Wrap-up

I failed at reading this month. I switched departments at work and can't have my headphones at work, and my part time job has been scheduling me a lot lately. So, it's been a very exhausting month for me. Also, I've had a hard time concentrating on reading actual books. Basically, I've had all of the issues and excuses this month to keep me from reading, but I did read a little!

★★

I feel like 2 stars might be a bit harsh for this book. This is a KU find that was suggested for world book day. The author is from Chile, and is a pretty popular author in that country. The book was translated to English. The book, to me, just had no point....It's literally about 10 women who go to the same therapist. One day they are in a bus and brought to the therapist office to meet each other. Each chapter is a different girl telling her story. Some of the chapter are semi interesting, and the only reason I kept reading was b/c I was hoping something great was going to happen at the end. Nope. The therapist's story is told at the end, but not even by the therapist....by her assistant. And her story wasn't even that great. I was bored, and irritated with this book.

★★

This book was suggested to me based on other books I had read on Kindle, and I hated it. It killed my historical fiction binge. The entire setting of the book took place in a cabin. Rarely did they leave the cabin. Mostly, b/c the spy/solider had 2 broken legs and was hiding from the SS. But I was just not impressed.

★★★★★

This was supposed to be my main read for the read-a-thon and I barley picked it up. But holy Hell I LOVED this book!!!! A suspense/thriller that really had me guessing. It was a book book AND a library book, so I was able to check a square off on  my bingo!

★★★★

A friend in book club suggested this to me, and since I had read a few other books by this author and loved them ( Barefoot Summer and Lullaby Sky) I figured it was the perfect book to read after I was so disappointed with 'White Rose Black Forest'. A light, and fluffy book was just what I needed.

I read 4 completely different books this month! And although not all of them were my favorite, it was cool to branch out a bit. 

Friday Reads

I am still trying to get through 'Lost Bois' but I am afraid that that might be a DNF of the year....I LOVE this author and I can not wait to read this one! 

Friday Reads

**BEFORE I START THIS POST I WANT TO SAY I AM VERY LGBTQ FRIENDLY AND SUPPORT TRANS RIGHTS**

This is our bookclub book for the month and I am struggling with it. It is supposed to be a Peter Pan retelling I think and it doesn't deserve to be called a retelling. I could maybe see it in the fan fiction category? But retelling? NO! Nothing is the same but the names....

It's written as a queer friendly book based on Peter Pan. and it's very confusing. For starters, "girl" is spelled "grrrl" I asked my friend who suggested the book why it was spelled like that and it's suppose to be a punk style feminist type word? To describe girls? Personally, I think it's ridiculous  but whatever. 

So I am only about 60 pages in but here is the story so far and why it's the most ridiculous thing ever.

Pan has a circle of Lost Bois (spelled like that for gender reasons), and you don't know until a little later in the book, but they are basically his sex slaves. He talks briefly about owning them and them being submissive but you find out much more later on. Tink is a God Damn Pigeon....A PIEGON?!?! Come the fuck on!!!! No one in the book can fly except Tink b/c she's a fucking pigeon. Pan is a gross old man who has sex slaves who may or may not even be 18....

Wendi, whose a lesbian, lives in a foster home with John Michael, who is a female but is also a butch lesbian, possible transgender? Really?? You had to pick a very male name to describe a lesbian?!? 'The sentences John Michael pushed her hair blah blah' are too much. Pan stalks Wendi briefly before he decides to basically kidnap her. He, who is a fucking GROWN MAN taking CHILDREN, agrees to allow John Michael to come with. Pan places a leather cuff on John Michael, symbolizing he now owns John. But he wants Wendi to be the groups mommy, so I don't think she gets a cuff.

On the journey back to Neverland, which is a run down old factory not a beautiful secret island, you learn more of the story. I'm not sure who the narrator is....but he talks about Pan's ownership of the lost bois and briefly about 'the croc' and Hook. Oh and mermaids. You find out there are mermaids that live in a shack next to Neverland. But don't get too excited, b/c they are all strippers who are strung out on heroin, or 'the crocodile' as it's referenced in the book....

So, just to recap....all the lost bois and mermaids are strung out on heroin and sex slaves to Pan. And here is where the book *really* pissed me off. Hook gets introduced into the book when Pan brings Wendi and John Michael to the 'Jolly Roger' which is an abandoned brownstone, not a super awesome ship. You find out that Pan got Hook addicted to 'the croc' b/c well I guess b/c he's an asshole? Maybe you find out more later. Pan tells Wendi to go on the Neverland without him and John Michael when they hear footsteps outside and are afraid is Hook is about to find them in his house. Wendi finds Neverland and breaks in. Long story short....the main lost boi has decided that Wendi is a spy and Pan didn't really send her....so what does he do?!?! WHAT. DOES. HE. DO?!?!? He shoots her up!!!!! He gives the girl, meant to be his "mommy" fucking heroin!!!!! He of course, realizes too late, that he fucked up. She reveals a cuff on her arm, not the leather one his sex slaves get, so that's how homedude realized he done fucked up!!!!

This book is pissing me off, but I am trying so hard to finish it. I know I know....life is too short to force yourself to read bad books. But here is the thing, my best friend knows the author in some roundabout way and I feel like by not reading the book, I am not supporting my friend, who considers herself gender fluid.....So I am trying. But at this point, I find the book very irritating!!

Top 5

Today is top 5 things you are grateful for this month. Obviously, I need to start out with being grateful it's my birthday month! I lived to see another year.

Next, would be my family. I think we have grown closer than ever this past year and I love it. I even talk to my brother on a daily basis! I see him a couple times a week. I really can't imagine where I would be without the support and love of my family.

