Killer Choice

By: Tom Hunt
Published Year: 2018
Publisher: Berkley Books
Pages: 352

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I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This in no way shape or form influenced my opinion.

Summary (Provided by Goodreads): His wife is sick.
He needs $200,000 to save her.
A mysterious man offers to give him the money with just one catch: He has to murder someone to get it.

Gary Foster’s life is finally heading in the right direction. After years of trying, his wife, Beth, is pregnant, and he recently opened a business with his brother. But one phone call changes everything.... 

After collapsing suddenly, Beth has been rushed to the hospital. Tests reveal a devastating diagnosis: an inoperable brain tumor. Their only hope is an expensive experimental treatment available abroad, with a cost that’s out of their reach. And Beth’s time is running out.... 

Then a strange man approaches Gary and offers the money he needs, on one condition: that he kill someone, no questions asked. End one life to save another.

In this nail-biting debut novel of domestic suspense, one man makes a choice that forces him to confront the darkest reaches of his soul and betray those closest to him. As he’s swept up in a nightmare of escalating violence, he must question his own morality—and determine just how far he’s willing to go to save the woman he loves.

First Impressions

The cover did not appeal to me at all, and honestly, the summary didn’t either. I almost passed on reviewing this book, but some part of me went “give it a chance. Maybe you’ll be surprised!” Basically, the first impression on this book was not good.

What I thought

Full disclosure, I got through about 65% of this book, felt I couldn’t continue, and skipped to the final 10%. Also, as a warning there will be spoilers ahead so that I can talk honestly about what I disliked.

Gary and his wife have been married for almost 20 years. After years of trying, they are finally pregnant. But their lives are changed when she is diagnosed with a brain tumor. When traditional treatment doesn’t work, they apply to an experimental trial and find out that it will cost them $200,000 to take part. One day, a stranger calls and offers Gary the $200,000 with one catch. He must kill someone else.

Initially, my reaction was ugh, no. But then I thought about it and I thought that the psychological part of it could be really interesting. Then the book started and it alternated between Gary’s perspective and a drug dealing ex-con, Otto. Turns out that HE is the one who wants Gary to commit murder. He wants him to (spoiler) murder a bad cop. But! And this is the big but, it’s not for any righteous reason. It’s because he has gotten himself into a situation where he owes too many people money. He only has enough money to pay one of the people, and if he doesn’t pay both his life is in danger. So he decides to take advantage of an extremely emotionally vulnerable man, by offering him $200,000 to get him out of a situation he got himself into.

Surprise surprise, when Gary does murder the bad cop, Otto doesn’t give him the money. Now, I don’t mind psychological thrillers, but the level of a drug dealer who was dealing with his own issues is not my thing. I actually almost put the book down at 17% because I knew it wouldn’t be my thing. I think part of the hard part of reading about this was that you do get so much from Otto’s perspective and you get to see how terrible of a person he is.

I just honestly couldn’t deal with a lot of it. I could tell it was starting to get too violent and too convoluted for me.

The saving grace of this novel, and the reason I even made it to 65%, was the writing. It was easy to read and I honestly had no issues with the writing. I would easily pick up another book by Hunt if the synopsis piqued my interest. It was honestly just the story that I couldn’t handle. It was not my thing at all.

Obviously the writing got me a little bit, because even though I didn’t want to read the rest of the book, I wanted to see how it ended. The good (and maybe bad?) thing was that when I read the ending I was left with a feeling of “I definitely made the right decision.”

While this book was not my thing at all, the writing was decent. I’m glad that I gave it a chance, even if I couldn’t finish it. This might be the first review book that I haven’t finished, but it just was not my thing. I think that if this review sounds interesting to you then you will enjoy the book. However, it is not one that I would recommend.

The Hating Game

By: Sally Thorne
Published Year: 2016
Pages: 387
Publisher: William Morrow

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Summary (Provided by Goodreads): 

Nemesis (n.) 
1) An opponent or rival whom a person cannot best or overcome;
2) A person’s undoing;
3) Joshua Templeman.

