Hey! So I wrote some of these blogposts before launching, so I'm a bit backed up! Regardless, monthly book reviews are my absolute FAVORITE to read of all of my favorite blogger's posts. I look forward to that day each and every month, and I get giddy to see her reviews as well as those of everyone else posting.
That being said, I have traditionally posted my reviews and ratings on GoodReads. I think I'll still do that, but I know so many of my friends use me as their personal book referral guide, so I'll do monthly reviews on here too. This is so super fun to me!
As you all probably know, I LOVE to read! Whenever I get any free minute, 9.9 times out of 10, I'm using that time to read.
Here's what I read this past January. With traveling to/from our wedding, honeymoon, and wedding planning ending, I could finally get back up to 6 books a month again! Just an FYI for these reviews, I just quickly jot down my ideas from notes I take in my phone while reading. They're nothing fancy, they're not full reviews, they're not intended to be lengthy and well developed; they're just a few short thoughts to give you an overall impression of the good, the bad, and other thoughts I found worthy enough to jot down.
To put my own spin on these book reviews, I'm also going to always show how many stars I give them on GoodReads. The limit is 5 stars, with 5 being the best! I rarely give a 5 star rating; I save that for the BEST of the BEST!
The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Wow. I don’t know how I can consider myself an avid reader yet I haven’t read this book until now. I checked it out many times, but I never got around to reading it and now I know how much I was missing out on. This got me out of a book funk where I just put down 4 other books halfway through. Powerful. I’m not sure writing a review would do this book and topic justice, so I’m just going to leave it at that.
I Do: Planning Your Dream Wedding by Jessica Simpson ⭐⭐⭐
As a lifelong Jessica Simpson fan, I loved the pics (even though obviously outdated and unrelated to her second marriage), but the text wasn’t that engrossing. It was still a fun book to read for some last minute hype the week of our wedding!
My Darling Husband by Kimberly Belle ⭐⭐⭐
I did enjoy reading this book poolside on our honeymoon, but this wasn’t my favorite of the author’s. I definitely could have used a change of scenery for the characters- maybe more backstory or time when they weren’t actually held hostage in the house? It was a lot of (somewhat repetitive) character thoughts and was predictable halfway through. Looking forward to her next book though!
God Bless this Mess by Hannah Brown ⭐⭐⭐⭐
I can't resist a Bachelor/Bachelorette book! This book was one I needed about 10 years ago, and I can see it appealing to women in their early 20's. She is definitely relatable, and I admire her for how she speaks about her faith. It was interesting but nothing extremely revealing and jawdropping!
Reckless Girls by Rachel Hawkins ⭐⭐⭐⭐
When it was time for us to leave our tropical island honeymoon, it was time to escape into this “paradise” book!
It did seem a bit immature and I would have LOVED it as a college student…and it does have a slow start, but it definitely gets better! It was gripping and engaging; I found it super helpful that the characters are announced in intervals which keeps them from being confused for one another. Per usual, I liked the present storyline better than when it toggled back to the past, but all of it worked together for a super interesting (albeit somewhat predictable) storyline. I was surprised at how into this book I was!
It did seem a bit immature and I would have LOVED it as a college student…and it does have a slow start, but it definitely gets better! It was gripping and engaging; I found it super helpful that the characters are announced in intervals which keeps them from being confused for one another. Per usual, I liked the present storyline better than when it toggled back to the past, but all of it worked together for a super interesting (albeit somewhat predictable) storyline. I was surprised at how into this book I was!
Going There by Katie Couric ⭐⭐⭐⭐
I find memoirs/autobiographies to be so gripping and difficult to put down! Most of the time, they are written by celebrities I know little to nothing about, but when they're so well-written, that doesn't matter. Katie Couric is someone I have heard of, of course, but I didn't know much about her personality or life. She has a straight to the point, journalistic writing style in this book. She proves that it is all about connections and who you know, at least in her industry. I didn't know many of the people she was referring to, but doing a quick Google search of pics of them helped me to stay connected. While the book had a slow start, it soon became interesting. It was a perfect mix of light and depth, or as she refers to it "Katie" and "Katherine", and was thought provoking. It focuses not just on her life, but on many important societal and events throughout her time in the news. Reading many other reviews, it seems that most people think this book made her more likeable, but I'm not so sure about that. I'm not sure if I think that highly of her in many ways after reading this book, but she sure thinks highly of herself. I do admire her as being a strong woman though!
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