The Avid Reader

Book Review: Before We Met by Lucie Whitehouse

Published: January 2014

Source: I received an e-copy of this book free from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

GoodReads Summary: 

Hannah, independent, headstrong, and determined not to follow in the footsteps of her bitterly divorced mother, has always avoided commitment. But one hot New York summer she meets Mark Reilly, a fellow Brit, and is swept up in a love affair that changes all her ideas about what marriage might mean.

Now, living in their elegant, expensive London townhouse and adored by her fantastically successful husband, she knows she was right to let down her guard. 

But when Mark does not return from a business trip to the U.S. and when the hours of waiting for him stretch into days, the foundations of Hannah’s certainty begin to crack. Why do Mark’s colleagues believe he has gone to Paris not America? Why is there no record of him at his hotel? And who is the mysterious woman who has been telephoning him over the last few weeks? 

Hannah begins to dig into her husband’s life, uncovering revelations that throw into doubt everything she has ever believed about him. As her investigation leads her away from their fairytale romance into a place of violence and fear she must decide whether the secrets Mark has been keeping are designed to protect him or protect her...

My Thoughts:

In a nutshell: I liked this well enough, but for me personally, this book was great in theory but fell just a little short in terms of execution.

As soon as I saw this on NetGalley, I rushed to request a copy. I loved the concept, and I connected with Hannah right away in spite of having very little in common with her. I was drawn in immediately, and I read the first two thirds of the book in one sitting. 

However.

A large part of the suspense component of this book lies in trying to decide whether or not Mark could be trusted, and for me, that just wasn't really up for debate. I made up my mind about Mark really early on, and I really never wavered in my opinion. I still enjoyed the book quite a bit, and I was very absorbed while reading it. I just felt like the tension could have been racheted up quite a bit if it had been a little harder to get a good read on Mark. I also felt that the ending was a bit abrupt, although I did like certain aspects of it.

I feel like I'm very up and down in this review, but I honestly did enjoy this and I'm sure the average reader of suspense would too.

As someone who has been with my husband for eight years and married for three, I find myself equal parts fascinated and horrified by these twisted tales of people who are suddenly forced to question just how much they really know about the people they've chosen to spend their lives with (says the girl with a serious Investigation Discovery problem). Definitely makes for a chilling story!

In browsing through descriptions of Whitehouse' other books, I'm actually pretty intrigued by the concept for The House at Midnight, so I think I will give that book a try before making up my mind about this author. 

Have you read this one? Did you feel like you had Mark pegged pretty early on?

I'm really into psychological thrillers lately! I think something about this time of year really lends itself to creepy, suspenseful reads.

I'd love some recommendations! 

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books on My Fall To-Be-Read List

Today's Top Ten Tuesday topic is "top ten books on my fall to-be-read list". I'm not sure if this is meant to be books that are releasing this fall, but I'm choosing to interpret this simply as books I want to read this fall.

Here are ten books I'm hoping to read ASAP, separated into two categories:

Books I need to read and review soon for NetGalley:

       

1. Suspicion by Alexandra Monir (but first I want to read Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, which shamefully I have never read)
2. Paradigm by Cerie A. Lowe
3. Taken by David Massey
4. Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas (I'm currently reading Crown of Midnight)
5. Divided by Elsie Chapman (I keep putting this off because some of the reviews are scaring me, but I need to just bite the bullet)

Books I just really want to read immediately if not sooner:

        

1. Harry Potter series re-read - Is there ever going to be a series I love as much as Harry Potter?? Fall always feels like the perfect time to dive back into this series. (I'm actually in the midst of this right now, just started Prisoner of Azkaban today.) I'd also like to re-watch the movies, which I think are incredibly well done. 
2. The One by Kiera Cass. No one spoil this for me but Team Maxon all the way!!
3. Incarceron by Catherine Fisher - In spite of some iffy reviews I am really eager to read this one.
4. Hereafter by Tara Hudson - see above
5. Forever, Interrupted by Taylor Jenkins Reid - I am so scared to read this because I suspect that I will ugly cry my way through it!

Can't wait to see everyone else's lists!  

PS - Are you an aspiring YA author? If so, go here!

Book Review: A Grown-Up Kind of Pretty by Joshilyn Jackson

Published: January 2012

Source: I was approved for this book on NetGalley, but unfortunately the title was archived before I had a chance to download it. So I purchased a copy for myself. I'm still tagging this as a NetGalley review though, since I was approved and will be submitting my feedback.

GoodReads Summary: 

A GROWN-UP KIND OF PRETTY is a powerful saga of three generations of women, plagued by hardships and torn by a devastating secret, yet inextricably joined by the bonds of family. Fifteen-year-old Mosey Slocumb-spirited, sassy, and on the cusp of womanhood-is shaken when a small grave is unearthed in the backyard, and determined to figure out why it's there. Liza, her stroke-ravaged mother, is haunted by choices she made as a teenager. But it is Jenny, Mosey's strong and big-hearted grandmother, whose maternal love braids together the strands of the women's shared past--and who will stop at nothing to defend their future.

My Thoughts:

Although I read mostly YA titles these days, Joshilyn Jackson is and always has been one of my favorite adult authors. I think you basically can't go wrong with any of her books, honestly. I love the southern influence and the flawed characters and the twists and turns her stories always take. She's not afraid to tackle uncomfortable subjects, which is something I appreciate. 

One thing Jackson does extremely well is complicated family relationships - one of the strengths of this particular book. Big, Liza, and Mosey don't have easy relationships, but they're certainly interesting, and Jackson portrays the complex and unbreakable bonds between mothers and their daughters beautifully.

Also, this is kind of ridiculous, but is Mosey Slocumb not the perfect Southern name?!

Do yourself a favor if you plan to read this, and just read it (no searching out reviews first!). Jackson does her revelations extremely well, and having any of them spoiled would be a shame. 

Have you read anything by Joshilyn Jackson? 

Book Review: Alienated by Melissa Landers

Published: February 2014

Source: I received this book on Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

GoodReads Summary:

Two years ago, the aliens made contact. Now Cara Sweeney is going to be sharing a bathroom with one of them. 

Handpicked to host the first-ever L’eihr exchange student, Cara thinks her future is set. Not only does she get a free ride to her dream college, she’ll have inside information about the mysterious L’eihrs that every journalist would kill for. Cara’s blog following is about to skyrocket.

Still, Cara isn’t sure what to think when she meets Aelyx. Humans and L’eihrs have nearly identical DNA, but cold, infuriatingly brilliant Aelyx couldn’t seem more alien. She’s certain about one thing, though: no human boy is this good-looking.

But when Cara's classmates get swept up by anti-L'eihr paranoia, Midtown High School suddenly isn't safe anymore. Threatening notes appear in Cara's locker, and a police officer has to escort her and Aelyx to class. 

Cara finds support in the last person she expected. She realizes that Aelyx isn’t just her only friend; she's fallen hard for him. But Aelyx has been hiding the truth about the purpose of his exchange, and its potentially deadly consequences. Soon Cara will be in for the fight of her life—not just for herself and the boy she loves, but for the future of her planet.

My Thoughts:

This was such a fun book! I loved Cara, and there was a great chemistry between her and Aelyx right from the start. I became invested in the characters quickly, and I was intrigued by the plot as well. This checked a lot of boxes for me, and it was just plain fun to read. I'd recommend this to anyone looking for a quick, lighthearted read.

A few of my favorite quotes:

"The fact that you purchased an inferior gift hardly seems like any failing on my part. It's common knowledge that shiny rocks are preferred among human females." 

"The crinkle of cellophane caught her attention, and for the first time since their argument began, Cara noticed they'd attracted quite the little audience... One soldier propped against his Hum-V was even munching popcorn from a Smartfood bag. He nodded for her to continue as if she'd pressed the pause button, and now he wanted to resume watching 'Romancing the Clone'."

This book had me snorting laughing out loud in several places (see above), which I really enjoyed. I was a big fan of the romance, and I loved the not-so-perfect friendship that existed between the girls. Definitely looking forward to the next book!

Have you read this one?

Anyone else spend at least half of the book laughing?

The Problem with Being a "Book Review Blog"

I've struggled with consistently maintaining this blog, and I think I might finally have figured out why...

I don't like posting negative reviews for books. In fact, I actually kind of hate it. *ducks*

I think I have this perception that because I call this a "book review blog" I have some kind of responsibility to review both books I loved and books I didn't. But what I have noticed over time is that while I can't write the glowing, happy reviews fast enough, the less complimentary reviews cause me a not insignificant amount of distress. 