Lucy Hutton and Joshua Templeman hate each other. Not dislike. Not begrudgingly tolerate. Hate. And they have no problem displaying their feelings through a series of ritualistic passive aggressive maneuvers as they sit across from each other, executive assistants to co-CEOs of a publishing company. Lucy can’t understand Joshua’s joyless, uptight, meticulous approach to his job. Joshua is clearly baffled by Lucy’s overly bright clothes, quirkiness, and Pollyanna attitude.

Now up for the same promotion, their battle of wills has come to a head and Lucy refuses to back down when their latest game could cost her her dream job…But the tension between Lucy and Joshua has also reached its boiling point, and Lucy is discovering that maybe she doesn’t hate Joshua. And maybe, he doesn’t hate her either. Or maybe this is just another game.

First Impressions

I love this cover! I think I added it to my TBR without reading the summary. Then this past summer it started popping up all over the place on everyone’s reading lists. So many people were raving about it that it bumped it a little higher on my TBR list. Plus I’m a sucker for relationships that start as hatred and turn into love.

What I thought

This book was really cute!

Lucy has been working with Josh for a while now. They are assistants to co-CEOs and work across from each other. And according to Lucy, they’re mortal enemies. They don’t talk to each other than to insult one another and they constantly play games to one up the other. When a new promotion is offered that only one of the will receive, their relationship starts to change.

This book was a bit more like a romance novel than I initially expected. I’m totally ok with that, but I thought it was going to have a contemporary feel to it and it was a bit racier than that.

In all honesty, I didn’t like Lucy much, loved Josh, but felt like he definitely does not exist in the real world. Lucy was annoying and I felt like so many of her behaviors were childish and unacceptable. From the beginning I could understand why this guy would hate her. She reads into everything and is wrong pretty much 100% of the time. Over the course of the book, she grew on me, but I was a little worried at the beginning that I wouldn’t be able to continue because of how much I disliked her character. In fact, she grew on me so much that a few days after finishing the book, I realized that I missed her and Joshua and their relationship.

The relationship between Joshua and Lucy was fun. I really enjoyed their banter. They had some funny moments that I appreciated. I also really appreciated that their relationship didn’t fall into some cliché romance novel tropes. For example, Lucy dates a guy named Danny at the beginning of the book (meaning like, goes on a date or two), and I got nervous that he was going to somehow come back and ruin the relationship but he didn’t. It was such a relief to read a romance book in which the conflict was just the characters and not additional outside forces that are ridiculous. There are enough issues that one can come up with without including unnecessary outside influences.

While I don’t think I am in love with this book as a lot of the book community seems to be, it was a very enjoyable fluff novel. I am definitely looking forward to more of Thorne’s books. She is similar in style to Susan Elizabeth Phillips who is my favorite romance novelist. I like that there is more to the story than just the sex scenes. There were some character issues that I had, but luckily it did get better as the book went on. If you like hate to love romances you will enjoy this book. I would also recommend it to people who need a light, fluffy, fun, and humorous book.

The Season

By: Jonah Lisa Dyer & Stephen Dyer
Published Year: 2017
Publisher: Viking Children's
Pages: 346

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Summary (Provided by Goodreads): Megan McKnight is a soccer star with Olympic dreams, but she’s not a girly girl. So when her Southern belle mother secretly enters her in the 2016 Dallas debutante season, she’s furious—and has no idea what she’s in for. When Megan’s attitude gets her on probation with the mother hen of the debs, she’s got a month to prove she can ballroom dance, display impeccable manners, and curtsey like a proper Texas lady or she’ll get the boot and disgrace her family. The perk of being a debutante, of course, is going to parties, and it’s at one of these lavish affairs where Megan gets swept off her feet by the debonair and down-to-earth Hank Waterhouse. If only she didn’t have to contend with a backstabbing blonde and her handsome but surly billionaire boyfriend, Megan thinks, being a deb might not be so bad after all. But that’s before she humiliates herself in front of a room full of ten-year-olds, becomes embroiled in a media-frenzy scandal, and gets punched in the face by another girl.

