May 2020 Book Reviews

Hello friends!

This was the third month of my social-distancing.  I live alone so I have had plenty of time to read!  Unfortunately I usually end up watching some trash TV (looking at you RHOBH). I have found it so hard during this time to focus on reading.  But, I have read some good books this month!

Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell

This was my book club book for May.  It is a bit of a thriller about a girl who goes missing and her mother dealing with the aftermath.  Laurel is the mother of two girls, her youngest, and favorite daughter goes missing.  10 Years later, she has a strained relationship with her other daughter and she is no longer with their father.  In a fun “meet cute” she meets a single dad at a coffee shop and they hit it off.  But in a strange turn of events, his daughter Poppy reminds her a lot of her missing daughter Ellie.  Is this just a weird coincidence?  Or is this a sign that something more sinister happened?

This book was pretty twisted.  Some of the twists, I saw coming and some of them took me by surprise.  I typically don’t like stories of children going missing, but that plot line didn’t disturb me as much as it does in other books.  I really liked this book and it went well over all with the members of my book club.  Except my mom, she’s a tough critic!  I recommend this book and gave it 4 stars!

I Owe You One by Sophie Kinsella

Here is another book I read this month.  I have a love/hate relationship with Sophie Kinsella books.  I have read all of the Shopaholic Books, most of the stand along books that she has written.  Also, I have read most of her books that she wrote under her other pen name.  I find her books to be engaging, but I always struggle with the protagonist, and this book was no different.

This story is the story of a girl (roughly my age so I can relate) who is hopeless in love.  She always seems to fall for the wrong guy who doesn’t like her back (Again, boy can I relate to that!) She meets a guy in a coffee shop and saves his laptop from being ruined when water comes rushing from the ceiling.  This leads to a story of love, heart break, family loyalty, and learning to stand up for yourself!  After I got over wanting to reach into the book and yell some sense into the protagonist, I really liked this book!  I gave it 4 stars out of 5.

15 Invaluable Laws of Growth by John C. Maxwell

 

I really like John C. Maxwell, I have listened to him speak and I think that he has a clear, concise way of presenting his message.  But I didn’t love this book.  I feel bad leaving a negative review of this book because I think it’s more about me and what I was looking for, then his writing, but I just couldn’t get into reading it.

This book should be more specifically advertised for a work place.  I was looking on a book for personal growth and development and what I got was a book about really growing as a leader, a boss, and in the work place.  So I just really didn’t feel as though I got anything out of this book.

I found that this book was probably great for a specific group of people, but it wasn’t what I was looking for.  I gave it 3 out of 5 stars.

Eating the Moment by Pavel Somov

 

This book was bizarre.  I was looking for books on binge eating, because to be honest that is something I struggle with.  I have a tendency of having an undeniable craving for a food that I know I shouldn’t eat and then consuming way too much of it.  This happens day after day, week after week, and sabotages any diet that I am on.  When I am busy I can combat it, but with quarantine, and being home all the time, I have really been struggling recently.

I do NOT recommend this book.  It had a list of really bizarre tips for preventing binge eating that I don’t understand how they could even work.  Some of the tips, such as keeping a food journal, or not eating when your attention is elsewhere, I had heard of before and could be good advice.  But I can not get behind eating chocolate covered beetles, or eating with a clothespin on your nose so you can’t smell.  Try doing that at a restaurant!

I just didn’t find this book practical and I gave it one out of five stars.

Devil in the White City by Erik Larson

I was disappointed by this book.  I like everything I have read by Erik Larson.  He has a style that takes a nonfiction book and makes it read like a fiction book.  I went into reading this book and thought that it was going to be mostly about H.H. Holmes, which it was not.  I was disappointed by this.  This story focused mostly on the architect and city planner that designed the Chicago worlds fair.  There were whole chapters about the development of the Ferris Wheel, and how the Ferris Wheel was invented.  The information about Holmes was definitely a minimum.  This could possibly be because I don’t think a lot of information is known, but that is what I wanted to read this book for.

I gave this book three out of five stars because it was still very well written.

Also, Check Out:

April Book Reviews

The Best Books I Read in 2019