Holly

Wow. This was something I did not expect to start and finish in two days, but I did.

Westover’s book has reminded me of juuust how adjacent my religious and rural upbringing was to hers…without a lot of the not-so-great things she endured by her family members. I am in awe at her perseverance, facing her inner demons, and facing the outer demons of her life.

I loved reading the Shadow & Bone series, and I was optimistic for this spinoff in the same world.

I almost didn’t finish it, but I’m glad I pushed through. The beginning starts fine, but then it got boring, which isn’t what you’d expect from a heist book.

Once the heist was happening, though, it was riveting. I hope that the next book in the duo doesn’t have the same issue.

This book did a much heavier lift than I expected. I was anticipating it to be more of a “cool story, bro” about a reluctant introvert being dragged from one uncomfortable social situation to the next.

While this book definitely included uncomfortable moments for the author, I was cheering her on the entire way. Jessica Pan’s experience as a freelance writer and her witty sense of humor definitely elevates this book from a cool experiment to one that could have fundamentally changed my life.

It’s not only a permission slip to talk to strangers, but one that encourages you to move beyond small talk with them. It’s agreeing to do something that terrifies you, and instead of backing out or constantly planning an early exit strategy, you do the thing. Terrified. But you do the thing. And the world does not end, nor do you experience the entire population of the world pointing their fingers and laughing at you.

This is a book I’m definitely keeping, but recommending everyone I know to read it themselves. I hope when I re-read this book after rediscovering it on my shelf that I’ll experience the same magical feeling.

Monique Malcolm brings the right amount of expertise and her own personal experiences into this book.

Fear is an uncomfortable topic for folks to talk about it, and Monique has managed to look in all the spots fear likes to lurk and sheds light on it to not just dissipate it, but to dig deeper to get to the root of why fear is occurring.

She also included stories of other folks who let fear take control and later regretted it, and from folks who managed to acknowledge their fear and proceed into doing things that scare them.

The book definitely helped give me pause and check to see who's in the driver's seat— me, or fear?

It's books like this that remind me that while I don't read a ton of fiction in general, sci-fi books that have depth, detail, and well-developed characters/relationships are the ones that I will obsess over and blaze through their pages as if they are my geeky BFF. Project Hail Mary was just perfect. I loved it, and all the characters within that I feel like I know now, warts and all. Human thing.