Mini-Reviews: August Reads

What You Wish For by Katherine Center

I find Katherine Center’s books to be very readable and this one is no exception. There was heart and emotion from the beginning. She did a good job of illustrating all of the different character motivations in a way that made sense and helped the reader to sympathize with them. I’ll say that I wanted more from Tina Buckley’s character…but she came through in the end I guess. 4/5

Paper Girls Volume 1 by Brian K. Vaughan

I’m just not huge into sci fi in general but specifically time travel so this one isn’t really grabbing me…but I’ve got the second one out from the library so I’ll probably at least read that one too? And maybe I’ll power through the rest since I like Vaughan and it’s a short series. 3/5

The Lost Husband by Katherine Center

This is probably about as close as I’ll ever get to wanting to move to a farm out in the country. A lot of things about it sound completely idyllic, but I know deep in my heart that I’m a true city girl. I really liked Libby’s relationship with her kids in this book. Obviously Abby had more of a central role, but I liked Tank as well. I thought Jean seemed a little too good to be true, but I’m not really going to quibble about it. 4/5

Happiness for Beginners by Katherine Center

It took me way too long to realize that these characters were also in “What You Wish For” and with that in mind, I’m even more blown away by Duncan’s character development. I liked the setting for this book. It ALMOST makes me think I could sign up for something like it and be okay. I didn’t love the conflict involving Windy, but I thought it was handled well by Helen throughout the book. Overall, I liked this book quite a bit and was glad to know readers are able to catch up with the characters in a later book. 4/5

Must Love Books by Shauna Robinson

For me, this book was just fine. I felt so much secondhand stress over Nora’s finances and also basically every single decision she made. I also found it difficult to keep track of most secondary characters. And what was the deal with her roommate? Why even include her as a character? Overall, it also kind of makes me hate all publishing houses. So there’s that. 3/5

The Bright Side of Disaster by Katherine Center

I can definitely tell this is one of her earlier books because I don’t feel like the relationship between Jenny and Gardner was as developed as I would have liked. I also thought the book took a while to get going. We all knew Dean was going to leave so it was a bit torturous to wait for it to happen. With that being said, the depiction of early motherhood was fresh and felt really authentic. Overall, I still liked this one, just not one of my favorites. 3/5

How to Fake it in Hollywood by Ava Wilder

I felt like this one started with a lot of promise, but it got darker than I expected after a while. I’m not opposed to reading about tough things or relationships, but something about this specific relationship just wasn’t very fun to read. It felt like a toxic relationship and that didn’t resolve itself for me by the end. 3/5

Things You Save in a Fire by Katherine Center

I liked Cassie quite a bit as a protagonist and I feel like I learned a lot about firefighters. I would have liked a little more time spent developing her new crew, but that probably would have made the book feel a lot more crowded. I also felt like the ending was wrapped up a little too tidily. What a complaint, right? The ending was too happy! Overall, I still really liked this book and it actually gave me stuff to think about regarding forgiveness, etc. 4/5

How to Walk Away by Katherine Center

This book was a little harder to read than some of her other ones. I still really liked it, but it was so hard to read about Maggie’s suffering. I could not even imagine experiencing something like that and her mom drove me absolutely crazy! I did really enjoy the dynamic between Maggie and Kit as they worked to repair their relationship. I appreciate that that was given as much if not more screen time as the romantic relationship. Overall, I really enjoyed it and I feel like it helps me to appreciate my own life more. 4/5

Get Lucky by Katherine Center

I didn’t like this one quite as much as the rest of her books. The main character wasn’t as likable to me—she’s doing this incredibly selfless thing for completely selfish reasons! I also didn’t feel like Sarah and Everett really spent enough time with each other. I know they have a history, but they barely talk throughout the book. Overall, I’m not mad I read it, but I wouldn’t read it again. 3/5

Everyone is Beautiful by Katherine Center

This book made me feel so stressed! And that ended up being my primary emotion throughout the book. It didn’t make me eager to pick the book back up after putting it down. In the end, I liked it alright. I enjoyed the flashback scenes to Lanie and Peter getting together in college, but I almost wish we had gotten fewer flashbacks of the process and more of their dating and early marriage. 3/5

Set On You by Amy Lea

This one was just okay for me. I think the overall message is supposed to be that we’re more than just our bodies, etc. But at the same time, it doesn’t feel like there was anything more than Scott’s physical attraction to Crystal at least in the beginning. I always like to know WHY our characters like each other and I don’t feel like I got enough of that in this book especially before the “L word” started getting tossed around. 3/5

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

Ummm…did the person who designed the cover art even read this book? It’s a completely different tone from the story it contains. But anyway. This book was so good and it made my blood boil in so many different parts. I loved Elizabeth as our protagonist and I also enjoyed getting to know Mad and to an extent Calvin. I can tell you right now, I would not have survived as a woman in the 60s or whenever this book was set. Perhaps I’m simply a product of my time, but man. It would have been torture.

