Book Review: How To Be Okay When Nothing Is Okay by Jenny Lawson (2/5)

I’ve been a big fan of Lawson for many years now. My book club read her first book, Let’s Pretend This Never Happened, and I was hooked! I’ve read most of her releases since then and I enjoy her blending of humor and memoir with a candid conversation about mental health. I didn’t realize this book was different and that affected how I felt about it. I was ready for more memoir, not for so much practical advice. That was my own fault but still my downfall.

How to Be Okay When Nothing Is Okay: Tips and Tricks That Kept Me Alive, Happy, and Creative in Spite of Myself by Jenny Lawson
Publication Date: March 2026
Length: 288 pages (read as ebook)

Other books by Lawson reviewed on this blog:

Furiously Happy
Broken (in the best possible way)
An Author Event with Jenny Lawson and Neil Gaiman

Cover Image via Amazon

Practical and useful advice, but without the humor I’ve come to expect from this author.

Summary from Amazon:

Jenny Lawson is full of contradictions. She’s a celebrated author but battles self-doubt, paralysis, and anxiety. She’s an award-winning humorist but struggles with treatment-resistant depression. The questions people most often ask her are, “How do you do it? How do you keep going even when it feels impossible? How do you keep creating?” This book is her answer.

In How to Be Okay When Nothing Is Okay, Jenny shares more than one hundred humorous, heartfelt, and genuine tools and tricks that she relies on to keep her going even when her brain isn’t working properly due to depression, anxiety, and ADHD. She also offers tips to stay passionate and focused on creative endeavors, especially when everything around you is saying to give up.

With chapters like “Wash Your Brain More Than You Wash Your Bra” (sleep, you beautiful human), “Working on Easy Mode Is Still Working” (asking for accommodations is okay!), “Celebrate Good Times, Come On!” (make it a habit to celebrate the good things), and many more, How to Be Okay When Nothing Is Okay is a balm and companion, reminding us all that we are not alone. It’s for anyone who struggles with self-doubt, guilt, motivation, and mental blocks and wants to rekindle their passion for creating. Funny, simple, empathetic, and full of hope, it will encourage you not to just survive but to find and curate joy in the face of difficult times.

Here is a time that not reading summaries or other reviews before diving into a book came back to bite me. I wasn’t ready for the subject of this book and found myself disappointed it wasn’t the same brand of humor I’ve enjoyed from Lawson before. She has great advice, don’t get me wrong, but I was ready for more stories mixed into it and more about Victor and Hailey. It wasn’t that this was a bad or poorly written book (not by a long shot), it just wasn’t what I enjoy from this author. She’s very qualified to write this book and has great experience to draw on to share her advice. That just wasn’t what I wanted from it.

Unlike past books where her family and friends feature prominently, this book was very focused on Lawson. She talks about the ways she’s used the advice she’s sharing and what works for her and when. Without anyone else featuring regularly, she’s really the only character. I’ve always appreciated how Lawson is so honest about her struggles and her foibles and how it shapes how she sees the world around her. I think that’s the major reason for the success she’s had in her writing. People who felt they were ‘too weird’ or ‘the only one who feels this way’ found a kindred spirit. There became another person who did the things you did or thought the way you did. Lawson is so open that it’s refreshing, even as someone who doesn’t share all of her struggles. Sharing one of them, I still relate to her and I can empathize with what she’s going through and understand that others around me might be going through what she’s enduring.

Jenny Lawson
Image via NPR

This book takes you through different situations and presents different ways one can deal with that present feeling or state. Lawson groups her advice into sections with titles such as “Let’s Party!” to discuss how you can celebrate small successes. I liked how she organized things but I felt this lacked the humor I was used to from Lawson. She’s able to laugh at herself fairly well, but when giving advice, that humor disappears since she doesn’t want to appear to be laughing at her readers. It’s a helpful and useful book, but not like what Lawson has published in the past.

While therapy sessions can be helpful and provide good tips, hearing from someone who lives with the advice and has had to apply it herself hits differently. Lawson admits that not everything works for everybody and these are the things that work for her, but hearing that these things can work at all, even some of the time, is very validating. The whole book feels like a reassuring hug from a friend saying, “I’ve been there. Give this a try because it helped me when I needed help.”

Writer’s Takeaway: Lawson is well qualified to write this book and has a strong background to probably write multiple books like this one. However, she’s set a reputation for herself as a humorist and this was a deviation. It will work for large parts of her audience, to be sure, but it wasn’t for me. Others who blindly assume that this will be a new comic memoir from Lawson may be disappointed. I’m not advocating for authors staying in their ‘lane’ but it’s a possible issue for readers who will follow an author with an expectation only to be jolted by a difference.

This book wasn’t for me but I still see its incredible value. Unfortunately. Two out of Five Stars.

Read Alikes: How to Keep House While Drowning by K.C. Davis, The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green

Until next time, write on.

You can follow me on Goodreads, Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram. I’m available via email at SamAStevensWriter@gmail.com. And as always, feel free to leave a comment!

Some of the links on this post may be affiliate links. Taking on a World of Words is a participant in affiliate programs designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by linking to products. If you purchase a product or service through an affiliate link, your cost will be the same but Sam will automatically receive a small commission. Your support is greatly appreciated.

