Simone and Her Books

You don’t have to write diverse books

October 25, 2017
The other night, I had an interesting conversation with a friend. She’s an aspiring writer and doing research on books where the story is written by an Asian author but doesn’t have Asian characters.

We were meeting for drinks because it’s been a while and she mentioned wanting some recommendations. “I want to write a book where the main characters aren’t Asian.”

I wasn’t surprised by her response but I did wonder why. There’s so many books coming out right now discussing the struggle of being a person of color in America and in the world. But she was pretty clear. She didn’t want to write a book for the sake of her race, she wanted to write a book for the sake of telling a good story.

It’s not uncommon that people of color write stories that don’t speak directly to diversity. People write the characters and the stories that inspire them. It doesn’t have to be about race. And perhaps a lot of POC writers feel pigeonholed to write about their experiences; that books need to be all about diversity and how much of a struggle life is.

But not everything in life is a struggle. Sometimes it’s a beautiful moment in time and those stories are just as worthy a read as any other.

And the truth is that sometimes when we highlight diverse stories we end up burying the simple fact that we are all people and we all have lives to live. So why choose to write about diverse themes?

I think it’s because everyone can write about anything. There’s something more intense in a diverse story because it’s bringing up topics that people tend to ignore. We don’t talk about race and how people in this or any country are treated. We know we’re not racist but that’s the extent of our knowledge. It’s not about educating the masses, but sharing the stories that don’t get told.

Our conversation went on and she described how isolating and lonely her childhood was being Asian and growing up in a predominately White town. I knew exactly how she felt and how torn you are between who you are and who you’re around.

I understood exactly where she’s coming from and how rehashing those memories for the sake of a story didn’t feel like the best use of her time. She could be writing anything because anything is possible. I sometimes feel like the themes of my stories need to be about being Asian, but I’m more than my race and I’ve got more to write about than being Asian.

We all live similar enough lives to connect with anyone and a story written by a person of color that isn’t about being that race is recognizably still good writing. Perhaps writing a story where the emphasis is not on being diverse will help readers see that we’re not so different.

We are all writers here. We all have stories to tell and some stories are much more relatable than others. So write your stories and come up with ways to rewrite all the genres. Make the stories your own and don’t feel pressured into writing a diverse story.

Write what you want. People recognize a good story no matter what the subject.

Here’s some authors who were able to reach beyond diversity:
- A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
- Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
- Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon
- Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
- To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han
- The Mothers by Brit Bennett
The Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman

October 23, 2017

When I was a little girl, I believed I had the gift of magic. I would stare deeply at branches on trees willing them to sway with the power of the wind. Sometimes I would get lucky and other times I wouldn’t be. The days where I couldn’t move the branches was because I wasn’t concentrating hard enough.

I believed that the energy you put out in the world will come back to you. I believe in Spirits and beauty and the power of magic existing in everything and everyone.

Everyone has a little magic in them and in The Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman, you follow along with Frances, Jet, and Vincent as they discover the magic within themselves.

This is the prequel to the well-loved Practical Magic. I haven’t had a chance to read the book yet, but I have seen the movie. One of the major themes throughout the movie was about falling in love and the curse that lives within the Owens family. If you don’t know what that is, it’s that any Owens woman who was to fall in love their lover would be subject to a terrible death.

I loved how steeped this story is in reality. It was more of a celebration of the pagan religion than it is about fighting against good and evil. There’s no big shows of magical powers and you don’t see things like forces of evil come and take over the Earth. The magic is subtle and beautiful and the world Alice Hoffman creates here is something similar to the world I live in.

The way Alice Hoffman included parts of US history including the Vietnam War played so well against the story of these siblings learning more about the magic within themselves. There’s skepticism and frustration and lots of love. It’s not an Owens’ party if no one is falling in love.

Magic is meant to be this coinciding with nature. From what I believed, I believe that magic is always keeping an eye out on everyone. It knows your deepest desires and it listens to spells like God listens to prayers. If you believe truly and wholeheartedly, then you’ll see the magic in your life.

Because I’d already seen Practical Magic and I knew about the curse on the Owens family, I felt like I spent some of my time playing a game called “which guy is going to die.” I waited for the sound of the deathwatch beetle to crawl across the pages letting me know that someone loves another person way too much.

