BOOK REVIEW: An Anonymous Girl by Greer Hendricks

Psychology majors, like myself, should thoroughly enjoy reading AN ANONYMOUS GIRL. It's loaded with psychology study and theory references like The Hawthorne Effect, The Invisible Gorilla, and The Prisoner's Dilemma. There are several others that aren't mentioned by name but clearly served as inspiration (at least in some aspect). Like the Stanley Milgram Experiment on obedience and the Stanford Prison Study on conformity, for example.

If nothing else, AN ANONYMOUS GIRL illustrates how quickly things can go south when psych studies are not ethically sound.

"We all carry the weight of secret regrets--the strangers we see on the street, our neighbors, our colleagues, our friends, even our loved ones. And we are all forced to constantly make moral choices. Some of these decisions are small. Others are life-altering. These judgments seem easy to form on paper: You check a box and move on. In a real life scenario, it's never as simple. The options haunt you. Days, weeks, even years later you think about the people affected by your actions. You question your choices. And you wonder when, not if, the repercussions will come."

RATING: ❤️❤️❤️❤️

BOOK REVIEW: Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty

NINE PERFECT STRANGERS is about a group of strangers who attend a ten day retreat at a famous health resort know as the Tranquillum House.

The nine strangers:

Frances: A middle-aged romance novelist
Lars: A tall, dark, and handsome divorce attorney 
Heather, Napoleon, & Zoe: A midwife, her chatty husband, and their 20-year-old daughter 
Tony: A grouchy, old man who once played professional football 
Carmel: A recently divorced mother of four 
Ben & Jessica: A young married couple having marital problems

Each guest has a different reason for attending the retreat (to lose weight, to transform their life, to reach enlightenment, to avoid reality, etc), but they soon find themselves in circumstances beyond their control and must come together to save themselves. 

I want to preface my thoughts by saying that I adore Liane Moriarty. She is one of my absolute favorite authors. I've read every book she has published and will continue to read her work in the future.

Similar to Moriarty's previous novels, NINE PERFECT STRANGERS has a unique and relevant storyline, and I found it nearly impossible to put down. However, this has been my least favorite of her books, by far.

The first half is really slow, a few chapters were a bit too "woo woo" for me, and twelve POVs is about ten too many.

I still think it's worth the read. For the clever and snarky commentary, if nothing else.

"Some celebrity couple had come to this place and saved their marriage. They had "achieved inner peace" and got back in touch with their "true selves." What a load of crap. They may as well have handed over their money to Nigerian email scammers. Ben had a horrible feeling the celebrity couple might have got together on The Bachelorette. Jessica loved celebrities. He used to think it was sweet, a dumb interest for a smart girl. But now she was making too many life decisions based on what celebrities did, or what it was reported they did; it was probably crap anyway, they were probably getting paid to support products on their Instagram accounts. And there was Jessica, his poor innocent, hopeful Jessica, soaking it all up." 

RATING: ❤️❤️❤️❤️