Everyday Maddie

 What a title, right? Sounds a bit odd, but goodness this was a good one! (TW: discusses mental, physical, and verbal abuse, eating disorders, death) Ok, who grew up watching iCarly or maybe had kids that watched it? I didn't really watch Nickelodeon much growing up, so I kind of just caught it here or there with friends. This book came out a few years ago, but I just recently read it. Actually, I listened to it on Spotify! In this book, Jennette McCurdy details what her life was like growing up as a child actor, her time on iCarly, navigating life with an overbearing mother, her time after acting, battling an eating disorder, and more. It really broke my heart to hear her relive her childhood in this book. It broke my heart to know what she was going through while on iCarly and after. It broke my heart that she is actually glad her mom died, because she knows what her life would be like had she not died. Hearing stories like this really changes my thoughts and perspective on child...

 It's finally time for another BOOK REVIEW! I planned to read a lot more this month, but I just didn't. However, I did read two really great books! Here they are.... The Crash by Freida McFadden Ok. WOW. I chose to read this because it was the March pick for Shay's book club. She said it was a thriller, and I always like a thriller.  This book had me hooked from the very start. I started it one night before bed and then all the next morning and finished it that afternoon. It was SO good. Without spoiling it....it's about a woman who gets in a car crash during a blizzard, and she experiences some SUPER unfortunate (but very thrilling for those reading!!) events for four days. If you like a thriller, I really can't recommend this one enough! The House of My Mother by Shari Franke ***(Trigger warning: this book mentions and details multiple types of abuse of minors- physical, mental, sexual. My review only briefly mentions that abuse took place.)*** I think everyone ha...

 Happy Thursday! I'm back with another BOOK REVIEW!! A month ago, I reviewed It Ends With Us.  Today, I'm here to review It Starts With Us! Another Colleen Hoover win for me! I've read a lot of reviews on this book after reading it, and most people say they didn't like it. But I loved it! I was hooked from the first chapter until the very last word!! I think I was mostly happy to read about Lily being happy. It Ends With Us was so heavy, and though this one had a few moments of heaviness, it was mostly happy and light. I have to admit, I feel like the ending was a bit rushed and could have used maybe one more chapter from Lily's perspective. I was expecting both books to be wildly inappropriate (remember Verity???), but *those* scenes were not bad in my opinion. All in all, I loved this book! I'm wondering now if eventually this one will become a movie. I thought I was done with Colleen Hoover, but I think I may read some more of her books soon! If you want to r...

 Happy Tuesday! I'm here with a book review for you!! If you want to check out all of my book reviews, you can find them here. So, have we all seen the trailer for the movie?? Well, I love Blake Lively, so I want to see the movie! But, if you remember, I read Verity last year and absolutely hated it. Hated it. I told myself I'd never read another Colleen Hoover book again. I decided to give her another try, and I will say she definitely redeemed herself with this one. I will give Colleen Hoover this- she reels me in from the very first sentence and keeps my interest until the very last. I did read Verity in one day. And I stayed up until 2am to finish It Ends With Us 😬😂. I rarely ever to do that with a book. In fact, I really can't think of another one I've read so quickly. I really did love this book. It was hard to read. But it was really good. It was sad, but there were sweet and happy moments. I don't think it was unnecessarily raunchy- but it is definitely ra...

At the beginning of the year, I made a goal for myself to read more books. In the past, I would read maybe one or two books a year, but in 2023 I read TWENTY TWO books. For me, that's huge!! I enjoyed reading throughout the year, I read books I hated but couldn't put down, I loved books that others disliked, and I disliked books others loved. Here's a look back on everything I read.... January Book Review February Book Review   March Book Review April Book Review May Book Review June Book Review July Book Review My August, September, and October reading was put on the back burner, so my very informal review of the one book I read in those months can be found in this post here.   I started a few different Christmasy/Romance novels in November, but I'm just bored of those for right now, so I didn't finish any of them. This year, I found that I really really like historical fiction!  Once Upon a Wardrobe was my read for December, and I absolutely LOVED it!!  Wow. Just...

  It's BOOK REVIEW DAY! I have to say, I think 2-3 books a month is becoming my sweet spot. And I'm trying to be ok with that. I set big goals for myself to read at least 4 books a month, but it just does not happen.  With that being said, I read two books this month that I absolutely loved and highly recommend!  Happy Place by Emily Henry I loooved this book. It was incredibly sweet and sad at the same time but with a great ending. I feel like everything was wrapped up nicely. It is of course, very predictable but also not predictable at all- if you can imagine😂. This is the first novel I've read by Emily Henry, and I'm happy to say I will be reading more from her in the future! It was a great summer read! Not too light, not too heavy. I read it in two days, because I seriously couldn't put it down! It was such a sweet story surrounding a group of six friends and how much their lives have changed over the years. It details that no matter what, your true friends w...

