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

The Scent of Rain by Kristin Billerbeck — 3 stars. I have read a plethora of Billerbeck’s novels. She is actually the first Christian chick-lit author I’ve ever read and I’ve always enjoyed her books. This book followed her usual style and begins on Daphne’s wedding day where she gets stood up. She has been trained to create perfumes (and have a nose for scents) but after her botched wedding day, she discovers she lost her sense of smell. She is also beginning  a new job where the main reason she was brought on was for her impeccable sense of smell. The book takes a while to get into and the beginning is pretty slow… and then it seems like the author was rushing to finish it and wrap it all up nicely. This wasn’t one of Billerbeck’s best books (her Ashley Stockingdale series is still Billerbeck at her finest) so I don’t know if I would recommend it. It was a light, easy read but left me wanting more.

MWF Seeking BFF by Rachel Bertsche — 5 stars. I wrote an entire post on how this book impacted me. It’s not everyone’s favorite, but it’s definitely one of the best books I’ve read this year. Highly recommend!

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain — 2 stars. I was really excited to read this book. I love reading about introversion and it has really helped me to accept who I am and embrace my quiet ways. Unfortunately, while this book was filled with examples and experiments and anecdotes, I didn’t find any of the information groundbreaking and was pretty bored by some of the chapters. I also didn’t care for the way she talked about extroverts because I don’t think either type of person is better than the other. (She blamed the financial crisis of 2008 on extroverts but letting introverts off the hook for not speaking up because it’s just the way we are? No. Absolutely not. That is a cop-out.) I will say it is an interesting read and it did teach me more about my introversion… it just didn’t completely live up to the hype for me.

Sugar Rush by Donna Kauffman — 3 stars. I’ve read a few books by Donna Kauffman and I always love how she creates characters and stories so I was super excited when I saw she had a new series of books out, all centering around cupcakes. I picked up the first one – and it was the most intriguing of the bunch! – and while it was a cute romance novel, there was something about the characters that felt forced. The whole story seemed a little trite and contrived and I basically had to force myself to finish it. I never really felt any strong connection with the male lead. It’s an easy read, but I have read other books by this author I would recommend over this one.

The Accidental Bride by Christina Skye — 3 stars. Another contemporary romance by an author I’ve read before. (I was in a romance-y mood in late December!) This follows a chef who has a new restaurant and is beginning to market a line of salsa. She has a mini heart attack at work one day and is told she needs to rest completely for a few months. Her friends wind up sending her to a knitting retreat for a week and it’s in this tiny Wyoming town that she meets Walker Hale, local hero. Their story is sweet and the build-up felt real. I generally enjoyed the novel, as I do most romances. It didn’t grip me from beginning to end, but I do like this author’s writing style.

Her Holiday Fireman by Kathleen Y’Barbo — 2 stars. I thought I would try out a Love Inspired novel, although most of them feature single parents finding love. This one didn’t have either, so I decided to read it as it was Christmassy and I was in a Christmassy mood. A nice novel, but that’s about it. It’s never a good sign when you’re relieved to finish a novel, is it?

Switched by HelenKay Dimon — 4 stars. I read a Harlequin romance by this author earlier in the year and absolutely loved it. I’m usually pretty “meh” about them (but read them anyway because they require little brainpower and sometimes, that’s exactly what I need). This author gives you gripping plots, fabulous characters, and a story you’ll smile at. This book was no different and I just really enjoyed watching the story unfold, and the romance blossom. Plus, Risa, the female lead, is pretty kickass. I know a lot of people aren’t into Harlequin romances, but if you want to try one out, find one by this author. Hers are very low on cheesiness.

Into the Night by Suzanne Brockmann — 5 stars. Navy SEAL Team Sixteen feels like a bunch of guys I’ve known my whole life. They feel a part of me and reading their stories once again is so much fun. Brockmann writes another intense story with lots of drama and action and wittiness. The female leads felt a bit tiring and weak (both Joan and Mary-Lou) but I think that’s how Brockmann wanted them to be. For some reason. The story itself was still gripping and hard to put down which is why it gets 5 stars from me. If I can read a 450+ page book in less than two days… well, the story then speaks for itself.

Books read in 2012: 90