The Midnight Library: Matt Haig

 This was an interesting take on the "after-life" as some have predicted it to be. It explores the idea that every choice we make leads to an alternate life where we make the opposite decision. Haig explores the possibility of living each life after death to pick the best version. It's a pretty cool concept, and it leads to fun thinking of all the alternate lives we could have.

One review of this book calls it a "feel-good" book that will lift your spirits. I find I completely disagree. Sure, there's the potential for a happy ending (we can't be sure of that fact, based on the history of the main character), but I find the overall story disheartening and a little depressing (how can you not with such a person for a main character?).

The main character is just a sad person. We start the book with basically a list of all that's gone wrong in her life, all the relationships that are broke, all the loved ones who died, all the people who ignore her, the boss who hates her, the dreams she gave up on, etc. And from the first page on (and I mean, until maybe the last paragraph of the novel), nothing is good enough for her. Nothing makes her happy. Nothing gives her joy. Nothing is ever enough. 

That type of character is boring and uninspiring. Nora never changes. There's always only a bleak side. While the course of the book supposedly leads us to believe that she's developing as she "lives" each alternate life, I found that hard to believe. In fact, one of the main points of the book is that Nora remains herself in each life she begins. She's always the same Nora. And that's not entertaining for me. I want a character who grows with the story. Who learns something. Who has motivation. Who develops. Who does something (something other than whine, complain, and moan about her whole life, past, present, and future).

It was also disappointing, then, that the only character was Nora. Sure, there were background characters, but because of the style of book, no character stuck around enough to connect to. All we had was Nora, and Nora was utterly lacking as a character. 

The reason I gave this book four stars, however, is the writing style. It was very well-written and easy to fall into. Each chapter blended together to make the book float by. Haig has a very captivating way of writing. I also give him points for his creativity. The concept of the book and the content he created was very imaginative. I appreciate that greatly. I just wish his character was a little more positive or became a little more positive. 

Behind Closed Doors: B.A. Paris

 Holy smokes this was so good. I definitely could not put it down. 

Jack is such an excellent monster; perfectly perfect until you get behind the doors and then he becomes perfectly terrifying. He is written to be so real which makes him even more terrifying. The whole book is completely believable which leaves me feeling very unsettled. 

Grace is a fantastic protagonist. She doesn't dwell on what-could-have-beens, but focuses on what needs to be. I was rooting for her from the very beginning. 

I enjoyed the back in forth of each chapter between past and present- it really kept me reading because I needed to know more from both the past and present. I wanted more of the ending, which is a good sign. I wasn't ready for it to end. 

Esther is a great throw-in character; I didn't know how to feel about her until the last sentence, and that was another motivation to keep reading. So many reasons to finish the book quickly!

This Tender Land: William Kent Krueger

 Wow. This book was a journey. I was moved in many ways throughout the tale, and I was not ready for the story to end, even with the happy ending. I wanted to keep reading of the ride down the river, of the courage amidst incredible challenges, of the amazing way children think and plan and grow. 

The narration was excellent. Fluid and engaging in every page. Krueger has an excellent writing style, and I think I need to read his other book as well. I didn't want to put the book down, not just because of the story but also because of the beautiful way it was written. 

While this book has similar tastes as Mark Twain, I'm happy to report it isn't what you would expect from a Twain tale. There is much more growth, heartbreak, and excitement than you'd get from any of his stories. Plus, I found these four children to be much more interesting than any Tom Sawyer. 

Grab a box of tissues, prepare for some serious heart grabbing and twisting, and get reading!

The Princess Diarist: Carrie Fisher

 I wanted to like this book. I really wanted to like it. But I absolutely could not. 

Fisher was not meant to be a writer. She used this book as a trash can for her emotional vomit. None of it was logical or entertaining. This was purported to be a story of her time on Star Wars, and instead it was a litany of all the awful things she did while on the set of Star Wars (I don't need to go into the details, but Ford was a married man, and apparently that counts for nothing/makes it all the more exciting/gives it all the more reason to be brag-worthy.). 

