Mistborn: Brandon Sanderson

 Whoa. Good read. Can't wait to read the rest.

It definitely feels like an intro book for the first 1/3 or 1/2, but then things pick up and get moving and it's awesome.

I love Kelsier; he's a fantastic hero. Vin took some time for me. She was a grating character in the beginning, but as the plot picked up, she got better for me. I suppose she's a pretty good hero too.

I also love Allomancy and think that whole concept is fascinating. All of the magic is interesting, and I want more. Sanderson has a way of bringing this completely unheard of thing to life, and that's what readers need for books like this. Imagining that I, too, can fly through the air with just a handful of pocket change is just so fun!

My biggest complaint is being unable to visualize the creatures in this world. I had such a hard time immersing myself in the world because I just couldn't picture it. What the heck do Inquisitors even look like? But that's just an aspect of fantasy that I need to get used to.

The Christmas Invitation: Kate Kasch

I received a free copy for review from Voracious Readers Only.

This book was just like a Hallmark Christmas movie, and I love Christmas Hallmark!

It was a very easy read, lighthearted and happy. Ella is a fun character who is full of life and joy and takes fun chances, and Wyatt is a character who need opening up a bit, and has firm development throughout the story.

I didn't understand the conflict between Wyatt and his family. That felt forced as a plot point. Because there was no resolution between him and his family, it didn't make sense to include it, other that he needed a reason to not be excited about Christmas. However, he wasn't even against Christmas, just didn't care until Ella, so that felt like a weak point.

The conflict with Marissa was weird. she was a weak villain who tried to destroy things but didn't try very hard, so I didn't feel much anger towards her. Again, I understand the need for her as a plot point, but I found her to be lacking as a villain.

I love the happy ending, and I loved Marney as a mother figure and friend. I definitely want to shop at The Book Nook. I wish we had gotten more from Ella's mother. She wasn't much of a mother figure until the end when she jumps in and tells Ella how to be happy. To make that more believable, we needed more of her at the beginning.

All in all, this was a very fun Christmas read. If you like Hallmark movies, you'll love this light, happy, festive read.

Try Easy: Jill Brashear

 I received a free copy via Voracious Readers Only.

This was a good book to read on a quick vacation on the beach. It is one that I won't be reading again. While the story was fun, and books that take place in exotic, beach locations make me happy, I wasn't thrilled with a lot of points in this book.

I don't like when authors write in dialects. While I understand that the authors do this to help the readers immerse into the book and characters, I find it takes me away from the story. I have to bring myself out of the narrative to translate what the author is trying to say which frustrates me. I don't enjoy having to work to read a book, especially one that is supposed to be as easy as this.

I felt a lot of the plot drivers were forced and faked. None of them seemed realistic, and if they are realistic, the characters don't react in realistic or understandable ways. It works to move the story along, but it doesn't work to tell the story.

The characters were pretty frustrating as well. I liked Lou a lot in the beginning. I like characters who are photographers. I think it's a fun way to paint the pictures of the story. However, she was overall a weak character with no backbone. She spends a few pages gushing about her blossoming relationship with Paul, but within 24 hours of her vacation is making out with an islander, and that is obnoxious (on that note, this book was much more inappropriate than I can enjoy). 

All in all, it is a book I won't pick up again. It was quick to read and had some positive notes, but the negatives outweighed the positives for me. 

The Moments Between Us: Natalie Banks

I received a free copy of this book via Voracious Readers Only for review.

I was very intrigued by the plot of this book. To know what the future holds and be unable to change it is such a scary thought, especially when the future holds what Claire's future held. I was motivated to keep reading because I wanted to know how she would handle it and whether or not she would be successful in her attempts to change the future. This plot reminded me of the plot in 11/22/63 by Stephen King: completely different writing styles, but similar concept: can we change the future or will that ruin things, i.e. The Butterfly Effect.

I did not like the writing or character development (or lack thereof).

Claire is such a shallow character who experiences very little growth. I thought, by the end, that she would have changed some considering the events of the story, but I failed to see any change in her. Sure, she becomes connected to her family more, but that was because of those characters' development, not hers. All of them had to approach her and force forgiveness out of her, and she required a reason from all of them for reconciliation. She was overly harsh on herself, to the point where it quickly became annoying instead of sympathy-evoking. 

