The Authenticity Project

The Authenticity Project

by: Clare Pooley

Release: February 4, 2020

A really sweet book with lots of great characters - guaranteed to find someone/something to relate to. It’s a light-hearted quick read, with just enough depth to keep it interesting and mature. The London neighborhoods are cute and the sense of community is warm & inviting.

I’d recommend it to anyone struggling with their identity or in need of a quick pick-me-up read, social media junkies, and romance fans.

The Truants

The Truants

by: Kate Weinberg

Release: January 28, 2020

This book was a slow burn.

Absolutely beautifully written and so often I lost myself in the scenery and the details of the moody campus and the Norfolk shore, but then I’d set it down in boredom.

Jess’ coming-of-age story on a college campus under the tutelage of a professor & author she idolized was an intriguing concept and I was initially sucked in. And I absolutely fell in love with her roommate Georgie and their mismatched, fast friendship. But some of the “shockers” seemed pretty obvious to me, took a really long time to get to, and weren’t really that exciting at all.

This book had so many great things going for it, that it was almost too much to tackle. As slow as it felt, all the minor topics kind of jumbled my mind on what was important. Jess’ demons were addressed, as were Georgie’s and Lorna’s, but I’m not sure the issues went deep enough and I was left feeling frustrated by what was neatly wrapped up and what was pushed aside.

This one’s hard to rate for me. It was genuinely beautiful and incredibly well-written, but just not as exciting as I’d hoped.

I will certainly read more from this author.

I’d recommend it to anyone who loves college campuses, coming-of-age, and Agatha Christie. If you’re hoping for the described “tragedy that strikes the group” to really wake the book up, I don’t think it will, but it’s still all interesting and worth digging into.

Trigger warning: suicide.

Travel Reading

Big Little Lies heading to San Francisco with Erik.

The Perfect Stranger and holiday travel home.

Monica Nolan’s Career Girl Series on a trip to Maine with mom & dad.

Library Woes

The only one I completed was Ask Again, Yes
(five stars, btw)

Am I the only one who excitedly puts library books on hold

then runs down to get them right away when available

then doesn’t read them before needing to return them?

In my defense, I have 100+ unread books in my apartment. I don’t need to be getting library books at all. But I also don’t like to spend money on new books, so when I see one that sparks my interest, I run out and put it on hold only to feel uninterested or rushed when I finally get it. So far, I’ve gotten 3 large stacks of library books and only read one each time. I’d like to make it a goal to read them, but I also want to conquer the books in my home, so.........

I had a friend over last night who told me she’d wanted to read a book so badly she actually requested that her library buy it. Twice now she’s put it on hold, picked it up, and returned it before reading it.

Which answers my own questions: no, I’m not the only one. But why does this happen? Why does my “book mood” change so frequently that a book I couldn’t wait to get my hands on 2 weeks ago suddenly doesn’t interest me?

Does anyone also feel “too pressured” to read their library books. I literally read at least a book a week. There’s no reason for my to feel bothered by a 2-week library deadline, but here I am, taking back another stacks of books I had on hold and didn’t read.