Maid by Stephanie Land
Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother’s Will to Survive
Author: Stephanie Land
Narrator: Stephanie Land
Published: January 22, 2019
Audiobook
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Read: June 17-24, 2020
Jessica’s Rating: 3.5 stars
Book Description:
“My daughter learned to walk in a homeless shelter.”
While the gap between upper middle-class Americans and the working poor widens, grueling low-wage domestic and service work–primarily done by women–fuels the economic success of the wealthy. Stephanie Land worked for years as a maid, pulling long hours while struggling as a single mom to keep a roof over her daughter’s head. In Maid, she reveals the dark truth of what it takes to survive and thrive in today’s inequitable society.
While she worked hard to scratch her way out of poverty as a single parent, scrubbing the toilets of the wealthy, navigating domestic labor jobs, higher education, assisted housing, and a tangled web of government assistance, Stephanie wrote. She wrote the true stories that weren’t being told. The stories of overworked and underpaid Americans.
Written in honest, heart-rending prose and with great insight, Maid explores the underbelly of upper-middle class America and the reality of what it’s like to be in service to them. “I’d become a nameless ghost,” Stephanie writes. With this book, she gives voice to the “servant” worker, those who fight daily to scramble and scrape by for their own lives and the lives of their children.
Jessica’s Review:
Stephanie Land’s memoir is written and narrated by the author. I enjoyed that I was really hearing her personal story first hand in her own voice. Land shows us the hard life of a single mom and the hard work she put in to take care of her daughter. It also shows how difficult it can be to even get assistance from government programs, let alone to stay on them.
Most of the memoir focuses on her job as a maid and cleaning others’ houses. It made me think about the people who clean our hotel rooms and that they may experience similar life difficulties. (I can’t picture maids who clean homes, as we would never be able to afford one!) I hate to say it was ‘enjoyable’ to read about her working in the people’s homes. What I did not like at all was when she described putting on women’s expensive jackets and going through their personal things. How invasive and wrong!
The memoir has a happy ending, and I think it was the love of her daughter that kept her going through the very difficult times she faced. This memoir leaves you thinking about many things, including not judging someone until you have walked in their shoes, which Land lets us do as she shares the story of her life as a maid.
Celebrate: It’s Been FOUR Years!!!
OMG: Who would have thought that when I said to my husband “I want to start a book blog” that I would still be doing it! It feels like I have been doing it forever, but in a good way and this weekend is a HUGE deal: WE ARE TURING FOUR!
Almost all of my free time is dedicated to blogging and sharing the book love: BUT as long as I enjoy it, that is what matters! I started my blog for me first and it may not be a blog with a huge following (which I am fine with ) I still do have people looking at what I think and this is great! It’s crazy to think that people actually read about what I have to say about books!
And we have Kim as well who brings her own flair to things. She does her monthly video wrap ups, has a You Tube channel, and she also heads up the Most Gorgeous Cover contest on the Facebook page twice a year.
Here are the social media we are on:
Jessica’s Reading Room:
Twitter @JessReadingRoom
Facebook: It is a companion to this site and Kim and I use it as a way to get to know us more personally. If you have not given us a ‘like’ you should. We have lots of fun things going on! We have just over 500 ‘likes’ and ‘follows’!
**Twitter is run by Jessica; Both Jessica and Kim post on the Facebook page. Jessica ends her posts with JPJ and Kim ends hers with KSF (When we remember… Sometimes we forget, we aren’t perfect!)
Jessica:
Instagram @jessica42980
Goodreads
Kim:
Instagram @kimsnerdlife
Goodreads
YouTube
NOW FOR SOME FUN!! We are having some giveaways!!! One for USA only, One is International only, and one very special worldwide Kindle preview giveaway from author Taryn Leigh!
**The giveaways will run from the 18th-22nd. Winners will be selected and notified by the 25th.**
**USA ONLY** GIVEAWAY
Some books and a **Fitness Tracker**
First is a used copy of The Bus Ride by Joanie Chevalier. This is a finished copy.
Used arcs copies of:
The Safe Place (with some swag) by Anna Downes
The New Husband by D.J. Palmer
Hollywood Park by Mikel Jollett
**Kim will be donating some books as well. She has planned to donate copies of Gunslinger Girl by Lyndsay Ely and My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier.
We are also giving away this brand new and unopened Fitness Tracker. It is a heart rate monitor, has multi-sport mode, tracks sleep, and more! My hubby has this exact model and enjoys using it! Though he isn’t attached to it like I am with my Fit-bit!
Stats:
1. This fitness tracker requires iOS 8.0 & Android 4.4 above, Bluetooth 4.0 (Smartphone only, not for PC, iPad or Tablet)
2. If you want to see clearly under the strong sun, please adjust the brightness to brightest
3. When you download the “FlagFit 2.0” app, please allow all the requires, and if it shows to update, please update it.
4. If disconnected, please check whether it is running in the background, if not, just open the app, it will take around 20 seconds to sync the data.
SPECIFICATIONS
Model: B1 Fitness Tracker
Bluetooth Version: Bluetooth 4.0 or later
Bluetooth Transmission Distance: 10 Meters (32.8 feet)
Screen Type: 1.3 inch IPS Color Screen
Material: upper casing: PC + Metal; strap: TPU
Dimension: suits for wrist size: 6.5 inch – 10 inch
Battery Type: 260mAh Polymer Lithium Battery
Working Time: 25-30 days
Charging Type: 2-Pin USB cable (included)
Charging Time: 1.5-2 hours
**INTERNATIONAL ONLY** GIVEAWAY
$25 in books from Book Depository!
**Please keep in mind that due to COVID-19 their shipping may be affected to your country. Please verify that they are still shipping to your country before this entering this giveaway.
**FOR EVERYONE** GIVEAWAY!
Author Taryn Leigh’s upcoming novel The Secret Letters doesn’t come out until August 9, 2020, but she is wonderfully donating 4 KINDLE copies to giveaway. You WILL receive it before publication: Isn’t an advance copy wonderful??? And FOUR of you will get it!
Book Description:
RACHEL, saved from an attack twelve years before by a faceless stranger, never got to thank him, never knew his name.
Despite the devastation she chose to rise above it to help others from their pain by becoming a psychologist…. Her only issue now is that she’s an expert at fixing everyone else’s problems, and blind to her own.
After a long relationship with her boyfriend WILL starts to go south, she turns to her best friend AMELIA for guidance.
Suddenly her world is turned upside down when tragedy strikes and she’s left with no one to comfort her but Will’s rude older brother RUARI.
Paralyzed by fear, she struggles to take grip of her life, until the day when anonymous letters begin to appear from the stranger who saved her twelve years before.
**Once winners are selected, we will need your kindle email address. You will then need to add the author’s email to your approved sender list and the book will be sent directly to your kindle.**
It’s so hard to believe it has been 4 years. Let’s see what starting year 5 will bring! Good luck to everyone who enters the giveaways!
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Blog Tour: I Love You Too, Daddy by Shervin Jamali
Today I am sharing my review as a part of the blog tour for I Love You Too, Daddy by Shervin Jamali. This novella was just released this week, is a short one at just 80 pages, and as of now has made my top read of the year!
Novella Description:
A young man hears a voice, compelling him to write the story of his life.
About a father, and brother, he adores. And perhaps a mother, who got lost in the shuffle. But there’s so much more. The voice convinces him others might benefit from his tale. That they too could overcome loss as a result.
So Jason writes his emotional journey.
I Love You Too, Daddy
Author: Shervin Jamali
Published: July 14, 2020
80 Pages
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Read: July 3-4, 2020
Jessica’s Rating: 5 stars
Jessica’s Review:
Shervin Jamali is a ‘new to me’ author for 2020 and he did it again with another 5 star review! (the first for me was Remember) I plan to read all of his novels, and I Love You Too, Daddy is his newest and as of right now it is my top read of 2020!
This is a review where I don’t think I can give the novel the kudos it deserves. You will just have to read it. I Love You Too, Daddy is a fictional memoir of Jason and his life. This is one everyone should read as it deals with loss due to death and everyone has lost someone precious to them. The loss of someone precious can leave life-long emotions. Myself, I lost my dad at 19, so I expected to cry while reading. I can say I didn’t but came close: I mean, look at the title of the memoir! Jamali captures those feelings of loss perfectly through Jason’s memoir.
Through the short chapters that give Jason’s age at the start, we see Jason grow up. The novella is brief at just 80 pages and can be read very quickly. You are fully invested in Jason’s life as he narrates. And be on the lookout for Michael who makes appearances in all of Jamali’s novels.
The only disclaimer I can give is that if you have recently lost someone and your grief is still fresh I would not read this right away unless you want a good ugly cry, which you might actually need.
If you have not read anything by Jamali, do look into his books. They are only .99 on kindle! They are well worth the price.
Purchase Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK
About the Author:
Shervin Jamali has been writing for as long as he can remember as he had so many stories “locked away” but it wasn’t until he completed the first draft of ‘The Devil’s Lieutenant’ (2016) that he decided to turn his writings into books. His books are the perfect outlet for his daytime job as an IT consultant and he looks forward to the day he will be a full-time writer.
After having lived in sunny Florida, Shervin Jamali now resides in Knoxville, Tennessee. In his spare time, Shervin likes to put together jigsaw puzzles whilst contemplating plots for his next book.
Contact Shervin:
Twitter @ShervinJamali
Amazon Author Page
Books by Shervin Jamali:
I Love You Too, Daddy
Insaniam
Remember
The Devil’s Lieutenant
Escape from Hell