God-Shaped Hole by Tiffanie Debartolo

I have this fear that my husband will die young. I’m not sure if it’s rational or irrational. I hadn’t dealt with much death in my life, except for grandparents, until about a year and a half ago when my aunt and uncle died in a freak plane crash. They were both 63 and damn it, it was way too soon. Their presence still lingers in my soul. I miss them and who our family was when they were here.

After the shock of their deaths wore off some time later, I started noticing these fears that would pop up inside me. What if my parents die too soon? What if another aunt or uncle dies soon? Everyone is supposed to be here for so much longer. Everyone has so much life left to live.

And then, all of the sudden, it hit me. What if Nathan dies too soon? It would make sense if he did. The perfect couple ripped apart from each other long before their story was meant to be over. We have the best marriage, and I’m not just saying that. If it sucked, I would tell you. But it doesn’t. It’s the best. And I would be completely devastated and lost and not myself without my best friend.

God-Shaped Hole made me address this fear. It made me address it HARD and I didn’t even want to. I felt like I was walking on eggshells reading this book. I didn’t want to get too attached to the characters because I knew some kind of horrible doom was upon them. Tiffanie DeBartolo, WTF?

When I was twelve, a fortune teller told me that my one true love would die young and leave me all alone…

When Beatrice Jordan meets the unpredictable Jacob Grace, the two wild souls become instant allies. Together they discover an escape in each other’s creativity and insecurities, while running from secrets they cannot seem to shake – or a fate that could throw them to the ground . . .

I know I said I cried real tears with November 9, and it’s still a true statement. But this book made me desperate for air. I couldn’t come up from the words and pages. They held me there, paralyzed, unable to breathe, think or feel anything except the heartache. This one will break you. You won’t be expecting it, but it will.

3.5/5 stars for this one. I can’t read this book again. I won’t put myself through it. It was so sad, and I’m still hurting from it. I don’t know, it did make me address a major fear I have, but still. I didn’t want to do that, it just did it for me. If you need a good cry, pick up this book. If you hate sad things, do not read this book. I repeat, if you hate sad things, DO NOT read this book. This thing is only for those twisted at heart readers who will suck the life out of themselves just to get to that last page.

 

Enchantment Lake by Margi Preus

My local library had a book sale a couple of weekends ago and I had been looking forward to it since I first heard about it. I was pleasantly surprised by the large amount of books they had available to purchase. I was expecting there to be none left by the time I got there in the afternoon, but I ended up getting 4 books for $4! Major steal! I got two YA books, a romantic comedy and a Dora the Explorer book for my daughter. Win, win, win.

Enchantment Lake is one of the YA books I bought. I picked it up because of the cute cover.

Isn’t it adorable? There’s not one thing I don’t like about this cover. It grabbed me. Pretty sure I didn’t even read what it was about, just took one look and knew I had to have it for a buck.

I finished reading this yesterday and I have to say, the story only somewhat lives up to the cover. It’s a cute and quirky murder mystery probably suited for readers ages 10-14, but I did enjoy it as an adult. This one didn’t shock me in any way. I had a couple of guesses of who the murderer was, and I ended up right. Enchantment Lake is a quick read at only 186 pages, so it was a good little interlude in between my usual gut-wrenching and soul ripping stories.

I keep going back and forth on whether to give this thing 2 or 3 out of 5 stars. Let’s go with 2.5. It was cute and engaging, but I will most likely never read it again and will probably not tell anyone about it either. I don’t need to talk about it, it’s just done and I’m ready to read something that will make my heart feel things and possibly even burst. Call me an emotion junkie, a feeder on other people’s suck, if you will, I don’t care. I’m an addict and I need my fill.

P.S. we had our first book club meeting last week and it was fantastic. So much fun. If you’ve ever wanted to be a part of one, go and start it yourself. Reach out of your bubble and be brave. It will be worth it, I promise.

 

 

November 9 by Colleen Hoover

This book. This is a good one. I’ll be honest, I cried. Like, real tears. I wasn’t expecting to. I went into this book blind while also only having read one of Colleen’s books previously. I’ve always thought that the book I read of hers last year, It Ends With Us, is her most emotionally trying story out there. But I tell you what, this one was just as emotional but in a different kind of way.

Fallon meets Ben, an aspiring novelist, the day before her scheduled cross-country move. Their untimely attraction leads them to spend Fallon’s last day in L.A. together, and her eventful life becomes the creative inspiration Ben has always sought for his novel. Over time and amidst the various relationships and tribulations of their own separate lives, they continue to meet on the same date every year. Until one day Fallon becomes unsure if Ben has been telling her the truth or fabricating a perfect reality for the sake of the ultimate plot twist.

