Tag: Emily Henry

Mini-Reviews: May Reads

The Vacationers by Emma Straub

Well. I can’t say any of the characters were very likable (maybe just Lawrence). Seriously though! This may be one of the most unlikable families I’ve ever read about. I’m not sure what I was supposed to get out of this book either…what was the moral? Forgiveness? Living your truest self? Having children is the greatest joy you could ever have? Idk. Maybe this book was just over my head. 3/5

Book of Night by Holly Black

I really wanted to like this book. I REALLY wanted to like it. And some parts I actually did like, but mostly this book just felt kind of messy. The world didn’t make a ton of sense. And where Black’s vision of “Fae” is so clear, this more urban fantasy (which she’s done so well in the past with her Tithe books) just fell flat. The magic system didn’t make a ton of sense to me and there were so many new terms being thrown at me that I never got a good grasp on.

The parts I did like: the last confrontation at Salt’s house. That’s kind of it. The rest was just okay. The ending was unexpected and I’m not sure how I feel about it.

Overall, I’m disappointed and disappointed in my disappointment. 3/5

Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen

It’s definitely an interesting experience to read a book as an adult that you loved as a teenager. I love the way Sarah Dessen writes. It’s like slipping on a cozy sweater on a cold day. It’s just so comfortable and easy for me.

This book in particular I reread before watching the new Netflix movie. And while I still enjoyed Auden as a character, the one who really stood out to me this time was Heidi. I hadn’t read this book since becoming a mom myself. Two kids later, let me tell you, that scene of Heidi sitting in the dark with the baby is SO REAL. I mean, I even have a really present husband, but with my first there were times when I would sit and cry and hope that ANYONE would come save me. The depictions of new motherhood were clearly written by someone who knows what it’s like.

Overall, I really enjoyed my reread. This is one that I forget about sometimes, but it’s up among Dessen’s best imo. 4/5

Book Lovers by Emily Henry

I’m so happy I liked this book! I really liked Beach Read, but People We Meet on Vacation was just okay for me. I liked the premise of the city girl who always gets dumped for the small town girl being able to tell her side of the story. Nora and Libby had a really sweet relationship and I almost wish we’d gotten MORE of that. Charlie was sweet and all, but the romance didn’t need to be as big a part of it in my opinion.

I always like getting a peek behind the publishing curtain, so that aspect was fun too. I’d like to think that in another life I’d have gotten into publishing.

Overall, I thought Henry did a good job playing with tropes. Honestly, my main complaint is that she’s managed to create another fictional book within her book that I’m dying to read. 4/5

Bad Luck Bridesmaid by Alison Rose Greenberg

I just didn’t love Zoey as a main character. Firstly, she seemed a little implausible as a person (manic pixie dream girl but as a super successful advertising exec). Secondly, I think we’re just too different. I couldn’t relate to her at all.

Then there are the flashbacks. So many flashbacks. I think the first 10 chapters is all flashback. I didn’t personally gel with the writing style from this book. Not to say that it was poorly written, I think it was fine, it just wasn’t my cup of tea.

Overall, this book was a bit of a disappointment for me. 2/5

Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid

I LOVED THIS BOOK. I went into it with low expectations since I wasn’t jazzed by the synopsis and didn’t love Carrie from Malibu. But it’s TJR so I was going to read it regardless. And it totally took me by surprise. Obviously it’s beautifully written and it actually made me care about tennis (which is a true feat).

The relationship between Carrie and her father was a perfect focus for this book. Javier was a bright spot every time he was on the page. Plotwise, this book was very predictable. However, it’s still so enjoyable that I didn’t even care. Carrie is fantastic and is truly a great character. She’s complicated and imperfect but also unapologetically herself.

