I love to read. To me, there are few things better than getting lost in a good book. I can still remember the first two books that I got lost in: Time Enough for Drums by Ann Rinaldi and Wild Magic by Tamora Pierce. I was twelve and going through a tough time with friends at school and those two books offered me solace like none other. For that, I will always be thankful.

My love and appetite for reading has since grown, and in 2018 I set out with the goal of reading 24 books throughout the year. I read 25. After sharing the list of books that I read as a part of that challenge on Instagram, I have heard from many of you that you’ve been encouraged to pick up some of those titles. That has made me so happy.

Because it makes me so happy to share good reads with friends and family, I thought I'd do a monthly review on the books that I've read here. My hope is to spread my love of reading and therefore help foster your love of reading.

So here we are: I set out with the same goal of reading 24 books in 2019 and ended up reading 3 in March: Daisy Jones and The Six, The Book of Life, and Where the Crawdads Sing. Here are my thoughts on each.

1. Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins-Reid was a fun, fast-paced read—I finished it in three days. The book is written as a series of interviews with members of the fictional 1970s rock band Daisy Jones & The Six. It’s full of everything you’d hope for in a rock & roll read: music, sex, drugs, and the clashing personalities of bandmates rising to fame. I thought that the author did a good job of depicting both the glory and pain affiliated with the fast-paced, drug-fueled rock & roll lifestyle, touching on addiction, heartbreak, and the art behind making music. There’s also a cast of powerful and different women in this book, which made the feminist inside of me happy. God, I hope they make this into a movie. It would be so good.
   

2. The Book of Life by Deborah Harkness is the final installment of the All Souls Trilogy (A Discovery of Witches and Shadow of Night are the first two). Its genre (fantasy, paranormal) was a departure from what I normally read and I really enjoyed it! I got hooked on the series after watching the TV adaptation of the first book, A Discovery of Witches. The books are about a witch coming into her power, her relationship with a 1,500-year-old vampire, and their quests to live and thrive in both the paranormal and human worlds. I will admit that I found the writing to be just okay, but I still loved the stories and characters behind it. Ask Garrett - I was obsessed with these books for weeks.
   

3. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens is one of the most beautiful, heart-wrenching novels that I’ve ever read. The author painted a beautiful portrait of humanity in her characters, and you really feel for protagonist Kya, the abandoned child turned outcast and then naturalist in the salt marshes of North Carolina. Where the Crawdads Sing is a coming of age story written in such lovely prose that you, too, undergo the struggle of transformation with Kya. You can’t help but join her in the depths of her loneliness and the comfort she finds in the nature of the salt marsh. I cried a little bit (okay, I might have sobbed, but I’m really sensitive, okay?) when I finished it. This is my favorite book of the year so far.

Have you read any of these? If you have, what did you think? What are you reading right now? I’d love to know! Happy reading!