I’m pretty sure these book reviews are my favorite posts ever! I’ve always secretly been that “nerd” that wants to join or host a book club. There’s just something so fun about escaping into a completely made up world or feeling like you’re a part of someone else’s life after reading their stories. I just LOVE everything about it.
So I am so happy that it is book review time right now!
This month was such a good book month for me! The third book I read was definitely not a favorite, but these first two were such good reads! I would recommend them to anyone and everyone!
My first read of April was, “Where the Crawdads Sing” by Delia Owens.
Taking place in the early 1950’s to the mid 1960’s, Where the Crawdads sing follows the possible murder of a well known athlete and son of the local Auto shop owner in a small town in North Carolina.
Chase Andrews was found dead in the Marsh and the entire town is gossiping about how they believe the “Marsh Girl” is responsible.
An amazing story of abandonment and survival.
Love and Loss.
A story about a girl who longs to be loved and whose heart ached more and more with every person who walks out of her life.
A girl who beat the odds and learned so many life lessons all on her own, but is now being accused of murder.
It really was such a good novel and a story that I will always remember reading.
So good.
The second book I read this month was one that Shay from MixandMatchmama.com had on her book review back in July of 2018.
She deemed it a must read, and though its taken me nearly 9 months to finally get to it I’m excited that I finally did.
“The Great Alone” by Kristin Hannah
When I first started this book I thought the cover looked so similar to the first book I just read,
This book had a similar concept to “Where the Crawdads Sing”. It was another fantastic story of Survival and love.
Guys I could not put this book down.
It was so good.
I read all 440 pages in less then a week.
I felt like I was right there with these characters. It was so well written.
Though my childhood was absolutely NOTHING in comparison to the main character in this book, it often had me thinking back to some of those things that we have no control over as we grow up and make our journey through some of those hard changes in our teen and young adult lives.
“The Great Alone” is about a young girl and her parents who move from one state to the next on her fathers chase to find some sort of happiness after coming home from Vietnam and being held as a POW for six years.
The horrible awful things that he endured broke him, and try as he might he just wasn’t getting better.
They ended up in Alaska where he felt he would be happiest. Away from the crowds and most civilization.
A place where you had to learn to hunt if you wanted to eat or survive.
The story takes you through the families experience.
How Alaska changes her entire family. In some of the best and the worst ways possible.
It was amazing guys.
I would definitely definitely recommend this one!
Next up is a book that my hubby was sweet enough to grab when he was out at the grocery store one night.
I’ve never heard of the book before he brought it home, it wasn’t recommended to me by anyone and its the fifth book in a series of books so from the beginning I felt like I was ill prepared.
But guys, he saw this book in one of the big tubs of discount books and thought of me.
Picked through it, and found one he thought I might like. So sweet.
So of course, I had to read it!
The book is called “Lost and Gone Forever” by Alex Grecian
I really only have one word for this book.
STRANGE.
Like the oddest book I’ve ever read.
Maybe it was because I didn’t read the first few books and was missing some key information
Maybe its because there were little snippets about wooden dolls coming to life and talking to a little girl.
Who knows.
But it was weird.
I did read the whole book through though. I just felt like I had to know how it ended.
And even the ending was weird.
Basically in a nutshell is was about a missing detective from what they called the “Scottland Yard Crew”.
The book bounced back and forth between the sole detective left searching for his missing friend after a year of him being gone, and the missing detective who was able to walk out of captivity one day but has no idea who he is or where he’s from.
The entire time they are right in front of each others noses.
They are also following and trying to find the serial killer “Jack the Ripper” who is somehow tied in to the missing detective and many people close to him.
Just an all around odd read for me.
So I probably wouldn’t suggest reading it, but I would love to hear if anyone else out there has so I can hear your thoughts on it! 🙂
And the last book I read this month was one that I actually read half way through last year but then never finished.
“Unstuffed” was written by blogger Ruth Soukup, who gives great tips on how to declutter your life.
And not just your home or your paperwork.
She gives you great tips on decluttering every aspect of your life.
Your mind. Your digital media. Your email. Your paperwork.
This book is really helpful and I would highly recommend giving it a read.
Its not a super long book so its a pretty easy read.
The entire time I was reading it I was plotting out in my head how we would get started in our own home, implementing some of the things she talked about.
There is one section where she actually maps out an entire weekend schedule for you. Hour by hour and how much time you should spend in each room.
Definitely some great advice and after finishing the book I am so ready to start unstuffing my own life.
I did miss reading an actually story or memoir while I was reading this one so I’m super excited to dive into some good reads this month!
I’ve gotten so many great suggestions from some of you guys! Keep them coming!
I hope you all have an amazing week. I can not believe tomorrow is MAY!
Sorry, I had to. 😉
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If you’re interested in checking out some of my other book reviews of the year you can click the links below.
