Reading Challenge: Poetry - check!

I literally just got this book tonight and finished it while giggling to myself during many entries. So my book for poetry was:

Anyone who has been married for a while will appreciate the humor between these covers. This was one of my favorite entries - couples counseling (part 1):

The couples therapist urges

us to repeat

what each of us

has just said.

Okay. So I hear you saying

that I am a terrible husband,

man, and human being.

Hold on, Roger, the therapist says.

That's not what Amy said.

Yes, but that's what I heard.

Okay but what she actually said was she wanted you to listen

more.

Let's try to repeat the actual words

and not our interpretation.

Sorry, I wasn't listening...

This book was a fun, lighthearted view on what marriage is. We get excited when kids go to sleep. Leggings, sweats, anything comfy is what we look to wear. Sexy lingerie is not the goal as it may have been during the "wooing" stages. Oh my how I giggled while turning the pages!

A nice change of pace for me. A solid 4 stars for the entertainment value!

Reading Challenge: YA (young adult) - check!

Okay, so I have now finished 10 books in this challenge. What a way to hit double digits. This book:

Oh my. It was heartbreaking. The main character, Caitlin, goes through anger, sadness, despair, confusion...a gamut of feelings. Ultimately she gets to hope and the ride with her is so special. This book digs into a tough theme: teen suicide. That in itself is heartbreaking. Being a teen is tough enough without losing your best friend to suicide and not knowing that they even needed help. The questions and confusion that come from such a blindside can only be devastating in nature. The way that Caitlin's journey was described took me right back to being a teen in high school and all the awkwardness of that time. To have it all feel so real is a testament to Nina LaCour's writing. Photography plays a major role in the story and every image was written with such detail that I felt like I was looking at the pictures or felt like I had seen them somewhere. Every emotion and every act from Caitlin just made sense. Even when she was confused by her own actions, they made sense. I just wanted to give Caitlin a big ole hug. Taking the journey with her as she discovered new friends throughout the pain she was experiencing was also something that gave me pause. I was hoping that she would be able to open up enough to allow these new entities into her life even with such raw emotions under the surface. The moments where she stumbled made the whole story believable. If the storyline had been too perfect, I think it would have lost me. The stumbles added beauty to the story. I really loved it all (and flew through the book, I was so mesmerized).

This book is going to stay with me for a long time. I rated it 5 stars. Phew!

I have not decided on my next book yet, so that will just have to be a surprise.

Reading Challenge: A Book You Tried Once But Didn't Finish - check!

This next book was one that I originally tried to read once, but at the time I could not get into it, so put it down to read something else. I then tried it again and it became my 9th book in the reading challenge. A Spark of Light by Jodi Picoult:

I enjoy books by this author and several of my 5-star ratings are her books (The Storyteller, Small Great Things, etc...). I love what Jodi can do with a moral dilemma and show both sides with such skill. This one was about a very polarizing theme: abortion. Whether you are pro-life or pro-choice, most people do not waiver from what they believe. This story wove several stories around each other. I have read her back and forth between the present and the past in other books of hers and I have found it to be an effective tool. I am sorry to say I found the approach in this book to fall a bit flat with me. I prefer when she starts all the way back and works up to the present. In this book, she kept going further and further back. I found it a bit more tedious only because every I did not find that it brought me to what should have been the climax of the story. Although I enjoyed the book, it was not one of my favorites by this author. I felt like there were a few too many characters with too many points of view trying to be covered. Because of that, I did not really gravitate to any of her characters like I normally do. I gave it 3 stars on Goodreads.

And with that, I present the next book on my list:

Reading Challenge: Book That Takes Place in Another Country - check!

I actually finished this book a couple of weeks ago and am only getting to my post now. So this is my 8th book of the reading challenge. I put it under the category of taking place in another country as it was set in England. The Girlfriend by Michelle Frances:

This was a book that was a slow burn and then a roller coaster ride. When it hit the full-on crazy, it picked up a lot of speed. I enjoyed this book. The funny thing is that I was not really into any of the characters: Cherry was just way too focused on changing her place in the pecking order and was way crazy. Laura's lies kept compounding the problem and got way out of hand. And Daniel just did not have a clue. Even though I did not really like the characters, I really liked the story around them. I, as a mother, cannot imagine using a lie to try to get rid of someone - I am much too straight-forward for that. However, I can understand the desperation to keep her son safe. I was kind of annoyed with Daniel for so easily doubting his mother because he was so caught up in Cherry. How he did not see through her manipulative nature irked me. I would have liked to see a bit more sway between him with both women rather than just being on one side most of the time.

I see that Michelle Frances has a couple of other books - I may just have to try them out. I rated this book 4 stars on Goodreads for the fast pace at the end and the fact that I really needed to know where things were going. I was engaged the whole way.

I have also loaned this book to 2 different friends already and the one who has already finished it really enjoyed it.

