Books – Page 82

Categories: Books

What I Read // May

May was a solid reading month for me – 8 books read! I am really happy with my yearly book reading progress so far, as I am at 39 books read, which means I could maybe hit 80 books for the year. We shall see! This month, my favorite book was The Predictions and my least favorite book was Love and Miss Communication.

Book club selection: Hush by Kate White (3 stars)
I was the one who suggested this book for book club in May. And it was okay. It’s a thriller, about a woman who has a one-night stand with a guy she works with, only to find him dead when she wakes up in the morning. Knowing she’d become the number-one suspect, she flees the scene and then tries to solve the murder herself. It sounds enticing, right? And it was an interesting read… it just wasn’t as fast-paced as I would have liked it. I was expecting twists and turns, but nothing felt too shocking and I never felt on the edge of my seat. It’s a good read if you’re just looking for an easy mystery, but not if you’re hoping to read a really engaging thriller.

Book Riot Read Harder Challenge (a book that someone else has recommended to me): The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein (4 stars)
I have had multiple people recommend this book to me, most recently a coworker. So it was an easy one to tackle for the recommendation category for the Book Riot reading challenge. It was such a sweet novel! I expected it to be much more of a tear-jerker, but it didn’t make me cry. (Surprising, I know!) Instead, I just found the ending to be so perfect and heartwarming. Enzo is one of my new favorite literary characters. He was so easy to love and while I know it’s a work of fiction, it gave me some insight into my own dog. (I dearly hope he has a rich inner life as Enzo did!) If you love dogs, I highly, highly, highly recommend this book. I didn’t care too much for the racing parts, but I did get caught up in the excitement because of how passionate Enzo was about them!

TLC Book Tours read: The Predictions by Bianca Zander (5 stars)
I reviewed this novel earlier this month and you can find the review here.

Publisher review: Love and Miss Communication by Elyssa Friedland (2 stars)
I reviewed this book earlier this month and you can find the review here.

Others (read for fun!)

Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver (4 stars)
This is the second book in Oliver’s “Delirium” series and it was really good! I found it really fast-paced and engaging. I really liked hearing about her time in New York City, as it seemed like more was happening to move the plot forward there. All in all, a really good read, but I do have to say the ending of both novels in this series have left me with a weird feeling in the pit of my stomach. Sadness, maybe? There’s always a cliffhanger that makes my stomach knot up… and remain that way for a few days. I’m hoping the last book ties up this series in a good way… and that I’m not left with a stomach in knots at the end!

On the Rocks by Erin Duffy (2 stars)
I really wanted to like this book because I loved Duffy’s first novel so much, but it just fell flat for me. I didn’t really like the main character. The writing was a little cheesy and some of it felt really, really outdated, as this book was supposed to take place in 2012 and there were mentions of using Myspace and beepers. (?!) So, an easy beach read, but not one I would necessarily recommend.

The One by Kiera Cass (3 stars)
This is the last book in The Selection series by Cass, a dystopian trilogy. This has been one of my favorite dystopian trilogies so far because it’s just fun. It’s light-hearted and silly and romantic. Most dystopian novels are so serious and heartbreaking and intense. There was definitely conflict and some sad moments in this novel, but overall, it was a nice, light vacation read. I felt like the ending was a bit rushed and I think the author could have cut out some of the conflict with the rebels at the beginning to flesh out the ending so it felt more satisfying. Still, just a really fun dystopian series that I would recommend.

Hot on the Hunt by Melissa Cutler (3 stars)
This is a Harlequin romance novel, but it’s by an author I really love. This is the last book in a series I started reading a few years ago and it was okay. I didn’t love either main character throughout any part of the novel (not even the ending), so it wasn’t easy to root for them. I didn’t find the ending to be all that satisfying. Still, a fast-paced read that kept me engaged the entire time, and I do hope to see more from this author!

BOOK STATS // MAY

# of books read: 8
# of pages read: 2,717
quickest read: On the Rocks (2 days)
longest read: Hush (9 days)
multicultural: zero
formats: ebooks (5), physical books (3)

What was the best book you read in May?

Categories: Books

Book Review: Love and Miss Communication by Elyssa Friedland

As someone who has taken month-long Internet sabbaticals before, I was thoroughly intrigued by the premise of this book: a girl giving up the Internet for an entire year. I grow weary of the Internet very quickly, and I often need a break from updating my online dating profiles, scrolling through Twitter, reading Facebook posts, Instagramming every big moment of my life. Once a year, I try to step away from blogging and social media for a month and I find it really recharges me.