It might be because I'm currently working on my own first novel, and every time I start to write up a review for a book that I just didn't love, I can't help but put myself in the author's shoes. When I consider the possibility of the author stumbling across my post, I feel anxious and a little guilty. It's not that I don't feel entitled to my opinion - I do. But I know how much goes into trying to write something great, how much editing and revising and agonizing has gone into each draft, and how incredibly personal your writing is to you. I just don't want to be the person who tears down someone else's hard work.

Writing those kinds of reviews also feels directly at odds with my purpose for starting this blog in the first place: finding other equally obsessed readers and sharing my favorite books with them. I want this space to be a happy, positive place that celebrates the books and authors that I love and want to promote! I want it to be a place where I share writing tips and struggles, and maybe point out some of my favorite bits and pieces of what some authors I love have to say about writing. I want to post occasional updates about my progress on my own book, and maybe connect with some other people who are out there working on their own first novels. I want to share the bookish decor that I'm drooling over on Etsy and Pinterest. I want to obsess about books and writing with other people who obsess about books and writing.

What I don't want this blog to be is a place where I ever have to feel even a little crummy about something I've posted. 

Honestly, this has been a difficult post for me to write. I worry that declaring that I only want to post about books that I love may be met with derision by some members of the book blogging community. I even debated just closing down my blog altogether, but this space used to be something that I took a lot of joy from, and I think it can be that again. And just to be clear: do I think other people shouldn't post honest, negative reviews for books? No! Not at all. It's just not the right choice for me personally.

So! New policy going forward: I'm only going to publish reviews for books that earned at least a 3 star rating from me. (Note: 3 stars for me IS a very good rating. In my mind, 3 stars means I read and really enjoyed the book, I'll be keeping it in my collection, and it has re-read potential down the road. 4 stars are definite rereads. 5 stars are those special golden unicorns that I think everyone on the planet needs to read, immediately if not sooner. I'm pretty stingy with the 5 stars though!)

Further, I'm not going to let myself feel pressured to review *everything* that earns 3 stars and up, because I read at a fast pace and it's just not realistic to think that I could keep up with that. I'm also going to be playing around with different types of reviews - I will probably do a mixture of some full length, in depth reviews and some smaller, mini reviews. I might even combine a few mini reviews into one post. I want to experiment with some different formats and see what works best for me.

I'm also giving myself permission to bail on the various challenges that I so optimistically signed up for at the beginning of the year, mainly because trying to keep track of my progress for each of them is time consuming, and that's time I would rather spend reading, working on my book, or creating blog content. The only "challenges" I'm giving myself are to start posting regularly again and to catch up on my NetGalley backlog. I've gotten some great books from NetGalley, and I feel awful that my ratio there is so terrible. I'd like to see that improve each month so that it's somewhat respectable by the end of the year.

I guess ultimately I see myself as less of a "book review blogger" and more of a book blogger who posts some reviews. It's just a change in perspective and I think this new outlook will help me to post more consistently and to really enjoy this space again. 

I can't wait to purge all my half-finished 1 and 2 star review drafts and just leave them behind! What a weight off my shoulders!

Do you ever struggle with what kind of space you want your blog to be? Is it hard for you to post negative reviews?

Book Review: The Killing Woods by Lucy Christopher

Published: October 2013

Source: NetGalley

GoodReads Summary:

Emily’s dad is accused of murdering a teenage girl. Emily is sure he is innocent, but what happened that night in the woods behind their house where she used to play as a child? Determined to find out, she seeks out Damon Hillary, the enigmatic boyfriend of the murdered girl. He also knows these woods. Maybe they could help each other. But he’s got secrets of his own about games that are played in the dark.

A new psychological thriller from the award-winning and bestselling author of STOLEN and FLYAWAY.

My Thoughts:

I will admit, I was worried about this one for a while there. For maybe the first third of the book, I really struggled to connect with Emily or Damon, and because of that, I had a hard time feeling invested in the story. I also didn't feel that Ashlee was a particularly likeable character, so I didn't feel very affected by her death or curious about what happened to her. I think this bothered me more than it otherwise might have because I had such the oppposite experience with Stolen. When I read Stolen, I fell in love with the characters in spite of myself. Here, I went into the book wanting to care about Emily and Damon and I just couldn't. So it's possible that my expectations going into this book skewed my initial perception somewhat. This is a very different book from Stolen.

