Stephany Writes

Categories: Books

What I’m Reading (10.21.20)

My bookish moment of the week is having a reading date with a friend this weekend. It was so nice to sit by the water and read my book, and man, I feel like hitting up that spot every Saturday evening just before the sun goes down. It was so peaceful and I loved watching the sky turn all different colors as the sun set. Perfection!

I’ve got four book reviews for you today, and all of them were 4-star reads! That’s the sign of a great reading week. 🙂

Man Down by Kate Meader (★★★★☆)

One-sentence synopsis: It’s been three years since Gunnar’s wife and children died in a car accident and he’s finding his way back to himself—first by re-entering the NHL and then by falling in love.

This book made me cry! Gunnar’s grief is so raw and real, and you could feel his love for his late wife and kids just seeping from the page. And then comes Sadie, a sweet woman with a heart of gold but someone who is not here for Gunnar’s bullshit, at all. Their meet-cute is really fun, setting up and enemies-to-lovers trope, and I loved watching each of their walls come down as they fell in love with one another. This was a super solid romance, and I highly recommend it to my fellow romance readers! (Open-door romance.)

The Long Way Home by Louise Penny (★★★★☆)

One-sentence synopsis: Gamache is back in Three Pines with a special request from his dear friend Clara.

I’m going to be very vague about the plot of this novel since this is the continuation of a series and a lot of things happened before this book that I don’t want to spoil for people who plan on reading the series! Suffice it to say, this book was excellent and everything I wanted after being away from this series for a while. (The last time I read this series was FEBRUARY!) I love books that feature Clara, as she’s one of my favorite Three Pines characters, and I was happy that Gamache’s wife, Reine-Marie, had such a prominent role in the novel (in comparison to the other books). While the mystery itself wasn’t too interesting to me, this book still gets four stars because I was just so happy to be with Gamache and crew again.

Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family by Robert Kolker (★★★★☆)

One-sentence synopsis: A narrative nonfiction book about a family of twelve kids growing up in the 60s and 70s, six of whom were diagnosed with schizophrenia. 

This book felt like a slog at times and it took me nearly two weeks to read it (it was only 330 pages, but very dense). But I’m glad I powered through because it was a really great read, especially learning about the history behind schizophrenia treatment. It gave me new respect for science researchers who may spend their entire careers trying to solve one tiny issue, like what chromosome is affected by schizophrenia. This book has content warnings on content warnings, and I had to set it down many times because the subject matter was so difficult. I truly felt for all of the kids in this family, both the sick ones and the healthy ones, because they were all dealing with their own traumas in their own ways. I wouldn’t say this is a must-read, but it’s a very powerful book if you like narrative nonfiction and can handle lots of triggering subject matters.

40-Love by Olivia Dade (★★★★☆)

One-sentence synopsis: Celebrating her 40th birthday, Tess and her friend take a trip to a resort in Florida where Tess falls in love with a twenty-something tennis instructor.

Oh, how I loved this book! I loved the banter between the main characters, the sweet way they cared for one another, and the honesty in working through their issues together. Tess is fat and while her fatness is discussed, it is not made an issue, especially not with Lucas (the male protagonist). At times, I felt like Lucas was a little too perfect but perhaps that’s my own insecurities talking. Also, what’s better than a 40-year-old woman getting it on with a twenty-something stud? GET IT GIRL! Haha. All in all, it was such a great read and I loved every minute I spent with this book. I especially loved that there wasn’t some dramatic dark moment—both Tess and Lucas were so open and honest with each other that there were no miscommunications or hurt feelings that were never dealt with. I can’t wait to read more from this author! (Open-door romance.)

What I’m Reading This Week

What are you reading?

Categories: Books

What I’m Reading (10.12.20)

My bookish moment of the week is my work book club meeting! There were only four of us on the call, but it was so fun to stop working for an hour to chat about the book. We read The Guest List by Lucy Foley and we all agreed it wasn’t very good, but we still had a really lively discussion about it (mostly about all the ways it sucked, haha).