Evie, the protagonist in this book, is different. She not only gives up her online dating profiles and her social media feeds but the entire Internet, which includes email and texting. She wants freedom from living tied to her phone and her computer, which is something I really identified with.

Alas, this book did not live up to my standards. I never felt a true connection to the main character, and I felt the author tried too hard to turn her into a ditzy chick-lit character (a la Becky Bloomwood, one of my most disliked chick-lit characters). She made a lot of dumb decisions, seemed to be a pretty awful friend, and I couldn’t understand her appeal.

I also thought the book seemed a bit dated. For one, Evie’s main cell phone was a flip phone and I just… my grandparents don’t even have flip phones. (I can’t remember the last person I saw using a flip phone!) For another, her work cell phone was a Blackberry. I’ll admit I don’t know all that much about what companies are using nowadays for work cell phones, but a Blackberry seems passé.

Another issue I had was the length the main character went with her Internet sabbatical. I understand wanting to live a life free from the Internet, but we also live in a technological world. You need the Internet for work, you need it to keep in touch with friends. I didn’t understand how texting was considered using the Internet, quite frankly. I think it’s fine to give up Internet pursuits, like social media, online shopping, online dating, maybe even email, but when it starts affecting your work and your friendships, it may be going too far.

All that said, I did think this novel told a really interesting story and I really, really loved the ending. I also found it hard to put the book down about 60% in and wanted to see how things would wrap up for the main character. If you love chick-lit, especially for those who loved the Shopaholic series, I’d recommend this book.

Goodreads summary:

This unforgettable debut novel asks us to look up from our screens and out at the world…and to imagine what life would be like with no searches, no status updates, no texts, no Tweets, no pins, and no posts

Evie Rosen has had enough. She’s tired of the partners at her law firm e-mailing her at all hours of the night. The thought of another online date makes her break out in a cold sweat. She’s over the clever hashtags and the endless selfies. So when her career hits a surprising roadblock and her heart is crushed by Facebook, Evie decides it’s time to put down her smartphone for good. (Beats stowing it in her underwear–she’s done that too!)

And that’s when she discovers a fresh start for real conversations, fewer distractions, and living in the moment, even if the moments are heartbreakingly difficult. Babies are born; marriages teeter; friendships are tested. Evie just may find love and a new direction when she least expects it, but she also learns that just because you unplug your phone doesn’t mean you can unplug from life.

I received a copy of this book for free from the publisher, in exchange for an honest review. All words and opinions, unless otherwise stated, are my own.

Have you ever taken a break from the Internet?

Categories: Books

Book Review: The Predictions by Bianca Zander

Sometimes I read a book and it reminds me how much I love this hobby of mine. People ask me all the time how I read as much as I do, and the truth is, I just love it. I love it so much. I love diving into other worlds, I love learning about new places, I love being in a character’s head. I make reading a priority in my life because it is something I truly enjoy.

This book reminded me how much I love to read. It was a story that wrapped me up in its plot and characters and setting from the very beginning and didn’t let me go until I finished. It follows the story of Poppy, a girl who grew up in a commune. In a ceremony put on by commune newcomer, Shakti, Poppy (and the other six teenagers on the commune) is given a “prediction” for her life. Her prediction says that she will find her true love overseas. She believes so wholeheartedly in this prediction that she follows Lukas, whom she grew up with on the commune, to London.

The book follows Poppy’s journey in London, growing up and being independent away from the commune. She has triumphs and failures, just like anyone, and I just really enjoyed her character so much. She was likable, but not perfect. She was easy to root for but made dumb decisions. I loved her. I wanted to keep reading her story.

I really enjoyed reading about life in the commune because it was a world totally different than one I have ever read before. I also really enjoyed the time period of the novel (late 1970s-late 1980s) because I can’t remember the last book I read in that time period, and I found it so interesting!

All in all, I gave this book an easy 5 stars. I thoroughly enjoyed my experience reading this novel and the book flowed so beautifully from start to finish, never breaking stride or feeling like the plot was dragging.

Book synopsis (from Goodreads):

From the author of the acclaimed The Girl Below comes a stunning novel of one woman’s attempt to outrun the destiny that is predicted for her, moving from a remote New Zealand commune in the waning days of 1970s free-love experimentation to the heady music scene of 1980s London.

Gaialands, a bucolic vegan commune in the New Zealand wilderness, is the only home fifteen-year-old Poppy has ever known. It’s the epitome of 1970s counterculture–a place of free love, hard work, and high ideals…at least in theory. The reality is complicated and sometimes fraught, especially as its children reach adolescence. Poppy is drawn to handsome sixteen-year-old Lukas, who’s increasingly skeptical of Gaialands and the adults who shape its rules.

