reemeyer's reviews
1088 reviews

Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett

adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I love this series, I love these characters, I love this world, an early 20th century version of of Britain/Europe that includes real and studied elements of the Faerie world, including Emily Wilde and her fellow scholars at the Cambridge Department of Dryadology.

Do I Stay Christian? by Brian D. McLaren

challenging dark informative reflective sad medium-paced

I was required to read this for the spiritual direction training program I am just about to finish. Tough assignment, I’m very glad to be done with this book.

I’ve read Brian McLaren before, he is a universalist, and for me, he has not been a safe guide for reimagining faith (aka deconstruction, but that’s a word that’s mostly lost shared meaning.) Also: I’m not the audience for this book, as I’m not asking the questions it’s asking. I love Jesus and am going to keep following Him. So yes, I’m staying Christian.

However I am asking a question that he lands on in the end: What kind of humans do we want to be (whether we’re Christian or not)? 

And I appreciate the gentleness with which this book approaches the real, hard, justifiable, questions being asked by others who are wondering if they can stay with the faith they were raised in.

This book was challenging (he starts with 10 reasons not to stay Christian, all valid points), depressing (he presents an ironically apocalyptic vision of where white Christian nationalism and ecological disaster are leading us.) But it was also hopeful, particularly the third section on how to stay Christian. And he has a generous orthodoxy, which I always appreciate. I’m glad I read it, and it will definitely help me host space for people in spiritual direction. But it’s going to mess with me for a while I think…

Managing Leadership Anxiety: Yours and Theirs by Steve Cuss

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

This is one of those books I wish I could assign, particularly to anyone who is leading others. I started it when I was in a leadership role in my job, but the truths and tools for showing up as a non-anxious presence in the world are priceless whatever our jobs or roles are. Same with tolls for becoming more aware of the anxieties that drive us. The author is an Australian pastor, this is written from a Christian perspective, but I think it would be helpful to people of all (or no) faith systems.

Everyone on This Train Is a Suspect by Benjamin Stevenson

adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I liked this even better than the first (Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone). I knew what to expect this time, tone wise, and this book gets to the action a lot more quickly. I also loved that so many characters are writers, and how that affects the way the story unfolds. I suspected the murderer but there are multiple mysteries going on here that I didn’t see coming at all. 

I read this mostly with my eyes, but the audio came in yesterday so I did a little of both. Fun Australian accents helped the strong sense of place. And I loved the train setting.

The Mostly True Story of Tanner and Louise by Colleen Oakley

adventurous funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

This book is a blast, and has a little bit of everything. A road trip adventure, a curmudgeon story, a coming of age story; a friendship story, a heist story and a little bit of a mystery.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse

Minor: Gun violence

The Girl Who Could Fly by Victoria Forester

adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

I missed this when it was originally published (2010) and had never heard of it. I saw it on an Indy Bookshop shelf, and it’s described as Little House on the Prairie meets the X-Men, which felt tailor made for me. 

Fun middle grade adventure, a little slow to get to the good stuff. One of the best villain origin stories I’ve ever read. It’s hard to tell where it’s set in time, the beginning feels like it’s in Dorothy’s Kansas in the 1920s but it’s modern day. I listened to the audiobook and the narrators accent is very yee-haw, but it is a kids book.

How to Stay Married: The Most Insane Love Story Ever Told by Harrison Scott Key

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring sad fast-paced

5.0

Wow. This is the saddest happy ending I’ve ever read. A memoir of marriage and adultery and brokenness and forgiveness and faith and God and rage. It’s darkly funny and I laughed but cried more and I couldn’t put it down or step away.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage

Georgie, All Along by Kate Clayborn

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

Oona Out of Order by Margarita Montimore

adventurous challenging funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Favorite read of the month (best of the first time reads at least…)  This is a creative twist on a time travel book: Each year on her birthday (1/1) Oona wakes up in a different year of her life. She gets a letter from the Oona of the year before, and has to navigate life at various ages and stages and try to figure out how it all peices together. There are a couple twists here that I did NOT see coming, and it really made me think about my lived-in-order life.
A perfect January book.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cancer and Drug abuse

The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

I really enjoyed this story, which is both a very well done time travel romance and also a story of grief and finding what it takes to make a life you actually want rather than the life everyone tells you to want. 

(This took me so long to read bc my hold lapsed before I finished the audiobook, I read the second half with my eyes.)

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide