I’ve been journaling since I was in third grade. I remember (and still have) my first diary. I still find journaling to be the most useful tool to help ground myself, to understand my thoughts and to figure out a path forward for myself when I am stuck. This book has a collection of chapters by different contributors, each telling you a different kind of journaling or a different place, way, goal to journal. I found it to be incredibly inspiring and I can’t wait to sit and try some of these other methods that I don’t usually do. If you’re into journaling, or have wanted to journal, this book is guaranteed to inspire you.
with gratitude to edelweiss and Mango Publishing Group for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
I think I liked this one even more than the first one. Beckett is such a great character and it was just so lovely to get lost in his world for a few hours. Love the kittens, the duck, the sisters. I love everything about these books.
This was an okay story, moved fast but went nowhere. No major twist (I guess one small one which I will admit I didn’t guess.) Interesting premise but not sure where it went in the end.
This is the story of two different women at two different times in history. Both dealing with loss and pain and how their lives intertwine in an unexpected way. I really enjoyed the writing and the resilience of the women who have learned to move forward and do what’s needed regardless of the pain they endure.
with gratitude to edelweiss and Regal House Publishing for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
I enjoyed this fast-paced story about a different disaster around the electric grid that comes a few years after covid. As we’ve learned in the last few years, some people take it better than others and for some it brings out the best in them and they help each other out, and for others, well it brings out the worst.
A fast-paced fun and light read about two women who start a business returning counterfeit bags and selling the real ones on ebay. There a few little surprises but for the most part it’s just a fun story.
An interesting story about a graduate student who uncovers a big deception as part of writing her thesis. There’s a lot around being Asian and racism and literature and even educational institutions in this interesting and layered story. It was a bit longer than it needed to be.
I’ve always enjoyed Jane Smiley’s writing and “A Dangerous Business” is no exception. This is the story of Eliza Ripple who lost her husband in a fight and now has to learn how to make it on her own in 1851 California. She works at a brothel and when women in the town start getting murdered, she and her friend, Jean, decide to solve the mystery of who’s hurting the women.
The characters in this story are all three dimensional and Eliza is a funny and there are a lot of interesting bits about working at a brothel, being a woman in California at the time, the gold rush, the beginnings of Civil War talks and slavery and even women who work at brothels for women.
I enjoyed the writing and this unusual story. I felt like the ending was more abrupt than I thought it would be but, for me, the mystery was secondary to this character-driven story.
with gratitude to netgalley and Knopf for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
What an absolutely fantastic story about a family with triplets who do not feel connected to each other and a family that can never feel or behave like a family until the daughter born many many years later finally brings them together and shows them what it means to be a family. This character-driven story is absolutely magnificent. Thanks to my friend Lauren who recommended it!
