November books
Wedding Night - Sophie Kinsella
After finding out her boyfriend has no intention of marrying her, Lottie leaves him and makes a rash, life-altering decision. Her older sister, Felicity, is strongly opposed to Lottie's "unfortunate decision" and goes out of her way to try and undo the problem. The real summaries of this book will tell you exactly what Lottie does, but I feel it's too big of a spoiler. This book has all the normal Kinsella elements, for better or for worse (no pun intended). Embarrassing moments, characters being overly-fixated on sex, and silly scenes are among the things I don't like about Kinsella's books. But dang, they're also really enjoyable. This one had me rolling my eyes a lot, but I was always eager to get back to my car and listen. Her books always provide a light-hearted escape that sometimes makes you feel better about your own problems or embarrassing moments. Still, this particular book wasn't my fav, so probably don't rush out to read it unless you're a huge Kinsella fan or have nothing else to read.
The One and Only - Emily Giffin
Shea is an ultra die-hard football fan, particularly when it comes to her college team in Walker, TX. She is also best friends with the Walker football coach's daughter and has grown up being like part of the family. So after the coach's wife dies, Shea's outlook changes and she reevaluates her job and relationships, finding things are more complicated than she had admitted to herself before. I think one of the Amazon reviewers says it best like this: "Giffin writes with the effortlessness that makes you read every page, even if you don't like the story." So true. I "enjoyed" this book because it held my interest throughout, even though I thought it was longer than necessary. But the story itself was annoying in various ways, and I really didn't care for the main character. She was like a teenager--selfish, oblivious and dramatic. She would act surprised by things she had just described to us for several chapters. ? I don't want to spoil it, but the love aspect of the story is really eyerolling and also inappropriate. It was interesting to learn more about the world of college football, but I found Shea's emotional dedication to it something I couldn't relate to or respect. I guess you have to be from the south to understand.
Radiance - Alyson Noel
Riley and her family have died in a car accident and are now living in the afterlife. Riley is wishing to go back to earth to her normal life, so she jumps at the chance to go back for her assigned soul-catching mission. This was just a random choice when I needed some audiobooks for my drive. This book is really short so that I was confused when it suddenly ended. But it's meant for preteens and it's part of a series, so whatever. I guess it follows another series, too, so it was probably the wrong place to start. Anyway, considering how short it is, I am surprised at some of the places where it dragged and Riley dramatically went on and on about a scene. Overall, barely anything actually happened and things were resolved extremely quickly and easily. Still, this book had some positive messages and would probably be enjoyable for young girls.
Let me know if you've read any of these, and what you thought! Don't forget to post your lists here!
Books for November: 3
Books for 2014: 37
After finding out her boyfriend has no intention of marrying her, Lottie leaves him and makes a rash, life-altering decision. Her older sister, Felicity, is strongly opposed to Lottie's "unfortunate decision" and goes out of her way to try and undo the problem. The real summaries of this book will tell you exactly what Lottie does, but I feel it's too big of a spoiler. This book has all the normal Kinsella elements, for better or for worse (no pun intended). Embarrassing moments, characters being overly-fixated on sex, and silly scenes are among the things I don't like about Kinsella's books. But dang, they're also really enjoyable. This one had me rolling my eyes a lot, but I was always eager to get back to my car and listen. Her books always provide a light-hearted escape that sometimes makes you feel better about your own problems or embarrassing moments. Still, this particular book wasn't my fav, so probably don't rush out to read it unless you're a huge Kinsella fan or have nothing else to read.
The One and Only - Emily Giffin
Shea is an ultra die-hard football fan, particularly when it comes to her college team in Walker, TX. She is also best friends with the Walker football coach's daughter and has grown up being like part of the family. So after the coach's wife dies, Shea's outlook changes and she reevaluates her job and relationships, finding things are more complicated than she had admitted to herself before. I think one of the Amazon reviewers says it best like this: "Giffin writes with the effortlessness that makes you read every page, even if you don't like the story." So true. I "enjoyed" this book because it held my interest throughout, even though I thought it was longer than necessary. But the story itself was annoying in various ways, and I really didn't care for the main character. She was like a teenager--selfish, oblivious and dramatic. She would act surprised by things she had just described to us for several chapters. ? I don't want to spoil it, but the love aspect of the story is really eyerolling and also inappropriate. It was interesting to learn more about the world of college football, but I found Shea's emotional dedication to it something I couldn't relate to or respect. I guess you have to be from the south to understand.
Radiance - Alyson Noel
Riley and her family have died in a car accident and are now living in the afterlife. Riley is wishing to go back to earth to her normal life, so she jumps at the chance to go back for her assigned soul-catching mission. This was just a random choice when I needed some audiobooks for my drive. This book is really short so that I was confused when it suddenly ended. But it's meant for preteens and it's part of a series, so whatever. I guess it follows another series, too, so it was probably the wrong place to start. Anyway, considering how short it is, I am surprised at some of the places where it dragged and Riley dramatically went on and on about a scene. Overall, barely anything actually happened and things were resolved extremely quickly and easily. Still, this book had some positive messages and would probably be enjoyable for young girls.
Let me know if you've read any of these, and what you thought! Don't forget to post your lists here!
Books for November: 3
Books for 2014: 37