Overall, I just loved this book. If you’re a TJR fan, read this book. If you’re not yet a TJR fan, read this book and then binge her backlist. 5/5

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

22 Best Book Deals for 9/17/20: Maisie Dobbs, Beach Read, A Darker Shade of Magic, and more

Book Deals
As of this posting, all of these deals are active, but I don’t know for how long!
Less than $2

Dear Martin by Nic Stone

All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven

One Plus One by Jojo Moyes

Next Year in Havana by Chanel Cleeton

Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear

The Girls in the Garden by Lisa Jewell

Tidelands by Philippa Gregory

Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine

I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore

Beach Read by Emily Henry

Party of Two by Jasmine Guillory

A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro

Less than $3

The Kingdom by Jess Rothenberg

Thick as Thieves by Megan Whalen Turner

Happily Ever After by Kiera Cass

Stepsister by Jennifer Donnelly

We Are Okay by Nina LaCour

Tiny Pretty Things by Sona Charaipotra & Dhonielle Clayton

The Rest of the Story by Sarah Dessen

A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers

Recommended from this post:

June 2020 Wrap-Up/TBR Update

I actually had a really good month! I’m surprised at how well I was able to stick to my TBR.
monthly tbr
Also read/reading: Books finished this month: 20 (1 DNF) Books currently reading: 2
Overall TBR:
TBR at the beginning of the year = 296 TBR at the beginning of June = 318 Books added to TBR = 7 Books read/deleted from TBR = 8 Total on TBR now = 317
How did your reading go this month?

Mini-Reviews: The Silent Patient, The Great Alone, The Holdout, and Beach Read

mini-reviews

I’ve noticed lately that I’ve been reading a lot more adult fiction. It’s not a conscious decision and I’m not sure why it’s happening, but I’m going with it! Here are a few of the adult fiction books I’ve been reading lately.

The Silent Patient

I’d heard so much buzz about this book before I picked it up for a book club. Even with all the buzz, though, I really didn’t know what to expect. This book ended up being a little more detective-y than I had anticipated. It was almost as if Theo was conducting some kind of criminal investigation. I wished he’d stayed in his lane a little bit more and that there was more to the interactions between him and Alicia. The author did a good job of making virtually every single male character suspect. Perhaps because of that, I actually didn’t love Theo as a character and especially as a narrator. In the end, I understand why the story was told the way it was, but I’m not sure how I feel about the whole “twist”. 3.5/5

Order: Hardcover | Paperback | Kindle

The Great Alone

I picked up this book because I’ve been meaning to read something by Kristin Hannah FOREVER. After reading this, I’d probably read her again, but she’s not an author who I would binge her entire backlist. Her books are long, heavier, and slower paced than something I would typically want to binge read. That being said, this book is so well-written. The setting of Alaska comes alive in this really unforgiving way. After reading this, you’re getting a big “NOPE” from me re: living in Alaska. Throughout this book I had a really uneasy feeling. Part of it was the tension involved with Leni’s dad, but I honestly think a big part of it was the setting itself. I was surprised at how far the author took the plot. The story kind of just keeps going beyond when I would expect it to conclude. I’m not totally sure how I felt about the ending. Parts of it felt a little too clean to me and I would have liked a bit more open endedness. I also had a big question about what happened with Leni’s grandparents, but maybe that’s just me. 4/5

Order: Hardcover | Paperback | Kindle

The Holdout

The story sucks you in really fast, but I wished that I had a summary of the case right off the bat. Just like a news clipping at the beginning would have been perfect, I think. I wouldn’t say that I loved Maya as a character, but with that being said, we know she didn’t kill Bobby so I was really invested in her figuring out who actually did. This story took many unexpected turns and I thought that was reflected in the ending as well. I liked that we were given answers, but some things don’t feel all the way resolved. There was a resolution to Bobby’s death, though, and I thought it was plausible. The way the book was written was interesting as well. We got flashbacks with different jurors and I thought all of the changing timelines actually kept the story moving along instead of bogging it down. It was really interesting that the author showed how people remember things differently from how things happened or how others recall the same events. Overall, a pretty good “mystery” with insights into the legal system and what it’s like to be on a jury. Also, I love this cover. It’s so simple and I love it. 4/5

