Review: Year of Yes By Shonda Rhimes

Title: Year of Yes
Author: Shonda Rhimes
Genre: Memoir
Source: Paperback
Rating: 3 out of 5 paws

Shonda Rhimes is the creator of hit shows like Grey's Anatomy and Scandal. In her memoir she discusses taking a year and saying Yes to anything that scares her and takes her outside of her comfort zone.  Throughout her book Shonda discusses the events that put her outside her comfort zone and how those moments helped her grow, and become a stronger woman.

I was super excited to read this book because I love Shonda's shows and from what I have read about her she is a strong powerful, and inspirational woman. I was excited to see what she learned about stepping outside your comfort zone because that is something I also do not do.  If it is something scary to me then I do not do it. That being said, I have to admit I feel a little let down with this book.  Don't get me wrong I love her writing style and at point I was laughing and I enjoyed the book for the most part, but it was not what I was expecting.

A good bit of what she talks about deals with her fame and as she continued to remind readers, how she's a big time Hollywood writer. Now I think it's amazing she found success, but what I wanted to learn along the way was how did she find that success?  What rejections did she have, what lead her to where she is, maybe that's a different book.  BUT what I was hoping for was what did she learn from giving a speech at Darmouth, not reading what the speech said.

The best sections where when she discussed her body image and saying yes to accepting who she is, but also saying yes to wanting to get healthy rather than fitting into a certain body image, and when she realized she didn't want to be married which ultimately ended a relationship.   Those points felt true and honest, that we got into a deep part of Shonda, but the rest of it felt more like a "look at me" type of story.  She talks about the importance of her family, but we don't get many story about her family and how they have helped her through the year of yes other than something her sister said which prompted the experiment.

I so wanted to like the book more than I did, and like I said it is not so much her writing style which is very fun and pleasant.  It was more of how she presented herself.  I wanted more depth to the book, much like what we see in her shows, but we don't get that.  Though it did prompt me to ponder doing a year of yes myself and see what happens.

Favorite books of 2017

As the year begins to come to a close, I look back on the books I have read throughout the year.  Some I enjoyed, others not so much, but the love of reading and the love of books remains strong as ever, if not stronger.  I was able to interview and meet some awesome authors as well as attend a great literary convention here in Pittsburgh.  Looking back through the year of books, There are some that became favorites that I will turn to time and time again as well as share with others, such as you all wonderful people.  Here are some of my favorite books I had the honor of reading this past year:

Beautiful Storm:  This was one of those books that I was expecting one thing based on the title and got something else.  I highly enjoyed reading this murder mystery, but would have liked to have had more with lightening, but the story was still very engaging, I liked the characters, and I couldn't put the book down.  I liked that the characters seemed to have their own demons they wrestled with which made it easier to relate to them.


Woodcutter: Woodcutter was probably my favorite book of the year.  I love fairy tales.  Everything about them brings me back to my childhood.  I love reading retellings and other author's takes on the different stories. The title is a little off putting because it's not about a typical fairy tale woodcutter, but about one who protects the fairy tale like characters.  It was also interesting that Danley incorporated some mythology in the tale with the use of Odin and the hellhounds.


The Rogue Mountain:  I am not a horror type of reader, and I honestly read this one simply because a friend of mine had written it.  I was captivated from the very beginning.  It was a horror novel that reflects on the unknown creature lurking in the shadows.  There are so many things in this novel that I want more of, and after some discussions, readers will see these creatures again in other novels.  YAY!


Snow Flower and the Secret Fan: The cover just drew me in and then when I read the blurb I thought: "lets give it a shot".  I was greatly surprised and happy that I did step outside of  my comfort zone to read this book. Sometimes it's good to grab a book outside of your normal genre, it helps you find new authors and new books to fall in love with, and this was that book for me, just fell in love with it.


Alice: This book is a retelling of Alice in Wonderland, a morbid, grotesque version.  Christina Henry has a way of writing some of the most horrific scenes in an utterly beautiful way.  There are topics that might be a trigger for some such as rape,  but Henry does it in a way that gives strength to Alice. I love Alice in Wonderland retellings and this is one of the top favorite ones for me.


What are some of your favorite books that you read this year?  Let me know in the comments!


Happy Reading