Stephany Writes

Categories: Books

What I Read // April

First, before I get into my book report for April, you may notice things look a wee bit different around here! That’s right – I finally launched my new blog theme and I am so, so happy with it. I wanted something that was simple with lots of white space, and that’s exactly what I got! Installing it was a breeze, thanks to the super detailed guide I received from the blog designer. I highly recommend 17th Avenue Designs if you’re looking to redo your blog theme. Cute themes for an affordable price!

And now, let’s dive into my April book report. April was a weird reading month for me, mainly because I spent over a week sloughing through a book that I eventually abandoned. Oh, well! It happens. I still managed to read 7 books this month, my favorite being Love Walked In by Marisa de los Santos. I’ve read 31 books so far this year, so I will blow my goal of 52 books completely out of the water. Maybe I should shoot for 75? Hmm…

Here are the books I read in April and my reviews of them!

april reads

Book Riot Read Harder Challenge (a book by someone over the age of 65): Home by Toni Morrison (3 stars)
At 147 pages, this is a super quick read. (I read it in less than 24 hours.) It’s my first Toni Morrison read, and it was a good novel, but nothing stood out to me as particularly amazing. I’d like to read some of her earlier stuff before giving an opinion on Morrison (she seems very beloved and a bit, shall I say, godlike in the Book Riot circles). This was an okay novel, but I’m interested in reading her more popular works to understand the hype.

Book Riot Read Harder Challenge (a book that I would consider a guilty pleasure): To the Edge by Cindy Gerard (4 stars)
Romantic suspense novels are my guilty pleasure by far, so this was a no-brainer for this category. Cindy Gerard is one of my favorite romantic suspense authors, and I enjoyed this novel immensely. It had intrigue, humor, character development, family, friendship, love, sexytimes, and a perfect twist at the end. An easy 4-star rating for this one!

Book Riot Read Harder Challenge (a self-improvement book): Better than Before by Gretchen Rubin (3 stars)
This book was just okay for me. My favorite part of the book was learning about the Four Tendencies (I’m an Obliger, through and through), as well as other aspects of my personality. For example, I’m an underbuyer rather than an overbuyer. I love simplicity over abundance, familiarity over novelty. I’m an abstainer, not a moderator; a marathoner, not a sprinter.

And while understanding these aspects of my personality will help me as I try to set new habits, I just wanted more. More studies, more research, more practical application. There was very little practical application, and a lot of the information seemed to repeat things I learned from The Willpower Instinct (though that book goes in much better depth). I think Rubin is at a bit of a disadvantage not having a psychology background.

Also, and it pains me to say this, but Rubin just didn’t seem very likable in this book. It’s funny because she seems fairly likable (if a little overbearing) from her podcast, but she came across as condescending and judgmental in her book. She’s like the person who discovers this new thing that has changed her life and now everyone in the world needs to do/see/have this thing. And not everyone wants to do/see/have this thing. And that’s OKAY.

Honestly, if you want to learn more about self-control, setting habits, and being mindful, I’d recommend The Willpower Instinct over this one. It goes into greater detail about how our brains react to our environment and thoughts and was a much more powerful and life-changing read for me than this one.

Netgalley review: I Don’t Have a Happy Place by Kim Korson (2 stars)
I reviewed this book earlier this month and you can find the review here.

TLC Book Tours read: About a Girl by Lindsey Kelk (5 stars)
I reviewed this novel earlier this month and you can find the review here.

Postal book club: Love Walked In by Marisa de los Santos (5 stars)
I tried to read this novel a few years ago but eventually abandoned it because I found the writing to be a little too much, the main character to be annoying, and the plot to be slow. So, I wasn’t too excited to realize it was the book that was sent to me for Kathleen’s Postal Book Club. But I wanted to give this novel a fair shot, so I settled in and read.

And I loved it. Absolutely adored it. It does take a while for the book to really get its legs. I struggled through the first half of the book, but I’ve been told the latter half is much better, so I kept on. And I am so glad I did because the book was phenomenal. Halfway in, I found I didn’t want to put the book down, that I had totally fallen in love with Cornelia and Clare, and I wanted everyone to have their happy ending. It’s such a wonderful read. It made my heart so happy. It’s now a book I would totally recommend to anyone.