The insane amount of drinking, drugs, and sex, were all things to brag about. Never once did she express remorse for any of the crap she did. She put it into this book and expected us to be proud of all she did. Sorry, but I'm not at all proud or impressed or empowered. 

Content aside, I wasn't kidding about emotional vomit. This was stream of consciousness in a way that stream of consciousness was never meant to be. This beautiful writing style was just completely ruined in what Fisher did in her book. She used it solely to be seen as "cuter" or "funny" or "witty" or "cool," and all I got from it was how idiotic she sounds when no one tells her to stop talking. Someone needed to cut her off at the end of each thought and teach her how to tie those thoughts together.

I definitely feel pretty bad writing this after her death, but honesty must prevail?

Five Ways to Fall Out of Love: Emily Martin

 I won this book as an uncorrected ARC in a giveaway. 

I really had fun reading this book! It is similar in themes to To All The Boys I've Loved Before, which I also super enjoyed. It's the classic hate to love story and is lighthearted and easy. The writing style is engaging and simple, making it a quick read. 

I liked each of the characters as well, which doesn't always happen. It took me a long time to decide which guy I was rooting for, so I don't think I could have been disappointed either way (the end was what I was rooting for, so yay!). Aubrey is a typical high-school girl: not in the "in" crowd, but content with where she is. She has her solid best friend who is almost unbelievably perfect; it's nice when she has some flaws pop up. Holland is a fun and carefree "other," and Webster is a great counter to each of those. 

The biggest "struggle" I had was the Bayes' theorem lectures. I didn't understand those sections, didn't enjoy those sections, so skimmed those sections. And I didn't miss much from not paying that part any mind. I understand that that is what fully drives the plot onward, so that's why it's important, but you don't have to understand all that Aubrey does to understand the reaction of her actions. 

I also want to mention that this is marketed as a Young Adult fiction, and I disagreed with that. I think YA generally points to teenagers, high schoolers, mainly, and that makes sense to a certain extent. This is written about high schoolers, but the content is much more mature than a high schooler. This is what bumped the book to a four star rating instead of a five. I enjoyed it enough to give it five stars, but I wouldn't want any high schooler reading this book. There is a lot of underage drinking and sexual behavior, written explicitly. 

I also think Aubrey, as a character, isn't one whom high schoolers should be modeling themselves after. She is very negative and cynical and never truly grows from that. It would have been nice to seem some change, or even building a relationship of sorts with a guidance counselor, especially as she's considering schools and dealing with a messy home life. Because this is directed at teenagers, it's important to show that Aubrey is finding help she needs from mature sources. Never does she get that from a parent, a teacher, or any kind of adult. It's important to show high schoolers who they can turn to when they have relationship issues, family life issues, and any other kind of issues. I wish we would have gotten that from this book. 

I'd love to see Netflix make this a movie! Can't wait for it to be published in March! 

The Starless Sea: Erin Morgenstern

This was a phenomenal book. I added it to my list because of how much I enjoyed The Night Circus by Morgenstern, and I'm so glad I finally got around to reading it. When I finished reading, I was not excited to start a new book because I wanted to live in this world for a while. That to me is a huge success.

It's written in very much the same style as The Night Circus; the word that keeps coming to mind is psychedelic, but maybe that's not a good word for books. However, it is the word I will use: it's twisty and confusing and colorful and spinning.

I had to take many pauses to stop and think about what I just read. There were a lot of twisty and confusing details, and I'm sure I missed a lot of those that I'll have to catch on a reread. 

I've heard some people complain that it takes too long to get into the book, but I found that to be untrue. Zachary is a compelling narrator who keeps the story moving even when he isn't doing much. He definitely grabbed me right away. 

I also enjoyed the structure of the book: Morgenstern told the larger story in between the second story. The alternating chapters were different "books" which helped the reader understand The Starless Sea slowly as they read.

