8 In Books & Writing

Book roundup 3

book roundup

Hi friends of the interweb! I hope you’re well on this Friday and that you’re ready for a book roundup!

Work has been crazy since I’ve been back from holiday but I thought I would drop a post today with book reviews because that’s definitely a thing I’ve been doing a lot lately : reading! This is mainly because I’ve been travelling – with over 20 hours of plane journeys/layovers with only my tablet to distract me. 

Here are the books I’ve read in February and March: 

Bel Canto. Ann Patchett. 3.5/5

I really liked this book – it reminded me a lot of The Girl Who Saved The King of Sweden with the weird characters all together and all from different backgrounds and countries. It’s the story of a hostage situation with ambassadors from different countries and it leads to many funny/touching situations. I could have really done without the epilogue though.

Tuesday Nights in 1980. Molly Prentiss. 4/5

This book was given to me by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. It will be released later in May and that is when I will be reviewing this book.

Layered. Tessa Huff. 4/5

*This book was given to me by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review – all opinions are my own.*
An amazingly beautiful, colourful, unique, useful and drool-worthy baking book. I love that the recipes are so original (like offering a recipe with matcha). I find the tips, techniques and troubleshooting wonderful as often baking books only include recipes and if they don’t turn out alright then it’s hard to correct. She also explains all the terms she uses and makes it easy to follow along. I don’t know if an eight layers cake is feasible for me – but I think a 2 to 4 layers cake is great and her recipes and tips are very welcomed.

Glass Sword. Victoria Aveyard. 3/5

*This book was given to me by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review – all opinions are my own.*
I have mixed feelings about this second book. I liked the first one and could barely put it down but this one didn’t give me that feeling. I thought it seems a good preparation for what will probably be the next and last book, but there was something missing. It was all fight and no emotions. I found it hard to find what grounds the main character, what drives her. I felt it was a lot of telling and not a lot of showing me what was wrong. There were no real motivations shown to us. It also felt like the main character’s thoughts didn’t go back past the first book. I felt it required more about the past and what made all the characters thick. Regardless, I did enjoy reading it and can’t wait to see the next one.

Me Before You. Jojo Moyes. 3/5

I read this book in about 24h because I could barely put it down – which is always a good thing. However, I have mixed feelings about this book – I liked that it was grounded in reality but at the same time I thought it was unlikely. Spoilers coming…stop now if you haven’t read it! Overall, I liked that he inspired her and I liked the messages of the book – to fight and aspire to more, or at least aspire to something good in your eyes. I know you can’t help falling in love with someone but I thought the premise was weird – like she could really have convinced him. I also like that he did go through with it – that was realistic. However I hated the way he talked to her in the end ‘that he wanted a big life because that’s what he was made for bla bla’ I found it degrading of other people, like he was too good for it all. To be frank, I’m not about to go see the movie.

The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper. Phaedra Patrick. 3.2/5

*This book was given to me by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review – all opinions are my own.*
The story of a widower who tries to retrace his wife’s past through her bracelet charms. It’s a very charming book and narrative. I liked that it brought a character outside his comfort zone and I always like a book with some adventures and travels near and far. My only criticism was that it was all a bit too positive and too well-rounded – things don’t happen like that in real life. You will like it if you want to read about adventures big or small.

The Dogist. Elias Weiss Friedman. 3.8/5

*This book was given to me by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review – all opinions are my own.*
Such a wonderful book. I would absolutely recommend buying it or gifting it to people who love dogs. It’s wonderful if you’re like me and want a dog but don’t have one – you can fawn over the gorgeous photos of the gorgeous dogs Friedman took. I don’t know much about breeds so it was great to see the names next to the photos. The names of the dogs to me told stories about their humans. I especially liked when there were quotes or stories with the images an I definitely wished there were more.

La suerte de Ozu. Claudia Rueda. 4/5

A lovely Taoist tale about life, the present and the future, and about worrying less about things we don’t control. 