Others (read for fun!)

Heart of the Matter by Emily Giffin (4 stars)
I listened to this on audiobook and Cynthia Nixon was the reader, and she was suuuuch a great reader! I said this in a Five for Friday post, but I loved that she didn’t make up voices for the characters. One of the things that really bugs me about fiction audiobooks is when the reader makes up voices for the characters because it is so distracting.

Anyway, about the book. I really wasn’t sure how I was going to feel about this novel, since it does involve cheating, but I think the way Giffin wrote about it was really eye-opening. Life is one big gray area and while we could all say what we think we would do if we were cheated on, the truth is you don’t actually know what you will do when it happens. How you will react. I think Giffin did a fantastic job of showing us both sides of the story, and I really appreciated how she made both women – the wife and the lover – likable women, and I found myself rooting for both. (Albeit, I started to grow a little weary of “the other woman” later on in the novel.) It was a really great read and one that made me think.

Wild Irish Ride by Jennifer Saints (2 stars)
I bought this book for free on Kindle a while back, and I am very glad I did not pay full price for it because it wasn’t very good. The plot felt underdeveloped, and the characters were lackluster. The only good part of the book was the sex scenes, but at a certain point, it all seemed too much. It started to read more like erotica than a cute, contemporary romance novel.

book stats // april

# of books read: 7
# of pages read: 2,112
quickest read: Home (1 day)
longest read: Heart of the Matter (11 days)
multicultural: 2
formats: ebooks (3), physical books (3), audiobooks (1)

What was the best book you read in April?

Categories: Books

Book Review: About a Girl by Lindsey Kelk

About a GirlAbout a Girl by Lindsey Kelk is the perfect beach read. It’s a chick-lit novel that is light and fun and hilarious but also has incredible character development and a fast-moving plot. This novel gave me this insatiable desire to keep reading and reading. In fact, I think I read the last 40% in one sitting – and that rarely happens with me. I typically read in pockets of time – 10 minutes here, 5 minutes there – but with this book, I spent a Friday afternoon curled up in bed, reading. It was perfect.

What I loved the most about the novel was the characters. They were so well-developed, so easy to like, and the development they went through throughout the novel felt very natural. I adored the main character, Tess, so much. She was such a fun character, and I could completely relate to her.

I felt like the plot moved along at an authentic pace. It was a bit slow in the beginning, but that was necessary for scene setting and understanding the character better. But once the meat of the story hit, it didn’t slow down and I just devoured the novel. I loved the situations that Tess got herself into, and I really appreciated it wasn’t silly-stupid stuff that authors tend to want their chick-lit heroines to get into (I’m looking at you, Sophie Kinsella!) The situations felt pretty normal and really added to the crux of the novel.

I think the only thing I didn’t like was the cliffhanger ending. I don’t really like cliffhanger endings – I always think there is a more natural way for authors to end a book that is part of a series. And this ending seemed a bit contrived.

I still gave this novel 5 stars because of the way it gripped me and the fact that I had such trouble putting the novel down! A must-read, if you love chick-lit type novels!

About a Girl summary from Goodreads:

Tess Brookes has always been a Girl with a Plan. But when the Plan goes belly up, she’s forced to reconsider.

After accidentally answering her flatmate Vanessa’s phone, she decides that since being Tess isn’t going so well, she might try being Vanessa. With nothing left to lose, she accepts Vanessa’s photography assignment to Hawaii – she used to be an amateur snapper, how hard can it be? Right?

But Tess is soon in big trouble. And the gorgeous journalist on the shoot with her, who is making it very clear he’d like to get into her pants, is an egotistical monster. Far from home and in someone else’s shoes, Tess must decide whether to fight on through, or ‘fess up and run…

You can connect with Lindsey Kelk on her website, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Her book is available to buy from Amazon, IndieBound, and Barnes & Noble. 

Click here to add this book to Goodreads!

I received this book for free from TLC Book Tours in exchange for an honest review. All words and opinions, unless otherwise stated, are my own.

No affiliate links were used in this post.

Do you like cliffhanger endings?

