All posts in category Book Review

Book Reviews: Redeeming Love and Write it Down

Come summer, we switch from TV watching indoors to sunbathing outdoors, am I right? And besides some good sunscreen, the most important accessory this summer is a good book. (Ok, trashy magazines also work)

As “reading season” begins, I’d like to share some book reviews with you. Basically, I read them…so you don’t have to! See how well that works out? Here are the latest 2:

Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers

This book is certainly different from any I’ve ever read before in that there is a lot of God in this book. It’s not a religious book, per say, but instead a novel with an intriguing story while using God’s voice as a main character and one that plays a substantial role in the story.

The book is set in the Gold Rush era of the 1850’s when a lot of women made their living through prostitution. A beautiful girl named Angel has had a hard life and it doesn’t seem like it will ever get any better for her. One day she meets a man named Michael who seems different from the rest of the men she’s ever known. Michael feels God is pushing him towards Angel but to say she is reluctant towards Michael is an understatement. She doesn’t think she deserves a life better than the one she has and is skeptical at any goodwill a person shows her. She doesn’t believe she’s capable of love or being loved, especially when her past keeps coming back to haunt her. Michael, along with other characters including the Big Man Upstairs, will try to show her that she is worthy of their love if only she will accept it.

The book is very nicely written and moves along great. Every time I put it down I was left wondering what would happen next with Angel and Michael and what their fate would ultimately be. I highly recommend this book whether you are religious and/or spiritual or not. The story is captivating enough that you can relish in or ignore all together the spiritual tones and simply enjoy the story.

Write it Down, Make It Happen

I’m always looking for motivation wherever I can find it. Sometimes, even when I find it, I let it slip away after the moment has passed. I’m sure we’re all guilty of that. This book delves into the importance of writing things down. This is something I do all the time anyways (lists on top of lists on top of lists) but this is a more formulaic strategy to writing down your goals and ultimately reaching them. There is no shortage of stories and examples in the book of how people have done this and how it has worked for them.

This is what my book looked like after reading it. Tabs galore.

The information was really helpful and insightful and also, if I may say, a little outdated. The book was written in 2001 when writing notes down on your iPhone wasn’t an option and so pen and paper was still key. That’s honestly besides the point though because I believe the theories will still work, regardless of where you write them down.

The book is a quick read and assuming you follow the advice, can be very motivational and goal orienting. I’ve written down a lot of my goals. Now I have to put the plans into action. That, of course, is the trickier part.

Coming up next:

I just ordered these two bad boys off Amazon. They were on my Pinterest Books board and looked like good, light reads.

From Notting Hill w ith Love…Actually

Couldn’t resist this Chick Lit book featuring a love for romantic comedies. Especially with one of my all-time faves, Love Actually, right there in the title.

Bread and Wine, A love let ter to life around the table

Because really, who doesn’t love bread and wine?

Also, a friend is lending me this one:

And The Mountains Echoed

If you read (and loved) A Thousand Splendid Suns and The Kite Runner then you can share in the excitement of this new book by Khaled Hosseini.

That’s all for now folks! Can’t wait to delve into all these books. You can check out past reviews here and here for more good options.

Have you read any of these or anything else good lately? Please do share!

Happy Reading and Happy Summer.

Cheers.

Book Review- Gone Girl & The American Heiress

Hi Friends,

So remember on my last Book Review post I said I had picked up Gone Girl and The American Heiress to read next? Well now I have! Here’s what I thought of the two:

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

It’s weird the way I feel about this book. I couldn’t put it down, so that makes it good right? But the way it ends, pretty much the last few pages, angers me! So that makes it bad right? Well I guess that’s the black and white of it all but as for the gray area, it’s an interesting read full of twists and turns. It plays out like a good movie, which is probably why they are making it into one. The story follows married couple Amy and Nick Dunne, two very detailed and intricate characters. They both narrate their own story and their respective voices help paint a clear picture of the type of people they are and the way they feel in the marriage. When Amy suddenly goes missing (she’s the Gone Girl), the story jumps back and forth between the husband and wife. It’s a case of whodunit…except its SO much more than that.

