16. Gone Too Far by Suzanne Brockmann (5 stars)

The Troubleshooters series by Suzanne Brockmann is, far and away, my favorite series by any author. Sometimes, I get sad that these characters are not real people! They feel so real and alive and I love reading their stories. This story was mainly focused on one of my favorite characters, Sam. His ex-wife and daughter go missing after an assassination attempt that she is linked to. There are so many twists and turns, so much action and drama, and yes, some very steamy scenes. Brockmann just knows how to write a fantastic romantic thriller. She creates characters you feel like you can touch and I finish her 400+ page books within days. I’m such a fan and I highly recommend these books.

17. Abby Road by Ophelia London (4 stars)

I received a digital copy of this book for free from Netgalley and I loved it so much. It was an adorable chick-lit novel, with a main character I was immediately drawn to and an easy plot to follow. It is the story of Abby, who is the biggest thing to hit the music scene since Britney Spears. She has a breakdown after her brother is killed and is forced to take a three-month vacation and escapes to her sister’s home in Florida. It is there she meets Todd and rediscovers herself. Abby the person, not Abby the rock star. It was a really cute novel and I would totally recommend this book. My only issue was the formatting on Kindle was awful. It was really, really hard to follow at times so that’s hopefully an issue the publisher can work out soon.

18. That Summer by Sarah Dessen (2 stars)

I am a huge fan of Sarah Dessen and her coming-of-age YA lit novels. This is her first book and it’s easy to see how much her writing has improved over the years. This book just fell flat for me. The plot was uninventive, the characters bland. The story reads quickly and I found myself just skimming through it to finish.

19. Girls in White Dresses by Jennifer Close (3 stars)

This book had been on my “must-read soon” list for a long time and when I found out I could download it for free from my library, I quickly did so. I’d heard great reviews of the book so I had a lot of expectations going into it. The thing about Girls in White Dresses is not that it was bad, but it just didn’t grip me like I wanted it to. There were so many characters and it was hard keeping their stories straight. I did enjoy the humor and wit and I actually laughed out loud a few times. (Something I never do!) And the stories felt very real and honest. So, in the end, I enjoyed the novel but didn’t feel any differently when I finished it.

20. Makeover Miracle by Charmaine Ross (2 stars)

(This was a Netgalley book, so I received a Kindle edition for free, in exchange for an honest review.) This was a really quick read (I read it in less than a day) and a cute story. It was the kind of story that you KNOW isn’t very good, yet it still entices you to keep reading.

The story was about Abbey, who has been bullied and teased all her life for her looks. She is taller than average, a flaming redhead, and overweight. She has dealt with so many disparaging remarks and the crux of it all: a man who took a bet that he could get her to sleep with him in less than 5 dates. (Which he won.) Abbey and her friend, Jennifer, are selected to be contestants on Australia-based Makeover Miracle. (Very similar to The Biggest Loser, except not so weight-loss and workout focused.) The producer of the show, Quinn, and her have an instant connection with each other that only grows stronger during the course of the show as they get to know one another.

I could connect with Abbey at first. I understood her pain of being overweight and bullied and feeling self-conscious. But then she just got annoying. I just wanted to slap her upside the head and tell her she is worthy, no matter if she’s beautiful or ugly, fat or skinny.

I feel like this book had the potential to address some very important issues on looks and worthiness and self-confidence but it did not. It focused more on the fact that this woman begins to find her self-worth because a guy tells her she is, not because she knows it inherently herself. She discovers she IS beautiful so now she is worthy. This is a slippery slope and I found the message of this book to leave a bad taste in my mouth.

21. A Mile in My Flip-Flops by Melody Carlson (2 stars)

I’ve read books by Melanie Carlson before that I’ve thoroughly enjoyed so when I saw this Christian chick-lit novel on Amazon, I decided to pick it up and check it out. I regret this decision. This book was not very good. It was cheesy, filled with cliches, and lacked the emotional and spiritual depth I like to see in Christian novels. The characters were one-dimensional and the ending was too cutesy for my taste.

22. Flashpoint by Suzanne Brockmann (5 stars)

This book is close to 500 pages… and I read it within 1 day. I just can’t put her books down for anything! They grip me from beginning to end. This one introduced new characters but James Nash is one of my favorite characters Brockmann has written because he’s so complex. There’s just so much to him, and I wish there were more books devoted to James and Tess. If you love suspenseful mysteries (and romance!), I highly suggest starting this series. It is so good.

23. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (5 stars)

Okay, so I’m always a bit late to the game when it comes to reading super popular books. I never want to jump on the bandwagon too fast, you know? I’ve had this book on my Kindle for months and I finally got around to reading it in March. And guys? WHY DID I WAIT SO LONG TO READ THIS BOOK?! I’m really not a huge fan of the dystopian genre, mainly because it is so saturated and it feels like that’s all anyone is writing about in YA fiction lately. But I decided to take the plunge and decide for myself. This book is good – it is really, really good. Katniss is totally kick ass and I need to get my hands on the next two books SOON!

24. Cowboy’s Texas Rescue by Beth Cornelison (3 stars)

Cheesy, predictable, and heartwarming… just how I like my Harlequin novels. While I found myself rolling my eyes at the stupidity of the main character in certain instances, it was an overall decent read.

Books read in March: 9
Books read in 2013: 24

8. Always the Baker, Never the Bride by Sandra D. Bricker (2 stars)

The plot of this book was interesting: a baker who has diabetes. She can’t taste but a smidge of the creations she bakes and has to rely on her instincts. Her instincts have earned her an award and a new job at an up-and-coming hotel/wedding venue. Interesting premise aside, I could not get into this book for anything. At first, I was intrigued and loved all the characters but soon, it all became too much. There were too many wacky characters and not enough plot to sink my teeth into. And I really didn’t believe the romance that blossomed between the two main characters, which always gives me a case of the sads.

9. Perfect For You by Kate Perry (3 stars)

Graphic designer Freya Godwin has just been hit with an ultimatum: find her muse again or she’s fired. After giving her boss some very lackluster design proofs for an upcoming job, she learns she better find her inspiration again or she’s out of a job. Since she’s supporting her 21-year-old art student sister, she knows she can’t lose this job and becomes frantic with trying to find inspiration. Her first step? Posting an ad on Craigslist. Too bad the only place she finds this necessary inspiration is when she’s with her very annoying neighbor, Greg. This book was just okay for me. There were a lot of inconsistencies and the plot was very weak. Aside from the sister, the characters were very dull and dry and even the romance didn’t feel real. I also don’t understand why this character thought posting an ad for what is essentially a booty call on Craigslist is a good idea. No. No, no, no, no, no. NO.

10. The Wedding Gift by Lucy Kevin (2 stars)

Julie Delgado’s restaurant had to close after a scathing review by food critic Andrew Kyle. Andrew is the sexy host of Edgy Eats and his review pushed her fledgling restaurant over the edge. Julie is now working as a caterer for a wedding venue and feels lost. Enter Andrew into her life again. He’s the brother of a bride and comes to the wedding venue to taste her selection for his sister’s wedding. Once again, he is very critical of her work, and once again, Julie is out of a job. This book just didn’t do it for me. I love a good romance novel, but this one fell flat for me. The romance was too quick and I never felt a connection between the main characters. Bummer.

11. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini (5 stars)

This was the #twookclub pick for February and I can safely, easily, and assuredly say I have a new favorite book. This story broke my heart and pieced it back together again. It made me take a good, long, hard look at myself and my life. It opened my eyes to a world I had only heard bits and pieces about, but never a true full picture. This book intertwines the stories of two women – Mariam and Laila. They each have their own heartbreaking stories, they each sacrifice and suffer in their own ways. It’s a book that touched my heart and a story I will never be able to get out of my head. This book shook me to my core and I implore everyone to read this book and open your eyes to the oppression women are still facing to this day.

12. Exclusively Yours by Shannon Stacey (4 stars)

I snatch up those free Kindle books like they’re candy and lately, the stories have been kind of meh. (See the first three books above…) So I really wasn’t expecting much out of this novel. And I was proven wrong. I was immediately captivated by the writing and the characters in this novel. It was well-written, with believable characters and a fun plot to follow. It wasn’t too cheesy, had the right amount of steamy romance, and while the ending felt a little dragged out, it was still a great novel. And I loved it enough to want to check out the other books in this series. Always a good sign!

13. Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert (4 stars)

I’ve heard so many mixed reviews of this book that I went into reading it thinking I wouldn’t enjoy it. I always do that to myself. I psyche myself out. But I needed to write a review on the memoir for my magazine gig, and it was one of those books I had wanted to read for so long that I just decided it was time to read it. A lot of people feel partial to one section of the three sections (Italy/India/Indonesia) but I’m an anomaly, I suppose, who enjoyed each section and got something different but life-affirming from each one. This book taught me so much, not just about love or faith, but about life itself. There is so much rawness, so much honesty to this memoir and I enjoyed it so, so much. A must-read, in my opinion!

14. The Comfort of Lies by Randy Susan Meyers (4 stars)

You can read my entire review of this book here.

15. Midnight Secrets by Ella Grace (1 star)

I recently signed up for Netgalley because I was all, “Free Kindle books? Why the heck not?” This was the first book I reviewed for the site and it was not a good introduction to Netgalley. I am trying not to let it stain my view, but this book was hard to read. The writing was cheesy. The characters fell flat. And the plot dragged on and on and on (and on and on and on and on and on…). My review wasn’t kind, but I had to be bluntly honest about how I felt. I always feel bad being critical of other writers because I know how much criticism hurts when it’s directed at me, but at the same time, I had to be totally honest about how I felt.