The House of Kennedy: James Patterson

 This was a pretty good read! Patterson continues to write well, even in the nonfiction sector. 

I was pretty skeptical throughout the beginning of the book because Patterson didn't seem to have anything to add to the sources he was quoting. He had no first hand quotes or research; he compiled information from already written books. However, I found that got better as the book went on. Although Patterson hadn't interviewed any Kennedy, he added more thought or insight into later portions of the book.

The premise of this book is not just one Kennedy character or even the Kennedy dynasty. Rather, Patterson focuses on "The Kennedy Curse," so this book is solely about the tragedies and misfortunes in the Kennedy clan. Thus, it is a rather depressing book. There are no happy endings, and there is no joy. Granted, this is truly what the Kennedy family experienced. 

Anyway, this helped this Kennedy biography feel different from other books that focus on the success and legacy of the family on a positive note. This takes all the bad. Patterson doesn't try to explain it, he just lays it out for his readers in a succinct and logical way. 

I enjoyed reading this. It took me a while, 10 days, I think, because I needed to take breaks to read happier books. 

The 2020 Book Hoarders Reading Challenge

The only reading challenge I set for myself at the beginning of the year was to read some Pulitzer prize winning novels. I didn't do that at all. Not even a single one... Oops.

I was browsing around for a reading challenge to do in 2021, and I found a group on Facebook called The 2020 Book Hoarder Reading Challenge. I joined the group and while the 2021 challenge hadn't been posted yet, the 2020 was still up and available to do. I looked through the different prompts and realized that I had a few books I could use for this challenge. I went through my Goodreads, looking at books I'd read this year and when I was done, I only had five empty prompts. This was the week of Thanksgiving. I challenged myself to finish the challenge, and by the next week, I had. 

My two favorite books from this challenge were Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah and Catch Me If You Can by Frank Abagnale Jr. The first was an emotional roller coaster and the second was fun and had been on my list to read since watching the movie many, many years ago. It felt really great to finally check that off my list, and it made me want to watch the movie again.

My least favorite was Bridge of Sighs by Richard Russo: it just went on and on and on. The writing was dull and the story was not engaging. I struggled to finish that one. 

One of the last prompts I needed was number 12, Rainy day. I stumbled upon The Children Act by Ian McEwan and was so glad I did. It was a very interesting read and this occurrence reminded me why I participate in reading challenge. Those random finds are often pretty good. 

Here is the list of prompts along with the book:

1. Star on the cover or in the title: Secret Star by Nora Roberts

2. You Liar! Word Liar or Lies in Title: Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy by Karen Abbott

3. Flower on the cover or in the title: The Moonflower Vine by Jetta Carleton

4. Read in October: Plain Jane Wanted by Rose Amberly

5. State name in the title: New York to Dallas by J.D. Robb

6. Read in April: The Bridges of Madison County by James Robert Waller

7. Five star read: Every Breath by Nicholas Sparks

8. Over 350 pages: The Prince of Wales by Jonathan Dimbleby

9. Finally! On TBR forever: Catch Me If You Can by Frank Abagnale Jr.

10. Red-Cover or title: Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld

11. Make it a movie: The Lost Girls of Paris by Pam Jenoff

12. Rainy Day-umbrella or rain on cover: The Children Act by Ian McEwan

13: House on the cover or in the title: Captive Star by Nora Roberts

14. Just a girl (Only a girl on the cover): The Autistic Brain by Temple Grandin

15. I've lost my head (head chopped off at nose): Brazen Virtue by Nora Roberts

16. Just walk away (person walking away on cover): The Suicide Killer by Zach Lamb

17. Read in a day: Uncommon Type by Tom Hanks

18. Love or Hate in the title: Speaking the Truth in Love by Kenneth C. Haugk

19. Random Read: The Au Pair by Emma Rous

20. Clouds on the cover or in the title: Murder at the Village Fete by Catherine Coles

21. Number in the title: The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

22. Freebie: Try Easy by Jill Brashear

23. Food or drink on the cover or in the title: The Bake Shop by Amy Clipston

24: Two female authors: The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren (Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings)