The season has officially begun…but the drama is just getting started

First Impressions

I think this book first caught my eye as a part of the Debut Author Challenge. Admittedly, I’m a sucker for books that involve soccer. Plus the addition of a debutante ball definitely caught my eye. The cover made a good first impression and definitely made me want to pick it up so it did its job.

What I thought

Megan and her twin sister Julia are signed up for the debutant ball by their mom. While Julia is excited and ready to go, Megan is less than looking forward to it. She is a college soccer player whose last thing on her mind is dressing up and acting like a lady. But when she finds out that their parents are struggling to keep the ranch, she agrees to participate in the ball per her father’s request.

I really enjoyed the beginning of the story. I liked getting to know Megan and Julia. Megan is a bit feisty but she is passionate about soccer. It was fun to see the contrast between her and her sister as well as the difficulty she has with the first debutant tea.

That’s about where I started to have some issues with the book. I’ve read a lot of romance novels and watched a lot of Hallmark movies, so maybe that’s why I had issues with this book, but it was frustratingly predictable. Right before the first tea, Megan meets a cute stranger. However, that stranger already has a girlfriend. She then meets a different guy at a different ball who she immediately falls for. But stranger number 1, doesn’t like Megan’s new guy because there’s a “history”. Now, I really hoped that Megan’s new guy, Hank, wouldn’t turn out to be evil, but (semi-spoiler) he does.

Also over time, I started to dislike Megan. She was quick to anger and definitely irrational. The development just wasn’t there for me. For example, she didn’t trust Andrew (stranger 1) at all for no reason other than he was rich. She also didn’t like one of the other debutantes for completely superficial reasons, and then changed her mind based on the party she threw. Megan turns our to be pretty shallow and self-centered and hard to like and root for.

There’s another storyline with Julia and her ex-boyfriend that I felt was seriously underdeveloped. It brought about an interesting plot point later in the book, but it was out of nowhere. I felt like some of the lack of development almost cheapened the seriousness of the issue.

There were a lot of bright spots in this story that I did enjoy. I liked the debutant moments and parts of watching Megan grow. But overall, I think the writing was lacking. The characters were underdeveloped and the whole story was predictable.  I do think that if Hallmark made teen movies this would be one they’d pick up. It could make a cute movie with a bit of fixing up. It’s a cute book and I would never not recommend it, it just has some tweaks that need to be worked out.

By Your Side

By: Kasie West
Published Year: 2017
Publisher: HarperTeen
Pages: 346

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Summary (Provided by Goodreads): When Autumn Collins finds herself accidentally locked in the library for an entire weekend, she doesn’t think things could get any worse. But that’s before she realizes that Dax Miller is locked in with her. Autumn doesn’t know much about Dax except that he’s trouble. Between the rumors about the fight he was in (and that brief stint in juvie that followed it) and his reputation as a loner, he’s not exactly the ideal person to be stuck with. Still, she just keeps reminding herself that it is only a matter of time before Jeff, her almost-boyfriend, realizes he left her in the library and comes to rescue her.

Only he doesn’t come. No one does.

Instead it becomes clear that Autumn is going to have to spend the next couple of days living off vending-machine food and making conversation with a boy who clearly wants nothing to do with her. Except there is more to Dax than meets the eye. As he and Autumn first grudgingly, and then not so grudgingly, open up to each other, Autumn is struck by their surprising connection. But can their feelings for each other survive once the weekend is over and Autumn’s old life, and old love interest, threaten to pull her from Dax’s side?

First Impressions

Something about the font of West’s books really catches my eye. The summary about two people being caught in a library for a weekend just made me more interested in this particular story! Definitely a 10/10 on first impressions.

What I thought

Not what I expected, but still enjoyable. I finished it in a little over a day, so I think that speaks for itself.

After a late night at the library with her friends working on homework, Autumn runs back inside to use the bathroom before heading to her friend’s cabin for the weekend. While she’s in the bathroom, the lights shut off and the library is shut down. All doors are locked, her overnight back with her cellphone is in the backseat of her friend’s car, and everyone seems to think that she was in a different car so they don’t realize that she’s not with them. Luckily, she’s not alone. Bad boy Dax is trapped in the library with her.

I absolutely loved the portion of the story that dealt with them in the library for the weekend. It was fun to see how two strangers deal with having little to no resources at their disposal and how they’re going to entertain themselves. I also liked the difficulty of their relationship and that Dax wasn’t easily won over. Interestingly, Autumn also has an anxiety disorder and she is without her medication for the weekend (its’s MLK weekend so the library is closed Saturday-Monday).

It was a bit difficult to accept that her friends and family just haven’t come to look for her over the course of a few days, but if you just ignore the improbability of it, there is a plausible explanation in store. I won’t tell you what it is so that you can be as surprised as I was, but it’s definitely an unexpected twist!

There is also a bit of a love triangle aspect to this story. Autumn has a crush on her friend Jeff and they’ve been flirting for months. Before she got locked in the library, she thought that that weekend was going to be the one where they finally got together. Of course, things change after being locked in the library with Dax.

Every character is enjoyable in this story. I wish some of the friendships could’ve been more fleshed out, but the important ones were detailed enough to connect with. This book also dealt with a lot of issues and I think it could connect with a lot of people. Not only does it discuss Autumn’s anxieties, but Dax is a foster child with a troubled past. A few of the other issues are ones that I don’t want to give away!

While this may not be a groundbreaking story, it is enjoyable and well written. Autumn, Dax, Jeff, and even Autumn’s brother were a delight to read. It was easy to get through and I wanted to know what happened to each and every character. I also appreciated that while there were moment that could’ve gotten very melodramatic, they stayed within a relatively realistic realm of drama.

By the Book

By: Julia Sonneborn
Published Year: 2018
Publisher: Gallery Books
Pages: 384

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I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This in no way shape or form influenced my opinion.

Summary (Provided by Goodreads): An English professor struggling for tenure discovers that her ex-fiancé has just become the president of her college—and her new boss—in this whip-smart modern retelling of Jane Austen’s classic Persuasion.

Anne Corey is about to get schooled.

An English professor in California, she’s determined to score a position on the coveted tenure track at her college. All she’s got to do is get a book deal, snag a promotion, and boom! She’s in. But then Adam Martinez—her first love and ex-fiancé—shows up as the college’s new president.

Anne should be able to keep herself distracted. After all, she’s got a book to write, an aging father to take care of, and a new romance developing with the college’s insanely hot writer-in-residence. But no matter where she turns, there’s Adam, as smart and sexy as ever. As the school year advances and her long-buried feelings begin to resurface, Anne begins to wonder whether she just might get a second chance at love.

Funny, smart, and full of heart, this modern ode to Jane Austen’s classic explores what happens when we run into the demons of our past...and when they turn out not to be so bad, after all.

First Impressions

I am a sucker for red doors! The cover calls my name. And honestly, having the word “book” in a title will catch my eye too. I also loved seeing that it was a Jane Austen retelling, even though I have never read Persuasion. This book made such a great first impression that I included it on my list of books I was most looking forward to in 2018!

What I thought

Anne is a 32 year old college English professor working towards qualifying for tenure by getting her first book published. When Fairfax gets a new President, it ends up being Anne’s ex-fiance, Adam Martinez. She hasn’t seen/talked to him in 13 years. At the same time, famous author Richard (something) has received a temporary job at Fairfax and has caught the attention of Anne.