But it seems like the love portrayed in the book is much deeper than any regular love. It can be persuaded and manipulated and carefully avoided. Love as much as you can and never stop loving, is even what they believe. They know the consequences to this kind of love and perhaps the curse isn’t that their loves will die but they’re cursed to lose love time and time again.

I almost felt the tears welling for Jet and her lover, for Frances and her lover, and for Vincent and his lover. Each loved so well and so carelessly that they couldn’t avoid the consequences of their actions. It made me want to hold my husband a little closer and hope that he stays alive a little longer. I couldn’t live a life without him, but this doesn’t seem to be the issue with the Owens.

Gosh, this book was beautiful. It was well-written and well-conceived and while I thought parts of the story dragged a little, I still wouldn’t have stopped reading. I wanted to find out more about these siblings and their loves and how they became the witches they are today. Magic lives in everything and everyone and with a little bit of love, you can see what magic does.

I received The Rules of Magic from Simon & Schuster in exchange for an honest review. My review and thoughts are my own and not influenced by the publisher or author.
OwlCrate October 2017 Unboxing

October 22, 2017

I took a little break from OwlCrate and all of my subscription boxes because, frankly, I wasn’t impressed with the books I was receiving. However, for some reason, I decided to go back to OwlCrate and pick up the latest box.

This month’s theme was Find Me in the Forest and the entire box is filled with some great goodies all themed around the woods. I love the forest and I love hiking. My favorite thing has got to be sitting silently while the forest gets used to us being there and begins to come back to life. You can hear the birds chirping and woodland creatures appearing out of nowhere. Ever since I moved to New Jersey, I’ve been seeing way more deer than I ever anticipated seeing in my life. It’s so beautiful to watch a family of deer walk by and eating roughage along the way. I always scare them off, but for the brief moment I see them it feels like seeing magic.

And I think that’s the theme for this month. Magic in the woods. Or at least that’s what I like to think. I’ll post what was in the box after the jump to avoid any spoilers!

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Reading in the Morning

October 21, 2017

This post is inspired by The Ardent Biblio who wrote a beautiful little post being an early morning reader. I was inspired to write about my own routine as well!

Every weekday morning I wake up at 6AM, which gives me about an hour and a half to get ready for work, make myself some breakfast, pack myself a lunch, and take a bookish photo before I head to the train and into the city. It’s better for me to have this routine than to deviate from it. It’s too easy for me to deviate.

But on the weekends, I work at a different schedule. Instead of waking up at 6AM, I sleep in a few more hours. My husband sneaks out of the bedroom and starts his day while I rest off the stress of the week. I try not to linger in bed and instead take my time to get up and pick up my coffee from the coffeemaker. The brew is just the thing I need to wake myself up.

I prop my pillows up on my bed and cozy myself into my blankets. It’s time for me to read. I usually take this time to finish up the book I started earlier in the week. Writing blog articles and traveling to work doesn’t lend a lot of time to actually reading so the weekends are important for this time. Once I’m in bed for my morning reading, I try to keep away my phone and social media and spend the next few hours reading.

Since I’m up so early, there isn’t much for me to do in the morning. I feel lucky I get a spare two hours to read. There’s so much that can happen even on a weekend day from errands to chores to catching up on some articles I didn’t get a chance to write. If I don’t get at least two hours of reading done then I feel like I haven’t done any reading. I stomp around the house huffing about all these chores I have to do and errands I have to run when all I want to do is stay cozy in my pjs and messy hair and read.

Being an introvert also lends a hand here and I love to read when I’m recharging from a night of hanging out with friends. Mornings are always a good time to get some of that in especially when you might have plans later and falling deep into stories gives you a different outlook to your day.

I will admit that if I spend my mornings reading, I find myself lost in my imagination for the rest of the day. I want to wield magic or jump off ledges and battle against the forces of evil. Books take you on a journey and if you start your journey early, it sticks with you long after you put the book down. I don’t think I could ever trade that feeling.
Artemis by Andy Weir

October 18, 2017

I love science fiction/fantasy. I love reading about different worlds and all the struggles of being in space. I mean, space is really scary if you think about it because it’s unknown and you can’t breathe without an apparatus and there’s no sound or direction or anything. It’s just floating stuff. Isn’t that crazy to think about.

So it’s obvious why space lends itself to writing some really crazy novels and because it’s so unknown you can literally write an entire universe in space.

For a while, I mean a long, long time, I took a break from reading science fiction. I like to read a little bit of everything, but science fiction sometimes lends a hand into my anxiety. It’s all the stories about existence and life and I feel my heart beating faster and my forehead begins to sweat. It’s tough to manage anxiety when you read anxiety-inducing reads.

I think the last science fiction novel I read was The Martian by Andy Weir, which I read in October 2015. It’s kind of funny how I’m back to reading science fiction and it’s all because of Andy Weir yet again.

I was a huge fan of The Martian even with all of the science and math. My husband had to explain a lot of it to me, but I really enjoyed the idea of a man trapped on Mars and figuring out how the hell he’s going to survive and get off the red planet. It was clever and smart and even nerds like my husband loved how close to accurate the book was to reality. The only difference being is that no human has ever been left behind on a planet before that is something that probably would never happen.

And here we are, full circle, and I’m reading Andy Weir’s second novel Artemis.

Elon Musk recently made a comment in the news about how we’re years behind in the space race. He believes that we should have a colony on the moon by now and even proposed images of what the base should look like. It’s funny that he says that because that’s pretty much what Artemis is about.

The whole story takes place on a moon colony where a 26-year-old woman named Jazz Bashara spends her days as a porter delivering packages to locals. She also happens to be a smuggler bringing in prohibited items from Earth. Jazz is also an untapped genius and while she has the potential to be anything she wants, she’d rather deliver packages.

Jazz accepts a mission to destroy these harvesters that are used to collect minerals and make aluminum, oxygen, and silicone. It was really unclear what all of this was about and the rest of the story spends its time trying to figure out what that is. All we knew at this point is that she’s doing this for a big amount of slugs (the currency of the Moon) and that’s about it.

The whole book read like some action movie slash whodunnit about a girl from the “wrong side of the tracks” trying to make some money and then saving the world at the end. It’s a pretty common trope that you see on TV and movies and if you’re into that kind of thing then you’ll like this book.

In all honesty, I felt super underwhelmed by this novel. I thought that with space being the main antagonist here there would be a plethora of directions Andy Weir could have gone, but this story felt like it could have easily taken place on Earth with some large research center in the middle of the desert or something. I wanted some bi-product of smelting that people used to get high. I don’t know, I just wanted more.

Also, I think the way he wrote Jazz and the way the character acted and spoke just felt like a caricature. There wasn’t any depth there and there was no understanding as to why a woman who excelled at something most men can’t do would give that all up to be a porter. I get that she’s supposed to be this rebel, but rebellion looks different to everyone.

Why not have her working on some underground lab making science stuff or like even being the person who makes drugs from like space dust? Why not have her working as a mechanic fixing robots and air systems or something where her intelligence matches her career? It just feels like we’re past the place where untapped genius is hidden somewhere inside a character like in Good Will Hunting and especially for women who are underutilized ALL THE TIME.

Andy Weir uses his sense of humor to make Jazz this smart-mouth “bad ass chick,” which read more like a high school fantasy than a real woman. Honestly, just because you’re a woman, you’re not reading gossip magazines and commenting about your own breasts like you were surprised you had them in the first place.

I finished reading Artemis and what I thought was how this was a great adventure book. I don’t know if adventure books are a genre because they probably fall under another category of books, but this felt like an adventure. There was a task, it got messed up, people died, make a plan to fix it, try and fix it and something goes wrong, need to fix that, save the world.

This book had the fun of an adventure. I honestly feel like Andy Weir wrote his own version of Total Recall or Blade Runner. You’re sitting on the edge of your seat and you’re hoping the next minute wouldn’t go wrong, and then you breathe a sigh of relief. But even in Blade Runner and Total Recall there’s some amount of depth there and turmoil and some secret underground group working with the government to destroy the thing in space.

However, I think I learned a valuable lesson here. After I read this book, I decided that I will never want to take up any offer to be in space. I don’t care if Elon Musk is offering free space rides for $20, I’m not going to space. I don’t know what’s with Andy Weir and his obsession with putting humans in space and seeing what they can do when the circumstances are against them, but it’s thoroughly freaked me out. No thanks. I’m not going to the moon.