This book was a lot deeper than I thought it was going to be. The cover makes it look like it’s a generic rom com. It’s not. I wouldn’t even classify it as a romance of any kind. This is historical fiction and I think the cover actually goes against everything this book is for. Overall, ignore the cover and read this book because it’s well-written and it features incredibly strong females all around. There are an infinite number of ways for women to be strong, and this book showcases a fair number of them. 5/5

The Change by Kirsten Miller (ARC)

This was the second book in a row that I’ve read with men being horrible and entitled (though this one definitely is worse than Lessons in Chemistry). I think I need something much lighter for my next read haha. This book had a lot of twists, but I enjoyed them. I liked that this story is all about strong women especially at an age when they’re often forgotten and ignored. Things come together slowly, but there are enough pieces for the reader to put things together on their own. The fact that stuff like this actually happens in the real world makes me sick. Overall, I wouldn’t say this read was necessarily ENJOYABLE, but it was well-plotted and I cared about the characters. 4/5

Note: I received a copy free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy

Talk about a guidebook on how NOT to be a mom… Jokes aside, it really did make me reflect on what kind of a parent I am. My kids are still young, but there are so many ways that we try to impose our will, beliefs, hopes, and dreams onto our children without really thinking about how they are their own people too. Obviously most of us aren’t as bad as Deb was, but we all have the tendency I think. Jennette is open and raw throughout this whole memoir and I don’t think I’ll ever be able to watch iCarly the same way knowing how miserable she was the entire time. Overall, this book will not be for everyone—I think there are a lot of triggers and there’s a lot of hard material to get through. But it does shine an interesting light on how fame effects child actors. Perhaps without meaning to, Jennette provides an the reader an interesting foil in Miranda. If you can handle the hard stuff, this book is worth a read. 4/5

MINI-REVIEWS: More Romance

So I’ve been on this huge romance kick over the last couple of months, right? I’ve been reading them quickly and haven’t been very good about getting reviews up, but today I sat down and just decided to bang them all out! (Just…do me a favor and ignore how many of these books feature 29/30-year-old Brits).

Here’s Looking at You by Mhairi McFarlane

I feel a little foolish that it took until about 75% of the way through before I realized this was a loose Pride and Prejudice retelling, but what are you gonna do? I didn’t like this one quite as much as the others I’ve read by her. Anna was a great main character, but I wasn’t always buying James as a love interest. I’m happy with how it ended, but there was some doubt in my mind if he’d ever be able to truly redeem himself. 3.5/5

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The Simple Wild by K.A. Tucker

I didn’t LOVE Calla. I feel like she was too oblivious as to how she was coming off to others. Like…you’ve seen the town and you really think the grocery coffee stand is going to have soy/almond/cashew milk? Besides that, I liked the other characters (maybe besides Calla’s mom). Simon is a real gem and neither Calla or her mother deserve him. 3.5/5

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Wild at Heart by K.A. Tucker

I had my issues with Calla again, but overall I still liked the book. I just feel like she’s willfully naive sometimes. I’m not sure what she thought life was going to be like in Trapper’s Crossing, but I thought she should have been a little more grateful towards Muriel taking her under her wing. I did like her relationship with Roy, though, and thought it felt realistic. 3.5/5

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It’s Not Me, It’s You by Mhairi McFarlane

Wow. Talk about slooooooow burn. Halfway through this book and I still had no idea which guy Delia was going to end up with. I don’t know that the relationship made a ton of sense to me always, but I still liked it and thought Delia was a good character. I liked her “journey” and the things she discovered about herself though she was a little too naive when it came to Kurt.

