Happy book review day! I’m sorry I disappeared last week. I was feeling exceptionally uninspired, so I just gave myself a week off to recharge. But this week, it’s book review week and What’s Up Wednesday tomorrow. Those are two of my most favorite posts each month!

Last June was my very first book review ever on Sunwashedlinen.com. And it’s all because I found audiobooks. I could finally fit ”reading” into my very busy ”mama” schedule. So happy that I found Audible and that I’ve gotten to read so many books over the past year!

I read three books this month. Two audiobooks and one hard copy book. One I adored, one was pretty good, and one just average. So, let’s get into it…

The Secrets of Midwives: Three generations of women
Secrets in the present and from the past
A captivating tale of life, loss, and love…Neva Bradley, a third-generation midwife, is determined to keep the details surrounding her own pregnancy—including the identity of the baby’s father— hidden from her family and co-workers for as long as possible. Her mother, Grace, finds it impossible to let this secret rest. The more Grace prods, the tighter Neva holds to her story, and the more the lifelong differences between private, quiet Neva and open, gregarious Grace strain their relationship. For Floss, Neva’s grandmother and a retired midwife, Neva’s situation thrusts her back sixty years in time to a secret that eerily mirrors her granddaughter’s—one which, if revealed, will have life-changing consequences for them all. As Neva’s pregnancy progresses and speculation makes it harder and harder to conceal the truth, Floss wonders if hiding her own truth is ultimately more harmful than telling it. Will these women reveal their secrets and deal with the inevitable consequences? Or are some secrets best kept hidden?

This book was SO GOOD. I couldn’t put it down. The three generations of midwives was sweet and truly interesting. Now that I’m a mom, I totally find birth fascinating, so that as the backdrop to these women’s lives peeked my interest. The writing moves quickly, switching from one point of view to another. It was a really beautiful story of women in this family.

Not All Diamonds and Rose: The Real Housewives Spilling Tea, Throwing Shade, and Sharing Secrets: Dave Quinn’s Not All Diamonds and Rosé is the definitive oral history of the hit television franchise, from its unlikely start in the gated communities of Orange County to the pop culture behemoth it has become—spanning nine cities, hundreds of cast members, and millions of fans.

What is it really like to be a housewife? We all want to know, but only the women we love to watch and the people who make the show have the whole story. Well, listen in close, because they’re about to tell all. 

Nearly all the wives, producers, and network executives, as well as Andy Cohen himself, are on the record, unfiltered and unvarnished about what it really takes to have a tagline. This is your VIP pass to the lives behind the glam squads, testimonials, and tabloid feuds.

Life’s not all diamonds and rosé, but the truth is so much better, isn’t it?

You knew being a Real Housewives junkie that I’d have to read this book at some point, right? I was hoping for secrets, behind the scenes ‘how they make and produce’ the housewives, how much of the drama is real versus fake…but, I didn’t get much of that. It felt more like a re-telling of what happened on the show from the Housewives P.O.V. It didn’t offer a whole lot more, and I found that disappointing.

Truthfully, I’d really love a tell all book from Lisa Vanderpump. Can we order that up?

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine: No one’s ever told Eleanor that life should be better than fine: Meet Eleanor Oliphant: She struggles with appropriate social skills and tends to say exactly what she’s thinking. Nothing is missing in her carefully timetabled life of avoiding social interactions, where weekends are punctuated by frozen pizza, vodka, and phone chats with Mummy. 

But everything changes when Eleanor meets Raymond, the bumbling and deeply unhygienic IT guy from her office. When she and Raymond together save Sammy, an elderly gentleman who has fallen on the sidewalk, the three become the kinds of friends who rescue one another from the lives of isolation they have each been living. And it is Raymond’s big heart that will ultimately help Eleanor find the way to repair her own profoundly damaged one.

Soon to be a major motion picture produced by Reese Witherspoon, Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine is the smart, warm, and uplifting story of an out-of-the-ordinary heroine whose deadpan weirdness and unconscious wit make for an irresistible journey as she realizes. . . 

The only way to survive is to open your heart.  

Miss Eleanor is truly endearing. The story was truthful and honest, and felt like we could maybe each know an Eleanor in our life right now and not know it. Eleanor’s heartbreaking backstory comes out as the story goes on and she struggles to come to terms and recognize how her past shaped the way she copes with life. Well done, and a very enjoyable read.

Previous book reviews:

• The Bullish Case for Bitcoin
• The Girls in the Stilt House
• One Day in December
• Going There
• The Turkey Shack
• The Great Alone
• The Giver of Stars
• Slightly South of Simple
• Bringing Up Bebe
• The Guest List
• The Christie Affair
• The Alice Network
• It Ends With Us
• The Secret to Southern Charm