Guys it has been like pulling my own teeth to write this post. The great thing about reading more is, well, I’m reading more. But the thing that sucks is that these post are marathons. I’ll finish out the year, but I think next year I’ll rely on the instagram reviews exclusively. They’re easier, more fun, and reach more people. Be sure you’re following along on instagram and goodreads to see what I’m reading!

Girl, Wash Your Face

Rachel Hollis is an author, podcaster, event planner, and lifestyle guru. She’s fought her way through a tragic childhood, a career in Hollywood, physical ailments, anxiety, motherhood, and more, so she decided to share what she’s learned about the lies we believe about ourselves.

This book has been burning through the Instagram community and I had seen lots of friends post about it. There were literally 600 holds on the ebook and audiobook, but it only took me like a month to get the physical copy. I knew nothing about her or podcast or anything before starting, which was a little confusing but not a huge obstacle. Unfortch I do not think this book deserves the hype and spent a lot of time rolling my eyes or scratching my head. Still, it wasn’t a waste of time and some chapters were great!

Good

• Her voice and style is, for the most part, very approachable. She’s going for a “girlfriend-to-girlfriend” tone and she hits it.
• It’s definitely empowering and she infuses her belief in you onto every page.
• I liked that she addressed a diverse range of topics from motherhood to work to money to sex to diversity to… pretty much everything.
• I really respect anyone who owns how hard marriage is and how un-Hollywood most people’s love stories can be.
• She is very religious and shares her belief, but not in a preachy or overbearing way. This isn’t a book about God or religion.
• Each chapter ends with a “Things I Did” or “How To” or whatever and I found that incredibly helpful.
• I read a lot of self-help/motivational books so a lot of this was reinventing the wheel but her particular religious-mom-plugged into the social world-realistic-girlfriend tone is what will make this one resonate with women in similar situations, which is why it’s really taken off!

Less Good

• The premise of the book – debunking lies we tell ourselves – is awesome but it actually only fits a few of the chapters. Most of them feel too similar or too much of a stretch – like she was just trying to find a way to tell a particular anecdote.
• Many chapters seemed to drag on (and this isn’t a very long book!) and then wrap up quickly with the aforementioned bullet points about implementation. The bulk of each chapter should have been on implementation!
• I rolled my eyes everytime she said international media platform, so 1,639 times.
• I love honesty and realism in discussing love/relationships, but just because you feel comfortable sharing something doesn’t mean you should. Some of the things she shared about her husband and her marriage made my jaw drop.
• She is constantly addressing the audience (“friend” and “sister!”) but yet she doesn’t actually seem to have you in mind as she tells these stories. It’s all like “See how I figured this out and learned to thrive?!! Isn’t that so great!!! You can too!!!” But like… how? and your situation is crazy individualized and nontransferable???? What would this even look like in my life??? She tries here and there to give examples of other applications, but the book really needed a greater focus on each chapter’s principle – not her personal anecdotes – and more universal application.

Recommendation: I think this book is particularly well designed for young moms in the trenches of motherhood, or women in their 20s and 30s trying to figure out who they really are.

The Girl Who Drank the Moon

Luna is a special girl, nurtured with moonlight when she was an infant. The witch Xan rescued her from being the infant sacrifice of the Protectorate and raised her as her own in the forest along with Glerk the swamp monster and Fyrian, the Perfectly Tiny Dragon. Luna’s moonlight magic begins to emerge just as a brave young man from the Protectorate decides to kill the witch in the forest. Evil is revealed as good, good is revealed as evil, and everyone experiences growing pains as they become who they were meant to be. 

Oh this book. This book!!! I loved every page. I loved Xan and Glerk and Luna and the writing style and the message and the girl power and the love and sacrifice and bravery and magic!

Good

• This is a book about the power of love. Families, partners, friends, sisters, neighbors. I finished it feeling more love and connection to everyone in the world.
• Watching Luna grow from infant to teen was so sweet. She’s petulant and impatient and loving and brave.
• It’s been a long time since I’ve read real fantasy and it was just delightful. I escaped into the pages and left everything behind for a while.
• The reading style is very easy – this is middle grades fiction.
• There is a spiritual component to this book that strengthened my testimony of my divine motherhood and Heavenly Mother. <3

Less Good

• Xan has limited memory and she tries to uncover it but it trickles in, bit by bit. It’s pretty frustrating a lot of points in the book because it gets in the way of the flow of the story.
• There are a few key jumps in the timeline that left out some good information about characters – mostly those in the Protectorate.
• There is a big reunion that you wait for most of the book and then it was slightly underwhelming so I wish that had been served with a bigger bang!

Recommendation: Every mother in the world, every female over the age of 12, every lover of fantasy or middle grades fiction must read!

Dear Ijeawele, or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions

Award-winning author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie pens this letter in response to her friend who asked “How can I raise my infant daughter to be a feminist?” In fifteen “suggestions” she hits all of the key points of modern, happy, man-loving, balanced feminism.

LOVED. My girlfriend lent me this book and I immediately bought it as a birthday gift for one of my badass friends. I wish I could buy one for everyone, especially people who have a really limited or negative view of what feminism is or means.

Good

• It’s tiny! I read it in like 2 hours. I love that. She doesn’t drone on and on. She hits her points clearly and succinctly and is done in a flash.
• This is a letter between close friends and therefore is light, funny, and easy to read.
• I loved how practical. She uses lots of examples and careful definitions to make it impossible to misunderstand.
• It’s so positive and happy! She tackles hard things (infidelity, violence, subjugation) with a realistic but optimistic view. She is so clear about feminism NOT being defined by hating men, or shunning stay-at-home-moms, or putting makeup on the blacklist.
• If you’ve had a hard time reconciling feminism with your faith or your marriage or any other issues, or you know someone who has a limited understanding of feminism – buy this. Read it, gift it, ask those you love to read it and come back with questions!!

Less Good

• I loved the format but a few of the examples were clearly personal and are largely missed by readers who aren’t Ijeawele.
• I wish she would cover a bit more about how to teach young girls about men and our expectations for them. She addresses it a little more in We Should All Be Feminists, which I read in November (coming soon).

Frankenstein

Suffice it to say that this classic is worth a read, especially at Halloween!

The Thirteenth Tale

A very complex book that is difficult to explain. Part mystery, ghost story, horror, and family history. The writing was absolutely beautiful but if I hadn’t had it on audiobook I doubt I’d have finished.

Annihilation (Book 1) and Authority (Book 2)

I snagged these on ebook and audiobook and they are somethin’ else. If you like sci-fi, apocalyptic, thriller style books then these might be right up your alley. We’ll see if I can commit to the final book in the trilogy.