March was a pretty off reading month for me. I started and stopped SO many books. I didn’t mark them as DNF because I know I need to give them more than 2% before making a judgement, but I they just didn’t feel right for me at this time. It’s so frustrating when I can’t find a book that I immediately connect with. I have over 400 unread books on my kindle and about 150 unread physical books on my shelf. I really have no excuse. But I’m always so distracted by the freshly released books that are getting so much buzz and get caught up on what I’m missing instead of what’s right in front of me – often the books that I was wildly excited about reading only a few months before. At any rate, I finally got out of my slump about ten days ago and finally found some great books that held my attention and made me want to forget about everything else and just read.
Point of Retreat by Colleen Hoover
Rating: DNF – as a re-read, but previously 5 stars
It pains me to admit that I did not finish a Colleen Hoover novel. To be fair, though, this was a re-read and when I first read it in 2013 I gave it 5 stars. After reading Slammed again last month and still loving it SO MUCH I wanted to immediately continue Will and Lake’s story. Unfortunately, the first half of this book is just so depressing. I didn’t like the change of perspective. I liked Will so much more from Lake’s perspective instead of his own. Not that I didn’t like him in this, he just felt so different to me and it was bothering me. A lot. It’s been six years since I originally read it, but I assume things turn around and it gets really good. I just could not deal with it right now.
Get Lucky by Lila Monroe
Rating: 2.5 stars
This was free on amazon with a lot of good reviews, so I decided to give it a shot. Romance writer Julia and divorce lawyer Nate wake up in a Vegas hotel together with no recollection of the last twelve hours. Over the course of the book they spend the day trying to retrace their steps and figure out what they did in those alcohol laden hours. This book was okay. Just SO much sex. With really no emotional connection, which is a big pet peeve of mine. But – that’s the genre, sometimes. It was light and amusing, it just didn’t hold a ton of depth and was very unbelievable.
The Crooked Street by Brian Freeman
Rating: 3 stars
This is the third book in a series that has held my interest, but hasn’t wowed me. After the cliffhanger in the second book, I expected a lot more from this one and I just did not get it. Honestly, the whole thing kind of bored me. I like Frost Easton’s character, but he seems to be lacking in emotional depth which is frustrating. The storyline was vaguely intriguing, but not amazing. I assumed this was the last book and would tie everything up, but it ended up with another – much more fascinating – cliffhanger. I’m not giving up on the series, but I really hope the next one is so much better.
Five Feet Apart by Rachael Lippincott
Rating: 3.5 stars
I appreciated this book as a very eye opening look at what it’s like to have cystic fibrosis – which according to the foreword and acknowledgements, was the point of writing it. It was written as a screenplay first, and I honestly think maybe they should have stuck with that instead of making it a novel. I liked the story, but it also felt kind of canned and easy. The characters didn’t have a ton of development. I still thoroughly enjoyed the book, it just didn’t wow me. It DID leave me feeling pretty horrified by cystic fibrosis. I’m looking forward to watching the movie made immediately following the book.
Rebels of Eden by Joey Graceffa
Rating: 3 stars
This was the final book in a dystopian trilogy that I enjoyed, but didn’t love. The hardest part about both the second and third book was trying to figure out what the heck is going on. This was slightly less confusing than the second, but it still took me a really long time to remember where I was in the story. Overall, this book really went up and down and up and down for me. Parts were really great. Parts were so incredibly boring. No spoilers, but for the record, I really disliked the ending.
Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Rating: 5* stars
There has been so much hype about this book for at least six months pre-release. Once it was out, my book circles were really buzzing about it. Which immediately made me hesitate to pick it up. I almost never like the books that are so beloved by many. The synopsis didn’t even sound very interesting me. An oral history about the rise and fall of a fictitious band in the 70’s? Who cares? But I decided to read it anyway and oh my goodness, I LOVED it. I was completely engrossed in the story and was constantly lamenting the fact that this was not actually a real band and I could not go listen to their songs that made them famous. I’m not sure I’ve ever read an oral history type of book that wasn’t revolved around a mystery, so it did take me awhile to get past the anticipation of what we needed to solve. And even though it was indeed fiction, it absolutely did not feel like it, so it was kind of hard for me to want to read what my brain kept telling me was nonfiction. But after about a quarter of the way in – I was sold. Taylor Jenkins Reid is such an incredibly insightful author that will tug at your heart. She’s never afraid to write about love – the kind that isn’t the norm, or isn’t necessarily “right.” This book, though. I really, really loved it.
