Two things to know before I start my review. One, I received this novel free in an exchange for an honest review. Two, the version of the novel I received is an audio version.
I absolutely loved this book. I found myself laughing aloud so much so that I even embarrassed myself and a Wal-Mart employee while grocery shopping today. Just as I got to a particularly hilarious part, I burst out laughing in the middle of Wal-Mart. Unfortunately, my laughed was timed perfectly with a Wal-Mart employee picking up a box of candy bars in which the bottom burst open, spilling the bars all over the floor. The poor guy thought I was laughing at him. I'm not one of those people, I promise. :)
In Savvy Stories, Dan tells stories about life as a middle-aged man raising his first child, and a girl no less. We go through the parent's struggle in conceiving, carrying, and having a child, then follow the father through all the ups and downs of raising said child.
The stories are funny, informational, heart-wrenching, and relatable, even for someone like me who doesn't have any children. My husband and I are nearing forty...wow, that was hard to write. Anyway, we don't plan to have children, but if we did, I could see this as our life. The uniqueness of this story is that this couple isn't in their twenties. They are raising their first child in a point in their life when most of their siblings and friends are preparing for grandchildren.
So why the four stars and not five. Well, and I don't know if this was the narrator or the author, but there were a few times where words were pronounced correctly or were flipped while reading. I felt that certain things and information were repetitious like photos from his past. I think a few times he tells us that his mother a photobug. Some of this repetitions probably has to do to the fact that, I'm sure, this was a diary he kept and due to the fact that, like me, Dan can get a bit long winded. (We can't help it, we are story tellers. We love to talk.) I also got a little lost in the timeline. For example, in the beginning of the novel he tells the story of going to Publix with a daughter old enough to throw a fit right after telling the story of going to Home Depot with what seems like an infant daughter. This would confuse me for a bit. Lastly, some of the shorter pieces felt like filler. They were quick with no real depth to them. Now theses last two might have a different effect on me if I were reading the story and not listing to it.
I will definitely be adding more Savvy Stories to my to-read list and recommending this novel to my friends with young children or friends thinking of having children, although considering my oldest nephew is eighteen, most of my friends have preteen and teenage children. I don't think I'll be seeing very many babies in my future until the nieces and nephews have them. Although, as Dan and his wife have shown, I shouldn't rule anything out. :)
14 is an awesome book. I didn't see this coming. Great character and story development.
In 14 a group of tenants investigate the odd apartment building in which they live. They will never guess what is behind padlock doors, doors that don't lead anywhere, and the dead man in the wall.
I'm not going to say anything else because this is one of those novels you have to read for yourself. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15062217-14
Random Lucidity was a wonderfully emotional read, with a twist that I didn't see coming, making the this the second novel I finished this week that took me by surprise. As a writer that is saying something, because I can usually figure out where a story is going.
This novel is about a man who suddenly decides to changes careers. He doesn't necessarily switch to the one he wants, as he doesn't feel confident enough to do it, but he puts himself into the field and on the path toward his dream. In doing so, his life takes some drastic twists and turns.
I related to Reggie is so many ways. He and I think a like, worry and obsess over things the same way, and our luck runs the same; we eventually get want we desire, but we suffer a great deal along the way. Whereas, I'm disappointed by certain aspects of the story, and at times felt the novel had too much real life and not enough fantasy, that is life. Things don't always work out the way we plan, and even though I didn't like those parts and felt they slowed the story a tiny bit, end the end, I was relieved to read a novel that doesn't give its characters a perfect, easy life, not even at the end.
I will say this, as much as I loved this story, I really want to read "Johnson Rambling: A Novel". Those sections of the novel were intense, shocking, and had me in a vice grip, but I'm slightly demented.
This is definitely a must read for aspiring authors, or well anyone at a crossroads in their life. Dave shows that even thought taking that leap of faith can be scary, it makes many things in your life uncertain, and you may lose people along the way, you also gain people, eventually find your footing, and move toward a happier future.
I'm not enjoying Dark Skye as much as i thought I would. The sex scenes are great, Nix is her amazing self, but the angst between the two MCs is tiring, although, I think this has to do more with my temperament a the moment than Kresley Cole's story telling.
I started No Rest today. I'm enjoying it a little more than I did Dark Skye. I did end up enjoying the ending for Dark Skye. Don't think I've read enough of this series to keep track of the mythology.