I’m a little stuck on how to review this book. Let’s start with what I liked. I liked Anne and how she was working towards getting her first book published. She is a solid character even though she has her own insecurities. Her father has never supported her being an English professor and her sister has always looked down on her choices as well. However, this never changed her mind and she is a great teacher who loves her job. She is a bit insecure in her writing and is nervous about getting her book published, but it’s written in such a normal way that it’s not annoying at all. I can’t imagine sending off something that I worked hours on and put my whole heart into day after day and continuing to receive rejections. I think she handles it really well.

I also liked her relationship with Larry. I loved every scene that they were in together. I liked that they supported each other in their professions as well as their love lives, but that they were still honest with each other.

Now to what I didn’t like. Richard was so obviously not going to turn out to be a good guy. I don’t know if this is partially because of the Austen aspect of the story, but from the beginning I just knew that Anne was going to end up with him, he was going to turn out not to be who he says he is in some way, and she would get her heart broken. It was a bit annoying to read their scenes together as a result, since you knew they weren’t going to end up together.

I also didn’t like how little Adam and Anne interacted. I get that they were in love in college, to the point that they were engaged, but it’s been 13 years and they have interacted maybe 3 times before (spoiler alert) ending up back together. It was so unsatisfying! There was no build up, no reintroduction. Just, now Anne is with Rick, now she’s with Adam. Again, I get that this may stay true to Austen’s Persuasion, but as a retelling I would’ve appreciated a little more liberty being taken with this love story.

This is an easy and enjoyable book to read. I finished it in a day. I liked Sonneborn’s writing and will gladly keep an eye out for more books by her in the future. I wouldn’t read it again which is why it’s more of a 3 than 4 star book for me. The ending just left me unsatisfied and that’s my biggest issue with it. If you like Persuasion or Jane Austen retellings, I’d recommend checking this book out!

2018 Uppercase Reading Challenge

In the past, I have taken part of the Debut Author Challenge. I do love that challenge, but I’ve found that it is often difficult for me to keep up with. I’m not crazy about buying books that I haven’t read previously and often the library doesn’t have a lot of the debut books I want to read, so that has made it harder. If you aren’t aware of that challenge, it involves reading one book a month by a debut author. I’ve found some great books through this challenge, and I think I will try to informally take part. However, after two years in which I only managed about 6 months of this challenge I’m taking a break.

When I was on twitter, the Uppercase Reading Challenge popped up. Uppercase is a subscription book box service. I don’t personally use it, but I do follow their account. I saw their challenge graphic and decided that I’m going to give it a try this year!

I like that there are 10 challenges and they’re not timed. It takes a little bit of the pressure off and in fact, I will have already checked off two of these challenges by the end of January!

I think every 3 months I will do an update on how my challenge progress is going. I’m sure here will be times where I knock off multiple ones in a month, and other times where I won’t even touch one. I also like this this is similar to the PopSugar book challenge but not nearly as overwhelming.

Well… that’s about it! Just wanted to update you guys so, wise me luck!

Book Club January 2018- If Not For You

By: Debbie Macomber
Published Year: 2017
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Pages: 368

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Summary (Provided by Goodreads): If not for her loving but controlling parents, Beth Prudhomme might never have taken charge of her life and moved from her native Chicago to Portland, Oregon, where she s reconnected with her spirited Aunt Sunshine and found a job as a high school music teacher. If not for her friend Nichole, Beth would never have met Sam Carney, although first impressions have left Beth with serious doubts. Sam is everything Beth is not and her parents worst nightmare: a tattooed auto mechanic who s rough around the edges. Reserved and smart as a whip, Beth isn t exactly Sam s usual beer-drinking, pool-playing type of woman, either. 