Categories: Books

Book Review: I Don’t Have a Happy Place by Kim Korson

downloadI Don’t Have a Happy Place by Kim Korson is a memoir, a collection of personal essays on Korson’s life, starting with childhood and continuing through adulthood. The essays are eclectic and you get a glimpse into Korson’s mind – the way she thinks, the way she reacts, the way she imagines. It’s funny, but there’s this underlying sadness and melancholy that envelopes each essay. (Not surprisingly, as the tagline for the book is “Cheerful Stories of Despondency and Gloom.”)

I really enjoyed reading about Korson’s childhood. She had an interesting one, and I especially loved reading about her time in summer camp. I have this insatiable curiosity about summer camp and reading stories about that time in a person’s life – mainly because I never had the chance to go to summer camp and wish I could have gone! (Though I’m 99% sure I would have been insanely homesick, haha.) I found my attention waning a bit while reading about her foray into the entertainment world (I just don’t respond to stories about people being outrageously awful at their jobs… it’s not humorous to me) and her marriage.

For me, this book was just okay. I didn’t love it, but I didn’t hate it. It reminded me a lot of Let’s Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson (aka, The Bloggess), especially towards the latter half of the book where she wrote about marriage and family. So, if you loved that book, then you would definitely enjoy this one!

This is Korson’s first book, and while I thought it was very well-written, I didn’t find it to be super engaging. I never fully embraced the book, and at a certain point, it all started to feel a little contrived and a bit forced. Still, it was an interesting read and I think if you love reading humorous memoirs, you would definitely enjoy this one.

Goodreads summary: When a trip to the therapist ends with the question “Can’t Kim be happy?” Kim Korson responds the way any normal person would—she makes fun of it. Because really, does everyone have to be happy?

Aside from her father wearing makeup and her mother not feeling well (a lot), Kim Korson’s 1970s suburban upbringing was typical. Sometimes she wished her brother were an arsonist just so she’d have a valid excuse to be unhappy. And when life moves along pretty decently–she breaks into show business, gets engaged in the secluded jungles of Mexico, and moves her family from Brooklyn to dreamy rural Vermont—the real despondency sets in. It’s a skill to find something wrong in just about every situation, but Kim has an exquisite talent for negativity. It is only after half a lifetime of finding kernels of unhappiness where others find joy that she begins to wonder if she is even capable of experiencing happiness.

In I Don’t Have a Happy Place, Kim Korson untangles what it means to be a true malcontent. Rife with evocative and nostalgic observations, unapologetic realism, and razor-sharp wit, I Don’t Have a Happy Place is told in humorous, autobiographical stories. This fresh-yet-dark voice is sure to make you laugh, nod your head in recognition, and ultimately understand what it truly means to be unhappy. Always.

I received a copy of this book for free from Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review. All words and opinions, unless otherwise stated, are my own.

Do you enjoy humorous books/novels?

Categories: Books

What I Read // March

march reads

And we are in April! I had a fabulous month of reading in March – 10 books read. Though 3 of those books were listened to on audio, which helped bump up my reading count. So far in 2015, I have read 23 books, and am 10 books ahead of the goal I set to read 52 books (which was a lowball number anyway). I’m hoping to reach 75 books read, but we’ll see! I’m also trying to take my time with the books I’m reading, not trying to rush through to finish as fast as I can to get to the next book on my list. This month, my favorite book was In the Blood and my least favorite book was The Elite.

Book club selection: In the Blood by Lisa Unger (5 stars)
This book was goooood. It was so, so, so good. It’s a psychological thriller that has a crazy twist about 3/4 of the way in that threw me for a complete loop. It was unlike any kind of twist I could have ever imagined. I finished the novel and wanted to tell everyone in the world how much I loved it. Just… go read this book. Now. It’s fantastic.

Book Riot Read Harder Challenge (audiobook): The Selection by Kiera Cass (3 stars)
This ended up being the first of three audiobooks I would read in March! Readers of audiobooks can make or break the experience, and this one took a little getting used to, but once I did, I found myself easily following the story. The story is impossibly silly and ridiculous… like The Bachelor meets The Hunger Games, maybe? The main character, America, is sassy and easy to like, as is Prince Maxon. I loved the interactions between the two of them. Since this is YA dystopian, obviously there’s some terrible overarching plot to bring a hint of danger into the novel, but I don’t think that was very well-thought-out or well-written. It just seemed… silly? Immediately after finishing this book, though, I requested the second book. This series is complete brain candy, but I can’t quit it!

