In pregnancy, and life in general, one thing that has helped me immensely to get through is reading. While I will not be including the books I read throughout my pregnancy, I will share reviews of my 2018 reads. Here is the first on that list.
Book 1:
The Life She Was Given
by Ellen Marie Wiseman
Genre:
Historical Fiction, Mystery
Published:
July 2017
Synopsis According to Mandi:
Without spoilers, The Life She Was Given is about two girls, Lilly and Julia. Lilly was born into unfortunate circumstances and kept from the public eye until being sold to the circus. She journeys from her own personal hell to a new sort of hell in… the life she was given.The author frames the book to make the reader beg for redemption for Lilly, and she gets it, but not at the predicted time. Several years later, the other girl, Julia, inherits the family estate and begins uncovering dirty secrets of her family’s.
Favorite Quote:
Then again, she didn’t like small talk either, so she was glad he wasn’t commenting on the weather or the landscape. Life was too big and too short and too important to talk about the lack of rain or the latest gossip. She wanted to know how people felt about themselves and one another, whether they were happy or sad. She wanted to know what made them feel loved and what hurt them to the core. She wanted to know about their past, how they got where they were, and their relationships with their mothers and fathers and siblings. She wanted to know if she was the only mixed-up person in the world who felt completely and utterly alone.”
― Ellen Marie Wiseman, The Life She Was Given
Awards:
A GREAT GROUP READS Selection of the Women’s National Book Association and National Reading Group Month
GOODREADS Best of the Month
Pages:
356
My Overall Rating:
4 – I thought this book was very good. It had such a great plot with the perfect amount of both expected and unexpected turns. I found the point of redemption for the main character’s life to be unique. It managed to be a satisfying plot without the anticipated ending. There were just minor things that bothered me, like the beginning of each chapter being a recap of previous chapters, but as a whole, I would highly recommend it.
