On the bookshelf in March & April
I took two weeks off from reading in March — one week was my sister spring break trip to Waco & the other week was cheer tryouts week. Both weeks were just super busy & I didn’t want to force myself to read, so I decided to combine two months into one post!
The first book I read was The Seed: Finding Purpose & Happiness in Life & Work by Jon Gordon. A group of people in my school district are doing a mini book club over this book as a form of professional development. I’m not super big into self-help books, so I knew going into it that I probably wasn’t going to love it. It had some good points about finding your purpose in your workplace. One of my greatest takeaways from the book was that once you’ve found your happiness within your work place, you should make sure that you protect it.
The second book I read was Truths I Never Told You by Kelly Rimmer. Wowza this book was a doozy on my brain & heart. It alternates between a few different perspectives — Beth (adult daughter), Grace (Beth’s mother) & Maryanne (Grace’s sister). This book focuses heavily on a topic that I personally don’t think is talked about enough — postpartum depression. It’s hard to picture a time when there wasn’t adequate information on how to help people with their mental state. This is something that as a counselor, makes me really thankful for all of the developments that have taken place over the last fifty years. The book also addresses abortion & women’s rights to choose. I’m not going to get into my beliefs on the matter, that’s not what this book review is about. Regardless of where you stand, there’s nothing wrong with a little eye-opening experience. I love books that challenge my way of thinking by exposing me to other perspectives, & this book did exactly that for me. It was beautifully written & I found myself feeling deep empathy for the characters of this book. There were even a few times that my eyes filled with tears. If you don’t know by now, I’m a sucker for a story on human struggle & resiliency. (lol) My dad & I both gave it five stars, my mom gave it four.
The third book I read was Evidence of the Affair by Taylor Jenkins Reid. This book was on kindle unlimited & it was such a quick read — truly was only like one hour! As indicated by the title, the book is about two couples who are having an affair. The book is just letters that are written back & forth between the spouses of the individuals having the affair. It was very interesting to read from their perspective & get an inside view to how an affair affects a relationship. There’s a good plot twist right at the end that I wasn’t expecting (I always love when this happens)! Even though it was different than the books I usually read, I actually kind of liked it. I gave it three stars & my mom gave it four.
The fourth book I read was Dear Emmie Blue by Lia Louis. This book was on kindle unlimited & I actually really loved it. I don’t want to give much away, but it was very counselor-y! Emmie Blue was desperately wishing for a friend so she attached a letter to a balloon & of course, because this is a book & not reality, a boy named Lucas found it & they became instant BFFs who are in each other’s lives for a very very long time. The book kind of bounces back & forth between different situations that they’ve been through together & how their relationship has evolved over the years. This book has a lot of depth in a lot of different aspects & that was something that I really enjoyed. Aside from the whole balloon thing, it actually felt very real. Just a heads up, this book should come with a trigger warning because it does talk about sexual assault between a high school female student & a male teacher.
My mom & I both gave it four out of five stars.
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