Review: Since You've Been Gone

Book: Since You've Been Gone
Author: Anouska Knight
Genre: Chick lit/ Romance
Published: July 27, 2014
Publisher: Harlequin HQ
Own or borrow?: ARC provided by publisher

How do you learn to love again? In one tragic moment, Holly Jefferson s life as she knows it changes for ever. Now to the external world, at least she is finally getting back on her feet, running her business, Cake. Then she meets Ciaran Argyll. His rich and charmed life feels a million miles from her own. However, there s more to Ciaran than the superficial world that surrounds him, and he too is wrestling with his own ghosts. Will Holly find the missing ingredient that allows her to live again and embrace an unknown and unexpected tomorrow? [Via Goodreads]

Netgalley provided me with this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book was very cute. It was light and fun. There wasn't much that I didn't like about this book. It had the perfect blend of sadness, happiness, humor, romance, characters, plot, and everything else that makes me like or dislike a book. 

I live for tragic stories. The boyfriend has gotten so used to me saying "I loved this book!" and his response is "how many people died?" It's weird. It's probably not normal. But that's just how it is with me. In this book, Holly's husband died two years earlier and she's still trying to move on from it. She hasn't gone on dates or tried to find another boyfriend since then. She's been too focused on her work and trying to keep her late husband alive. Then in comes Ciaran Argyll. At first, I wasn't sure if I'd like him. He's the typical super rich guy that gets everything that he wants. He's also so much more than that.

I've come to realize that chick lit books that I've found rarely have insta-love and this is no different. I didn't feel like the relationship was forced. In fact, the one problem I had with the book was that it was at times a little slow getting to the romance. I was just like "KISS ALREADY" at least twice. But that's what made this book realistic. Holly was still heartbroken over the loss of her husband, so she didn't want to rush into anything. Ciaran didn't make her. 

When the romance did come in, it was adorable. It was fresh. I didn't feel like I was reading about the same couple but set in a different country. I felt like this was a couple I had never read about before. They were strong together. They are good together. I loved them together. I liked Holly and I liked Ciaran and I loved Holly and Ciaran.

I think the strongest part of this book was that Holly still kept her business a main focus even after she was with Ciaran. How often do women get into relationships in books and then you never hear about their career again? Holly was a strong character for so many reasons, but this is one that really stuck out to me.

Would I buy this book and read it again? I really think I would. It is a good, light read. It's cute and fluffy and just what I needed at the time. Plus, the cover is so cute. I love the light blue and I love the cake on the front. That's what made me interested in the book at first. I'm glad I read this and will be looking for it in stores.

Review: Eleanor & Park

Book: Eleanor & Park
Author: Rainbow Rowell
Format: Hardcover
Own or borrow?: Borrowed from library
Published: February 26, 2013
Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Two misfits. One extraordinary love. Eleanor... Red hair, wrong clothes. Standing behind him until he turns his head. Lying beside him until he wakes up. Making everyone else seem drabber and flatter and never good enough...Eleanor. Park... He knows she'll love a song before he plays it for her. He laughs at her jokes before she ever gets to the punch line. There's a place on his chest, just below his throat, that makes her want to keep promises...Park. Set over the course of one school year, this is the story of two star-crossed sixteen-year-olds—smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try. [Via Goodreads]

The Good:

Eleanor was a strong character. She was realistic and it was easy to root for her. She was someone that I would like to know in real life. I wanted to give her a hug and tell her everything was going to be okay. She was smart and I loved the book from her perspective. 

Their relationship was fun and at times I really felt like it could really be true. Neither of them tried to purposely make the other mad. They worked together to make life easier for the other.

The ending. I think the ending was the strongest part of the book. I was so emotional at the end and I started crying and it was just a perfect way to end the book. I'm not sure how many other people like the ending, but I thought that it was more realistic than most other endings to books. I could easily see something like this happening in real life.

The book made me feel all emotions. Happy, sad, angry, confused, exhilarated, giddy, fangirly, and resentment. I may not have liked some parts of the book but I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel a wide range of emotions.

I loved the 80's references.

The character development.

The Bad:

There were a few parts in this book where I really cringed at how the characters were described. Park was the weak Asian kid and that's just stereotypical and I was uncomfortable about it. I also didn't like how the two black girls in the books were seen as ghetto almost. No one wanted to talk to them and they spoke differently than everyone else. 

Park was an asshole. I am still not sure how I felt about him. He made me mad more than anything else. I can't really even pinpoint exactly what he did anymore, but I just know that I wasn't too fond of his character.

I had a hard time believing their relationship (when I didn't love it.) It just seemed forced to me.

The book was just slow at times.

The Ugly:

The insta-love. Seriously, it was really weird to me how fast their relationship progressed. That's why it was hard to believe for me. No one falls in love that fast.

This should be in the good and the ugly because I liked this part of the book but it was ugly: her relationship with her step dad. Her step dad made me cringe and I hated him so much.

If you don't mind insta-love and you love a good story with great character development and realistic characters, this may be the book for you. Even though there were things that I didn't like, I'm still glad I read it and I hope Rainbow Rowell continues to write books. She's obviously very talented.

Review: We Were Liars

Book: We Were Liars
Author: E. Lockhart
Format: Hardcover
Own or borrow?: Borrowed from library
Published: May 13, 2014
Publisher: Delacorte Press

A beautiful and distinguished family. A private island. A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy. A group of four friends—the Liars—whose friendship turns destructive. A revolution. An accident. A secret. Lies upon lies. True love. The truth.[Via Goodreads]

I'm glad I went into this not thinking it's a mystery novel. I would have been seriously disappointed and would have dropped it. I repeat: this is not a mystery novel. That doesn't mean it wasn't good, but it should not be touted as a mystery book when it's not. But even though I went into it with that, I just couldn't connect with this book.

The Good:

- The ending. It was the strongest part of this book. I remember the ending better than I remember anything else about this book. I didn't see it coming and I enjoyed it, unfortunately it didn't help much how I felt about the book.

- They live on a private island. I can't really explain why, but I love the idea of private islands and getting away for a summer. I saw it in the Summer series by Jenny Han, Night Film by Marisha Pessl, and And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie.

- The writing. I know a lot of people didn't like it

because it would

randomly turn into a prose type

of book and people, just didn't

like that. I can see why they didn't, but I 

just thought it was interesting. I also realized that this was usually the most important parts of the book and that made it stand out.

- It was a quick easy read.

The Bad:

- I thought the characters were weak. It says a lot that I'm having trouble remembering their names other than they were called "The Liars." I didn't identify with any of them and I didn't particularly like any of them.

- They were just spoiled brats. If people were saying this book were about a large group of uber rich people that are fighting over grandpa's inheritance, then they'd be pretty spot on. I have no problem with reading about rich people. I LIVE for that, but these people were all just whiny brats because they weren't getting their way 200000% of the time.

- By extension, it annoyed me that this book is called a "mystery book." We don't even know there is even a mystery involved until the end of the book and by then we know what happened.

The Ugly: 

- There were just too many characters and I didn't feel any connection at all so it was rather boring

- There was no character development. Sure, the MC changed a little, but I wouldn't say it was character development

- Again, this is not a mystery book. I can only imagine what I would be saying if I thought it was.

Additional thoughts: Really, overall, it wasn't a horrible book. I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it either. I've read better and I've read worse. Would I read it again? No probably not. Would I recommend it to someone? I would, if they asked for this type of book/genre. Now that I'm done with it, I can see why the blurb is so vague. There isn't really a way to describe the book.

Review: Lola and the Boy Next Door

Book: Lola and the Boy Next Door
Author: Stephanie Perkins
Series: Anna and the French Kiss #2
Started: August 5, 2014
Finished: August 7, 2014
Published: July 9, 2013
Publisher: Speak

Lola Nolan is a budding costume designer, and for her, the more outrageous, sparkly, and fun the outfit, the better. And everything is pretty perfect in her life (right down to her hot rocker boyfriend) until the Bell Twins, Calliope and Cricket, return to the neighborhood. When Cricket, a gifted inventor, steps out from his sister's shadow and back into Lola's life, she must finally reconcile a lifetime of feelings for the boy next door. [Via Goodreads]