Book Riot Read Harder Challenge (a book by someone whose gender is different from your own): The Rosie Effect by Graeme Simsion (4.5 stars)
I had read a lot of mixed reviews about this book, so I went into it with low expectations, which was maybe helpful because I ended up really enjoying it! I just love the character Simsion has created in Don Tillman – he’s so quirky and so unique and I can’t help but love him to pieces. This novel moved at a slow pace, but I found that I didn’t mind it. I just settled in and read slowly. The only thing I didn’t enjoy was Rosie’s character. One of the reviews I read of the novel was that she lost all of her charm from the first book, and I think that is 100% accurate. I just didn’t enjoy her character at all.

TLC Book Tours read: An Uncomplicated Life by Paul Daugherty (4 stars)
You can read my review of this book here.

Others (read for fun!)

Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight (4 stars)
This novel got 4 stars from me because it was fairly impossible to put down. I had to keep reading it until I finished! It’s a mystery, where a mother tries to figure out what happened to lead her teenage daughter to commit suicide by jumping off the roof of her school. (She’s especially concerned because she gets an anonymous text that informs her that her daughter didn’t jump.) I found the mother to be incredibly unlikeable and a bit unrealistic. And some of the revelations were a bit cliche and one was especially… weird. And made me feel squirmy. But still… if you’re looking for a fast-paced read, this is your book.

The Guy Not Taken by Jennifer Weiner (3 stars)
This was a book of short stories, and it was an okay read. Nothing earth-shattering, no stories that made me especially enthralled. I did like how Weiner brought back some characters from her past books, especially Ruth from The Next Best Thing (my favorite Weiner novel).

The Elite by Kiera Cass (3 stars)
I listened to this novel on audiobook, as I did the first one in the series. This one wasn’t as good as the first one, and I felt like the author was really trying too hard to find conflict and make the novel move forward. Honestly, I think this series would work fine as a stand-alone book. I think there’s way too much unnecessary plot that could have been cut out to make the book more concise. America was a bit more bratty in this novel, which annoyed me, and Prince Maxon did a few things that seemed inauthentic to his character from the first novel.

Delirium by Lauren Oliver (4 stars)
I liked this book all the way up until the end. The ending left me with mixed feelings, and it makes me a bit hesitant to pick up the next novel in the series. This novel, which is YA dystopian, has an interesting premise: the idea that love is a disease that needs to be cured. At the age of 18, everyone is administered the “cure,” in which they do not have the capability for love any longer. It made me think of everything we do/say/think/feel based on love. I found Lena, the protagonist, to be a bit one-dimensional and a little underwhelming (especially with how she wanted Alex to keep saving her), but I’m hoping she develops more with the second and third books.

Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg (4 stars)
I listened to this on audiobook, and this was the first time I “read” nonfiction this way. While I don’t mind fiction audiobooks, I don’t think nonfiction audiobooks work for me. I think it’s because I’m a visual learner and with nonfiction, I want to take my time to digest the information and highlight and mark passages that resonate with me. That said, I thoroughly enjoyed this novel – much more than I thought I would. I’m not a high-powered career woman (and don’t aspire to be), but I appreciated hearing Sandberg’s thoughts on feminism, the work/life balance, family, and career. I also like how she doesn’t think women just need to lean into their careers more, but men need to lean into their families more. (I am just as icked out when a father talks about “babysitting” his children as she was!) Anyway, a good read and very thought-provoking!

The Next Best Thing by Kristan Higgins (4 stars)
And then a sweet romance novel to round out my month of reading! I love Kristan Higgins and her novels. They are just feel-good romances that are a bit cheesy, but also a lot of fun. While I didn’t love the main character in this one (she was a little over-the-top at times), I couldn’t put this book down until I got to the end.

book stats // march

# of books read: 10
# of pages read: 3,444
quickest read: The Guy Not Taken (5 days)
longest read: The Elite (9 days)
multicultural: zero
formats: ebooks (2), physical books (5), audiobooks (3)

What was the best book you read in March?

