Stephany Writes

Categories: Books

What I’m Reading – the January Edition

One of the things I’ve wanted to do more of with this blog is book reviews. I am a bookworm by nature and read a lot but I don’t want this blog to become a book review blog. Instead, I’m testing out a different style of reviewing books. Three at a time, short snippets of what the books are about, and my overall thoughts. We’ll see how this goes!

Anna and the French Kiss
Author: Stephanie Perkins
5 of 5 stars
Genre: YA lit

I loved this book. It has a silly title and maybe it has a silly premise, but this was one of my favorite books I’ve read in a really long time. Anna was a character I could connect with, even if she was 17. The plot completely drew me in and had me hooked from the get-go. It was about 17-year-old Anna whose father decided she needed to spend her senior year at a boarding school in Paris. She had to leave her entire life, including her “almost boyfriend”, best friend, and job at the movie theater. She arrived knowing nobody, not understanding French, and a complete stranger to Paris. But in the way books do, she immediately found a great group of friends to help her understand the country and have a home in a foreign place. And, of course, there was a boy. His name was St. Clair and what I enjoyed most about his character was that he was not a perfect male specimen. Romance novels have a tendency to place the male hero on a pedestal, perfect and faultless. It’s not reality and always leaves a bad taste in my mouth. St. Clair had an exuberance to life but also a long list of faults that made him even more adorable and most importantly, human. He also had a girlfriend. Throughout the book, you witness the love story between two teenagers who so badly want to be together but circumstances keep that from happening. As Anna begins to fall in love with St. Clair, she also begins to grow up – a lot. She has to discover how to be independent in a strange country and most importantly, true to herself, her beliefs, and her desires. As many of you are aware, I have mad love for romance novels. This one? It is the perfect teenage romance novel. It was witty and heartbreaking and while I expected to enjoy the story, I never expected for it to be such a page-turner, something I couldn’t put down and couldn’t stop thinking about when I did. I was happy for the characters when it ended but also so very sad that their story was over and they wouldn’t be a huge part of my everyday life anymore. Completely, wholeheartedly recommend.

What Women Fear: Living in a Faith that Transforms
Author: Angie Smith
4 of 5 stars
Genre: Christian Non-Fiction

I’ll admit I have never read a single blog post that Angie has written, nor knew all too much about her before hearing about this book. But when I heard the title and read the description, I knew I had to read it. Fear and anxiety are something I struggle with on a daily basis and sometimes, it feels like I’m not fully trusting in God or fully a Christian because of this. This book was divided into chapters that delved into different fears we may have: fear of rejection, abandonment, and betrayal, fear of failure, fear of not being significant, fear of God’s plan for my life, fear that God isn’t real, to name a few that really struck a chord with me. Angie Smith has a powerful testimony and she hasn’t lived an easy, blameless life. She has struggled and has dealt with many of the issues talked about in this book. This made her words seem so much more meaningful and not idle chat. She didn’t seem to think any of these fears were silly or that doubting God’s existence made us less Christian. These are legitimate fears that the enemy is hard at work in our lives to make us believe. This book is something I can see myself re-reading, especially certain chapters, because it spoke directly to my heart and made me take a long, hard look at my fear and exactly who is the mastermind behind it all.

Favorite quote: “Here’s the part we need to cling to: If what we are being called to do is in God’s will for us, we truly can’t fail. I know it sounds like I’m making a flippant statement that should be on a poster with a guy hitting a golf ball, but what I mean is that we simply may not have the same meaning as God for the word “failure.” To me, failure means it doesn’t turn out the way I wanted it to. To God, it means I didn’t pick up the brush.” (pg. 68)

Summer of the Midnight Sun
Author: Tracie Peterson
4 of 5 stars
Genre: Historical Christian Fiction

I used to devour Tracie Peterson’s books when I was younger. Once I “graduated” from the YA section, these were the books I tended to stray to the most. She writes historical Christian novels, full of intrigue and excitement. This book was no different. I remembered reading about Jacob and Leah in previous books by the author but they were secondary characters. This book focused mainly on Leah and her estranged relationship with the love of her life, Jayce. After a ten-year separation, they find themselves together again and soon find themselves defending Jayce after he is accused of murder. They also have to contend with Pinkerton agent, Helaina, who is hellbent on getting Jayce to Seattle and seeking justice for his charges. Helaina was one character I didn’t care for in the least and I think the author intended it that way. I was so enamored with Jayce and the blossoming relationship between Leah and Jayce that her intrusion made me quite upset! I was hooked from the first page until the last, which left me hanging and hungry for the second in the series. There’s something about the way Peterson creates characters and plots that draws me in and I’m not sure why I took such a long break from her books.

Have you read any of the above books? If so, what were your thoughts? What is your idea of failure?

