I have all five star rated books for you this month (how's that for starting the year off right?!) They are all women authors with big voices and ideas and I have loved every single page of each of these novels. Affiliate links used. A small commission may be received if you purchase an item through my links with no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting my blog!
You’re here, but you want to be there.
So you spend your life narrowing this divide, and you call this your race, your journey, your path. You live your days tightening your boot straps, wiping the sweat from your brow, chasing undiscovered happiness just around the bend. Higher! Faster! Better! Stronger!
And on and on you run.
Viral sensation and HGTV.com star Erin Loechner knows about the chase. Before turning 30, she'd built a fan base of one million women worldwide and earned the title “The Nicest Girl Online” as she was praised for her authentic voice and effortless style. The New York Times applauded her, her friends and church admired her, and her husband and baby adored her.
She had arrived at the ultimate destination.
So why did she feel so lost?
In Chasing Slow, Erin turns away from fast and fame and frenzy. Follow along as she blazes the trail toward a new-fashioned lifestyle—one that will refresh your perspective, renew your priorities, and shift your focus to the journey that matters most. Through a series of steep climbs—her husband's brain tumor, bankruptcy, family loss, and public criticism—Erin learns just how much strength it takes to surrender it all, and to veer right into grace.
Life's answers are not always hidden where they seem. It's time to venture off the beaten path to see that we’ve already been given everything we need. We've already arrived.
You see?
You'll see.
Thoughts:
Erin Loechner is one of my favorite IG accounts to follow. Her reflections paired with her images always gut punch me in the best way possible. I've been on my own chasing slow journey this past year and reading this gave me life, cheers!
Stars:
5 out of 5
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In Her Shoes by Jennifer Weiner
Rose Feller is thirty; a successful lawyer with high hopes of a relationship with Jim, Mr Not-Quite-Right, a senior partner in her firm. The last thing she needs is her messed-up, only occasionally employed sister Maggie moving in: drinking, smoking, stealing her money - and her shoes - and spoiling her chance of romance. If only Maggie would grow up and settle down with a nice guy and a steady job.
Maggie is drop dead gorgeous and irresistible to men. She's going to make it big as a TV presenter, or a singer...or an actress. All she needs is a lucky break. What she doesn't need is her uptight sister Rose interfering in her life. If only Rose would lighten-up, have some fun - and learn how to use a pair of tweezers. Rose and Maggie think they have nothing in common but a childhood tragedy, shared DNA and the same size feet, but they are about to find out that they're more alike than they'd ever believe.
Thoughts:
Weiner is one of my favorite authors, she just weaves a great story that is heartfelt and entertaining. I saw the movie adaptation years ago never knowing it was a novel and I can truthfully say I like both!
Stars:
5 out of 5
We Didn’t Ask for Wings by Vanessa Diffenbaum
For fourteen years, Letty Espinosa has worked three jobs around San Francisco to make ends meet while her mother raised her children—Alex, now fifteen, and Luna, six—in their tiny apartment on a forgotten spit of wetlands near the bay. But now Letty’s parents are returning to Mexico, and Letty must step up and become a mother for the first time in her life.
Navigating this new terrain is challenging for Letty, especially as Luna desperately misses her grandparents and Alex, who is falling in love with a classmate, is unwilling to give his mother a chance. Letty comes up with a plan to help the family escape the dangerous neighborhood and heartbreaking injustice that have marked their lives, but one wrong move could jeopardize everything she’s worked for and her family’s fragile hopes for the future.
Thoughts:
I’m a fan of Diffenbaum; not only is she a resident of my hometown, her first novel (The Language of Flowers) is great. This book is set in Northern California near a town we used to frequent so I was brought to it physically in my mind (I love that connection!) There are several layers and narrations in this beautifully written if not a bit tragic portrayal of a young mother who hasnt parented her two children, a coming of age story for herself and her teenaged son and an underlying tension of citizenship and belonging.
Stars:
5 out of 5
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The Sisters Chase by Sarah Healy
Goodreads Synopsis:
The hardscrabble Chase women—Mary, Hannah, and their mother Diane—have been eking out a living running a tiny seaside motel that has been in the family for generations, inviting trouble into their lives for just as long. Eighteen-year-old Mary Chase is a force of nature: passionate, beautiful, and free-spirited. Her much younger sister, Hannah, whom Mary affectionately calls “Bunny,” is imaginative, her head full of the stories of princesses and adventures that Mary tells to give her a safe emotional place in the middle of their troubled world.
But when Diane dies in a car accident, Mary discovers the motel is worth less than the back taxes they owe. With few options, Mary’s finely tuned instincts for survival kick in. As the sisters begin a cross-country journey in search of a better life, she will stop at nothing to protect Hannah. But Mary wants to protect herself, too, for the secrets she promised she would never tell—but now may be forced to reveal—hold the weight of unbearable loss. Vivid and suspenseful, The Sisters Chase is a whirlwind page-turner about the extreme lengths one family will go to find—and hold onto—love.
Thoughts:
I was initially drawn to this book because of the title (I have my own The Sisters Smith hashtag on IG). It was a darker coming of age story and one that was fraught with beauty and hardship. I saw the plot twist coming but it was worth the build.
Stars:
5 out of 5
Buy the book
It's a new year and a new Reading Challenge is underway! I pledged to read 40 books in 2019 so here is my check in.
Book Counter: 4 out of 40
Read any good books recently? I’m always looking for recommendations!
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