November and December Books + 2024 Book Goals

The New House by Tess Stimson

This was fine. I liked parts of it and the end really showed what happened when you make one decision and it affects everything else. It wasn't 5 stars mind-blowing but it was time well-spent, I think. Takes place in England, different characters/personalities, a few different narrators but none are really unreliable. I felt like it was trying to be Big Little Lies for a bit there and it is definitely not. 

How to Keep House While Drowning by K.C. Davis

This hit where it hurts. Or hurts where it hits? One of those. If you ignore the strong liberal bent of some of the chapters, there's some solid advice about household tasks being morally neutral (laundry upkeep does not equal your value as a person), most of the hard times in housekeeping we go through are based on seasons and aren't forever, and understanding that you will never be all caught up at once is important. The Lazy Genius quoted a bunch of her book on a episode awhile back, but I'd had it on my holds list for months after reading about it on a blog. 

The Replacement Wife by Darby Kane

This book was about 200 pages too long. It's the perfect example of telling, not showing. I never quite got a handle on what I was supposed to be visualizing as I read. The main character was sympathetic but also kind of the worst. The twists were way too twisty. The little kid + parent interactions were entirely non-believable. The author overused a few tired twists. Her first book was so great, so I was disappointed.

Bob by Wendy Mass and Rebecca Stead

I bought this as a potential read aloud for the second semester. It's a really great story. There's some magic (just the right amount), a lot of mystery, and the setting is like a character in the story because it's all about the setting. I truly recommend it if you have an 8-12 year old. I can almost guarantee you've never read anything like it. 

It's Never Too Late to Sleep Train by Dr. Craig Canapari

I've not read a sleep-training book for years. Wells became a good sleeper around 2.5 or 3 and I haven't looked back. Sutton tricked us: she was a great sleeper until 11 months and then it's been a crapshoot for almost a year now. She's getting better in terms of I can tell her to go back to sleep and she does...sometimes. Two was the magic age for Wells and she's on the same trajectory, it seems. Anyway, I grabbed this audiobook in a moment of sheer desperation and listened to it in two or three days. He has a lot of great information for parents of older children or toddlers, not just the typical "drowsy but awake" that you see on most baby sleep platforms. He does point out that all sleep training will involve crying. People who are afraid of making their baby cry will likely never be able to sleep train. I tried all kinds of crazy advice with Wells and, while it was a rough few years, he is a fantastic sleeper now and has been for at least 2 years. 

I Survived: The Wellington Avalanche by Lauren Tarshis

I used this as my read aloud last month and I wanted something winter-themed but not Christmasy. They enjoyed it. It was pretty good. I Survived books are safe territory: like I know I can just start reading aloud and I won't run into anything questionable if I haven't read it before. (like the time I read aloud a book and the dad suddenly died in Iraq...I will not make that mistake again)

The Glass Ocean by Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig, and Karen White

This was a historical fiction novel about the sinking of the Lusitania. It was good. It was interesting. I learned a lot. It was definitely a multiple-viewpoint, jumping through time periods story so if you don't like that, you won't enjoy it. All of Beatriz Williams' books are this way, so you'd likely know what you're getting into. 

Holiday by Gaslight by Mimi Matthews

I've had this on my TBR for 2-3 years. I finally just bought it for like $3 on Kindle. If you like Bridgerton, you will like this. It's interesting. It's actually much longer than other novellas I've read so take that for what it's worth. It's a Christmas tale, so grab it now or put it aside for next year...I think this is the only Christmas story I read this year. 

Do You Remember? by Freida McFadden

This was just okay. Not a terrible way to pass the time but it definitely had that Groundhog Day feel of repetitive days in the story but the character was *unaware* that the days were repeating..if that makes sense. I would definitely download it on Kindle Unlimited if you have it, but it's not my favorite of hers. 

Women of the Word by Jen Wilkin

I read this in preparation for starting a new year and new Bible study. It's very good. Best of luck to me, I guess. I would recommend it to anyone who is embarking on a Bible study plan in 2024. 

