I am honestly still surprised at how much reading I got done in February. We were gone basically 2/4 weeks, but that actually helped. I burned through three of these on ebook within like a week so that was awesome. Quitting Twitter has left me a bunch of free time, especially on my phone, and I’ve supplanted it with reading ebooks! 10/10 recommend.

The two regular books I read were much more piecemeal. I listened to My Cousin Rachel on audiobook, which was a lot of fun but also took almost a month. I had to check it out twice. Mere Christianity was incredible but very deep, and I needed to take lots of time to process even small paragraphs if he was getting super meta about it. Which he did. A lot.

All in all, a great month of reading. And it goes to show that you have to adapt reading to your lifestyle and season! Traveling or busy months mean more ebooks and audiobooks, but being at home or by the pool means physical books. I try to always keep one of each format in my rotation so I can easily be into a book no matter where my day takes me.

My Cousin Rachel

When his ailing uncle and guardian Ambrose writes from Italy that he has rapidly met, fallen in love with, and married a distant Cousin Rachel, Philip Ashley is jealous and confused. Within weeks, Ambrose’s death causes dark suspicion. But once Rachel arrives, she is not what Philip pictured. In fact he finds himself growing more enamored of her everyday, despite the small, dark moments which remind him of his questions. 

This book was amazing and very unique for me. It’s an incredible dark and suspicious romance set in Cornwall. DuMarier’s writing is like a delicious meal you want to savor, but I’m still glad I listened to it because the dialogue made me feel like I was there listening in.

Good

• The writing. She is a master. I’m excited to read Rebecca and pretty much everything else of hers I can get my hands on. I’ll find some way to fit them into my already planned 2018 reading schedule lol.
• The characters just always have you questioning. Is Philip bold and brave or a whiny and jealous little b*tch? Is Rachel sinister or just damaged? Was Ambrose suffering or targeted? The complexity is addicting.
• I found myself shouting out loud sometimes! I would think I’d know where something was going and then just as rapidly I was back on my toes.
• The narrator was really good for this audiobook, in my opinion. Good emotion and life in the reading.

Less Good

• It was definitely a long book to listen to.
• There were a few times I started to get a little bored when I thought I knew where it was going, so I’d stop listening for a few days and then force myself back into it to find there was a crazy twist just 5 minutes in. I don’t love forcing myself to read/listen, but I wish I had just listened more consistently.
• The movie was interesting, and I really liked the casting. But it took a lot of license with the book and did some funny things. I know this shouldn’t really count against the book but it tainted my memory of it a little.

Recommendation: If you love British romance, but crave a little more depth or intrigue. Fans of Austen will be drawn in and convert to the dark gothic mystery genre!

Mean Streak

Philanthropist and beloved pediatrician Emory Charbonneau plans a marathon training run deep in the foggy mountains in North Carolina, right after a fight with her husband. She wakes up in a mysterious stranger’s cabin, unable to contact anyone for help, captive for several days that will change everyone’s lives in a dangerous and thrilling way. 

I don’t know exactly what I expected but this wasn’t it! I’ve never really read a ton of mysteries or crime novels, but now I think I’m hooked. This book came recommended by a friend, and normally I would have never glanced twice at it but I ended up reading it as an ebook on my phone in like 2 days lol.

Good

• Rapid read. You just want to keep going! Very compelling. Excellent choice for an airplane or vacation read, because you just lose yourself in it.
• I did NOT see it coming. Like, any of it. There are twists every 20 pages!
• The raciness was, well, racy. But I enjoyed it. It didn’t feel gross or too pornographic, and it wasn’t useless like it can be in some books. It was used for interest, of course, but also for plot and character development.

Less Good

• The raciness. lol full disclosure it’s pretty racy. Like not for teens or super Mormons. It’s nothing insane but it’s racy.
• The two main characters, Emory and mystery cabin man, were just a little too much in my opinion? Like they’re both just too many things at the same time. But I still liked them.
• I know it’s a mystery, but am I still allowed to be bugged about being intentionally misled? Without any spoilers they just strongly imply and even outright say things about the mystery character that, looking back, were SO unrealistic and didn’t line up with the big reveal about the character in the end. It’s hard to describe without giving it away, but basically it just felt like betrayal to go so far to make us believe something that wasn’t true just for a huge dramatic impact.

Recommendation: If you’re looking for a fast, fun, engrossing read for a trip or long weekend. A great entry into mystery/thriller genre if you’ve never really dipped a toe!

This is Where It Ends

In 54 minutes, the life of every single student at Opportunity High changes when a student opens fire in a locked auditorium. A small cast of students reflects on their impact on the shooter, the different paths that have all led them here, and the different paths they’ve been planning on taking if they can get out alive. 

This book grabbed me by the throat and did not let me go. It’s hard to use the word “enjoy” about a book chronicling a fictional school shooting, especially when the Florida shooting occurred the day after I finished. But I think that’s WHY this book was so impactful, interesting, and overall and important read.