Order: Hardcover | Paperback | Kindle

Beach Read

Okay, I think everyone’s been saying this but I’ll just reiterate–this book is NOT as light as the cover would make you think. January and Gus are both dealing with some pretty heavy things. So though they do find love, they have to get through the other stuff first. With that being said, right off the bat I found January to be extremely likable and the chemistry between her and Gus was great. You really just root for them to make it work. And with their history, I also imagined where their lives could have ended up had they gotten together in college (though that line of thinking wasn’t really explored in the book). A couple of critiques: I wish that January’s dad had been a little more present somehow. Maybe his letters could have been sprinkled throughout the book? Or we could have gotten flashbacks from his perspective? My only other critique is that “olive” was used a few too many times to describe Gus’ complexion. It just kept popping up and I didn’t feel like it was necessary. Ultimately, I thought this book ended on a happy and uplifting note. Fingers crossed that Emily Henry decides to really write the book January was working on because I would TOTALLY read it. 4/5

Order: Paperback | Kindle

June 2020 TBR

This month we’ve got some of our local libraries opening up. They’re doing reduced hours and services and all that, but it’s a sign that things might be returning to normal soon-ish.

monthly tbr

Let’s see how this month goes!

What are you guys reading this month? Let me know in the comments!

May 2020 Wrap-Up/TBR Update

I’ve felt pretty good about this month! I’ve read a few great books and some new ones that I was excited about.

monthly tbr

Also read/reading:

Books finished this month: 10
Books currently reading: 2

Overall TBR:

TBR at the beginning of the year = 296
TBR at the beginning of May = 308
Books added to TBR = 14
Books read/deleted from TBR = 4
Total on TBR now = 318

How did your reading go this month?

May 2020 TBR

Who knows what this next month is going to look like? I just saw on Instagram that a local restaurant is planning on opening for sit-down service next Monday. Utah hasn’t been hit as hard as some other states by everything, so maybe this means that things will start opening back up? We’ll just have to wait and see…

monthly tbr

What are you guys reading this month? Let me know in the comments!

TTT | I NEED MOOOOOOORE

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

Top Ten Tuesday Blog

Standalone Books That Need a Sequel

Man, going through my Goodreads for this list made me realize that I read very few standalone books! A lot of the standalones are contemporary romance, but I didn’t want my ENTIRE list to be that! So here’s my list. I tried really hard to add some variety.

Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman

This is supposedly getting a sequel, but I won’t believe it until I have it in my grubby little hands.

This Lullaby by Sarah Dessen

I listened to an interview where she explains why she doesn’t do sequels and I get it…but I’d still like one. Honestly, I’d take a sequel for any of her books, but I’m particularly curious about Remy and Dexter.

Since You’ve Been Gone by Morgan Matson

I feel like this book ended feeling a little unresolved to me. I didn’t really think Sloan was a very good friend, so I’d like to giver her a chance to redeem herself.

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Levi and Cath are just so sweet together. A book about their last year of college would be amazing.

Invictus by Ryan Graudin

More time travel heists plzzzzzz.

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

Yes, more Night Circus would be fantastic. I literally cannot get enough.

Iron Cast by Destiny Soria

The two main characters are best friendship goals! I’d love to see what other situations they get themselves into!

A Million Junes by Emily Henry

I feel that there could be more to explore here. The book resolved, but let’s see what happens after!

Odd & True by Cat Winters

A new book with Odd’s daughter as the lead would be so interesting I think!

The Comeback Season by Jennifer E Smith

More Cubs!

Do you agree with my list? Link your TTT in the comments!

Summer Cleaning Mini-Reviews

If Spring Cleaning is a thing, that means Summer Cleaning is too, right? I have so many backlogged ARCs to review, it’s not even funny. Covers link to Goodreads.

