Top Ten Tuesday | Books That Surprised Me

Posted April 21, 2025 by Haze in Top Ten Tuesday, Weekly Book Memes / 14 Comments

Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly bookish meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl that features a different bookish topic every week.

Today’s topic is Books that Surprised Me 

Books are constantly surprising me all the time in so many different ways. Today I’m choosing to go with books that surprised me in a good way and these are some of the more recent ones.

Top Ten Recent Books That Surprised Me

  1. All The Living and the Dead by Hayley Campbell – I have a morbid curiosity about death and dying and I thought this would be interesting. It’s nonfiction and I expected an impersonal book filled with facts, but it ended up feeling more like a memoir of the author’s experience while researching the book. It got emotional and personal, and in a couple of instances maybe a little judgemental, but I was surprised by how deeply invested I got into the book.
  2. The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon – I had no idea this was historical fiction and based on real people and events at first, and I also didn’t expect to love it so much. It was so well-written and I found myself googling the actual people.
  3. Shark Heart by Emily Habeck – It was waayyy more profound and heartwrenching than I expected. I thought it was going to be something fun and campy because of the subject matter, and I’ve even joked about it with friends who had read it, but it turned out so surprisingly emotional.
  4. The Measure by Nikki Erlick – This book literally surprised me by appearing on my Shelf in my Libby app out of nowhere. I do not remember borrowing it or putting it on hold, nor even hearing about the book before! It just turned up on my shelf! However, the narrator is Julia Whelan and I love her, so I decided to read it anyway.
  5. Long Live Evil by Sarah Rees Brennan – This one definitely caught me by surprise! It was supposed to be a light-hearted YA read for me, like a snack that you read and enjoy in the moment and never think about again, but I love it so much and now I’m obsessed with it! I need the next books!
  6. The Terror by Dan Simmons – I don’t really know what I was expecting with this one. Maybe something more like The Indifferent Stars Above for the Donner Party, but for Franklin’s expedition. I didn’t realize it was fiction and was often confused by what was real and what was not. I was surprised by how invested I got in the characters in the end and how much it affected me!
  7. On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong – I didn’t expect to like this book, much less love it. It was a bookclub BOTM that I don’t think I voted for, and I ended up being blown away by how beautiful it was.
  8. Heartstopper the series by Alice Oseman – This is one of the best things that ever existed and we must protect it at all cost! I was not interested in this series at all because it’s about high school boys and I didn’t think it’d have anything I could relate to, but I ended up loving it so much and loving the boys too! The best surprise!
  9. Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus – So I was lucky to not be exposed to the hype around this book. I had no idea it was even popular at all and fully expected it was going to be another snack-like book I would forget after reading. I ended up enjoying it so much and I was surprised to find out that most people thought it was overhyped.
  10. Sooley by John Grisham – I love legal thrillers so of course I’ve read several of John Grisham’s books and that’s how I came across this one. However, this book turned out to be about sports and sportsmen, which I’m usually not interested in but it was so good and I loved it and I guess I love reading about sports after all.

Have you read any of these books? What did you think of them? Would you read any of these books?

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Book Review | Sunshine by Robin McKinley

Posted April 17, 2025 by Haze in Book Reviews / 0 Comments

Sunshine by Robin McKinley

Rae Seddon, nicknamed Sunshine, lived a quiet life working at her stepfather’s bakery. There are places in the world where darkness rules, where it’s unwise to walk. Sunshine knew that. One night, she went out to the lake for some peace and quiet. There hadn’t been any trouble out at the lake for years, and Sunshine just needed a spot where she could be alone with her thoughts.

Big mistake.

Vampires never entered her mind. Until they found her. And set upon her, and took her to an old abandoned mansion. They took her clothes and sneakers. They dressed her in a long red gown. And they shackled her to a wall-within easy reach of a figure stirring in the moonlight, who is also chained. She knows that it is a vampire. She knows that she’s to be his dinner, and that when he is finished with her, she will be dead. Yet, when light breaks, she finds that he has not attempted to harm her. And now it is the vampire, Constantin, who needs her to help him survive the day, to protect him from the sun with her magic…

For the Reading Challenge(s):
2025 52 Book Club Reading Challenge (Prompt #TBD)

The Reason

This is a reread. I’ve read this book twice before and it’s one of my favorite vampire stories. I also really love the author’s works.

The Quotes

“What we can do, we must do: we must use what we are given, and we must use it the best we can, however much or little help we have for the task. What you have been given is a hard thing–a very hard thing… But my darling, what if there were no one who could do the difficult things?”

“It is halfway true that if you are involved in a family coffeehouse you don’t have a life.”

“You can be a really nasty, selfish little jerk when you’re scared enough. I was scared enough.”

“He was a vampire. I was a human. We weren’t supposed to have any bonds between us, except straightforward generic ones of murderous antagonism and so on.”

The Narrator(s)

Laural Merlington. I had a really hard time with the low vampire voices. I could barely hear them and couldn’t make out what they were saying. I had to get a copy of the ebook and refer to it periodically.

My Thoughts

I love this book. I have loved this book, and I still love this book. Listening on audio was not the best experience, unfortunately, because I couldn’t make out what some of the low voices was saying, but I still love the story. I read it for the first time maybe 20 years ago and I thought it was one of the more interesting vampire stories, and 20 years later it’s still true for me.

The relationship between Rae and Constantin is a constant push/pull, and I love that vampires aren’t seen as dashing, romantic bad boys in this world but rather dangerous, animalistic creatures of prey. I mean, to an extent, Constantin is romanticized a little bit but to a reasonable degree in comparison to so many other vampire stories.

There are so many reasons why I love this book; the interesting world-building, the vampire lore, the rich character backgrounds. When the book first came out years ago, I hoped there might be more books set in this world, but unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be any so far, and the author hasn’t published any new books in the last decade. Still, there are plenty of books in her catalog I haven’t read and I love rereading the ones I’ve read. I never get tired of them.

My Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

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Book Review | Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales by Heather Fawcett

Posted April 17, 2025 by Haze in Book Reviews / 0 Comments

Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales by Heather Fawcett

Emily Wilde has spent her life studying faeries. A renowned dryadologist, she has documented hundreds of species of Folk in her Encyclopaedia of Faeries. Now she is about to embark on her most dangerous academic project studying the inner workings of a faerie realm-as its queen.

Along with her former academic rival-now fiancé-the dashing and mercurial Wendell Bambleby, Emily is immediately thrust into the deadly intrigues of Faerie as the two of them seize the throne of Wendell’s long-lost kingdom, which Emily finds a beautiful nightmare, filled with scholarly treasures.

Emily has been obsessed with faerie stories her entire life, but at first she feels as ill-suited to Faerie as she did to the mortal world-how could an unassuming scholar like herself pass for a queen? Yet there is little time to settle in-Wendell’s murderous stepmother has placed a deadly curse upon the land before vanishing without a trace. It will take all of Wendell’s magic-and Emily’s knowledge of stories-to unravel the mystery before they lose everything they hold dear.

For the Reading Challenge(s):
2025 52 Book Club Reading Challenge (Prompt #TBD)

The Reason

I enjoyed the first two books and I love the characters.

The Quotes

“I have learned there is one thing a person never tires of, no matter how long they live. And that is being in love. All else is ash and ember.”

“Shadow’s world was one in which all and sundry either fawned over him or kept a respectful distance from his intimidating bulk. Each time Orga hissed at him, Shadow seemed to assume it a misunderstanding, which grew increasingly improbable as these incidents accumulated, but still less improbable, in his view, than being disliked.”

“Stories are the architecture of Faerie, more powerful than magic, more powerful than kings.”

“Such is the way with librarians, who are almost as unpredictable as the Folk, some minatory and persnickety, others overflowing with warmth towards humanity at large.”

My Thoughts

I loved the first book but I thought the second wasn’t as strong as the first. Many people have expressed that they thought this book might be the weakest of the three, and in terms of stories, I agree. The story felt weak and unnecessarily drawn out, especially towards the end, but I’m giving it the benefit of the doubt and assuming that it might be a possible set up for the next books. Still unnecessary though, and it could’ve been done better if so.

However, my expectations for this book was lower this time and I ended up enjoying it very much. I especially love the little bits of comedy and relationship scenes. I love the banter between Emily and Wendell, and I love the little things he did to show how much he loved and respected her. I also loved Orga and Shadow, and I loved how interesting the other characters are as well. I think the best thing about this book is the characters, and I always want to know more about them.

It’s funny because it feels like it’s the side stories and backstories of these characters that keep me coming back. I’m not sure I love the overarching stories at this point, but I would absolutely read the next book(s) just because I can’t get enough of the characters. To be fair, the main story of this book wasn’t bad, I just feel like it wasn’t enough. I hope the main stories in future books get better.

My Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

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Book Review | Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

Posted April 16, 2025 by Haze in Book Reviews / 1 Comment

Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

Everyone in Shaker Heights was talking about it that summer: how Isabelle, the last of the Richardson children, had finally gone around the bend and burned the house down.

In Shaker Heights, a placid, progressive suburb of Cleveland, everything is meticulously planned – from the layout of the winding roads, to the colours of the houses, to the successful lives its residents will go on to lead. And no one embodies this spirit more than Elena Richardson, whose guiding principle is playing by the rules.

Enter Mia Warren – an enigmatic artist and single mother – who arrives in this idyllic bubble with her teenage daughter Pearl, and rents a house from the Richardsons. Soon Mia and Pearl become more than just tenants: all four Richardson children are drawn to the mother–daughter pair. But Mia carries with her a mysterious past, and a disregard for the rules that threatens to upend this carefully ordered community.

When old family friends attempt to adopt a Chinese-American baby, a custody battle erupts that dramatically divides the town – and puts Mia and Elena on opposing sides. Suspicious of Mia and her motives, Elena is determined to uncover the secrets in Mia’s past. But her obsession will come at an unexpected and devastating cost . . .

For the Reading Challenge(s):
2025 52 Book Club Reading Challenge (Prompt #TBD)

The Reason

I watched the tv adaptation a few years ago and loved it and always meant to read the book eventually.

The Quotes

“Sometimes you need to scorch everything to the ground, and start over. After the burning the soil is richer, and new things can grow. People are like that, too. They start over. They find a way.”

“She had learned that when people were bent on doing something they believed was a good deed, it was usually impossible to dissuade them.”

“I’ll tell you a secret. A lot of times, parents are not the best at seeing their children clearly.”

“Where do we follow the rules, and where do we justify breaking them? Do our pasts determine what we deserve in the future? And is it ever possible to leave your past behind?”

The Narrator(s)

Jennifer Lim. It was absolutely perfect.

My Thoughts

I feel like a lot of my love for this book might have been carried over from my love for the tv adaptation. I remember a lot of key moments in the show and the vibrancy of the actors who play the characters and pictured some of the scenes as I was reading the book. This rarely happens with me but in this instance I think the show was just so good that it stayed with me, and dare I say, I think the show was better than the book. But not by much because the book was really good too.

Reading the book served to make the differences in class and privilege among the characters a lot more jarring to me. Their internal thought processes and justifications, their reasons for doing the things they did, made such a stark contrast when put into words in the book.

There have been some criticisms about the book trying to bias us towards certain characters that may or may not necessarily be right in their own actions, but I personally feel like that’s missing the point. It’s not about who’s right or wrong, all the characters did/have done questionable things, but rather, it’s about privilege. The ones who have money and privilege have more options, more connections, more ways to get themselves out of trouble, and more grace from public opinion. The poor don’t have the luxury of better options, nor grace from public opinion. They are maligned for “making bad choices” when “good choices” are just not available to them.

I love that this story highlights that, but I also think that people who have privilege may not recognize this aspect of the story because they don’t always recognize their own privilege. It’s written so subtly and masterfully, the characters are so complex and their thought processes feel so true to life, it’s just an amazing book and I loved it.

My Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

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Book Review | The Terror by Dan Simmons

Posted April 16, 2025 by Haze in Book Reviews / 2 Comments

The Terror by Dan Simmons

The men on board HMS Terror have every expectation of triumph. As part of the 1845 Franklin Expedition, the first steam-powered vessels ever to search for the legendary Northwest Passage, they are as scientifically supported an enterprise as has ever set forth. As they enter a second summer in the Arctic Circle without a thaw, though, they are stranded in a nightmarish landscape of encroaching ice and darkness. Endlessly cold, with diminishing rations, 126 men fight to survive with poisonous food, a dwindling supply of coal, and ships buckling in the grip of crushing ice. But their real enemy is far more terrifying. There is something out there in the frigid darkness: an unseen predator stalking their ship, a monstrous terror constantly clawing to get in.

When the expedition’s leader, Sir John Franklin, meets a terrible death, Captain Francis Crozier takes command and leads his surviving crewmen on a last, desperate attempt to flee south across the ice. With them travels an Inuit woman who cannot speak and who may be the key to survival, or the harbinger of their deaths. But as another winter approaches, as scurvy and starvation grow more terrible, and as the terror on the ice stalks them southward, Crozier and his men begin to fear that there is no escape.