Street Smarts: Using Questions to Answer Christianity's Toughest Challenges Greg Koukl

If you read Tactics, this is a follow-up. I can't recommend Grey Koukl enough. He should be required reading for everyone, just because he teaches you how to think differently. 

Little Pilgrim's Progress by Helen L. Taylor

I admit that I have never read Pilgrim's Progress but this is the more juvenile version for middle-grade. I'd liken it to C.S. Lewis maybe in that it should be something kids should read or listen to as part of their Bible stories or Christian education. Wells and I listened to it on the drive back to Missouri from Pennsylvania last week and he really seemed to enjoy it. I don't know how much he understood but I'll ask him what he thinks the next time we're in the car. You see, it was a very delicate balance to get Sutton to stop screaming during this 13+ hour roadtrip. When she'd finally fall asleep, I could turn the story on but if we talked, she'd wake up. And then I'd have to turn music back on to placate her. 

Anyway, I don't think it was inappropriate for a 5 year old to listen to and I'd liken it to Narnia. We'll probably do that one next. It's a straight allegory and very easy to understand. I would recommend this to adults who haven't read Pilgrim's Progress (which I should probably track down in 2024).

Speaking of...

I hit my goal of 50 books on, literally, December 31st. Am I proud? No. Am I smug about being able to finish 50 books this year? Yes. I will take it. I clawed my way to the finish with a bunch of audiobooks last week and I'm okay with that. I started these books this year and just never finished them so I was just tying up loose ends. 

Regardless, I'm not smug enough to try for 50 books in 2024. For some reason, the number that works best for me, always, is 36. That's 3 books a month. And I can tell exactly if I'm on track or not by counting instead of doing some percentage like I would have to with 40. 

But again, not quite confident enough for 50. 

Books goals for 2024: What's going to be your number?

January books.

I set my goal for 50 books this year. That's roughly one a week. Since I read, generally, more than one book at a time, some weeks I don't finish any and some weeks I'll finish three. If you follow me on Goodreads or on my book highlights on Instagram, you may notice this. In January, I read 5 books and started a 6th. 

1. Faithfully Different by Natasha Crain (audio from Audible)

This was a fantastic read on apologetics. I really do like her writing and her podcast/interview presence. Highly recommend as a way to educate yourself on why Christianity is different and set apart from other religions. 

2. Signal Fires by Dani Shapiro (hardcover from BOTM)

This was a good book. It's literary fiction and pretty short at 220 pages. It was just really sad. There was a lot of pandemic-filler toward the end which was annoying but it time-jumped from the 1970s to present day. My only complaint was that there were no headings or labels about when something was happening, so you had to put it together in your head. That's happening in the book I'm reading now too and it just takes some effort. The end didn't blow me away and I just felt depressed after reading it. 

3. All the Dangerous Things by Stacy Willingham (hardcover from BOTM)

I feel that we've hit a wall with the thriller genre. This one had every trope and plot point available on the thriller bingo card. She packed everything possible into this book. She did the same with A Flicker in the Dark, though, so I'm not shocked. I found it hard to emphasize with the main character because she was so over-the-top. 

It was okay. Lots of triggers, if you're worried about that kind of thing. Very timely when it comes to current events in many ways so just proceed with caution. 

4. Dark Corners by Megan Goldin (ARC from Netgalley, release date August 2023)

Ugh. This book. I did a whole series of videos on Instagram about why I didn't like it. I find Rachel Krall to be insufferable. There is no other word for it. And because the main character is so hard to be around as a reader, I was annoyed by the whole book. I don't even think Megan Goldin is a bad writer. I find this series to just be terrible because this Sarah Koenig/Ashley Flowers hybrid she's created as her lead is just terrible. I could go into all the nit-picky things I didn't enjoy or just didn't make sense but I won't. Bottom line: if you liked The Night Swim, you'll probably at least feel the pull to read this follow-up. I really liked her book Stay Awake, which was released in August 2022. 