Good

• I love books that can show the complexity of teenagers. Hating and loving people at the same time. Fear, desire, immaturity, independence, it all coexists within them.
• You really grow to love these characters whose lives you get to glimpse. There’s like 4 of them shifting perspectives each chapter, overlapping minutes of this 54 minute shooting period.
• On Ebook it was super easy to read these micro chapters and take breaks. It’s a heavy topic, obviously, so small doses were best for me.
• You genuinely don’t know how it’s going to end, who is going to live or die. You keep hoping and hoping and reading faster and faster to see who makes it, what happens.
• Despite the roughness, it really does end on a note of hope.
• I really loved the themes of family, love, differences, staying vs. leaving, parental expectations, race and culture. This book checks a lot of boxes.

Less Good

• I mean, it’s a book about a horrific school shooting. It’s not light or happy reading by any means.
• The whole dance thing was just ridiculous to me and often made it hard to take seriously.
• Every. Single. Chapter. ended on a dramatic cliff-hanger type superlative statement. It got so old!

Recommendation: Young adults, maybe teens? Anyone interested in school shootings, dark coming-of-age stories, etc.

The Girls

Evie Boyd is unloved and unwanted by her friends and family (or so she feels), so when a group of dangerous, warm, and accepting girls crosses her path and invites her in – she jumps at the chance. She soon finds herself part of what will later be labeled a murderous cult, though her connection was always to the girls and not the engrossing cult leader. 

I expected this to be more about the murders and the cult, but I guess the title should have tipped me off – it was mostly just about the girls. The focus is on the lonely and vulnerable women who are manipulated by Manson-esque leader. Gritty and gross, this book is a completely different style than anything I’ve ever read, but it just failed to pack a punch for me.

Good

• That writing style is visceral. You feel your skin crawl, your senses recoil. She can make even the brightest things seem sinister or lacking with her descriptions. You start to deeply feel Evie’s insecurity, depression, anxiety, and longing.
• She did her homework. After reading the book I listened to some podcasts about the Manson Family and she modeled her book after that, with enough attention to detail to make it realistic but enough imagination to make it fiction.
• For much of the book you’re on the edge of your seat wondering how, when, and why the famous murders would occur. It keeps you going through much of the tedium.

Less Good

• It just makes you feel dirty, literally and figuratively. She describes the actual grime coating countertops and grease dripping off food, like 100 times. Everything is described in it’s worst light. It is part of Evie’s character development and expression, but it just got so repulsive.
• Violence, sex, swearing. I can handle it in reasonable amounts but it kind of felt like that was the whole book. I get it. It’s a book about a murderous cult. But there’s hardly any dialogue! And the dialogue is just violence, sex and swearing!
• The ending was terrible. After all this fanfare and wind-up, the murder is so anticlimactic and you just hate Evie anyway.

Recommendation: Anyone who is super into cults would probably enjoy it!

Mere Christianity

Originally given as a series of radio talks, C. S. Lewis offers perspective on the roots of Christianity that transcend the various sects. He addresses morality, our divine natures, the existence of God, the Godhead/Trinity, faith vs. works, being “good” and “bad,” and the need for a Savior. Delivered with an air of philosophy and logic, it’s a deep look at and argument for Christianity.

This was our pick for Millennial Mormons Book Club this month, and I really really loved it. It honestly brought up and then answered so many questions I didn’t even realize I had. It helped flesh out a Christian perspective that was lacking from my standard Mormon upbringing – pretty much everything there fits squarely into Mormon doctrine too but in such a logical, academic, theological and philosophical way.

Good

• The part I can’t stop thinking about is the idea that we truly can’t comprehend the “dimension” of God. The idea that we’re in the first dimension and he’s in, like, the third was weirdly an answer to so many questions, without really answering if that makes sense? It doesn’t. But it rang true that God is so much more than we’ll ever know.
• The practical application of Christianity is essentially that we’re all bad and need to be better, but it’s not permanent or actionable except through Christ. And Christ is in each of us.
• God is the good in us, the good above us, and the road between – and that’s the Godhead. LOVED THAT.
• This book made me better understand just how ~personal Christianity is, and just how little I should be worrying about other people. I always knew it, but now I like, KNOW it.
• It’s uplifting and practical – he says over and over how you can begin right now. I’m all about that.

Less Good

• I hesitate to even put this in the “less good” category, because it truly has to be this way. But it’s pretty deep, meta stuff. You need full attention to it, and plenty of time to stop and process. Don’t audiobook this one. Take time to stop, think, and maybe journal or talk it out.
• He very carefully defeats every possible argument against his claims, which is good except if you’re reading it and already totally support Christianity, like I do, you’re like “Yeah, ok, I believe in God and Christ, I get it, skim skim skim.”

Recommendation: All Christians, and anyone who doesn’t quite ~get Christianity.

I am currently reading 4 books: Outlander is my bathtub, before bed, relaxing read that I am very slowly plucking away at. Parenting without Power Struggles is my audiobook for the car and cleaning time. Mindless Eating is my intentional reading that I try to squeeze in throughout the day. The Obsession is my intense ebook for when I can’t sleep or I’m waiting in the preschool pickup line.

Just Mercy is our March pick for Bon’s Book Club, and Searching for Sunday is our Millennial Mormons book. Strange the Dreamer is this month’s Delicious Reads pick, and Everyday Reading recommended How to Celebrate Everything for March. Aaaaaaaaand I snagged a copy of A Wrinkle In Time to re-read before I see the movie. LMAO here’s to having my nose in a book every spare second in March!

We’ll see how many of these actually get read. Any bets? Just please pray I can hit my goal of three and we’ll call it good.