To help ‘heal’ the commune’s energy, new arrival Shakti harnesses her divination powers in a Predictions ceremony. All of Gaialands’ teenagers receive a card outlining their futures. Poppy, predicted to find her true love overseas, joins Lukas when he follows his dream of starting a punk rock band first in Auckland and then on to London, where punk has given way to 80s pop and hair metal. Struggling simply to survive as they navigate the city’s squats, pubs, and burgeoning clubs, she and Lukas drift apart. Poppy finds a life that looks very like the one her prediction promised, but is it the one she truly wants? And if not, can she define her own happiness, even if it takes her in unanticipated directions?

The Predictions is a mesmerizing, magical novel of fate, love, mistakes, and finding your place.

You can connect with Bianca Zander on her website, Twitter, and Facebook. Her book is available to buy from Amazon, IndieBound, and Barnes & Noble.

Click here to add this book to Goodreads!

I received this book for free from TLC Book Tours in exchange for an honest review. All words and opinions, unless otherwise stated, are my own.

No affiliate links were used in this post.

Categories: Books

What I Read // April

First, before I get into my book report for April, you may notice things look a wee bit different around here! That’s right – I finally launched my new blog theme and I am so, so happy with it. I wanted something that was simple with lots of white space, and that’s exactly what I got! Installing it was a breeze, thanks to the super detailed guide I received from the blog designer. I highly recommend 17th Avenue Designs if you’re looking to redo your blog theme. Cute themes for an affordable price!

And now, let’s dive into my April book report. April was a weird reading month for me, mainly because I spent over a week sloughing through a book that I eventually abandoned. Oh, well! It happens. I still managed to read 7 books this month, my favorite being Love Walked In by Marisa de los Santos. I’ve read 31 books so far this year, so I will blow my goal of 52 books completely out of the water. Maybe I should shoot for 75? Hmm…

Here are the books I read in April and my reviews of them!

Book Riot Read Harder Challenge (a book by someone over the age of 65): Home by Toni Morrison (3 stars)
At 147 pages, this is a super quick read. (I read it in less than 24 hours.) It’s my first Toni Morrison read, and it was a good novel, but nothing stood out to me as particularly amazing. I’d like to read some of her earlier stuff before giving an opinion on Morrison (she seems very beloved and a bit, shall I say, godlike in the Book Riot circles). This was an okay novel, but I’m interested in reading her more popular works to understand the hype.

Book Riot Read Harder Challenge (a book that I would consider a guilty pleasure): To the Edge by Cindy Gerard (4 stars)
Romantic suspense novels are my guilty pleasure by far, so this was a no-brainer for this category. Cindy Gerard is one of my favorite romantic suspense authors, and I enjoyed this novel immensely. It had intrigue, humor, character development, family, friendship, love, sexytimes, and a perfect twist at the end. An easy 4-star rating for this one!

Book Riot Read Harder Challenge (a self-improvement book): Better than Before by Gretchen Rubin (3 stars)
This book was just okay for me. My favorite part of the book was learning about the Four Tendencies (I’m an Obliger, through and through), as well as other aspects of my personality. For example, I’m an underbuyer rather than an overbuyer. I love simplicity over abundance, familiarity over novelty. I’m an abstainer, not a moderator; a marathoner, not a sprinter.

And while understanding these aspects of my personality will help me as I try to set new habits, I just wanted more. More studies, more research, more practical application. There was very little practical application, and a lot of the information seemed to repeat things I learned from The Willpower Instinct (though that book goes in much better depth). I think Rubin is at a bit of a disadvantage not having a psychology background.

Also, and it pains me to say this, but Rubin just didn’t seem very likable in this book. It’s funny because she seems fairly likable (if a little overbearing) from her podcast, but she came across as condescending and judgmental in her book. She’s like the person who discovers this new thing that has changed her life and now everyone in the world needs to do/see/have this thing. And not everyone wants to do/see/have this thing. And that’s OKAY.

Honestly, if you want to learn more about self-control, setting habits, and being mindful, I’d recommend The Willpower Instinct over this one. It goes into greater detail about how our brains react to our environment and thoughts and was a much more powerful and life-changing read for me than this one.

Netgalley review: I Don’t Have a Happy Place by Kim Korson (2 stars)
I reviewed this book earlier this month and you can find the review here.

TLC Book Tours read: About a Girl by Lindsey Kelk (5 stars)
I reviewed this novel earlier this month and you can find the review here.

Postal book club: Love Walked In by Marisa de los Santos (5 stars)
I tried to read this novel a few years ago but eventually abandoned it because I found the writing to be a little too much, the main character to be annoying, and the plot to be slow. So, I wasn’t too excited to realize it was the book that was sent to me for Kathleen’s Postal Book Club. But I wanted to give this novel a fair shot, so I settled in and read.