Unrelated, I thought the comic panels were a nice touch! Really enjoyed them. 4/5

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Would Like to Meet by Rachel Winters

This book actually took me by surprise! As the story sets up, you think you know where it’s going, but then it turns completely on its head. The meet cute scenarios that Evie comes up with are equal parts cringe and heartwarming. It really is interesting to think about how those scenarios might play out in real life (mostly poorly). I thought the romance was compelling though I wasn’t totally convinced until the end what the love interest necessarily saw in Evie. Overall, this was a cute read. 4/5

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Don’t You Forget About Me by Mhairi McFarlane

I really enjoyed Georgina’s journey throughout this book. Despite the fact that this book would be classified as romance, I feel like Georgina’s development as a character shared equal screen time and I really liked seeing her relationship with her sister grow throughout the book. The romance part is great too. There’s a lot of “but wait…does he actually remember her?” looming over every interaction that Georgina and Lucas have. With their backstory, I felt like the romance was believable and I found myself really rooting for them in the end. 4/5

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The Flatshare by Beth O’Leary

I really enjoyed this one! Admittedly, Tiffy was a little much for me at times but I thought that Leon’s chapters balanced her out nicely. I thought the change in writing styles between their narrations was interesting and helped to distinguish them from each other. One of my pet peeves is when a book has multiple POVs, but they all sound like the same person and that was not the case with this book. I’ve seen other reviews complain about the secondary plots, but I actually didn’t mind them. I thought they fleshed out the characters in a realistic way that ended up contributing to their overall connection as people. Perhaps things might have wrapped up a little too picture perfect in the end, but I can hardly begrudge this book or characters their HEA. 4/5

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The Switch by Beth O’Leary

If you are looking for a book featuring a quirky English village (quirky residents included) then look no farther! I really enjoyed getting to know the townspeople of Hamleigh along with Leena. Penelope and Roland especially always had me chuckling. Overall, this book had a really strong cast of interesting secondary characters to help Leena and Eileen along on their journeys. The relationship between Leena and her mother, Marian, was tense but felt necessary and I’m glad that O’Leary featured it, though I could have used a little more on-page action. There were elements of this book that I felt were unrealistic (both Eileen and Leena got A LOT done in less than two months), but I was more than happy to overlook that.

As the book started to wrap-up, however, I was worried that both of our heroines were going to end up with their respective love interests by default. Here’s what I mean by that: the whole book a protag is with one person (when the love interest is clearly…well…interested) but then something happens at the very end to cause that initial relationship to end and our protag turns around and is like, “Oh yes, I guess I do love this other person over here”. Even though five seconds ago they were really fighting to keep their previous relationship. Anyway, that DOESN’T end up happening in this book even though I was worried it was going to happen not once, but twice. I ended up really liking how O’Leary navigated all of those relationships. 4/5

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A Princess for Christmas by Jenny Holiday

Meh. This book was just alright. I enjoyed all of the parts that were Hallmark movie-esque (quaint European village with delicious holiday traditions, meddling younger sister, New York meet cute) but I don’t really think I liked either of the main characters very much? I didn’t feel like they were very consistent throughout the book. Leo especially was just…kind of an odd character. He had an ENORMOUS chip on his shoulder and seemed to go out of his way to be contradictory at times. I can’t say I enjoyed any of his POV chapters really. And then I found Marie just kind of boring. 3/5

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A Rogue of One’s Own by Evie Dunmore

While I enjoyed this book, it does fall under the classic romance cliche where one frank conversation between characters would eliminate 90% of the drama. Lucie and Tristan were both interesting characters and again, I really liked the historical backdrop of the women’s suffrage movement. Lucie is not a damsel in distress to be saved and Tristan is clearly no white knight, but they end up working together to further their individual goals. I liked that Dunmore portrayed Lucie and Tristan as equals starting with them both owning 50% of the publishing house. It creates a good dynamic between them I think. Overall, I’m definitely interested in continuing the series ESPECIALLY after learning that book #3 is going to feature Hattie! 4/5

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Say You Still Love Me by K.A. Tucker

I’m not totally sure why I didn’t love this book, but it wasn’t as enjoyable to me as some of the other romances I’ve been reading lately. I didn’t love either Piper or Kyle to be honest. The flashback chapters to camp life were kind of a drag for me. Obviously I know they were being dumb teenagers (and which of us hasn’t been a dumb teenager at some point?) but I felt like so many of their decisions were just BAD and the consequences were so easily avoidable. I don’t know…I think this book just had too many things going on–elements that by themselves could have worked better. 3.5/5

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HW Assignment: Wonder by R.J. Palacio

Just a reminder that the giveaway I’m hosting is still going!