For the Reading Challenge(s):
2025 52 Book Club Reading Challenge (Prompt #TBD)

The Reason

I love big books, and I love horror, and I love historical fiction, and I love books about exploration. This book seemed like a culmination of many things I love.

The Quotes

“The beauty of being dead, he knows now, is that there is no pain and no sense of self.”

“Life is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short. It has no plan, no point, no hidden mysteries that make up for the oh-so-obvious miseries and banalities.”

“Every time I believe I know one of these men or officers, I find that I am wrong. A million years of Man’s Medicinal progress will never reveal the secret condition and sealed compartments of the Human soul.”

“Why does our species always have to take our full measure of God-given misery and terror and mortality and then make it worse?”

The Narrator(s)

Tom Sellwood. Loved his narration!

My Thoughts

Although this story is based on a real lost expedition that happened, I wasn’t sure how much of it would stay true to life and what would be embellished. I was also unfamiliar with the true events so I wouldn’t have realized where the story diverged, which maybe added to my enjoyment of the book as I was taking everything at face value. I loved a few of the characters, hated a couple of others, and found myself rooting for the ones I loved and wishing horrible things on the bad guys.

I loved the whole experience of reading this book. It started really slow-paced, but it kept building and building and building on the tension and in the end the slow burn was so worth it. I read it as a buddy read with my online bookclub and one of the things I said is that this is one of the best books I’ve read and I loved the writing, but I don’t think I’ll ever want to read it again because of how intense it is.

Give me enough time to forget the experience and I may read it again, but right now I’m still reeling from all the feelings.

My Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

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Book Review | Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson

Posted April 16, 2025 by Haze in Book Reviews / 0 Comments

Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson

Everyone in my family has killed someone. Some of us, the high achievers, have killed more than once. I’m not trying to be dramatic, but it is the truth. Some of us are good, others are bad, and some just unfortunate.

I’m Ernest Cunningham. Call me Ern or Ernie. I wish I’d killed whoever decided our family reunion should be at a ski resort, but it’s a little more complicated than that.

Have I killed someone? Yes. I have. Who was it? Let’s get started.

For the Reading Challenge(s):
2025 52 Book Club Reading Challenge (Prompt #TBD)

The Reason

There’d been a lot of hype for this book and I’ve been hearing about this book for a while. I thought it sounded really interesting.

The Quotes

“Family is not whose blood runs in your veins, it’s who you’d spill it for.”

“You can tell a lot about someone from whether they can handle an uncomfortable silence. If they ride it out or snap it off.”

“Anger is as much an heirloom as any Rolex.”

“Every basic task starts to feel like a decision, and that becomes so draining that you end up unable to make any of them.”

The Narrator(s)

Barton Welch. He was very pleasant to listen to.

My Thoughts

I must admit I didn’t love this book. I had high expectations coming into it and had been anticipating reading it and the other books in the series, but I’m not sure that I’ll continue with it. It’s not horrible, but I didn’t enjoy the writing style. It felt gimmicky, and the constant breaking of the fourth wall annoyed me and took me out of the story.

The story itself wasn’t incredible either and I didn’t connect very much with the characters. In fact, I would say that the book as a whole was quite forgettable to me. Perhaps the most memorable thing about it for me is the title of the book. I just finished it and I couldn’t tell you anything about the characters or significant things that happened because nothing and no one really stood out to me.

However, it is well-written and -crafted despite my dislike of the writing style, and there are some great quotes I really liked in the book. I can understand why people would enjoy this book, but it just didn’t connect for me unfortunately.

My Rating

⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

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Top Ten Tuesday | Books Beginning With C

Posted April 14, 2025 by Haze in Top Ten Tuesday, Weekly Book Memes / 28 Comments

Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly bookish meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl that features a different bookish topic every week.

Today’s topic is My Unpopular Bookish Opinions 

I’ve had so many opinions I thought were unpopular that turned out to be quite common and I felt a bit pressured to think of more, so I’m just going to cop-out with an easy alphabetical prompt. Here are some books I’ve read beginning with C.

