Recent reads

Dear Mr. Knightley… This was such a fun read! I haven’t read a “fun” read like this in a while… I guess kind of a chick-lit book? There are smart, flawed characters you can’t help but root for. There are hundreds of Austen references and quotes. There is a slow-building love story. The whole thing is written in letters. I found it completely delightful and will definitely reach for another Katherine Reay book next time I’m in the mood for something like this!

He Numbered the Pores on my Face*… I read Scarlet Hiltibidal’s earlier book, Afraid of All the Things, and then got excited to find that she was interviewed on one of my favorite writing podcasts, Home Row. She talked a bit about this book (which was just upcoming at the time) and shared that she talked in it about her issue with and healing from eating disorders. I was naturally intrigued since that’s something I’ve worked through so much in the past year. This is a book meant for the young adult crowd and I think it’ll hit its mark. She has a lot of really great things to share, but she shares them in a fun and light-hearted way I think will resonate with a lot of young ladies.

How to Win Friends and Influence People in a Digital Age… Writing these days means so much more than writing. There is the writing, yes… but there is also so much marketing it’ll make your head spin. I’ve always gone the self-published route but the formatting is stressful so I occasionally announce that I’m pursuing traditional publishing after this one… but then I listen to traditionally published podcasters talk about their deadlines and my skin crawls a little more. In either case, marketing is pretty much exclusively up to the author these days. I have read about a thousand different books or blog posts on marketing for authors and every last one of them practically screams about the importance of social media marketing. I have read all kinds of gems and nuggets of wisdom about getting people’s attention but this book spoke more to MY heart. I don’t want to be a salesman. I love to write and I’d like for people to read my books but I don’t want to dedicate hours each week to SELLLLLLLING. So I’m not going to. Ever again. I will savor the community that writing brings me. I will keep chatting online with all of the writing friends, homeschool friends, bookworm friends, healing journey friends, and of course real-life-online friends. I will just enjoy building relationships. Sometimes those relationships will result in friends being excited to read my next book. Sometimes those same friends will have no interest in my next book but will hopefully feel no pressure to buy it anyway <3  

I Survived: the Destruction of Pompeii… I really like this series. We read it as our most recent read-aloud (we actually finished it today!) since my son is on a volcano kick and we’re studying those for science. I think I liked a few of the others I’ve read a bit more than this one but it was still fun and interesting. I didn’t think it was too graphic or anything, definitely well-done. I’ve added it to my shelf of fourth-grade-ish books. 

Truth Unchanging… I always love Becky Thompson’s books and it was so fun to drag this one out for so long! This one is written as a devotional so I read one in the mornings and started with the accompanying Bible chapter listed at the top of each one. I am pretty sure I liked each and every one of these. <3

The Wild Robot… We listened to most of this audiobook on a long drive and just loved it! My husband hated the audiobook voices but the kids and I liked them just fine and we loved the story. This is the story of Roz, a robot who can think and feel. She finds herself on an island and gets to know the animals, eventually adopting a young orphaned goose. There’s a big conflict and we were all curious to see how it would end, and we all hope to read the sequel soon.

*I received a free copy of He Numbered the Poreson my Face from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.