books on tap: let's try this again, shall we?

I thought December might be a little calmer than November. I thought wrong. Once again, I only have three books to share with you - but these three are all really fantastic and I highly recommend any or all of them, particularly the first one. There's no better way to start out your new year than with a little simplification and organization - especially if, say, like us, you're expecting a little one sometime in 2018. No pressure or anything :) But even if there's no baby on the horizon, start your 2018 with a good book.

Happy New Year, readers!

xoxo,
E

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A Simplified Life*, by Emily Ley. We've been working to simplify our home and life for a while now, and the success we've had has driven me to want to go further. So I was really eager to read and review this book. First of all, the book itself is simple - ten chapters on ten different areas to simplify, all written in Emily's straightforward prose. Checklists, ideas, and spaces to write out your thoughts make it more interactive. I sat down one day to read this, and after the first two chapters I hopped up off the sofa to go clean out our office. This book is informative without being preachy, it's encouraging but not irritatingly so, and the advice is generic enough to apply to everyone while still being specific enough to prompt action. Some chapters, such as the one on meal planning and prep, didn't apply to me as much - we already have that down to a science. But the chapters on motherhood and faith especially resonated with me, and I know I'll keep this book for a long time as a resource and guide. Overall, 5/5 stars.
 
*I received this book from BookLook Bloggers in exchange for my honest review.

The Grave's a Fine and Private Place*, by Alan Bradley. This is the ninth book in the Flavia de Luce mystery series, and I had trouble getting into this one. It started off slow for me, possibly because of how different it is from the others (thanks to events that happened in the last book). But once it got rolling, I really got into this one. I liked the characters a lot, and I really loved Dogger's increased role in Flavia's sleuthing in this novel. The end of the mystery was still, well, a mystery to me. Some things weren't 100 percent clear, but overall, it's a worthy addition to the series - I hope Alan Bradley keeps writing books about Flavia! 4/5 stars.
 
*I received an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Origin, by Dan Brown. My friend Fleming has a theory that everyone's favorite Dan Brown book is whichever one they've read first - which is why she and I love Angels and Demons best. His books do tend to follow a fairly predictable formula-  a murder (usually several by the end of the book), a "good guy" who's actually a bad guy, a "bad guy" who's actually a good guy, a secret society, Robert Langdon on the run from said secret society, aided by an attractive foreign woman. And yet somehow I still get sucked in every time. This one was no different. It's hard to say much about it without giving anything away, but even though it was predictably, this book was addicting, and yeah, I'd say you should read it. 4/5 stars.

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