Stephany Writes

Categories: Books

What I’m Reading (8.17.22)

Happy Wednesday! I have a mid-week “What I’m Reading” post for you today, as I finished up these four books over the last few days (as of Sunday night, I didn’t have any books to share with you yet!) There is a good mix of books here: a romance I adored, a feel-good novel, a classic memoir, etc. Enjoy!

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou (★★★☆☆)

Maya Angelou’s memoir of her life from her early years to age 16 was a good read, but ultimately, it wasn’t super memorable for me. It always feels a little strange to rate a memoir but if I’m rating this on writing style and pacing, it didn’t quite work as well for me as I would have liked. It was graphic in parts (fair warning: there is an explicit child rape scene), but there was such a strong sense of place in the novel. Maya Angelous can write and I was fully drawn into her world, both the highs and the lows. I’m glad I finally read this memoir, but I can’t say it’s one I’m rushing out to recommend.

Weather Girl by Rachel Lynn Soloman (★★★★★)

What is it with romance novels these days and hitting me directly in my feels? I just finished Book Lovers, which had a really impactful side plot with a main character’s anxiety issues. And then in this one, the main character has depression and the way it impacts her life and her relationships is very similar to the way my anxiety disorder impacts my own life and relationships. This novel is almost like a love letter to The Parent Trap, except the kids are grown adults who work together and the parents are their bosses. Ari and Russell work together at a news station; Ari is a meteorologist while Russell works in sports. They are casual friends, but nothing more than that. Until, that is, the Christmas party when their bosses—who used to be married to each other—have a major fight. Over the last few months, their bosses have been at each other’s throat, leading to a toxic work environment that’s dragging everyone down. But Ari and Russell have a feeling there’s more to all of these fights, and they hatch a plan to get their bosses back together. In the process, though, Ari and Russell start to realize they might have feelings for one another. Ooh, boy, was this an adorable workplace romance! I loved it so much; I seriously had such a dopey grin on my face during any scenes between Ari and Russell. I loved that Russell wasn’t the typical six-pack-abs, chiseled man that so many romance novels describe. He was a self-proclaimed fat guy, and I have been waiting for someone like him in my romances. This is the kind of novel I immediately wanted to reread when I finished it, and it will have a place in my heart for a long time.

To the Brink by Cindy Gerard (★★★★☆)

This book has an indelible mark on my soul. It’s my fourth time reading it, and I loved it just as much as the other three times I’ve read it. It’s a bit dated at this point, published in 2005 (I giggled to myself when I came across the line, “he flipped open his cell phone.”) I was sitting on the couch over the weekend and fragments of this story started coming to me, and I realized that when I finished the book I was reading, I was immediately re-downloading this novel to give it another reread! And I’m so glad I did. I finished it in a day because I just could not put it down for anything. In this military romance, Darcy has been kidnapped by a terrorist group and her ex-husband, who is a former Special Forces soldier, has to find her and get her out alive. It’s fast-paced and super sexy, and I just loved falling back into this world I know and love so well. I’ll probably make my way through the rest of the books in this series again, because why not?!

The Authenticity Project by Clare Pooley (★★★★☆)

What a lovely story this turned out to be! I love that more authors are exploring the idea of loneliness and companionship, especially loneliness in older adults. I’ve been going through my own period of loneliness, so there’s something comforting about reading stories like these. This novel begins with a journal called The Authenticity Project that a man named Julian leaves at his neighborhood coffee shop for the shop’s owner, Monica, to find. The journal encourages the person who finds this journal to be as authentic as possible when writing a new entry and then to send the journal on its way. The journal passes through many hands in the book and it’s fun to see how the stories connect and this little family that forms because of the journal. This is just one of those feel-good, found-family novels that make me so glad I am a reader.

What I’m Reading This Week

What are you reading?

Categories: Books

What I’m Reading (8.8.22)

Happy Monday! Our first podcast episode comes out tomorrow – eeks! I’m so excited for you guys to hear it, and I hope you love it as much as we loved making it. 🙂 Our podcast should be showing up on all podcast players at this point, so be sure to subscribe so the first episode downloads tomorrow morning!