My next book is by a favorite author of mine:

Reading Challenge: A Memoir - check!

Another book checked off the list: Becoming by Michelle Obama. This is my 7th book checked off the list from the reading challenge by Stephanie Howell and her Bloom Where You Are Planted Book Group.

I had heard good things about this book and was curious. I have always liked the way Michelle presents herself in public and admire the strong woman that she is. I was pleased that her story read like we were having a conversation over coffee or tea. Hearing about her upbringing and strong sense of family was something I could relate to. Her closeness to her brother is something I share. Only, my brother is younger than me. Reading about how she and Barack met and became a strong couple was interesting to read. Even humanizing him by mentioning his more roll-with-the-punches take on life to her very structured environment and how to make the 2 work reminded me of life with my husband. 

One of the main themes I gravitated to was how she balanced family with all that was going on around them. Being a mom of 2 girls, myself, I could identify with the struggle to teach my daughters to be self-sufficient and to be as present as possible with all the demands of having a full-time job and trying to be a wife as well. Throw in being the First Lady and that was quite the feat. Reading about her struggles made her relatable. At her core, she is a strong woman trying to do right by her family and hopefully having an impact on others as well.

I rated this book 4 stars on Goodreads. The length of time it took me to finish this book was in no way a reflection on the content or how much I liked it. The past month has been busy, so reading time was harder to come by. I really did enjoy this book. It made me feel like if I ever had the chance to sit and have a cup of tea with Michelle, it would be an easy-going conversation that would just flow naturally.

I am now moving on to my next book:

Reading Challenge: Thriller - check!

I was trying to keep this category until later in the game, but inevitable I was gonna check it off the list as thrillers are my go-to category when I want to read something I know I will like. I had seen many people in the Bloom Where You're Planted Book Group talk about this book, so I was very curious as to what it would be like.

It starts out in a very interesting way:

My name is Amber Reynolds. There are three things you should know about me:
1. I’m in a coma.
2. My husband doesn’t love me anymore.
3. Sometimes I lie. 

Thus begins a book that seems kind of straightforward. I was expecting the usual back and forth in the timeline to get to where things were, but just when I figured I knew what was happening, twist #1...then twist #2...then twist #3...then I couldn't really keep track anymore it got so twisty. It is a book that you need to know nothing about so I do not want to write any major details so as not to spoil the journey for anyone. I will admit that in the end I was a bit confused and had to really just catch my breath and think through the details and twists to get to a place where things made sense again. I enjoyed that it kept catching me off guard, but would have liked a bit more time between the twists to be able to follow a little bit better.

I did rate it 4 stars on Goodreads as it captured my attention and I really wanted to know what was going to happen. If you are looking for an "easy" read, this is not it as the plot twists will have you spinning on your head.

Now I am on to my next book:

 

Reading Challenge: Horror - check!

I have finished my 5th book in the reading challenge: horror. This is a genre I am familiar with as I have spent many an hour over the years perusing the books in the horror section of many book stores. I used to exclusively read thriller/horror books when I was younger. I had heard that this book was creepy:

I was not sure what to expect. If you do not want to know about what happens, I would stop reading now.

When the first stranger came into the story, I was wondering what would be wrong with him. I was a little uneasy, but nothing stood out too much. When the other 3 joined and they were harassing the family from outside of the cabin and coming in forcefully while saying they weren't going to hurt anyone, I was uneasy because of the contradictory actions. The first death was graphic, but it was the description of the white mask over the face that for some reason was the part that bothered me most. The visual was something that was hard for me to shake. As the situation continued to spiral out of control and more and more violence and contradictory words and actions took place, it was the religious zealot feeling that just felt off and left me unbalanced. Any story of any kind of compound with religious zealots in the news has always been unsettling to me because I cannot understand following anything blindly - that's not who I am. Even as a young adult I remember being on a retreat and having questions for the priest who was speaking with us and he said that he applauded my strong faith. When I asked him if all my questions bothered him, he said that the fact that I was willing to ask questions and form my own opinions was a blessing because I was thinking, not blindly following. We had a great conversation that weekend. But I digress...

The seemingly senseless deaths in this book just keep piling up and the one really heartbreaking one is the one that just does not make any sense because it did not help either side of the situation. There were some underlying stories that almost emerged, but then went nowhere. I was left feeling off-kilter and not sure what to think of this book. I was drawn to read it because I wanted to know where it would go, but in the end am not really sure I liked it. I rated it 3 stars on Goodreads, but I think I would lean more towards 2.5 stars as it left a sour taste in my mouth. In the end it was not my cup of tea. Maybe it was the fact that a family had to decide which of them should be a willing sacrifice and being at a point in my life where I am a mother, this did not sit well with me. I wonder if my younger self would have thought differently. Although the religious zealot side of it would probably still have left me feeling that this was not the book for me back then as well. And so another book is done...

Now I am starting a book that I just purchased and am already a third of the way in. Let's see where this one takes me...