booklistqueen's Reviews (634)

In London, Maddie spends most of her time either at home taking care of her father with advanced Parkinson's or at work in a job she hates where she is the only Black employee. When her mother returns from Ghana, Maddie is thrilled to move out and experience life for herself. After tragedy strikes, Maddie begins to understand her unconventional family and the joys and fears of putting her heart on the line.

Sometimes you read a book that speaks to you at a deeper level; that has the exact message you need to hear at that very moment. A lot has been happening in my life, some I've talked about and lots I haven't. But George's debut touched me on so many levels. Maddie grew up too young, learning to always place herself second and just give, give, give. Maddie is forced to grow up in a different sense, learning about love and mental health and dealing with racism. I loved watching Maddie find her own voice and finally put her foot down to demand more. While my journey is different, I so personally relate to many of Maddie's struggles as they are things I've been wrestling with in my own life. 

I have no desire to talk about religion on my blog, so I debated if I should even attempt to review Bad Mormon. However, as a professional book reviewer who attended BYU and has lived in Utah for over a decade, I feel uniquely qualified to give a fair review of Heather Gay's bestselling memoir. I will not be giving a star rating for this book. I'm not here to tell you how I felt about the book but to give you an idea about how you'll likely feel reading Bad Mormon.

Utah businesswoman and reality star Heather Gay was raised as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints but publicly left the religion during the first season of The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City. In her memoir, Gay discusses her faith journey and her departure from the LDS faith.

First off, let's talk about the quality of the memoir. I thought Gay was a pretty good writer for an amateur. She uses an overabundance of pop culture references and she has a tendency toward repetition, especially when she is trying to make a point. Some reviewers have complained that she is "playing the victim," but I thought she was in line with every other celebrity memoir I've read. I feel that every memoir must be taken with a grain of salt because they are, by nature, only one side of a story. And humans always tend to paint themselves in, if not the best light, then at least a more flattering one.

Gay did a good job selecting moments of her life to illustrate her arguments, except when it came to her marriage. She talks about her incompatibility with her husband but only gives one example from her honeymoon, a story that wasn't powerful enough to represent her point. As a reader, I wanted a few more details, but, as a woman, I respect her choice not to drag on the father of her children.

But what you actually want to know is if you should read Bad Mormon. And that depends on your relationship with Heather Gay and the LDS church. If you are an RHOSLC fan, then you'll likely be disappointed. The RHOSLC content doesn't come in until the very end and Gay gives background detail about the start of the show, but no juicy gossip about her castmates. Unfortunately, it's the worst of both worlds. Housewives fans will be disappointed with the lack of gossip and non-Housewives fans will be bored by excessive detail.

If you decide to read Bad Mormon to learn more about the LDS church and the Mormon faith, it's a mixed bag. Gay may gloss over her personal life, but she is very candid about her experience in the LDS Church. Gay was not a fringe LDS or an extremist; her life was very much in the realm of the typical mainstream Mormon experience. Although she tries to explain terms to laymen, you might get lost in the Mormon lingo and cultural references.

Active members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will most likely be offended by Bad Mormon. Gay goes into minute detail about the religion, specifically about the temple ceremony that members hold very sacred. I won't claim the book is 100% accurate, but it definitely has been fact-checked and is highly accurate, though obviously everything is viewed through a disillusioned lens.

The real target audience of Bad Mormon is individuals who consider themselves post-Mormon, specifically those who grew up in the LDS church and were "all in," but then left as adults, generally after hitting the major milestones of college, mission, and/or marriage. Although their personal experiences will obviously vary from Gay's in many regards, such readers will likely find Gay's story highly relatable. 

 Ten years ago, on the way back from a high school service project, two vans were in a tragic accident and only nine students survived. Yet none of the survivors feels like a hero, each ashamed of a decision they made that fateful night. Every anniversary since, they have met at a North Carolina beach house to check up on each other. Cassidy Brent has tried to distance herself from the other survivors, but when she finds out one has recently died, she finds herself drawn back in. When the group realizes that someone has been talking, they begin to suspect each other, and Cassidy wonders if one would go to great lengths to keep them all quiet.

The Only Survivors is an excellent slow-burn mystery, emanating a tense atmosphere as Cassidy suspects each classmate in turn. Slowly, Miranda reveals the true story of the accident, exposing how the weight of their secrets has influenced each of their lives. The high-action climax was a bit overdone, but I absolutely loved the final twist in the story. A solid 4 stars for me, The Only Survivors is my new favorite of Megan Miranda's thrillers.

Ten years ago, Bess and Joni spend a summer in Greece with their best friend Evangeline. When Evangeline dies, Bess and Joni find themselves suspects, their brash personalities vilified by the media, but ultimately no charges are filed against them. Since then, Bess has kept the lowest profile possible while Joni has become an outspoken motivational speaker. When Joni's fiancée disappears, Bess comes out of hiding to support Joni and must face what really happened all those summers ago.