The Bucket List to Mend a Broken Heart. Anna Bell. 3.7/5

*This book was given to me by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review – all opinions are my own.*
I really loved the bucket list, the adventure, the fact that the character puts herself out there, the romance, etc. However, what I didn’t love was the premise that it was to get a man back. I found it hard to even like the main character when she obsessed about her ex-boyfriend. I wish that had been toned down a bit and left more space to her getting out of her comfort zone and growing. Over all however, I loved the read and the characters and would recommend this book if you want to add a little adventure to your life.

The Smell of Other People’s Houses. Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock. 4/5

*This book was given to me by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review – all opinions are my own.*
Wow this book was not what I expected – it was even better. From the get go it surprised me with the very realistic portrayal of Alaska before it became a state. I was a bit lost at first from the different narratives, trying to remember all the different characters and their very different background and stories, but by the end I was in love with the whole thing. It felt real and beautiful and raw and tough – like real life. It thought it ended in a beautiful way and gave a beautiful message about people that surround us whether we know it or not.

The Night that Changed Everything. Laura Tait and Jimmy Rice. 3.5/5

*This book was given to me by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review – all opinions are my own.*
This was a great read and a quick read actually. I got into it immediately and the characters were all interesting, flawed and personable. It felt like I was reading about friends. Something that happens later in the book disturbed me because I just didn’t really get how this would happen out of the blue, and how much it would change people who thought they were perfect for each other. It just all seems a bit unrealistic. The ended was a bit cliche, but I still really appreciated it and was happy how it ended.

The Rejected Writers’ Book Club. Suzanne Kelman. 2.5/5

*This book was given to me by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review – all opinions are my own.*
I really really wished I’d liked this book but I just didn’t really click with any of it. I didn’t buy the book club, I didn’t buy the characters, I didn’t buy any of the road trip or the situation. It’s sad because it’s such an interesting premise and I do love anything to do with books or road trips. It’s not that it was badly written or anything, the prose was fine, but I think that perhaps it was the style of it or that I’m not old enough to enjoy this kind of book. It was mostly about older women and I truly didn’t feel particularly interested by their lives or even able to identity to any of them.

Make it Easy. Stacie Billis. 3.8/5

*This book was given to me by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review – all opinions are my own.*
Make it Easy is a great title for this recipe book as this is what it’s all about, making it easier to make easy stuff at home. Stuff we sometimes take for granted to just buy – but so much healthier to make it at home. I rarely read recipe books from cover to cover but this was an interesting one as it gave so many tips and tricks throughout. I love that it tells you what you could try matching together, smart ways of making quick and delicious meals that probably don’t cost too much. I especially love how much was vegetarian – which is rare for a book that isn’t about ‘cooking vegetarian’. I’d recommend it if you want to make classics like pesto, margherita pizza or a salmon rice bowl.

Shtum. Jem Lester. 3.8/5

*This book was given to me by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review – all opinions are my own.*
This is a book following a broken family with an autistic child as the parents are trying to get him the care he so desperately needs. I have mixed feelings about this book because I didn’t request it. I was given it by the publisher and it truly isn’t my kind of book. However, I thought it was beautiful and raw, shocking and sad, frustrating and challenging. It was a great read. If you like books about difficult family situation, about love for your family or love for yourself, about finding the right words, then you will love this beautifully written book about the difficult of having an autistic child in a world that still doesn’t fully understand them.

Eligible. Curtis Sittenfeld. 2.5/5

*This book was given to me by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review – all opinions are my own.*
I requested this book because I had heard a lot about it, but I was highly disappointed overall. It is such a great classic storyline and love story, but I found it difficult to see it as a modern tale in this instance. Some bits of it I enjoyed, but unfortunately, most often I found it weird. I thought Mr and Mrs Bennet were straight out of the original storyline era which didn’t fit the contemporary timeline. I thought it was a bit weird how old all the sisters were – the way they acted felt more accurate to the age in the original storyline. I found the premise of the reality tv show difficult to digest. It also felt very politically incorrect with the way it dealt with issues of race and trans-gender. And most importantly for me, I didn’t find the prose very good. I can see the appeal in this book – I’m sure many Austen fan will like this modern interpretation, but it just wasn’t for me.

What good books did you read last month?xx

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