or don’t act) on the sudden chemistry they feel with one another.
- One to Watch by Kate Stayman-London (print) – I’ve had this book on my shelf for a while and I’m finally reading it. It follows a plus-size woman on a Bachelor-type reality TV show. At times, it’s been a little triggering for me, but I’m hanging in there for now.
What are you reading?