However! Somewhere just after the first third of the book, the story pulled me in and I found myself connecting to Emily and Damon much more, especially Emily. I really admired how gracefully Emily handled her near total isolation - her mother has pulled away from her and climbed into a bottle, she doesn't have any siblings to lean on, and most of her  former friends at school have ostracized her since Ashlee's murder. Through it all Emily remains clearheaded and focused. She never seems to let her emotions get the best of her. 

By this point in the story, Damon and Ashlee's relationship had also been fleshed out a bit more, and while I still didn't feel much of a connection to Ashlee, I started to care about what had happened to her because of how her death was affecting Damon. I was also desperate to find out more about The Game, which seriously creeped me out from the first time it was mentioned.

The remainder of the book was well-paced and a tense read. Some darker information starts to emerge about just what went on the night Ashlee died, and I found myself desperate to find out exactly what happened to her and why. I will say that I guessed the identity of the killer early on, but it didn't lessen my enjoyment of the story because I was much more concerned with the reason for the murder.

All in all, I would say this is a solid read. It was a slow starter for me, but I'm glad I stuck with it because the payoff was well worth it. I will definitely be reading whatever Lucy Christopher writes next. 

Image taken from GoodReads

Book Review: The Never List by Koethi Zan

Published: April 2013

Source: NetGalley

Image Source

GoodReads Summary:

The most relentless, deeply disturbing thriller writer since Jeffery Deaver and Gillian Flynn

For years, best friends Sarah and Jennifer kept what they called the “Never List”: a list of actions to be avoided, for safety’s sake, at all costs. But one night, against their best instincts, they accept a cab ride with grave, everlasting consequences. For the next three years, they are held captive with two other girls in a dungeon-like cellar by a connoisseur of sadism.

Ten years later, at thirty-one, Sarah is still struggling to resume a normal life, living as a virtual recluse under a new name, unable to come to grips with the fact that Jennifer didn’t make it out of that cellar. Now, her abductor is up for parole and Sarah can no longer ignore the twisted letters he sends from jail.

Finally, Sarah decides to confront her phobias and the other survivors—who hold their own deep grudges against her. When she goes on a cross-country chase that takes her into the perverse world of BDSM, secret cults, and the arcane study of torture, she begins unraveling a mystery more horrifying than even she could have imagined.

A shocking, blazingly fast read, Koethi Zan’s debut is a must for fans of Karin Slaughter, Laura Lippman, and S.J. Watson.

My Thoughts:

Oh, how I struggled to give this book a rating. For me, this is one of those books that I think had the potential to be much better than it actually was. I loved the concept, and for me the first half of the book was great - fast-paced, gripping, impossible to put down. But somewhere around the halfway point, I started feeling like the book would have benefitted from much tighter editing.

Many of the situations the characters found themselves in just felt increasingly implausible and I found myself struggling to suspend my disbelief. Sarah, who has suffered from severe agoraphobia for ten years, suddenly starts flying all over the country with the aid of nothing more than her own sheer strenth of will. She is meeting and questioning strangers, staying at unfamiliar hotels, driving down isolated dirt driveways and generally seeming to forget that she has crippling anxiety. FBI agent Jim (who might as well be a cardboard cutout, for all the characterization he is given) constantly shares classified information with Sarah about her own case and generally does nothing to prevent her from running her own investigation. There were also several things about the girls' case that I couldn't believe no one had investigated ten years ago. I just kept thinking that so much of what happened was so unlikely.  

I liked the beginning of the book so much that it was difficult for me to admit to myself that I was enjoying it less and less as it went on. But the book just became increasingly full of convenient situations. I also felt like while the first half of the book was very well-paced, the second half tried to cram in way too much information and became very choppy. I liked the idea of the big reveal at the end but didn't feel like it had the impact that it could have, if the set up had been better crafted.

All in all this one hovers between a 2.5 and a 3 for me. It was an enjoyable read but I definitely think it could have been a much, much better book if it had undergone some changes before publication.

Also, this is not the author's fault but please, please can we stop comparing every thriller to Gone Girl. It's just setting everyone up for disappointment.

Have you read this one? What did you think? I've noticed that it seems to have very love/hate ratings on GoodReads.