Beauty on the Backroads

Stories of grace for life's unexpected turns

The Weekly Read

An unsurprising confession: Review of I’d Rather Be Reading by Anne Bogel

The title of Anne Bogel’s new book, I’d Rather Be Reading, could be a tagline for my life. Anyone who’s known me for more than a day probably knows this about me. It’s no offense to the human interactions in my life, but I’m drawn to books and characters and words in an almost irresistible way.

This won’t be a long review because the book is short and also it’s aimed at a very specific audience–those who are unashamed bibliophiles.

Reading this book, I felt so understood as a lover of books, and this book felt like a conversation with a like-minded book lover. Bogel addresses such topics as to-be-read piles and library visits, the books that have changed us and how we change as readers.

After reading this book, I realized I talk a lot about books I love but not as much about my life and journey as a reader. Bogel gave me a lot to consider about the books that have accompanied me on my life’s journey.

This is a must-read for anyone who can’t leave the library empty-handed and thinks wandering through a bookstore is the perfect way to spend free time.

Disclosure: I received a free copy of the book from the publisher. Review reflects my honest opinion.

The power of words to heal: Review of Things Left Unsaid by Courtney Walsh

She’s done it again. Courtney Walsh has set a deeply moving story in the tourist town of Sweethaven and not only did I love this story but now I want to go back and re-read the other Sweethaven stories she’s written! (To read about her other Sweethaven novels, you can check out my reviews here, here and here.)

Things Left Unsaid brings us a new set of characters and a story that is full of tension, and Courtney delivers the story with grace and excellence. I could feel the weight of what the characters carried.

In Things Left Unsaid, nearly every character is living with a burden that could be lifted or lightened by speaking words aloud. Some have been holding their feelings and the truth inside for a decade. A wedding and a celebration of life for a tragedy that happened 10 years ago brings all the characters together again in Sweethaven, and since so many of the burdens are related to the night their friend and daughter died, the words they won’t say hover over them like a cloud.

Throughout the story, the burdens and secrets are hinted at, and I kind of enjoyed being in the dark about the specifics until the very end.

While the story started out a little bit slow for me, mostly because I was reorienting myself to Sweethaven, by about one-third of the way through, I couldn’t put it down. I think that’s about the time all the characters came together in Sweethaven. The tension built and I kept turning the pages to find out what would happen.

Things Left Unsaid is such a powerful reminder of the importance of saying things out loud when we’re carrying burdens and secrets and how much freedom we can find when that happens.

Disclosure: I read an advanced copy of the book. Review reflects my honest opinion.