Opinionated Book Lover

I’m Taking a Break

June 15, 2018 6 Comments

It’s no secret that my posting has been less consistent this year. I am struggling to find the time to blog on top of my other commitments, and it’s stressing my out. I put a lot of pressure on myself to squeeze everything in, so not reviewing books or at least posting my Recent Reads roundups has felt like a weight on my chest of the past couple months. I hate rushing to churn out as many posts as I can in the few hours I find to blog every couple of weeks. So…I am just going to take a break. I don’t know how […]

Review

Review: No One Ever Asked by Katie Ganshert

June 14, 2018 No Comments

I loved No One Ever Asked because it is packed with plot! You all know how much I need plot in a book, and this book was everything I always look for in a book. It had great, diverse characters, and things happened to them throughout the whole book. It is a modern story about race in America – basically about desegregation of a school district. When a primarily black school is graded as failing, the students from that school are given the option to be bussed to a primarily white suburban school. The community is outraged. They don’t want their kids exposed to potentially dangerous […]

Review

Review: The Summer List by Amy Mason Doan

June 13, 2018 2 Comments

The Summer List is a great beach read. It’s the story of two childhood friends who lived across a lake from each other in a small vacation town. They were inseparable in high school until something tore them apart. Now years later they come back together for one final scavenger hunt at the lake. It’s a perfect female drama with alternating time periods. This book really worked well for me. I liked all of the characters – the two girls, their parents, the love interest. And the setting was great. I loved how Laura would paddle across the lake to visit Casey and her mom. […]

Review

Review: Heart Land by Kimberly Stuart

June 12, 2018 No Comments

Heart Land is a fairly typical small-town-girl-moves-to-the-big-city-and-can’t-make-it story. Grace wants to be a fashion designer, but she isn’t getting anywhere in her job after putting in her years of grunt work. A big mistake lands her back in her small town in Iowa with the grandmother who raised her. She then proceeds to build a new business with the church ladies in the town, and of course she rekindles a relationship with her high school boyfriend. It’s predictable, and the story has much more telling than showing, but it’s enjoyable enough. There is some Christian rhetoric, which seemed kind of like an after though. It […]

Review

Review: Geekerella by Ashley Poston

May 18, 2018 No Comments

Geekerella (Starfield #1) by Ashley Poston

Geekerella is such a wonderful retelling of Cinderella. It’s completely modernized in a way that makes perfect sense, and it’s loaded with geeky delights. I loved every second of this book. Elle (Danielle) is living with her step-mother and twin step-sisters in Charleston, South Carolina. Her father raised her to be as obsessed with Starfield as he was, and he even started a comic con in Atlanta. Elle is thrilled that her favorite show is getting a movie reboot, but she cannot believe that teen heartthrob Darien Freeman has been cast as her beloved Carmindor. She has a lot to say about him, and she doesn’t hold […]

List

Book Round Up: Book Club Picks

May 16, 2018 6 Comments

Today I’m sharing 6 books that I wish I’d read with a book club. I read all of these books alone, but they were ones that I wished I’d read with a group because there was so much to talk about after reading. If your book club is looking for suggestions, check out these titles. Books to inspire great discussion Only Child by Rhiannon Navin Get a group of moms to read this book, and they will definitely have things to say! 4 Stars The Things We Wish Were True by Marybeth Mayhew Whalen So many characters. So much going on. There will certainly […]

List

Recent Reads #9

May 14, 2018 6 Comments

I have been reading a rather eclectic mix of books lately. Some nonfiction, non kid lit, and a lot of audiobooks. Today I’m sharing some more books that I read in April – catching up from my unplanned blogging hiatus. Books I read recently At Home in the World: Reflections on Belonging While Wandering the Globe by Tsh Oxenreider I first heard about this book on the Everyday Reading blog, and I immediately bought it on Audible because it sounded interesting, and I wanted to support Tsh Oxenreider, since her podcast Women’s Work is one of my recent podcast obsessions. It’s a memoir about her family (including […]

Review

Review: The Summer Sail by Wendy Francis

May 11, 2018 2 Comments

I read The Summer Sail on our recent cruise to the Bahamas. I thought it would be the perfect book since it’s about three college friends reuniting for a cruise to Bermuda, but unfortunately, it wasn’t right for me. Abby and Sam are celebrating their 20th wedding anniversary, so they decide to splurge for cruise with Abby’s college friends – Lee and Caroline. Lee brings her college freshman daughter, Lacey, and Caroline brings her boyfriend, Javier. Abby and Sam’s twin high-school sons also board the cruise. It should have been a light and fun, beachy read, and it kind of was, but it was too character […]

List

Book Round Up: Mystery/Suspense

May 9, 2018 2 Comments

I’ve been getting into the mystery and suspense genres more and more over the past couple of years. I really enjoy fast-paced books with tons of plot, and suspense stories often fit that bill. Plus I love the twisty endings, most of the time at least. I never see them coming. Books Recommended in Country Woman Magazine These three novels were quite character driven, but I thought they would work well for the older audience that reads Country Woman magazine. Younger readers should enjoy them too. The Confusion of Languages by Siobhan Fallon 4 Stars Little Deaths by Emma Flint 3 Stars Celine […]

List

Recent Reads #8

May 7, 2018 No Comments

I don’t know what happened. I had posts scheduled for while I was on spring break with my family, and then since I got back, I haven’t been able to stay on top of my life. I honestly don’t know what I’ve been doing with all my time, but I haven’t managed to squeeze blogging in. Thankfully, I have still been reading (although most recently it’s been almost all audio). Books I’ve read recently (well, through early April) Still Life (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache #1) by Louise Penny I have heard so many good things about this series, so when I saw it on sale […]