Stephany Writes

Categories: Books

What I’m Reading (8.2.21)

Good morning, friends! This weekend was a weird one because alllll of my plans got canceled. I decided to make the best of it, though, and make it a reading weekend. I was able to finish two books over the weekend, which definitely helped cut down my deficit on my Goodreads goal (I started the weekend 11 books behind on my goal and ended it with 8). There’s always a silver lining to canceled plans. 🙂

It’s been two weeks since my last reading update and I have 5 books to review with you guys today! One of them may even be a contender for my favorite read of the year.

Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge (★★★★☆)

This book takes on the subject of race—but from the lens of race in Britain. Eddo-Lodge covers the history of race and racism in Britain, which was a subject I’ve never learned about, certainly not in school and neither in the antiracism reading I’ve been doing in the past few years. In the novel, Eddo-Lodge discusses white feminism, the racist experiences of Black Britains today, and the relationship between class and race. It was a fascinating book that taught me so much, especially as there was a lot I didn’t know about the types of racism experienced in European countries, which are both similar and dissimilar to racism in the US.

How to Find a Princess by Alyssa Cole (★★★☆☆)

I enjoyed this contemporary romance about a present-day royal, but I think something was missing from it. The story follows Beznaria who lives in Ibarania, a nation off the Mediterranean Sea, and is tasked with finding the princess of Ibarania. She believes she has found it in Makeda, an American-born girl who is barely making ends meet and was just laid off from her job at a grocery store. Beznaria travels to the U.S. to meet Makeda and convince her to come back to Ibarania with her. What follows are hijinks and many days spent on a cargo ship where they pretend to be married. I felt a bit confused about Makeda’s backstory and why she was so against being a princess—it wasn’t clearly explained in the novel and it left me wanting more. I also wanted a whole lot more from the romance between Bez and Makeda. They barely spent any time together so it was hard to believe they fell in love in such a short time! All in all, a rather lackluster romance.

The Stationery Shop by Marjan Kamali (★★★★☆)

I loved this sweet yet heartbreaking story about two young lovers in 1950s Iran and the stationery shop where they met. Roya is a teenager in 1953 when she meets Bahman, an idealistic young man who is working hard to keep Iran’s prime minister in power. But then, on the day they plan to wed, they are separated and the next time they lay eyes on each other, 60 years have passed. There was so much to love about this book: the Iranian culture, Roya’s character, and the way everything came together in the end. It’s a lovely story—maybe not one that will stick with me long-term, but definitely one I will think of fondly when it’s mentioned in passing.

Steal Me by Lauren Layne (★★★★☆)

Steal Me is the second book in a Lauren Layne romance series following a trio of brothers who are NYPD cops. In this novel, Anthony, a police captain, and Maggie, the waitress at the cafe his family frequents become embroiled in a case together. For the past few months, Anthony has been chasing a burglar they’ve nicknamed Smiley due to the smiley-face stickers he leaves at every house he terrorizes. It’s only by chance that Maggie sees a police sketch of this burger and realizes it bears a striking resemblance to her ex-husband. Maggie and Anthony become thrown together as the case heats up, and of course, when that happens, you can imagine that they start feeling some sort of way about each other. It’s a sweet romance with a lot of heart (I especially love Anthony’s sex-obsessed grandma, hehe), however, I do want to mention that there’s a suicide subplot that is not given the sensitivity it deserves. I really wish the author had left it out of the story because it wasn’t needed.

The Red Tent by Anita Diamant (★★★★★)

I loved this book so, so much. It may be in the running for my favorite of the year. This novel is a reimagining of Dinah’s, the only daughter of Jacob, life. (Jacob from Genesis, that is.) Dinah is an oft-forgotten character as women in the Bible typically are, and this book was a beautiful exploration of what her life could have been. The novel follows the trajectory of Dinah’s life and it was just sensational from the first page to the last. I especially loved the way Diamant centered the women’s perspectives. The name of the book, The Red Tent, honors the tent that women had to go to when they were menstruating. It’s always been seen as a place to keep “unclean” women away from men, but Diamant gives us another perspective: this is where women can fully rest and be freely themselves. Free to gossip, free to make plans, free to laugh with their sisters. It’s really beautiful when you think of it that way.