Dear Stephanie Perkins, 

Thank you for including Anna and Etienne in this story without drowning out Lola's story. Thank you for adding them to the story but also making us know at all times that this is Lola's stories and not an extension of Anna's. You wrote San Francisco as wonderfully as you wrote Paris and sure, there isn't a beautiful Eiffel Tower or old creepy cemetery, but you didn't need that to make this story beautiful. Thank you for making Lola different than Anna. Lola is her own person and I'm sure Isla is too. Lola and Anna are two completely different people. I was worried that I would feel like I was reading the same book two times in a row, but I knew I wasn't. I could tell the obvious differences between Lola and Anna. So thank you for making different characters so so many different girls can feel connected to the characters. A+ books for an A+ author.

Dear Lola Nolan, 

Thank you for always being yourself. Thank you for being faithful. You are a fun character. You made me laugh. You made me cry. I felt like I could easily be your friend. Lola, you are smart and strong. You know what you want and you go get it. There were times where I wasn't sure that we would get along, especially when you were rude to Calliope but that's my only complaint. Other than that, you were the perfect character for a perfect book. I can't wait to hang out with you again.

Dear Cricket Bell,

*blushes* hi. Thanks for being literally perfect. You're the closest thing to a book boyfriend I've ever had. You're nice and funny and just try to make everyone happy. You're kinda goofy but in a totally sweet way. You and Lola are adorable. You get along so well but you also have your differences and I like that about you two. Thank you for loving Lola and letting her be herself.

Dear Lola and Cricket,

THANK YOU FOR TAKING YOUR TIME. This was not insta-love. I could feel the relationship growing slowly and it made me so happy when you two finally got together. Can I see more relationships like yours? This was a healthy and fun relationship that just filled me with joy and happiness and the way new puppies make me feel.

Seriously, if you like fun, witty characters that aren't super insta-lovey: this is the book for you! I am so glad that I read this book.Still crying about not having Isla yet, though. This is such a fun series. One of my top series I've read this year.

Want to buy this book?: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository

I should mention that you should probably read Anna and the French Kiss prior to reading this. They are companion novels, but it just fits better if you read Anna before!

Review: Anna and the French Kiss

Book: Anna and the French Kiss
Author: Stephanie Perkins
Published: December 10, 2010
Started: August 3, 2014
Finished: August 4, 2014
Format: E-book
Own or borrow?: Borrow
Synopsis: Anna is happy in Atlanta. She has a loyal best friend and a crush on her coworker at the movie theater, who is just starting to return her affection. So she's less than thrilled when her father decides to send her to a boarding school in Paris for her senior year. But despite not speaking a word of French, Anna meets some cool new people, including the handsome Étienne St. Clair, who quickly becomes her best friend. Unfortunately, he's taken —and Anna might be, too. Will a year of romantic near misses end with the French kiss she's waiting for? Can Anna find love in the City of Light?

Five french stars! I loved this book. I miss the characters, I miss the setting, and I miss how I felt when I read this book. As soon as I got done reading it, I jumped right into Lola because I didn't want to stop hearing about Anna and Etienne. This was the perfect book.

Usually I don't like the insta-love or the super mushy gushy stuff that happened in this book, but I had just got done reading an 800 page book about Ted Bundy, so I NEEDED fluffy and cute, and that's exactly what I got. I don't doubt that I wouldn't have loved it at any other time. Stephanie Perkins has some serious writing talent.

At times, I actually didn't want Anna and Etienne to be together at all. I didn't like that Etienne was in a relationship and stilled had feelings for Anna and was trying to act on them. That bothered me, but I went along with it because of the book mood I was in. I also didn't like that Etienne's actual girlfriend ended up being the antagonist in this book. She never did anything wrong and just by being the reason that Anna and Etienne couldn't be together, she was the bad guy. That trope needs to be burned and never brought back.

I gotta admit though, Etienne is swoon worthy. He's a sweetheart and tries to hard to make everyone happy. Unfortunately, whoever ends up being happy there is always someone else that ends up being upset. I think that's why everyone likes Etienne so much. Because he's a genuinely nice guy and yet he's making people upset without meaning to and we're supposed to feel bad for him. And we do because he's swoony. Swoony isn't a word but if it was, his face would be next to it in the dictionary.