Books read in February: 8
Books read in 2013 so far: 15

1. Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed (5 stars)

I will admit that I didn’t think I would enjoy this book. I’m not one for adventure stories and it just didn’t seem like my kind of book. But I had read lots of rave reviews on the book, so I decided to pick it up and see what it was all about. I am so glad I did. This book was about a girl who decides to hike the Pacific Crest Trail – by herself! – in the mid-1990’s. It is filled with her struggle to make it through each day, to keep hiking, and what it was like during those sweltering days of heat and intensely cold nights. She loses toenails, she gets blisters, and she meets tons of friends. But this story is so much more than about a girl hiking the PCT. It is the story of Cheryl. Of how she got to the PCT. Of her mom, whom she was close to and her dying of cancer. Of her marriage and all the ways she destroyed it by her own hand. Of her family and the way it completely fell apart when her mom died. Of Cheryl herself. And her personal triumph. She hiked 1,100 miles over the course of her journey and it wasn’t easy. She made a lot of rookie mistakes, not exactly knowing what she was getting herself into but it made her so much more human and real. That’s the beauty of memoirs: the realness and vulnerability. Towards the end of this book, I found myself getting sadder and sadder at the thought of finishing and that is the measure of a great book, in my eyes.

2. Putting Boys on the Ledge by Stephanie Davis (3 stars)

I got this book free on Kindle and it seemed like a sweet YA novel. Which it was. It was written at more of a middle-grade level and was mainly a love story, with no other plot. It was a simple, easy read that I finished in a day or so. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it… unless you’re a twelve-year-old girl.

3. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (3 stars)

This was our January #twookclub pick! I swear, I have read this novel but now I wonder if I read some adaptation of it, written for the younger audience. I’m not sure, but I felt like I was reading an entirely new story. The language was hard to get used to at first (and the cheesiness…) but once I got into it, I started to really enjoy it. I can’t say this is one of the best books I’ve ever read, nor one of my favorites, but there’s something wholly pure and classic about this novel that you can’t help but enjoy. My Kindle told me this book was over 600 pages long so it took me a looooong time to read it (two weeks!) and I was pretty happy to start something new when I finished it. Still, I’m glad I read it and I’m excited to read more classics now!

4. Three Girls and a Baby by Rachel Schurig (4 stars)

I think I read this book in less than a day. I just couldn’t put it down! It is a novel about a girl who has broken up with her boyfriend after he found out she cheated on him. She’s down in the dumps about it, then later finds out she’s pregnant but has no way to contact him (and believes he wants nothing to do with the baby, thanks to his meddling mom). Luckily, she lives with her two best friends who help her and support her as she traverses the world of pregnancy and impending motherhood alone. It was a really cute story, although there were a lot of inconsistencies which is why I knocked the rating to 4 stars, but is still a really good read. I definitely recommend it if you like the chick-lit genre!

5. The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker (3.5 stars)

This book was the January pick for my in-person book club. I actually won this book in a Goodreads giveaway and it arrived a week before book club which worked out perfectly! Since I was on a Kindle buying ban for January, I was planning on getting the book from my library – until I found out I had a $17 fine. Um, oops? This book had such an interesting premise and I think it’s been on a few #twookclub discussions, so I was excited when it was picked! Basically, the story is about Julia, who is 11 and in that awkward stage of growing up. She has a crush on a cute boy, a best friend she plays soccer with, and a worrywart mother. It happens almost seamlessly but Julia wakes up one morning to the news that the rotation of the earth has slowed. Each day grows a little bit longer which ends up affecting everything from the agriculture to the sea life to the Earth’s magnetic field. It’s part sci-fi, part coming-of-age. It’s an incredibly interesting story but I really wanted more. I felt like the author limited herself by having an 11-year-old narrator and it became more about her life than this crazy shift in the Earth. While I enjoyed that part, it left me feeling a little “eh” at the end. Also, the dramatic foreshadowing was a little too much at times.

6. Worth the Scandal by Karen Erickson (3 stars)

One of those cute romance novels with a brooding leading man, a passionate woman, and corporate espionage. The writing was good and I liked the flow of the story, although there were definitely some major typos. (She completely switched the name of one of the characters, which was very confusing at first!) It was a little over-the-top at times, but generally well-written for a romance novel.

7. A Land More Kind Than Home by Wiley Cash (4 stars)

I gave an entire review of this novel on Wednesday and suffice it to say, I loved this novel. I loved the writing. I loved the characters. I loved the plot. I loved the language. The premise sounded intriguing but I honestly didn’t expect to get as caught up in it as I did. And YOU could win a copy of this amazing novel! Details here. Giveaway ends on Sunday night.

Books read in 2013: 7