I had a very interesting reading week last week: I read a book that I was basically hate-reading towards the end and then read two back-to-back books that will be going on my favorites list at the end of the year. Let’s get into it!

The Hellion’s Waltz by Olivia Waite (★★☆☆☆)

Short synopsis: When Sophie and her family move to a new town to reestablish a piano shop, she continues to run into the gorgeous and enigmatic Maddie who seems to be everything she doesn’t want—especially with her conniving ways—but also someone she can’t stay away from.

This book was 177 pages and it felt more like 771. It was such a slog. I would have 100% abandoned it except it was so short that I powered through just to get to the end. Honestly, 2 stars may be generous here. The characters were flat and undeveloped and there was zero chemistry between Sophie and Maddie. I felt nothing when they finally got together, and was plain bored by all of their scenes together. The overarching plot involved a long con that Maddie and her friends put together, and the actual con was so very silly and over-the-top that it was hard to take it seriously. I love that Olivia Waite writes sapphic historical romance, but she needs to do better if I’m going to keep reading her novels.

The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo (★★★★★)

Short synopsis: A novel-in-verse about a teenage girl growing up with a strict mother in Harlem and the poems she writes to cope with her life.

This book was a masterpiece. We’re taken into Xiomara’s world through the poems she writes, some about the experiences she’s going through right now and some about her past and how that has shaped her into the person she is today. It’s brutal in parts, especially the abuse X suffered at the hands of her mother and the Catholic church she attends, but mostly, it was a beautiful story about a girl who has a gift for poetry and what happens when she lets her voice ring loud and true. It’s a quick read and one I want to shove into the hands of everyone I know. So worth reading!

Book Lovers by Emily Henry (★★★★★)

Short synopsis: Nora Stephens is a cutthroat literary agent living in NYC who agrees to take a month-long trip to Sunshine Falls, North Carolina with her sister, Libby. While there, she continually stumbles into her literary world nemesis, Charlie, and starts to envision what her life could look like if she let some of her walls down.

Here’s my truth: I liked Beach Read by Emily Henry a lot. I absolutely despised The People We Meet on Vacation. So I was apprehensive about Book Lovers. However, it was getting a lot of buzz and many people who also didn’t like TPWMOV loved this one, so I decided to give it a shot. And y’all, I think I have a new all-time favorite romance novel. For years The Hating Game has been my #1 romance novel and nothing has ever come close to the place it has in my heart, but Book Lovers may just have it beat. I read this book with a goofy grin on my face throughout most of the novel, especially the scenes between Nora and Charlie. Their banter was adorable and I just loved watching their love story unfold.

What really took this story to the next level for me, though, was Nora. I could identify viscerally with her. Nora has the same trauma response as me with feeling the need to be in control of everything and make sure the people around her are happy, healthy, and never upset with her. For me, this trauma response came from living with a parent who was physically, emotionally, and mentally abusive and would erupt in anger at the tiniest thing. For her, it’s due to her mother’s death when she was just 20 years old (and then became her 16-year-old sister’s legal guardian). For me, I have a controlling tendency when it comes to my mom and I always need to know she’s safe, she’s not unhappy with me, and she’s happy. (If she ever answers the question of, “How are you?” with “I’m ok,” I’m immediately on edge and figuring out ways to make her happy again.) For Nora, she has to control her sister Libby and make sure she always has everything she needs and is never unhappy. There were scenes of Nora waking up in the middle of the night in a panic, but settling down when she could feel her sister next to her. I do the same thing, often waking up in the middle of the night and wondering if the reason I woke up is that my body knows something just happened to my mom. (This is when I have to say, “Everything is okay. You are safe. Mom is safe.” And repeat that over and over again.) There were so many scenes of Nora essentially babying Libby that I could see people rolling their eyes at, but I have been there and I know what it’s like to feel that way, and Emily Henry did such a great job at portraying this trauma response and what it’s like in the real world. For the most part, it’s illogical and over-the-top and to those unfamiliar with trauma, really, really ridiculous. But it feels so real to us. It feels so necessary to our entire being, as if the only thing keeping us together is this desire for control.

