The Excitements by C.J. Wray
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

If you’re looking for something fun and delightful, this is the novel for you. The story of two WW2 veterans who are funny and daring women who go to France for a ceremony and end up finishing a years long story is funny, delightful and enjoyable to read.

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The Plea by Steve Cavanagh
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I do not understand why all of cavanagh’s audio books aren’t accessible in the united states but i am glad that this one was. I love his stories. I love the creativity. I love the pacing. i love the crazy. They are fantastic reads.

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I Hope This Finds You Well by Natalie Sue
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was an interesting premise but I just couldn’t find myself interested enough in the main character. It all seemed too apathetic and I just never got into it. Likely me though since many others loved it.

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Husbands & Lovers by Beatriz Williams
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is the story of two women. One in 1950s and one in 2020s connected by this one heirloom. I liked the current timeline more because I liked the voice of Mallory and found myself rooting for her and Monk almost immediately. It’s not a huge surprise how these stories will connect so it’s not mysterious, it’s more about reading about how these women’s lives unfolded and how they came to be connected.

I will say that there’s a major trigger warning which for me came out of nowhere and was really disturbing (it’s towards the end.) so just beware.

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Unburdened Eating: Healing Your Relationships with Food and Your Body Using an Internal Family Systems (IFS) Approach by Jeanne Catanzaro PhD
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I have had an unhealthy relationship with food and my body for all of my life and I have recently discovered and become deeply fascinated by IFS so I thought this would be a great book to dive into and I was completely right.

I didn’t realize that the author is married to the creator of Internal Family Systems therapy and she’s been a lifelong researcher and therapist on body image so it is no wonder that this book is absolutely excellent. It is the best book I’ve read so far on clearly articulating and breaking down case studies of how to break down the different parts and understanding how to work with them to get to the root of what you might be holding.

I loved the clarity, kindness, gentleness and love with which the author approaches the subject and each example felt relevant and deeply insightful to me. It allowed me to think more deeply and to understand how to look at my relationships with my parts and to hold them (and myself) more gently.

highly recommended.

with gratitude to netgalley and PESI Publishing for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review

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Run by Blake Crouch
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Ok, I am going to mention something that the blurb doesn’t mention: this is Blake Crouch’s first book. He wrote this before he wrote the other best sellers you might have read.

Here’s why this matters: While it has some things in common, in a lot of ways, it’s a completely different style than his books. First of all, it has little to no science in it. It’s not really futuristic (in my opinion) even though there are several elements that could be construed as futuristic also it has very little plot. Basically the whole story is about running away and trying to get to the border. A lot of stuff happens but the plot itself is basically that.

The why and what are thin in this story. It’s much more action and gory/horror action for the most part. Which is also more uncharacteristic of his later novels. At least not this much. At some point I was overwhelmed with the amount of gore and violence especially since it feels senseless and there’s nothing grounding the reader to the why.

The one thing that’s most consistent with his current style is the adrenaline rush you feel as you read the story. It’s nonstop adrenaline. In this case it’s full of violence and gore and horror but the pacing is so on par with his usual style.

It’s hard to say i loved this because it is so disturbing and so violent. And in some ways unsatisfying. But it’s also not easy to put down.

with gratitude to netgalley and Ballantine Books for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review

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