June Reading Recap & Reccomendations

It is now July y'all! We are over halfway to Christmas.. WHAT?? I am still mentally in March so I can't wrap my mind around that.

Today I am sharing all my thoughts on the six books I read in June. There were some REALLY great ones this month.

The Passengers by: John Marrs

This is the story of eight self driving cars that are hijacked and live streamed across the country. Who lives and who dies? You decide.

The plot of this story was genius! I will never drive a self-driving car now, ha. I was on the edge of my seat the entire book. I did take one star off because the ending didn't come together quite like I wanted. Overall, super entertaining!

Rate: 4 Stars!

Big Summer by: Jennifer Weiner

This book is about Daphne Berg, a plus size influencer who is invited to the prestigious wedding of her frienemy on Cape Cod. When someone is found dead at the wedding, no one is assumed innocent. We explore complicated female friendships with one another and their appearances. Not everyone is how they seem on social media.

I liked this book but was a little confused by it. It started off like a "girl boss chick flick" read (ha, is that even a genre?) and then BOOM halfway through it turned murder mystery and steamy romance. It was a little bit all over the place but I didn't hate it. A lot of people really love it and I can see why. The characters are interesting and the plot moves quickly. Again, I was just a little thrown off by the dramatic change in tone and plot halfway through.

*There is a steamy, rated-R scene in there but it is one page and can easily be breezed over without missing anything.

Rate: 3 Stars

The Insanity of God by: Nik Ripkin

Nik Ripkin was a missionary in Somaliland, arguably one of the most dangerous places for Christians, for over 15 years. He then traveled to other communist countries where Christians are persecuted for their faith regularly. He recounts his experience along with the experience of many others in this book.

Wow. This book wrecked me. I have never done in depth reading on persecuted Christians. This changed the way I pray, worship, and view my relationship with Christ. I highly recommend this book!

Rate: 5 Stars!

Darling Rose Gold by: Stephanie Wrobel

This is the story of Patty Watts who was arrested and sent to prison for poisoning her daughter, Rose Gold, for years. She had instead pretended that her daughter was sick and suffering from diseases. Rose Gold isn't as naive as others think when she takes her mom in after her release... and daughters never forget.

This was a quick psychological thriller that made for an interesting read. I liked this book a lot but found it rather predictable. I am not usually  good at predicting the endings so once I figured this one out, I was a little disappointed. It was however a very interesting read.

Rate: 4 Stars!

The Atonement Child by: Francine Rivers

This book is about a young lady at a Christian college who is raped one night walking back to the dorms. A couple months later, she finds herself pregnant with her perpetrators child. She is faced with the impossible decision to abort her baby or let it live.

FAVORITE OF 2020. BEST BOOK. WRECKED. DESTROYED. 

Okay, I don't mean to be dramatic but wow this book. I cried for a long time after finishing this one. It brought a lot of good discussion questions to my dinner table and Rivers did a wonderful job at showing how a situation like this impacts so many different people.

READ THIS PEOPLE!!!!

Rate: 50000000000 Stars!!!!!!

The Essential 55 by: Ron Clark

For those of you who don't know, Ron Clark is a world renowned teacher who has taught in some of the toughest school districts and has now opened a school in a low income area of Atlanta. He has won many awards for his students academic and social achievements. This book describes the 55 rules he swears by when teaching.

If you are a teacher or work with youth in any sense, you should read this book. I agreed with almost every one of his rules. Obviously, everyone will have their own style of teaching but so many of his essentials are missing in classrooms across all ages and need to be reinstated. Love this one! His teaching style was very close to my parent's style of parenting. Strict, tough, fun and all out of love. The respect his students had for him, their peers, and themselves was remarkable and they have accomplished a lot! 

Rate: 5 stars!

Well there you have my June reads! What do you think? Do you think you will check any of these out? Let me know in the comments if you have any recommendations or if you've read anything great recently! I will talk to you soon!

xoxo