What I’m Reading (3.16.20)

Happy Monday? I don’t even know how to begin this post! Times are crazy right now and all anyone can talk about is Coronavirus. I hope everyone is staying safe and doing lots of hand washing and sanitizing. I know I am! I’m also working from home this week and going back and forth on whether or not it’s responsible to go on my kayaking trip this weekend. I think it is, as I’ll be around fewer people than I am during a trip to Target, but I’m not sure what the right call to make is. Argh! Such a weird time.

Anywho, let’s switch gears and talk about a much better topic: books! I finished four books this week and I’m currently three books ahead of schedule on my yearly book goal. (!) Setting that goal felt like a reach, but who knows: maybe I’ll surprise myself.

Let’s get to the reviews. 🙂

Books Finished

> Emmy & Oliver by Robin Benway (★★★☆☆) – Emmy and Oliver were childhood best friends… until Oliver’s father kidnapped him when he was seven. Ten years later, Oliver is found alive and well, living with his father in New York. He returns home, but home looks much different: His mom has remarried and has two young daughters and his best friend Emmy is all grown up. Even though the central conflict of the story is a hard one, the story is ultimately sweet and redemptive and I really liked it. It wasn’t a standout for me in any way, but listening to the audiobook was an enjoyable way to spend my commutes to work nonetheless.

> To Have and to Hold by Lauren Layne (★★★☆☆) – Brooke has moved to NYC from California after her fiance turned out to be a con man. Her first client as the newest wedding planner at The Wedding Belles is Maya Tyler, a hotel heir who has a very sexy but very annoying brother, Seth, who is determined to stop the wedding. He’s suspicious of Maya’s fiance’s motives. Not only because her fiance will come into a considerable fortune by marrying her, but also because their courtship has been a whirlwind. When Maya announces she’s getting married, Seth has yet to meet the guy because they’d only been dating for three months. The story started off with such great potential for me—I loved the back-and-forth between Brooke and Seth—but it sort of fell apart about two-quarters of the way through. As another reviewer mentioned, it just didn’t seem logical that Brooke wouldn’t be sensitive to Seth’s worries when she was tricked by a con man herself. All that aside, I still liked this romance and can’t wait to see what’s next in this series!

> Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid (★★★★☆) – Emira, who is black, is at a high-end grocery store with her babysitting charge, Briar, who is white, one night when she is confronted by the security guard on duty who thinks Emira has kidnapped the two-year-old. Briar’s father is able to come to the grocery store to sort out the whole mess and Emira leaves annoyed but also relieved that nothing worse happened. Afterward, Alix, Briar’s mother, is horrified by what her babysitter went through and wants to make it right, first and foremost by getting to know Emira better. This novel was a quick read and so well-written that I found it hard to put it down! The relationship between Emira and Briar was my favorite part, I think, because it was so sweet. I also loved the honesty in Emira’s struggles of becoming a “grownup.” How do you become a grownup when you have no idea what your passions are and what you want to do with your life? Oof, I feel that! (At least, I felt it when I was in my early twenties. Less so now.) There’s a theme of performative white “wokeness” that permeates the novel, and it is jarring and uncomfortable and so very necessary. If Alix’s actions or Emira’s responses made you feel uncomfortable, good. Explore that. Figure out why. I know I had to. While I felt like the novel went a little off the rails at the end, it’s still a powerful story and one I can’t stop thinking about.

> Help Thanks Wow: The Three Essential Prayers by Anne Lamott (★★★☆☆) – In this slim novella, Anne Lamott talks about the three essential prayers (at least in her estimation): asking for help, giving thanks, and simply marveling. I love the honest way that Anne talks about faith, it’s really refreshing and frankly feels revolutionary, even though this book was written almost a decade ago. I’m really glad I have some of Anne’s other books about faith on my bookshelf because I’m so interested in whatever else she has to say on this topic!

What I’m Reading Now

I’m listening to The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row by Anthony Ray Hinton, which is our March book club pick. It’s an intense story and books about prison are very triggering for me so it’s been a tough read for me. But it’s a book that is necessary to read. The justice system is not very… well… just for poor people of color and Hinton’s story is proof of that.

My non-listening reads are much, much lighter, thankfully. I’m reading Every Wild Heart by Meg Donohue for the Unread Shelf Challenge and dipping in and out of Shacking Up by Helena Hunting, which I am loving. It’s so fun and well-written! Once I finish those books, I’m going to start Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes. Gimme all the light, happy reads right now, please!

What are you reading?