Hi everyone! I’m finally back for a Recent Reads post after a small hiatus! July was a pretty lame reading month, so I opted to wait and just combine the past 2 months worth of reads. Please note, Caleb accidentally subscribed me to Kindle Unlimited (of course he did), so I did read some books on there (I have since canceled. It was really nice, but I can’t justify paying for it when I work at and use the library). Here’s what I read in July and August!
Title: One Woman’s Journey: Surviving the Streets
Author: Brittany Dodd-Santiago
Genre: Memoir, nonfiction
Format & Source: eBook, Kindle Unlimited
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
One of my favorite shows is Love After Lockup, a reality show about people who meet and fall in love with prisoners. Brittany is by far my favorite cast member. After her release from prison, she really turned her life around, got married, and became a mom. This is her personal memoir and I have to be honest, I was completely hooked!
This is the first in a planned series of memoirs, and it chronicles her childhood and teenage years. She endured a whole lot and I never realized it from watching the show. She dealt with neglect from her parents, homelessness, running away, drug addiction, and even a teenage pregnancy with a much older man and abuser. While much of the dialogue and writing seems stilted and unnatural, overall, I was seriously captivated by her story and all that she went through. I’m actually really eager to read her next book(s) and hope she releases them soon. I’d highly recommend this one for fans of the show!
Title: The Wrestler Murders: The True Story of Chris and Nancy Benoit
Author: James Falcon
Genre: Nonfiction
Format & Source: eBook, Kindle Unlimited
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
If this seems like an odd choice for me, it probably is! However, when I was a kid, my brother and I used to LOVE watching wrestling. We even went to a couple of live shows and saw The Rock wrestle at a Thanksgiving show with our cousin and uncle. It’s been many years since I’ve watched or cared for wrestling, but recently, Jerry and I have gotten into this fascinating documentary show called Dark Side of the Ring. It covers tragedies that have happened in the wrestling world, and one of the first episodes we watched was about Chris Benoit. After watching that, I became really interested in his story since I’m a true crime junkie. I found this freebie on Kindle Unlimited and had to read it.
The story of Chris Benoit is a sad and tragic one. He was a well known wrestler who ended up killing his wife and son, and then himself. There are a lot of unknown questions surrounding the murder / suicide, but some believe that it was due to brain trauma from years of wrestling and having his head hit repeatedly, and that he just snapped from that condition.
This “book” is really more like a short story or a very long article. It basically just laid out the facts of the case, and I didn’t learn a whole lot of new information. It could be the writing itself, or it could just be the fact that there are really only theories instead of concrete answers. The writing was not great, but if you’re new to the case, this could be a good place to start. I’d be interested in reading something more thorough about this case in the future.
Title: If I Die Tonight
Author: Alison Gaylin
Genre: Mystery
Format & Source: Print, own
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
This was the pick for my mystery book club.
This book had been on my radar since its release, so I was glad when my book club chose this one to read! It’s a pretty complex mystery with lots of meat and substance to dig into.
A woman gets carjacked late at night. The person who steals her car then runs over and kills a popular high school student. Immediately, fingers are pointing at Wade, the high school outcast who is refusing to talk.
There was a lot going on in this book as well as multiple perspectives. We hear from Wade’s mother, Wade’s brother, a female police officer who is on the case, and Aimee, the former popstar who was carjacked. There were plenty of side stories and viewpoints that kind of collide and weave together, some more necessary than others. For instance, there’s a major backstory about the police officer that was interesting, but perhaps not needed. The story was a bit too long and drawn out, and perhaps less story lines would have helped with that. Because of the length and all of the tangents it went off into, the book felt a little slow for me and I was really never in a race to get to the next scene.
All in all, it was an interesting mystery that was hard to solve. I like that it kept me guessing, and there was real depth of character which I appreciated. I also enjoyed hearing from Wade’s mother. It definitely offered a unique perspective that I could relate to as a mother. It raised all kinds of concerns about motherhood, mothers and sons, guilt, boundaries we should / should not set for our kids, and more. I could relate to the heartbreak she felt for her kids, and that honestly kind of punched me right in the gut (which is a good thing in reading). However, the book in general wasn’t very memorable and even got a bit boring at times. I’ll read this author again, even though I found this mystery to be mostly mediocre.
