The Magic at Villa Verde

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Plot:

Villa Verde is a grove where a variety of animal friends live. The Magic at Villa Verde is a collection of short stories, each with a different animal protagonist. It’s the kind of book that I remember reading when I was little, where each story uses a fun animal to teach you a different lesson. Think Full House, but with totally different characters… it’s just that wholesome, classic vibe that slyly teaches morals like forgiveness, collaboration, and being yourself.

What I loved most:

I don’t know why rhyming automatically makes a story 100 times better, but it definitely does. The rhymes that Nemazie uses will make this a fun one to read out loud to small kiddos. Let’s be real though – parents, you might want to brace yourselves, because this seems like one that will get a “one more time” request over and over again!

Read this book if you like:

Rhymes, immersive worlds, animal friends, low key teaching kids important lessons through fun stories

Book details:

  • Author: Maryam Nemazie
  • Publisher: Self Published (forever holla-ing for authors who take the initiative to make their dreams of publishing a book come true!)
  • Interest Level: Toddlers to First Graders

The Restoration of Celia Fairchild

~ rachelbenzine ~ Leave a comment

Plot:

Celia is better known by her pen name, Calpurnia. She’s the author of the advice column Dear Calpurnia, and she makes sure to send a personalized answer to each letter written to her. When she finally gets an answer to a “Dear Birthmother” letter she sent out a while back, Celia is beyond thrilled about the potential to become a mom. One issue: she just got fired from her job, and can’t afford to live in her swanky New York apartment anymore. When she receives notification that she inherited a house in her hometown of Charleston, it seems like kismet. However, she hadn’t realized that the house would be in such poor condition. The Restoration of Celia Fairchild is a simply beautiful book about chosen families, letting go of the past, and making your own future.

What I loved most:

Oh, this book was just so sweet. Celia definitely has some trauma in her past that she has to figure out, but this isn’t a heavy book by any means. We get to walk along on this journey toward healing with her, and with the lovely people that she finds in her life. It’s a good reminder that while life may not always look like we planned, we can make our lives beautiful.

Read this book if you like:

Contemporary fiction, mid-life coming of age stories, small towns

Book details:

  • Author: Marie Bostwick
  • Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
  • Date of Publication: March 2, 2021
  • Interest Level: Adult

Stranger Care

~ rachelbenzine ~ Leave a comment

Plot:

Stranger Care is Sarah Sentilles’ memoir of her and her husband’s journey to become parents. This book shares their process of deciding upon adoption, of the education and homestudy and licensing process, and of the long periods of waiting before they finally get the call that Coco needs a home. They pick up this sweet infant from the hospital, and want her to be theirs forever, but they also know her biological mama loves her and wants her. This memoir will make your heart bleed, but it will also make your heart swell with love. It comes out in May, so make sure to keep your eyes out for it.

The parts of this book where Sentilles was talking about adoption and foster care were absolutely gorgeous. She is a talented writer, and I was so invested in her journey to become a mom. However, much of this book focused on things other than adoption. Particularly for the first third of the book, we would get four pages about adoption, and then four pages on an unrelated nature topic like birds or trees, and then four page on adoption, and then four pages on another nature topic. These were still well written, but were less interesting to me as they weren’t what I had come to the book for. But if you can power through those, it’s absolutely worth your time to read.

What I loved most:

I really appreciated Sentilles’ thoughts on the responsibility of people to each other. American culture is so individualistic, and teaches us to care for ourselves and our nuclear/biological family. Beyond that, we don’t tend to feel like we need to care for other people – and in particular, for other people’s kids. We’re aware that there are kids in foster care, and that’s sad, but we figure it’s someone else’s problem to deal with it. That lets us ignore the fact that in the US, there are around 400,000 kids in the foster care system, and 100,000 of them have parental rights terminated and are ready to be adopted (stats from AdoptUSKids). Stranger Care brings up how important it is to be each other’s support networks. Some families are formed biologically, and that is great. But biology doesn’t always make the best family, and love doesn’t only come in one form.

Read this book if you like:

Memoirs, adoption, foster care, chosen families, Rock Needs River by Vanessa McGrady

Book details:

  • Author: Sarah Sentilles
  • Publisher: Random House
  • Date of Publication: May 21, 2021
  • Interest Level: Adult