But if not for an awkward setup one evening, Beth might never have left early and been involved in a car crash. And if not for Sam who witnessed the terrifying ordeal, rushed to her aid, and stayed with her until help arrived Beth might have been all alone, or worse. Yet as events play out, Sam feels compelled to check on Beth almost daily at the hospital even bringing his guitar to play songs to lift her spirits. Soon their unlikely friendship evolves into an intense attraction that surprises them both. 

Before long, Beth's strong-willed mother, Ellie, blows into town spouting harsh opinions, especially about Sam, and reopening old wounds with Sunshine. When shocking secrets from Sam s past are revealed, Beth struggles to reconcile her feelings. But when Beth goes a step too far, she risks losing the man and the life she s come to love.

What I thought

I now understand why Hallmark makes movies based off of Debbie Macomber’s novels!

This is technically the 3rd book in a series, but it’s your typical romance series in that each book is a standalone, with overlapping characters. The series is the “New Beginning” series, so that’s kind of the overarching theme of the stories, not that it follows the same people from book to book. This book follows Beth and Sam, but has Nichole and Rocco who were characters from book 2. It’s fun in that if you’ve read the previous book, you get a bit of an update on their lives.

Beth is a sheltered rich girl from Chicago who moves to Portland to live her own life and get out from underneath her controlling mother’s thumb. She moves in with her hippie, artsy Aunt Sunshine and starts a job as a teacher. Sam is a rough around the edges, tatted up mechanic who is stuck in his own ways and doesn’t do relationships. However, after a disaster of a blind set up by Nichole, Beth gets into a major car accident on the way home that Sam witnesses. He runs to her side and everything changes.

I really liked that the change in their relationship wasn’t super drawn out. Sam realized pretty quickly that he was wrong about Beth and starts to like her. I also liked that they didn’t assume they were going to continue living in a perfect relationship bubble once Beth was out of rehab. They were a very cute couple and it was fun to see them grow.

Of course, Sam has a dark past that gets in the way and causes some riffs in their relationship. I didn’t mind it when it caused him to hold back, but when it became a bigger issue later in the book, then I got a bit annoyed. There was a great moment where Sam was talking to Rocco about breaking up with Beth because he felt things were getting to serious (aka he was scared of falling in love) and felt like she wasn’t ready (aka he wasn’t ready) and she needed to date other people. Rocco tells Sam he’s going to regret that decision and it was great. Also, Beth responds perfectly. They’re at dinner when he suggests she dates other people, and instead of crying or yelling, she’s just like “Oh. Ok, well there was this one guy who asked me out the other day and I turned him down, but now I’ll say yes.” I just really appreciated it.

I enjoyed all of the characters, and while they had there flaws, it wasn’t anything that made me dislike them so much that I couldn’t read the story. Beth’s mom was a horrible person, but every story needs a villain.

What Book Club Thought

One member disliked it so much that she only got about 30% of the way through and had to stop. The rest of us flew through it and enjoyed it. Obviously, we had our issues. This book isn’t going to win medals, but it’s enjoyable and a breath of fresh air amongst serious life. I felt it was exactly what it was meant to be and that was good enough for me.

Meghan and I watch a lot of Hallmark movies, so we tried to think of which actors we would want to see if they made this into a Hallmark movie. We couldn’t think of a good male lead, but we liked Brooke D’Orsay or Merritt Patterson for Beth!

The Almost Nearly Perfect People: Behind the Myth of the Scandinavian Utopia

By: Michael Booth
Published Year: 2015
Publisher: Picador
Pages: 388

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Summary (Provided by Goodreads): Journalist Michael Booth has lived among the Scandinavians for more than ten years and has grown increasingly frustrated with the rose-tinted view of this part of the world offered up by the Western media. In this timely book, he leaves his adopted home of Denmark and embarks on a journey through all five of the Nordic countries to discover who these curious tribes are, the secrets of their success, and, most intriguing of all, what they think of one another.

