Show Us Your Books - June 2020

I definitely have found my reading mojo lately... I blame it on the weather where I can finally sit outside on my porch & rock with a cup of coffee & get lost in a book.

This month, I ended up reading a whole series - which started off fantastic & took a downhill turn. I need to remember my thinking - when reading a series, take a break in between each book. I think it may be overkill. But I also dont want to forget any details. It's such a reader's struggle.

I did get in one book I've been waiting for months... Jen Hatmaker's new book. I put it first this month because its good - SO GOOD - powerful - a perfect read for the times we are in right now.  I'll leave it at that.  But, that it totally earned its way into my Favorites list!

Be sure to click the pic below to join Steph & Jana this month for all the latest books being read!

Fierce, Free & Full of Fire
***** / It was Amazing

Quick Summary:  In her funny & direct fashion, Jen reminds us to be authentic true to who we are & learning to live in that - not being ashamed to stand up for injustices, to love everyone, most importantly, yourself.

I am a HUGE fan of Jen Hatmaker. I know she's got a lot of throwback from the Chrisitan community because she is an advocate for the LGBTQ community - & will say things that aren't to the 'church standards' - but she's very much speaking to the JESUS STANDARD in my opinion.  I love her.  Her honesty- her humor - her way of writing that makes it sound like she's talking to you instead of looking at words on a page. I just am never disappointed in her books.

This one really comes at a time that fits perfectly with our climate today.  Having 2 children adopted from Indonesia, Jen has a lot to say about injustice in our world, not only with race, but gender & so much in society - its powerful reading while the news is playing over & over the result of what happens when interstice keeps happening.

This book also just has really impacted me with the talk of being UNAPOLOGETIC about who you are - how you feel about things.  Being true to who God made you to be. 

So many chapters spoke to me directly - I had my highlighter going to town.  Chapters on body images, on friendships & connections - it's just all so good!

I think I say this with EVERY Jen Hatmaker book - but if I had all the money, I'd buy this for every female friend in my life ... with a highlighter so they too could mark up every thing they want to remember.

“I decided that people-pleasing, fear, and politeness weren’t the hallmarks of a well-lived life, nor were their ugly companions: passive aggression, resentment, and dishonesty. I discovered the world is hungry for women who show up and tell the truth, unafraid and free, expanding to the very edges of who they were always meant to be.”

Scythe
**** / Really Liked It

Quick Summary:  In the future, where people no longer have sickness, disease & the body heals itself - death is no longer a thing. But the Scythe have become the ones who issue "gleanings" - giving death to those they choose.  This follows 2 teenagers who become an apprentice into Scythedom.

My awesome English teacher friend Natalie told me about this book & how much she & her students loved it.  I ended  up treating myself to the full 3 books, not even sure what it was about. When I read the description, I was like, WHAT?  Even starting into the first few pages, I wasn't sure I was going to be all into this.... I was wrong.

It really was interesting to see how the people that become Scythe's view their gleanings - & we see how people with roles of responsibility, how it can effect them.

Add in 2 teenagers, Rowan  & Citra & how they start to really fall for each other, with a challenge against them that would pit them against each other.

I ended up devouring this book.  There's some parts of it that, on a personal side, with my beliefs in God, it would make me go "Meh" with the idea of people able to grant life long immunity from death, or the Thunderhead - which is like our "cloud" is the knower of all things & in control of everything... that sort of thing, I had to just remind myself, its just a futuristic novel.

I am so glad I have the other 2 books because as soon as I closed this book, I picked up the next one....

“The greatest achievement of the human race was not conquering death. It was ending government.”

Thunderhead
*** 1/2 / Liked It ... a lot

Quick Summary - Continuing where we left off - Citra has become a Sycthe & Rowan is on the run & becoming a vigilante, & we get introduced to more characters - especially the "brain" of the CLOUD - the Thunderhead

I really enjoyed the ongoing story - but this one felt a little too descriptive in parts making it extra long - where it didnt need to be.  Also, there were a few stories going on with different characters at once, & you weren't sure what story line was happening between certain breaks in a chapter.

I still enjoyed it in the end though - the last few chapters had me on the edge of my seat with my jaw dropped. Literally.

PERSONALLY, I did get a little rubbed the wrong way how they talk about religion & God in the future regarding today's beliefs.  That made me go EW! a few times but I had to remind myself its just a YA book - dont take it to heart.

“That’s exactly what the scythedom is: high school with murder.”

The Toll
*** / Liked It

Quick Summary: The final book in the trilogy where we see if the Scythe survive under the guidance of a blood thirsty madman & how Citra & Rowan defend the Scythehood.

OK - I have to be honest - I was struggling with this one. I think I need to give myself a break between a book in series - at least this one. I feel like trilogies have this unwritten rule that each book needs to be longer & longer & more characters & all sorts of scenes as each book continues... when you really dont... REALLY dont.

I thought Book #2 was bad with extra scenes - this one has so much useless information - & plus, this just had agendas under the story that I just didnt care to deal with.

Needless to say - I honestly skipped over a big portion of this.  I'd get to some chapters dealing with characters I didnt care for & FLIP - no thank you.  I did read all the way through the last quarter of the book & didnt really feel like I lost out on missing the skipped over things.

I gave it a LIKE just because it was OK how it wrapped up ... though, it was a struggle for me.

Authors... please dont feel like you HAVE to make books 700 pages long for it to be good. You ain't no Louisa May Alcott (that's the book that always freaked me out how big it was)

“A successful lie is not fueled by the liar; it is fueled by the willingness of the listener to believe. You can’t expose a lie without first shattering the will to believe it.”