I was immediately drawn into Berman's captivating story about intense female friendships, for it's always the ones who know us best who can hurt us the most. Before We Were Innocent is a slow-burn mystery that serves as a fascinating character study. I loved the look at Bess, Joni and Ev's friendship and the examination of how easily our lives can be cherry-picked to paint us white or black, when we are all shades of grey.

 In this emotional coming-of-age book, Lisa Wingate bases her story on a notorious real-life scandal of an adoption agency that kidnapped and sold poor children to wealthy families. In 1939, twelve-year-old Rill Floss is asked to watch her four younger siblings while her father takes her mother to the hospital to give birth. Suddenly, a group of strangers arrives and takes Rill and her siblings to a Memphis-based orphanage where Rill must fight to keep her siblings together under the eye of the cruel director. Meanwhile, in the modern day, the privileged daughter of a senator starts digging into her grandmother's history.

Before We Were Yours is historical fiction at its finest, bringing a horrifying historical event to life with a powerful story. Rill's story is heartbreaking and all too real, highlighting all the layers of abuse Georgia Tann inflicted on victims of her black market adoption scheme. As with so many historical fiction stories, Before We Were Yours is told in dual timelines, and Wingate excels at making the modern story compelling which keeps the pacing level throughout the book. 

 The second son of King Charles III and his first wife, Diana, Princess of Wales, Prince Harry has always known he was the spare prince. Traumatized by his mother's death, Harry struggled to live such a public life, constantly plagued by the ever-hungry paparazzi. In his highly anticipated memoir, Harry discusses his life and his public falling out with the royal family, feeling they did not support his wife enough when she was hounded by the British press.

I wasn't sure what to expect from Spare since I'm not really into Royal drama, but I absolutely loved it. I found Harry's story so compelling that I could not put it down. The shocking family revelations have gotten the most attention, but Spare is mainly about Harry's lifelong battle with the paparazzi. Harry brilliantly describes the monarchy's twisted relationship with the press: hating them but also desperately wanting their praises. Harry's stunning story reminds you that being royalty isn't a dream come true.

 Although she doesn't have fond memories of growing up as one of the only Black girls, Liz Rocher returns to her Pennsylvania hometown for her best friend's wedding. When the couple daughter's disappears during the reception, Liz flashes back to another summer night. In high school, the only other black girl was found dead in the woods with her chest ripped open. Now Liz realizes there's a pattern of black girls going missing and scrambles to find Caroline before the evil in the woods is finished with her.

Considering I don't particularly like horror, I surprisingly liked Jackal. Adams's atmospheric writing does an excellent job of drawing you into the mystery and filling you with a fear of the woods. Though the novel started strong, the second half was a bit out there, fully shifting into a horror scenario that didn't really work for me.

 In 1937, Stella North is thrilled to be competing as the only female pilot in Europe's first air race for young adults. Between Spain's civil war and the Nazis gaining power, the world is looking for something uplifting to follow. But the competition quickly turns cutthroat when a competitor is killed and each of the pilots has their own dangerous past to hide.

Elizabeth Wein, the author of Code Name Verity, delivers another fun and cute young adult WWII historical fiction novel. Stella makes for an excellent female protagonist: sharp, clever, and confident. I found the descriptions of flying fascinating; they were explainable without being overpowering. The high-action plot and the cute romance keep you flipping pages trying to guess the mystery. Yes, Stateless is a bit over the top, but in a good YA kind of way. 

 In 1873, spiritualist Vaudeline D’Allaire has made quite the reputation for herself in Paris for conjuring the spirits of murder victims and revealing their killers. Although skeptical, Lenna Wickes has come to Vaudeline for answers to her sister's death and agrees to become her assistant. When the pair travel to London to help solve a high-profile murder, they suspect they are being used by the killers.

I really wanted to like Sarah Penner's latest after loving The Lost Apothecary, but I just could not get into it. The beginning was terribly slow, with mind-numbingly boring descriptions of Victorian England spiritualism. Although the narrative finally picked up a bit in the middle, I found I didn't really care too much about any of the characters. Although I enjoyed Lenna's blend of skepticism and desire to believe, I thought Vaudeline was an underdeveloped empty shell and the alternating chapters from Morley's point of view were grating.

 Study after study shows that women are less confident than men, with far-reaching social and economic impacts. In a thought-provoking book about women's empowerment, Kay and Shipman explore the nature of confidence. What exactly is confidence? How much of it is genetic and how much of it is learned? Interviewing notable scientists and leaders, they teach women how they can overcome their self-doubt, be more confident, and take more action.

The Confidence Code is an interesting book, looking at confidence through genetics and brain physiology, and comparing nature vs nurture vs the hard knocks of life. Kay and Shipman have some good takeaways, yet I think I'd have preferred to read a long article on the subject instead; The Confidence Code was more in-depth than I needed. My biggest takeaway - it's okay to feel nervous and process a situation. Confidence doesn't need to be blustery or brash, but you do need to take action and make decisions.