This is the first family picture we have taken in at least 6 years. This picture makes my heart so happy.

Friends....I have the best group of friends and I am thankful for them everyday. They make me smile on days when I really need it. Even if they don't know it, they mean a lot to me. 

I love that I live somewhere that has all 4 seasons (even if some are longer than others) and it looks like this...I love the mountains. I lived in Florida for a year and although I love the beach and how beautiful it was there, I wouldn't want to live anywhere else right now

Lastly, for furbabies. I am definitely the type of person that needs animals around and these babies make my house a home for sure. 

Wrap up- April

Besides the first book, I was into a WW2 phase and I loved all the books I picked. I'll write a little bit about each one, since they all were about different parts of the war.l

★★★★

★★★★★

 I think this one was the toughest to read. I had to do a lot with the camps, and children. The main character was a doctor for the Nazis but had a heart, and didn't agree with what he was being forced to do. B/c German women were basically sex slaves to the Nazi's there were a lot of stories about women preforming their own abortions. Overall, this book broke my heart. Between the stories of the children, and the camps and the experiments being preformed on women, I can't....but also highly recommend this book!

★★★★★

This book was way different! Actually starting off with women in the States, going through nursing school and then signing up for the reserves. Their deployment is in Manila. What was interesting to me, is actually learning about the war from that country. Their deployment started off way better than most soldiers and nurses. It sounded very luxurious, honestly. Until it wasn't. They were sent to another base, and were eventually captured by Japanese soldiers where they were held as POW for about 2 years. It was a different pace to listen to American soldiers being held in camps instead of the Jews, and learning about the part of the war in the Philippines. The title comes from the Pledge everyone had to sign upon rescue, that they wouldn't go home and talk about the work camp, or being POW. So after 2 years of their family not hearing from them, they aren't even allowed to come home and talk about it. Not that most of them would have wanted to, but still. 

  

★★★★

Although I did love this one, this one is a pretty typical German boy loves a Jewish girl and how he tries to save her. 

★★★★

This one was great! Three women, from different parts of the world join the resistance in attempts to save and smuggle Jewish families into Switzerland. This was so badass, b/c women were seen as such weak people back then, I just loved listening to what they went through. Then later to hear one of their fiances talk about she could never possibly know what he went through in the war. At the time of course she couldn't talk about it, but later on I hope he heard about her and was speechless. 

Dewey's was this weekend and I failed big time. But these were the 2 books I read. 

★★★

This book has been on my TBR pile forever, so I was glad to pick it up for dewey's. I knew it would be a quick read. I am going against the popular opinion here and say this book was eh. I read it as a fiction book, so maybe that was the problem, but besides hearing about the will to live from such a small kid, I just found it annoying. The dad was a piece of shit for not standing up to the drunk of a wife, and for not doing anything once he left. I also really wanted to know why she picked on him. At first I thought it was b/c he was the youngest but she then had 2 more kids and it was still always David. I would like to look into his other books so I can learn more of the story. 

★★

Honestly, this book just bored me. I barley hung on to anything I read, and really just read it to get my page count up. The pictures of the cats were cute though.

Wrap up- March

I never did a March wrap up b/c I suck, so I'll do that real quick then move on to an April wrap up



March:

★★★

I can't remember why I only gave this 3 stars but I did like the story. It was about 3 girlfriends, 2 who are surviving abusive relationships. Well, one that's currently in one, and 1 who just got out of one. One of the reason I liked this book was b/c of the highlight on emotionally abusive relationships. They are hard, and there is a recovery process and yet I feel like a lot of people who are in physically abusive relationships look down on us b/c "they had it worst", which I would never say otherwise, but it doesn't discredit our suffering. In this story, the women who has just divorced her emotionally abusive husband is being showered with support from all her friends, but specifically the one in the physically abusive relationship.  Of course, she is trying to hide the abuse, but not once does she play the "well I have it worst than you, so suck it up". It was nice to see the female support in this book. And then later on, it was nice to see the men in the book respecting all the girls's recovery boundaries.

★★★

Having to do with surviving a childhood with a narcissistic mother, this is also a good book about healing and recovery. 

★★★★

★★★★

★★★★★

Finally!!!! It took over 20 books, but I finally read my 5 star amazing book!!!!

★★★★

Prompt

The prompt in my blog group I picked for today is "A book you hated, and a book you loved". I went through my goodreads trying to find a book I hated that wasn't forever ago. There really hasn't been a book I hated in awhile....disliked, sure, but not really hated. Then I remembered this one! I HATED this book, and that's really hard to say b/c I love Jodi's books. I'm pretty sure I already reviewed this book, but I still wanted to do it for this, and I picked a bok of hers that I loved, to kind of make up for hating this one so much.

This was a Kindle in motion book and I was so excited to read it. The pages were beautiful, and it was a short story or maybe a novella? I am not sure. But either way it was stupid. It was like a toddler literally just wrote out everything he thought in a week, and put pretty pictures on the pages and called it a book. There were too many incomplete, random stories going on, it was such a disappointment. I usually speak so highly of her, but this is one I won't be recommending.

On the other hand, there is this book. I can't remember if this was the first of hers I read, but it's the one that got me into her books. My mom sent me this book when I lived in Florida and was trying to find things to read, and couldn't afford new books or go to the library. I loved this book! And, actually wrote a goodreads review on it! There are soooo many books I read and they don't stick with me. Sometimes, even a month later when I am doing my wrap-up I'm like 'wait...what was that about' but this one I can very much remember. Maybe not all the details, but definitely enough. I recommended this book so many times I lost count. It's a beautiful book about love and losing someone you love. I don't typically re-read books, but this is one I could see reading again.