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Note: This post was used as a homework assignment and may contain spoilers.

Bullying is a topic near and dear to my heart. I know that this is an issue that children struggle with every day. I think this book is great for kids in every situation of life whether they’re the bully, the bullied, or a bystander. There are a lot of lessons that the author tries to teach in this book. By having Auggie be so disfigured, I think bullied kids will be able to think, “Well, if even Auggie can find a friend or two, I certainly can too.” His case is definitely the extreme and I think kids will be able to find comfort in the fact that their situation isn’t as bad as Auggie’s, but everything still turns out alright in his story. While I don’t know that this book is 100% realistic, I think bullied kids will be able to read this book and feel braver about their situation.

As I mentioned earlier, I also think this book would be good for the “bystander” kids to read as well. The way that this book switches between perspectives is great because it shows how some of the people in Auggie’s life feel about him. Perspectives range from very close (Via) to sort of close (Jack, Summer) to peripheral (Justin, Miranda). The Kirkus Review says about the multiple perspectives, “Palacio divides the novel into eight parts, interspersing Auggie’s first-person narrative with the voices of family members and classmates, wisely expanding the story beyond Auggie’s viewpoint and demonstrating that Auggie’s arrival at school doesn’t test only him, it affects everyone in the community.” I think this shows how everyone can have an impact no matter how close a child perceives their relationship to be with someone who’s bullied. They can step in and make a difference no matter how well they know the kid.

Lastly, I think this book would be important for bullies to read so they can see the other side of things. Not only that, but it shows that sometimes we don’t even have to try to be mean—sometimes our initial reactions to someone are enough if we’re not consciously being kind. Like Jack’s babysitter Veronica tells him, “‘Jack, sometimes you don’t have to mean to hurt someone to hurt someone. You understand?’” (pg 137). I think this book can help kids to be more conscious of their actions around other people.

In 2013, NPR did an interview with the author, R.J. Palacio, and it’s really interesting to hear what sparked this book. It’s actually based on a real experience that Palacio had. For those who enjoy reading books written from multiple perspectives, I would recommend the Gone series by Michael Grant. The books in this series are told from both the “heroes” perspectives as well as the “villains”. Another book about bullying that would be good for an older crowd is Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher as it also deals with suicide.

Messenger of Fear by Michael Grant

Have you done something bad recently? Something REALLY bad? Did you get away with it too? Then you better look out, because the Messenger is coming. He’ll offer you a deal. Play a game or pay the price. If you win, then you get to go free, but if you lose then you’ll have to pay by living your greatest fear. So what’s it going to be? Pay or play?

Okay, so I know this is the third Michael Grant book that I’ve reviewed on this blog, but this was actually the first one that I read. This is the book that made me look up and read the first two books from the Gone series. Let me just start by saying that this book was better. WAY better. I thought the concept was a lot more intriguing and thought provoking. The Messenger exists to create balance in the world. He brings justice to those that did not end up being punished by the world for their crime(s). Throughout the book the main character, Mara, struggles with the ethics of such a task. She finds that she’s been apprenticed to the Messenger, but she’s not sure that what they’re doing is right. It actually doesn’t seem like Messenger’s 100% sure either. That’s what I really liked. You have this really powerful character who’s fulfilling his purpose, even while he’s questioning it a bit. It creates an interesting dynamic and also helps the reader to feel more connected to him even though he’s some otherworldly being.

Mara was a good character. I liked her as a person and I felt my own inner conflict echoing hers. I felt connected to her. That’s why the plot twist towards the end really threw me for a loop. I did not see it coming. Without spoiling it, the twist is such that if the reader had been given this information at the beginning of the book, we would not have liked Mara. In fact, we probably would have hated her. The author did such a good job making Mara likable before dropping that bombshell on us. So even though it’s a pretty bad thing, we’re still rooting for her. Just genius.

This book came out last September and there is a novella called The Snake which I haven’t had the chance to read yet. Now, I believe there will be more books (at least one), but I haven’t been able to find out any information about when it’ll be out. But when I do, I’ll post it!

Note: This book contains some heavier themes including bullying and suicide, both involving teenagers.

Overall Rating: 4
Violence: Heavy. There are a couple of pretty graphic scenes.
Sexual Content: Moderate
Language: Moderate
Smoking/Drinking: Mild