Related Posts:
ARC Review: How to Be Okay When Nothing is Okay by Jenny Lawson | The Book Stop
How to be Okay When Nothing is Okay | Read with Lindsey

WWW Wednesday, 2-September-2026

Welcome to WWW Wednesday! This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and revived here on Taking on a World of Words. Just answer the three questions below and leave a link to your post in the comments for others to look at. No blog? No problem! Just leave a comment with your responses. Please, take some time to visit the other participants and see what others are reading. So, let’s get to it!

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Note: For users of Blogspot blogs, I’m unable to comment on your posts as a WordPress blogger unless you’ve enabled Name/URL comments. This is a known WordPress/Blogspot issue. Please consider enabling this to participate more fully in the community.

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Currently reading: I’ve had mild success at pushing myself to read my ebook every day. So my progress in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie has been slow, but it’s been moving which I’m still happy with. I think a YA book in this format is my best option. The short chapters make it more doable.
I had some big moves this week! I stared a new audiobook because my hold still hasn’t come in. I’m reading Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver with the full realization that I will put this aside as soon as my hold comes in and finish it later. It’s a long one, but I figured that was better than starting something, finishing it, and my hold still not being here.
I swung by the library and grabbed a copy of A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas. I’m enjoying it enough so far, but I’m not sucked in yet. We’ll see what happens because I know some folks are absolutely obsessed with these books.

Recently finished: I wrapped up Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin. I liked it, but not as much as A.J. I recommended it to my husband, I think he’d enjoy the game development aspect. I’ll get around to a review eventually, but I’m just not as moved by this one as I wanted to be which was a disappointment even though I gave it Four Stars.
I finished The Lions of Fifth Avenue by Fiona Davis which was also a bit flat. I wanted something more than I got but it was still fine. I guess? Nothing special. Three Stars.

I got through some reviews which I’m so proud of. I reviewed Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid on Monday. I liked it well enough, though I think the audiobook performance elevated it for me. I’m giving it Four out of Five Stars.
I also reviewed The Rose Code by Kate Quinn. Another enjoyable audiobook and I liked the way Quinn gave us a lot about what was happening at Bletchley without her characters having a full picture. I need to watch The Imitation Game now, haha. Four out of Five Stars as well.

Reading next: Come on, London Falling by Patrick Radden Keefe! I’m ready to jump in as soon as this is available. I’m worried I’m building it up too much in my mind as I wait for the hold to come in.

Leave a comment with your link and comment (if you’re so inclined). Take a look at the other participant links in the comments and look at what others are reading.

Have any opinions on these choices?

Until next time, write on.

You can follow me on Goodreads, Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram. I’m available via email at SamAStevensWriter@gmail.com. And as always, feel free to leave a comment!

Some of the links on this post may be affiliate links. Taking on a World of Words is a participant in affiliate programs designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by linking to products. If you purchase a product or service through an affiliate link, your cost will be the same but Sam will automatically receive a small commission. Your support is greatly appreciated.

Book Review: The Rose Code by Kate Quinn (4/5)

I had a moratorium on WWII books for a while. I think there’s a flood of them in the market right now and I needed a break, especially from ones based in Europe. There’s only so much my heart can handle. I’ve relented a bit in the past few months and this was one I made an exception for. I’ll probably need another rest after how hard this hit, though.

The Rose Code by Kate Quinn
Publication Date: March 2021
Length: 16 hours and 2 minutes on audio

Other books by Quinn reviewed on this blog:
The Alice Network (and Book Club Reflection)

Cover Image via Amazon

A mystery wrapped up in war, loss, and friendships.

Summary from Amazon:

1940. As England prepares to fight the Nazis, three very different women answer the call to mysterious country estate Bletchley Park, where the best minds in Britain train to break German military codes. Vivacious debutante Osla is the girl who has everything—beauty, wealth, and the dashing Prince Philip of Greece sending her roses—but she burns to prove herself as more than a society girl, and puts her fluent German to use as a translator of decoded enemy secrets. Imperious self-made Mab, product of east-end London poverty, works the legendary codebreaking machines as she conceals old wounds and looks for a socially advantageous husband. Both Osla and Mab are quick to see the potential in local village spinster Beth, whose shyness conceals a brilliant facility with puzzles, and soon Beth spreads her wings as one of the Park’s few female cryptanalysts. But war, loss, and the impossible pressure of secrecy will tear the three apart in this unforgettable story of women in WWII.

1947. In a riveting dual timeline, as the royal wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip whips post-war Britain into a fever, three friends-turned-enemies are reunited by a mysterious encrypted letter―the key to which lies buried in the long-ago betrayal that destroyed their friendship and left one of them confined to an asylum. A mysterious traitor has emerged from the shadows of their Bletchley Park past, and now Osla, Mab, and Beth must resurrect their old alliance and crack one last code together. But each petal they remove from the rose code brings danger―and their true enemy―closer…

The whole time I was listening to this, I was thinking of Benedict Cumberbatch in The Imitation Game. I had an idea of what happened at Bletchley but Quinn presented a whole new side to it that I really enjoyed. My husband and I visited the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago several years ago and one of the highlights is they have a captured U-boat in the basement and an Enigma Machine that was recovered off of it. I felt a lot closer to this subject matter than I probably have a right to. The dual timeline sucked me in quickly and it was off to the races.

Osla, Mab, and Beth make a great leading cast of characters. They were all really well drawn so the reader felt the differences in their personalities and motivations. I liked all of them for different reasons and they played off each other in great ways. I’m often quick to dismiss ‘society girls’ like Osla. Quinn gave her a lot of cunning and gumption that made her very compelling and I was impressed with how fond I’d grown of her by the end of the book.

