
12 new books comprise my Maytime book haul! I’m so excited that so many of these books have feminist themes.
(more…)12 new books comprise my Maytime book haul! I’m so excited that so many of these books have feminist themes.
(more…)The Gist: A powerful book that delves into the oppressive history of modern beauty standards, transforming the meaning of self-love.
Series: Standalone
Release Date: February 9, 2021 (2nd Edition)
Humans are a varied and divergent bunch with all manner of beliefs, morals, and bodies. Systems of oppression thrive off our inability to make peace with difference and injure the relationship we have with our own bodies.
The Body Is Not an Apology offers radical self-love as the balm to heal the wounds inflicted by these violent systems. World-renowned activist and poet Sonya Renee Taylor invites us to reconnect with the radical origins of our minds and bodies and celebrate our collective, enduring strength. As we awaken to our own indoctrinated body shame, we feel inspired to awaken others and to interrupt the systems that perpetuate body shame and oppression against all bodies. When we act from this truth on a global scale, we usher in the transformative opportunity of radical self-love, which is the opportunity for a more just, equitable, and compassionate world–for us all.
Format: eARC
Rating: 3.75-stars
Note: I received The Body Is Not an Apology through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My thanks to FSB Association for the opportunity.
(more…)My December Book Haul includes both my hardcopy and ebook purchases made since the start of December. The haul totals 9 books (including ebooks). This haul has a mix-mash of books ranging from medical memoirs to feminist nonfiction and romantic comedies.
(more…)The Gist: An unabashedly honest memoir, comprised of short essays, Glennon draws on her experiences with consciously uncoupling from her husband, parenting her children in a blended-family, marrying her wife, Abby and reconciling her God with religion as an institution, to unpack the varying ways our current societies cage us. The pacing takes a while to find its rhythm; however, the immersive and thought-provoking prose makes the memoir an exceptional and cathartic read.
Series: Standalone
Release Date: March 10, 2020
Four years ago, Glennon Doyle, author, activist and humanitarian, wife and mother of three—was speaking at a conference when a woman entered the room. Glennon looked at her and fell instantly in love. Three words flooded her mind: There She Is. At first, Glennon assumed these words came to her from on high. Soon she realized that they came to her from within.
Glennon was finally hearing her own voice—the voice that had been silenced by decades of cultural conditioning, numbing addictions, and institutional allegiances. She vowed to never again abandon herself. She decided to build a life of her own—one based on her individual desire, intuition, and imagination. She would reclaim her true, untamed self.
Format: Hardcover
Rating: 4.25-stars
(more…)Series: Standalone
Release Date: February 4, 2020
Are you reeling from the pain of a break-up, unsure of where to turn?
Are you single and looking to be happy with your choices in the face of society’s constant questioning?
In How to Get Over a Boy, bestselling author Chidera Eggerue will show you, once and for all, how to reframe the stale goal of finding a man. She will equip you with tangible and applicable solutions for every part of your dating life, helping you recognize that men hold as much power in our romantic lives as we grant them.
In the past, dating books tend to lean more into the territory of ‘how to make him find you hot!’, ‘how to make him jealous!’, ‘how to get him to propose!’. But these how-tos are placing men on a pedestal of being ‘the prize’. Men are NEVER the prize. You are. Let The Slumflower show you why.
Format: Hardcover
Rating: 3.75/5 stars
(more…)My October Book Haul includes both my hardcopy and ebook purchases I’ve made since my September book haul (click here to see). The haul totals to 14 books (including ebooks), and every book, except for two, is a book I’ve wanted to read for months! Despite October being a month dedicated to spooky reads, I’ve never been much of a mystery/thriller fan. However, I’m broadening my typical reading genres by including a mystery in this haul!
(more…)Series: Standalone
Release Date: June 30, 2020
Rose and Lily Winters are twins, as close as the bond implies; they feel each other’s emotions, taste what the other is feeling. Like most young women, they’ve struggled with their bodies and food since childhood, and high school finds them turning to food—or not—to battle the waves of insecurity and the yearning for popularity. But their connection can be as destructive as it is supportive, a yin to yang. when Rose stops eating, Lily starts—consuming everything Rose won’t or can’t.
Within a few years, Rose is about to mark her one-year anniversary in a rehabilitation facility for anorexics. Lily, her sole visitor, is the only thing tethering her to a normal life.
But Lily is struggling, too. A kindergarten teacher, she dates abusive men, including a student’s married father, in search of the close yet complicated companionship she lost when she became separated from Rose.
When Lily joins a cult diet group led by a social media faux feminist, whose eating plan consists of consuming questionable non-caloric foods, Rose senses that Lily needs her help. With her sister’s life in jeopardy, Rose must find a way to rescue her—and perhaps, save herself.
Illuminating some of the most fraught and common issues confronting women, Thin Girls is a powerful, emotionally resonant story, beautifully told, that will keep you turning the pages to the gratifying, hopeful end.
Format: Hardcover
Rating: 5/5 stars
Trigger Warning: This review discusses topics that can be triggering for some. Please read the ‘Possible Triggers’ tab above for details.
(more…)Series: Standalone
Release Date: July 14, 2020
Today, she hates him.
It’s the last day of senior year. Rowan Roth and Neil McNair have been bitter rivals for all of high school, clashing on test scores, student council elections, and even gym class pull-up contests. While Rowan, who secretly wants to write romance novels, is anxious about the future, she’d love to beat her infuriating nemesis one last time.
Tonight, she puts up with him.
When Neil is named valedictorian, Rowan has only one chance at victory: Howl, a senior class game that takes them all over Seattle, a farewell tour of the city she loves. But after learning a group of seniors is out to get them, she and Neil reluctantly decide to team up until they’re the last players left—and then they’ll destroy each other.
As Rowan spends more time with Neil, she realizes he’s much more than the awkward linguistics nerd she’s sparred with for the past four years. And, perhaps, this boy she claims to despise might actually be the boy of her dreams.
Tomorrow…maybe she’s already fallen for him.
Format:
Rating: 5/5 stars
(more…)My original plan was to add my Kindle book haul to my August Wrap but it just made the post way too long and convoluted. So, I’ve decided to post a separate book haul dedicated to all the books I’ve purchased as ebooks, which, for me, are Kindle books.
(more…)Series: Standalone
Release Date: August 25, 2020
Many predicted that pageants would disappear by the 21st century. Yet they are thriving. America’s most enduring contest, Miss America, celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2020. Why do they persist? In Here She Is, Hilary Levey Friedman reveals the surprising ways pageants have been an empowering feminist tradition. She traces the role of pageants in many of the feminist movement’s signature achievements, including bringing women into the public sphere, helping them become leaders in business and politics, providing increased educational opportunities, and giving them a voice in the age of #MeToo.
Using her unique perspective as a NOW state president, daughter to Miss America 1970, sometimes pageant judge, and scholar, Friedman explores how pageants became so deeply embedded in American life from their origins as a P.T. Barnum spectacle at the birth of the suffrage movement, through Miss Universe’s bathing beauties to the talent- and achievement-based competitions of today. She looks at how pageantry has morphed into culture everywhere from The Bachelor and RuPaul’s Drag Race to cheer and specialized contests like those for children, Indigenous women, and contestants with disabilities. Friedman also acknowledges the damaging and unrealistic expectations pageants place on women in society and discusses the controversies, including Miss America’s ableist and racist history, Trump’s ownership of the Miss Universe Organization, and the death of the child pageant-winner JonBenét Ramsey.
Presenting a more complex narrative than what’s been previously portrayed, Here She Is shows that as American women continue to evolve, so too will beauty pageants.
Rating: 3.5/5 stars
Note: I received Here She Is through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My thanks to FSB Association for the opportunity.
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