Category: Books

After reading The Nightingale by Kristen Hannah, I knew I had to get my hands on another one of her books. There have been few books that moved my emotions so much and I wondered if all her works were like this, or if The Nightingale was just a special one.

Luckily, my husband knows me well and bought me The Great Alone for Christmas. I finished it a few weeks ago, and I’m still thinking about it! In true Kristen Hannah form, it shook my emotions so much. My husband found me crying multiple times while reading this book.

I had absolute no idea what I was getting into. I hadn’t read anything about the book or the plot. I didn’t have a clue what to expect.

At the beginning, I was not convinced it was going to be a tear-jerking, gut-wrenching, emotional roller coaster that The Nightingale was. The setting starts in the 1970s, and through the eyes of a 13 year old girl, Leni. I was surprised at what seemed to be a totally different type of storytelling and storyline. When Leni’s family decides to pack up and move to Alaska in hope of a new start and a life of self-sufficiency, she had me hooked. I’ve always dreamed of living a self-sufficient life, although never in Alaska.

I thought I was going to enjoy this book solely from reading about their new self-sufficient life. Little did I know that I would end of loving this book for all of the different human emotions and relationships that are portrayed in this book.

I’ve always loved books that portray wonderful, romantic, steadfast love. This book does that perfectly. But this book also made me ponder and understand other types of love better. Like the love between a mother and a daughter. The love between a person and their homeland, and also other types of love that can be complicated and confusing and incomprehensible. Like love that still persists even in abusive situations.

I’ve thankfully never personally been involved in an abusive relationship and I think reading this book really helped open my eyes to why people stay in those relationships.

This book is a beautiful balance of adventure and emotion. Kristen Hannah is so good at stirring your heart with just a few lines and The Great Alone is no exception!

Have you read The Great Alone? I would love to hear what you thought of it!

I recently read a novel titled “What the Wind Knows” by Amy Harmon. I must say, it is not typically the kind of book I read, but I absolutely loved it. It is historical fiction, which is my type of book, but it also has an aspect that I usually shy away from.

It started off like any good novel that I would read. Set in America, a young woman is dealing with the loss of her beloved Irish grandfather. She sets out to Ireland to spread his ashes and say a final goodbye. Up to this point it was very sad, and moving and I did not see what was coming next.

Time traveling.

I don’t read time travel books. It’s too much for me to wrap my brain around. I can’t comprehend it and so I usually steer clear from those books. But I was already invested in this story. So I continued and boy, am I glad I did!

She finds herself in Ireland at a time that was two generations before her. At first she can’t figure out how to get back, but then as she spends more time there she decides she might like to stay. Although, it gets to be quite dangerous for her as people begin to grow suspicious of who she really is and how she seems to know about things that have not happened yet.

One reason that I was scared to finish this book was because I couldn’t see how the author could end it on a happy note and I NEED my books to have happy endings. I was not disappointed. The night I finished this book I had to stop reading about 3 different times because I couldn’t see the page through my tears. I cried so hard. But it was SUCH an AMAZING ending.

This book covered a lot of Irish historical events and figures, which I was not well-informed about before reading, but feel like I am more now after reading. I fully enjoyed it without knowing much about the actual historical events, and I think you would still enjoy it if you were an expert on Irish history.

I know this is a very vague book review as far as the plot, but I don’t want to give too much away because it was so fascinating to figure it out along the way as you read it! And I seriously hope you read it!

I think this book is the perfect balance of loss, heartache, sadness, love, romance, excitement, adventure, danger, and of course an emotional, moving ending. Happy reading!!!

I am so excited to share my thoughts and feelings about a book that I read last month! The Nightingale by Kristen Hannah was recommended to me by several of my coworkers. The book had passed around from person to person and everybody raved about it, so I was so looking forward to my turn to read it.

It isn’t a new release. In fact, it was released in 2015, but it just recently showed up on my radar, and boy am I glad it did. The Nightingale is historic fiction that starts off set in America in the 1990’s and then soon transports you to France during World War 2 at the time of the German occupation of France. The book takes you through the stories of two French sisters and all of their struggles and persecution during the War.

I am a huge fan of historical fiction, and I absolutely love books about World War 2 and this was by far, one of my most favorite books I have ever read. I loved reading about the war from a French perspective, which I had never done before.

I don’t want to give anything away for you in this book, because I hope you go and read it for yourself, because this is absolutely one of my most favorite books I’ve ever read. It really grabbed my attention right away within the first few chapters and continued to hold my attention throughout the entire thing. It was one of those books that I would think about as soon as I woke up, or when I was at work, or doing housework. I just couldn’t get my mind off of it, and I couldn’t wait until I would have time to read more.

It really conveys so much emotion. I got so teary throughout the book, but by the end of the book I was bawling so hard I couldn’t even see the words, so I had to take breaks from reading to wipe my tears so that I could finish the page. I didn’t even know I could cry so hard while reading a book! But don’t get me wrong, that’s a good thing! I love when a book touches my emotions like that. I was almost sad when I finished it, because for a few days it felt like the story was a part of my own world, I thought about it so much and connected with the characters so much, it felt like I knew them. I was sad when it was finished, and I couldn’t be transported to their world anymore.

If you love books with war, read this book. If you love books with love stories, read this book. If you love a good cry, read this book. If you love historical fiction, read this book. If you’re bored, read this book. Just find a reason to go read this book. I promise you, you won’t be let down. It definitely gets 5 stars in my book.