Meredith’s Recommended Books: October
I’m sharing my October recommended books & thinking about Thanksgiving. How. Is. October. Over? I feel like I was just thinking about what I was going to do for my birthday back in April. Time sure does fly by. I guess it’s true what they say, the days are long but the years are short.
Anyway…October has three recommended books but I don’t want you to panic. Both of the fiction books go together & you should definitely read them both, one right after the other. I’ll explain more in my thoughts on the books (I combined my thoughts on them into one review). Also, don’t worry. I don’t plan on this becoming a thing. It was just a happy accident! 🙂
The October recommended books are, how should I describe them? GOOD! This non-fiction book is top notch. The fiction books are quite good too. You definitely don’t want to miss this month’s books!
Onto the books from October!
October Recommended Book #1:
Choose Wonder Over Worry by Amber Rae
Here’s the synopsis:
Let’s be real. Life is filled with twists and turns, fears and doubts, messy and magical moments. Without a “rule book” for how to thrive in today’s world, it leaves many of us feeling all the feels without having a clear sense of direction. Research even shows that the average adult spends 80% of their time with regret about the past or anxiety about the future.
That’s where choosing wonder comes in. Whether you hate your work and are wondering what to do with your life, are building the dream but feel stifled by fear and doubt, or know there’s more to life but don’t know where to start, Choose Wonder Over Worry will guide you to face your fears and unlock your gifts―no matter what’s standing in the way.
Choose Wonder Over Worry shares the most important lesson of all: Don’t die with your gifts still inside. There’s a gift inside of you that deserves to see the light of day, and “choosing wonder over worry” is a mindset, practice, and compass to unlock the gift that only you can give.
Worry or Wonder: which will you choose?
My Thoughts:
I typically just read the self-help books & don’t actual do the work/follow the prompts. Maybe inside my head but not truly follow the prompts & do the work. I know, I know. That defeats the purpose of these books but sometimes I feel like they can say the same cliché things and I want to read it & see if it’s gonna be that before I take my time reading & then discover it’s a drag.
But for some reason, I *knew* that for this book, I needed to grab a pen and an empty journal & do the work. I can’t really explain it beyond just knowing that that’s what I needed to do. I’m so glad I did. This is truly one of the BEST non-fiction/self-help books I’ve read so far this year (here’s the other).
Choose Wonder Over Worry is part memoir but the memoir parts help you gain better understanding of the topic and relate more. It helps the “work” part make more sense and also helps you see that she isn’t just saying these things. She’s lived through things and worked through things that brought her here to be able to write these words and help others.
Let me break down the book for you:
This book is divided into 3 parts & part 2 is the biggest and where all the work is done. She discusses various types of toxic worry and throughout each chapter there are journal prompts & then at the end, the Wondervention. Let me tell you here and now, do the journal prompts as they pop up. Yes, even in the middle of the chapter. Stop & do them. Do the Wondervention at the end of the chapter too.
Those journal prompts & Wonderventions truly made me think. They had me re-framing the way that I thought about things and uncovering things that I hadn’t thought about or even realized. Some prompts actually asked you what you were going to do next, what your next steps are. The point being to get you out of the toxic worry and moving forward with what the right next move is.
I can’t recommend this book enough. I’m actually thinking about reading it again without doing the work this time since I already have and see if I pick up on anything new. It’s that good.
If you’re feeling stuck and held back by toxic worry, this book is worth a read. You’ll learn a lot of new information plus things about yourself too. Heck, even if you don’t feel that way, I’m pretty sure you’ll learn something new & you’ll learn new things about yourself. Read this book y’all!
October Recommended Books #2 & #3:
Never Tell & When You See Me by Lisa Gardner
Here’s the synopsis for Never Tell:
A man is dead, shot three times in his home office. But his computer has been shot twelve times, and when the cops arrive, his pregnant wife is holding the gun.
D. D. Warren arrives on the scene and recognizes the woman—Evie Carter—from a case many years back. Evie’s father was killed in a shooting that was ruled an accident. But for D.D., two coincidental murders is too many.
Flora Dane sees the murder of Conrad Carter on the TV news and immediately knows his face. She remembers a night when she was still a victim—a hostage—and her captor knew this man. Overcome with guilt that she never tracked him down, Flora is now determined to learn the truth of Conrad’s murder.
But D.D. and Flora are about to discover that in this case the truth is a devilishly elusive thing. As layer by layer they peel away the half-truths and outright lies, they wonder: How many secrets can one family have?
Here’s the synopsis for When You See Me:
FBI Special Agent Kimberly Quincy and Sergeant Detective D D Warren have built a task force to follow the digital bread crumbs left behind by deceased serial kidnapper Jacob Ness. When a disturbing piece of evidence is discovered in the hills of Georgia, they bring Flora Dane and true-crime savant Keith Edgar to a small town where something seems to be deeply wrong. What at first looks like a Gothic eeriness soon hardens into something much more sinister . . . and they discover that for all the evil Jacob committed while alive, his worst secret is still to be revealed. Quincy and DD must summon their considerable skills and experience to crack the most disturbing case of their careers—and Flora must face her own past directly in the hope of saving others.
My Thoughts:
2 fiction books this month! And like I said, this was an accident. It turns out Lisa Gardner has an entire series, 11 books long, all about Detective D.D. Warren. Macy (my sis) read Never Tell & discovered that there was a book that followed it, When You See Me. It turns out that these two books are books 10 & 11. No fear, these two books can & are 100% standalone. No need to read books 1-9 or worry that you’re gonna be lost & confused because you started at book 10. I jumped in at book 10 & never would’ve know that there were books before that one or honestly, that there was one after it.
That being said, I knew there was a book 11 & now you know there’s a book 11 and I definitely recommend reading it. One of the characters introduced in Never Tell (book ten) has her story continued & wrapped up in When You See Me (book eleven). I am definitely glad that I read it and got to learn more about her story and wrap up her storyline as well. I think a lot of questions got answered in When You See Me.
About these October Recommended Books…
These two books are without a doubt mystery books & I would say that they are borderline psychological thrillers. When You See Me felt like it leaned more into psychological thriller territory while still holding onto the mystery aspect. Each book has its own mystery that needs to be solved and those drive the books though there are side storylines that enhance the book & add more depth to them. Both books are told from multiple points of view which wasn’t at all confusing and it made the book more enjoyable because you got to see the story come together from multiple characters and their individual perspectives.
Honesty Hour:
I really liked both books but I want to be honest about them as well. A lot of the time I will say that a book is a “page-turner”. I typically cannot put those books down & I absolutely fly through them meaning I read it about a day or two and before I know it after one sitting I’m halfway through the book.
These two books are definitely page turners but not in the way that I normally say it. You keep turning the pages because you want to know what’s going to pop up next & what the answers are. They did feel like a slower read to me. It took me a few days to read these books and it felt like I wasn’t making a ton of progress or flying through them at the beginning though I felt like I was reading a lot. You may feel differently when you read them but I just wanted to put it out there. Hitting the halfway mark, or shortly before, & the slow read feeling speeds up a little bit.
Again, highly recommending both of these books! Do not let the fact that the beginning feels slow stop you. They are page turners because of the mysteries at hand and were definitely fun & enjoyable to read.
My goodness! This has to be the longest recommended book post I’ve ever written. Both of my honest thoughts on them were long but they were such good books that I felt like I needed to tell you everything.
Alright…I hope y’all read all of the October Recommended Books & enjoy them as much as I did!
Also comment below if you’ve read any of these books & what you thought. I’d love to hear what you thought about them.
Happy reading!
Love,
Want more book recommendations? Here’s a few: March, June, and September.
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