Top Ten Books Beginning with C

  1. Cat’s Eye by Margaret Atwood – I’ve talked about this book several times because it’s one of my favorite books; it focuses on the friendships between women and the way we are pitted against each other and taught to see each other as rivals. It’s been a while since I read it and I desperately need to reread.
  2. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas – Another favorite that I’ve read many times but never get tired of. If you’re daunted by its size, I promise it’s really fast paced and easy to read once you get into it!
  3. The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black – One of my favorite vampire stories although I can’t remember why! I guess I need to reread this too!
  4. Carrie by Stephen King – I’ve read this before and I mean to read this again soon for my Stephen King Reading Challenge. It has been on my mind lately because of the buzz about Mike Flanagan adapting it. It’s very exciting!
  5. Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein – It’s a WW2 spy story and I remember feeling all the feelings when I read it more than ten years ago. In my Goodreads review I mention that this is a book I need to reread. I think I need a separate TBR list for rereads!
  6. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky – This book is on this list purely for bragging purposes. 😂 I read it, it was okay, it mostly felt like a fever dream, but I read it relatively recently and I wanted to make sure everyone knew how much of an intellectual I am. 🤓
  7. Circe by Madeline Miller – I would read anything by the author, and yes, I loved The Song of Achilles too, but I loved this one more. I love how relatable Circe is as a woman, goddess, witch, person. Another book I really want to reread!
  8. Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid – I also would read anything by TJR, every book she’s written is gold! But I have a few favorites and this book is one of them.
  9. Cinder by Marissa Meyer – I love the whole series! I love fairytale retellings in general and I always seek them out, but this one was special and different when it came out and I just loved how creative it was and how the overarching story brought everything together.
  10. The Curiosity by Stephen P. Kiernan – This is one of my most favorite, most underrated authors I have ever read. I love every single one of his books but his most popular book only has about 20K ratings. It’s a shame because they are all so good. This book was my first and it’s about a man who has been frozen in ice for a century and wakes up in current times. All his books have been 5 stars for me, and I would reread them over and over again.

Have you read any of these books? What did you think of them? Would you read any of these books?

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Top Ten Tuesday | Books with Spring in the Title

Posted April 7, 2025 by Haze in Top Ten Tuesday, Weekly Book Memes / 33 Comments

Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly bookish meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl that features a different bookish topic every week.

Today’s topic is Books with Springy Covers

I couldn’t come up with a creative spin on this topic so I just went with books that had the word “spring” in the title. I ended up a pretty good list, I think, and unfortunately, more books added to my TBR! 😂 I hope you enjoy these!

Top Ten Books with Spring in the Title

  1. Silent Spring by Rachel Carson – This book has been on my TBR forever! I keep meaning to read it but haven’t gotten to it yet. It sounds like a very important book to read about the environment and I can’t believe it was written 50 years ago!
  2. Rumours of Spring by Farah Bashir – This is a memoir about a girl in India and I must say I am intrigued! I came across it as I was looking for books for this list and it just caught my attention.
  3. Spring Fever by Mary Kay Andrews – I’ve seen this author’s name everywhere and I thought I must have read at least one of her books but apparently not. Maybe it’s time to remedy that.
  4. Dragons of Spring Dawning by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman – This is the third book in the Dragonlance Chronicles that I’m trying to do a reread on this year! I cannot wait to get to it!
  5. Absent in the Spring by Agatha Christie – Written under her pseudonym Mary Westmacott, it just reminds me I’ve still got many of the author’s books on my TBR!
  6. The Spring of the Ram by Dorothy Dunnett – I have heard good things about the author when it comes to historical fiction. I had a few of her books on my physical shelves at one point but I moved and had to give away a lot of books so she’s still on my TBR!
  7. Black Spring by Henry Miller – I’m not sure I’m interested in this book, but the cover is very attention-getting and I had to include it.
  8. Spring Fever by P.G. Wodehouse – The second book with this title on my list, but it sounded good, and I’ve been curious about the author’s works so it’s on the list!
  9. Dragon Springs Road by Janie Chang – Historical fiction set in China with magical realism! I must read it!
  10. A Spring Without Bees by Michael Schacker – This one is another one about the environment and I’m simultaneously wanting to read it and scared to. I think it’s important to educate ourselves though.

Have you read any of these books? What did you think of them? Would you read any of these books?

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Book Review | All The Living and the Dead by Hayley Campbell

Posted April 7, 2025 by Haze in Book Reviews / 0 Comments

All The Living and the Dead by Hayley Campbell

A deeply compelling exploration of the death industry and the people—morticians, detectives, crime scene cleaners, embalmers, executioners—who work in it and what led them there.

We are surrounded by death. It is in our news, our nursery rhymes, our true-crime podcasts. Yet from a young age, we are told that death is something to be feared. How are we supposed to know what we’re so afraid of, when we are never given the chance to look?

