Here are my goodreads reviews. If you’re on goodreads, add me as a friend so I can see your books too! I also have an instagram account where I join my love of reading with my love of art.
Lost at Sea (4 stars):
“She felt she could get up and dance on it when she realized the beetle was silent. In fact, when she prodded at the back of her mind, she realized it was gone. She no longer cared what the others thought or did or what they thought of her. It no longer mattered to her that Amanda and Chloe were being assholes, that she hadn’t started studying for finals yet, or that who-knows-what chemicals were being pumped through her body that very minute. It wasn’t like she always thought it would be: a sharp hit to her system and she was somebody else. Her body slipped into it easily, naturally, like this was how she was always supposed to be. She felt curiously warm and safer than she’d ever been. She felt gloriously, sparklingly fine.”
I read Erica Boyce’s The Fifteen Wonders of Daniel Green last year and loved it, so when I saw she had a new novel, I knew I wanted to read it. Just like the previous novel, what made this story magical for me was the character development. Similar to Daniel Green, this book started slowly. I wasn’t sure who was who and how they were related. But just like the previous novel, it all came together.
Each of the characters in this story is textured, complicated, and real. They have their own stories and a series of experiences that led them here to be this person. They are 3-dimensional and rich and I couldn’t help but get attached to them.
There are some surprises in the story but nothing that felt super twisty to me, nothing that distracted from the overall quiet but powerful nature of this story.
The depictions of anxiety are so vivid and so visual and so visceral in this story that I could both see and experience it as I read it. I loved this story as much as, if not more than the previous novel. I cannot wait to read more of Erica Boyce’s stories.
With gratitude to netgalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for an early copy in exchange for an honest review.
The Honey Don’t List (3 stars): I am usually a big fan of Christina Lauren books. They are fun and uplifting and the characters are well developed. While this wasn’t a bad book by any means, I felt like it wasn’t one of their strongest. The biggest reason is because the characters weren’t nearly as developed as I feel they usually are. We knew almost nothing about Melissa or Rusty Tripp, especially Melissa. We’re told a lot about how awesome in love they were but it’s a lot of telling and very little showing. Nothing to really explain how Melissa ended up this way or even a bit more of her textured personality. They mostly seem to be cartoonish.
But even with all that, I still read the whole book in a day, got lost in the story and enjoyed my way through it. If you’ve never read Christina Lauren, I wouldn’t start with this one but if you’re a Christina Lauren fan, I am sure you’ll enjoy this one.
with gratitude to netgalley and Gallery, Pocket Books for an advanced copy in return for an honest review.
The Beekeeper of Aleppo (4 stars): I loved this sad but beautiful book. I checked it out of the library many, many times before I finally broke down and decided to read it. The story of Nuri and Afra is completely gut wrenching. The things they must endure to get out of a war ravaged country and how there’s no such thing as a happy ending in these situations is so beautifully depicted in this story. It will definitely break your heart.
Long Bright River (4 stars): For reasons I can’t explain, I didn’t want to read this book. It looked like it was going to be a police procedural and I’ve read enough of those that I am not excited about them. And I’ll be honest the plot in this story wasn’t what drew me to love it. This is a slow cooking book and then by about 3/4ths of the way through, I found I was so attached to the characters and wanted to know how things turned out for them. I loved the writing. The depictions of addiction were so powerful and the brokenness of a family, so real. I am glad I read it but this is definitely not a fast-paced story.
Godshot (4 stars): “Whatever’s happened to you can either make you beautiful, or it will ruin you forever. You decide.”
I have so many feelings about this book. I’ll start by saying that the writing is phenomenal. Such beautiful sentences and such a pleasure to read them. It reminded me of White Oleander many different times. Really excellent imagery in her writing. The atmosphere of the draught was so stifling, so real that I felt parched as I read the story.
“I don’t think they were her ideas. I think they were yours, and then they were the beers’ and then they were that man’s from the phone. I think she learned to ignore her own ideas a long time ago.”
I also loved the character development. I think the characters were mostly well developed, especially Lacey May and her mom. Vern was less so but we don’t really see much of him directly in the story so it would have been hard to do that. I loved Daisy and her daughter. There was so much texture in the characters.
“It was the same way I had. Her belief had accumulated like a tumbleweed and it became too hard to go back once she’d come so far, sacrificed so much.”
But here’s the thing: this story was so sad. So so so over the top terrible. Just one awful thing after another. I am not saying this kind of stuff doesn’t happen. Of course it does. It just was so much that it almost felt manipulative. Horrible things happening to women all throughout this book. So you have to be ready for that. It just felt like I was watching a roadside accident and I am not one of those people who finds that fascinating, I find it devastating.
I’d give this a 3.5 but the writing was so amazing that I felt a strong need to round up.
With gratitude to netgalley and Catapult for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
And there we go, another week of reading in 2020.
Books I Read this Week 2020 is a year-long project for 2019. You can read more about my projects for 2020 here. I am also tracking my books in real time on Good Reads here. If you’re on Good Reads add me so I can follow you, too! I’ve also started an instagram account where I join my love of reading with my love of art.
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