In other bookish news, reading was a struggle this week. I think it probably had something to do with an anxiety episode I was working through, as I found it hard to focus on reading and couldn’t find a really good book to sink into. I kept starting and stopping books because nothing was grabbing my attention. As such, I only have ONE book review for this week! Crazy, huh? What a weird reading week for me!

Invisible Man, Got the Whole World Watching: A Young Black Man’s Education by Mychal Denzel Smith (★★★★☆)

One-sentence review: Mychal muses on the question “How do you learn to be a Black man in America?”

I really liked this memoir, as Mychal is vulnerable and honest about his life, his struggles, and his family. He discusses some of the key Black thinkers, writers, and rappers that helped him define Blackness in America. He also talks about his difficulty in connecting with his father and his anxiety and depression that led him to drop out of college. He’s also not shy about his criticism of Obama, which made me uncomfortable at times. (I just want everyone to love Obama as I did, but that’s not reality and it’s especially not reality for Black people.) All in all, a fantastic BIPOC memoir and one you should definitely add to your antiracism reading list.

What I’m Reading This Week

  • The Long Road Home by Louise Penny (audio) – I have a few hours left in this audiobook! I’m enjoying it, although the mystery isn’t as engaging as I wish and I find the discussions about art and muses to be a little mind-numbing, lol.
  • Man Down by Kate Meader (e-book) – I’m nearly finished with this hockey romance, but couldn’t get it done in time for this reading recap. It’s really good, though I expect nothing less from Meader!
  • Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family by Robert Kolker (print) – I’m reading this for work book club. It was my suggestion, so I feel obligated to read the whole thing, even if it’s a slog. I’m only about 75 pages in (it’s 400 pages) and it’s fine so far. Nothing outstanding, though, and I’m hoping it starts to pick up.
  • What You Wish For by Katherine Center (e-book) – My hold just came in for this book – woohoo! This will be a good book to read alongside Hidden Valley Road. I have loved everything I’ve read from Center, so I’m really looking forward to diving into this one.

What are you reading?

Categories: Books

What I’m Reading (10.5.20)

Happy Monday! I thought it might be fun to start off these reading updates with a “bookish moment of the week.” This is something that starts each episode of the Currently Reading podcast, so why not talk about some of my own bookish moments? This week, my bookish moment was searching my book collection for a book for my mom. She’s a notoriously picky reader: It can’t be too romance-y, nor too depressing, nor too character-driven. No thrillers, no historical fiction, closed-door romance only. She mostly reads celebrity memoirs and some light fiction but also gets bored very easily while reading. (She used to be a huge reader and is the person who inspired my love of reading, but doesn’t do much of it these days.) I really think that getting back to her love of reading would be great for her mental health, but searching for the right book is tough. Anyway, I picked up One to Watch by Kate Stayman-London (my review below!) for her, so fingers crossed! (And, seriously, any book recommendations for my picky mom are WELCOME. I’m always at a loss of what to recommend to her!)

Okay, now let’s dive into my reviews!

One to Watch by Kate Stayman-London (★★★☆☆)

One-sentence synopsis: When Bea becomes the first plus-size star of a Bachelor-type reality TV show, she’s determined not to get her heart involved—but then she meets the men she’ll be “dating.”

I liked this book, and I think it’s perfect for people who want to read something light-hearted without it being too “romance-y.” Plus, you can’t beat a plus-size heroine, and Bea is one of the best. She’s vulnerable and funny and sweet and snarky—everything I want from my heroines! I could intimately relate to her internal struggles, including how difficult it can be to date as a fat person. It’s hard when you know you’re a catch but you feel as if nobody wants to date you because of your size! I wish this book had given us more body diversity in terms of the men (here’s a great blog post about this very topic—so great to see more plus-size heroines in our romances, but why can’t we also have plus-size heroes?) I also wanted a bit more from the actual romance—for me, it was easy to figure out who Bea would end up with at the end, but there wasn’t a whole lot of depth to their relationship considering she was dating multiple men in addition to him! But still, it’s a great book to pick up and Bea gets all the heart-eyes from me. (Closed-door romance.)