What I’m Reading This Week

I’m starting my week off with brand-new reads! That’s always fun. Today, I’m going to start The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune, which I’m reading to fulfill August’s prompt for the Unread Shelf Project (a book bought from an independent bookstore). My romance for this week will be Foreplayer by Kate Meader, which is a hockey romance (with a really silly title, let’s be honest). And, finally, I’m going to start Bel Canto by Ann Patchett on audio. This book has gotten mixed reviews from my Goodreads list (though it has a 3.92 rating with over 250,000 reviews!) with lots of people saying it moves really slowly, so I’m hoping that by listening to it, I’ll be able to enjoy it more.

What are you reading?

Categories: Books

What I’m Reading (7.19.21)

Happy Monday, friends! My weekend was really lovely. I got to go to afternoon tea with two friends and while I’m not much of a tea drinker, I really enjoyed myself. The tea was surprisingly good and the food was delicious. And it was just so fun to get all dressed up! I also had game night with the fam and spent some time strolling around Barnes & Noble.

I finished three books last week and liked them all! Here are my reviews:

The Breakdown Lane by Jacquelyn Mitchard (★★★☆☆)

This is my book club’s pick for July and it was quite an interesting read. It was published in 2006 and I was curious if the writing would hold up. For the most part, it did, although there was definitely some troubling language like the r-word being thrown out by the teenage character too many times to count. The novel is ostensibly about Julieanne, an advice columnist and mother of three whose world is rocked when her husband suddenly announces that he wants to take a “sabbatical” from their life and go “find himself” alone. Right as this happens, Julieanne is diagnosed with a serious illness that causes her to rely on her friends and husband’s parents more than ever. The novel is told from the perspective of Julieanne and through journal entries of her son, Gabe, who is 15. It was a good novel, but there were times I wanted a bit more nuance from Julieanne’s husband who was just a really bad dude with nothing redemptive about him. (Which made it hard to feel anything for Julieanne when she was so upset with him leaving.) I listened to this book on audio and kinda hated the narrator so that also tempered my enjoyment of the novel. (It really needed a male voice to narrate Gabe’s part; the female narrator switching to a super deep male voice—which always made me think Gabe was much older than he was—was rather silly.) All in all, a good novel but not one that had any sort of impact on me.

A Lady by Midnight by Tessa Dare (★★★★☆)

This is another winner from Tessa Dare! This novel, the third in her Spindle Cove series, tells of the love story between Kate and Thorne. Kate has been at Spindle Cove (a little sanctuary for the “misfits” of the world) for a while after breaking free from a boarding school that was no good for her. She’s searching for family and love and acceptance. Thorne arrives in Spindle Cove with his militia and is quickly drawn to Kate for reasons to be revealed later. This novel involves a precocious family filled with their own brand of “misfits,” a fake engagement, and a really crazy ending involving a duel and medieval weaponry. I loved every minute I spent with Thorne and Kate, especially watching Thorne’s walls come down as he learned how to love Kate well.

Untamed by Glennon Doyle (★★★★☆)

I went into this book with low expectations, only because so many people had rated it so highly, and when that happens, I can convince myself there’s no way it can live up to the hype. Especially for self-help-type books. While not a 5-star read for me, Untamed was definitely a book that I would wholly recommend. In this book, Glennon discusses the time in her life when she decided to make some serious changes, namely divorcing her husband and marrying a woman. It’s a book about wrestling with faith, motherhood, her queer identity, and this new family she was developing between her, her ex-husband, her new wife, and their three children. It was a book that I read at a time when I’m also wrestling with a lot of things and I found so much comfort in Glennon’s words. She made me feel seen and loved, made me hopeful, made me recognize that living in my truth is the most important thing. While there were certain aspects of the novel that made me scratch my head (basically any interaction with her kids because, quite honestly, the conversations seemed fabricated to fit into the mold of the point she was trying to make), overall, I really liked the book and I think it’s definitely one to read if you’ve ever wrestled with your faith or your identity.

What I’m Reading This Week

I started How to Find a Princess by Alyssa Cole last night, so I don’t have too much to say about it right now. I have very low expectations, though, as the book has a 3.59 rating on Goodreads, which is very low. This is the second book in her Runaway Royals series and I didn’t love the first novel, so I’m hoping the second one is better.

Also on my list this week, I’m starting The Stationery Shop by Marjan Kamali on audio and will be dipping into Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge.

What are you reading?