25. Not Your Norm Genre: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson

26. New to you author: Hood by Stephen R. Lawhead

27. Trees on cover: Jane Austen: A Life by Claire Tomalin

28. Time of day in title: Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt

29. Over 1000 ratings on Goodreads: Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

30. Seasonal: Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah

31. By an author you'd love to meet: Hidden Star by Nora Roberts

32. I can relate (relate to main character): You Are Not Alone by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen

Bonus:

1. Won in a giveaway: One Writer's Beginnings by Eudora Welty

2. ARC: Trade Secrets by V.K. Tritschler

3. Over 475 pages: Pieces of Her by Karen Slaughter

4. Non Fiction: Elizabeth the Queen by Sally Bedell Smith

5. Never Ending Story: Bridge of Sighs by Richard Russo

I didn't write reviews for all of them because sometimes I forgot, and sometimes I just didn't have much to say. I did give them all a rating on Goodreads, so check them out there!

The President is Missing: James Patterson & Bill Clinton

James Patterson is an excellent writer, and to have a former president on your team as you write this presidential novel was an excellent move on his part. 

As I was wondering what to write in my review, I thought of a roller coaster. They most often start slowly, climbing up the steepest hill, and once they drop, there are rarely pauses or chances to catch your breath. This is how I felt reading this book. It took a while to get going, to the point where I was worried I would be disappointed by Patterson. But then the drop came, and it never stopped. 

The thrill and urgency is keenly felt by readers as they go along with President Duncan, trying their hardest to keep up, keep their breath, and solve problems alongside the POTUS. It was definitely a fun ride.

The many twists and turns kept me on my toes and meant that rereading chapters was occasionally necessary to make sure I caught each minute detail as we all tried to nab the "bad guy," so to speak. 

President Duncan was a fun main character, a great narrator, and an all around clever "detective." He was brave and bold, while having seriously human qualities: fatherhood, widowhood, sickness, etc. He was a real human, a character we can get behind and root for, a character we desperately want to see win. If I'm being honest, I definitely pictured him as President Bartlett from The West Wing and placed several other members of the staff in the book as well. That also made it fun.

I'm really glad I picked up this book from a Goodwill. It was a truly delightful read and kept me up later than I intended.

The Diplomat's Wife: Pam Jenoff

This was a very well-written, thrilling saga of a brave woman who was arrested by Nazis for her work in the Polish resistance during World War II. After being rescued and losing her fiance and the father of her unborn child, she marries a British government worker and begins a job as his secretary. The British government needs her help in locating a Communist spy and send her back to Germany on an undercover mission.

Apparently this is book number two in a series (I did not know that), but I haven't read the others. I didn't notice missing information, so reading the other books is not necessary. I'm guessing that you just get more background on some of the minor characters in this book. I am interested enough to now go back and read the first book. 

This book was engaging right off the start. We start with Marta in prison and have no idea where the book will go from there, even with the summary on the back. Each character we meet is brave and not all what they seem. They are each real and well-written: easy to understand, empathize with, and track growth. Some have said that the middle of the book is hard to track with, and I can agree. Our main heroine becomes a nobody, weak and cowardly, just doing what her husband tells her to. Only when we need the plot to pick back up does she become the woman she was at the beginning. 

My only complaint with this novel is that each chapter begins at a different, undisclosed time. Sometimes weeks have passed, sometimes years, and sometimes only seconds. I do wish each chapter had begun with a date/year header to keep readers informed of where we were. It was hard to start each new chapter trying to discover where in time we were.

Winter Garden: Kristin Hannah

Wow. 

