*This post may contain affiliate links, which means at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through or make a purchase
Hey loves. Today I am sharing with you the books I read in May. This is the smallest amount of books I have read in a while. I had a few bad books, a good book, and I couldn't wait to finish book. Lets check them out.
Total physical/kindle books: 6
Total audible: 0
Linking up with Steph for Show Us Your Books
Title: The Free Mama
Author: Lauren Golden
Genre: personal development
How I Read It: Bought book a while ago from an social media ad.
My Rating: 2 out of 5
Amazon Description: In The Free Mama, Lauren Golden, founder of The Free Mama Movement, teaches women how to have a life many have only dreamed about: one where they can make good money AND be there for their families -- without sacrificing one for the other and without guilt.
Learn what balance REALLY is and how to work from home with little ones while still honoring your grown-up self and her dreams and goals. Life is not filled with either-or choices, but rather, is full of this AND that.
Learn how to become a quitter, and why that can be the best thing you've ever done for yourself and for your family. You'll learn to have more by doing less.
Find out why working moms rock, and why self-employment is the absolute best way for mamas to pursue their passion. Learn how the skills you already have are in great demand, and how to turn them into a successful business that produces a steady, predictable source of income.
Lauren, a master at focus and time management, shows you how to set up systems and use the time you have in the best possible way. She shares her "Daily 5" approach to rocking each day's tasks and teaches you how to set boundaries in your work and personal lives so that each gets your full attention.
If you've had this nagging feeling that you were meant for more, this book will show you how right you are, and how within reach it is.
My Review: I loved the idea of "working from home, control your schedule, and make more money." The book has some good ideas, but a lot of the information goes back to "The Free Mama community", subscribing to the program, and purchasing her training. If you are looking to work from home as a virtual assistant or freelancing and don't know where to start this book would be great for you.
Title: The Sprout Book
Author: Doug Evans
Genre: Gardening/Cookbook
How I Read It: libby app
My Rating: 4 out of 5
Amazon Description:
My Review: I borrowed this book from the library via the libby app. It wasn't an option to send to kindle and wasn't a fan of the format I had to read it on.
I heard about this book from a holistic mama I follow who recommends growing your own sprouts. I learned quite a bit from the book and have some recipes to try and grow my own, which I plan on doing after vacation.
Author: Ava Ryan
Genre: romance
How I Read It: bought ebook
My Rating: 4 out of 5
Amazon Description: They call him The Beast for good reason. Now this billionaire boss wants his beautiful--and off-limits--assistant...
Griffin: They call me The Beast. Some people think I’m a bully. I’m not here to make friends. I ruthlessly clawed my way to the top of the real estate market in NYC. No friends needed.
She’s my feisty executive assistant. My right hand… woman. We have an unspoken arrangement: she pretends I’m smarter than she is while I pretend not to notice how sexy she is.
That was before she gave me her notice while wearing that dress.
I can do a lot. Run my family empire. Ignore the loneliness the top brings. Punch anyone who looks twice at her. But letting her go without a fight? Over my dead body…
My Review: A fairytale with a modern twist. A very relatable story and likable characters. Even with parts of the story being predictable it kept me wanting more.
Title: Verity
Author: Colleen Hoover
Genre: Romance Thriller
How I Read It: borrowed ebook from library
My Rating: 3 out of 5
Amazon Description: Whose truth is the lie? Stay up all night reading the sensational psychological thriller that has readers obsessed, from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of It Ends With Us.
Lowen Ashleigh is a struggling writer on the brink of financial ruin when she accepts the job offer of a lifetime. Jeremy Crawford, husband of bestselling author Verity Crawford, has hired Lowen to complete the remaining books in a successful series his injured wife is unable to finish.
Lowen arrives at the Crawford home, ready to sort through years of Verity’s notes and outlines, hoping to find enough material to get her started. What Lowen doesn’t expect to uncover in the chaotic office is an unfinished autobiography Verity never intended for anyone to read. Page after page of bone-chilling admissions, including Verity's recollection of the night her family was forever altered.
Lowen decides to keep the manuscript hidden from Jeremy, knowing its contents could devastate the already grieving father. But as Lowen’s feelings for Jeremy begin to intensify, she recognizes all the ways she could benefit if he were to read his wife’s words. After all, no matter how devoted Jeremy is to his injured wife, a truth this horrifying would make it impossible for him to continue loving her.
My Review: Dark, twisted, messed up, creppy. I say that as I also needed to know what happened next. The ending leaves you second guessing what is a truth and what is a lie. A big disappointment with all the hype of this book.