Kate Quinn
Author image via Goodreads

The dual timelines was fun but I found that some of the ‘big reveals’ were often easy to guess from some obvious clues. (A small spoiler coming up so skip if you want to be completely free) Since Osla introduces us to the later timeline, the reader is left guessing if Beth or Mab is in the asylum and it becomes obvious before it’s revealed which of the two it is. I felt some of the tension of the 1940s plot was lessened because of the 1947 plot, but I still enjoyed both. The way Quinn had them come crashing together before the ending was fun and made it obvious how much these women had been through. Because of the different jobs each girl had, we’re able to see a lot of what went on at Bletchley even if their experiences were more siloed. The scale of the operation there was incredible and admirable.

The tension, terror, and depravity of life in WWII was well on display in this book. I thought the most moving piece for me was how Harry was treated for not being a solider. That was an element of life I wouldn’t have considered. I’d think he’d be glad to be serving his country and be able to stay home and take care of his son, but I can see how the external perception would be very different. I only wish this had been brought up with other men in the book, especially Giles. He seemed keen on what other people thought of him so you think he would have mentioned it.

The audiobook was ready by Saskia Maarleveld which makes for my second book this summer that she’s read to me. It took me a bit to hear her voice and not think of Alchemised, but I got over it quickly as I sank deeply into the world she narrated. Maarleveld did an amazing job giving the main three characters very different voices. Osla’s accent and flippancy, Mab’s gritty grumbling, and Beth’s nervous tittering were all so distinct I never had any question who was talking. I think the narration here was top notch.

Despite the mystery aspect to this book, at it’s core it’s a survival story. Mab, Beth, and Osla go through a lot of loss and live in fear but they survive. There’s a lot of people around them who don’t. And there are aspects of their lives that are completely gone and lost to them that they have to endure. It’s not easy. They lose parts of themselves and they lose futures they’d dreamed of to just keep going.

Writer’s Takeaway: The two timelines seem completely separate until very late into the story and I think that ended up being a positive for me. I was able to almost ignore the later timeline until the last act of the book. Once it picked up, what we’d learned about the characters at the front informed a lot of what happened which made it seem very smooth in how they fit together. A sudden jump in time would have felt unnatural, but having the flashes forward spread throughout made it a lot eaiser to make that jump as a reader.

This was a fun read and a different take on WWII. Now I need to watch The Imitataion Game. Four out of Five Stars.

Read Alikes: All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr, The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

Until next time, write on.

You can follow me on Goodreads, Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram. I’m available via email at SamAStevensWriter@gmail.com. And as always, feel free to leave a comment!

Some of the links on this post may be affiliate links. Taking on a World of Words is a participant in affiliate programs designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by linking to products. If you purchase a product or service through an affiliate link, your cost will be the same but Sam will automatically receive a small commission. Your support is greatly appreciated.

Related Posts:
Book Review: The Rose Code by Kate Quinn | Celinelingg
Book Review: The Rose Code | moonraker
Kate Quinn, The Rose Code (2021) | Smithereens
ARC REVIEW: The Rose Code – by Kate Quinn | It’s All About Books
The Rose Code | Novel Expressions Book Club

Book Review: Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid (4/5)

I’ve enjoyed the few TJR books I’ve read. But I was scared to read this one. Honestly, my mom didn’t like it and we have very similar tastes so I held back. But with my TBR moving faster than I expected (thanks, commutes), I decided to give the audio a go.

Daisy Jones & The Six
Publication Date: March 2019
Length: 9 hours and 3 minutes

Other books by Jenkins Reid reviewed on this blog:

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
Atmosphere

Cover image via Amazon

A rocking story about love, addiction, inspiration, and music. The audiobook is a natural format for the oral-history storytelling.

Summary from Amazon:

Daisy is a girl coming of age in L.A. in the late sixties, sneaking into clubs on the Sunset Strip, sleeping with rock stars, and dreaming of singing at the Whisky a Go Go. The sex and drugs are thrilling, but it’s the rock ’n’ roll she loves most. By the time she’s twenty, her voice is getting noticed, and she has the kind of heedless beauty that makes people do crazy things.

Also getting noticed is The Six, a band led by the brooding Billy Dunne. On the eve of their first tour, his girlfriend Camila finds out she’s pregnant, and with the pressure of impending fatherhood and fame, Billy goes a little wild on the road.

Daisy and Billy cross paths when a producer realizes that the key to supercharged success is to put the two together. What happens next will become the stuff of legend.

I didn’t love this, but I didn’t hate it by any means. It had good details about Billy and the other things the band wanted to do beyond music which I appreciated. It helped to see them as whole people and to understand the journey they went through to get to where it all ended. I didn’t think the ‘surprise twist’ at the end was that big of a reveal, honestly. I felt like I was supposed to be shocked, but was only mildly surprised and it didn’t change how I felt about the rest of the book. That was a bit of a disappointment because TJR is usually really good at endings so I had sky-high expectations that were crushed a bit.

Billy was the most developed character in my reading. He went through some massive highs and lows and is very open and honest through the whole thing. He has a stronger arc than Daisy who I never found likeable. Billy grows up a lot in the time period of the book and I found his strength and dedication to Camilla very admirable. I felt like Daisy was paper thin and I struggled to have any empathy for her until the very final scenes. I wanted good things for her in the end, but the path she took to get there was infuriating, especially when paralleled by Billy’s journey.

