Book Review: Triumphant! By Jessica Roberts
Triumphant! One Woman’s Journey from Prison to Purpose
Author: Jessica Roberts
Published: January 12, 2019
224 Pages
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Read: October 24-31, 2023
Jessica’s Rating: 4 stars
Book Description:
I tried to live my life the way I’d been shown, and early on, it wasn’t as hard to do. But as I got older, choices weren’t so black and white. Love can make you do things that you otherwise would not do. Haven’t you ever done something that you really didn’t want to do, but it was for someone you really loved? I’ve come to understand that sometimes, the places we find ourselves and the experiences we encounter serve to prepare us for our purpose. Now that I have the benefit of age, experience, and wisdom, I can see how the things I went through has shaped the woman I am now. The dreams and goals I have now were not the dreams I started out with. My love and my choices left me facing a ten-year prison sentence! In spite of my choices and what I thought I wanted for my life, my dreams took a different turn. My new dreams have been directly influenced by the direction my life took.
Coincidence? Read my story and then you can decide.
Jessica’s Review:
I met the author at an event for authors from Georgia telling you about the books they wrote. At first I didn’t realize that Jessica’s book was telling her story, but when I did, I had to get it and read it! Fortunately, I was finishing my current read and I was able to pick up her book and read her story.
Roberts’ story is a quick read with short chapters and once I got started I wanted to keep reading! I inhaled it as a “read in my free time” selection. If you are short on time this would be a memoir that can be read very quickly.
Jessica tells her story to us directly and candidly. We see how the decisions she made shaped her life, and pointed her in the direction her life eventually goes. The reader sees what happens through her words, and the book evokes strong feelings to go with it: It just didn’t seem like the attorney really wanted to represent her. Your lawyer is supposed to be #TeamClient and Roberts’ lawyer appeared to be working against her. Why take on the case then? This wasn’t a court appointed attorney but a privately hired one.
We go through the criminal case as Jessica tells her story, and her life after she is released. She has people who helped her and her young daughter, and now Roberts is working to help those women who need it as she did. Through everything she had Faith and still does.
Purchase Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK
Audiobook Review: The Woman in Me by Britney Spears
The Woman in Me
Author: Britney Spears
Narrator: Michelle Williams
Published: October 24, 2023
Audiobook: 5 hours 32 minutes
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Listened To: November 1-3, 2023
Jessica’s Rating: 4 stars
Audiobook Description:
In June 2021, the whole world was listening as Britney Spears spoke in open court. The impact of sharing her voice—her truth—was undeniable, and it changed the course of her life and the lives of countless others. The Woman in Me reveals for the first time her incredible journey—and the strength at the core of one of the greatest performers in pop music history.
Written with remarkable candor and humor, Spears’s groundbreaking book illuminates the enduring power of music and love—and the importance of a woman telling her own story, on her own terms, at last.
Jessica’s Review:
The ‘big revelations’ in her memoir have already been released, so I knew those when I was able to listen to the audiobook. With what started with a tough childhood continued as a teen idol with teen mistakes, then a widely publicized relationship and subsequent breakup this memoir we hear Britney’s side of her life story in her own words. This tough life continues into her adulthood, with no control of her due to the conservatorship. The things her family and her father did to her are just terrible as family is where one should be able to turn to in difficult times. The story does repeat itself at times and I feel Spears never really fully got over Timberlake. But then how could you if you had an abortion in the way she did, when it seemed like she only did it for him. Spears has a bit of naiveté and possible mental illness.
I was never a huge Britney fan, but wanted to read the book. Listening to her tell her story to us, of course some of her songs got in my head! And as she recollected certain performances that we have all seen, I remembered them and pictured them as I was listening. I listened to the audiobook version which was narrated by Michelle Williams. She did a superb job bringing Britney’s voice to life, and even some entertainment with her imitation of Justin Timberlake towards the beginning of the memoir! I would listen to Williams narrate again. Spears memoir also shows the conservatorship and what happened. We see the abuse done to Spears. At least now she is able to do what she wants to do and live her life in the way she wants. Thirteen years is a long time to go through what she went through.
Sadly, the book tries to conclude with an upbeat ending for Spears, but that is now out of date since she is in the process a second divorce. One can only hope Spears has gotten what she needs by telling her story and can recover and live her life.
Purchase Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK
Book Review: The Night House by Jo Nesbø
The Night House
Author: Jo Nesbø
Published: October 3, 2023
245 Pages
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Read: September 18- October 18, 2023
Jessica’s Rating: 3 stars
Book Description:
In the wake of his parents’ tragic deaths in a house fire, fourteen-year-old Richard Elauved has been sent to live with his aunt and uncle in the remote, insular town of Ballantyne. Richard quickly earns a reputation as an outcast, and when a classmate named Tom goes missing, everyone suspects the new, angry boy is responsible for his disappearance. No one believes him when he says the telephone booth out by the edge of the woods sucked Tom into the receiver like something out of a horror movie. No one, that is, except Karen, a beguiling fellow outsider who encourages Richard to pursue clues the police refuse to investigate. He traces the number that Tom prank called from the phone booth to an abandoned house in the Black Mirror Wood. There he catches a glimpse of a terrifying face in the window. And then the voices begin to whisper in his ear . . .
You know who I am. She’s going to burn. The one you love is going to burn. There’s not a thing you can do about it.
When another classmate disappears, Richard must find a way to prove his innocence–and preserve his sanity–as he grapples with the dark magic that is possessing Ballantyne and pursuing his destruction.
Then again, Richard may not be the most reliable narrator of his own story . . .
Jessica’s Review:
I love the cover of this one, it’s just reminiscent of back in the old days and seems like it was going to be a good, old fashioned horror story. There are three parts to this novel and the first part was the horror I was looking for! Parts two and three didn’t really work for me. And Richard definitely was an unreliable narrator and we know that sometimes those work for me, sometimes they don’t. In the case of this novel, it just didn’t work for me for most of the book. Richard was just not relatable and unlikable, as he is a bully and it is seen from the beginning.
You do wonder what direction the story is going to go as you are reading. It did take me way too long to read this one: a whole month. My job is trying out us working 4 10-hour days, which means an extra day off during the week! Which I’m hoping will lead to more free reading time! I am hoping for that at least!
Overall, this book was not what I was expecting. I wanted a good scary horror story for the month of October, and most of the book was not that for me. This is also a foreign author and the book was translated, maybe the difference in the countries and story is what didn’t really work for me.
Many thanks to the publisher for granting me a copy to read and review. I just wish I could have enjoyed the novel more.
Purchase Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK