My Reading Spot

Just a little delayed, I thought I would share some of my recent reads from March – okay…some are from April too, because I’m awesome like that.  Regardless of when I read them, these are a few that I liked and disliked from the past couple weeks.

Where to start?  I had some that were just so-so for me. The Nobleman’s Daughter by Jen Giegle Johnson  and The Fisherman’s Daughter by Melinda Sue Sanchez were two books recently released that I couldn’t wait to read.  Both are new authors for me, and when I first saw them I almost thought they were by the same author.  I REALLY wanted to love these two books.  I love their cover art and think they are just so pretty.  Perhaps it was just the timing of when I read them, but both books felt rushed I was a little sad about that.  The Nobleman’s Daughter really jumped right into the story and that made it a little tough for me to follow at first.  I loved the time period and setting of The Fisherman’s Daughter.  Honestly I felt that both books had both things I loved and didn’t love about them.  I would give them both 3 stars.  If you love adventure mixed in with a little romance in your historical fiction these might be books that you love.  I think read a likes for this book would be For Castle and Crown, Becoming Lady Lockwood, or Lady Emma’s Campaign.  If you have read them I would love to hear more about what you thought – maybe I missed the mark with them?

I was super excited for this next book I want to share with you.  I read Odom’s previous book, More than Just Making it, last year and loved it, so I couldn’t wait for You Can Stay Home with Your Kids to come out!  Ironically, I feel this book is just what I needed, but 14 years ago.  In March I registered my oldest for high school classes and signed my youngest up for kindergarten.  I am entering a new stage of life.  And I am SO excited for it and loving it.  But seriously, I am still loving the ideas in this book and the idea of it….because you CAN stay home with your kids.  I hear so many people tell me that they can’t, or that they are scared to even have kids because of the financial commitment, when in reality there are SO many ways you can cut back on spending, or make income other ways.  This book is packed FULL of ideas such as, making and sticking to a budget, side income ideas, inexpensive ways to do birthday parties, educational and enrichment activities for little ones that won’t break the bank, date ideas and other ways to connect with your spouse without spending a lot, planning for holidays, and much more! When we started medical school we had one kid and when we finished residency we were just months away from having five.  I could have wrote this book….it was the story of my life for SO many years.  I really loved the chapter on earning a side income.  I felt this was something that really helped me during our leaner years.  I have a college degree, and although I  retired from my corporate job in marketing when my oldest was born, I have enjoyed being able to work on side jobs, I’ve watched other children in my own, I’ve started blogs, and most recently I’ve started a side job with Rodan+Fields.  All of these have given me side income and blessed our family financially.  Rodan+Fields has blessed our family in ways I haven’t imagined.  I have loved being able to say “I’ve got Christmas this year covered!”  or not stress if our van needs new tires.  If you are a stay at home mom, no matter what your kids ages, or considering becoming one, I feel that this book is a little gem full of information that could help you save money and do what you love!

Changing gears a bit, I have to share one of my favorite fiction picks from the past couple weeks! I just adored this new book from Rachael Anderson!  My Sister’s Intended was a super cute regency romance book that sweet, clean and easy to pick up and read on a rainy Saturday.  I have enjoyed Anderson’s other books too.  This one is part of a new series she is releasing and now I am anxiously waiting for the next one! Prudence was such a fun character to read about and I loved watching her relationships develtop overtime and see how the story ended.  I was surprised to find out it didn’t turn out for some of the characters like I thought it might, which makes me really want to read the next in the series too!  If you have Kindle Unlimited this book is free to download and read too – which makes it even sweeter in my opinion!  (If you don’t have Kindle Unlimited you should consider it! I love it!)

And last, but not least I’m going to share about this fun book that I picked up at the library last month, because I LOVE the message behind it.  Church of the Small Things, by Melanie Shankle is really about slowing down and letting things going. Learning about what is really important in life and letting those things come first.  Small ordinary things can amount to a big life!  One of my favorite scriptures is “by small and simple things are great things come to pass” (Alma 37:6-7) and that is the exact message behind this book.  Shankle is a christian author, and points out that God often uses some of the smallest, most ordinary acts of faithfulness—and sometimes they look a whole lot like packing lunch, to grow our faith and become extraordinary parts of our story and life.  I felt that this book had a good dose of humor mixed in as well.  It was easy to read and uplifting!  If you have read anything by Jen Hatmaker (I’m a big fan of her too!) loved it, I highly suggest checking out this book too!

There are a few of the books I’ve been reading.

Have you read any of them?

What have you been reading this past month?

Leave me a comment and share!