Book Reviews- Featuring Girl Wash Your Face- Simple Home Gatherings

I can’t believe we are already coming into June, the half way point of 2018! It’s going by so fast! This month I finished only five books, which were mostly ho-hum, with only one real standout. Although that stand out is likely to be in the running for my favorite fictional book of 2018. I see, according to Good Reads that I’ve only completed 36 out of my 100 books to read this year. In theory I should be much closer to the half way point than I am. I blame that on setting aside the “quick reads” and, instead, reading books that are deeper and more though provoking. Which I suppose is as good a reason as any to be “behind”. Read on for this month’s book review…The Girl Friend By: Michelle Francis– Poor girl wants to rise up the social ladder. She falls for a rich (mamas) boy and then tragedy strikes…everyones lives are affected and lies are told. This plays outs over the course of one month, with a couple of flashbacks. The mother is needy and annoying, the philandering husband is a total douche, rich son is clueless and the poor girl? She’s been waiting for the perfect moment to get ahead in life…is this the perfect moment?? As for thrillers go this was lacking in any great suspenseful moments. It was a well written book with a tight plot but it was just OK, nothing to rush out to buy or make a movie about. Three and a half stars

Girl, Wash Your Face by: Rachel Hollis– It seems that everywhere I went (blog wise) was talking about this book. So, naturally I needed to see whether or not it lived up to it’s hype. Well……..I am likely to be massively unpopular in blog land, but I don’t really think it did. I appreciated her “get over it and move on attitude”, but her stories (which were supposed to be motivational) just felt like fluff and lacked any real depth. To me, it seemed like a college entrance essay…you know the one you have to write that always is entitled “How I Overcame Diversity in my Life”. The one that after the first paragraph all you hear is “blah, blah, blah….and that’s how I became the wonderful person I am now. The End.” Don’t get me wrong, this is not a horrible book, I was just expected so much more. Two stars.

Nineteen Minutes by: Jodi Picoult– I’m labeling this book the terrific, terrible read. Let me explain. The topic is intense…a school shooting, told from many perspectives including the shooter, his mother, a few classmates and is played out over a trial and in flash backs. It’s easy to go into this book thinking you know how you are going to feel about each of the main players. You’re going to hate the shooter, feel sympathy for his classmates/victims and vilify the mother. Of course you are going to wish for this kid to rot in hell. BUT….it’s more complex than that, a lot more. This is, obviously, a very timely subject, one that has been the talk everywhere. I think this story (it is a fictional account) prompts important conversations and is going to make you FEEL things, some feelings you may not expect. Like I said it’s a terrific…yet terrible read. 5 stars.

Promise by: Minrose Gwin– This is a fictional story told within the framework of an actual event. In 1936 an F5 tornado ripped through Tupelo, MS. The official death toll was 216 but conveniently forgot to include the black residents of their community. The true death toll will never be known. The authors grandmother lived through the tornado and her recollections along with the blight on history inspired this story of black “washwoman” (laundress) and a wealthy white family. Their stories converge over, of all things, a baby. I can’t say too much more without giving too much away. But I can say that I was super hopeful on this one. I love a good disaster story, especially if it actually happened, but this came up lacking. Way too much repetition, far too many dream sequences and the imagery this author came up with is over the top and takes away from the story. I wanted way more historical details to be included and the storm to be described in a way that I could relate to but instead it’s all vague and disjointed. The ending was meh….2 stars.

Alternate Side by: Anna Quindlen– So S.LO.W.!! Oh my gosh. I’m surprised I actually finished this. I just kept hoping that SOMETHING would happen but nope. The description says that a major something happens to these sheltered white New Yorkers, something that “rips their community apart”. When the event came up, I thought, that’s it? That’s the thing that rips their community apart?? I should have figured out at that point to just put it down and walk away. But no, I had to finish this thing. The ending, while certainly better than the rest of the book, left me feeling melancholy and confused and wondering why I wasted my time. This author is supposed to be wonderful. I’m pretty sure this was the first of her’s that I’ve read and may be the last. 1 star