jessica42980's reviews
629 reviews

All my reviews can be found at: http://jessicasreadingroom.com

This review will appear on my site on August 20, 2021.

Falling sets you up for an extremely fast paced read from the very beginning and you don’t know what will ultimately happen at the end!  Bill Hoffman is a pilot and will be flying a plane from LA to NYC and just 30 minutes ago his family was kidnapped.  He is told that if he does not crash the plane that his family will die.  What will Bill do?

This is not a book I would recommend reading on a flight!  It is nonstop suspense that is driven the whole novel!  The author was a flight attendant for 10 years and even wrote it while on the job.  She faced 41 rejections until it was finally accepted, and Falling is now a published novel!  

Falling is all about family: First, is the pilot’s family being held hostage. Second, is the flight crew and their closeness.  You can really see how Newman brought her experiences as a flight attendant into the novel.   

I give Falling 4 stars as a few things did not really work for me: How the FBI became involved and some of their actions were too convenient and the motives of the villain just did not really work for me.  I was still intensely involved as to what was going to happen with a hijacked plane in a post 9/11 world. And then we have a flight attendant whose nickname was “Daddy” /”Big Daddy”?  If that was meant as some comic relief, it did not work for me.  

Will Hoffman save his family by crashing the plane or will something else happen to the plane?  
Get ready for a wild ride as you read Falling.  

Falling is recommended.

All my reviews can be found at: http://jessicasreadingroom.com
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This review will appear on my a site on August 10, 2021.
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Signs in the Rearview Mirror is Kelly Smith’s firsthand account of her toxic relationship and how she finally escaped from it. She speaks to us herself telling her story, though names have been fictionalized.  Kelly leaves her marriage where she was not the best spouse herself, thus exposing her children to a bad female relationship example.  Then via Facebook (isn’t it always through Facebook!) she reconnects and then turns to Gabe who she barely knew in high school and once had a meaningful conversation.  Out of her fear of being alone she began a long-distance relationship.   Looking back, she now sees the warning signs, but chose to ignore them and the danger she was putting herself and her children in.  

Many times, you may think it is a ‘mild and meek’ person who falls into a toxic relationship, but Kelly was far from that.  Since these kinds of relationships actually do exist, it was helpful to see a stronger woman can also fall into the trap of a toxic relationship. This memoir would definitely help those who have not been in a toxic relationship or say they would never find themselves in one. 

 

Kelly’s relationship with Gabe gradually got worse over time, but eventually she was able to leave.  There were so many times as I was reading this memoir that I was hoping at Kelly would leave Gabe.  This was a quick but also difficult read as this was what someone actually went through in her life.  And many women (and also men!) experience this life daily. 

 

Bravo to Kelly for sharing her experiences and story with the world.  This is a book that can help those that are in a similar relationship. To them: You CAN succeed and get out of that toxic relationship!  I actually plan to put my copy of this memoir in my local free little library in hope that it might help someone who sees this memoir and in this type of relationship. 

 

Signs in the Rearview Mirror is recommended. 

All my reviews can be found at: http://jessicasreadingroom.com
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This review will appear on my site on July 11, 2021.
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Kelly continues to tell us her story of recovering from her past toxic relationships and healing.  After finally leaving Gabe at the end of Signs in the Rearview Mirror, Kelly moves forward in her life with self-healing and eventually dating with Out of Darkness. 

Kelly is again telling us her story and she is 100% honest.  Learning her own triggers and working to love herself first, she goes on a trip of a lifetime through Europe with Matt (just as friends). Through this trip she realizes she is basically on a trip with Gabe’s ‘twin’ in actions.  She eventually loses touch with Matt and continues to heal.  

 

After some time, Kelly goes on what can only be called “adventures in dating”. We are given the good and the bad. Eventually Kelly meets Cruz and slowly she finally finds herself in a healthy relationship.  

 

Through time Kelly has healed while still learning her triggers, but she is finally complete. Whatever happens in her life with Cruz, Kelly and now also the reader will know that she will be fine with whatever life brings her next. Many thanks to Kelly for telling her story to us through these two memoirs. 

Out of the Darkness is recommended.  I was given a copy to read and review from the author.  Both of her memoirs are recommended! 

All my reviews can be found at: http://jessicasreadingroom.com
This review will appear on my site on August 3, 2021.
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Restorative Grief is a 31-day guide and memoir to help you work through your grief whether from a death, such as Mandy’s loss of her mother or some other type of loss. We all experience various forms of loss in different ways and we must all work through it.  Mandy briefly shares her story and gives the reader a 31-day guidebook to go through the grief process.  Though in a 31-day format, Mandy encourages the reader to take as much time as they need. 

 

Each of the 31 days starts with a quote, gives a tool to use, a concept, and also techniques that may help the reader.  Mandy also uses bible verses in her work.  She acknowledges that bible verses will not work for everyone and to use what works for you.  There is also a list of resources for reference and recommended books and also a list of support and concepts.  

 

Mandy knows what she is talking about as she mentions the loss of her mother and her experience with that grief. She is also a certified grief and life coach, and she also founded The Restorative Grief Project. She believes in long term support of grief and Restorative Grief was truly her baby and she genuinely wants to help others in their times of grief.  

 

The only critique I can really give is that as a reader, I was wanting more of Mandy’s story.  We just got little bits here through the chapters.  That is not really memoir-ish for me.  This is a book that will help those that need assistance with going through their grief one day at a time. This book would work for those in the counseling/ helping professions to help others deal with their grief. This is a book that I will keep for future use when needed. 

  

 All my reviews can be found at: http://jessicasreadingroom.com
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This review will appear on my site on July 29, 2021.
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4.5 stars
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Aven is back in Momentous Life and now she is starting high school… And it is not going how she wanted. Connor has moved 30 minutes away, so she doesn’t see him like she used to. Now her main friend is Zion (“from The Matrix, not the Bible”). Zion is overweight and heavily bullied because of it. Zion was a minor character in the first novel, and Connor was the focus with his Tourette’s Syndrome. Aven clicks well with Zion’s whole family, which includes his older brother Lando (Yes, from Star Wars. Their parents are total science fiction nerds and it has rubbed off on the boys).

High school brings some new challenges: a much bigger school with students who have not seen Aven before. Momentous Life shows how cruel kids can be to each other. Despite her challenges, Aven stays who she is. Aven meets a girl who is home schooled and works part time at Stagecoach Pass and they also become friends. 

We also get more of Stagecoach Pass and Henry who is much older and dealing with dementia. We also get more of Josephine who lives in a retirement community and she is just an older version of Aven! You can’t help but love Josephine! 

After loving Insignificant Events, I had to read this second novel in the series. This was also a #Diverseathon2021 read for the month of July (the prompt is a main character with a physical or cognitive disability). I listened to the audiobook version as I did with the first and it was also narrated by Karissa Vacker, who did a wonderful job again. I did miss Connor as we did not get as much with him due to his move. I really enjoyed these two novels and would love to see more of Aven as she grows up: Going to college, getting a job, etc. I can see that once Aven matures into an adult that she will be a very confident woman despite her lack of arms. Aven is very much a character that kids can look up to.

Despite being freshmen in high school now, there is still a bit of immaturity in the novel that revolves around them being adolescents, but this novel is definitely appropriate for middle schoolers. This is definitely a book series for children who have a disability that shows them they are still 100% a person.

Momentous Events in the Life of a Cactus is recommended!