PARIS. The description of Paris in this book seriously made me feel like I wasn't in Michigan in the summer. I felt like I was in Paris in the winter. It was great writing and great imagery. When I go to Paris one day, I'll feel like I already know everything about it because of this book. Thank you Stephanie for turning me into an art snob.

This book was just adorable. Sure, there were some things that I didn't like. There were things I might have changed but overall, this was a great love story and I'm glad that I finally gave Stephanie Perkins a chance. I'm thinking of re-reading it soon before I get Isla and the Happily Ever After.

If you like cute love stories with even cuter male leads, this may be the book for you.
Goodreads | Barnes & Noble | Amazon | Book Depository

Review: The Stranger Beside Me

Book: The Stranger Beside Me | Author: Ann Rule | Started: July 31, 2014 | Finished: August 3, 2014 |Format: Large print hardcover | Own or borrow?: Borrow from library
Synopsis: How could someone so handsome, charming, and brilliant in fact be such a monster. And when you work side by side with that person, how could you not know. That's how Ann Rule felt when she began to put together the true picture of her former co-worker and friend. Ted Bundy was on the verge of a dazzling career, and at the same time was one of America's most wanted. On January 24, 1989, he was executed for the murders of three young women, having confessed to taking the lives of at least thirty-five more. This is the story of one of the most fascinating killers in American history -- of his magnetic power, his bleak compulsion, his double life, his string of vulnerable victims. It is also the story of Ann Rule, and putting together the pieces of the biggest story of her life. Twenty years after it was first published, The Stranger Beside Me remains a gripping, explosive, true-crime classic

Everyone has heard of Ted Bundy. You've probably been living under a rock if you haven't at least heard his name. But this book goes into depth about who Ted Bundy really was. It was creepy and scary and heartbreaking. 

This book was so different than anything else I've ever read about Ted Bundy. This book was more real. Sure, his Wikipedia page tells me that he was a politician-to-be, but this book taught me so much more than that.

This book is rated four stars when it should be really a three. Four stars for me mean that I would recommend it to a lot of people. Three stars means I would recommend it to people that asked for the specific genre. I would not recommend a book like this to anyone that did not want to read a book like this. There are many people that could not and would not read a book like this. But I enjoyed it so much that I bumped it up a star.

So what did I like about it? First, it humanizes the victims. Go to Bundy's Wikipedia page and what do you learn about his victims? Their names, ages, and what state they were killed in. But this book tells us what they were like before they were killed. Ted Bundy became the famous person out of the situation and this book brought to light and made the readers never forget that these women were real people.

I also liked that it was written by someone that knew Ted personally. She started writing the book before she knew it was Ted and she continued to write the book after she found out it was him. We got to see a side of Ted that no one else could have written about- because she was actually there. In a way, she humanized Ted as well.

The only reason it's not 5 stars is because the end was kind of slow at times. It was more about her life post-Bundy. And that's totally fine. I expected she would bring herself into the story at least a little bit considering she knew him personally and was allowed to write whatever she wanted. But that doesn't mean I was zipping through it like I was the rest of the book.

Ted Bundy was a scary guy. Everyone knows that. This book made me paranoid. I was scared to be on the downstairs floor at night if everyone else was upstairs. And I continuously checked under the car and in the back seat if I were leaving the house late at night. I was jumpy and nearly had a panic attack when I saw a deer in the backyard at three in the morning. Do not read this book if you easily get scared.

It was such a good book, but by the end I was getting so paranoid that I read 600 pages in two days just so I could finish it. I would definitely recommend it to people that are interested in Bundy or true crime. Extremely well written about an extremely interesting subject. Just scary. 

Review: Fangirl

(Previously posted on my old book blog. I'm slowly switching over most of my review/monthly favourite posts.)

Book: Fangirl

Author: Rainbow Rowell

Started: August 7, 2014

Finished: August 11, 2014

Format: Hardcover

Own or borrow?: Borrowed from library

Synopsis: In Rainbow Rowell’s Fangirl, Cath is a Simon Snow fan. Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan, but for Cath, being a fan is her life—and she’s really good at it. She and her twin sister, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series when they were just kids; it’s what got them through their mother leaving.

Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fan fiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere.

Cath’s sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can’t let go. She doesn’t want to.

Now that they’re going to college, Wren has told Cath she doesn’t want to be roommates. Cath is on her own, completely outside of her comfort zone. She’s got a surly roommate with a charming, always-around boyfriend, a fiction-writing professor who thinks fan fiction is the end of the civilized world, a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words . . . And she can’t stop worrying about her dad, who’s loving and fragile and has never really been alone.

For Cath, the question is: Can she do this? Can she make it without Wren holding her hand? Is she ready to start living her own life? Writing her own stories? Open her heart to someone? Or will she just go on living inside somebody else’s fiction?

Cath may be the most selfish fangirl. This whole book is all about her, her, her, her, her, her, her when it comes to fandom.

I am not a huge “fandom” person. I’ve never been to a midnight release for anything, I’ve never tried writing fanfiction, and the only fandom that I’ve been in that lasted longer than a few months was sports fandoms. So I may not be the best person to judge a book about fandoms and fangirls. But I do know that the most important part of sports fandom to me is the other people. Talking to other people. Crying over sports with other people. Seeing the same tweet 37 times from 37 different people because no one knows what else to say other than “ARE YOU SERIOUS RIGHT NOW DID THAT JUST HAPPEN.” I am not a fangirl and I may never be. But as far as I’m concerned, neither is Cath.

Cath never talks about midnight releases (except once). She never talks about being on forums with other people until 5 am. She never talks about other people, period. You know what she does talk about? How many page views her fanfiction story gets. Seriously. That’s about the depth of her “fandom” that she goes into.

I know for a fact that Rainbow Rowell has a Tumblr (because I follow her) so why doesn’t Cath have one? Like I said, I’m not part of a fandom. But I do know that Tumblr is FILLED with fandoms that just go crazy. When Supernatural and Game of Thrones or Sherlock or whatever is on, you can tell. There are thousands and thousands of people on Tumblr and Twitter that are joined together and talking to each other about these shows. Cath is too busy writing her fanfiction and not talking to anyone else about the actual books to worry about Tumblr though.

I should also state that I’ve never read Harry Potter. Simon Snow is Harry Potter. I could tell and I’ve never read it. I have no problem with this. I’m sure others have because they DID read HP, but to me it didn’t make a difference because I haven’t read what Simon Snow is based off of.

Now, onto other matters. I liked Cath. And other times I wanted to punch myself in the face because I couldn’t punch her. How the hell did she get into a junior course without having any other writing experience except for her fanfiction, that she obviously didn’t turn into the school? Did she just write them a letter “hey I’m a good writer, put me in this advanced class as a freshman”? She also was very uppity about who constitutes as a fangirl and who doesn’t. She sees a girl wearing a sports shirt and then says “she doesn’t look like a fangirl” yeah god forbid she not wear Simon Snow t shirts every single freaking day of her life. I’m not even going to get into when she refused to go to the dining hall. Over it.

At this point you’re probably wondering “how did you give this four stars if you are complaining about it this much?” Well because I actually didn’t hate the book. I rather liked the book. I would reread it. I just didn’t like some of the things in the book and I needed to complain about them.

Now onto the things I did like! Rainbow Rowell has a way of writing relationships between characters that make me feel everything they are feeling. When Cath would talk about how worried she was about her dad, I wanted to call my dad and make sure he’s alright. When Cath was worried about her sister, I wanted to call my siblings and tell them I love them. Rowell writes characters so well.

Weirdly, I think my favourite relationship in the book was between Cath and Wren and their mom. I have the same type of mom as them and one of my sisters is exactly like Wren when it comes to our mom. I am exactly like Cath. I saw a lot of me and my sister and my mom in these parts.

I don’t think I can’t talk about Levi. At first I didn’t see them being together. I didn’t think it fit. But I grew to love them together and think they are adorable. As someone that frequently reads to her boyfriend, I think it was a good part of the book, especially since Levi “isn’t a reader.”

Overall, this was a strong book and I can see why people like it. I can see why it has so many 5 star ratings, but I can also understand why it has lower ratings.

Have you read it? What are your thoughts?