I received this ARC of Artemis as a free ebook on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I was not paid to write this review.
Turtles All The Way Down by John Green

October 16, 2017

I honestly am so happy that a book like this exists. Shortly after being told I had OCD, I tried to search the book world for fiction stories featuring characters with similar traits. I was a little surprised to find out that the world’s exposure to OCD was only As Good As It Gets with Jack Nicholson and some documentaries of folks with such debilitating compulsions that they rarely leave the house.

My mother told me that when I was in kindergarten class, I would wash my hands after using a single color in finger painting. The teacher thought it was adorable that I would dip my finger in the paint, brush it across the paper, then get up to go wash my hands. Was it because even at that age I didn’t want to blend my colors too much or was there something more insidious going on?

I never liked getting my face painted. I don’t like touching things with my bare hands. I hate bugs of all kinds even butterflies and lady bugs. I can’t stand when strangers touch me. I can’t walk on grass barefoot. I’m the only person who knows how to clean my house.

And I thought these were all quirks. That everyone thinks about the microbial germs crawling across the surface of a subway pole. That everyone knew if you touched a smelly homeless person, you would get whatever disease that they had that made their feet and ankles balloon up. I believed everyone thought about the dust mites that crawled across your skin and carpet.

It wasn’t until I was diagnosed with OCD that I realized these thoughts weren’t thoughts everyone had. This isn’t “normal” and most people think about them briefly and then move on with their life.

TURTLES ALL THE WAY DOWN starts with the sudden disappearance of a local billionaire. In attempts to try and win the reward for more information, Aza and her best friend Daisy start to look for clues that could help them score some big money. After all, it was Aza’s friend, Davis, who’s father disappeared suddenly.

Aza was just your average girl who seemed for the most part just living her life. She went to school. She had a pretty solid family life despite her father’s death. However, what you find out and realize is that her mind is a swirling jungle of thoughts and worse case scenarios and worries that she didn’t need to worry about.

I thought this book was going to be about a group of kids who were looking for a missing billionaire. You’d believe that too if you read the inside cover. I thought this would be The Goonies of the 21st century with a little twist, that the main character would have OCD. I thought this would be some manic version of Sherlock Holmes.

It most definitely wasn’t.

While you’re led to believe this is some rag tag team of teenagers looking for their friend’s dad, TURTLES ALL THE WAY DOWN is not about that. The story is truly about Aza. The use of the first person point of view in this context lends a hand to shape the story. You read what Aza thinks about in her head. You see her running through her thoughts. You find her battling herself and reminding herself that it’s not real. Her thoughts aren’t real and that her OCD is battling out against her.

I guess the idea of having a story about a billionaire gone missing also lends itself to the power of OCD. One minute you’re trying to find a missing person and have a grand adventure with your friends. The next you’re having an all out anxiety attack and spiraling downward toward oblivion.

For Aza, everything is a battle. Trying to maintain her friendships while her brain tells her to go and do something else. Trying to keep her mother from worrying too much as she picks on a scab that’s been trying to heal. Trying to be in love with a boy she’s known for a long part of her life without freaking out about kissing him.

There were so many examples of how debilitating OCD can be. I loved that John Green gave examples of how the thoughts can be so evasive that you forget you’re in the middle of a conversation with someone. You spend a lot of time pushing to be present and speaking directly with the person in front of you.

It did feel like the whole looking for a billionaire part was an afterthought that was wrapped up in the last ten pages of the book. I wish there was a little bit more there and spread more evenly throughout the book.

While it would have been really cute to see the four kids running around trying to find a missing billionaire and get some answers to the choices he made, I get that this book is to be more about exposure and understanding when it comes to OCD.

For those who do have OCD, you’ve found a friend in a book that knows exactly what you’re going through. Although, I would be careful because there are some triggering thoughts. I needed to step away for an evening even with only a few pages left. The thoughts it triggered in my head were too overpowering for me at times.

And for those who don’t have OCD, you get some idea of how our brains work daily but I would keep in mind that everyone struggles from any mental health issue in different ways. I feel I have a firmer grip on the thoughts my brain tells me, so I’m able to snap back to reality much quicker than Aza. I know that my condition could be so much worse, so I’m grateful that it’s manageable.