Can Ben’s relationship with Fallon—and simultaneously his novel—be considered a love story if it ends in heartbreak?

Fellow readers, tell me, why do we do this to ourselves? Why do we read books that exemplify heartbreak, heartache, devastation and gut-wrenching emotion? I don’t really understand why this makes or breaks books for me. Like, is there something seriously so deranged about my mind that I love reading about fake people’s often painful experiences? Wait, actually, don’t answer that…

Anyway, this book does that. It does it so well that it just might leave you contemplating all different kinds of things about that little life of yours that you lead. You know those books that make you question yourself and even more so the people in your life? Their intentions, motives, their sincerity? Yep, that’s this babe. Be ready for a full range of emotions and questions to pop up afterwards.

I’m giving this book 4/5 shiny stars. I loved it, was engrossed by it, and might tell people about it if it would fit in a conversation. But, I don’t think I’ll need to read it again.

On another note, I got randomly chosen to pick the next book for my book club to read. I’ll give you one guess on what author I chose… 😉

 

 

Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery

My husband and I were searching Netflix a few weeks ago for something new to watch together. We had been in a binge-worthy show lull for a while and were just aimlessly looking through the endless list of titles. That’s our thing that we do together. After we put our daughter to bed, we tidy up the house a bit (AKA throw all of the toys back into their buckets) then plop ourselves down onto our overly sized and ridiculously comfortable couch and watch some TV together.

We stumbled upon a new show called Anne with an E. We had remembered seeing a preview for it and thought it was going to be cheesy, but we put it on and the most wonderful thing happened. I met and fell in love with Anne of Green Gables. You see, somehow my childhood failed me and I had NEVER heard of Anne of Green Gables until this show aired on Netflix. It seems impossible since I have been a reader since I was a kid. How in the heck did I make it to 25 without meeting this beautiful character? Call me dramatic, but I feel like my life might have turned out differently had I met her sooner.

Anyway, we watched the show and absolutely loved it. Which led me on a hunt to find the books so I could devour and devour and devour them. And that, I did!

Anne of Green Gables is a 1908 novel by Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery. Written for all ages, it has been considered a children’s novel since the mid-twentieth century. It recounts the adventures of Anne Shirley, an 11-year-old orphan girl who is mistakenly sent to Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert, a middle-aged brother and sister who had intended to adopt a boy to help them on their farm in Prince Edward Island. The novel recounts how Anne makes her way with the Cuthberts, in school, and within the town.

I am not caught up on classic literature. And when I say not caught up, I mean I haven’t read any unless prompted to by an English teacher. It’s not that I don’t have a desire to read those books. In fact, I’d love to be able to say that I read, fully understood and was impacted by something by Charles Dickens, but I’m just not there right now. So, anyway, this is as close to a classic that I’ve read in a long time.

And I loved it. What else can I say? Anne Shirley is a kindred spirit. She is beautiful, inside and out, and I kept thinking throughout the whole book that I can’t wait until the day that I read this to my daughter for the first time. She is strong, feisty, and most importantly, kind. All things I aspire my daughter to be. Also, I someday really really want to live in a place as beautiful as Green Gables. Or maybe I should just start imagining that I already live somewhere that beautiful. That would be the Anne Shirley way, wouldn’t it?

I think Anne Shirley has a better understanding of God than most people do even now. She reminded me of the child-like faith that seems harder and harder to obtain as people get older.

“Why must people kneel down to pray? If I really wanted to pray I’ll tell you what I’d do. I’d go out into a great big field all alone or into the deep, deep woods, and I’d look up into the sky – up – up – up – into that lovely blue sky that looks as if there was no end to its blueness. And then I’d just feel a prayer.”

Anne Shirley made me smile and laugh more times than I can count while reading this book. She really is a sweet, sweet character, and I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know her. I look forward to reading the next book in the series and seeing where life takes her.

I liked the transformation Marilla’s character went through. To be honest, I wasn’t the biggest fan of her for the majority of the book. She’s the complete opposite of Anne in a lot of respects. I’m glad the entrance of Anne into her life caused her to soften her heart towards life.

I’m not going to compare the  new Netflix series to the book. I don’t feel it would be fair since I (unknowingly) watched the show before reading the book. I will say that I did immensely enjoy both and plan on watching the series again and finishing all of the books in the series in the future.

So, if you are looking for a great escape to simpler times told through the experiences of an imaginative, smart and passionate little girl, pick this one up. If any of you have daughters out there, you’ll love it. I highly recommend it for moms of girls.