5. Part of Your World by Abby Jimenez (paperback)

This was kind of a sweet, good story. A little deeper than typical rom-com books but not so much so that you take the problems of the characters too seriously. It's not really a spoiler to say that there was a bit too much of a happy little bow tied around the end. I kind of predicted the ending from about 1/3 of the way in. Very Hallmark movie-ish, if you ask me. (And that's my rom-com for the year. I read maybe 1 every 6 months. The fact that I finished it actually makes it worthy of 3 stars. My cousin sent me this one for Christmas and it was on my TBR and my library holds list so I did think it sounded like a good story.)

Currently reading:

From Netgalley, comes out May 2nd

August 2022 Books.

The Locked Door by Freida McFadden -- 4 stars -- If you like Dexter or true crime, you'll like this. Very hard to put down. 

One by One by Freida McFadden -- 3 stars -- This was slightly ridiculous and a bit over the top in a Lifetime movie kinda way. Didn't love all of it but McFadden has a way of making you turn the page. Passed the time just fine. I mentioned on IG that it was like a Liane Moriarity type of story. 

The Good Samaritan by John Marrs -- 5 stars -- This will be one of my favorites this year. It was a WILD ride. Seriously could not stop thinking about it. The end got a bit out of control, but he is SUCH a good writer. Highly recommend. All the trigger warnings but I feel like everything is a trigger warning these days so take that for what it's worth. 

Want to Know a Secret? by Freida McFadden -- 3 stars -- A page-turner. Switched POVs about halfway way through, so that was a nice surprise. I didn't like the end because it was a little far-fetched, but it was a good story. 

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin -- 2 stars -- I didn't hate all of it. I took issue with a lot though. I definitely skimmed the last 1/3 because it wasn't *that* great that I cared to finish. I said on Instagram that there was just nothing likable about it. Sadie was awful, Sam was hard to read about and also kind of awful. It was incredibly depressing and not in a good way. Like, some books can be depressing and still convey something meaningful. Not this one. The only redeeming factor was that I found the building of games to be pretty interesting. Clearly this took some research and it's a shame all of that was ruined with crapbag characters. 

The Night Shift by Alex Finlay -- 3 stars --This was an interesting story. I completely hated a book by the same author a year or so ago, so if I'd remembered that this was that same writer, I probably never would've picked it up. This absolutely reminded me of the Yogurt Shop Murders in Austin back in 1991. I really think the author grabbed a bit of that story and spun some fiction. Not a bad investment of my time though. 

The Ex by Freida McFadden -- 3 stars -- This was good but the timeline was quite confusing. As in, you know things are non-linear but you don't know how or why or when things are occurring. It doesn't start to come together until the end. It's very much like she followed a manual on How To Write Multiple Unreliable Narrators At The Same Time. 

The Perfect Son by Freida McFadden -- 3 stars -- The main character was quite dumb. The story was good enough. I actually didn't see the twist coming. There's definitely a twist. 

The Perfect Marriage by Jeneva Rose -- 3 stars -- I hated the first chapter. I started to get into it when it switched to the husband's POV. The end kinda lost me. It was decent writing so I may seek out another of her books. Totally worth the read if you have Kindle Unlimited. 

The Night She Disappeared by Lisa Jewell -- 4 stars -- There were moments I felt like giving this 5 stars. The end really started to lose me though. I couldn't figure out how I felt about Sophie either. There were a few too many oddball characters for me to happily keep track of, but I really liked Kim's POV. What I do appreciate about Lisa Jewell's books is that she practically turns the setting into its own character, so I spend a lot of time lost in visualization when I read her books. She's great at showing and not just telling. 

Nine Lives by Peter Swanson -- Not for me -- I'm not going to give this a star rating but I read enough to count it toward my yearly book goal. Quite disappointing. Apparently, it's a take on And Then There Were None but I don't like Agatha Christie, so I don't care about that. Actually the one character that, to me, had an interesting story was killed off pretty quickly. Basically, there's nine people and they're killed off one at a time. As many mentioned on Goodreads, the best part of someone dying is you no longer had to follow their POV. It began with nine POVs plus POVs of FBI agents/investigators. It gave me a headache. Peter Swanson's older books are so much better. 

Books I started a but didn't finish: 

Book Lovers by Emily Henry -- I couldn't do it. I'm sorry. The sister bothered me. She was superfluous and annoying. I really, really liked the prologue and thought I might be able to keep going but then it turned into the pregnant-sister-show.

An Honest Lie by Tarryn Fisher -- I read like 10% and felt nothing for these characters. I didn't care at all. The Wives was a favorite of mine so this was a disappointment.

The Love of my Life by Rosie Walsh -- I wanted to like this but I really didn't like Ghosted and by the time this came in from the library holds, I had lost interest in wanting to read it. The premise initially interested me, but then I read like two sentences and that was it. 

Currently reading The Soulmate by Sally Hepworth. 

If you have to pick ONE book from the list above, read The Good Samaritan. It's on Kindle Unlimited! 

2021 Reading Wrap-Up

 This is slightly embarrassing but I'm doing it anyway. 

You can go here to see all of my books and ratings. 

Despite the fact that I am more or less anti-book right now and I don't care about reading or sitting down with a book...I'd rather doing something productive or taking a nap...I did read some really good books in the first half of 2021. 

I read a mix of fiction and non-fiction in 2021, and then I read a book in August that was such a turnoff that I can't even look at the cover without feeling slightly triggered, 4+ months later. 

When it comes to fiction:

I really enjoyed Too Good to Be True. It was like a great mystery mixed with a Lifetime movie. Definitely a page-turner. I think, honestly, it was the last time BOTM didn't disappoint me and that was back in the winter/spring. 

I would also recommend anything by Beatriz Williams. Seriously, anything. This year, I read 3 more of her books and enjoyed them all a lot.

For non-fiction:

I really enjoyed Don't Burn This Book and then I liked Another Gospel? a lot and I listened to Tactics by Greg Kunkel more than once. Also, I read some Thomas Sowell, which I can never quite recommend highly enough. And Irreversible Damage by Abigail Shrier is a must-read. 

What I didn't like: 

This is mostly the much-loved books that I either considered highly problematic or just were put together poorly...i.e. major disappointments. 

The Last Thing He Told Me started out strong but the daughter was so unlikeable. It also seriously went off the rails into total suspension of disbelief. 

The Four Winds was great for the first few chapters. Then it got unnecessarily depressing and then it gave some hard nods and approval to communism, which is quite the choice to make as an author who cranks out a book a year. There was nothing special about this book. She's trying to ride out The Nightingale still, I think. 

Malibu Rising was an absolute fail and I was so disappointed. The first half of the book was delightful. I wanted to know more about the mom and the dad and their story was fascinating. Pulling in the kids as adults was obviously TJR's intention with the whole book and it's a shame her backstory was more interesting than the actual story. She can WRITE. She's making this active choice not to, though, and I hate it. No one (I promise, no one) cares about her fictional Hollywood world. 

I know I need to change my reading expectations and habits in 2022. The hardest part is finding books that I will like and not necessarily the most hyped-up books because then I can easily become disappointed in the whole system if I don't like a book everyone else does. 

What kind of reading goal-setting are you doing for next year? 

A giant book fail. Again.

I wanted to say that I hopped back on the reading wagon and read multiple books in September. 

I did not. 

I started The Neighbor's Secret, from Book of the Month. It's not bad at all. I just never felt like sitting down to read. I would read before bed and made some steady-ish progress but then just stopped, so it's still sitting there on my nightstand. 

I started A Slow Fire Burning by Paula Hawkins but it was so terrible that I quit 4 hours into the audio. I think it was 16 hours total? I can't remember. I returned it to Audible. I have a feeling I would've had even worse luck with the physical copy. #1 Has anyone actually finished this book? #2 Has anyone who finished it actually enjoyed it? I don't judge about it; I'm just wondering if it gets better. 

I got the audio for Liane Moriarty's new book Apples Never Fall, which I was very excited about. I truly felt that Nine Perfect Strangers was a bit of a dud (so much so that I haven't even attempted the show on Hulu...). 

Unfortunately, Apples Never Fall hasn't been doing it for me either. I don't know that I like that main character...she's very flighty and wishy-washy. I'm not even that far into it. Maybe 4 hours (I sense a pattern) and I struggle pressing play. 

