I wanted a quick kindle unlimited read to grab my attention, and this provided! This is like the fast food version of a book. Enjoyable and hard to put down, but ultimately not the greatest, most memorable, or most filling. But it is exactly what I asked for!

Adam Grant is an insta-buy author for my office! As soon as we knew this one was coming out, we slotted it into our professional development book club. Grant does a great job at helping you see the unconventional ways you can reach your goals. In a world that tends to hand out templates for success then shame you for not fitting into the boxes and finding success, Grant's work makes things feel possible and the options for attaining it as unique as each of us. 

Another great work by Oseman! Loved the holiday basis and the normalization of the holidays being a really hard time for some people. 

I love the way Oseman addresses mental health (check content warnings before picking this up because it is heavily featured). This is the kind of book I wish I had picked up as a teen!

A solid winter thriller. Despite the title, this isn't the heaviest Christmas book, so anytime you're in the mood for a winter-y scare, this could be worth picking up! This was an enjoyable reading experience, but perhaps not the most memorable.

“what’s your favorite scary movie?”

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

While this is a bit more paranormal than the Scream franchise, Burn the Negative has SUCH strong 90’s horror/slasher vibes. 

When Laura gets assigned to report on a remake of a cursed horror movie, she knows something is bound to happen. Not only did eight of the original cast and crew members die during the original production, she was the star and one of the film’s only survivors. When things start to get weird on this new set, Laura knows something has to be done before more people get hurt. 

Overall, this was such an interesting read that kept me on the edge of my seat. The mixed media used throughout helped this feel more like a movie than a book. I only gave 4 stars, though, bc this does def feel like a main female character written by a man and like the story might be better told through film in parts. 

This spooky lil read was so fun, though, and definitely had me checking the shadows a little more closely. 

There are few books that I read and instantly know that I will come back to time and time again like a reference manual to my own heart. And this is one of those. 

Sarah Bessey has a way of writing that feels like coffee with an old friend. We’ve never met, and yet her books make me feel seen (I’d like to think this is the Spirit at work in her). 

Church and faith for me have felt like wrestling matches with God the past few years. And not even the romanticized movie battles—I’m talking the nasty, staged and dramatized WWE-style knockdown, drag out fights. I have felt like I have no hope in winning. Yet here comes Sarah with words that clean off the dirt and bandage the wounds. The pain is still there, but the sting is gone. 

After reading this book and Brene Brown’s Braving the Wilderness closely together, I highly recommend pairing them. These two strong women have reminded me over and over and over than I’m not fighting alone. My limp from wrestling with God isn’t shameful. My faith isn’t weak just because it doesn’t look like l was taught it should. God is here loving me despite it all, even (and especially) when I debate if I even believe anymore. 

Thank you to NetGalley and Convergent Books for an advanced copy. 

Didn’t realize I was picking up a funny scary puppet book that would also make me cry because of how it handles the inevitability of death and the unfairness of the people we love leaving us too soon. But I’m not mad. 

I’d read one Grady Hendrix book a year or two ago, but this book was good enough to ensure I’ll be reading the rest of his writing at a much quicker pace. 

So many thriller/horror stories now tend to all feel the same, but Hendrix has crafted this book in a way that is going to stick with me for years to come. Without reading too much into a book about a puppet, this story, much like The Babadook, explores what happens when we suppress grief instead of allowing ourselves and our loved ones to feel the full range of human emotion. 

Genuinely feel like I need to wash my brain now… def check the content warnings before you even consider touching this one. She’s a doozy. 

Brb sobbing over our mental health conversations here… and the storyline is just SO CUTE