Saturday, July 28, 2012

Quick Book Reviews : Part I

Like you may or may not know, I didn't post anything on here for a while and during that time I read several books. I reviewed all of them but most reviews were just a few sentences or maybe even just a rating on the 5 star scale. Instead of having a separate post for each of these I will collectively place them here.


Return to Paradise (Leaving Paradise, #2)Return to Paradise by Simone Elkeles
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I really like Caleb! He is definitely one of my favorite characters. Caleb and Maggie's love story is a great one. This Simone Elkeles novel/series rivals Sarah Dessen's (and Sarah is my favority YA author, so....).



The Language of FlowersThe Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The story was simple yet sad. I felt for Victoria in the beginning, thought she was absolutely insane in the middle but understood her perspective by the end. I was skeptical about reading this one because it's not the kind of book I normally read but it turned out to be better than I had expected.


The Lucky OneThe Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

My first Nicholas Sparks novel. I liked it but not as much as people seem to like Nicholas Sparks. I guess I'm just not a Nicholas Sparks fan because I would much rather watch the movie.




Pandemonium (Delirium, #2)Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Aah!!! How can you end the book that way? Now i have to wait to find out what happens next!? Argh. This is so frustrating... but at the same time so great. The last three pages are perfection. Actually, the entire last chapter is perfect. The last word killed me. Such a good/bad cliffhanger depending on how you look at it. If you don't want to spoil the book for yourself DO NOT go to the ending until you've read everything else first. (I know some of you do that!)

Favorite Quote: "don't believe her."
You would have to get to that part to understand why.

The Peach KeeperThe Peach Keeper by Sarah Addison Allen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was really impressed with this book.Didn't really know what to expect because it's not the kind of book I usually read but I ended up really liking it. The writing style had a really nice flow to it and the story was nice. There were themes of friendship, secrets, finding yourself, and some superstition.
Yeah, I really didn't expect that I would be giving this 4 stars. (You might be able to tell that I'm still surprised by how much I liked the book, even as I write this review) Maybe three at the most. But this book is definitely deserving of four stars (that's really because i reserve my 5 stars for the books that I am absolutely obsessively in love with and this doesn't quite reach that point, but it's very close).

Twenty Boy SummerTwenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler
My rating: 3 of 5 stars







Catching JordanCatching Jordan by Miranda Kenneally
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Okay, so when I started the book I wasn't sure that I was going to like it because it seemed very stereotypical and dull. I was expecting a boy and girl meet, they have undeniable chemistry, fall in love, face a challenge, overcome challenge and happily ever after. That isn't exactly what I got. There are so many twists and turns in the book. I read it on kindle and there were so many times where I thought "Okay that's it I'm almost done with this" Then I check my progress and I'm only 50% through or 70% through or whatever. I still have a long way to go and I'm thinking what more could happen and the story kept going but not necessarily in a long stretched out kind of way. There were a bunch of turning points and through all of them I found Jordan to be easy to relate to. I mean, no, my dad is not a big shot NFL player and no, I don't play football and I definitely don't have a lake named after me but other than that...
I loved how the story progressed because it never seemed over the top or super dramatic. There wasn't a point where I was reading and then thought, "Sigh if only that happened to me... but what are the chances, cause life is just not that dramatic or coincidental." Everything that happened seemed believable and realistic. It moved at the right pace and there wasn't a ton going on all at once in the kind of way that could only happen in stories and not reality.
Catching Jordan is a great read.


No comments:

Post a Comment