Categories: Books

Book Review: An Uncomplicated Life by Paul Daugherty

An-Uncomplicated-Life-200x300It’s something no parent ever wants to hear: your child has Down syndrome. But that’s exactly what happened just a day after Paul Daugherty’s daughter, Jillian, was born. It was something he and his wife worried about. After all, Paul’s wife had gotten pregnant with her when she was in her mid-30s, so the statistics were there – by age 35, women have a 1 in 350 chance of having a baby with Down syndrome (source). Then Jillian was born, and they found out that their fears had come true: Jillian had Down syndrome. And, as Paul put it in his book, this day was “the last bad day.”

Jillian is an incredible woman. She’s an incredible woman because she has incredible parents who fought for their daughter to have the same access to opportunities as anyone else. Her Down syndrome didn’t define her, it didn’t hold her back. Instead, she blossomed. She became a light to others, an inspiration to many. She graduated high school, though the process of getting there was not fraught without trouble. I really appreciated the raw and real look Daugherty showed us about the public school system and how hard it is for parents to have their voices heard. The Daugherty’s didn’t just want Jillian to graduate from high school; they wanted her to thrive in high school. This means not being placed in special education classes, but keeping her with her mainstream peers to learn and grow and develop right alongside them. It means meeting after meeting after meeting of going over her Individualized Education Plan, trying to get a school system that isn’t necessarily concerned with finding solutions to listen to what they want and need for their daughter.

An Uncomplicated Life is a memoir of Paul’s daughter, taking us from her birth to moving her into her own apartment, where she lives with her boyfriend, Ryan. Paul is raw, vulnerable, and completely honest with his emotions throughout the years: the highs, the lows, the happiness, the sadness, the frustration, the joys. It’s all there, written in a completely real way that anyone can relate to.

Some poignant quotes:

[Jillian] has affected everyone who has taken the time to see her. Seeing isn’t easy. It requires participation. It implies understanding. Seeing is a mandatory swatch of the human fabric. It invokes a civil right. Do not judge me on what I look like. See me for who I am.

Kindess is at the center of all we hope to be. If you are kind, you are trusting and trustful. You don’t judge. Judging implies superiority. It makes people uncomfortable. 

Jillian has never seen herself as disabled. She knows she has Down syndrome, but she doesn’t believe she is different, if that makes sense. Her disability is more of a concept to her. She lacks the capability to take an intellectual accounting of who she is, and how she’s different from her peers. It just doesn’t occur to her. Or if it has, we’ve never heard her talk about it. We’ve never heard her say, “I wish I didn’t have Down syndrome.”

Book synopsis

A father’s exhilarating and funny love letter to his daughter with Down syndrome whose vibrant and infectious approach to life has something to teach all of us about how we can better live our own. Jillian Daugherty was born with Down syndrome. The day they brought her home from the hospital, her parents, Paul and Kerry, were flooded with worry and uncertainty, but also overwhelming love, which they channeled to “the job of building the better Jillian.” While their daughter had special needs, they refused to allow her to grow up needy—“Expect, Don’t Accept” became their mantra. Little did they know how ready Jillian was to meet their challenge.

Paul tells stories from Jillian’s mischievous childhood and moves to her early adulthood, tracing her journey to find happiness and purpose in her adult life, sharing endearing anecdotes as well as stories about her inspiring triumphs. Having graduated from high school and college, Jillian now works to support herself, and has met the love of her life and her husband-to-be, Ryan.

In An Uncomplicated Life, the parent learns as much about life from the child as the child does from the parent. Through her unmitigated love for others, her sparkling charisma, and her boundless capacity for joy, Jillian has inspired those around her to live better and more fully. The day Jillian was born, Paul says, was the last bad day. As he lovingly writes, “Jillian is a soul map of our best intentions”—a model of grace, boundless joy, and love for all of us.

You can connect with Paul Daugherty on Facebook and Twitter. You can buy his book on Amazon, IndieBound, and Barnes & Noble.

I received this book for free from TLC Book Tours in exchange for an honest review. All words and opinions, unless otherwise stated, are my own.

No affiliate links were used in this post.