This was by far the most emotionally moving and draining book by Hannah I've read. Heartbreak after heartbreak. It's the story with very little happiness, which makes those happy moments even more powerful.

It's the story of sisterhood, of motherhood, of love, of survival. A cold relationship between Anya and her daughters is tested when the father dies. All they have left is unfinished fairy tales. As Anya finishes the story, the girls learn who their mother really is.

Hannah weaves a story well, changing between narrators and narration style by throwing in a fairy tale throughout. This keeps the story moving and keeps the reader reading because of the desire to understand what everything means. The setting is beautifully and sometimes painfully described which helps readers visualize along with the daughters as Anya tells her story. I also love when they go to Alaska, and I now know that I need to visit there soon. It sounds lovely. 

I would highly recommend picking up this book soon, and others of Hannah's if you haven't read much by her. She always does a great job weaving together a story and tearing apart your emotions. 

House of Correction: Nicci French

 Tabitha is in prison for murdering Stuart. She claims she didn't do it but doesn't remember anything from that day. Her lawyer wants her to plead guilty, so Tabitha fires her. Now she has to build her case and discover the real murderer all from inside the House of Correction.

Great premise. I think it's clever! The Nicci French team pulls it off very well. If I had disappointments, which I suppose I did, they were in the reviews on the book/the way the book was advertised. It claimed to be a page-turning, nail-biting suspense. I found that to be incorrect. Most of the book is reading along while Tabitha searches for evidence either by reading papers, talking to people, or watching street cams. This isn't what I would consider thrilling. It's dramatic, for sure, and interesting, but not "nail-biting." I was prepared for a "keep-the-lights-on" thriller. 

I did not enjoy Tabitha as a person. She was impossible to relate to, and this led to it being somewhat difficult to feel badly for. I couldn't understand why the first half of the book consisted of her rejecting help from all avenues, and attacking everyone who approached her. I can't imagine what it's like to be in her position, so maybe this is just a reaction to that, but I think she could have been more appreciative and more forthcoming. But my hunch is that this is to let Tabitha shine on her own in court.

Speaking of court, this is where the book finally picks up and gets interesting, maybe even "thrilling."  It was exciting, it was fast-paced, it was emotional: all the things I wanted in the beginning and middle of the book. Tabitha had a great "enemy" in the prosecuting attorney; he was well-written, as was the judge. They made those scenes much fun to read. 

Tabitha was interesting as a character there as well. She had a spine and grit and fierceness. When listening to her interview and when hearing of her high school experiences, we're left believing that she has no backbone and lets things roll off her as they come. Even in town she's painted as a quiet loner, which makes this courtroom Tabitha difficult to understand. Where did she come from? Wherever she was hiding, she was impressive and well-written in the end.

Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy: Karen Abbott

 This was an excellent read. Abbott writes like fiction, and I had to remind myself several times throughout that these women were real people. 

Abbott used journals and letters and other quotes well to make this read like a story instead of a report. The descriptions throughout the book make the story come alive in the mind as well. Even though this was a nonfiction, it was still very much a page-turner, as I was excited to learn what each woman would do next, and whether or not they would be successful.

The interweaving of the women's stories helped carry the book along. I appreciated the change in characters, even in the middle of chapters sometimes. This helped keep me interested, as I was always changing women and even changing sides in the war which leads to another point.

It was very interesting to me that of the four women, two were with the Confederacy and two were with the Union. It was very educational to have both insights and get "insider" information on both sides.

I'm amazed at what people can do when it comes to standing up for their beliefs, and it's even more fascinating when those people are women. Each woman has an excellent story to tell, and I'm glad Abbott was able to share their tales so well!

Hood: Stephen R. Lawhead

The tricky thing with this book is that it is clearly the first book of the trilogy. I have to read the rest to know if this is truly the case, but most of this feels like set-up, the foretaste of the story to come. I felt like I finally understood the plot as I read the final few chapters, and that was the point when I realized I did, in fact, want to read the rest of the trilogy. 