Categories: Books

Book Review: Shiny Objects by James A. Roberts

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Title: Shiny Objects
Author: James A. Roberts
Genre: Nonfiction
Year: 2011
Rating: 2 of 5 stars

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Review from Goodreads:

In this cross between In Praise of Slowness and The Tipping Point, consumer behavior expert James A. Roberts takes us on a tour of America’s obsession with consumerism—pointing out its symptoms, diagnosing specific problems, and offering a series of groundbreaking solutions. Roberts offers practical, helpful advice for how to correct the materialistic trends in our lives, trends that lock us into a cycle of stress and financial hardship. A new The Paradox of Choice for the modern reader, Roberts’s Shiny Object is far more than a polemic against spending or a critique of capitalism—it’s an exploration of how we can learn to live happier, fuller, more productive lives today.

My review:

I could not get into this book at all. I was really excited about reading it because I loved the concept behind it. I’ve never been a materialistic sort of person. Money was something that was very limited during my childhood and watching my parents struggle with debt and money issues gave me the gumption I needed to make smart money decisions on my own. Materialism is not something that runs in my veins.

The voice of this book was very conversational and easy to understand. The author did a good job of moving the book along with his points and not spending too long on any one subject.

Ultimately, though, I could not connect with the message in this book. It’s one I believe in and hope I am doing my best to cultivate (being less materialistic, that is), but I don’t feel like I learned anything new about what materialism is, what it has done to our country (and around the world), or how to lessen the impact it has. I’m very curious as to who the target audience for this book is because I felt as if it wasn’t a book targeted at twenty-somethings, though I believe this message is something a lot of twenty-somethings need to hear.

I was expecting a bigger impact from the message in this book, but it fell flat for me.

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

Categories: Books

Twitter Book Chat

This past summer, I somehow managed to read through the entire Harry Potter series. It was a big undertaking, but the best part of the entire thing was the weekly chats about the books. There’s something about Harry Potter that begs to be talked about and dissected and through that experience, I developed some great relationships. (And those people are still satisfying my Rupert Grint lust with links to pictures and videos. You guys are my favorites.)

When we finished the series, we were all a little sad not to have these weekly chats. It was fun to meet every week and talk about the book, but we did end up getting a little burned out. We had plans to continue our Twitter book chats but life got busy. So it was pushed aside for a while, until I brought it up again on Twitter last week. Somehow, I’ve volunteered myself to organize this book chat but I’m happy to do so. I’ve been meaning to join a book club for a while now and while I still intend to attend a non-virtual one, this one will work for me for now. (And do I even need to mention how doing this chat with some of my best Internet friends fills me with warm fuzzies? I didn’t think so.)

And this is where you come in!

Through Twitter, I think we’ve decided on the last Sunday in November for our first Twitter book chat. (Ironically, this is also the day before my birthday so I’m hoping I can join. I just don’t know what I’ll be doing then.) But now we need to decide on a time, a book, and a hashtag. I’ve created a poll for the time to see what works best with everyone’s schedules and want your suggestions for a possible book and hashtag (right now, #twitterbookchat could work, but I’m not sure if it’s too long. We could shorten it to #tbc.). I’ll choose 3-5 books from the suggestions, post a poll on Friday, and announce the November book on Monday. Then, you’ll have four weeks to read the book before our chat! (In the future, I hope to do this process a week prior to the month’s beginning.)

If you’d like to join, you’re more than welcome. No RSVP needed! 🙂

For now, leave me book suggestions in the comments and your thoughts on what the hashtag should be. Don’t worry about repeating others’ suggestions, I’ll choose some of the most popular books to vote on.

I’m super excited about this so I can’t wait to see your suggestions!

(And I just realized my last three blog posts have centered around books. If you haven’t noticed, I kinda love to read.)

Categories: Books

Book Review: Picture of Lies by C.C. Harrison

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Title: Picture of Lies
Author: C.C. Harrison
Genre: Mystery
Year: 2011
Rating: 4 of 5 stars

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From Amazon:

Investigative journalist Keegan Thomas has been living a nightmare of guilt and grief since her little girl, Daisy, was kidnapped practically in front of her eyes. When the police investigation stalled, she turned her grief to anger and buried herself in her work searching for missing children, her own included. The result was an award-winning series of articles on unsolved child abductions. Then came the inevitable burnout.

On what is supposed to be a working vacation, Keegan travels to Monument Valley on the Navajo Indian Reservation seeking the whereabouts of people in an old photograph found in her grandfather s belongings after his death.

But the Indians do not welcome this nosy stranger carrying a picture of their old people, some of them dead. While navigating the mysterious ways of the Navajo, Keegan is told one of the children in the photograph was kidnapped by missionaries and taken to a boarding school.

