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Mini Book Reviews

Here are quick reviews of the books I have read so far this month…

⭐⭐⭐

Lawyers and Lattes by Rebecca Paulinyi – I found this author during a stuff your Kindle day a year or so ago and liked the free book enough to want to get this one. This book was entertaining enough that I have added book three to my TBR.

⭐⭐

The London Flat by Juliet Gauvin – I had enjoyed the first book in this series, which I got during a stuff your Kindle day a while back, but this one fell flat for me. I didn’t find the characters’ actions believable.

⭐⭐⭐

Hope in a Jar by Beth Harbison – Fun read! The action flips between the present day and the characters’ time in junior high and high school. I actually liked the chapters from the past better than the present; the author does a good job writing the younger characters. The present-day plot felt a bit childish to me, like the characters hadn’t really grown up since high school, which perhaps was the point of the story.

⭐⭐⭐

What We Keep by Elizabeth Berg – I didn’t love it, even though Elizabeth Berg is one of my favorite writers. It started out good, but I just lost interest partway through.

What are you reading now?

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Dog Walkers

Dog Walkers is a 500-piece puzzle from Dowdle. I received this as a gift from a friend and did it now after using the randomizer on my puzzle app to pick my next puzzle.

Honestly, I am not a huge fan of this brand. Something about the artwork just does not appeal to me. I also encountered a lot of false fits with this puzzle, especially in the top section. The top third of the puzzle took quite a while to complete.

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The Taste of Ginger

I have read a few reviews of The Taste of Ginger, and they vary wildly in their response to the book.  I am on the positive side of the question, giving this debut novel by Mansi Shah 5 stars.

What I most appreciated about this book was following Preeti on her journey to understand more about herself and where she came from so that she can figure out who she wants to be. She is a first-generation immigrant to America from India, having been brought over by her parents as a child.

When the story begins, she is a thirty-year old lawyer just out of a failed relationship with a white American man.  She has a troubled relationship with her parents, especially her mother, but then a family emergency calls her to India and forces her to examine her beliefs and feelings about her family and the different cultures they have lived in.

As she sits on the plane taking her to India and thinks back over her life in America, she realizes, “Fitting in meant letting go of who I was and becoming someone new.” I can relate to that so much as an autistic woman.  I am always watching the behaviors and customs of those around me so that I can attempt to fit into different environments.

About halfway through, after Preeti learns something she didn’t know about her mother, we hear the sentence that contains the title of the book.  Her auntie tells her, “A monkey does not know the taste of ginger,” which is explained to mean, “you cannot appreciate that which you do not know.” She goes on to say, “One thing is certain; you don’t understand her life, and she doesn’t understand yours. Until you both start trying the ginger, you never will.”

I won’t say more about what happens other than to say this a turning point for Preeti. I can attest that, in my own life, gaining an understanding of my mother made a big difference in my relationship with her and in how I felt about myself as a person.

As you can tell, this was a very personal book for me. I focused here on Preeti’s relationship with her mother, but there are several other significant topics covered in this book, and I really enjoyed many of the characters as well as the detailed descriptions of places and events.  Highly recommend!

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The Artist’s Desk

The Artist’s Desk is a 1000-piece puzzle from Ravensburger. I picked it up at a thrift shop and was pleasantly surprised upon opening the box to find a small ziploc bag with the edge pieces separated out. It was nice to be able to jump right into puzzling!

This was a fun image to put together. I did have to shape sort for the darker areas, but it still wasn’t too hard. And, of course, the Ravensburger quality is always excellent!

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The Silo Series

I can still remember the incredible feeling of reading the first story from Wool.  Howey is masterful at unfolding the details in a way that keeps you hanging on every word.  

This is what I posted on Goodreads after reading Wool back in December 2016:

Wow, wow, wow! This blew me away! I read good things about the first story and downloaded it on my new Kindle. Once I read it, I couldn’t get the whole collection fast enough, and I am so glad I did!!

If you are a fan of dystopian fiction, you will love this set of stories. Each one is as good as the one before it and will keep you turning the pages as fast as you can to see what happens next.

Absolute must read, in my opinion!!

There are three books in the Silo series – Wool, Shift, and Dust.  Both Wool and Shift were originally released as short stories/novellas and were later gathered into books.  There is also a thriving fanfiction community writing in the Silo world.

More recently, Silo has been made into a streaming series on Apple TV.  There are currently two seasons out and two more planned.  I have watched the first season and thought they did a really good job of adapting it to the screen, although I still recommend reading the books first if you can.

Have you read or watched any of the Silo series?

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Followers Under 40

Followers Under 40: The journey away from church for Millenials, Gen Z, and Gen Alpha by Rachel Gilmore and Kris Sledge

The church has a problem. We are aging, clergy are aging, and churches are in decline. So, what do we do? How do we reach younger generations? In Followers Under 40, Rachel Gilmore and Kris Sledge take a closer look at the defining qualities and characteristics of Millennials, Gen Z, and Gen Alpha while also exploring why they are leaving the church and what steps any congregation can take to begin reaching young adults today.

One thing I appreciate about this book is that the authors have both been involved in church plants aimed at growing diverse communities that include young adults and young families. Full disclosure, Kris Sledge has been my pastor for the past year and a half, and this has been a time of great personal growth for me.

The sections discussing the experiences and concerns of the younger generations are compelling and thought-provoking. As a Gen Xer myself, I can relate to some of it by recalling my own young adulthood, but there are definitely issues that are different and more complex due to the societal and technological changes that have occurred since then.