Also, I am wholly unsettled by the police state that Australia has turned into...I can't wrap my head around it, so reading a book that takes place there almost seems silly to me. 

It's quite possible that world events have just turned me off to reading. I never "read to escape" as it is. I've always watched TV to escape. But the TV options lately are awful too. Is there anything you're enjoying? 

I have watched LuLaRich and I've watched most of Clickbait. And Scott watches a lot of random things, usually movies or sci-fi in the Netflix Top 10 that I have no interest in seeing. 

We tried On the Verge and it was so depressing. Is that really how miserable a lot of people are? Sadly, I don't think it was supposed to come off that way. It was *supposed to be* funny. No wonder people cling to their Covid regulations...sorry, guys...if that's the only thing that gives order and meaning. It would be really easy to be knocked off your feet and blind-sided by a a virus if you were living the life of those miserable women. 

I digress.

I did order a new Book of the Month and I grabbed Rock, Paper, Scissors by Alice Feeney because so many raved about it last month. 

Honestly, at the rate I'm going, these'll last til Christmas. Maybe I'll read them before 2022. 

Linking up for SUYB, mostly just to get your recommendations! (bc i have very little contribute this month :)

June Books 2021

Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid 3 stars

I highly anticipated this one. It's gorgeous, first of all. The first part of the story pulled me in because I'm one who doesn't like all of the info laid out to begin with. You had to keep reading to figure out what was going on. However...I found myself MUCH more into the story of the mother and Mick Riva in the 1950s/60s than I was into the story of Nina Riva in 1983. Even the brief blips about Mick's childhood in New York were more interesting than Nina's story. It's not a great sign when the back story is more interesting than the primary narrative. And once I got to the second half of the book, I didn't care. It wasn't great. It was overly dramatic and directed at cinema, not just being a great book. Blah. 

Someone I know once said that TJR does it best when she just writes about regular people. It's true. Creating the Hollywood stories is just not appealing. Daisy Jones was awful, and Evelyn Hugo felt like a rip-off of Elizabeth Taylor's life. I feel like TJR could do an amazing historical fiction book about just regular people. 

Just One Look by Lindsay Cameron c/o Netgalley 4 stars 

This was a hit of crazy. Holy cow. Fascinating, though. A psychological thriller taking place in New York City. Information was given out just a little at a time so you really had to keep going if you wanted to know more. I put the pieces together before the end but that was fine. Good writing and it was an enjoyable journey to get there. I always wanted to pick it up to read more. 

Comes out July 27th. 

The Wife by Shalini Boland 2.5-3 stars

I found the writing in this one to be kind of bad. Maybe not awful, but not great by any stretch, Apparently this author has lots of similar books (i found this on kindle when i just really needed a thriller-ish book and it was $2), The main character was a bit of a dummy and her narrative was unnecessarily descriptive...i.e. I don't care what kind of shoes your coworker wears or what your boss' mood is like every hour. 

Again, it was fine for what it was. Could've been a Lifetime movie. 

After You Left by Carol Mason 3 stars

This was a triple timeline story, part in the 1960s, 1983 (TJR must've conferred with her), and then in 2017. I really liked the 2017 timeline. Like, really enjoyed the mystery of it and then the rest of it was boring. It had a very Notebook feel to it and that was ugh. Plus, there was a lot of art talk. Centering plots around art or music is boring to me. So yeah, would make a good movie. Parts of the book really sucked me in and parts were totally skimmable. It's been on my TBR for 2+ years though so I'm glad I spent the 99 cents on it.

Summer Wives by Beatriz Williams 4 stars

ANOTHER triple timeline. 1930, 1951, and 1969. And different sets of characters, so not all the same people in each timeline. It was a lot to keep track of. 

But Beatriz Williams writes the best historical fiction. It's not boring. It's not overwritten. And it's not out of place. Meaning, some authors write HF and the characters act like modern-day characters (ahem, Kristin Hannah). I always appreciate the amount of research Williams seems to do. It's just really good writing where you can go get lost in the past. 

