Book Reviews: July

Another great month, mostly because of Audiobooks!  I enjoyed all of the books I read/listened to this month and August is already off to a great start!

Lets be honest, this was never going to get less than 4 stars from me.  I just love Chip and Joanna and respect them as people.  I loved hearing about how they built their businesses from the ground up and what their lives were like before fixer-upper.  I LOVED the story about the houseboat and how it basically secured them a spot on HGTV.   Having Chip and Joanna narrate the audiobook was a fantastic choice, they did a great job!  The only negative for me was how OK they seemed to be about borrowing so much money (my Dave Ramsey cult following self was cringing).
(5/5)

I may not be religious anymore but religion was a huge part of my childhood and so was christian music.  I remember the first time I heard the song, I Can Only Imagine - it was one of the first songs that ever made me cry.   I saw the movie of the same name on Netflix a few months back and decided to watch it, and stayed up way too late watching.  When I saw that he had also written a memoir, I knew I had to listen to it.   This book gives a more in depth and chronologically accurate look at Bart Millard's life and the events that lead to MercyMe forming and to Bart writing I Can Only Imagine.   It also gives a peek into the bands musical journey and how they kind of paved the way for mainstream worship music (the initially tried to be a CCM band but that just didn't work for them).  Having Bart read this on audio was a great choice!  I could hear the emotion in his voice when he read about certain events. I'm so glad I chose to listen to this.  If you haven't heard the song, go listen to it ... like, now.
(5/5)

I knew I'd end up reading the rest of this series, I just didn't think it would be so soon!  I've been having a bit of trouble getting through the other book I'm reading, so I started this one.  I didn't like this one as much as The Real Cinderella, but it was still enjoyable.  There were just waaaay too many high school stereotypes in this book.  Usually I can take books about high schoolers for what they are and still enjoy it, but the stereotypes were brought up over and over and it got a bit annoying.  Other than that, it was another quick, enjoyable book.
(3/5)

This is the shortest of the series ... I read it in about 2 hours.  Same as the last two, super easy to read and enjoyable.  Not enough depth and character building to be super good, but passed the time just fine.
(3/5)

If you liked To All The Boy's I've Loved Before you'll probably enjoy this book.  It was very similar, just not as well developed.  It was still enjoyable, though.
(3/5)

Wow, what a story! I had heard of Malala before reading this book - I knew she was shot by the Taliban but I really didn't know anything about her fight for education.  This was so much more than just Malala's story.  She talked about Pakistan's history, the history of Swat, government corruption, the Taliban's movement into the Swat valley, her family's history, and about how she and her father became voices for those who desired an education, especially girls.  Aside from learning about Malala, I loved learning about her father.  He was a man who valued and encouraged his daughter in culture that values son's over daughter's.  Malala's story is inspiring and 100% worth listening to.
(5/5)

My sister warned me that this book was a bit slow, and man was it ever!  The first quarter of the book was good and the middle was super slow, but the last 40ish pages made the slowness worth it!  I can see how she was setting things up for the next book and how the slower chapters were necessary.  I'm excited to read the third and final book in this series, I think it's going to be great!
(4/5)

Objectively speaking, this book wasn't actually better than all of the other ones - it was about the same.  A cute, easy read that passed the time just fine.  BUT the main character is basically me - a bookish potter-head who'd rather read and write than deal with people or real life.  So I definitely connected to the main character way more than in any of the others from this series. Glad I finished this series - it was cute and got me out of a bit of a rut.
(4/5)

If you want to be mad about something (I believe the kids call it "hate reading") this book will do the trick!  The whole profits over people idea is rampant in the pharmaceutical world and this book calls them out.  Opioid addiction is scary and destructive and this epidemic could have been prevented.  I could go on and on about the facts and statistics presented in this book and the stories from families, but no one has time for that.  I will say, if you choose to read this book you'll learn a lot, you'll get angry AF, you'll be frustrated, and you'll probably cry. 
Also, in this case, I don't think the author was the right choice to read this for the audiobook - like, at all!
(5/5)