The Unwritten Rules of Magic
⭐⭐- Not My Thing
Kindle & Audible: US or CA
Morning Readers & Happy Saturday,
As this blog and my content evolves I’ve come across various discussion points that offer new perspectives and opinion within the book world. One that seems to be prevalent this week is ‘author bashing’ and it made be consider the value that I want to create with my content, and how I want it to represent my morals and beliefs.
Long story short, I came to this conclusion:
I want to write honest and transparent reviews that reflect my authentic take on the books I read. I want to help others, with similar reading styles and tastes, to find books and stories that resonate with them. This simply cannot be done by ‘liking’ everything. However, I admire each and every author who pours their heart and soul into their work to create connection within their readers, even if it doesn’t always hit the mark.
While yes, I may find that some material that is just truly and utterly terrible, as I would with a sister or friend, I will tell you when I think it’s horse shit, hand you back the pen and tell you to begin again. I will always encourage grace and faith in growth and betterment.
So in balance of an authentic review and needlessly ripping down an individual book, I’ve decided to do an monthly wrap-up of the books that just didn’t resonate with me.
The Unwritten Rules of Magic by Harper Ross
⭐⭐- Not My Thing
Emerson Clarke, a single mother struggling to balance responsibility and personal passion, discovers that her late father’s old type writer can make her written wishes come true. However, it comes at a price with unintended consequences and she must choose between rewriting reality and embracing her life as it is.
I really wanted to like this one, as I’m a huge fan of older, more relatable main female characters, and I feel like there are too few of these out there. This book fell a little flat for me though, and while it was a cute, easy read, it was just missing that tension of real life, magic and connection I tend to look for. This was by no means a terrible read, and if you’re more into gentler, feel-good reads it might be more up your ally.
The Path Made Clear by Oprah Winfrey
⭐⭐- Not My Thing
Oprah Winfrey shares reflections and wisdom on finding purpose and living with intention. Through personal stories and insights from thought leaders like Brené Brown, Eckhart Tolle, and Deepak Chopra, she guides readers toward recognizing their calling and aligning their lives with it.
While I appreciate that this book was meant to serve as inspiration for readers to embrace their authenticity, and trust the journey toward a more meaningful life I just found the endless stream of new voices and messages confusing. There was no clear path or structure to the messages she was trying to present and I ultimately didn’t feel like I was walking away with connection or inspiration.
How do you feel about this balance of Honest Reviews & Author ‘Bashing’? How do we walk that line?
-Anna R.
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The Weekend Readers 
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