I would strongly recommend approaching this with an open mind. This book is good, but I can imagine someone who doesn’t have OCD getting really annoyed by the characters and their mindset. It’s really hard not to want to shake Aza and say “snap out of it,” but this is how it is. You’re doing whatever life thing that you’re normally doing and then, something triggers you and you’re spiraling down.
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz

October 11, 2017

Oh brother, this one is a doozy. I’ve read countless reviews from other people who read this book and all I saw was that they cried at the end. So many raves and happy thoughts. about this book and it’s so awesome to see everyone feel so good about it. So many awards that they don’t even fit on the cover. The title is so freaking long and completely unassuming that you actually think this book is about two philosophers from different periods of time that get together and actually discover the secrets of the universe.

But let me tell you how I felt.

It

was

AWESOME.

Reading this book was like reading about royalty. You’ve heard so many good things about it that you can’t help but to want to read it and this book really doesn’t disappoint.

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe is a story about friendship. Aristotle is a 15-year-old kid with no friends. It wasn’t until he decides to take swimming lessons that he meets Dante, another boy with no friends. You know what happens when two people who have no friends. They become friends.

Aristotle is a little bit of a loner with a snarky bite and some experiences in his life that he can’t seem to shake. Dante is more care free and what I like to call a “butterfly chaser” which I use to describe bohemian and free spirited and not weighed down by society. They’re the likely opposites of each other, but as the saying goes opposites attract.

I don’t think I recall making a best friend the way Aristotle and Dante befriended each other. I’ve been the loner type and maybe a little more on the Aristotle side than the Dante side. I’ve always wanted a best friend and I found one in my partner. I guess that it’s commonplace to find a comfort in a friend that not only wants to be your friend, but loves you on a completely other level.

I honestly thought this would be one of those books where Aristotle and Dante fall in love in the beginning of the novel and you struggle to see them come to terms with their sexuality and with the people around them. But no, it’s not.

It’s a book about friendship and the kind of friendship that leaves a lasting impression on you. It’s about what you do for someone you love, be it a painful experience or a fun one. You’re with someone that makes you happy. For Aristotle and Dante, there’s just the added bonus of loving each other.

Aristotle and Dante both undergo a series of events that help shape their friendship and what they mean to each other. Dante is artistic and poetic while Aristotle is cynical and pessimistic. Their clashing personalities really bring a sense that while they may not see eye to eye on everything, human beings are able to transition to a place where you’re not finding a friend, but you’re finding a life partner. It doesn’t have to be overly romantic and life isn’t that way anyway, but regardless of romance it was still beautiful to behold.

I clutched this book close to my chest after I was finished reading. I couldn’t believe that this book was created and I couldn’t believe it took me so long to experience it.

You can find a copy of Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe on Amazon.
Best Day Ever by Kaira Rouda

October 9, 2017

I’m not usually into Thriller, but I’ve been trying to read two books at once and I heard that mixing up the genres between the two helps with that. So I decided I would read Best Day Ever by Kaira Rouda to keep the genres different and interesting.

I knew that this book would be a psychological thriller, but I didn’t think it would be something like this. Basically, the story follows a couple on their way to have a great weekend together. They’re about to embark on their trip away from the kids in a cabin alone. While it sounds like fun, what you get nervous about is the perspective that you’re reading this from.

The main character, Paul, just happens to be a crazy person. The book is set in his point of view so you’re reading his thoughts and actions and observations. What you slowly start to realize is that Paul is a misogynist, a sociopath, a criminal, and a scary freaking guy.

I really wanted to hate this book because I hate male characters that are written as jerks/assholes/misogynists/etc. There’s some real-life people like this and it freaks me out to read. I would rather read about men who are good to women and responsive and loyal. However, I think it’s a sign of a well-written novel if you hate the protagonist as much as you’re supposed to.

As the story progresses, you see how “crazy” Paul really is. The plan he had created, the trap he set, and the entire time you’re reading this, you’re on the edge of your seat hoping to God he doesn’t take out the knife and start chasing people around. I don’t think I would be able to handle it if he was a murderer on a spree and we had to read everything about it.

So in terms of psychological thriller, this book definitely played with my head a little bit. I’m really surprised that it did that. Maybe it’s because I’m new to the whole genre, but I kind of liked it. While I don’t want to read any more Patrick Bates-type characters, I will give this one the benefit of the doubt.

