emileereadsbooks's reviews
1113 reviews

I really loved Elizabeth Passarella's humor and approach to real every day life in her first book of essays, Good Apple, so I was very excited to get this one and it did not disappoint. 

Reading this is like curling up on a rooftop next to a girlfriend you haven't connect with in a while and talking over drinks and snacks way past when you intended to. But the stories and company are too good for you to even consider going to bed. You dive into every topic and they weave in and out of the story they started to tell, as you chase rabbit trails of topics as you catch up on the time since you were last together. But you keep returning ng to that one crazy story because you can't get enough of the details.

So if you want those friend catch up vibes and if you like to read about the topics below, pick this one up!
-life in NYC
-short essays
-faith
-stories about grief, health issues, family, and friendship
-biographies and memoirs
-unlikely friends
-community
-pandemic contemplations
-slice of life stories
-reminiscing and nostalgic musings
-motherhood reflections

Thanks to Libro.fm and Thomas Nelson for the gifted book. I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

For me, I know that books in verse read with my eyes do not work, but on audio, they can be a delight. And this book is a delight for many reasons.

This is a book about a girl with cystic fibrosis, but it is also a book about sisters, about dolphins, and about being separated from those who "get" you. The parallelism between the dolphin being separated from her pod and Penny being separated from other people with CF was a powerful device for telling the story. 

This book encompasses so well the encompassing nature of disability but also how it doesn't have to define everything about who you are. You can tell this is written by someone who has CF because it is written with such heart. 

Thank you Netgalley and Harper Kids for the gifted book!

On paper this book should have been catnip to me. I love a heist novel. I enjoy magical realism. But for some reason I just couldn't connect to this one. I slogged through the audio even listening at 3x. I can't really pinpoint what didn't click, and I did finish it, but as I sit 30 minutes after it's over trying to write this review I have nothing to say about it other than, it was boring... And I hate to say that, but I think there are better heist books to spend your time on.

I suggest: the Charlie Thorne Series (middle grade), Thieves Gambit (YA), or Rook to King (rom com). 

Thanks to Del Rey for the complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.

This book is the story of Simone's life and gymnastics career through the Rio Olympics, and it was a wonderful insight into her life up through that point.

What a fun read ahead of watching her comeback at the Paris Olympics. I think it has made me enjoy watching her dominate even more!

I was sad that this book is so backlist it didn't also encompass Toyko and her marriage and all that her life has entailed since Rio. That is not a fault of the book, just my timing in reading it. 

I was a little disappointed that Simone did not narrate this herself. I eventually fell into just imagining her voice over Imani's, but memoirs should really be read by the writer in my opinion.

This book has been on my TBR for years and I'm so glad the my Olympic obsession made me pick it up during the Paris games. 

Narrated by the late and beloved Edward Herrmann (Richard Gilmore for any Gilmore Girls fans), this audiobook took me on a journey from America during the depression to Nazi Germany, and had me rooting for a group of rag tag boys who showed the world the epitome of the American dream. 

Rarely does a nonfiction book have so much heart that you feel like the characters are as fleshed out as those in a novel. Impeccably researched, this book includes information gleaned from journals and other personal accounts. The level of detail was really stunning, but did not bog down the storytelling. And we don't just get the story of these boys. We get excellent context of America and Germany at this time and how Germany used it's propaganda machine to fuel it's appearance in this Olympics.

Bonus trivia I learned: bringing the Olympic flame from Greece to the Olympic Games started in 1936 thanks to Nazi Germany. They were determined to put on a show. 

I love the Olympics and I love watching Katie Ledecky. So after I watched the Olymoic trials this year and was once again impressed by her, I was so happy to see that she had a book come out! 

Each chapter is basically an essay on the people and places in her life that have helped make her who she is. And I loved every second.

Katie is a woman committed to her craft. She is a poster child for dedication and hard work. I don't know that athletes need to be role models, but she is. 

I have been watching her races in Paris on the edge of my seat, even more invested from knowing her story. 

Thanks to @Simon.Audio for the gifted audiobook.