On the bookshelf -- July

Today we are sharing some of the books we have read this past month. We seem to have a little extra time to read during the summer (mostly in between customers at our sno cone shack) than we do during the winter, so we have been taking full advantage of that! What about you? Do you read more in the summer or the winter?

Bethany read Love Story by Karen Kingsbury. Kingsbury, a Christian author, was probably my favorite author when I was in middle school & high school. Her books are so raw & authentic & truly makes the reader feel like they're a part of the story. This book follows two different love stories. Bethany said she felt super invested in their lives & was truly rooting for some of the characters! She loved the book overall & would recommend it for any adolescent girls!

One issue Bethany came across is she hasn't read the Bailey Flanigan series yet & this book was written after that series came out so it unfortunately spoiled those books for her because she now already knows who ends up with who. I read the Bailey Flanigan series when I was in high school. My other sister Avery read the first book this summer & showed me that I had apparently underlined many different phrases & quotes throughout the book. If you've read that series before, then you know that my high school heart must've been hurtin'. Oh the things I wish I knew back then.

I'll be honest, I'm not the biggest fan of "self help" books. I know these types of books are good to read, they're just not my favorite & I find that every time I read one, I get very bored about halfway through & give up. My Mom gave me Welcome to Adulting by Jonathan Pokluda a while ago & I finally got around to reading it. For this book, I made myself read at least one chapter of it every night before bed. That way I didn't feel like I was "wasting my time" by reading it, but I was still making progress.

Overall, I gave this book three out of five stars. I've watched / listened to a few of JP's messages & have typically enjoyed them, which is how I felt when I started the book. He was being real & disclosing some things about his past that he's not so proud of & that I think a lot of people my age can probably relate to. However, probably the last fourth of the book, I was super disappointed with. His writing tone felt very judgmental & opinionated & finger-pointy to me. I know what messages he was trying to get across, but it just wasn't the best way to do it mixed with my personality type. All of that being said, I would still recommend this book to anyone in college or just out! "Adulting" is super hard & Lord knows we need all the help we can get. ;)

Another book I read this month was called A Life Without Water by Marci Bolden. I'm not gonna sugarcoat this one, this book was straight up depressing! I love a story about human struggles & resilience (that's the school counselor in me talking). But this one was just a little too much for me. Like I dreaded picking it up... I feel bummed saying all of that because the overall message this book gives on grief & healing & forgiveness is good & honestly pretty relatable. So it makes sense that this book felt sad. Grief is sad. Honestly this book just makes me feel like I need to take a big ole deep breath & sigh really loud & long. I definitely needed a good light & happy read after this one!

When I went to link this book, I found out that it's the first book in a series of two. I told my Mom & her response pretty much sums up exactly how I feel about it: "ugh ... I hate that I'm curious." We'll see if I can convince myself to read the second one at some point!

Okay after reading the Simple Wild by K. A. Tucker, I've decided that I'm moving to Alaska & nobody can change my mind! Such a sweet sweet story about love, forgiveness, & living everyday like it could be your last. The story follows a young adult girl named Calla and her estranged relationship with her father. Calla, who lives in Toronto, gets a call from a woman in Alaska, where her father still lives, to tell her that her father is sick & that she should come to see him. Calla is presented with an opportunity to get to know her father, whom she hasn't seen in twenty four years. There's a few surprises & a lot of sweet moments that made my truly love this story. There is a sequel which I also read this month -- the second I finished this book, I had to pick it up! There's a couple scenes that are pretty rated R in my opinion which I didn't love, but overall, I just loved the story for the message that it gave.

Wild at Heart is the sequel to the book above! This one is quite a bit longer & has a lot more rated R scenes than the first one, but I loved it just as much if not more! I don't want to share too much about this book because I don't want to give anything away from the first one. A third book is coming out in December & you better believe I'll be buying it right away! I might have to look into reading more from K. A Tucker in the meantime. ;)

Last but not least, I read The Magnolia Story by Chip & Joanna Gaines. I got this book a while ago for Christmas & just got around to reading it! I may take a little heat for my review of this book, but that's okay with me.

I really enjoyed the first half. I watched Fixer Upper when I was in college & while I loved Chip & Jo in the show, I was curious to find out what makes them who they are & how their story came to be. This little autobiography is great if you're wondering those same things! My feelings on the second half are a little different ... if I'm being completely honest, I felt like it got a little braggy? That's my issue with self-help books as well. I get annoyed / defensive because I feel like they're telling me the "right" way to live & I got that vibe from some chapters of this book as well. Overall, I was glad I read it because I had no knowledge of their backstory whatsoever so I enjoyed learning about that.

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Have you ever heard of the "goodreads" app? It's a free app that lets you track your reading progress, rate books you've read, keep a list of your want-to-read books, set yearly reading goals & follow along with what your friends are reading as well! It even gives you suggestions based off of your ratings & the types of books you read. We both really like it. You should check it out!