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Say No to the Bro by Kat Helgeson [ARC]

Okay…to be perfectly honest I read this back in April and I’m having a hard time remembering everything. The notes that I wrote down for this, though, are as follows: “I’m not really buying their relationship. I feel like it doesn’t fit with who I think the characters are.” From what I remember of the book, all of a sudden the two main characters were dating and I was like, “Okay, that’s random.” Like, not random plotwise, but random because it didn’t feel genuine. I also remember not really liking any of the characters–they all just seemed really selfish to me. 2/5

Seeking MansfieldSeeking Mansfield by Kate Watson [ARC]

I always love a good Jane Austen retelling and I’d heard good things about this book, so I was super excited. The issue I had with the original Mansfield Park is that I felt like Edmund just randomly decided to like Fanny in the end. Like, what was going on? Fanny deserves better than Edmund shrugging his shoulders going, “Well, I guess I’ll just marry Fanny now since that last relationship didn’t work out.” So I was hesitant going into this book in case it was the same thing. To some extent it was, but I did like the ending of this retelling better than the original ending. One thing that really bugged me is that I don’t feel like Harlan would have acted how he did towards Finley if he really respected her dad as he said he did. There was also a lot of angst that I could have done without. 4/5

A Million Junes

A Million Junes by Emily Henry [ARC]

First of all, stunning cover. My first impression was that the main characters were both super likable which is always nice. I also rejoiced to find a main character who loved both her biological father as well as her step-dad. I’d been searching for such a book and I absolutely loved the relationships that June had with both her father and her step-father. The plot itself was a little abstract and I did find myself confused a time or two, but I was still okay with it. The magical realism aspect of the book was so well done and definitely gave the entire story a dreamy quality. In my opinion, this book was a definite step up from Henry’s last book. I also thought this book was a really great look at grief and grieving in general. 4/5

Follow Me Back

Follow Me Back by A.V. Geiger [ARC]

So…this book is CRAZY. As I was reading, I thought that this was a nice departure from my normal genres–I don’t read a lot of thrillers (psychological or otherwise). I honestly didn’t expect too much from the plot. I thought it would just be a very basic twist at the end. But about halfway through I started to suspect that things weren’t going to end up being the way I thought they would be. Was Eric going to end up being the stalker instead of Tessa? What about that weird Mrs. Eric Thorn from Twitter? How does she fit in? What the heck happened to Tessa last summer? Then the ending kind of came out of nowhere, but it also makes sense. At this point, however, I find myself very uncertain about the very end (was it an epilogue?). I didn’t anticipate this being more than one book and I’m very confused as to what is actually happening. Confused in a good way though. The only thing I didn’t particularly care for is the way that Tessa’s mom and boyfriend treated her mental issues. I mean, I don’t know how I would react in their shoes, but they seemed so insensitive! Also, WHAT IS UP WITH TESSA’S PSYCHIATRIST??? 4/5

Songs About a GirlSongs About a Girl by Chris Russell [ARC]

I had high hopes for this book because I thought it was going to be something a little more similar to Audrey, Wait! by Robin Benway. Like, the main character goes to school with a guy who ends up being a massively famous pop star and turns out he carried a secret torch for her all through high school and so all the songs on his band’s new album are about her. That’s not what this book was about (but that would be an awesome book, right?). I didn’t really understand the plot all the way and I was really confused as to why Charlie felt so strongly that she needed to lie to her father. And I didn’t understand why she was being targeted at school. Also, to be honest, I thought this was going to turn into an accidental incest situation. It didn’t, but I had no idea where the plot was going for a while if not in that direction. 2/5

