Hi-

My name is Abby Leibel and I am a mother of two boys (16 and 11 years old), a wife, and an elementary school librarian. I have read and loved books with different intensities throughout my life. It was when my second son was born that I picked up reading in earnest again. He was a bad sleeper and I spent an awful lot of time in the green rocker in his room feeding, rocking and then sleep training him. Reading was the best way to spend all those nights quietly holding or sitting near him. I read many books during that time.

In January 2017, I was thinking about what I wanted for the coming year and decided that this year’s theme will be “Life is in the details”. Because I was reading so much I couldn't remember the story-lines or the details of all the books I was reading. So, starting in January I began taking notes about each of the books I read so that I would remember my thoughts as I read them. That slowly turned into a review and now, here we are, five years later.

I continue to look for the same four criteria for what I considered great books: entertainment factor (did I generally like this book?), character development (not so much if I like the character, but how well I know the character), good writing (this is very subjective, but I'm always so impressed with authors who are wordsmiths) and finally, and perhaps most importantly, I’m always looking to learn something new (I generally mean something about the world, people or myself).

That said, I strongly believe that we each respond to stories differently and what we get out of each story, how we interpret it is different for every single person. Just because I didn’t love something, doesn’t mean you won’t. And so, I no longer rate the books I read, but just give you my opinion about them. Try the book, you might like it, or not, but at least you tried. I hope you come back and read my reviews often and that this site becomes a starting place for you: starting to love books, learning to love books again, or just finding a new way to be entertained. 

Happy reading!

Abby