I enjoyed the ‘oral history’ approach and the development we get from the band. The journey from ‘a bunch of friends who started a band’ to international fame seems somewhat antiquated with today’s focus on music streaming and the accessibility of that platform. I appreciated the slow buildup of that journey and how each person in the band approached it differently. Jenkins Reid took us in a lot of different directions between Billy’s addition and family obligations, Eddie’s jealousy, Karen’s relationship, and Simon’s friendship with Daisy. It felt like a very wholistic picture of the people that impacted the band.

Taylor Jenkins Read at the Rackham Auditorium on June 6, 2025

A lot of this book reminded me of watching Almost Famous. Jenkins Reid was able to give a really good visual with how she described the clothing people would wear. It helped me picture them in the time period and I could really easily see the 1970s setting just from that. Billy and Daisy in particular were easy to picture and I think the cover image greatly influenced how I pictured Daisy in my head. Funny enough, I could picture a lot of these same conversations and situations happening today so in a way, it seemed kind of timeless even though it was firmly set in the 70s.

The full cast audio was a great way to enjoy this book. I think the casting director got a lot of distinct voices that helped me keep the characters separate. I got a little confused between Graham and Warren at first, but after Graham started to develop his own character more, the context clues made it easier to know who was speaking. Given the oral history format, it makes the most sense for there to be a full cast here. I’m not sure it would have been any good as an audiobook if there was a single narrator.

A lot of this book came down to the women, even though they were the minority. Daisy was a powerhouse, a force to be recokned with. She did what she wanted and brought everyone along for the ride. Camilla was her opposite in some ways, but the two women shared a lot in common. She was steadfast in the toughest storms and pushed for what she wanted even when it was hard to do. I had so much respect for Camilla and she was probably my favorite character in the book. Karen deserves a massive call out here, too. She was independent in a way not many women of that time were brave enough to be. She was very self-determined and her consistency and confidence paid off for her. Her subplot was one of my favorites of the book and I’m so glad Jenkins Reid included it. Rock and Roll has always seemed like a man’s world, but this book highlighted just how influential a few women can be in key positions.

Writer’s Takeaway: Jenkins Reid was bold in her formatting for this book and I think it paid off. She was able to add the surprise at the end which was an jarring twist, even if I didn’t find it as surprising as I’ve found her other endings. I didn’t find her plot wholly original but finding a new way to tell it was refreshing. I wonder if I would have enjoyed this as much in print because the audiobook brought it to life in a great way and made the characters shine. I think some books are better in audio and this title sits firmly in that arena.

Enjoyable and original. Four out of Five Stars.

Until next time, write on.

Read Alikes: How the Mistakes Were Made by Taylor Mcmahon, Can I Say by Travis Barker, Seeing Sideways by Kristin Hersh

You can follow me on Goodreads, Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram. I’m available via email at SamAStevensWriter@gmail.com. And as always, feel free to leave a comment!

Some of the links on this post may be affiliate links. Taking on a World of Words is a participant in affiliate programs designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by linking to products. If you purchase a product or service through an affiliate link, your cost will be the same but Sam will automatically receive a small commission. Your support is greatly appreciated.

Related Posts:
Daisy Jones and The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid | The Next Book on the Shelf
The Magic of Daisy Jones and The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid | Elsie’s Bookshelf
[Book Club Review] Daisy Jones and the Six – Taylor Jenkins Reid | Modern Witch’s Bookshelf
Book review: Daisy Jones and The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid | TheReadingBull
Book Review – Daisy Jones & The Six (Taylor Jenkins Reid) | The Entertainment Journal

WWW Wednesday, 26-August-2026

Welcome to WWW Wednesday! This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and revived here on Taking on a World of Words. Just answer the three questions below and leave a link to your post in the comments for others to look at. No blog? No problem! Just leave a comment with your responses. Please, take some time to visit the other participants and see what others are reading. So, let’s get to it!

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Note: For users of Blogspot blogs, I’m unable to comment on your posts as a WordPress blogger unless you’ve enabled Name/URL comments. This is a known WordPress/Blogspot issue. Please consider enabling this to participate more fully in the community.

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Currently reading: I’m really enjoying Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin. I’ll have this finished next week to be sure. I’m not sure if I like it as much as her first book, but it’s still a great read. It’s got me staying up past my bedtime more than I’d like to admit.
I started the audio for The Lions of Fifth Avenue by Fiona Davis. I’m getting through a lot during my commute, but I’m not loving this one. It feels a bit slow. I’m going to drag it out a bit hoping my next audiobook hold comes in because it’s due soon!
I’m going to give a YA ebook a try and see how that works for me. I dove into The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie and so far, It’s been a good pace for my sporadic ebook reading.

Recently finished: I surprised myself by finishing How to Be Okay When Nothing Is Okay by Jenny Lawson while my husband was out on a shopping trip with my oldest. I didn’t like this one as much as Lawson’s other books, but I think she was trying something new and I can appreciate that. Review forthcoming.
I also wrapped up The Rose Code by Kate Quinn on audio. I liked the ending of this one, it felt deserved after the frantic pace the book had. I’m looking forward to digging into it with a review.

I took a day off last week and finished two reviews with the down time! I posted my thoughts on The Girl I Was by Jeneva Rose first. This book wasn’t for me. I was really frustrated at the characters and the ending. I’m giving it Two out of Five Stars.
I went a little out of order with my second review and posted about Likeable Badass by Alison Fragale, PhD. I’ve since passed the book to a coworker who was also at Fragale’s keynote. I thought this was full of some good advice and I look forward to her thoughts. I gave it Four out of Five Stars.

