Maybe Someday
Reading this book was an experience. This is the first book I’ve read from this author, as well as the first book I’ve read with a soundtrack. I listened to the soundtrack for free on Amazon (I have Amazon Prime) while reading the book. This book is new adult, the characters are college age and deal with more mature topic than young adult books. I loved the story, the romance, how idealistically they dealt with the issues and how it was resolved.
The plot is quite unique, something I’ve never read before in other books. I love that music is so intertwined in the story. The alternating POV works in this book, you get to see all the different sides of the story and is really able to connect to each character individually.
I can’t really mention too many details without spoiling the plot. I stayed up too many late nights reading this book, it was worth it. I’m going to seek out other books by the author. (4.5 stars)
“How ever, I’ve learned that the heart can’t be told when and who and how it should love. The heart does whatever the hell it wants to do. The only thing we can control is whether we give our lives and our minds the chance to catch up to our hearts.”
“Sometimes in life, we need a few bad days in order to keep the good ones in perspective.”
Better Than Before
I think this book can be a great help for someone wanting to make real change. It’s how you apply what you learn into your own life. Gretchen Rubin talks about what she did to change her habits, it’s about her experiences and observations. It’s not really a how-to book.
“How we schedule our days is how we spend our lives.”
“For good and bad, habits are the invisible architecture of daily life.”
Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less
I’m on this personal and probably a long journey towards minimalism. Whatever you want to call it, I’m just striving to be more simple in every aspect of my life. I read great reviews about this book and so I was excited to pick it up. I didn’t finish it the first time and picked it up again a few months later. There are a lot of good advice, case studies and examples of people living as essentialists in the book. It’s not going to happen over night, but there are small steps towards living that way of life.
I found the book a little too long and skipped the area that talked about business/case studies. There are bullet points at the end of each (most?) chapters and I found those very helpful. I think this is a good book to read not in one sitting, but perhaps one chapter a month? There’s a lot of things to grasp and applying all of it at once, can become daunting.
I was inspired by the stories included in the book and majority made sense to me, however, there were a few items that felt too extreme for me and will not work in my life. (3 stars)
“Remember that if you don’t prioritize your life someone else will.”
“Essentialism is not about how to get more things done; it’s about how to get the right things done. It doesn’t mean just doing less for the sake of less either. It is about making the wisest possible investment of your time and energy in order to operate at our highest point of contribution by doing only what is essential.”
“We overvalue nonessentials like a nicer car or house, or even intangibles like the number of our followers on Twitter or the way we look in our Facebook photos. As a result, we neglect activities that are truly essential, like spending time with our loved ones, or nurturing our spirit, or taking care of our health.”
“We often think of choice as a thing. But a choice is not a thing. Our options may be things, but a choice—a choice is an action. It is not just something we have but something we do.”
Healthy Coconut 
I’ve listened to a lot of podcasts lately with Gretchen Rubin as a guest, but have yet to read any of her books. This one is on my TBR list!