Better Than Before: Mastering the Habits of Our Everyday Lives by Gretchen Rubin

A special thank you to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I liked this book much better than her other two books. My problem with Gretchen Rubin is that she constantly reminds us that she has a blog, and mentions her husband and children way too much. There are so many good nuggets in the book that she could flesh out, she doesn't need to consistently tell us about her privileged lifestyle, her blog, Jamie, Eleanor and Eliza.

At times I found her preachy.  She certainly doesn't do herself any favours when she recounts conversations that she has with people as she sounds completely righteous.

Like I said there were a lot of good takeaways from the book - I wish she had of expanded upon those and done away with all of the personal fluff.

Emma by Alexander McCall Smith

I  received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads.

I wanted to like this book, I really, really did...but...it failed.  McCall Smith attempts to transport Emma into modern times and the whole thing feels kind of forced.  The language for one, is not reflective of modern times, it still reads with too much formality and McCall Smith relies on rephrasing instead of rewriting/retelling.  The original Emma is not a likeable heroine and neither is McCall Smith's Emma and I think he should've left her alone.