Mama Bear Apologetics by Hillary Morgan Ferrer 3 star to 5 star, depending

I can't lie: I struggled with this. It was a lot of information. I did the audio because I'm doing my non-fiction via audio in 2021. I can't get motivated to read a physical non-fiction book these days and I've really discovered that I'm an auditory learner. However...I did not like the narration. Drove me nuts, actually, so I never wanted to press play. It took a long time to finish. And I haaaaate the phrase "mama bear". So given all of that, you'd think this book really wouldn't appeal to me...but: I really appreciate apologetics these days. Essentially, the apologetics of any topic is just the facts a topic is based on and supported by. Christian apologetics, for example, can really be summed up with Greg Koukl's Tactics (loved it!) and this Mama Bear Apologetics is how to speak to your children about the topic. All VERY valuable and all VERY necessary in 2021, but I just didn't love the format, the acronyms, the title, the switching between authors constantly (it was a project between many writers), and mostly the narration was annoying. 

The book itself and the way it was put together is a 3 star, the information is 5 stars. I am interested in trying out a Natasha Crain book next to see if I like her style better. Have you read any of hers?

When it comes to how reading is going in general: I'm at 32/60 for 2021 at the halfway point. (ish...it's the 2nd week in July). All of my fiction is an actual book or ebook. All of the nonfiction is audio, so far. 

Linking up for Show Us Your Books!

February Books 2021

 I'm cheating again...

You can follow me in real time on Instagram! I have my 2021 book highlights saved.

I read 5 books in February. 

I went on a book requesting rampage yesterday through the two different library systems I use. 

My TBR is shrinking, though I'm definitely struggling with nonfiction this year. 

What was the best book you read in February?

January 2021 Books

 

You'll want to read a synopsis of The Great Divorce before diving in, in order for it to make sense. Definitely worth your time if you've read or want to read The Screwtape Letters. Lots of similar themes. 

Man, this was a great book to start the year off with...

If you are looking to understand politics or how the news works, this is the guide to read first. 

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TL;DR version: The Wife Upstairs was great. Don't Burn This Book is a must for navigating the media in 2021. 

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I don't know that I'm trying to take the easy way out with these book reviews, but I say pretty much what I want to communicate under my 2021 Books highlight on Instagram. You can find my reads there in real time. 

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Linking up with Jana and Steph for Show Us Your Books!

December 2020 Books

I have had formatting issues by the thousands while trying to write this post. I originally wrote it in Google Docs during a lunch break and the formatting did not come up the way I needed it to because I wanted to show some examples of pages from the books I read. So...I'm making do with this. Just like how we all finished up 2020, kind of dragging to the finish line, these are my last books of 2020. 

They were some good ones, so I knew I didn't want to shortchange this post. I've rewritten it just for you all.

Anxious People by Fredrik Backman

I liked the first 1/3 better than the last 2/3 and it became typically Backman-insufferable toward the end. Look at my review of Beartown to see what I mean by that; he can't just finish a book. He has to spin a wheel of random words and phrases and put them all into the last few chapters. He also splices up pages and chapters with lots of back and forth for no reason at all. 

All in all, I have very strong feelings about his writing because I don't like it. I know that an unpopular take. I would 110% bet something is lost in the translation too. However, I finished the book because I liked the story and he provided enough hooks at the beginning to make me interested.* 

Then I actually bought it for my mom for her birthday because this is the type of story she can appreciate. 

*I was kind of horrified by how horrified all of the characters were at the mere prospect of a gun. For everyone who insists that the U.S. military is too big and costly, this is why: we need to help everyone else in the world who does not feel comfortable with protecting themselves. 

Love Thy Body by Nancy Pearcey

I did a book club for it and I listened to it on Audible+ but this interview the author did with Allie Stuckey is probably worth a listen if you're unsure where to start. 

Let's begin with: I hate the title so much. The narration wasn't great. And even listening to the author speak in interviews wasn't my favorite. However, the information is important. If you're a more liberal or progressive Christian, I recommend it as food for thought. The basic idea is that biology trumps feelings, facts equal biology, and facts outlast feelings. Our physical bodies matter. It's actually very difficult to describe the ideas addressed in the book without offending someone, somewhere, but I don't know...maybe we need to be offended. I needed to be offended at one point and I'm glad I was. Being pushed out of your comfort zone is important sometimes. 

The Postnatal Depletion Cure by Oscar Serrallach 

I could go on about this for awhile. I don't agree with all of it because it gets a little eastern mysticism-ish but I took away a lot. I now add collagen and maca powder to my smoothies, for example. Highly recommend if you are pregnant or postpartum. There are other books out there on this topic too, so I'd pick up at least one if you fall into the categories of being pregnant or having young children!

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab 

This is the type of world-building I can get behind. There are rules to the book but it's not so cemented in fantasy that I have to envision what the place might look like (i.e. The Hunger Games). There's a fantastical element but it takes place in actual locations. 

Got very interesting toward the end (this was a tome, at 450ish pages), and I think it's perfectly set up for a sequel. 

4 stars

People Like Her by Ellery Lloyd

This is a must for anyone who participates in consuming influencer culture. The beginning was great. The end was weird and, I think, the authors got lazy with it. If they knew where it was going before starting the beginning, I see it. But the beginning was much better than the end. A solid 3 stars and I didn't like the cover.  (Also, trigger warnings should be included and I can tell you what those are if you'd like...don't want to give a lot away in my review.)

Pretty Little Wife by Darby Kane

A thriller. Pulls you in. I enjoyed it. Another where the beginning was also better than the end. It, also, got weird toward the end but I appreciated that it gave you only bits of information at a time and you had to pay attention or you'd miss clues/important plot points. 

3.5 rounded up to 4 stars. 

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So those were my books for December 2020 and that landed me at 54 books for 2020. I'll take it. 

Have you read anything on this list? I have a ton of books reserved at the library in an effort to get 2021 off to a productive start! 

In case you missed my (rather rambly) IG story last week, I am listening to nonfiction this year instead of trying to read it. This shouldn't take away from my physically-read books at all, but will just up my total altogether by the end of the year (if I stick with it). 

Linking up for Show Us Your Books!

Favorite Books of 2020

Well. 

Weird year, right? (sorry for font issues in this post...something's off)

And I'm LEGITIMATELY CONFUSED about how Goodreads got 54/48 books

but I have *personally* reviewed this data more than once so

Imma take the win. Their numbers do not match my numbers,

so I will go one step further in 2021: I'm going to Google Sheets to track.

These are my favorites from the year. All are fiction.

I recommend every non-fiction book I read this year as well, but

they are interest-specific, so I’ll link them at the bottom and

you do what you want there. 

The Red Tent- This is an older book, in that it’s definitely not from the last few years, but I got it as a Kindle Daily Deal this past spring. I made it my first 5-star book of 2020 simply because I hadn’t read anything like it before. It’s a fictional retelling of part of Genesis, based on historical accuracies of what life was like at the time. Basically, it takes a chapter of Genesis and blows it up in hundreds of pages of story. I can’t speak to all of its accuracy, but there’s no reason why much of it couldn’t have happened this way. I’m not saying it’s all correct or biblically-sound, but the day-to-day life and presentation of how hard life actually was (especially for women) is eye-opening. 

Such a Fun Age- I truly enjoyed this story. There was a lot of back and forth narrative and character quirks introduced throughout the book; it wasn’t all thrown out there at once. I just thought it was put together very well..

Little Secrets- probably the best thriller I read this year? And I read a lot of thrillers. 

The Vanishing Half- This lived up to the hype. I truly enjoyed this story. 

Jane Doe- So good! That’s all. Just a great read. I described it as a female Dexter. 

When it comes to nonfiction:

Oh Crap! Potty Training could be useful to you,

Blackout is a political book that may change the narrative for the better,

You’re Not Enough is required Christian reading,

and Risen Motherhood was okay, but not a favorite. 

In December, I read two nonfiction books that I'll talk more about in my next

book post...