Passion on Park Avenue by Lauren Layne (★★★★☆)

Short synopsis: Naomi, CEO of a successful accessories business, moves into a Park Avenue apartment—the same one she lived in as a child when her mom was the live-in housekeeper for a rich family. The son of that family used to be her tormenter… and now he’s going to be her neighbor. 

Oh, Naomi and Oliver! I loved these two fools so much. Their romance was a slow burn (I don’t even think they kissed until the 70% mark!), but there was so much fun banter and flirting between the two of them leading up to that magical kiss that I didn’t even mind it. I loved the way they slowly opened up to one another, letting their walls come down. Oliver is taking care of his father who has Alzheimer’s, and I really loved the addition of this storyline. It really brought awareness to what it’s like to be a caretaker and the realities of Alzheimer’s disease. (Closed-door romance.)

The Guest List by Lucy Foley (★★☆☆☆)

One-sentence synopsis: It’s the destination wedding of a rising TV star and a successful magazine publisher on a remote island off the coast of Ireland, but the dream day turns into a nightmare when someone turns up dead.

The Guest List is the October book for my work book club, so I picked it up to read this weekend… and it was just okay. It was one of those forgettable thrillers with supremely unlikable characters and trigger warnings galore. I found the writing to be overwrought, especially with the heavy-handed foreshadowing. There were bright spots, though, such as the island setting that functioned as a character itself. The actual mystery of who was going to die and who the killer would be was interesting and kept me engaged. But in the end, I just didn’t care because all of the characters were so awful that they could have all died and I would have been okay with that. Eeps.

The Versions of Us by Laura Barnett – abandoned

Oh, I really thought I was going to power through and finish this novel, even though I wasn’t really enjoying it. I am very much someone who believes in abandoning books so I don’t know why I was forcing myself to read something I didn’t like! But at the 60% mark, I had enough. This novel follows three paths that two characters take after a chance meeting in college. In one path, they act on their chemistry, break up with their significant others, and eventually get married. In another, nothing happens—they say goodbye and continue with their lives. And in a third, they start dating but then break up. Over the course of the novel, we follow these two characters throughout their lives but I just couldn’t handle all of the infidelity. That could be a spoiler, and if so, I’m sorry, but I feel like people should know what they’re getting into. Maybe that’s not a deal breaker for you, and if so, you might actually enjoy the novel! But if bad people behaving badly isn’t your cup of tea, I’d recommend steering clear.

What I’m Reading This Week

What are you reading?

Categories: Books

What I’m Reading (9.28.20)

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. 🙂

It was a good reading week for me—three books finished! Let’s review:

When a Scot Ties the Knot by Tessa Dare (★★☆☆☆)

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 years—until 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 (★★★★★)

One-sentence synopsis: A memoir of a medical intern’s year spent in various departments in a New York hospital. 

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 (★★★☆☆)

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 that—it 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?

Categories: Books

What I’m Reading (9.23.20)

Happy Wednesday, friends! We’re halfway through the work week, yay! It’s always weird to settle back into work mode after taking a full week off, but it hasn’t been too bad thankfully. There is a lot to do as the end of the month is coming quickly (howwww) and I’m just trying to keep up with my workload. 🙂

I’ve got quite a few book reviews today, as this comprises two weeks’ worth of reading. Let’s dive in!

Deacon King Kong by James McBride (★★★★★)

One-sentence synopsis: A drug dealer is shot by a cranky old church deacon in front of a large crowd and the shooting reverberates throughout the community, from the people who witnessed it to the detectives investigating it.

