The Best Books We’ve Read Lately | Rochester Mom Contributor Team

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February is I Love to Read Month!  We polled the Rochester Local contributors to hear about the best thing they’ve read lately.  Perhaps you’ll find your next favorite book in the list below!

What book would you add?

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” – Kahla Jourdan

“Absolutely a recommended read to help you start embracing authenticity in your life and relationships- to live and love “wholeheartedly.” This book gives you permission and guidance to own your stories and embrace them. I gave copies to every woman I love this year.” – Megan Toney

Reading and Audiobooks have helped heal my soul during a time of immense stress, loss, and grief. All of Elin Hilderbrand’s books transported me to Nantucket or St. John’s, the most recent one mentioned my hometown of Whitefish Bay, WI. It felt like a small wink from above. I adored “The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo” and “The Nightingale”. “The Nightingale” took a moment for me to get into, but I cried when I finished it, I just loved it so much and wanted so so so much more. I’m currently reading “The Rose Code” by Kate Quinn. I just finished listening to “What Happens in Paradise” by Elin Hildebrand and am currently listening to “False Witness” by Karen Slaughter. I try to listen to at least one book a week.  – Molly Grimm

A book of modern poems that are honest about the many roles women play. It helps women to feel seen and displays the beauty that is womanhood. – Blair Sharp

I just finished this book a couple of weeks ago. It was powerful and sad and I would read it all over again. The setting is Ireland during the Spanish Flu, with the main character a nurse in the maternity ward of a hospital. The character development is compelling. Again, it isn’t a light and fun read, but so well-written. I plan to read more from this author.. – Cynthia Beeler

I just finished up Little Paris Book Shop! – Lucy Baril

I seesaw between heavy reading and light reading. Currently, I’ve been in a light reading kick, and have been re-reading comedy favorites: Yes Please by Amy Poehler and Bossypants by Tina Fey. It’s just what I need right now! – Kim Erickson Friedline

This biography memoir is a depiction of Elizabeth Packard. Written both with facts from her life as well as the copious amounts of letters, notes, and journals she wrote, it depicts her life after she was committed to a mental institution by her husband. In the world of the 1860s, he was intimidated by her free-thinking, intelligence, composure, and unrepenting desire to speak her mind. The book outlines her fight for freedom and the journey she had to take to prove her mental sanity in a world determined to push her thoughts aside. The book raises important questions and asks the reader to examine the language and attitude surrounding women’s mental health, even today. – Becky Montpetit