It's time to met up with my local book club again this week, so I'm back to review my newest books I've read since
my last book reviews!
I read a lot of different places: at the gym while working out, at my desk at work on my lunch break, while waiting at a doctors office for appointments, laying in bed before I go to sleep...but my favorite spot to read is early evening, relaxed on the couch with a glass of wine, blanket, and good book!!! I had a random Saturday this past month where my boyfriend's work flight got delayed so he didn't get home until pretty late in the day on Saturday which changed up our normal routine. I had most of the day to myself so I started it off by crushing an extra long workout in my basement gym, made some chocolate protein pancakes for breakfast, cleaned the entire house, and then showered up and relaxed and watched some girly shows while sitting at my beading desk and doing some
beading. By the time my boyfriend's flight had landed and he was heading home I started dinner (I made these yummy
air fryer chicken tenders which are our FAVE) and then by 7PM I was relaxed on the couch with a glass of sweet Riesling and my book! After a bit we caught up on our favorite TV show (Top Chef) before tucking in for an early bedtime. It was a Saturday all spent at home but it was PERFECT and I so loved having some ME time to enjoy what I love: working out, beading, wine, and reading!!!
I do, of course, also love some quality GIRL TIME, which is exactly what I had last month at our in person book club meeting. We met at
North Italia in King of Prussia and discussed
Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty. We had a lot of differing options on this book, but keep reading to get my opinion of it at least ;)
Here's the full list of the books I just read, keep scrolling for my reviews on each one!
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By Liane Moriarty. Synopsis from Amazon:
Nine people gather at a remote health resort. Some are here to lose
weight, some are here to get a reboot on life, some are here for reasons
they can’t even admit to themselves. Amidst all of the luxury and
pampering, the mindfulness and meditation, they know these ten days
might involve some real work. But none of them could imagine just how
challenging the next ten days are going to be.
Frances Welty, the
formerly best-selling romantic novelist, arrives at Tranquillum House
nursing a bad back, a broken heart, and an exquisitely painful paper
cut. She’s immediately intrigued by her fellow guests. Most of them
don’t look to be in need of a health resort at all. But the person that
intrigues her most is the strange and charismatic owner/director of
Tranquillum House. Could this person really have the answers Frances
didn’t even know she was seeking? Should Frances put aside her doubts
and immerse herself in everything Tranquillum House has to offer – or
should she run while she still can?
It’s not long before every guest at Tranquillum House is asking exactly the same question.
Combining
all of the hallmarks that have made her writing a go-to for anyone
looking for wickedly smart, page-turning fiction that will make you
laugh and gasp, Liane Moriarty’s Nine Perfect Strangers once again shows why she is a master of her craft.
This was our book club pick for our January meet up. Or...I guess I should say MY pick. Normally I let the group vote between 3 different options, but since I love Liane Moriarty SO much and this was her newest book coming out, I figured it was SURELY going to be another winner so obviously was the best choice for our book club read to dive into next!
Boy. Was I WRONG! What happened Liane??? I didn't hate this book....ok. Maybe I did. I hated it compared to all of her other books because they were so good and I thought this was just such a dud!!! The premise of the storyline first and foremost wasn't that interesting: it was about all these strangers gather at a health retreat. We get some reprieve from that storyline as we learn about the background of each of the characters, but most of the novel takes place at the health retreat and it just really was NOT that interesting. Further more, there were NINE different characters and during certain"events" at the health retreat, Liane literally took us through each characters point of view from the same event so it took FOREVER for the plot to move along. I was so bored with the book!!! I really didn't love the ending either. The only saving grace was the main character of the 9 - "Frances," a middle aged romance novelist at the brink of a career change and going through menopause who was nice and quirky and fun to read along with. There is also a decent amount of background and content regarding a suicide of a past family member, and Liane did do a good job of writing that content pretty emotionally - at halfway through the book in the meat of the explanation of that situation I was almost ready to burst out into tears. Those were the only two saving graces though. I would NOT go back and read this again, and would not recommend it either. Bring us back another Big Little Lies next time Liane!!!