It is a quick read, shouldn't take too much time to read it, even though it is longer. It also definitely feels like a young adult/teen read, perhaps because of the Robin Hood connection. 

This was a slow moving book. There are many moving pieces and many characters telling stories, so the plot takes its time getting along. This is what added to it feeling like an introductory book. The last 100 pages or less felt like actual adventure and action, so that was where I really enjoyed it. 

It's advertised as a retelling of Robin Hood, so that was the lens through which I read it. I almost wish I had come upon that on my own, instead of trying to read the book as though I was reading Robin Hood: that made it complicated for me to get into the book on my own. 

I also wish there was a table of contents. I quickly lost track of which baron was who and what "side" they were on. I couldn't keep up with all of the players, partly because the switches in narrative were quick and partly because the names were unpronounceable for me. That always makes it difficult for me to follow along with the cast. I have to be able to speak their names in my head for me to connect who they are. 

I'm starting the second one now: hopefully that one is good! 

Catch Me If You Can: Frank Abagnale Jr.

 This was an excellent read. I've been meaning to pick it up since I first watched the movie adaptation 10 years ago, and finally got around to it. This did not disappoint.

Abagnale is a fascinating human, and this is a fun foray into his mind, his thinking, his creativity, his decision making, etc. 

This is well-written and easy to read: I read it in a day. It made me laugh and cringe, and it left me wondering what Abagnale's life was really like. It left me wanting more, which is a great thing for a book to do. 

I was disappointed when it ended, because I wanted more of what Abagnale did later. I wanted the rest of the story, but I understand that the book has to end somewhere; I just wasn't ready for it. 

Trade Secrets: V.K. Tritschler

 I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. 

I thought this was a great premise for the book, so I was pretty disappointed when the direction it was actually taking became clear to me. 

It was easy to get into the story right away. Tritschler pulled me in to the world she was spinning. I jumped into the office life with Emily quickly. Tritschler also does a great job with descriptions: it was easy to visualize the story along with Emily, as she walks through the office and notices her coworkers. It was easy and quick to read with fun character quirks.

However, I had such a difficult time with the main character. Emily is just SO dramatic. Way over the top. I rolled my eyes at her so much my eyeballs got sore, and I had to take a break from reading. I think her character was just overdone. There was too much anxious teen in her, I think. I understand that Tritschler wanted to emphasize the point that Emily was a young, inexperienced character who had a lot of growing to do, but I think there was too much of this. Often times, Emily was just a limp leaf of a character, getting crushed by everything and everyone, in ways that I didn't find relatable, for example, getting 40 emails on her first day of work. That's just what happens in the job world, and she let that knock her flat, according to one of the last sentences of the first chapter: "Maybe she wasn't cut out for this position." That's too dramatic for me. 

Early on in the book, I wrote in my notes, "Are we supposed to believe she's [Emily] attracted to her lecher of a boss?" Jimmy was written too inappropriately in the beginning to be an actual potential romance for me, so I was very disappointed that this was the route taken. He was too gross, especially as someone in a position of power. His character should have been toned down a bit in the inappropriate behavior for me to believe that Emily would be interested in him. The "sexual chemistry" was not enough for me to understand their connection.

A lot of the plot points in this book were poorly written and missing a lot of resolution. Harry needed more resolution, and instead, he just dropped of the face of the book. Emily's family showed up for a few pages and a medical emergency, but disappeared after less than a chapter. The Carter case, the main plot of the story, had zero resolution, as far as I could tell. 

Overall, I was disappointed in the ending, frustrated by every single character (and not in a good way) and confused by the disappearance of plot points. 

Murder at the Village Fete: Catherine Coles

 I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This is definitely an easy, cozy read. It's a fun little "whodunit" with a lovely husband and wife duo.