Inheritance by Dani Shapiro
Rating: 5* stars
It’s been awhile since I’ve read a non-celebrity/non-foodie person/non-dying person memoir. But this book was also getting a ton of buzz in the last few months, it was featured in the Happier Podcast’s first ever book club, and that cover?! It’s gorgeous in its simplicity. I just had to read it. And I wasn’t disappointed. My only regret is that I haven’t read any of Dani Shapiro’s other books first. I think it would have been a more enriching experience to have a bigger sense of background on her, other than that she’s a famous writer and writing teacher. Each of her memoirs center around a particular part of her life and this one takes place right after she gets results to a DNA test and finds out that her beloved father is not in fact her father. She wrote the book as she was going through and processing everything. The whole thing came across as more of a page turning mystery that I didn’t want to put down. I appreciated how tortured she was about her identity as she tried to piece together what might have happened without having any parents left to ask about it. I loved the conclusions she came to in the end. Anyway, the entire thing was fascinating and I am definitely planning on picking up the rest of her books in the near future.
Two Can Keep a Secret by Karen M. McManus
Rating: 3.5 stars
Ellery and Ezra are sent back to live with a grandmother they barely know in a town ridden by tragedy when their mother is sent to mandatory rehab. They quickly become immersed in their own town mystery as Ellery is targeted as a future victim and a girl they know goes missing. Overall, I did enjoy this YA thriller, but I thought it was a bit confusing and hard to grasp all the characters in the first half of the book. So many different crimes that took place at so many different times – it was a lot to keep track of. It also took me as long time to really connect with Ellery and Ezra was a pretty underdeveloped character after the first part of the book. Overall, I liked it, it just wasn’t riveting.
Drive by Kate Stewart
Rating: 5 stars
I have very complicated feelings about this book. I went into it not knowing anything. I picked it up because Kate Stewart is one of the Book Bonanza authors I’ll be seeing in August and this particular book was very highly recommended by the fans. And it was really good! I just wasn’t prepared for it to be a love triangle. I’m not such a fan of the triangle trope. Someone will ALWAYS get hurt and I just want a happy ending when it comes to my romances. Anyway – this is the story of Stella, a 20 year old with big dreams to become an amazing music journalist. She falls hard and fast for a drummer and gets her heart broken. You follow on her journey of getting her life put together the way she knows she needs in order for her to be fully healthy and whole. Overall, I really liked watching Stella’s emotional maturity progress. She had a lot of hard choices to make. And even though I’m still feeling a little mixed at how it ended – it was worth it. Though I do have to say that if I had a been reading a real book instead of on kindle, I totally would have skipped to the final pages to end my suspense. 🙂
Gus by Kim Holden
Rating: 4 stars
I was hesitant to read this book because the first book in the series, Bright Side, basically emotionally wrecked me. Plus death was very personal and hard at the beginning of this year and I couldn’t handle another book steeped in grief. But the mood struck this month, so I picked it up and was surprised to find very little sadness in its pages. The beginning is rough, for sure. But Gus is such a positive and genuinely kind character that it’s pretty easy to rally for him enjoy watching him get his life back together. I liked Scout’s character too, though she’s a bit underdeveloped. I enjoyed this book, though it has one of my absolute biggest pet peeves – swearing on every single page. Basically every line of dialog has a swear word in it. WHY? The only people I’ve ever heard talk like that in real life are middle or high schoolers that think it sounds cool. It seriously drives me nuts to read books that feel the need to put in the f word a thousand times into its pages. But besides that – this was actually a very uplifting and pleasant book.
Book Love by Debbie Tung
Rating: 5 stars
I adored this book for what it is – a beautiful ode to the love of books. It’s kind of a graphic memoir of the author’s complete devotion to all things reading and book related. I read her Introvert book late last year and felt the same sort of connection to it as this one. I can relate to every single thing she writes and draws about. I think most hardcore readers would feel the same. It’s definitely a fast read – I just sat down this morning and read it in maybe 20-30 minutes. It would make a really sweet little gift to the avid book lover in your life. I definitely plan on picking it up from time to time, maybe when I’m in a reading rut and need a reminder of how much I love books too.
That’s it for March! Have you read anything great this month?!
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