Categories: Books

What I’m Reading (7.12.21)

Happy Monday, friends! This weekend was an especially great one because Olive finished her last chemo infusion on Friday and got to ring the bell to commemorate being done with cancer treatment. Here’s a sweet video of that moment! In other good news, my car only needed a $200 repair so she’s back up and running and I’m keeping my fingers crossed she remains so for many more months to come.

Last week, I finished two books. Here are my reviews:

My Favorite Half-Night Stand by Christina Lauren (★★★☆☆)

Man, do I have mixed feelings about this book. The novel is about Millie and Reid, best friends who work together as professors at a university. Their friend group (all of whom work for the university) decides they all need to have dates to a big event in a few months, so they join an online dating app called IRL. Millie decides to go incognito on the app, using a photo that doesn’t really show her face and a fake name. Then, she matches with Reid and starts messaging with him… all the while falling for him in real life. Honestly, this is super messed-up of Millie and it was hard to root for her and Reid to make it when she’s being so deceitful. It’s not ok! Plus, I thought the dating app representation was just abysmal. I have yet to find an author who can write about dating apps in a way that is true to life. Nobody is writing 3-page-long messages or telling a woman about the other dates he’s going on/people he’s sleeping with. That doesn’t happen! Ugh. So much potential, but this one wasn’t my favorite.

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir (★★★★☆)

I am an Andy Weir stan by now, as I’ve read every book he’s written (although I have yet to watch the movie adaptation of The Martian). In this novel, Dr. Ryland Grace wakes up on a spaceship with no idea who he is or why he got there. All he knows is that he’s on a state-of-the-art spaceship deep in the solar system and his two crewmates are dead. As his memory slowly comes back to him, he learns not only of the critical mission he’s on but of the immense sacrifice he made. There is so much about this novel I want to talk about, but I don’t want to give anything away because I went into this book completely blind (the synopsis on Goodreads gives too much away!) and I think that’s the best way to read it. This is a 4.5-star book for me; it won’t displace The Martian as my favorite, but it came very, very close. I loved so much about the novel, even the science-y parts that went over my head, and it was such a fun reading experience. I’m so excited about what Andy Weir will write next!

What I’m Reading This Week

  • The Breakdown Lane by Jacqueline Mitchard (audio) – I’m still working my way through this novel. I’m over halfway through and I’m enjoying it more now than I did in the beginning. It feels like a 3-star read for me. But maybe my thoughts and feelings will change by the time I finish it!
  • A Lady by Midnight by Tessa Dare (e-book) – I started this historical romance over the weekend, and I am loving it so much already (I’m about 30% in). Let’s hope it doesn’t disappoint!
  • Untamed by Glennon Doyle Melton (print) – I’m picking up this book to fulfill July’s challenge for the Unread Shelf Project (a book bought for the cover – it has such a fun, bright cover!) A few friends have loved this book, a few friends have loathed it. We’ll see what camp I fall into!

What are you reading?

Categories: Books

What I’m Reading (7.5.21)

Happy Monday, friends! I am grateful to have the day off work and there’s nothing quite like an extended weekend, am I right? Originally, I wasn’t planning on going anywhere to see the fireworks, but plans worked out that I did indeed go downtown for the fireworks show and it was a grand time. I’m glad I muscled through the social anxiety I was feeling about crowds and parking! My feelings toward the US and being an American are complicated, to put it lightly, but in a sense, this felt like a celebration of all we’ve been through (and still are going through).

Now, let’s change topics completely and talk about books! I finished three books over the past two weeks and here are my reviews:

Glass Houses by Louise Penny (★★★★★)

Louise Penny does it again! This was a five-star novel for me, mostly because I loved the unique way it was written. The story weaves back and forth in time: in the present day, Armand Gamache is a witness in a murder trial, a murder that happened while he was at home in Three Pines, the tiny Quebec community where most books in this series are centered. Throughout his testimony, we’re taken back in time to the days leading up to and following the murder to see how everything really went down. The ending was seriously heart-pounding! I also found the focus of the novel—which was about the opioid epidemic and drug running—to be so timely. It was fascinating to take a look at a drug epidemic like this from the eyes of police and investigators who are trying to stop it. All in all, a sensational read that’s always a good time on audio.

Heavy: A Memoir by Kiese Laymon (★★★☆☆)

The title of this book does it justice because it was certainly heavy, emotionally at least. Kiese Laymon grew up in the South, overweight and with a mom who didn’t give him the love and attention he needed. He writes this memoir as a letter to her, often writing “you” to refer to her. It’s a brutally honest portrayal of his life, his weight issues, and his career as a professor. For me, it wasn’t a standout in the genre of BIPOC memoirs and there were times that I felt he was trying too hard to be super literary and it lessened the impact of his message. But still, I’d recommend picking this one up.

People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry (★★☆☆☆)

Oh man, this book was a slog for me. I loved Emily Henry’s previous romance, Beach Read, but this one didn’t have the same charm. This romance is about Poppy and Alex who met in freshman year of college and bonded after taking a road trip home together. It’s been a decade since that road trip and, in that time, they’ve taken a summer trip together every year. Well, aside from the past two years after something happened during their Croatia trip that caused an irrevocable rift in their relationship. Now, they send each other texts now and then, but their best friendship has been effectively tarnished. Until Poppy reaches out to Alex to ask him to go on a summer trip in the hopes of getting her best friend back. Throughout the novel, we go back in time to all of the other summer trips that Poppy and Alex went on, which were fun to read about. I think my main problem with the novel was the characters. I just didn’t like Poppy at all; she was immature and selfish and even a bit manipulative at times. Alex was a bit of a doormat and I just wanted him to take some ownership of their relationship. Plus, the whole thrust of the novel centered on miscommunication, and that’s just infuriating for me to read about. Just tell her how you feel! Be honest! Open up! It was really annoying.

What I’m Reading This Week

  • The Breakdown Lane by Jacquelyn Mitchard (audio) – This is our July book club pick, and it’s a bit of an older novel, published in 2006! (While I’m listening to the audio via Libby, it was originally produced on CDs so there are stopping points every hour or so to put in the next CD, lol.) I’m only a few hours in and not very captivated yet, but we’ll see how it goes.
  • Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir (print) – It’s not surprising in the least that I am loving this novel and never want to put it down. I don’t know how everything is going to turn out and I’m so intrigued!
  • My Favorite Half-Night Stand by Christina Lauren (print) – There’s nothing like a Christina Lauren novel to put me in a good mood, and this romance is doing exactly that.

What are you reading?

Categories: Books

What I’m Reading (6.21.21)

Good morning, friends! I had a pretty good weekend, filled with equal parts downtime and social time. I got a pedicure with my mom, had a reading date with a friend, spent some time snuggling and playing with Lucy (Chip was too busy barking at the ducks outside), and went bowling for the first time in many, many months. And I finished two books! A good weekend, indeed.

Here are my book reviews:

The Intimacy Experiment by Rosie Danan (★★★★☆)

One-sentence synopsis: When Naomi, a former sex worker/current CEO of a sex-positive startup is approached by Rabbi Ethan Cohen to start a modern intimacy series for his congregation, she reluctantly accepts—and is surprised when she finds herself not only reconnecting with her Jewish heritage but also falling for Ethan.

I really enjoyed the contemporary romance, especially learning more about Ethan’s work as a rabbi and Jewish culture as a whole. There aren’t too many books that explore the push/pull of being Jewish today. While the ending left a lot to be desired (the “grand gesture” trope is so overdone and never believable), I enjoyed getting to know Ethan and Naomi, especially watching Naomi’s walls come down with him. Even though her chosen career path is vastly different from mine, we have some of the same fears and hangups about being in a relationship. Reading this book actually helped me explore my own fears of relationships and what’s holding me back from romantic love, and that’s something I didn’t expect from this novel! All in all, a great read!

Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid (★★★★☆)

One-sentence synopsis: It’s the night of Nina Riva’s annual end-of-year party that she throws with her three siblings, but by midnight, everything will be out of control and by morning, Nina’s home will have gone up in flames.

TJR doesn’t know how to write a bad novel and, while this one doesn’t quite live up to Daisy Jones & the Six or The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, it’s still a beautifully written novel with complex characters and a fast-moving plot. The story is told in dual timelines: the present (the hours leading up to the party and the party itself) and the past (how Nina’s parents met and fell in love and their tumultuous marriage). There were so many decisions made by the characters (the Riva parents, specifically) that were hard to wrap my head around. I was also a bit turned off by all of the drug use (waiters with serving trays full of cocaine, anyone?!) Blech. However, the setting of 1980s Malibu was outstanding, I was completely enamored by all of the Riva kids and their close bond, and the ending was very satisfying. Definitely a novel I’d recommend!

What I’m Reading This Week

What are you reading?