I’ve written an entire novel about Book Lovers at this point. Who knew you could have such deep feelings about a romance novel? When I finished this novel, I started crying because I felt so seen by Nora’s characterization and it also made me recognize all of the work I have done in therapy to break free of this trauma response. It’s not easy, and I was not only grateful for the inclusion of this storyline, but also that Nora’s anxiety wasn’t suddenly “solved” by falling in love or having one long conversation with her sister. It is still a part of her life, but she’s in therapy and trying to work through it (slight spoiler, but I don’t think it ruins the book at all). Anyway, this book meant a LOT to me and it will likely be my favorite of the year.

Also, Charlie + Nora 4Ever. I just adore their relationship and I loved that there wasn’t really a typical, over-the-top dark moment. It felt really natural to the plot and their relationship as a whole.

What I’m Reading This Week

What are you reading?

Categories: Books

What I’m Reading (8.1.22)

Good morning, friends! I had a lovely weekend that included finally celebrating my mom’s birthday, snuggling Eleni, and taking myself to Starbucks to read my book. It was exactly the weekend I needed. There is a lot happening this week, and I’m feeling ready to tackle it all.

I have three wonderful books to share with you today, and all three got a solid 4 stars from me. Let’s review:

How to Not Die Alone by Logan Ury (★★★★☆)

I talked about this book in Friday’s Currently post, so suffice it to say that I loved it. I wasn’t expecting much from it, mainly because I’ve been very apathetic about dating for a long, long time. Some people look at dating as a way to meet new people, but that’s not how I’ve approached dating. For me, I’m either so excited about the person I’m seeing that I can’t eat or sleep or think about anything else… or I’m going on boring dates and making up excuses for why I can’t extend the date. This book really made me excited about the prospect of dating, though, and how to treat it like a fun way to meet people or, at the very least, learn more about myself and what I want out of my future partner. I’m planning on writing a follow-up post about the lessons I learned and how I want to implement them in my own dating life, so stay tuned for that. I do want to mention, though, that this book was very heteronormative (which, to be fair to the author, she addresses in the beginning of the book, stating that most dating research focuses on straight couples) and doesn’t really discuss what it’s like to date as a person of color or as a fat person. As a fat person, my experiences with dating are so, so different from other people (no, I’m not getting hundreds of matches every day; I’m lucky if I get 1 or 2), and I wish that could have been explored but, as the author is a traditionally beautiful, thin person, I know that’s not something she has experience with. Maybe I’ll just have to write that book about how to date as a fat person, who knows?!

Yours to Keep by Lauren Layne (★★★★☆)

Yours to Keep was a sweet contemporary romance. At just over 200 pages, it was a fast read; sometimes shorter romances feel like they’re missing something (backstory or relationship development, things like that), but this one felt perfectly paced. I’m glad that the author kept it short and sweet because it delivered the perfect impact this way! In this romance, Carter Ramsey has returned to his hometown for his 10-year high school reunion. He’s a pro baseball player who is dealing with an injury that has the potential to ruin his career so he’s going through a lot right now and could consider consulting with a personal injury lawyer. Contact professionals from sites like https://ravidandassociates.com/.  Since he plans to be in town for a couple months, he rents a house next door to Olive, who is none other than his former lab partner from high school science. Olive and Carter strike up a friendship that turns into a whole lot more as they spend most of their time together (Olive’s working on the plans for the high school reunion and recruits Carter to help her). I just adored Olive and want to be friends with her. She was so much fun to read about, mostly because she’s so very different from me (tall, loud, friendly, open-hearted) and I feel like she would be such a wonderful friend to have in my corner. I loved the love story between Carter and Olive, and the grand gestures from both parties at the end of the novel felt true and right, not over the top. A solid romance!

Close Enough to Touch by Colleen Oakley (★★★★☆)

This novel was so lovely! I was a little bit bored in the beginning and contemplated abandoning it, but decided to give it a few more chapters and I’m so glad I did because it was an excellent read. This novel follows Jubilee who has an incredibly rare allergy: she can’t touch or be touched by people. This allergy has caused her to retreat from the world and become a recluse, but when she has to get a job to survive, she finds one at a library. It’s there that she meets Eric, a man who is trying to keep everything together between working a stressful job and parenting his adopted son who is still reeling from the sudden, unexpected loss of his parents (Eric’s best friends). A chance meeting leads Jubilee and Eric, two people whose lives look nothing like they wanted them to, to open their hearts and explore what could happen if they trusted themselves. It was a super sweet novel and I really loved Jubilee’s character arc. She was someone who was so easy to love and root for, and I enjoyed every minute I spent with her. I thought the ending wrapped up a little too neatly, but other than that, it was a fantastic read.

What I’m Reading This Week

  • The Hellion’s Waltz by Olivia Waite (e-book) – This is another short romance (under 200 pages!), so I’m likely going to finish it today or tomorrow. So far, I’m enjoying it!
  • The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo (print) – I’m looking forward to diving into this novel that gets rave reviews. I’ll start it once I finish The Hellion’s Waltz.
  • Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town by Jon Krakauer (audio) – Second time’s the charm? The last time I planned to read this book, I was going through a mental health crisis and many of you recommended that I set it down for the time being. It was good advice! I’m going to start it this week, and if I’m still not feeling up to reading about such a hard subject matter, to my “abandoned” list it will go.

What are you reading?

Categories: Books

What I’m Reading (7.25.22)

Hi friends! Happy Monday. I have some fun plans this week so things are looking up over here. 🙂

Last week was a so-so reading week for me. I am very upset to report that I abandoned A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles after 150 pages. You guys, I thought I would love this book and it is so disappointing to have abandoned it. But I was just so damn bored by it. I thought the writing was overwrought and the Count not nearly as charming as I imagined. I am a firm believer that what works for one reader doesn’t work for another, which is why I freely abandon books that aren’t working for me. This one wasn’t doing it for me.

I ended up finishing two books last week and I liked both of them:

The Vanishing Stair by Maureen Johnson (★★★★☆)

The second book in the Truly Devious series was just as wonderful as the first! I am really loving this series, although I feel very weird about the love story accompanying the overarching plot. Am I supposed to be rooting for these two? I hope not. I won’t get into the details of the plot, as they can be a little spoiler-y if you haven’t read the first book in the series. Suffice it to say that I loved being back at the boarding school with these characters and truly enjoyed the mystery and the way it was solved. The ending was a little confusing (I was washing dishes while I finished up the last few minutes of this audiobook and was like, “Wait, what?” when it was over. I had to rewind to listen to the last few lines again to make sure I didn’t miss something.) I’m excited to dive into book 3 soon!

A Beastly Kind of Earl by Mia Vincy (★★★☆☆)

This historical romance had a fascinating premise: Thea has to pretend to be her sister for a few days so that Helen and her beau can elope (his father doesn’t approve of the union and won’t let them get married). As she’s pretending to be Helen, Thea has a chance encounter with Rafe, an earl who knows that Thea is pretending to be her sister. Rafe needs to get married soon so he can come into a tidy sum of money, and he’s thought of the perfect plan: if he marries Thea, their marriage will be invalid. Once his money is in hand, he can unmask her, pretend to be upset, and send her away. Thea, for her part, will come into her own sum of money if she gets married so it truly is a win/win situation. The perfect plan, right? Of course not—this is a romance novel! After Thea and Rafe marry, they begin to realize their true feelings for one another and, like any romance novel, fall for one another. There was a lot to love about this novel but there were times when Thea veered into manic pixie dream girl territory and times when the language in the story didn’t match the time period (the phrase “win some, lose some” kept being uttered but by my very light research, I don’t think this was a very popular phrase in the early 1800s). I also felt like the ending was a little all over the place and quite silly. All in all, a romance novel that I enjoyed but not as much as I enjoyed the other Mia Vincy book I read (A Wicked Kind of Husband, which was a 5-star read).

