en-US Thu, 24 Apr 2025 12:56:08 -0700 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg Review7504458036 Thu, 24 Apr 2025 12:56:08 -0700 /review/show/7504458036 Julia gave 5 stars to The House of My Mother: A Daughter's Quest for Freedom (Hardcover) by Shari Franke
The fact that Shari Franke has dug herself out of the hole her mother (and father) put her in after a lifetime of emotional abuse is nothing short of incredible. This book was extremely readable considering Shari's age and lack of experience as an author. Her outlook and attitude are amazing and I hope she makes millions of dollars in book sales because she deserves it.

Edited to add: after reading some other reviews, I can see where some of the events of the book are unclear. I read this after watching the Disney+ doco so I think that made the book more compelling, and recommend doing that for the full picture. ]]> Review7458869851 Sun, 20 Apr 2025 04:46:19 -0700 /review/show/7458869851 Julia gave 3 stars to Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop (Hardcover) by Hwang Bo-Reum
Ok. So this was a kind of weird, slow, cute but odd novel which seemed to have bits of self help slipped in as a disguise as "just another random conversation". It felt like Glennon Doyle tried to write a novel 😂.

It was soooooo slow and so much randomness and moments of detail that I weren't sure of what importance (none, ever it seems). I kind of liked the little Notting Hill style idea of the book shop owner and the quirky staff and regulars all being pals. But that storyline only works in 1999 when people still buy books (even in Notting Hill it's clear he's struggling as a book shop owner), in this story it's kind of some weird fiction magic that she can pay her staff well, have extra hours running events but also refuse to sell bestsellers? Girl get some Da Vinci Code on your shelves and make some moneyyyyyyy.

I am worried about this chick that spends her whole Sunday watching a reality tv show to recuperate, but doesn't have a couch, and instead just hangs out at her LIVING ROOM DESK 🤯 all day yes so relaxing.

Should have been more on the divorce and burnout we were promised in the blurb, and less on the life lessons no one asked for. ]]> ReadStatus9330008318 Sun, 20 Apr 2025 04:46:16 -0700 /review/show/7503193663 Julia is currently reading Headshot by Rita Bullwinkel
]]> Review7458869851 Sun, 20 Apr 2025 04:39:48 -0700 /review/show/7458869851 Julia gave 3 stars to Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop (Hardcover) by Hwang Bo-Reum
Ok. So this was a kind of weird, slow, cute but odd novel which seemed to have bits of self help slipped in as a disguise as "just another random conversation". It felt like Glennon Doyle tried to write a novel 😂.

It was soooooo slow and so much randomness and moments of detail that I weren't sure of what importance (none, ever it seems). I kind of liked the little Notting Hill style idea of the book shop owner and the quirky staff and regulars all being pals. But that storyline only works in 1999 when people still buy books (even in Notting Hill it's clear he's struggling as a book shop owner), in this story it's kind of some weird fiction magic that she can pay her staff well, have extra hours running events but also refuse to sell bestsellers? Girl get some Da Vinci Code on your shelves and make some moneyyyyyyy.

I am worried about this chick that spends her whole Sunday watching a reality tv show to recuperate, but doesn't have a couch, and instead just hangs out at her LIVING ROOM DESK 🤯 all day yes so relaxing.

Should have been more on the divorce and burnout we were promised in the blurb, and less on the life lessons no one asked for. ]]> Review7479746351 Wed, 16 Apr 2025 05:33:23 -0700 /review/show/7479746351 Julia gave 5 stars to Hey, Hun: Sales, Sisterhood, Supremacy, and the Other Lies Behind Multilevel Marketing (Hardcover) by Emily Lynn Paulson
As an Amway kid, this book was triggering and relatable for me. I thought the author did amazing research and fleshed out so many little details about MLM's that are easily overlooked. God they are sinister. This book was amazing even though my thoughts and feelings about the author are complicated. I feel like I could read it all over again. Wow. ]]> Review7420391475 Thu, 10 Apr 2025 02:13:57 -0700 /review/show/7420391475 Julia gave 3 stars to Bittersweet: How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole (Hardcover) by Susan Cain
Sections of this book were fascinating and other parts were dead boring. A good one to audiobook at 1.75x speed. ]]> Comment289137915 Sat, 05 Apr 2025 04:29:44 -0700 /review/show/7423843411 Kate's review of The Rachel Incident
by Caroline O'Donoghue

So glad you loved it! ]]> Comment289066533 Thu, 03 Apr 2025 05:07:44 -0700 /review/show/7402063961 Julia's review of Earth
by John Boyne

Agree! I was drawn to this series as novella, but somehow he writes in a way you feel like you're drawn into a full length novel. I sort of didn't want it to end! ]]> ReadStatus9265901087 Thu, 03 Apr 2025 05:05:18 -0700 /review/show/7458869851 Julia is currently reading Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop by Hwang Bo-Reum
]]> ReadStatus9211044945 Thu, 20 Mar 2025 14:36:21 -0700 /review/show/7420391475 Julia is currently reading Bittersweet: How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole by Susan Cain
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