Don't Bounce Back, Rebuild Forward

An absolutely inspiring read! This book blends personal experiences with actionable steps to help readers flip the script when life gets challenging. Andrea Gash is a speaker, facilitator, and career coach who helps people rebuild their lives after unexpected change or loss and I am lucky enough to call her my friend. In her debut book, Andrea discusses dealing with loss of both her biological and adopted parents, the loss of her in-laws, grief, infertility, and caregiving; and how she coped when the weight of it all caught up to her. Using her life experiences as examples, Andrea introduces the Momentum Method, a five-stage framework designed to help readers rebuild their identity, purpose, and direction after a major life change. Don’t Bounce Back — Rebuild Forward is perfect for readers who enjoy stories of reinvention and growth after loss. This book is full of tools that will help readers navigate grief, identity shifts, exhaustion, and burnout. It’s also a roadmap to rebuild confidence, clarity, and figure out what the next chapter has in store. I usually read self-help books in a day or two and then not do any of the action steps or really ingest what I've read. I took a good week to savor this book and really work on the steps and the guided questions at the end of each chapter. It made a big difference. This is definitely a book I plan to refer back to, to try and keep my life on track. Very inspiring and impactful!

The Thirteenth Crime

A young girl by the name of, Lillie Field was, brutally murdered in Otter Tail County, Minnesota in 1887. The author speculates that justice was being served, because prior to Lillie's murderer being punished for his crimes (by hanging) many others before had not served time for murder. In fact, the little county was getting a reputation for letting murderers walk free. The author sensationalizes the many instances (twelve to be exact) of murderers walking free in part one and then in part two she goes into the death of Lillie Fields and talks about how justice was finally served. I liked the concept of this book, but the execution left a lot to be desired. I loved that maps were included but I would have liked to have seen photos an newspaper clippings as well. My biggest beef was that nothing was cited; newspapers and dates were referenced but when the book ends there is no works cited. This could easily have read as fiction, especially since so much was embellished (mannerisms, dialogue, etc). A blurb on the back of the book touts "an insightful, creative and well researched account of crime and punishment in 19th century rural Minnesota..." It was creative all right! 

Beer and the Nobel Prize

This was a fun little book that had lots of interesting factoids about people who have won the Nobel prize or circumstances around receiving the award. As the title alludes to, there were a few that centered on beer; whether it be drinking beer when receiving the call, getting free beer for life because of the award, or winning the award because of something scientific discovered using beer as an element of the process. Curious tales about the award included animals that helped scientists win the award (including animals who were nominated for or won the award themselves), lost and stolen medals, items in the Nobel museum and more. There are also lots of pictures to go along with the stories, which is a nice addition. This slim little nonfiction book is only around 100 pages and not too bad for an independently published book.

Interstate '85

I just want to preface that I am not the intended audience for this book. The only sports I watch are football and some basketball. My state does not have a professional baseball team (let alone two!). I was also born in 1988 and completely missed this World Series. This book was so utterly foreign and boring to me. The first half of the book I had trouble remember which players belonged to which teams, the play by play commentary went largely over my head. I did appreciate that this book profiled not just players, coaches, and owners, but every day fans as well. I do think it's cool that two teams from the same state got to play each other in the world series (especially since Missouri is a Midwest state) but this book lasted too long for me, a mere plebe. This book would definitely appeal to the die hard baseball fan, and sadly that is not me. I appreciate the amount of research and depth that the author covered, the play by plays and commentary from the media alone probably took ages. I also love that there are loads of pictures. This book will be vastly more appreciated by ball players, but I respect the research and writing style (sorry I was bored by the content!). 

The Turtle The Mitten and an Epic History of Michigan

I won't lie, I was not very impressed looking at the cover. Where are the commas? Is this just a stock photo or AI? But man, I REALLY enjoyed this book when I started reading it. I've vacationed in Michigan several times but I've never made it further north than Saugatuck. Author, Aaron Helman is a cyclist and he framed this history book through his bike ride around Michigan's mitten. He tells the story of Detroit's rise and fall, the lumber barons, the Indigenous tribes, the wrecked ships, the dunes, the fight for land, and more. It's not a linear history, nor is it exhaustive, but it's a captivating history of a beautiful state. As a Hoosier, I've long been jealous of their beautiful scenic vistas and vacation hot spots (no one is coming to Indiana for vacation). This book made me appreciate the state even more and makes me want to visit all the places that that Aaron biked through. I really appreciated his wit and humor, this was a laugh out loud funny and educational. I enjoyed this travel book so much that I want to read more by this author! Look past the cover and you will love this book. The only thing that could have improved this would be a map of the state with all the towns and the bike route taken. 

The Academy

This book was a bunch of hot gossip and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The Academy is about an elite college prep/ boarding school on the east coast. Set over the course of a year, The Academy follows teachers, the dean, the students, the staff, and all the drama. Even though teens are featured heavily, a lot of the focus is on the staff. Illicit trysts, gambling, drinking, envy, and more. There isn't a huge over arching storyline per se, but I found myself eating it all up. It ended with some unanswered questions and to my delight I saw that there is a sequel releasing later this year! This book is perfect for those that like books with a wide cast of characters, witty dialogue, and lots of drama. So fun! 

Never Flinch

I think I've established at this point, that I will read anything that Stephen King writes. I haven't quiet read every one of his works, but I am making quite a dent! Never Flinch stars Holly Gibney, detective and owner of Finders Keepers. While this can be read as a standalone, it's much better to read this in order because there are lots of Easter eggs and other recurring characters. Evil men are afoot and two storylines highlight two very different zealots. One, a stalker set on taking down Kate McKay, a fiery pro-choice women's activist, and the other a deranged recovering alcoholic set on making innocent people pay. Holly will find herself enmeshed in both cases, although at times she will have to choose which to pursue. Fantastic audiobook, the narrator does an excellent job of creating unique voices for all the characters. The plot is a little messy, and there is a lot to follow, but it's definitely worth it. No one writes characters like Stephen King does!