Reading next: I’m really hoping I can start London Falling by Patrick Radden Keefe as soon as the hold comes in. I’ve been looking forward to it for a while and I think moving away from fiction for a minute will be a nice break.

Leave a comment with your link and comment (if you’re so inclined). Take a look at the other participant links in the comments and look at what others are reading.

Have any opinions on these choices?

Until next time, write on.

You can follow me on Goodreads, Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram. I’m available via email at SamAStevensWriter@gmail.com. And as always, feel free to leave a comment!

Some of the links on this post may be affiliate links. Taking on a World of Words is a participant in affiliate programs designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by linking to products. If you purchase a product or service through an affiliate link, your cost will be the same but Sam will automatically receive a small commission. Your support is greatly appreciated.

Book Review: Likeable Badass by Alison Fragale, PhD (4/5)

My company hosted Fragale for the International Women’s Day event we had this past year. Half of the attendees, myself included, got a copy of her book. The other half got the book of the second keynote speaker. A coworker and I agreed to read and then switch and since we both have young kids, this is the first either of has thought of these books since that event in the Spring. So I’m happy to punt this one over the fence to her and will wait as long as she needs to get the other book to read and review. I love an understanding parent.

Likeable Badass by Alison Fragale, PhD
Publication Date: September 2024
Length: 209

Cover Image via Amazon

Practical tips for a working professional woman. A good mix of research, personal experience, and advice.

Summary from Amazon:

Over decades of research, speaking engagements, and mentorship, psychologist and professor Alison Fragale encountered recurring questions from high powered and early career women alike: How do women thread the needle of kindness and competence in the workplace? How can women earn credit for their accomplishments, negotiate better, and navigate complex office politics without losing the goodwill of their peers?

Fragale investigated and determined that many women’s workplace issues boil down to what psychologists call status: the perception of them by others. No amount of power– no degree, title, or paycheck– will raise a woman’s workplace stature unless it also affects how others see her. Acknowledging this roadblock, Fragale pulls back the curtain on how we can change how others see us by developing our standing as a “likeable badass.” By cultivating perceptions of warmth and assertiveness, women can achieve the kind of reputation that leads to a seat at the table and a fulfilling career path.

Likeable Badass is equal parts behavioral science and life hacks, weaving together rigorous research with actionable advice and impactful stories from a diverse array of women. This is a warm, heartening book written for women, their allies, and anyone who struggles to rise, and wants evidence-based, practical strategies for success, served with a side of inspiration and humor.

I don’t read a lot of business or ‘self help’ books so I was skeptical going into this one. I found that the tone was very conversational and light, which made for a quick read. Fragale is an academic, but one with professional work experience before entering academia which she was able to pull from when writing. She uses a lot of personal anecdotes mixed with research to highlight her points and advice which was a fun read. I enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I would and read it quickly.

Alison Fragale. Image via the author’s Instagram

Fragale’s main argument is that someone’s perception falls on two continuum: assertive to submissive and cold to warm. Those who are assertive and warm are the titular Likeable Badasses. The book outlines how one can project ‘Warm Strength’ through relationship building, interactions, and communication. The advice is very tangible for women at any stage in their career. She addresses and counters the ideas that women have to be stern to be taken seriously and how to promote yourself without seeming boastful. One thing I appreciated was how she acknowledged that some of the advice would seem unauthentic to some readers and encouraged you to only take on what still felt like it fit your personal brand.

With all the progress that’s been made toward equality in the workplace, it’s a reality that there are still stigmas and perceptions of women that need to actively be countered. I’ve always been inclined to be a ‘warm’ professional and I’d honestly wondered how I might be perceived by peers. It was reassuring to know that warmth doesn’t equate to unprofessionalism and that the key is to be sure I’m assertive alongside it to fall into this ‘ideal state.’

Writer’s Takeaway: While it’s like Fragale wrote this book to accompany her work as a keynote speaker, it’s also a great way for someone with an academic background to share their knowledge to a non-academic audience. I’m unlikely to read research articles in an academic publication, but I am likely to read a book. It was also a great way to add on to her income from her keynote! I’m following Fragale on LinkedIn now and I appreciate her continued advice when I see my feed. Writing the book helps her ‘warmth’ perception in measurable ways.

This was a surprising hit for me considering it’s not my usual read. Four out of Five Stars.

Read Alikes: How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie, Powering Up by Anne Doyle

Until next time, write on.

You can follow me on Goodreads, Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram. I’m available via email at SamAStevensWriter@gmail.com. And as always, feel free to leave a comment!

Some of the links on this post may be affiliate links. Taking on a World of Words is a participant in affiliate programs designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by linking to products. If you purchase a product or service through an affiliate link, your cost will be the same but Sam will automatically receive a small commission. Your support is greatly appreciated.

Related Post:
Episode 496 – Likeable Badass with Alison Fragale | The Extraordinary Business Book Club

Book Review: The Girl I Was by Jeneva Rose (2/5)

My husband is the sweetest and went to a local bookstore (!!) and bought me a ‘blind date with a book’ for Christmas this past year. I loved the idea and packaging and little stickers that came with it- all adorable! And inside was a book I’d never heard of by an author I’d neve hear of. I love the surprise. It’s just too bad the book wasn’t for me.

The Girl I Was by Jeneva Rose
Publication Date: July 2025
Length: 304 pages

Cover image via Amazon

A nostalgic romp with some rather unlikeable characters. A few heartfelt moments but an unsatisfactory conclusion.

Summary from Amazon:

Alexis Spencer will use any inspirational quote to rationalize her failures and shortcomings. Her closest friends are a distant memory, and her college debt is still as high as the day she left. But that’s all fine and dandy, because “whatever will be, will be.”

However, when Alexis loses her job and her relationship on the same day, there’s no quote strong enough to get her through that. In typical fashion, she blames the world for her problems, including her younger self, who should have tried harder.

Feeling sorry for herself, Alexis finds a bottle of vodka from her college days and goes on a bender, blacking out in the process. Only this time, she doesn’t wake up at home, or in the right city. In fact, she isn’t even in the right year.

Alexis is back in her college town in the year 2002.

Convinced this is her chance to do things over, she heads to her dorm—and comes face-to-face with her eighteen-year-old unruly self, who goes by Lexi because it’s “sexier.” Getting acclimated to life in the early 2000s is the easy part. Dealing with Lexi is where things prove difficult.

They might be the same person, but they couldn’t be more different from one another. Now Alexis and Lexi must learn to get along and come to terms with the fact that alone, they will never make things right, but together, they could change their life for the better.

This book didn’t do it for me. I didn’t enjoy the writing and the plot was a bit too much for me to buy into. And it came to an unsatisfying end that I’ll dig more into later. Overall, it was a fun bit of nostalgia, but I struggled to feel bad for Alexis in either time period and was annoyed more than anything.

I struggled to feel bad for Alexis. I would have had sympathy for her losing her job, but the way she pushed Andrew away and picked a fight with him frustrated me and I couldn’t feel bad for her. She came off as very selfish in the opening chapters. After meeting Lexi, she was no more likeable, even compared to Lexi who was insufferable the entire book. I failed to see the change in her that would impact Alexis’s timeline. I don’t understand how someone who acts like Lexi their first semester of college doesn’t flunk out by Christmas. Everyone I knew who did was gone by Sophomore year unless they were a secret genius (and there were a few) which from what we hear of Lexi later in life, she probably isn’t. The characters seemed very vain and their actions were selfish. It was too much for me to connect with them.

Jeneva Rose. Image via Amazon

I’ve said before how magical realism can sometimes be more than I can wrap my head around. I find it unbelievable but that’s the whole point and I struggle to get sucked in. There are a few specific points I want to talk about that are spoilers so please skip this paragraph if you want to avoid that. I found it unrealistic that no one except her mother would realize Alexis and Lexi were the same person. Her dad, brother, or best friends should have had some inkling. I also found it unbelievable that her mom wouldn’t say anything and would just accept without question that her daughter from the future was visiting and be completely confident in that. And now onto my biggest gripe, the ending! I did appreciate how Alexis saw the new scar on her leg as a premonition that things were going to be different in her future. However, the timeline she jumped to was so different from the one she’d left and it didn’t feel she’d earned that difference. She had a very minor realization that she’d been a bad friend and what she’d learned and done in her past would have an impact on her timeline, but the benefits she had in the future from this greatly outweighed the effort and changes she realized in the past. It didn’t feel earned. Jobless, single, and friendless was a rough situation. Coming back to a steady job, an engagement, and a strong group of friends was a massive shift and Alexis didn’t seem appreciative of what she’d come into. She seemed to think she deserved it for the ‘struggles’ she had with Lexi. To me, that showed a lack of character growth which should have been the whole point of her adventures. Ok, rant over.

It was fun to see the early 2000s in a book. I was a teenager in this time period, only slightly younger than Lexi, and the descriptions of fashions and pop culture brought back memories. I suspect this period might start to become more popular is fiction as we move away from it but for now it was novel and fun to see.

Alexis isn’t alone in thinking their past self is to blame for their current problems. There are things in my past that I wish had played out differently but I know that would change my current situation and I don’t wish for that. I know others might. This was an interesting way to explore how some minor changes might have massive impact on our future, a Butterfly Affect of sorts. The biggest point to me was that maturity and self-awareness were what Lexi lacked and if she’d had guidance and mentorship, those changes were very realistic.

Writer’s Takeaway: Rose is normally a thriller writer and has had great success with those books. From my understanding, this was the first book she ever wrote but was published after she found success. I haven’t read her other books, so I can’t say what her writing style has become. However, this felt unpolished. The characters were flat and the plot lacked depth. I wonder if this was a stepping stone to Rose finding her voice as a writer but isn’t reflective of her body of work. I think there are things that a writer creates that might be more of a building block than something to show the world. I honestly don’t know if I think this was something Rose should have published. I made a similar argument about Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee. Some things you write for yourself.

This book wasn’t for me, unfortunately. Two out of Five Stars.

Read Alikes: Landline by Rainbow Rowell, Yesterday is History by Kosoko Jackson

Until next time, write on.

You can follow me on Goodreads, Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram. I’m available via email at SamAStevensWriter@gmail.com. And as always, feel free to leave a comment!

Some of the links on this post may be affiliate links. Taking on a World of Words is a participant in affiliate programs designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by linking to products. If you purchase a product or service through an affiliate link, your cost will be the same but Sam will automatically receive a small commission. Your support is greatly appreciated.

Related Posts:
Book Review: The Girl I Was by Jeneva Rose | Lesser Joke
The Girl I Was, a review by Amy | The Book Review Crew

WWW Wednesday, 19-August-2026

Welcome to WWW Wednesday! This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and revived here on Taking on a World of Words. Just answer the three questions below and leave a link to your post in the comments for others to look at. No blog? No problem! Just leave a comment with your responses. Please, take some time to visit the other participants and see what others are reading. So, let’s get to it!

