natreadthat's reviews
390 reviews

The Second Husband by Kate White

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challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

3.5

When the police knock on Emma’s door late one night with the news of her husband’s mysterious murder, she doesn’t feel grief. She feels relief. 

Twenty-seven months later, Emma is happily married to Tom, who is everything her first husband was not—kind, compassionate, loving. They’re building a lovely life together until a detective shows up to discuss the case of Emma’s first husband’s murder. With twists and turns along the way, White has you second-guessing each character until the very end. 

As a psychological thriller, this one felt a bit watered down. With more dialogue about small, seemingly unimportant details than expected and a few loose ends left at the end of the book, this one wasn’t my favorite.

Thank you to Wunderkind PR for the paperback and eARC. The Second Husband is available on June 28th, 2022! 
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When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

“Human knowledge is never contained in one person. It grows from the relationships we create between each other and the world, and still it is never complete."

Wow. What a beautiful memoir.

Paul Kalanithi is in his last year of neurosurgery residency when he’s struck with debilitating back pain that’s eventually diagnosed as stage IV lung cancer. What Paul does next is write, and we are lucky to have his book. 

Through this tragic, vivid story, we witness Paul’s life full of study, literature, love, hardship, sickness, and death. It is a deeply moving, heart-rendering look at what it means to live. 

TW: cancer, death, medical content. 
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Speak by Tunde Oyeneyin

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adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.25

“To love is to accept pain, to take it in, to grow from it, and to love again.”

This review may be biased considering I’m an avid Peloton rider. Tunde is my favorite instructor—her energy and authenticity are unmatched, her rides kick ass, and her words encourage me on and off the bike. Plus her makeup is always on point. Either way, this book is worth the read. 

Speak is a testament to the five pillars that she lives by: surrender, power, empathy, authenticity, and knowledge. It is part memoir, part self-help, part motivational and all parts insightful. I already love Tunde and believe that she’s as authentic as they come, but learning more about her life, the traumas she’s endured, her path to Peloton, and beyond were moving to say the least. 

Despite having to be in the right mood to read this particular genre, Speak went from starting slow to staying up way too late to read “one more chapter”. My copy is dog-earred and underlined. I can’t wait to see where else she goes. 

Alright, I’ll stop fangirling over Tunde now!!!
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Empire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

This might be my favorite book of the whole damn series so far. What a rollercoaster of emotion…and that ENDING?! Wow. 

How can I write this review with no spoilers? The character development and travels across the world of Erilea alongside our beloved characters was incredible. 

Aelin is back, sassy as ever (of course) and has big plans up her sleeve to secure her throne as queen and the world’s fate. Every character has hidden mysteries of their own entangled with the adventures they must go on together. Buckle up, because you’re along for quite the ride. 

This. Book. Was. So. Good. 
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Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism by Amanda Montell

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adventurous dark informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

Amanda Montell dives deep into how language is used (and abused) in the most well-know cults—Jonestown, Scientology, QAnon—and the not-fully-cult-but-cultish-groups—Peloton, MLMs, CrossFit—that we know and more. 

I love the high-level exploration of the most notable cults, MLMs, and fitness groups. It really opened my eyes to just how much and how often language is used to encourage group-think and conformity within Corporate America (hey! I work for a cult and you probably do too), social media, and even advertising.

Overall this was an enjoyable read that made me think twice about things I normally wouldn’t. 

Ps- I’m still a Peloton workout girlie oops  
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The Alice Network by Kate Quinn

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

4.0

WWI, 1915: Eve Gardner is a young, female spy stationed in France to gather intel against Germany. The friendship of a lifetime blossoms with Lili, the head of the Alice Spy Network and for the first time in her life, Eve knows what she was made to do. 

Post-WWII, 1947: Charlie St. Clair has disappointed her conventional parents by getting pregnant out of wedlock. As she heads to Europe to “take care” of it, she has a different plan. She’s going to find her beloved cousin Rose who went missing during the war. 

It’s in London where Charlie’s only clue opens the door to Eve’s past. Despite being old, cranky, and a drunk, Eve begrudgingly agrees to step into the unknown on a wild goose chase together. 

The Alice Network keeps you gripped from start to finish. If you like historical fiction and strong female leads, this one is for you!
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American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins

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challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Lydia runs a bookshop in Mexico where she befriends a man buying two of her favorite books. But when Lydia finds out that the man she’s become so close to, Javier, is the jefe of a drug cartel, things take a turn for the worst.

Lydia’s husband, a journalist, publishes an article about Javier, and then the cartel kills 16 members of her family leaving only her and her young son, Luca. Thus begins the story of their harrowing journey to cross the border into the United States. 

While I enjoyed this book and found the story very powerful, I read it with no knowledge of the controversy surrounding the author, who is white and not an immigrant. It begs the question, who should be telling these stories? Cummins brings to light the immigrant stories that don’t often get the spotlight, but so do other authors of color and it’s important to amplify those voices as well. 
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Dream More: Celebrate the Dreamer in You by Dolly Parton

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective fast-paced

5.0

Dolly Parton is a national treasure. 

This charming little book is an extension of a commencement speech she gave and it’s only a teeny tiny glimpse into her incredible life. Even if you aren’t a country music fan, Dolly shares anecdotes that are short and to the point: dream more, learn more, care more, be more. 

Read (and sung) by Dolly herself, the 1.5 hour audiobook will surely put some extra pep in your step! I absolutely adored hearing her talk about the importance of reading, how her father’s inability to read or write motivated her to start the Imagination Library, and her philanthropy. I look up to Dolly and loved listening to her discuss her favorite advice, giggle, tell jokes, and share her very own life lessons. What a joyful read! 

“Happiness is your commitment to appreciating all that is good in life, big and small. It's pretty easy to be happy when everything's going great. But life's not like that."
Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

SJM with another slow burn from the Throne of Glass series.

Fae warriors, dragon-esque creatures, witches, magic. Or as my husband would say, “nerd shit.” And I love this nerd shit. Of course the plot thickens in the Queen of Shadows: the bold, brave Aelin finally begins stepping into her queen status and becomes known as the “fire-breathing-bitch-queen” to her enemies. She has a long to-do list to complete to save the world from the King’s black magic. 

While the romance is a slow burn, the pace of the book as a whole is a bit swifter compared to the first three of the series. The usual gang of characters is back—Rowan, Dorian, Chaol, and Manon—plus a few new ones. So here I am, impatiently waiting for the fifth book to be available at the library. 
What will happen next?!
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Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Okay, so the first two books were a whole lot of groundwork and world-building. Great world-building if you ask me, but still a little slow. Luckily, Heir of Fire picked up a bit. 

We’re introduced to a few new characters, whose POVs are equally interesting to those of our old characters. The story itself is full of love, grief, growth, forgiveness, and slowly blooming friendships. I’m glad I kept with it and am eager to see where Celaena takes us next. 
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