Welcome to my weekly book update post where I share what books I read this past week + my honest thoughts and star ratings of them.
A Word on My Star Ratings
The star ratings I give the books I read are based on a 5-star rating system. I rarely will ever give a book a 1-star rating (maybe never?), because my philosophy is that if a book is only worthy of one star, I’m more than likely going to quit reading it. 🙂 In the same vein, you’ll also notice that I’ll rarely give a 5-star rating as I reserve those for only my very, very favorite books.
Want to see all of the books I’ve read so far this year? Check out my Good Reads page.
This is the story of a father grieving his son’s death. The author sent the book to me and I started reading it, not realizing that this family was a foster family and that Zachariah first came into their home through foster care.
He had been neglected and abused and their family fell in love with him, nursed him back to life and wholeness, and adopted him. He was with their family for 22 years and this is his story and the father’s grieving of his son’s death.
I really loved the first few chapters, but felt like the book overall wasn’t very well organized. It could have had a truly powerful message of hope and healing, but most of the chapters felt like they were sort of disorganized and could have used a good story arc and editor.
Verdict: 2 stars
I read this book back when I was a teenager and it really impacted me. I was excited to read it aloud to the kids.
Unfortunately, I realized that my book standards have changed quite a bit since my teenage years. The book wasn’t as well-written or interesting as I remember at all. I felt like we slogged through most of it. (The kids remarked, “It seems like the author just likes to use big words.”)
There were still some inspiring parts in it, but I had told the kids how much I enjoyed the book and felt like I had hyped it up and it didn’t live up to my hype. Here’s to hoping that the next book I pick to read aloud is more enjoyable to everyone!
Verdict: 2 stars
What did you read this past week? Any books you think I really need to add to my long to-read list??