What I’m Reading This Week

What are you reading?

Categories: Books

What I’m Reading (7.19.22)

Happy Tuesday, friends. Things feel a lot more hopeful and optimistic this week than they did last week. I am so very grateful for that! Living with an anxiety disorder is no joke, and every time an anxiety spiral strikes, I am reminded of that.

I didn’t have a ton of time for reading last week. Some of it was that I just wasn’t in the right headspace for reading and some of it was just a busier week in my life. But I still managed to finish two books and really liked both of them:

It Happened One Summer by Tessa Bailey (★★★★☆)

I’ve been burned by Tessa Bailey before, but a few trusted readers had good things to say about this book so I decided to give it a shot. I’m so glad I did! I really, really liked this contemporary romance where the main character felt like a play on Alexis Schitt of Schitt’s Creek. In this novel, Piper is an influencer/socialite who has gotten into too many scraps for her stepfather (a famous movie producer) to handle. So he sends Piper and her younger sister to a small fishing town in Washington to try to revive her late father’s dive bar. It’s there she is cut off from her old life, has to learn how to survive on her own, and meets a man who may change her world. Brendan is a sea captain (the same job that got her father killed) who doesn’t think much of Piper when she arrives and thinks she’ll hightail it out of town soon enough. But he’s surprised by her tenacity and strength, as she learns how to exist in a new world and revive her father’s bar. This novel fully tugged at my heartstrings and ugh, I just loved the love story between Piper and Brendan. They were so perfect for one another! I have some issues with this book, though. I felt like Brendan was pretty one-dimensional with zero flaws. He’s the kind of man that makes dating very, very hard because real people are not built like him. I just wanted a bit more personality from him. Secondly, the ending was fully ridiculous and over-the-top and a lot of it didn’t make sense with the way the characters were written leading up to these final scenes. But romance authors these days seem to put a lot of stock in these fully ridiculous endings (I wish they wouldn’t) so it is what it is. All in all, though, a fantastic romance and I’m excited to read the next book in the series soon.

Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America by Ijeoma Oluo (★★★★★)

This book tries to answer the question of how we got to where we are today: escalations of white male rage, white male conservatism, and violence against Black people, people of color, and immigrants. And wow, does Oluo do an incredible job answering that question. This book takes on all pieces of our society that have been affected by white male mediocrity: politics, sports, higher ed, women in the workplace, social justice movements, etc. I was particularly aggrieved by the chapters on women in the workplace and women in politics because the injustices women have had to put up with because of white male mediocrity are endless and continuing. This book isn’t here to offer answers. It simply serves as a way for us to recognize how we have continued to lift up white male voices and forget the women and the people of color who are also engaged in our society. Only when we recognize that there is a problem can we begin to move forward. This is a wonderfully written book that I think is well worth a read.

It’s the expectation that many white men have that they shouldn’t have to climb, shouldn’t have to struggle, as others do. It’s the idea not only that they think they have less than others, but that they were supposed to have so much more. When you are denied the power, the success, or even the relationships that you think are your right, you either believe that you are broken or you believe that you have been stolen from. White men who think they have been stolen from often take that anger out on others. White men who think they are broken take that anger out on themselves.”

What I’m Reading This Week

  • The Vanishing Stair by Maureen Johnson (audio) – I have a couple hours left in this audiobook (the second in Johnson’s Truly Devious series). I’m enjoying it a lot!
  • A Beastly Kind of Earl by Mia Vincy (e-book) – Man, I love Mia Vincy’s historical romances. Her covers are atrocious but the writing is exceptional. I’m 100 pages into this romance and loving it so far.
  • A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles (print) – So many people have raved about this book! I have very high expectations, but I’m trying to temper myself. I just started it yesterday so I don’t have any opinions just yet.

What are you reading?