The Postnatal Depletion Cure is good info if you're in the throes

of baby/toddlerhood.

Love Thy Body is a must for Christians, in my opinion.

It's really hard to explain what it's about but it's an explanation

of sort on why the physical body matters, not just our emotional feelings

about it.

Best book of 2020? What needs to be on

my TBR list for January?

Linking up with Jana and Steph!

November Books

Oh Crap! Potty Training by Jamie Glowacki 

I read this in May and then I read it again last month and I've flipped through it like a reference guide many-a-time in the last few weeks. Lots of parents I know have recommended it, from all styles of parenting, so I figured it would be the method to try.

While I was totally on board, Wells broke the mold and went off-book pretty early in the process so I was just left confused (hence the reference guide flipping). 

So, yes. Totally worth a read. But your toddler may be unpredictable so don't use it as a bible of sorts. 

The Night Swim by Megan Goldin 3 stars

This wasn't great. Initially, I thought it'd be like Sadie, but Sadie was way more compelling. In this case, I did not like the narrator. She came off as a Sarah Koenig rip-off. And those podcast excerpts were ridiculous...was that the whole episode? I mean, they just read like intros. I can't imagine subscribing to a podcast that gives me three minutes of information a week or something. Rachel was just unlikeable. There was also something weird about Pete being stuck in the hospital. I don't know. Clearly, I finished it but I wasn't impressed. 

Currently, I'm reading...all of these. I just can't stick with/enjoy one book:

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab 1/3 of the way through

Love Thy Body by Nancy Pearcy 1/3 of the way through (audio)

Anxious People by Fredrik Backman 50% through

And then my progress for 2020 so far...

I don’t know why I don’t just keep lists in Google Docs for everything. It’d make life a lot easier when it comes to counting up books in November. Every year for the last several years, I’ve found myself painstakingly clicking through my blog posts and keeping a tally sheet on scrap paper in front of me. For an organized person, I’m not *actually* that organized. 

My goal this year was 48 books because I read 47 last year but many of those were audiobooks so I physically read more in 2020 than in 2019. In 2019, I struggled to just sit with a book (paper or kindle) and read. In 2020, I did a lot of sitting and reading when I could’ve been cleaning or organizing or watching TV. I started to just consider it valuable time well-spent in a way I hadn’t in a few years. 

Toward the end of 2020, I began to realize that I’m an auditory learner. It’s why I like podcasts so much. I get a lot out of listening to someone explain to me. I downloaded Audible again and decided that my fiction reading was going to be hard-copy and my non-fiction could be audio. Reading nonfiction feels like a lot of work for me right now, so listening to it is a productive use of time.

My count for the year so far... 43 fiction - 3 DNF + 4 Nonfiction = 44 out of 48 books completed. 

               Fiction

1. The Night Swim

2. The Mall (DNF)

3. The Vanishing Half

4. Jane Doe

5. One to Watch

6. Home Before Dark

7. Pretty Things

8. The Guest List

9. The Unraveling of Cassidy Holmes

10. Oona Out of Order (DNF)

11. Her Every Fear

12. It Ends With Us (DNF)

13. Final Girls

14. The Last Flight

15. Lock Every Door

16. The Last Time I Lied

17. The Red Tent

18. A Good Marriage

19. Tell Me Three Things

20. Invisible Girl

21. The Wives

22. This Won’t End Well

23. Eight Perfect Murders

24. Little Secrets

25. If I Never Met You

26. I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter

27. The Holdout

28. The List of Things That Will Not Change

29. In Five Years

30. Long Bright River

31. The Other Mrs. 

32. The Dilemma

33. Such a Fun Age

34. Dear Edward

35. Regretting You

36. The Marriage Lie

37. Dead to Her

38. You Are Not Alone

39. The Family Next Door

40. Husband Material

41. Mrs. Everything

42. The Other Woman

43. Dear Wife

            Non-Fiction

1. Oh Crap! Potty Training

2. Blackout

3. You’re Not Enough (and that’s okay)

4. Risen Motherhood.

How is your year-end reading goal shaping up?

Linking up with Jana and Steph!