On the bookshelf in March

The first book I read was Everybody, Always: Becoming Love in a World Full of Setbacks & Difficult People by Bob Goff. I have read a couple other books by Bob Goff so I kind of already knew his writing style going into this one. He tells lots of different stories & kind of jumps all over the place which I find just a tad hard to follow. When I was about halfway through this book, I told my dad (who loves Bob Goff) that I wasn’t really enjoying this book & I thought it was boring. But y’all, I spoke too soon! The “meat” of the book definitely was in the second half & reminded me why I like his books. I gave this book three out of five stars.

The second book I read was The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks. Y’all let me be real with you for a second, I had already decided I wasn’t going to like this book before I even opened it. In a lot of my previous reads by Nicholas Sparks, I felt like they were all too fluff & not enough depth. Well he proved me wrong on this one!! There was romance, suspense, crime & even a natural disaster. It follows three main characters, Logan Thibault, Beth Green & Keith Clayton. Logan is in the marines when he finds a lost picture of a beautiful girl taken at a county fair. After trying & failing to find the picture’s owner, Logan ends up keeping it & it turns into his good luck charm. Logan was in multiple scenarios that should have killed him, but for some reason, he was kept alive. Logan’s best friend, Victor, attributes his luck to the picture. Once Logan is out of the marines, he feels pretty lost & ends up making a cross-country trek to identify who this mystery woman is. That’s where Beth comes in. Beth has a son named Ben with ex-husband Keith, who just so happens to be a slimy sherrif who acts as if he’s above the law thanks to his last name in their tiny little southern town. See how it’s all coming together now? You’ll have to read to see how it ends. I was shook! I gave this book four out of five stars.

The third book I read was The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride. This was the book chosen for this month’s book club. It has decent ratings & I’m honestly not sure why. I don’t even really know how to review this book. It was so all over the place & had so many different story lines & characters that it was just really hard to keep things straight. I honestly needed to take notes while I read. There was some mystery, crime & history shared which I did find interesting, but honestly it was all just kind of overshadowed by all the other mini plots. I gave this book two out of five stars.

Next I started a three book series. The first book in the series is called Maybe Someday by Colleen Hoover. I am a bit conflicted with my review of this book. It flowed really well which made it really easy to read, which is how I feel about most Colleen Hoover books. The part I’m conflicted on with this book is morally I didn’t agree with the main character’s decisions. Because of this, I wasn’t really rooting for them, Ridge & Sydney, like most of the time you do. I don’t really want to give a recap because I don’t want to spoil anything, & also because I know I have a bias here & thus my review will probably be a bit more negative than those who don’t share my bias. I’m curious to see how I’ll feel about the next two books. Anyway, I gave this book three out of five stars.

The second book in the series is called Maybe Not. This book was super short, like literally only took two hours to read. It was about Ridge’s best friend, Warren, & their new roommate, Bridgette. There were bits & pieces about these two in the first book, so I kind of knew what to expect. Unfortunately since it was so short, there just wasn’t much depth at all & it was mostly just the two of them getting down & dirty with each other. It was definitely more rated R than the first book. I gave this book two out of five stars.

The third & final book in the series is called Maybe Now. I gotta be honest, I was somewhat fed up with this story, the characters & plot line by the time I finished this book. I’m sure part of it was because I just didn’t like the plot based on biases I have & there was only one character added to this book so it pretty much just added a little bit more, but was basically the same as the first book as far as content. I feel like my reviews typically aren’t this negative, but I just really didn’t enjoy this short series & I have to be honest about that! I gave this book two out of five stars.

The seventh book I read to round out my March reads was The Mothers by Brit Bennett. I gotta be honest, y’all… I did not understand this book. It told the story of Nadia Turner who honestly had such a hard life. Her mother completed suicide while Nadia was just an adolescent, leaving her to live with her widowed father. Her father, Robert, was an avid church-goer which is kind of where ther other half of the book’s perspective comes in. There is a group of women, called The Mothers, who pray for people in the congregation (& let’s be honest, they also gossipp quite a bit, too). Nadia gets pregnant with the reverend’s son, Luke Sheppard & the two of them decide she should have an abortion. Also, Nadia’s closest friend, Aubrey, was molested by her mother’s boyfriend before she left her mom’s house & moved in with her older sister. There is so much to unpack with these stories, but the element with The Mothers was so strange & honestly threw me off all the time. I gave this book two out of five stars.

The eighth book I read was Living Fully: Dare to Step into Your Most Vibrant Life by Mallory Ervin. Those of you who have stuck around for lots of my book review posts know by now that I’m not the biggest fan of self help books. Oftentimes this genre gives me high horse / “I know exactly how to change your life so listen to me” vibes so I’ve become very picky. I didn’t hate this one, but it definitely felt like it was pushing beliefs onto me (which is a big thing I don’t like). For example, the book said things like “you have to do this in order to have a happy life”. It’s hard because different things work for different people. Additionally, not everyone may want to live that way. I did enjoy the different personal stories she shared & the writing flowed really well. I gave this book three out of five stars.

My heart was so full heading into the 2023 Christmas season! I finished up reading the entire Bible. Bible Recap: A One-Year Guide to Reading & Understanding the Entire Bible was such a great resource that helped me better understand what I was reading & how it applies to my life! It was amazing to me how much was familiar & how much I didn’t know I was missing. Having a better understanding of the Bible & being in the word every day has brought so much peace into my life! I’m not big on New Year’s resolutions, but if you’ve been feeling the pull to read your Bible more, I highly recommend Bible recap to help you on your journey. I’m excited to start over & eager to see what new things I will pick up on & learn.

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