June Reads

I can't believe it's already the end of June. Time has gotten away from me! Today I tried to use $10 in Kohl's cash, and five of it had expired. Way to get $6.01 outta me, Kohl's! You sly fox! (Grumble, grumble). 

Anyway, when school got out for the summer, I was curious to see what would become of my reading habits. Somehow I still got some reading in, even with my kids around, but I'm not sure how. I guess it's because I listen to audiobooks while I work in the garden, and I picked a lot of younger books this month. 

I decided from now on, I'm not going to do a write up of books that I don't really like, so at the end of this post, you'll see the list of books I didn't review. All of them were just "meh" or not worth the time, other than The Woman in the Library. That's what I was listening to when we found the girl at the park, and my brain stopped working for a while. I finished listening to the book, but I only retained about 20% of it because I was very distracted. 

Now that my opening business is out of the way, let's talk books. Here's what I read this month:

Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo

(young adult, contemporary, LGBTQ, poetry, family)

Source: audiobook (one of the readers is the author, and it's always interesting to hear an author read her own work because it's read the way the she intended)

Summary: Camino lives in the Dominican Republic and Yahaira lives in New York City. Unbeknownst to them, they are sisters, and their Papi, who has just died in a plane crash, was living a divided life. 

Content: language, sexual harassment

Review: ****

Final statement: I enjoyed this story, but I feel it had more language than a book for young readers should. 

Fighting Words by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

(middle grade, mental health, abuse, family)

Source: audiobook

Summary: Sisters Della and Suki have experienced the trauma of sexual abuse and are taken into foster care. They must decide what to tell and how to heal. 

Content: sexual abuse (not overly descriptive - just enough to be informative), suicidality 

Review: *****

Final statement: This book deals with hard subjects and is written for a young audience. The content is important but should be approached with care. In the author's note, she explains that she was sexually abused as a child, and she wanted to write a story for children on this topic. I think she handled it with excellence - keeping the story very real while interweaving hope for healing. I am not sure what age I would recommend this for. It really depends on the maturity level and the life experience of each individual child. However, I highly recommend this for adults.

Reaching for the Savior by Reyna I. Aburto

(religious, Christian, non-fiction)

Source: audiobook via Deseret Bookshelf Plus (Sister Aburto is the reader, and I think her lovely accent adds a lot to her writing)

Summary: Sister Aburto shares some ways we can reach for the Savior and strengthen Christ's church and each other. 

Content: nothing of concern

Review: ***** (a book like this is hard to rate because you get out of it what you seek to get out of it)

Final Statement: I enjoyed getting to know Sister Aburto better. She has a fascinating life story and has experienced a lot of adversity. She is such a sweet lady - I will miss having her in the Relief Society General Presidency. 

The Doomsday Mother by John Glatt

(true crime, non-fiction)

Format: audiobook

Summary: An account of Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell - how they came to be together and the deaths in their wake.

Content: some disturbing content due to the nature of the crimes - otherwise relatively clean save for a couple of uses of strong language in quotes.

Review: ****

Final statement: I feel like John Glatt was a bit antsy to make money off this story and wrote this book a bit prematurely (Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell are slated to go to trial in January 2023). At the same time, I think he did a decent job laying out the facts as well as they are known and remaining objective with connections to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Glatt was sure to differentiate between the Vallow and Daybell's beliefs and teachings and and the actual doctrines and practices of the Church. 

Long Bright River by Liz Moore

(thriller, mystery, family relations)

Format: e-book

Summary: A story of two sisters - Mickey, a Philadelphia cop, and Kacey, a drug addict. Kacey goes missing during a string of murders, and Mickey tries to track her down. 

Content: language, drug use

Review: *****

Final statement: This book was a little slow and a little on the longer side, but I enjoyed it. 

A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue park

(historical fiction, Africa, middle grade)

Source: audiobook 

Summary: Salva is displaced from his family during the Sudanese Civil War in 1985. As a refugee, he travels with many groups across the span of several years until he is eventually sent to the United States. 

Content: grandma-friendly

Review: ****

Final statement: I believe I found this book on a list of recommended full cast audiobooks. It is based on the true story of Salva Dut (who gives a statement at the end of the book) but is slightly fictionalized. The story is short - only three hours long on audiobook. 

Books not reviewed: