Reflective – Talk Nerdy Book Blog

November 14, 2020

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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

Synopsis

There is a voice of longing inside every woman. We strive so mightily to be good: good mothers, daughters, partners, employees, citizens, and friends. We believe all this striving will make us feel alive. Instead, it leaves us feeling weary, stuck, overwhelmed, and underwhelmed. We look at our lives, relationships, and world, and wonder: Wasn’t it all supposed to be more beautiful than this?

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.

Ending

HEA

Representation

• F/F main couple
• Author identities as queer

Possible Triggers: Yes

• Bulimia (started at 10 years old)
• Discussion of people (including children) dying of cancer
• Discussion of drug and alcohol addiction

Mature Themes

• Discussion of anxiety and depression
• Discussion of infidelity
• Discussion of abortion
• See Possible Triggers for Abuse and OTT sad parts.

Format: Hardcover

Rating: 4.25-stars

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Liberating and Thought-Provoking: How To Get Over A Boy by Chidera Eggerue

By Sarah

In 3-stars, Book Review

November 11, 2020

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Series: Standalone

Release Date: February 4, 2020

Synopsis:

Are you fed up with thinking about that guy every minute of every waking hour, when he doesn’t even reply to your texts?

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.

Ending

Informative and helpful: provides accessible tools to implement in real-life.

Representation

• Black Author

Possible Triggers: Yes

Discussion of:
• Physically, emotionally and psychologically abusive relationships
• Gaslighting
• Parental neglect and abandonment

Mature Themes

None of Note
• See Possible Triggers for Abuse and OTT sad parts.

Format: Hardcover

Rating: 3.75/5 stars

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Intriguing and Relevant: The Dreamers by Karen Thompson Walker

By Sarah

In 4-stars, Book Review

May 28, 2020

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Series: Standalone

Release Date: January 15, 2019

Synopsis:

In an isolated college town in the hills of Southern California, a freshman girl stumbles into her dorm room, falls asleep—and doesn’t wake up. She sleeps through the morning, into the evening. Her roommate, Mei, cannot rouse her. Neither can the paramedics who carry her away, nor the perplexed doctors at the hospital. Then a second girl falls asleep, and then another, and panic takes hold of the college and spreads to the town. As the number of cases multiplies, classes are canceled, and stores begin to run out of supplies. A quarantine is established. The National Guard is summoned.

Mei, an outsider in the cliquish hierarchy of dorm life, finds herself thrust together with an eccentric, idealistic classmate. Two visiting professors try to protect their newborn baby as the once-quiet streets descend into chaos. A father succumbs to the illness, leaving his daughters to fend for themselves. And at the hospital, a new life grows within a college girl, unbeknownst to her—even as she sleeps. A psychiatrist, summoned from Los Angeles, attempts to make sense of the illness as it spreads through the town. Those infected are displaying unusual levels of brain activity, more than has ever been recorded. They are dreaming heightened dreams—but of what?

Ending

 Bittersweet HFN

Representation

• Asian main character
• Black supporting character
• Immigrant supporting characters

Possible Triggers: Yes

• Mild Violence
• Death

Mature Themes

 • Teen Pregnancy
• Allusions to an extra-marital affair
• Psychological effects of an airborne virus being loose in your town
• See Ending for HEA status.
• See Possible Triggers for Abuse and OTT sad parts.

Format: Hardcover

Rating: 4/5 stars

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