I also found it very difficult to get in to the story because of the repetitive sentence structure. Banks doesn't write with an ebb and flow of various sentences. Each sentence is a rigid march through the story instead of a smooth flow. It was difficult to involve myself in this strict storytelling.

The way she uses the past, present, and future storytelling was also difficult to read through. The transitions were insufficient and didn't carry me along in the time travel. It wasn't a smooth narrative of story but a choppy past, present, then future ride. 

All in all, while I liked the basis of the story, I couldn't get past the choppy and detached writing method enough to get involved. I didn't like the characters either, so I was not invested in what happened to them.  

The Thirteenth Tale: Diane Setterfield

Holy buckets. What a fantastic read! This was one I definitely need to read again, now that everything (mostly) makes sense.

I am quite proud to say that I guessed the "twist" mere seconds (or should I say "words") before it was revealed. I wouldn't call it obvious, but there was only one plausible solution, only one way in which the story made sense.

I did have a very difficult time understanding Margaret as a character. Her suffering was not clear, and Setterfield began to truly lean on her pain towards the end of the novel. I preferred the Margaret at the beginning of the novel, who was fascinated with words and the many lives created by words. But I've never been in her position so relating to her would be difficult.

I definitely would recommend this book. Keep at it when you want to give up; I had a few of those moments myself. It's completely worth it.

Little Fires Everywhere: Celeste Ng

 This was a hard read for me. It was selected for a book club I just joined, and I didn't research too much into the description. However, had I known some of the large themes included infertility, miscarriages, abortions, and other pregnancy things, I would have chosen the other book. Especially considering the relaxed attitude the author portrayed with these subjects, it was very difficult to read those.

However, the book was intriguing. It brought up several difficult points: teenage sex, single-parenting, biological vs. adoptive parentage. 

The characters were well-written. It was easy to hate the "villain" throughout the whole book. It was rather disappointing that Mrs. Richardson never had her comeuppance. One could argue, I suppose that Izzy was her comeuppance, but I disagree. The author wants us to have sympathy for her at the end, but I find that impossible. She just isn't driving enough to convince me that she was a victim. Sorry, but she brought it all upon herself. 

I also am a huge fan of happy endings, so this ending was fairly unsatisfying. There needs to be so much more content so that I can get some resolution. This, however, is more of a personal preference complaint, so it isn't fair for me to take away from the rating because of that. I think that's just how this type of story ends, so I shouldn't have expected otherwise. 

The Devil in the White City: Erik Larson

They say don't judge a book by its cover: I need to stop judging books by the descriptions on the back. I started this book expecting something very different. The description on the back cover lead me to believe it was about murder happening in the White City. I expected a connection between Holmes and the fair, but there wasn't really. Holmes came to Chicago and then the fair's construction work began. These two stories were told independently in the same book which was a disappointment to me. 

Expectations aside, however, this was a well-written and exciting read, for about 50%. The parts about the construction of the fair were not exciting. It seemed that the author really wanted to write a book about Holmes but felt the need to tamper the excitement with construction work. I mostly skimmed those sections because I don't care how much steel was used in the construction of the first Ferris Wheel. 

But. The chapters on Holmes. Wow. What a sick, twisted man. It was so hard to remind myself continually that this was true. It read so much like a fiction, and because of the horror, I desperately wanted to believe it was a fiction. Larson had a way of introducing each murder that was twisted in itself. The murders often felt like an afterthought. At the end of the chapter, he would say, "Oh yeah, and she was never heard from again." Or "The next time any of her family saw her, she would be unrecognizable because it would only be a skeleton used for education purposes." WHAT. Thus, imagine my disappointment when I would then have to read 20 pages on someone's sore tooth and the damage caused by water and wind to half built buildings. 

When the fair finally kicked off, it was much more exciting: reading everything about the fair, the exhibits, the people who came, that was fun and exciting. I just wish less was spent on the pre-fair and more time was spent on the fair, especially considering that was what the cover described.

I do plan to read more on Holmes, and I might read more about the fair: just hopefully no more on the construction.