Title: This is All I Got: A New Mother’s Search for Home
Author: Lauren Sandler
Genre: Nonfiction
Format & Source: eBook, library
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
This book is absolutely exceptional. Wow, wow, wow!
Lauren Sandler is a journalist who wanted to tell the story of homelessness and poverty in America, New York City in particular. On her quest, she meets 22 year old Camila in a homeless shelter for single mothers. From there, we get to follow along as Lauren chronicles a year in Camila’s life, from the birth of her son, all the way up though his first birthday and beyond.
Holy cow. This is not my typical read at all, but it absolutely opened my eyes and changed my opinion on so many things I thought I knew. It was meticulously written, researched, and detailed, and I truly felt like I knew Camila and was there with her through all of her struggles and triumphs.
Camila had a tough childhood but was determined to be successful. Instead of following in the footsteps of neglectful parents, she heads off to college where she becomes pregnant. She is forced back “home,” but it turns out she doesn’t actually HAVE a home. She hops from shelter to shelter as a single, homeless pregnant woman with practically no support system. We see her struggle, fight, and stomp through the city as she searches for stability and assistance. I can’t even really explain it, except to say that Camila had astounding determination. She wanted better for herself and her son. She wanted to pursue an education and have a career. She had dreams and aspirations that she fought for from a homeless shelter with no one standing behind her. In short, she was incredible. Full of grit. She inspired me in her fight and ability to overcome nearly anything.
I honestly had no idea how the cycle of homelessness and poverty really worked until I read this story. I had my own assumptions that have been completely altered by what I read. I hated to close the book for the last time, feeling like I was being forced to say goodbye to Camila. I felt like I knew her by that point, and am sad to say I couldn’t find much info or any new updates about her online (probably due to privacy concerns with the publication of the book). But honestly? Bravo a million times over to this young mother, and bravo to the author for granting us this painstakingly real look inside Camila’s life and journey. It was a roller coaster ride and I felt every emotion known to man while reading it.
I will honestly never forget this book or the story of Camila. It taught me a hell of a lot and broke my heart a thousand times. But still, I’d read it again and again if I could, and would highly recommend it to pretty much everyone.
Title: Birthday Girl
Author: Penelope Douglas
Genre: Romance, new adult
Format & Source: eBook, Kindle Unlimited
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
This was another Kindle Unlimited freebie that I’d seen a couple of good reviews on and thought, hey, why not? I actually ended up really liking it!
This is definitely a new adult, taboo romance that was much better and enjoyable than it sounds. I expected it to be totally corny and pure smut, but it actually had great characters and was pretty well written!
Jordan is a hardworking and independent 19 year old who has no one she can rely on but herself. After her loser boyfriend gets them kicked out of their apartment, they move in with his dad, 38 year old Pike Lawson. Pike Lawson who is sexy and single, and who has a strained relationship with his son. After Jordan and her boyfriend / Pike’s son break up, you can imagine what happens next between Jordan and the much older Pike. Lust and love ensue!
I mean, there isn’t much else to say except that I was really pulled into this story, much to my surprise. I really loved Jordan as a character, and heck… I even liked Pike, even though what he was doing obviously seemed kind of slimy. However, I do love me a good taboo romance from time to time, and this was a good one that had actual substance and good writing. The characters were three dimensional and it was just all in all better than I anticipated. There was much more story than smut, and I liked it quite a bit. I will gladly read more from this author and definitely recommend this one to romance readers!
Monthly Stats for July & August
Books read: 5
Genre
Fiction: 2
Nonfiction: 3
Format
Print books: 1
eBooks: 4
Source
Library (print): 0
Books I own (print): 1
Library (eBook): 1
Kindle Unlimited (eBook): 3
Netgalley (eBook): 0