Fueled by a childhood fascination with death, journalist Hayley Campbell searches for answers in the people who make a living by working with the dead. Along the way, she encounters mass fatality investigators, embalmers, and a former executioner who is responsible for ending sixty-two lives. She meets gravediggers who have already dug their own graves, visits a cryonics facility in Michigan, goes for late-night Chinese with a homicide detective, and questions a man whose job it is to make crime scenes disappear.

Through Campbell’s incisive and candid interviews with these people who see death every day, she Why would someone choose this kind of life? Does it change you as a person? And are we missing something vital by letting death remain hidden? A dazzling work of cultural criticism, All the Living and the Dead weaves together reportage with memoir, history, and philosophy, to offer readers a fascinating look into the psychology of Western death.

For the Reading Challenge(s):
2025 52 Book Club Reading Challenge (Prompt #TBD)

The Reason

It was the BOTM for my in-person bookclub, member’s choice.

The Narrator(s)

Hayley Campbell, the author herself. I really enjoyed the narration and listening to the book through her voice. It’s technically scientific nonfiction but I also think it’s a little bit of a memoir about her own journey researching the book, and I loved that she shared her personal experiences through the journey.

My Thoughts

Our in-person bookclub had a very deep and meaningful discussion about this book, our own thoughts on death and dying, and how we felt about the book and death. Personally, this book blew me away, I’ve always been morbidly curious about death and the business of death, but I didn’t expect the author to also delve into the emotional aspects of those who work in the business.

There are so many things we don’t think about until it affects us, but at the same time, this is one of those things that when it does affect us, we’re not necessarily in the right frame of mind to think about them. I love that Campbell have so much compassion and empathy for those who work with death and the dying, and I love that she puts a spotlight on the topics that we typically avoid.

One of the criticisms that came up as our bookclub was discussing the book was that Campbell inserted her own emotions and judgement a little to much while interviewing some of her subjects. I agree in that particular instance, but I also think that it was her way of trying to understand it. That doesn’t excuse it at all, because I personally feel that she did push a little too hard and I didn’t like that she did that. I did like that she got emotionally invested and personal in the book, but I think there should be a balance between being professional and letting her interviewees tell their story, and inserting her own emotions and judgement into their stories.

It is still a very good book and I learned so much. I loved it so much, I bought my own copy so that I can reread it over again. There really is a lot to be gained from reading this book, morbid as it is, and I would highly recommend it to anyone!

My Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

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Book Review | Happiness for Beginners by Katherine Center

Posted April 6, 2025 by Haze in Book Reviews / 0 Comments

Happiness for Beginners by Katherine Center

A year after getting divorced, Helen Carpenter, thirty-two, lets her annoying, ten years younger brother talk her into signing up for a wilderness survival course. It’s supposed to be a chance for her to pull herself together again, but when she discovers that her brother’s even-more-annoying best friend is also coming on the trip, she can’t imagine how it will be anything other than a disaster. Thus begins the strangest adventure of Helen’s well-behaved life: three weeks in the remotest wilderness of a mountain range in Wyoming where she will survive mosquito infestations, a surprise summer blizzard, and a group of sorority girls.

Yet, despite everything, the vast wilderness has a way of making Helen’s own little life seem bigger, too. And, somehow the people who annoy her the most start teaching her the very things she needs to learn. Like how to stand up for herself. And how being scared can make you brave. And how sometimes you just have to get really, really lost before you can even have a hope of being found.

For the Reading Challenge(s):
2025 52 Book Club Reading Challenge (Prompt #TBD)

The Reason

I have enjoyed Katherine Center’s other books, and this one in particular had been talked up so much by Rissi from RissiWrites.com that I just had to read it.

The Narrator(s)

Marguerite Gavin. I enjoyed the narration very much.

My Thoughts

Okay, there is quite a bit of cheesiness and some cringy parts in this book, but overall I loved it and thought it was such a cute read. It’s also what I needed because I have been reading so many heavy books in recent months and very few romances. I have read several of Katherine Center’s books and really enjoyed them, so I thought I would take a chance on this one too. I’m glad I did because even though it was a little cheesy/cringy, there was also some really great scenes and heartwarming stuff that made me happy.

I also realized that there was a movie adaptation and I ended up watching it immediately after reading the book!

I love Ellie Kemper so I was really looking forward to the movie and seeing what they did with it. They took out some of the cringiest bits, which I’m glad of(!), but it also felt a little less charming. I felt like the MC wasn’t as charming as in the book, and there wasn’t enough chemistry between the two leads. But I still enjoyed it and it was such a nice book and movie combo to take me away from the other solemnities in life. I would still recommend both.

My Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

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