I do recommend the book even though it didn’t turn out the way I wanted it to. But such is life right? I’ll definitely keep my eye out for the movie.

The American Heiress by Daisy Goodwin

I’m having trouble deciding whether this book was good, bad or just eh. I think we’ll go with just eh. After I had put it down for two months because I wasn’t into it, I picked it back up, started from the beginning again and, for whatever reason, it got more interesting after that. The writing is wonderful in the sense that it gives you just enough details to allow you to visualize the scene without boring you. It follows the story of Cora Cash, a young girl from Newport, Rhode Island in the 1890’s the who has lots of, well, cash. Filthy rich Cora and her overbearing socialite mother travel to England in search of a husband for young Cora and wouldn’t you know it, she has a chance encounter with a man who turns out to be a duke. From here we begin to explore Cora’s relationship with the duke and the people constantly around them, of which there are plenty. There is jealously, malice, intrigue, duty, love, affair and scandal all set in a castle in England. Sound familiar? It should if you watch Downton Abbey! This could almost be the story of how Cora met Lord Grantham on DA. Even their names are the same.

As in Gone Girl, I wasn’t crazy about the ending. It was abrupt after a long build up. However, if you like stories of English royalty, dukes and duchesses and things, then this book is for you.

My next two books aren’t novels but instead self-help types books.

Write It Down: Make it Happen: Knowing What You Want and Getting It

and

Mastering the Rockefeller Habits

Has anyone read any of these Self Help/Business books? I usually stick to novels for the escapism factor but these two were recommended so I thought I’d give them a try because, let’s face it, we could always use a little help expanding our minds.

Happy Reading Friends.

2 Comments

by susyhomemaker on March 12, 2013 • Permalink

Posted in Book Review

Tagged book review, books, gone girl, the american heiress

Posted by susyhomemaker on March 12, 2013

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Book Reviews: Unbroken & Where We Belong

Hi Friends,

Since summer is wrapping up, I thought I’d review some books for you that I read during this season of longer days and Tv show hiatus. I always love getting book recommendations and reviews from other people so I thought I’d return the favor. I keep it short and sweet so there are no spoilers.

Here we go…

Unbroken

I can’t say enough about this book. It was beautifully written, heart wrenching to read at times and yet I couldn’t put it down. While calling it a story of resilience feels like an understatement, that’s exactly what it is. Resilience that comes from a level you didn’t think the human spirit could be tested.

For those that don’t know, this is the story of Louie Zamperini, the child of Italian immigrants, an adolescent troubler maker, an olympic athlete, and a World War 2 bombardier. His story is incredible at every turn and the title of the book is so fitting when you realize that after any tragedy there can be triumph. I highly recommend this book. It’s the type that stays with you, long after you’ve read the last page.

In a lighter, more chick lit type category, we have Where We Belong.

You may be familiar with Emily Giffin’s work, especially Something Borrowed and Something Blue. I’ve read all her books but those two were my favorite and of course Something Borrowed was recently turned into a movie starring Kate Hudson.

This story follows Kirby, a high school senior from a modest, suburban family who feels different from other kids and sometimes an outsider from her own family. While these are typical teenage feelings, Kirby is adopted, further convincing herself that her feelings of not belonging are valid. She sets out to find her birth parents believing that she will better understand herself if she knows where she came from.

The book was admittedly not my favorite and I thought it ended rather abruptly. While the story wasn’t boring and moved along rather quickly, it wasn’t necessarily a page turner. If you’re a fan of Giffins and looking for a quick, extension-of-summer-read, then it might be right for you.

I’m looking forward to my next two books that I just ordered off Amazon: Gone Girl and The American Heiress.