Most of what I struggled with in this book was the uncertainty of what I was missing from the first book of this series. I haven't read the first, jumping instead right into the second book. I missed learning more about Tommy and Evelyn which I think would have helped me enjoy them more as characters. I do not think this serves well as a stand-alone book, but that's my fault. 

It was hard for me to grasp the character of Evelyn. I definitely felt as though she was more prevalent than Tommy, but even then, I didn't get enough of her to feel connect or understand her. I think Coles could have explored Evelyn more, especially when bringing up the issue of whether or not to have children. That was dropped as a side note a few times, and there was never a conversation about it, we never hear her struggle or her discussing her fears, so it's impossible to understand how she grows out of that struggle. 

I would have also loved to see more between Evelyn and Tommy. They are written to be a loving, cute, and fun couple, but we aren't given much interaction between the two. That would have helped me believe in their happy marriage a bit more (not that I doubted their happy marriage, but something was missing there). 

There were a few areas in the story that felt very forced. The main one I can point out is the relationship between the investigator, the investigation, and the Christies. I didn't understand why Evelyn and Tommy needed to solve the case (aside from them being the main characters, but I need more of a reason than that). The inspector was written as a very knowledgeable guy and clearly had it all together, so why were Evelyn and Tommy in conflict with him, "fighting" over the investigation? Why did they need to do work behind his back? Their involvement in solving the crime seemed to only exist because of the need to write the book. I think more could have been done to convince us that the Christies needed to solve the mystery themselves. 

Overall, this was a fun and easy read, definitely a cozy-mystery. More could be gained by reading the first book, as I should have done before embarking on the sequel. 

Plain Jane Wanted by Rose Amberly

 I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

What a heart-warming happy read! Overall, this was a lovely book and a fun journey to read with fun characters and a fantastic setting.

The best thing about this book, in my mind, was the setting. I totally want to live on the island of La Canette. It sounds beautiful and is the perfect place for a romance story. 

I enjoyed the plot- it was very usual for a cozy-romance novel, which made it pretty predictable, but in this case, I don't mind so much. That's part of the enjoyment of cozy-romances: you know where the book will end, but you don't know how the characters will get there.

The characters were well written: Millie especially. She grew and developed a lot throughout the book. George grew mostly in the last 20 pages, which is frustrating. It would have been nice to see the growth spread out a bit, to convince me that he really did change. I would have like to been invited to the conversations between him and his father at the end to understand and watch their relationship develop. I think that would have been fun. 

The biggest issue I had reading this book was the typos. Letters were missing from words, and more frequently (like twice per page) there was a space after the first letter of a word. That made it frustrating to read. Each time that happened, I would be taken out of the story, simply because this glaringly obvious mistake caught my attention.

I also struggled with the change in fonts the author used to show the narrator's thoughts. I understand why the author did that, but it took me away from the story. I was distracted by the different fonts, especially George. His was always capitalized, which made me think he was always shouting, which is obnoxious, especially when he wasn't angry but just thinking. I would have preferred a different way of showing character's thought. 

The Suicide Killer by Zach Lamb

 I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

It took a while for the plot to get going and for me to warm up to the plot, but when I did, it was fun to follow the story and guess what would happen. It's nice that I didn't expect the ending, but it's also unfortunate because I didn't necessarily like the ending, nor did I think that it fit with the story. 

I was disappointed that the story had no hero, no main character, no protagonist. It was difficult to figure out which character I should pay attention to, which character's story I should follow the closest, and which character I should care about. That meant that I didn't really care about any of the characters which does make it hard to connect to a story. 

This book was also pretty gruesome, which I don't like, but I think that was made clear in the genre and book description. I just didn't expect it to be as gruesome as it was. 

Another challenge was the cadence of the writing. It was very forced and stiff. I think one minor issue that caused that was a lack of contractions. He often said "I will" instead of "I'll," and I think that makes it much harder to imagine the characters as people. It was robotic sounding. 

The overall plot and story is fun, especially if you're a fan of Criminal Minds or any of the CSIs.

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.