Origin by Dan Brown
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Professor Robert Langdon is back in this action mystery story, where he is attending a presentation by his extremely talented former student who bears a striking resemblance to a Steve Jobs, as a visionary computer geek. When his student is assassinated, Professor Langdon is once again on a mission to find out what happened and help his former student fulfill his plan to share a mysterious discovery that will change how the world will view organized religion. A central figure in the story is an A.I named Winston. While it was fun to read along as Robert Langdon figures out each clue in the mystery, this book felt forced and lacked the originality of Dan Brown's earlier books. Origin gets very repetitive at times and instead of letting the readers come to their own conclusion, the book feels preachy and strained. The minor characters were dull and uninteresting, with stereotypical villains and an actual charming prince. Despite all of that, I would recommend this book because Robert Langdon is always a fun character.
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The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
WOW! The Hate U Give may be a young adult novel, but this story is a must read for every age. This powerful story shares the experience of Starr, a young black girl who feels torn between two worlds, her impoverished neighborhood and her white school. Starr finds herself witness to a senseless shooting of her childhood friend at the hands of the police, and as she struggles to deal with what she saw and experienced, the shooting has much bigger implications for her family and her entire community. Starr finds the courage and support to speak out about what happened, but in doing so she also realizes that her voice can be a powerful tool. I was so impressed with this book, it felt like a glimpse into a world that I don't understand very well, and I ached for Starr and her friend Khalil and so many others who have faced injustice.
“What's the point of having a voice if you're gonna be silent in those moments you shouldn't be?”
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The Magnolia Story by Chip Gaines
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
As a fan of the show Fixer Upper, I really enjoyed this glimpse into the lives of the show's stars Chip and Joanna Gaines. The book is a first person account of their lives and the path that led them to a career in home renovations and an eventual highly popular series on HGTV. This book was a quick and easy ready that jumped back and forth between Joanna and Chip's perspectives. With an easy style, the book felt more like sitting at a kitchen table chatting than a serious detailed biography. Joanna is the primary storyteller and she has an incredible ability to share her hard-earned wisdom and life-lessons without sounding preachy. Fans of the show will enjoy this glimpse into the personal world of the Chip and Joanna.
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Everything We Keep by Kerry Lonsdale
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Everything We Keep started out grabbing the reader's attention with the main character Aimee attending her finance's funeral on the day that was supposed to be her wedding. As the story develops, Aimee is led to believe her fiancé might not be dead after all, but this is the point where the story seemed to drag on and the writing felt cumbersome. There were some good parts, but overall I was not impressed with this book and would not necessarily recommend it.
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