Ainslee1777

Fiona Davis is a Genius.

Revisado: 02-08-25

Stories within stories. The Chelsea Hotel came alive. From WW2 to the era of “hippies”, this book was a beautiful journey of espionage, friendship, power struggles, courage, and history. The Red Scare must have been a terrifying time to be alive and attempting to make a living in NYC. Thank you for another beautiful story, Fiona!

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Beautiful Life Lessons & Encouragement to Live Fearlessly

Revisado: 12-10-24

Kacie, I am so darn proud of you for writing this book, for stepping out in courage to live more boldly, for understanding you have a voice & using it. This book is beautiful. Each chapter was so special and following asking on your journey (on social media) has been so special. You are a wholesome gem. You have emboldened so many people to visit Italy / travel somewhere and I know this book is going to help a lot of people to see the world a little differently. *Different good* This book also makes me want to go back to Italy ASAP. Cheers!

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Kelly, You’ve lived a beautiful life. Thank you for sharing some of it with all of us.

Revisado: 10-09-24

I had no idea of the trials, accomplishments, appearances, growth, love, and beautifully positive perspectives Kelly Bishop has experienced. So grateful to have listened along. I am blown away by such a wonderful autobiographical recounting and encouraged by all of her words of adoration & affirmation of all whom she has met. Lovely shared wisdom. Thank you, Kelly Bishop!!

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Insightful into US History.

Revisado: 09-22-24

Holy guacamole. This book was recommended to read before I started “Grapes of Wrath” by Steinbeck. I had no idea the depth of the Dust Bowl / dirty 30s. This book did such a wonderful job coming at this weather phenomenon from so many different angles. Balancing the heart of the people living on the land with local and global perspectives - this book was an awesome collection of so much history, anecdotes, news stories, and biographies of a time & people that walked through “hell on earth”. I am blown away that this was such a huge part of United States history & we merely breeze past it in History classes. Eye opening. Great read. May we not repeat history, but learn from it.

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A sweet story of 3 Generations finding themselves in one another.

Revisado: 05-06-24

The narrators were great. The author did such a beautiful job presenting common family dynamics & how there can be reconciliation with effort, patience, love, and of course, the beautiful scenery of Italy surrounding you. it was easy to fall in love with all three main characters; three beautiful, strong women. Sweet love stories woven into character development. The detail of descriptions that went into each Italian city was perfect. Loved this book! Purchasing the hardcopy to take with me to Italy this summer. :)

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A Beautiful Insight into Eating Disorders

Revisado: 11-28-23

***Trigger Warning*** This book takes a deep dive into the practical physiological aspects of eating disorders (ED) and how they might play out. The self-loathing, the explaining away of symptoms & lack of self awareness with the progression of how bad symptoms can get was well thought & well constructed.
Ginny’s ED was contrasted against a supportive friend & family circle & with her “success” (Harvard, NYC, thinness) and sends a message that even when everything on the outside looks great, the anxiety and negative self/talk happening internally can still be overwhelming. The interwoven love story was so powerful as both characters had to process through past trauma and endure a lot of character development.
The emotion in the Narrator’s voice was awesome (her laughter; her depth of emotion— was perfect).
My only criticism: I know the author was driving a point home— but the details about all of the vomit in Ginny’s bulimic phase could have been omitted. I was literally gagging at some points and def lost my appetite for the entirety of this book. And the volume controls / setting of the book from whispering to shouting had me constantly adjusting the volume on my phone/headphones & gave me a few jump-scares. Hahaha. Maybe this can be adjusted in the editing?
Anyway, can’t wait to explore other titles from this author! Highly recommend.

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This is a Memoir…

Revisado: 03-25-23

Leslie wrote her own memoir about domestic violence. If you leave a review that she “talked too much about herself”, you’re the problem bc it’s a MEMOIR.
I wish the Interview with the specialist on domestic violence (DV) would have also been included in the Introduction / Prologue of the book. That was the turning point for Leslie after years of self-research & could be for anyone else struggling with DV that found themselves with this book in their hands / ears.
I do think the narrator wasn’t the best choice for this book bc she made the extremes of emotions feel icy / neutral / lacking expression when there needed to be more expression conveyed.
Leslie’s book did a great job alluding to the progression of the desensitization that happens over time in abusive relationships.
The self-talk after DV attacks justifying her husband’s behavior + the hope that she can fix / help him + the narrative that she has nowhere to go = the reasons she stayed. All of these book reviews are saying she didn’t tell us why she stayed. It’s def there. She embodies the cycle of feeling isolated + responsible + at fault.
My heart breaks that she felt she had to go it alone and that no one in her life would have been supportive or offered her a place to stay in times of need. Especially bc it wasn’t true in her case. Probz the same thing happening in most DV cases?
Grateful to have read this story. I agree there were some racial bias in this story but she also goes to great lengths to point out her own self awareness of her privilege. She draws comparisons to how WASPy her Mom is, that she was always surrounded by books, wealth / old money / history of her family and legacy VS. her husband’s lack there of. She tells us she knows she grew up with privilege, she doesn’t hide it. I do believe white privilege is what blinded her to the hurtful comments about other races / people— not an excuse but maybe the reason?
She comments that no matter how picture-perfect someone’s life may seem, we never know what’s happening behind closed doors. This applies to both her parent’s marriage & foreshadows her own marriage to come.
This was a very long book to get across the age old: “don’t judge a book by its cover” because DV can happen to anyone, anywhere.

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Excellent book, terrible narrator.

Revisado: 03-22-23

Sort of preachy / pushed a narrative — it was intentional for the characters. An amazing book nonetheless! The actual voice of the narrator was fine but she was so monotoned: no inflection at all other than sounding oddly serious / concerned. Made the characters fall flat while they were supposed to have such depth. Something tells me that this book was supposed to be funny but the narrator did not interpret that. The interview with the author at the end was amazing.

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Was on the edge of my seat…

Revisado: 02-23-23

I knew how it ended and was still on the edge of my seat for the entire book. Well written. Thrilling. Wild to think it’s a true story. Brilliant espionage. Great read. I recommend this book all the time.

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Predictable but adorable

Revisado: 02-10-23

Cute & suspenseful love story. A sweet coming of age romance. The reader they had to play Jack was a little too breathy / left too much space between words. But otherwise the performance was flawless. A wonderful beach-read. I I wish that books didn’t disrespect the sanctity of marriage as much as they do now, but I understand how life can happen to us sometimes.

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