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Note: For users of Blogspot blogs, I’m unable to comment on your posts as a WordPress blogger unless you’ve enabled Name/URL comments. This is a known WordPress/Blogspot issue. Please consider enabling this to participate more fully in the community.

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Currently reading: I made some really small progress in How to Be Okay When Nothing Is Okay by Jenny Lawson. The short chapters encourage me to read at least one per day so I’m moving forward, albeit at a snail’s pace.
I’m making quick work of The Rose Code by Kate Quinn. I’m enjoying this a lot and I love the references to the historical characters that I recognize alongside the fictional ones Quinn invented. A few things were predictable so far, but I’m looking forward to a few more twists as I wrap this up! Hopefully I’m done by next week.
I got my library copy of Gabrielle Zevin’s Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow. I’m not too far into it so far but I’ve enjoyed what I’ve read and hoping to keep moving forward at a good pace!

Recently finished: I got through Likeable Badass by Allison Fragale, PhD fairly quickly. I was motivated by wanting to read Zevin and the writing was very conversational which helped me get through it. I’m not a big fan of business or self-help books so this wasn’t my typical read. I enjoyed it for what it was and some of the more practical tips it had. I’m going to lend my copy to a coworker and I’ll be curious what she has to say about it, too.

I only got through one review this week but that’s still something! You can see my thoughts on Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier that went up on Monday. It wasn’t my cup of tea. I watched the movie over the weekend and enjoyed that so I’d probably direct anyone interested in that direction. I gave it Two out of Five Stars.

Reading next: I’m about four weeks out from getting my hands on London Falling by Patrick Radden Keefe. It’s probably not going to come in before I need another audiobook.
In that case, I’ll turn my attention to The Lions of Fifth Avenue by Fiona Davis. I need a book for the 1900-1919 time period of the 2026 When Are You Reading? Challenge and this will fit the bill nicely!

Leave a comment with your link and comment (if you’re so inclined). Take a look at the other participant links in the comments and look at what others are reading.

Have any opinions on these choices?

Until next time, write on.

You can follow me on Goodreads, Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram. I’m available via email at SamAStevensWriter@gmail.com. And as always, feel free to leave a comment!

Some of the links on this post may be affiliate links. Taking on a World of Words is a participant in affiliate programs designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by linking to products. If you purchase a product or service through an affiliate link, your cost will be the same but Sam will automatically receive a small commission. Your support is greatly appreciated.

Book Review: Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier (2/5)

I will start off by saying that when I read an ebook on my phone, it ends up taking me months and I usually don’t enjoy the book as much as I might have if I’d read it in a more condensed period of time. I usually try to pick books that I think will grab my interest and I can read them fast despite it being a format I really dislike. I made a mistake here. This book was slow and meandering and it took me more than five months to read it. So bear that context in mind with what you’re about to read. I also just found this is available for streaming on Hoopla through my library so I’ll be watching the movie adaptation soon.

Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier
Publication Date: May 1997
Length: 480 pages

Cover image via Amazon

An Odyssean journey home from war married with story of female independence. How we adjust when everything is changing.

Summary from Amazon:

Based on local history and family stories passed down by the author’s great-great-grandfather, Cold Mountain is the tale of a wounded soldier, Inman, who walks away from the ravages of the war and back home to his prewar sweetheart, Ada. Inman’s odyssey through the devastated landscape of the soon-to-be-defeated South interweaves with Ada’s struggle to revive her father’s farm, with the help of an intrepid young drifter named Ruby. As their long-separated lives begin to converge at the close of the war, Inman and Ada confront the vastly transformed world they’ve been delivered.

This was too slow for me. Ada’s story was fun and I could see her growth and development, but Inman’s story was like the Odyssey. Every step forward felt like five steps backwards. His chapters felt like a collection of short stories rather than a consistent story with a single character. Every person he met was gone within a chapter or two. It made the progress feel very slow and it was hard for me to get engaged and excited.

Ada was a great character. We see her grow and develop from the Charleston society lady to a farmer and survivor. Ruby was a great person to help her learn and see what she was capable of. I enjoyed their interplay and exchanges. I think they each made the other stronger. As I said, I struggled with Inman. I found it hard to connect to him and I didn’t see much growth or change in his character. He’s motivated to get back to Ada, but we don’t get a full picture of why or what their relationship is like until well into the story. He doesn’t seem to change or grow on his long trek back home and I ultimately felt like this story was more about the adventure than the man and it wasn’t what I wanted.

Charles Frazier. Image via Amazon

In writing this review, I read that this book was based of family stories that had been passed down to Frazier. Honestly, that makes me like it a little bit more. The plot was meandering and I felt it was too long winded. If this was his way of sharing some family history, I can appreciate that aspect of the storytelling and why some details and tangents were left in. The comparison to The Odyssey is strong to me and it also felt like a collection of short stories about Inman and a developed storyline about Ada. Putting them together didn’t work for me, unfortunately.

The setting was really well described. I hadn’t thought much about what it would be like in the South as their defeat was looming and soldiers started to flee. The fear of being caught was very real and Inman’s experience showcased that well. The people he met along the way were also scared and isolated. The only people who didn’t seem to share the fear were the ones hunting run-away soldiers. I found myself wondering what gave those folks authority to do that instead of fighting themselves. I also appreciated seeing how the war affected Ada and how the life she knew before moving to Cold Mountain was gone and that she had to build a new future. It was a very tumultuous time and Frazier captured that well.