I have no idea how this book got on my radar, but I’m so glad it did! This book was excellent and perfect for those who love character-driven novels. (Although I would suggest making a character list as new characters get introduced to keep everyone straight!) I found every character to be so well-written and dynamic and easy to root for (yes, even the drug dealers). The setting of the novel is a Brooklyn housing project in 1969 and there was something so vivid and alive about this setting, almost as if it’s a character on its own. There was something so special about this close-knit community and the way they cared for one another. This story will stick with me for a long time.

The Heir Affair by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan (★★★★★)

One-sentence synopsis: After Nick (second-in-line to the throne, after his father) and Bex get married, they escape to Scotland to get away from the press, until a family emergency summons them back to England.

The Heir Affair is the sequel to The Royal We, which is essentially William and Kate fanfic. 🙂 I still consider The Royal We to be one of my favorite novels and The Heir Affair did not disappoint in the least! I’ve been seeing a lot of mixed reviews of this novel, but what can I say? I enjoyed every minute I spent with this book. The writing style is fun and engaging, and I just really adore Nick and Bex’s relationship. And the growing relationship between Bex and the Queen was *chef’s kiss*. (Trigger warnings for pregnancy and infertility.)

Girl Gone Viral by Alisha Rai (★★★☆☆)

One-sentence synopsis: When a conversation Katrina had with a man at a coffee shop goes viral much to her dismay, she needs to get away so her longtime bodyguard (and longtime crush) takes her to his family’s cabin in a remote location.

Does anyone remember the viral sensation that was #PlaneBae? Here’s a good primer. Essentially, it’s about someone else exploiting other people for a viral moment. This is the basis for this novel and it’s even more troublesome given Katrina’s social anxiety and need for privacy. When a conversation she had with a guy at a coffee shop goes viral with a nearby patron speculating about their “romance,” Katrina knows she needs to get away so she’s not scrolling through Twitter every two minutes to see what people are saying about her. Her longtime bodyguard Jas takes her away to his family’s cabin where she can decompress and hopefully get away from the madness. And it’s there that they’re both able to face the feelings they have for one another and, well, you know what happens after that. 🙂 It was a cute romance and I really enjoyed the critical look at viral culture and what it really means for the people on the other side of it.

Experimental Marine Biology by Susannah Nix (★★★☆☆)

One-sentence synopsis: When Brooke’s childhood best friend Dylan comes for a visit, they decide to try being friends with benefits until he leaves.

Let me tell you, the old “let’s be friends-with-benefits-we-won’t-catch-feelings” trope is not my favorite of the romance tropes. It just feels… lazy, I guess? I just always finish these books wanting more, and the same holds true for this book. Here’s what I liked about this book: I love Brooke’s approach to singleness and her internal struggle felt so real to me. (She’s never had a successful long-term relationship because she always gets bored or annoyed by her partner a few months in.) I could relate to her on so many levels! Dylan, however, felt so one-dimensional. He was too perfect—an underwear model with a face and body to die for, but also a sparkling conversationalist who loves reading romance novels and is surprisingly smart. He didn’t have any flaws! This book just fell flat for me, one of those romances where it seemed like the author rushed it to press rather than spending time developing the characters and story.

The Office: The Untold Story of the Greatest Sitcom of the 2000s: An Oral History by Andy Greene (★★★★☆)

One-sentence synopsis: An oral history of The Office that discusses some of the most important episodes and standout characters, as well as a season-by-season behind-the-scenes recap.

This is a must-read for any fans of The Office! While I feel like the Office Ladies podcast does a great job of breaking down behind-the-scenes details of every episode, this book is much more easily digestible. I loved the oral history format and I’m sure this book would be perfect on audio! All of the fun tidbits about how each role was cast and the BTS details about some of the more important episodes (it was super interesting to learn how Jim’s proposal to Pam was directed!) were everything this Office fan could want. I think the author could have easily trimmed at least 50 pages (did we really need a chapter where everyone is fawning over Steve Carrell and a chapter where everyone speculates about a reunion?), but I sped through this book in the midst of my move and it was the perfect easy read I needed during that time!

What I’m Reading This Week

What are you reading?