They All Fall DownThey All Fall Down by Roxanne St. Clair

This book could have been so good, but instead it was just freaking weird. I don’t know…somehow I thought there was going to be a little bit more of a mystery involved that the reader could try to solve. Instead, it’s just a big conspiracy thing that’s plopped in your lap in the last 50 pages. The characters were strange while also being blatant stereotypes (brooding bad boy, aggressive jock, mean girl cheerleaders). In addition, I thought Kenzie’s best friend was basically the most annoying side kick of a character I’d ever read. She only cares about becoming more popular and gets super upset when Kenzie isn’t interested in being popular as well. That drama was so unnecessary and just made the book that much harder to get through. Don’t read this. 2/5

Crazy Rich AsiansCrazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan

Okay, let me stop you right there. This is not a book about Asian people who are crazy and rich. This is a book about Asian people who are crazy rich. Get the difference? This book was surprisingly funny and exasperating all at the same time–there are some seriously ridiculous characters and situations. As someone who is half-Chinese (I’m descended from Hong Kong peasants–no shame) I felt like this book was so refreshing. 99% of the characters in this book are Asian (with the exception of an Au Pair here or there). This book depicts such a wide range of Asian people and I loved it. We’re not all the same, you know? And even though the characters in this book are crazy rich (and I’m not) I still felt like I could relate to them? Anyway, this book gave me a giant hankering for some dim sum. I need a pineapple bun, stat. 4/5

Note: ARCs were received for free in exchange for an honest review.

The Love that Split the World by Emily Henry

Natalie was adopted by a nice white family when she was just days old. For years she’s been communicating with an otherworldly being who would appear in her bedroom at night called Grandmother. Grandmother tells her stories the Natalie rarely understands. But three years ago Grandmother stopped coming and Natalie has felt lost ever since. The week of graduation, Natalie starts seeing things that she shouldn’t. One minute she’s in the hallway at school, but the next she’s seeing rolling hills and grazing buffalo. What’s happening to her and who is the boy that she sometimes sees during her episodes?25467698

This book was kind of interesting…I thought the premise was very unique and I was excited to see where the book would go. Right away I rejoiced that our main character was half Native American. Hooray for diversity in YA! I also really liked that actual Native American legends were woven into this story. In the back of the book I think there was an author’s note listing each of the stories told and what tribes they’re attributed too. I don’t know very much about Native American culture, so I was happy to get a glimpse into some of their stories and the way they might think about things.

The beginning of the book was very slow for me. I had a hard time really getting into it. And then as the story progresses, it doesn’t feel like the pace ever really picks up. We’re in Natalie’s head a lot so even though there’s a time constraint and Natalie is technically “battling against the clock”, the story still progresses at this really unhurried pace. There’s insta-love involved which I usually hate, but it wasn’t the worst in this book. Of all of the insta-love stories that I’ve read, I feel like this one was on the more realistic end of things. Beau seemed like a fairly interesting character (even if we’re not really clear on any of his motivations) but I kept imagining him as being Native American also…which, I don’t think he actually was.

Honestly, I kind of feel like a lot of this book went over my head. Like I said earlier, we’re in Natalie’s head A LOT and there’s quite a bit of internal struggle going on in there. In the end, I’m not really sure if she really did develop as a character. What did she learn about herself? I feel like she definitely learned something, but I’m not picking up on what it was. Then there was the resolution of the plot. It’s like…I kind of get it, but the last couple of chapters seemed super info-dumpy and I don’t think I got all of it. And then there was the ending…which was just okay for me. I didn’t love it, but I didn’t hate it either.

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I feel like this book is really different from a lot of books that are popular right now. It definitely has a darker overall tone to it. The alternate realities/time travel element was interesting even if it wasn’t necessarily explained that well. There are some religious elements to the story as well that I thought were interestingly tied in. Overall, I don’t think most readers will necessarily hate this book, but I also don’t think you’ll regret passing on it.

Overall Rating: 3
Language: Moderate. Some brief, strong language.
Violence: Moderate. Some mention of domestic abuse.
Smoking/Drinking: Heavy. A lot of underage drinking.
Sexual Content: Moderate