A Purple Life

I received an ARC from the author and this is my honest review

This is likely a me problem. I have absolutely loved so many of Jesse H. Reign's books, but this one wasn't for me. And surprisingly that's not for obvious reasons like the book's involvement with Shakespeare. No problem there. Love me some Shakespeare.

This book reminds me of Unbreak Me in writing style and the second chance romance/long time jump aspects - and Unbreak Me is the only Jesse H. Reign book I had to DNF because I couldn't get into it. So I think I'm going to chalk this up to not being for me and get excited to read Jesse's next book.

I received an ARC from the author and this is my honest review

This is the first Jesse H. Reign book I haven't loved and I'm sad about that. It might just be me, but it felt like most of this book was unnecessary inner monologue that didn't develop the story or provide relevant character development. Strangely, a lot of it felt like filler.

And sometimes that's fine and helps fill out a world you want to live in, but a lot of time was needed to complete the challenging task of making a sweet man and his horrible boss convincingly fall in love. In the end, it wasn't convincing to me and there was time to do it, but it was spent on unnecessary inner monologues. I still love this author and will read anything she writes, but this one didn't work for me sadly.

I received an ARC from the author and this is my honest review

Dianna Roman has done it again. I couldn't put this book down, which was surprising to me since after reading the premise I wasn't sure it would be for me given the office setting, but I was wrong. I guess Dianna can make any setting interesting.

I also absolutely fell in love with these characters. Cam was so sweet and Pete was fascinating given how he appears to others compared to how he sees himself. I also don't think I've read a book that has a protagonist with OCD before so I found his inner monologue and challenges eye opening.

Pete's family orchard made me yearn for my time living in that area of the country and Pete's family was a wonderful and ridiculous contrast to Cam's. I had a great time reading this book and finished it in almost one sitting (it would have been one if my sleep schedule hadn't gotten in the way ;) ). I can't wait to see what Dianna comes up with next.

I received an ARC from the author and this is my honest review

Like all other books from Jesse H. Reign, I devoured this in one sitting. It was a lovely read that contained fascinating characters and also really visceral and unique descriptions of anxiety that I could relate to. Before reading I was curious how the book would deal with the consent issues inherent in the premise, but Jesse handled it beautifully. The love story was unique and the spice was impeccable. I can't wait to read the next installment.

I wish this book had been released when I was in school. The author, Gabriel Wyner, explains how language is learned and how we can twist the things our brains are good at in our favor.

In every chapter he introduces tricks that have allowed him to learn so many languages and the shocking thing is: I have never heard of 90% of them. Never.

This book blew my fucking mind and I can't recommend it highly enough to anyone that's interested in learning another language.

WARNING: Do not start this book unless you have enough hours left in the day to finish it. It's that good.

I made the mistake of starting it before bed, went to sleep, awakened, immediately continued reading it and finished it in one sitting.

Axiom's End is a fascinating mix of genres, one of them being sci-fi, which is a genre I love. And this is the best sci-fi book I've read in a long time.

It has sensationally deep characters and a well thought out plot paired with unique ideas that made me question my own assumptions. And that's something I'm always excited to see in fiction.

This book is PHENOMENAL!!! It completely lives up to its tagline: “the power of knowing what you don't know.” This book helped me analyze my beliefs, further acknowledge that I can and will be wrong in life and helped to caution me against common logical fallacies while helping me separate my emotional responses to information. All of this was presented with clear and fascinating examples of each topic. I'm in awe of this book and it's earned a spot on my list of favorite non-fiction books of all time.

I couldn't put this book down. I have read countless books on money in my life (it was necessary to learn how I could retire at 30) and at this point most money books bore me, but this is not one of those books.

Housel explains monetary concepts in a fascinatingly concise and simple way - some with examples that I've never heard before, such as explaining compound interest with an analogy of how ice ages come to be.

If you're looking for a quick, interesting and fresh take on money I can't recommend this book enough.

I don't have the words to properly describe how absolutely fucking fantastic this book is. It's perfect.

I started reading it at 8pm last night and stayed up until I finished it at 5am...and I'm re-reading it now. I came for the romance and stayed for the hilarity, amazing characters and shocking revelations about what it means to be an American, part of a legacy and different from the ‘traditional' idea of who you should be.

I don't think a book that's technically in the romance genre has ever had such a profound impact on me or helped me to see myself more clearly. It's absolute perfection.

This is one of the best books I've ever read. It's funny, informative and fascinating. If you were a kid like me who was obsessed with the show How Stuff Works, Mythbusters and the book series “How Do Things Work” this is for you!

This book gives you an overview of everything in our world and how to make it. I'm often curious about a subject and want to know more, but am overwhelmed at the thought of reading an entire book about it. This guide is the solution.

While laughing at the author's commentary, I now feel like I much better understand how our world works...and how I could rebuild it if I get into a time machine mishap in the future

There are a lot of lies permeating American work culture and I have internalized all of them. The previous book I reviewed (Laziness Does Not Exist) helped me realize a few of these lies and why they are bullshit.

This book took that a step further. I thought it was a personal failure that I felt constantly stressed, on edge and unable to focus during my career, but it turns out: our psychology as humans is not built for the always on, constant pinging work culture we have created.

This is not a personal failing. It's part of the design. This book is amazing at analyzing our current culture, what works, what doesn't and how we can fix it. Absolutely phenomenal!

This was a wonderful book. It goes into the history of what they call the Laziness Lie, this American belief that your worth it tied to your output as a worker and that ever not giving 110% (even when your body is screaming for you to do so) is lazy and a sin.

In addition to taking us down memory lane to discover where this stupid lie came from (cough puritan religious beliefs and the need to convince slaves to work when they are not paid to do so cough), but it also provides some great examples of people who bought into this lie and what happened to them, their health and their relationships (Spoiler: It's not good).

The book also provide steps you can take to combat this lie and examples of how you can care for yourself and others to avoid the inevitable burnout that this kind of thinking leads to eventually. Overall an absolutely fabulous book!

THIS BOOK MADE MY HEAD EXPLODE. Apparently I had an incorrect understanding of the US federal deficit and it's a misunderstanding that is perpetuated by our politicians on both sides of the aisle.

I was thinking that the federal government had to manage its spending like a household when it most assuredly does not since, unlike a household, it issues its own currency.

If you haven't read this book and are interested in how money works you should read it ASAP. I'm going to go stare into the abyss. My brain feels broken in the best of ways

Most books on writing I've read either lean too heavily into dry academic text or into dramatic life story. This does neither and instead is written based on the tools it describes and most importantly, provides constant examples from other writers showing how these tools work. ⠀
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I've never been hooked on a non-fiction skills-based book like this one. This book singlehandedly ended my lifelong hatred of commas and got me on board with subheads (which I often leave out). It also provides easy and fun activities at the end of each chapter to help you better understand the material. This book is superb and I'm both excited and scared to apply its teachings to my own writing