Title: Untamed
Author: Glennon Doyle
Genre: biography/memoir
How I Read It: borrowed ebook from library
My Rating: 1 out of 5
Amazon Description: This is how you find yourself.
There is a voice of longing inside each woman. We strive so mightily to be good: good partners, daughters, mothers, employees, and friends. We hope all this striving will make us feel alive. Instead, it leaves us feeling weary, stuck, overwhelmed, and underwhelmed. We look at our lives and wonder: Wasn’t it all supposed to be more beautiful than this? We quickly silence that question, telling ourselves to be grateful, hiding our discontent—even from ourselves.
For many years, Glennon Doyle denied her own discontent. Then, while speaking at a conference, she looked at a woman across the room and fell instantly in love. Three words flooded her mind: There She Is. At first, Glennon assumed these words came to her from on high. But she soon realized they had come to her from within. This was her own voice—the one she had buried beneath decades of numbing addictions, cultural conditioning, and institutional allegiances. This was the voice of the girl she had been before the world told her who to be. Glennon decided to quit abandoning herself and to instead abandon the world’s expectations of her. She quit being good so she could be free. She quit pleasing and started living.
Soulful and uproarious, forceful and tender, Untamed is both an intimate memoir and a galvanizing wake-up call. It is the story of how one woman learned that a responsible mother is not one who slowly dies for her children, but one who shows them how to fully live. It is the story of navigating divorce, forming a new blended family, and discovering that the brokenness or wholeness of a family depends not on its structure but on each member’s ability to bring her full self to the table. And it is the story of how each of us can begin to trust ourselves enough to set boundaries, make peace with our bodies, honor our anger and heartbreak, and unleash our truest, wildest instincts so that we become women who can finally look at ourselves and say: There She Is.
Untamed shows us how to be brave. As Glennon insists: The braver we are, the luckier we get.
My Review: I could not get into this book. I don't see what all the hype was about. The context and layout was all over the place, repetitive. I grabbed it to read as it was on Reese Witherspoons book picks
Title: Malibu Rising
Author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
Genre: chick lit
How I Read It: borrowed ebook from library
My Rating: 4 out of 5
Amazon Description: Four famous siblings throw an epic party to celebrate the end of the summer. But over the course of twenty-four hours, the family drama that ensues will change their lives will change forever.
Malibu: August 1983. It’s the day of Nina Riva’s annual end-of-summer party, and anticipation is at a fever pitch. Everyone wants to be around the famous Rivas: Nina, the talented surfer and supermodel; brothers Jay and Hud, one a championship surfer, the other a renowned photographer; and their adored baby sister, Kit. Together the siblings are a source of fascination in Malibu and the world over—especially as the offspring of the legendary singer Mick Riva.
The only person not looking forward to the party of the year is Nina herself, who never wanted to be the center of attention, and who has also just been very publicly abandoned by her pro tennis player husband. Oh, and maybe Hud—because it is long past time for him to confess something to the brother from whom he’s been inseparable since birth.
Jay, on the other hand, is counting the minutes until nightfall, when the girl he can’t stop thinking about promised she’ll be there.
And Kit has a couple secrets of her own—including a guest she invited without consulting anyone.
By midnight the party will be completely out of control. By morning, the Riva mansion will have gone up in flames. But before that first spark in the early hours before dawn, the alcohol will flow, the music will play, and the loves and secrets that shaped this family’s generations will all come rising to the surface.
Malibu Rising is a story about one unforgettable night in the life of a family: the night they each have to choose what they will keep from the people who made them . . . and what they will leave behind.
My Review: Malibu Rising was good but not amazing. Parts of the book were slow, parts felt like stories were mixed up and hard to follow along, to many unnecessary characters. Sure I cried. Yes I laughed. There was emotion in the book but characters felt short and one dimensional. I didn't hate the book, but I didn't love it either.
Hopefully next month will be a better reading month for me. What are you currently reading?
I'm sorry you didn't enjoy Verity. I agree on Malibu Rising. It was ok but not amazing for me.
ReplyDeleteI liked Verity and Untamed. I did not like Malibu Rising and most did! That's how it is sometimes!
ReplyDeleteI loved Malibu Rising. I liked Verity, but thought it didn't need the romance parts. Kind of ruined what could have been a decent thriller.
ReplyDeleteI have Untamed, but I haven't read it yet. sorry it didn't work for you!
ReplyDeleteLauren @ www.shootingstarsmag.net