Daisy Jones & The Six ~ Taylor Jenkins Reid

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I love this book with the entirety of my being, and still a little bit more. I was expecting to pick up this book and like it, but not love it. Hyped books scare me sometimes and believe me, this is a hyped book and if you haven't heard of it.... you must be living under some kind of rock (no offense).

This book was written in a format that I was unsure of. I didn't know going in if I was going to love the interview style format, and I believe that if I had not listened to audiobook while physically reading I probably would've enjoyed it less. The reason the audiobook makes the writing style enjoyable is being there is a full cast of characters, therefore every person that talks in the book has a different voice. That made it easy for me to remember some of the side characters, while also still enjoying the main characters.

As I said, I think the audiobook is a must. Whether you choose to just listen to it by itself or if you choose to read physically while listening, you need the audiobook. I heard from popular Booktubers and people on Goodreads that they all loved the audiobook and that they probably would've enjoyed the book less without it (I agree, like I previously said).

The story man! I didn't think I was going to become as attached to all the characters and the plot as I did. As you can tell I went into this thinking I wasn't going to enjoy it, and ended up enjoying everything, maybe that is my trick with hyped up books... hmmm. Anyways, this is not a story where you only care about the main characters, you care about Daisy and Billy, Graham and Karen, Camila and Julia, Pete and even Eddie. There was something enjoyable about all of them, even if it was just their general irritation with the other characters (@Eddie).

The time setting of this story intrigued me even more. The 60s to late 70s seem like such an interesting period of time and while I know some details, this provided me with a completely different perspective. It showed the drugs, sex and rock & roll. But it showed not only the glory of all of those things but also the struggles. There is drug addiction, infidelity, and the ups and downs of living the rock & roll lifestyle. We got the inside scoop, not just what would've been written in the Rolling Stone. We knew about Daisy and Billy and their complicated relationship. We knew about how Graham and Karen were maybe more than just friends, but we also knew their different opinions on important topics. We knew Camila and how she, no matter what happened, would never give up on Billy. And finally, we figured out the interviewer was Julia. I feel like many people could've predicted something along those lines, that it was someone connected to the story, but that isn't me so it was a complete surprise.

I'm still just in a state of shock almost about how much I love this book. While I've explained that I loved the characters and the story, there is still just this unnamed aspect that I can't fully explain that I love about it. It kind of reminds me of A Star is Born (the new one with Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper) and I really hope that doesn't offend anyone, but that also might be why I enjoyed it. The overall chemistry between Daisy and Billy as real as Gaga and Bradley, and it's real but that's a different discussion. So if you are feeling iffy on this book because of the hype or because it doesn't seem like something you'd be into, I would recommend it to you anyways, but I would extra recommend it if you like A Star is Born because, to me, there are a lot of similar aspects.

I could go on and on and ON, about how much I love this book. But I've reached the limit on my coherent thoughts so I've leave you with that. And that I recommend it to absolutely everyone because it will pull on your heart strings.

The Path Made Clear - Discovering Your Life's Direction and Purpose ~ Oprah Winfrey

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Ever since I was really young, I've known about Oprah. I never really knew exactly what kind of person she was but she was one of those universal people that you can mention to anyone and they will know who she is.

After growing up, I began to understand about who Oprah really is and what she stands for.

I remember my mom getting a gift from my biological mom and it was one of Oprah's previous books. I never read that one but I remember my biological mom saying that the words really impacted her. That made me even more curious about what Oprah was saying and talking about in her books, but at this point in time I wasn't into reading.

So when I found out Oprah had put out a book this year and that it was available at my local library I wanted to pick it up. Especially because I veered significantly off of what I thought my projected path earlier this year, I wanted a refresher on my path.

While I feel like this is directed at people older than I am, this still did impact me and made me question certain things. Whether it be my mental mantras or negative things I've allowing myself to think and say about myself. And that I'm never off of my path, I've simply gone a new direction that I didn't know was coming, but I have never gone off my path. That was one of my favorite things I learned from this book.

One of the other things I enjoyed was while Oprah did include some of her thoughts and parts of the multiple conversations, this was more of compilation of her talks with other people. Many, many different kinds of people with many different thoughts and experiences that I found particularly interesting. At one point I learned more about Former Vice President Joe Biden; That he lost his previous wife and daughter in a car accident back in 1972 and that he lost his son to brain cancer in 2015 and I just remember an overwhelming feeling of wanting to give him a hug. I can't really explain why this in-particular was significant for me, but it reminded me to not take for granted the moments spent with the people I love.

I really enjoyed this read a lot and I will most likely pick up more of Oprah's books.

Vote! Women's Fight for Access to the Ballot Box ~ Coral Celeste Frazer

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Received an arc from Net Galley for an honest review.

Expected Release: August 6th 2019

I never learned how truly important it was to vote until my senior year of high school in my advanced placement government class. I continued to learn how important it was to vote into my freshman year of college, and voted in the midterm elections for my state. I then followed the results for the midterm elections for both my state and the entire nation, I was so fascinated by what I learned. I don't think enough young people understand the importance of voting, however, I do think more young people are starting to take notice of politics. I'm hoping that will encourage more of the younger generation to vote.

I learned a lot from this book that was skipped in both my government class and the multiple American history classes I've taken. I have been taught the very basics on the history of Women's Right to Vote. I know about the 19th Amendment and who Elizabeth Cady Stanton was and what she did (mostly because she was my American hero in the fifth grade), but I didn't know enough about the actual events and protests that happened around the country and the abuse these suffragists dealt with. It's truly appalling.

I also enjoyed learning about the history my state, Kansas, had in the Women's Suffragist movement as a whole. I'm sad to say that my state failed in the past to pass the policies to help women and that we supported racist views, but these are things that I am glad that I know! These things weren't taught to me in school and while they are negative compared to what we know and live today, it is still important for people to know the history. Another thing I learned at the very end of this book was that "Kansas passed a law in 2011 that required new voters to present a driver's license, birth certificate, or passport." The book went on to explain that this pretty much killed the vote for new voters both young people and voters born outside of the United States. The League of Women Voters of Kansas eventually challenged this law and as of 2018 the law was, finally, overturned. Again, I had absolutely no idea about this law and it was something that should be discussed in school so we know the voting/political history of our state.

The one thing I didn't like about this book was how textbook it felt. I understand that it is a political nonfiction (kind of) and that it's purpose is to be informational instead of entertaining, but I still felt like the information was more copy and pasted from a textbook. I think the author could've taken risks with this and turned it into something both informational and entertaining at the same time. That way it could be more directed at younger voters, giving them the history of what women had to go through to vote. Knowing some of these facts, while still being entertained, would prove helpful, in my opinion, in getting younger people to vote.