Gilmore and Sledge also spend several chapters offering suggestions as to how our churches can connect better with people under 40.  They share many great ideas, and I especially like how they give practical examples of how to implement each of them along with anecdotes of how they have used some of these strategies.

This sentence from the closing chapter seems to sum up the call to action:

We are invited to lead and embody a church that can evolve and adapt to become a place of deep hope, healing, and transformation for the new and emerging generations.

May that be a challenge we all accept!

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Completing the Puzzle – January 2025

The first puzzle I did from my four-puzzle subscription this month was Envelopes by Tania Wicks. I have wanted to try one of her puzzles for quite a while, but they are pricey and not readily available here in the state, so I was excited to get this one to do.

I absolutely loved it! The image is stunning; I love the subject matter and the colors are so rich and peaceful. The puzzle quality was really good as well, and it was a joy to solve.

My second puzzle was Copenhagen from eeBoo. I always enjoy their puzzles. I like the size and shape of their pieces, and I don’t mind that they are glossy – I have never had a problem with that.

This image is so charming with all the different buildings. I like how some of them are slanted and how they have different textures. So fun!

My third puzzle was Asian Oil Paper Umbrellas from Eurographics. It is a stunning image with lots of bold colors and lovely details. I really enjoyed doing this one. It was challenging without being frustrating, and I’m glad I got the chance to do it.

The quality was okay, but it has definitely been done many times; one of the pieces was smashed and one was missing a corner. Despite that, I had a lot of fun solving this one.

My fourth and final puzzle for this shipment was The Greatest Bookstore in the World, also from Eurographics. I love books and bookstores so was immediately drawn to this image. It started out pretty easy with a few of the larger objects and color blocks but then got tricky with all the tiny little books.

The pieces were all two in, two out, so I couldn’t shape sort. Thankfully they were all unique and I didn’t have any false fits. It was secondhand and there was one piece missing. Overall still a nice challenge.

Closing Thoughts

All four puzzles this month were 1000 pieces. I like that because it feels like I am getting my money’s worth out of the subscription. I am definitely doing one more month of the subscription, possibly two.

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Amazon First Reads – February 2025

This month, Amazon Prime members are able to pick one free book from a selection of eight from a variety of genres.

My pick:

Not Quite by the Book by Julie Hatcher – a novel about Emma Rini, a bookstore owner who needs a break and rents a crumbling manor house.  I am intrigued by this one because it was inspired by the work and life of Emily Dickinson.

Bonus:

We also were able to download a bonus short story, The Fall Risk by Abby Jiminez, about two people who get stuck together on Valentine’s Day.  It looks cute!

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Bright Heart

Closeup of the center of the puzzle

Bright Heart is a 500-piece puzzle from Buffalo Games. The artwork is from EttaVee, which is the brand created by Jessi Raulet, an American artist living in France.

If you are looking for a challenge, this is it! I chose this puzzle because of its striking artwork; it has such beautiful colors and patterns!

I started this one with my friend Suzanne, who did the border and a bit of the interior, and then I finished it up by myself. There was a lot of looking at the poster and I decided to sort by shape when I was only halfway through the puzzle.

I’m not complaining, though. Even though it was hard, the image is amazing and the puzzle quality is really good. I highly recommend!

Another note about the artist: when I visited ettavee.com on my phone, a popup gave me the opportunity to access downloadable wallpapers and I now have a bit of her artwork on my phone screen!

Here are some pictures of the progress along the way, along with the finished puzzle.

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What I’m Reading – February 2025

What I’m Reading Now

Right now, I am reading The Color of Compromise: The Truth about the American Church’s Complicity in Racism by Jemar Tisby. I am only a couple of chapters in and am already finding it intense.

What I Recently Finished

Fiction

  • The Seaside Sisters by Pamela Kelley – Another delightful read from this author. I enjoy her books a lot and only wish they were longer. 4 stars
  • The Avalon Ladies Scrapbooking Society by Darien Gee – Heartwarming story but sure has a lot of characters to keep track of. 3 stars
  • The Hygge Holiday by Rosie Blake – My first from her but won’t be my last! 4 stars. Full review here.
  • Family Lore by Elizabeth Acevedo – I have mixed feelings about this book. I appreciated the mystical aspect of the women having different gifts and the anthropological approach being applied to a family history, but I found it hard to keep everyone straight in my head. I also wasn’t a fan of the many mentions of bodily functions. I think it’s just a case of it not being the best fit for me. 3 stars
  • The Taste of Ginger by Mansi Shah – 5 stars. Full review coming soon.
  • Days at the Morisaki Bookshop – 4 stars. Full review coming soon.
  • Winter Stroll, Winter Storms, and Winter Solstice by Elin Hilderbrand – I read the first book in this series several years ago and decided to read the rest this month. Pretty good, 3 stars.

Nonfiction

  • Followers Under 40: The journey away from church for Millenials, Gen Z, and Gen Alpha by Rachel Gilmore and Kris Sledge – 5 stars. Full review coming soon.

What I Added to my TBR

I was shocked to realize when I looked at my Goodreads that I added over 40 books to my TBR last month! Most were fiction, but I did add one memoir and one other nonfiction book as well.

TBR Stats

  • I currently have 156 books on my TBR.
  • Of those, 20 are nonfiction and 136 are fiction.
  • I have not finished any of my 25 in 2025 challenge yet.

If you’re on Goodreads, feel free to add me as a friend. I’m always looking for new recommendations!