And I loved it. Absolutely adored it. It does take a while for the book to really get its legs. I struggled through the first half of the book, but I’ve been told the latter half is much better, so I kept on. And I am so glad I did because the book was phenomenal. Halfway in, I found I didn’t want to put the book down, that I had totally fallen in love with Cornelia and Clare, and I wanted everyone to have their happy ending. It’s such a wonderful read. It made my heart so happy. It’s now a book I would totally recommend to anyone.

Others (read for fun!)

Heart of the Matter by Emily Giffin (4 stars)
I listened to this on audiobook and Cynthia Nixon was the reader, and she was suuuuch a great reader! I said this in a Five for Friday post, but I loved that she didn’t make up voices for the characters. One of the things that really bugs me about fiction audiobooks is when the reader makes up voices for the characters because it is so distracting.

Anyway, about the book. I really wasn’t sure how I was going to feel about this novel, since it does involve cheating, but I think the way Giffin wrote about it was really eye-opening. Life is one big gray area and while we could all say what we think we would do if we were cheated on, the truth is you don’t actually know what you will do when it happens. How you will react. I think Giffin did a fantastic job of showing us both sides of the story, and I really appreciated how she made both women – the wife and the lover – likable women, and I found myself rooting for both. (Albeit, I started to grow a little weary of “the other woman” later on in the novel.) It was a really great read and one that made me think.

Wild Irish Ride by Jennifer Saints (2 stars)
I bought this book for free on Kindle a while back, and I am very glad I did not pay full price for it because it wasn’t very good. The plot felt underdeveloped, and the characters were lackluster. The only good part of the book was the sex scenes, but at a certain point, it all seemed too much. It started to read more like erotica than a cute, contemporary romance novel.

book stats // april

# of books read: 7
# of pages read: 2,112
quickest read: Home (1 day)
longest read: Heart of the Matter (11 days)
multicultural: 2
formats: ebooks (3), physical books (3), audiobooks (1)

What was the best book you read in April?

Categories: Books

Book Review: About a Girl by Lindsey Kelk

About a Girl by Lindsey Kelk is the perfect beach read. It’s a chick-lit novel that is light and fun and hilarious but also has incredible character development and a fast-moving plot. This novel gave me this insatiable desire to keep reading and reading. In fact, I think I read the last 40% in one sitting – and that rarely happens with me. I typically read in pockets of time – 10 minutes here, 5 minutes there – but with this book, I spent a Friday afternoon curled up in bed, reading. It was perfect.

What I loved the most about the novel was the characters. They were so well-developed, so easy to like, and the development they went through throughout the novel felt very natural. I adored the main character, Tess, so much. She was such a fun character, and I could completely relate to her.

I felt like the plot moved along at an authentic pace. It was a bit slow in the beginning, but that was necessary for scene setting and understanding the character better. But once the meat of the story hit, it didn’t slow down and I just devoured the novel. I loved the situations that Tess got herself into, and I really appreciated it wasn’t silly-stupid stuff that authors tend to want their chick-lit heroines to get into (I’m looking at you, Sophie Kinsella!) The situations felt pretty normal and really added to the crux of the novel.

I think the only thing I didn’t like was the cliffhanger ending. I don’t really like cliffhanger endings – I always think there is a more natural way for authors to end a book that is part of a series. And this ending seemed a bit contrived.

I still gave this novel 5 stars because of the way it gripped me and the fact that I had such trouble putting the novel down! A must-read, if you love chick-lit type novels!

About a Girl summary from Goodreads:

Tess Brookes has always been a Girl with a Plan. But when the Plan goes belly up, she’s forced to reconsider.

After accidentally answering her flatmate Vanessa’s phone, she decides that since being Tess isn’t going so well, she might try being Vanessa. With nothing left to lose, she accepts Vanessa’s photography assignment to Hawaii – she used to be an amateur snapper, how hard can it be? Right?

But Tess is soon in big trouble. And the gorgeous journalist on the shoot with her, who is making it very clear he’d like to get into her pants, is an egotistical monster. Far from home and in someone else’s shoes, Tess must decide whether to fight on through, or ‘fess up and run…

You can connect with Lindsey Kelk on her website, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Her book is available to buy from Amazon, IndieBound, and Barnes & Noble.

Click here to add this book to Goodreads!

I received this book for free from TLC Book Tours in exchange for an honest review. All words and opinions, unless otherwise stated, are my own.

No affiliate links were used in this post.

Do you like cliffhanger endings?