Books I Read in December

Ya girl finished the last month of the year with reading seven books. I don't know how I managed, but December did feel pretty long to me between all the traveling and that blackout week between Christmas and New Year's day. Thinking back to Thanksgiving feels like a lifetime ago. But, with this last review post of 2021, I hope everyone has (or had) a safe and wonderful NYE. I hope 2022 makes us better people, and that we're truly made to feel cherished and loved by those around us. Come what may!

The Road Trip by Beth O'Leary

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Shelves: Beach Reads, Chick Lit, Romance

Review: This book was a nice break from the nonfiction I've been mostly reading. There are some trigger warnings (drugs, alcohol, unwanted sexual advances), and the miscommunication troupe drove me nuts (but I think it was supposed to). I also really disliked one of the characters, which I also think I was supposed to. The only other two red flags for me were how white the characters were (rich, pretentious, spoiled, etc.), and how much the author mentions how tiny Addie is.

Other than that, I thought the storyline and the way it jumped between then and now were fun. I was satisfied in the ways that Addie and Dylan grew as people by the end of the book. I looked forward to reading it in the evenings, and it was a nice little escape. NOT spicy on the romance stuff, which is how I like my chick lit! Definitely a good one to take to the beach or just read when you want to lighten things up and get away in your head for a little bit!

Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Shelves: Beach Reads, Modern Lit

Review: This book was not easy for me to read and only because I don't do well reading about characters who self-sabotage. Please read TW before diving in as there are a few important ones!

I appreciated that this book was told by a black woman about a black woman navigating all the stuff most women can relate to, but from a very specific perspective. Most women can understand the stresses of work, romantic relationships, friendships, family dynamics and relationships, and finding how to take care of oneself. However, the valuable element in this novel was that Queenie is navigating all of this as a woman of color. So, some things were eye-opening for me. I had heard that men treated women of color differently but reading about it made me feel sad and disappointed.

This is an important book to be out in the world. There are bits of humor (especially if you know any or are related to Jamaicans or Ugandans). There are bits of frustration and sadness. I enjoyed it overall and how it concluded, but it wasn't a pleasurable read for me.

The Vine Witch by Luanne G. Smith

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Shelves: Beach Reads, Fantasy, Favorites, Mystery

Review: This novel felt like a breathe of fresh air. Was it predictable? Yes, mostly. A bit of a slow burn (which we know by now I love)? Yes. But it provided a level of prose I wasn't expecting.

I had gotten this from Amazon First Reads and then put off reading it because I had read some negative reviews on pacing and romance, and thought I wasn't ready to read it. Turns out, the right time to read it was right now. It started in November in France, the setting: a small village surrounded by vineyards. The storyline: a witch, who had been trained in the art of wine making, had been cursed to be a toad and had woken from that curse on a mission to avenge herself from the person who cursed her.

There were twists and turns that one who is familiar with mystery (or even not) could predict. I tried to not let my mind get too far ahead and just enjoy the ride, which I did. I loved the basis for this novel: that there were witches casually living among us trained in different skills with different areas of expertise, much like any craftsman or craftswoman. It made me feel like there was a little bit more magic in the world, and it just felt right to me.

While the novel does take a dark turn at its climax (with some darkness lightly underlying the whole story), it's probably the only reason I docked it a star. I felt like, beside the predictability, the action in the novel was hastily written. Everything just seemed to end so abruptly that it almost felt unsatisfactory--almost. But, overall, I so enjoyed reading this deliciously descriptive novel. I enjoyed the characters. I enjoyed the plot. I don't know if I'll continue in the series because this had a nice, neatly wrapped ending that I'm happy with. But I might . . . because this novel is definitely one of my new favorites!

All Are Welcome by Liz Parker

Rating: ⭐️⭐️

Shelves: Beach Reads, LGBTQIA+, Romance

Review: This book was fine. Beside the constant mention of how small Tiny was (from her name to her general descriptions) on every page she was on, and how much "WASP" characteristics and personality traits were written about--especially from Caroline's perspective--this book is a typical chick lit beach read romance (light on spice). Good if you want something not tooo heavy but still dealing with heavy topics, with an element of suspense because you can feel the tension building to a catastrophe throughout the entire book. There were some touching moments of character self-realization throughout, with Daisy surprising me the most (and me being the most proud of Tiny's arc). I think a lot of the events of this book could maybe be taken as a stab at humor, but most of it was just stressful for me to read. I mostly avoid handling conflict passive-aggressively like the plague, so this book kept me in a state of mild panic for most of it.

I also wasn't the biggest fan of most of the characters so I tried to get through this as quickly as possible every time I sat down to read it. Not my favorite. Not the worst book I've ever read. It was just . . . fine. But I'm glad I'm done reading it.

The Collected Poems of Sara Teasdale

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Shelves: All-Time Favorites, Poetry

Review: No written review on GoodReads, but I did really enjoy this collection of poetry. She is one of my favorite poets, so actually reading through a collection of her writings and not the few that I've found randomly over the years was nice. I'm glad this collection is on my bookshelf now!

The Family by Naomi Krupitsky

Rating: ⭐️⭐️.5

Shelves: Historical Fiction, Modern Lit

Review: Everyone knows I'm a big fan of the slow burn or slower paced read when done well. I live for descriptive writing when I get lost in the world being written about in all its glorious, magical, overly written beauty. Unfortunately, The Family was a little too slow-paced for me. It put me to sleep pretty much every time I read it up until the last quarter of the book when I was no longer perplexed by the present tense the author chose to write in, which made the reader feel both like you were being rushed through important details happening but also spending so much time reading details that were anything but important.

This book spans basically the first 25ish years of a pair of best friends, and important details or monumental moments feel like they're glossed over and mostly everything just . . . wasn't interesting. Some of those early details showed up later, but overall not super impressed with this one. Also, the beginning of the book was confusing - it was very hard to keep the characters separate from each other, and I again blame that on the tense and style in which the book was written. It wasn't until maybe a quarter or a third of the way through the book that I could keep Lina, Rosa, Sofia, and Antonia straight.

I will say, though, again, the last quarter of the book redeemed it for me. The pace picked up significantly and the two characters that I loved (Saul and Antonia) showed a lot of growth that made me feel warm and fuzzy by the end of the book. This novel showed the lovely bond lifelong friends have in all its ebbs and flows, as well as emphasizing that not every family member has to be born through the same bloodline. You can choose who gets to share your one beautiful life, and that's special.

Will I read this again? Probably not. It was an interesting concept for a book, but just not fully executed in a way that appealed to me.

What Happened to You? Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing by Dr. Bruce Perry and Oprah Winfrey

Rating: ⭐️⭐️.5

Shelves: Book Club, Health, Psychology, Self-Help

Review: I feel like the odd person out among most of the five star reviews for this book. I thought it was an important book, certainly one that offered a lot of insight for early childhood/developmental trauma, but I found it to be a really dense, heavy read. Of course, with its title, I didn't expect it to be a walk in the park, but it somehow just wasn't what I was expecting. Between the "here's the concept, now here's an example of it at work" and the super severe/extreme examples of trauma being used instead of more relatable trauma, it just didn't hit the mark for me.

Yes, reframing "what's wrong with you?" to "what happened to you?" is much healthier and opens the door for more important conversations, including tackling inherent biases and building a community that uplifts others instead of tearing them down. However, I found that skimming this book still allowed me to get the main thesis here, and that a lot of what was included didn't have to be to get the point across.