However, points off for the ending. I really don’t think the epilogue explaining everything from the wife’s perspective was really necessary here. If anything, it should have just been a quick wind up of what happened after that final day and what happened to Paul.

I received this copy of Best Day Ever in exchange for an honest review. I wasn’t paid for this review and the opinions here are my own. You can purchase a copy of Best Day Ever: A Psychological Thriller on Amazon.
I’m on Booktube now!

October 8, 2017

Hey everyone!

This is more of a PSA than it is a post about anything. I’m here to tell you that I’m now on Youtube/Booktube!

That’s right, you get to hear me rant and rave about authors and books IRL or as IRL as I can be without being in front of you. I don’t know, I was thinking about some of the stuff I talk about here and how it impassions me. I found myself talking to myself a lot these days and I wanted to share those thoughts in front of a camera.

My first video isn’t much more than an introduction of who I am. I plan on posting a new video every week, but that cadence may change depending on how much I can get done. Remember, I work a full time job all day long so all of this is happening on the weekends and at night.

I hope you enjoy this first video and I’ll probably have another video up in a few days. Let me know what you like and what you’d like to see. I’m taking questions, comments, suggestions, and anything to make this a fun and creative place to share reads without any judgment.

I hope you enjoy!
Little Fires Everywhere to Celeste Ng

October 4, 2017

I know this review is a long time coming. I’ve been mulling over this book for the past couple of weeks. I don’t know how to describe my feelings for this book, but I know they are good. I just don’t know how to explain it the best way possible. I’m going to at least try.

I don’t know where to start with this book. There were stories within stories and some of them I wanted to know more about and there were others that I could have done without. There were stories that randomly popped up and ones you followed throughout the book.

Have you ever been the new person in town? I’ve never been new and when I’m new, I’m already assimilated to the town the best that I can. However, some towns are just too small and too friendly that if you’re slightly different you may be facing some serious backlash.

In Little Fires Everywhere, you follow Mia and Pearl as they arrive in Shaker Heights, Ohio. It’s considered one of the most idyllic towns in the suburbs of Ohio and we all know that with idyllic towns there’s always something hiding under the surface.

This was my official first book by Celeste Ng. I’ve tried reading books by her in the past, but I had some trouble with them. Mostly because of the I’m really bad when it comes to death and dying and her first book was all about that.

Little Fires Everywhere feels like a combination of stories. It’s almost like watching a play where all the characters are important and all of them have a background that needs to be discussed and discovered to help with outlining the bigger theme of the book; the sacrifices mothers go through.

I’m not sure if it was Celeste Ng’s intention to make a book about being a mother, but it happens to be that way. And for some reason I’ve been reading a lot of books about mothers and what they do for their children. Perhaps it’s a sign that I should call mine?

But the story is a culmination of different stories. Themes covered from sex as a teenager, pregnancy, abortion, adoption, surrogacy, sacrifice, suffering, struggle, all the words that start with the letter S. Honestly, I thought the book could be longer since there was so much covered.

So Mia and Pearl arrive in this town and you’re curious as to where they came from. What made them move here? Why did they decide on Shaker Heights? All these questions kind of rise up while you read the book. The further you read, the more you find out.

However, I think the most important part of the book and probably the catalyst for everyone’s secrets revealed is when a young couple tries to adopt an abandoned Asian baby. Without giving too much away, the birth mother realizes too late that she didn’t want to give the baby away and the couple who wanted to adopt her was already in love with the baby. You can imagine the tension between the two families and what will happen next.

What’s interesting is that Celeste Ng takes on every major character in this book and starts to unpack their lives. It’s expertly laid out throughout the novel so that with every chapter that goes by, you learn a little bit more. Perhaps it’s more like watching a serial TV show than a play where each episode shares with you more about the people involved.

But the amazing part is how everything is sort of attached to the lives they chose, the decisions they made, and the actions that took their lives and changed who they are and why they did what they did.

It’s really hard to talk about this book without giving it away. I will say that if you’re a mom and you know the struggles and sacrifices you’ve made for yourself and for your children, then this will be a good book for you. And if you’re a person without kids, you might wonder what your mom went through in order to let you grow up in a good and loving home.

I received this copy of the book at BookCon. You can find Little Fires Everywhere on Amazon.