It's BOOK REVIEW day! Let's get in to what I read in the month of June.... I guess I'm kind of stuck in a pattern of reading three books per month. Which I guess is better than NO books a month, right?! I loved two of the books I read this month. One of them, I did not love. Like at all.  Someone We Know by Shari Lapena- Ohhhh my word. This book was a ROLLERCOASTER.  Someone We Know is about a quiet little suburban neighborhood that gets completely shaken up when a neighbor is murdered. Very Desperate Housewvies-esque, so of course I loved it😂. I would think I knew who the killer was, and then I would suspect someone else. I eventually figured it out, but the ending still shocked me!  This was such a good book! If you like a little bit of a thriller, read this!! I think I may try out another book by Shari Lapena for July!  Joy in the Little Things by Kerri Hess- This book really is pure JOY! It makes me want to clean out my closet, go to Paris, and start painting w...

Whew! After the complete DUD that April was as far as my book reading goes, May was FABULOUS!  Let's get in to what I read in May!   Iona Iverson's Rules for Commuting by Clare Pooley I have to preface this by saying I'm typing this sentence before I've even finished the book, but OH MY this is such a cute book! If you haven't read it, READ IT!  Now that I've finished the book, here are my remaining thoughts!  This book is all about unlikely friendships and not judging people by their outward appearances or your assumptions about what kind of person they are.  Romance.  Major life decisions. Complete strangers to friends who don't know how to live life without each other.  I will say that I got a little bored sometimes when the story was moving slowly, but then a chapter would end on a cliffhanger!  It takes place mainly during the morning and evening train commute to London of Iona, Emmie, Martha, Sanjay, Piers, Jake, and David. These seven ...

  I have a very short and sweet book review for April. I just wasn't feeling any of the books I started. Hopefully May is a better book month for me!  The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins- I think we have probably all read this book, right? Well, with book four,  The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes ,   being made into a movie I think everyone is back into what they're calling their "Hunger Games Era". Including me.😂 I've rewatched all the movies. So I thought why not reread the books??  The first time I read The Hunger Games  it was for my seventh grade reading class. So naturally, I hated it. Now that I have given it a little time, like 12 years, I loved it! I read it super quickly, because I was so hooked. I've seen the movie maybe a handful of times, and to be able to notice the differences between book and movie was neat. I honestly forgot about a lot of things that happened in only the book.  If it's been a while since you've read this series, give...

Another month down, another round up of GREAT (and not so great👎) books!  I read some fabulous books this month. Last month I said I had found my #1 book of the year already, but one of today's books really rivals it!  Friends, Lovers, and The Big Terrible Thing by Matthew Perry- Friends fans, read this! Those of you with loved ones struggling with addiction, read this! If YOU yourself might be struggling with addiction, read this! If you just love to read, read this!  I was so surprised by this book in so many ways. I absolutely loved it. I think it could fight Maame  for that #1 spot for the whole year. We'll see.  I laughed, I cried, I gained TONS of respect for Mr. Perry himself, as well as his friends that noticed he was not okay and got him the help he needed. I have a whole new perspective on my favorite show of all time. I've seen Friends upwards of like 25 times, and I never would have guessed the struggles Matthew Perry was facing in real life. But n...

It's BOOK REVIEW DAY!!  Can you believe February is already over?! Summer will surely be here before we know it! I read three great books this month!! Let's get into them.  First up, I read Maame by Jessica George- Oh, this book. It was amazing.  Maame  is Jessica George's debut novel. I could hardly believe that. She is such a fantastic writer. This is Jenna Bush Hager's pick of the month for Read with Jenna. Maame  is a late in life coming of age story filled with friendship, love, loss, and LIFE. I laughed. I cried. I felt all the feelings basically. It's real, and it's raw. I finished in about two days, because I could not put it down. I was totally transported and felt like I was there with Maddie, the main character. I loved it so much. Every book I read after this one has a lot to live up to. I can't imagine this not being the best book I read all year. Please, do yourself a favor and read this book!  BONUS!! Jenna Bush Hager's Thousand Voices and...

Hey there! I read some really great books this month! This is more than I've read in a really long time, but I've been reading on my phone, and I think I like it better than a hard copy!😮 -I now have a Kindle on my birthday wishlist! Grab a cup of coffee and settle in with a cozy blanket, and maybe you'll find your next read!  First up,  Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt- I loved this book so much. So much more than I expected to love it. I also shared about it in a Friday Favorites post a couple weeks ago. I imagined this book to be about an octopus and his travels under the sea, with all of his other sea creature friends. When it's actually a story that centers around an aquarium in Washington, and it focuses on two of the employees there, and of course an octopus named Marcellus. It's about freedom, redemption, forgiveness, and unconditional love. It's such a sweet story, and I highly recommend this one.  The Perfect Marriage by Jeneva Rose- Wh...