Happy Friday! 

I hope you are having a good week so far. This week has flown by for me. Some restrictions have been lifted in Australia, so it will be interesting to see if there are a lot more people out and about this weekend, especially because the weather forecast is looking very nice.

Earlier this week Tj and I had to go to a store and we took the train. It felt so weird being back on public transportation, especially because it was nearly empty. But it was even weirder taking an Uber home because I realized I haven’t even been in a car in over a month! 

It’s been a while since I’ve done a book review, and I enjoyed this one so much I wanted to share.

The Book: 

The Authenticity Project by Clare Pooley

What it’s about: 

Julian Jessop, an eccentric, lonely artist and septuagenarian believes that most people aren't really honest with each other. But what if they were? And so he writes--in a plain, green journal--the truth about his own life and leaves it in his local café. It's run by the incredibly tidy and efficient Monica, who furtively adds her own entry and leaves the book in the wine bar across the street. Before long, the others who find the green notebook add the truths about their own deepest selves--and soon find each other In Real Life at Monica's Café.

The Authenticity Project's cast of characters--including Hazard, the charming addict who makes a vow to get sober; Alice, the fabulous mommy Instagrammer whose real life is a lot less perfect than it looks online; and their other new friends-is by turns quirky and funny, heartbreakingly sad and painfully true-to-life. It's a story about being brave and putting your real self forward--and finding out that it's not as scary as it seems. In fact, it looks a lot like happiness.

The Authenticity Project is just the tonic for our times that readers are clamoring for--and one they will take to their hearts and read with unabashed pleasure.

(from kobo.ca)

Why I wanted to read it: 

Last week I wrote about reading a book that was really dark and heavy in a bad way and I wish I hadn’t finished it. I was very selective with my next read - I wanted something flight and fun. And this book delivered! I think I just found it because it was the daily deal on kobo and it sounded cute and was on sale lol. It was exactly what I needed.

Final Thoughts: 

I rated this book 5/5. I read it in just over a day. I had started it but wasn’t very far into it and then I woke up last Saturday and it was pouring rain outside so I made a big cuppa tea and curled up on the couch with a blanket and my book. And throughout the day I kept telling Tj that my book was sooo good. We went for a walk and I just wanted to come back home to keep reading. I couldn’t get enough of it.

This book had a lot of things I love - interesting characters, unlikely friendships, and it’s set in London. It switches perspectives between the different characters, and there were some that I wanted more of, and some a little less of, but it was very well done and I really enjoyed how the stories intertwined and came together.

It was exactly the fun, feel-good novel I was looking for. Timing is so important to whether or not I connect with a book and I read this at the perfect time. I think this will be one of the books I will always remember and associate with COVID-19 and staying home.

Have a great weekend.

Happy Reading!