Why are the Danes so happy despite having the highest taxes? Do the Finns really have the best education system? Are the Icelanders as feral as they sometimes appear? How are the Norwegians spending their fantastic oil wealth? And why do all of them hate the Swedes? In The Almost Nearly Perfect People, Booth explains who the Scandinavians are, how they differ and why, and what their quirks and foibles are, and he explores why these societies have become so successful and models for the world. Along the way, a more nuanced, often darker picture emerges of a region plagued by taboos, characterized by suffocating parochialism, and populated by extremists of various shades.

First Impressions

This was a recommendation from one of my coworkers. We were talking about our respective book clubs and she mentioned that this was what he book club had just finished. She started describing it to me and I (literally) immediately went to my library’s website as she stood there to request it. Honestly, just hearing the title would’ve hooked me and I love the cover. So overall, A+ on the first impressions for this book!

What I thought

I absolutely loved this book! I recently became interested in Scandinavia and it has hit me full force. This book satisfied my curiosity and taught me so much! My husband and I went to Copenhagen and Iceland on our honeymoon and that sparked my curiosity about Scandinavia. We both fell in love with Iceland and wanted to do a trip to Norway, Sweden, and Finland this year, but plans for buying a home has delayed our plans for travel. This book was a good way to satisfy some of my Scandinavian travel lust!

Booth is British but lives in Denmark with his Danish wife and children. During their first stint of living in Denmark, he couldn’t understand why it and the other Nordic/Scandinavian countries topped the list of happiest countries in the world. He is very British and I think it’s important to remember this while reading. I think if you forget that, Booth can come off as a bit over critical, but in all honesty I think he’s just British and that’s the way he grew up. Anyway, this curiosity sparked this book in which he traveled to all 5 Nordic countries to unravel the myth of the Scandinavian utopia.

The book begins with Denmark (as that’s where he has lived) and discusses their current way of living as well as touching on their past and culture and how this has shaped them into the country they are today. He also acknowledges (throughout the book actually) how a lot of these cultural habits appear to outsiders/non-Nordic people. For example, Booth talks about his experiences with hygge (which is taking the world by storm) and how the Danish experience it versus how a Brit experiences it.

Following Denmark, Booth briefly touches on Iceland (though since this book was published in 2015 it mostly discusses their 2008 economic downfall), then moves to Norway, Finland, and finally, Sweden. Sweden is the second largest section in this book followed by Norway and then Finland.

Every section of this book held my attention. He mentioned early on that a lot of people look to Scandinavia with starry eyes but then when asked about the, they don’t truly know anything. Admittedly, I am one of those people (to an extent). Learning about the brief histories and cultures of each country has only served to increase my curiosity and fascination with these countries. My husband and I have mentioned multiple times that we would gladly move to Iceland, and this book did nothing to change my mind (before you think we’re crazy, we live in Chicago which is currently a wind-chill of -24 F whereas Reykjavik is a balmy 25 F. Yes… the arctic circle is 50 degrees warmer than Chicago). After reading this book, I’d rank the Scandinavian countries I’d move to as Iceland, Norway, Finland, Denmark, and then Sweden. Though depending on the day I might flip flop Denmark and Sweden.

If you’re looking for a book about the myths and legends of Scandinavia, this is not it. This talks a lot about the recent history and the present lifestyles of the Scandinavians. It is not all positives, which I liked even more. It was a fascinating read from cover to cover, and I think that anyone who is interested in the Nordic cultures or even economy in general will find this fascinating. I’ve even been trying to convince my husband to listen to it as an audiobook!

I can’t praise this book enough. If you are curious about Scandinavia/the Nordic countries, I think this is a fabulous book to get you started. Booth provides both the positives and negatives in each country based on his own experiences, research, and discussion with scholars and neighbors. I can see some people being crucial of Booth’s style of writing, but I found it refreshing and easy to read. I honestly can’t recommend this book enough, and while it wouldn’t have been a book I necessarily would’ve picked for my book club (based on the types of books we tend to read), I could see this making for some wonderful discussions!