There are some times in this world that completely change the direction of people’s lives and they can’t go back. The Civil War was a massive shift for the South. The only character I can think of who was unaffected by the war was the goat woman- everyone else had a major change in their life as a result. There are events like this happening in the world all the time in every place imaginable. I enjoyed the exploration of how life shifts and resettles. It will be different for everyone in every situation and every experience but things will settle in the end.

Writer’s Takeaway: Learning more about this story’s origins while writing this review, I congratulate Frazier for finding such a creative way of sharing his family’s stories. I’ve heard of a few novels that are based on family history and I appreciate how Frazier was able to intertwine Ada and Inman’s very different stories into one.

Overall, this book was a bit too meandering for me and I failed to see much character progression or change in Inman. Two out of Five Stars.

Read Alikes: True Grit by Charles Portis, The Demon of Unrest by Erik Larson, The Night Watch by Sarah Waters

Until next time, write on.

You can follow me on Goodreads, Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram. I’m available via email at SamAStevensWriter@gmail.com. And as always, feel free to leave a comment!

Some of the links on this post may be affiliate links. Taking on a World of Words is a participant in affiliate programs designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by linking to products. If you purchase a product or service through an affiliate link, your cost will be the same but Sam will automatically receive a small commission. Your support is greatly appreciated.

Related Posts:
Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier | Talking (Book)Shop
“Cold Mountain” by Charles Frazier | Classical Bookworm
Book #397 – Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier | Library of 1000 Books
Fiction: Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier | Hillbilly Highways
Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier – Civil War Odysseus | Librarian and Mule

WWW Wednesday, 12-August-2026

Welcome to WWW Wednesday! This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and revived here on Taking on a World of Words. Just answer the three questions below and leave a link to your post in the comments for others to look at. No blog? No problem! Just leave a comment with your responses. Please, take some time to visit the other participants and see what others are reading. So, let’s get to it!

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Note: For users of Blogspot blogs, I’m unable to comment on your posts as a WordPress blogger unless you’ve enabled Name/URL comments. This is a known WordPress/Blogspot issue. Please consider enabling this to participate more fully in the community.

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Currently reading: Yet again, a lot happened. I haven’t been perfect at picking my ebook up every day, but I’ve been more successful than not. It helps that How to Be Okay When Nothing Is Okay by Jenny Lawson. has short chapters so reading one is doable while my kids are in the bathroom or if I have two minutes to kill before a meeting. It’s a nice way to fill gaps.
I started a new audiobook for The Rose Code by Kate Quinn. My hold didn’t come in and this was next up on my list so I jumped on it. I’ve read Quinn before and enjoyed her writing a lot. This book is making me want to rewatch The Imitation Game so I’ll have to do that when I’m done!
I grabbed the next book of my ‘unread’ pile of physical copies. I’m almost half way through Likeable Badass by Allison Fragale, PhD. It’s a bit of a deviation from what I normally read to be sure. I went to an International Women’s Day event at work and Fragale was one of the keynote speakers. Both keynotes had a book out and the woman next to me and I got different ones and we vowed to read ours and swap. Luckily we both have small children and not a lot of time, so we had no timeline and she hasn’t started hers yet. I’ll pass this off to her when I’m done and have more time for some fiction before I read the one she has.

Recently finished: I finished up The Girl I Was by Jeneva Rose and I was furious at the ending. I’ll write up a full review explaining it, but the frustration I had throughout the book paled in comparison to how I felt about the ending. I’m giving this Two out of Five Stars only because it was readable, if not enjoyable.
I also wrapped up Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid. While it’s not my favorite TJR, this was still really fun to read and I’m glad I did. The full cast audiobook was pretty fun and I’m glad they did it that way instead of a single narrator. I’ve given it Four out of Five Stars.

I’ve been focusing on reviews and was able to pound out a few this week! Last Thursday I posted my thoughts on The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon. I liked this one and thought the historical mystery was really fun. I’ve given it Four out of Five Stars.
I also reviewed Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt. I wasn’t won over by this popular pick, unfortunately. I’d still like to see the movie because I think the visual of a giant octopus would be cool. I gave it Three out of Five Stars.
Yesterday, I reviewed A Far-Flung Life by M.L. Stedman. I think my expectations for this one were too high going in. I only gave it Three out of Five Stars but it was a good book, if not as good as her debut. I think it’s still worth reading.

Reading next: I’m still on the waiting list for London Falling by Patrick Radden Keefe but it could be about a month before I get it. I’m still hoping my library buys another copy to speed this up!
I’m thinking of grabbing a library copy of a physical book next to preserve my shrinking copy of unread paperbacks and let me get to books I’ve been pining over longer. I’m eyeing a copy of Gabrielle Zevin’s Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow. After how much I liked The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry, I have (probably too) high expectations for this one.

Leave a comment with your link and comment (if you’re so inclined). Take a look at the other participant links in the comments and look at what others are reading.

Have any opinions on these choices?

Until next time, write on.

You can follow me on Goodreads, Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram. I’m available via email at SamAStevensWriter@gmail.com. And as always, feel free to leave a comment!

Some of the links on this post may be affiliate links. Taking on a World of Words is a participant in affiliate programs designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by linking to products. If you purchase a product or service through an affiliate link, your cost will be the same but Sam will automatically receive a small commission. Your support is greatly appreciated.