Keegan’s search for the child leads to a web of deception that stretches back two generations, and the truth Keegan learns about her own family is the most shocking betrayal of all. Nothing can prepare her for the danger she encounters when she becomes the target of a powerful U.S. senator who will do anything to stop her from telling what she knows about the Picture of Lies.

My review:

I devoured this book. I read the entire thing in three days. THREE DAYS! I never finish books in three days anymore. It was the perfect mix of mystery and romance. Of humor and seriousness. I’ve read enough mystery books to usually correctly guess who the bad guy will be, or what the ending will look like. But this book was full of twists and turns and surprises. I had no idea what would be happening next and gasped my way through it as mysteries were revealed.

I have to imagine mystery novels are hard to write, and even harder to come up with original, strong plotlines but this book delivered on all accounts. The plot was solid and I kept wanting to learn more. And when all was revealed, it was a shock and something I wasn’t expecting.

The character development was good, too. I really enjoyed Harrison’s easy dialogue and way of writing. It all felt effortless and as if I really knew these characters. The romance part of the novel was more of a side story, not the main portion. But it felt more honest that way. Keegan’s main focus was on this mystery and also on finding out what happened to her daughter.

The only thing I didn’t enjoy as much was the ending, but I know it was an honest ending. (I’m just a sucker for everything tying up nicely at the end and not having to cry out, “NO! WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?” when I finish.) I don’t want to give away any part of the book but I can tell there will be a sequel to this one by the way it ended.

All in all, if mystery fiction with a little romance thrown in is your thing, this is a solid book to read. I would definitely, definitely recommend it.

Are you a sucker for an “everything-ties-together-nicely” ending, or do you like ones that surprise you? I would say I’m fifty-fifty on this.

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

Categories: Books

Book Review: Good in Bed by Jennifer Weiner

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Title: Good in Bed
Author: Jennifer Weiner
Genre: Chick-lit
Year: 2001
Rating: 5 of 5 stars
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Summary from Goodreads:

For twenty-eight years, things have been tripping along nicely for Cannie Shapiro. Sure, her mother has come charging out of the closet, and her father has long since dropped out of her world. But she loves her friends, her rat terrier, Nifkin, and her job as pop culture reporter for The Philadelphia Examiner. She’s even made a tenuous peace with her plus-size body.

But the day she opens up a national women’s magazine and sees the words “Loving a Larger Woman” above her ex-boyfriend’s byline, Cannie is plunged into misery…and the most amazing year of her life. From Philadelphia to Hollywood and back home again, she charts a new course for herself: mourning her losses, facing her past, and figuring out who she is and who she can become.

***

I connected with Cannie from the beginning. She was smart, sassy, vulnerable, and sensitive. I could relate to her from the get-go, especially considering she is dealing with the same father issues I deal with from this very day. This paragraph sealed it for me:

“But oh, when he loved me, when he put his hand on my head, when I leaned my own head against him…there was no feeling in the world that could beat it. I felt important. I felt cherished. And I would do whatever it took, press the bar until my hands bled, to get that feeling again.” (p. 98)

Every emotion I’ve ever experienced with my father leaving me? Right there.

This was the first book of Jennifer Weiner’s that I’ve read and I’m not sure why I stayed away so long. She is a fantastic writer and made me completely fall into the plot and the life of Cannie Shapiro. From reading the introduction, I knew this wasn’t going to be a story of a girl who loses weight, gets the guy, and takes down her ex-boyfriend. Jennifer Weiner set out to make this story something more relatable and real. And I could relate to Cannie in her insecurities about her body, the way she couldn’t seem to fully walk away from an ex-boyfriend who was no good for her, and in her family struggles.

The plot moved along quickly and there were so many twists and turns and surprises that I didn’t expect from a “chick lit” book. Characters were introduced that added so much to the plot and I couldn’t imagine Cannie’s life without them. It wasn’t a clean, sweet story of triumph. Not at all. It was messy and gritty and raw. It was real. It made me take a step back and examine my own life. I laughed with Cannie, I cried with Cannie, I felt proud of her when she stood up to her ex-boyfriend, and utterly sad during the most heart-wrenching part of the book.

When you can make me feel a character’s emotions in my own life, then you’ve done your job as an author. I wholly recommend this book and it was such a great example of women’s fiction for an aspiring writer. I’ll leave you with some of my favorite quotes:

“When you’re on a battleground, you don’t have the luxury of time to dwell on the various historical factors and sociopolitical influences that caused the war. You just keep your head down and try to survive it, to shove the pages back in the book, close to the covers and pretend that nothing’s broken, nothing’s wrong.” (p. 106)

“Things happen, you know? That’s my one big lesson from therapy. Things happen, and you can’t make them unhappen. You don’t get do-overs, you can’t roll back the clock, and the only thing you can change, and the only thing it does any good to worry about, is how you let them affect you.” (p. 372)