Category Archives: Book Reviews

Review | The Darkest Part of the Forest

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The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black

via: Goodreads

****/5

Folklore, fairies, beautiful boys with horns, and knights. The Darkest Part of the Forest already had me at synopsis and after reading did not let me down. Holly Black goes back to her roots with this one and boy does she know how to write an enchanting tale out of the forest.

Most folklore has a dark edge to it but Holly Black keeps it pretty light, with a few spots of darkness here and there. Her pacing is spot on and if I didn’t work I would have read through the entire night. (Yes, 4 AM is “technically” not through the night). I could kiss Black for her character development. It’s predictable to a point but gender roles are switched, which deserves a firm high five in my book.

The book does have a bit more of a juvenile undertone, even for a YA book, but that may just be the folklore talking.

Overall, The Darkest Part of the Forest is a quick, fantastic, and entertaining read. I heavily recommend for anyone who is looking for quick read with a little enchantment and a touch of mystery.

For more information about this book click here.

All opinions are my own and are not endorsed or affiliated with any company or organization. 

Review | The Girl on the Train

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****/5

Who do you trust? The stranger? The mistress? The ex? Yourself? One of them knows, but who is it? 

Paula Hawkins’, The Girl on the Train, deserves every praised review that is currently floating out in cyber space. With that being said, Hawkins, here is one more to add on to your ever-growing pile.

Perfectly paced and cleverly written this is a novel that will keep you on your toes until the end. I guessed and guessed and guessed and every assumption was wrong. Hawkins has the ability to steer you in directions and shift your mind in an ingenious way. She writes with psychological purpose, she knows her readers’ minds, and this is why this book is already becoming a best seller.

The Girl on the Train, has been heavily associated with Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl. Yes, it is a physiological thriller. Yes, someone goes missing. But that is not the only similarity. There is a special reserve for authors who are able to create entrancing stories that keep you reading while making you hate all of their characters. That (and the fact that both Gillian Flynn and Paula Hawkins are phenomenal story-tellers) is why Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train have been mentioned in the same sentence. These are the stories that rip open your mind (and eyes) to the world around you. They bleed in to your every day life and make you wonder. Their power is 100% certifiably terrifying, but you can’t help but be intrigued.

With that I will say no more, because I do not want to ruin a page of this novel for you. (Even though I fear I may already have.)

Go read it if you want a thrill ride. This one brings everything to the table.

For full synopsis click here.

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All opinions are my own and are not endorsed or affiliated with any company or organization.

Review | All the Bright Places

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*****

5/5

Friday I couldn’t take it anymore. As I sat on my sofa and read review after review of how All the Bright Places may be the biggest YA book of the year, I knew I had to get this book. Now. I had just made the decision to skip the gym, because it was -10 degrees outside (and anyone willingly going out in this weather was nuts-o).  But sometimes books are more paramount to your heath and mental stability-so naturally I quickly turned myself into an Eskimo and ventured to the closest Barnes & Noble. It was so worth my frost-bitten fingers.

It’s taken me awhile to write this review. It’s really hard to put all your emotions in to words and I really don’t want to screw this up, but I still may.

When an author and a character share the same scars it is evident in the writing. The author seems to just ‘get it’. They are able to craft the deepest emotions into fluid sentences that strike a harmonious chord. A chord that reverberates to the reader bringing clarity to issues that the reader may or may not have experience in. Jennifer Niven does this very well throughout the entirety of All the Bright Places. You feel each emotion as if it were your own and while you may not necessarily understand the thinking of Finch and Violet you appreciate who they are.

When the reader shares similar marks with the author and the character that is what I like to call magic and more importantly… healing.

Nine years ago a friend of mine took his own life. To step inside a character’s shoes and face your own reality is a powerful thing. It is a healing thing, because somehow Niven was able create this character that understands. She grasps your hurt, your anger, your confusion, your loss–allowing you to feel a little less lonely and a lot more understood.

So, thank you Jennifer Niven for breaking barriers, calling out stigmas, and for stirring conversation in relation to mental illness. It’s an important one that needs to be continued among all regardless of gender, race, age, and sex.

Please be sure to pick up this book. It’s not only well written but it may just change your life or at least your perspective. 

For more information about All the Bright Places or to read the synopsis: Click here. 

 

All opinions are my own and are not endorsed or affiliated with any company or organization.

Review | No Place to Fall

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**
2/5

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Synopsis: Amber Vaughn is a good girl. She sings solos at church, babysits her nephew after school, and spends every Friday night hanging out at her best friend Devon’s house. It’s only when Amber goes exploring in the woods near her home, singing camp songs with the hikers she meets on the Appalachian Trail, that she feels free—and when the bigger world feels just a little bit more in reach.

When Amber learns about an audition at the North Carolina School of the Arts, she decides that her dream—to sing on bigger stages—could also be her ticket to a new life. Devon’s older (and unavailable) brother, Will, helps Amber prepare for her one chance to try out for the hypercompetitive arts school. But the more time Will and Amber spend together, the more complicated their relationship becomes . . . and Amber starts to wonder if she’s such a good girl, after all.

Then, in an afternoon, the bottom drops out of her family’s world—and Amber is faced with an impossible choice between her promise as an artist and the people she loves. Amber always thought she knew what a good girl would do. But between “right” and “wrong,” there’s a whole world of possibilities

Hello southern sweet tea, country songs, and Appalachian Trail. Oh how I am so thrilled to finally have reached for a novel that is familiar with your southern charms and small town gossip trap. 

The entire time I was reading No Place to Fall by Jaye Robin Brown, I couldn’t help but envision the ABC show, Nashville. All around it just screamed Nashville, but with a heavier small town vibe and North Carolina feel.

Drugs, sex, rock and roll mixed with love, family dysfunction, and deceit. That is pretty much the book rolled into one poorly structured sentence. It wasn’t sappy, but it wasn’t bright. I never shed a tear, yet I was moved. You pick up this bright colored novel and think, “this looks like a heart warming and witty story”  but you are utterly wrong. Instead you receive a realistic portrayal of a family who is far from perfect who falls and may or may not work on picking themselves back up.

If I am 100% truthful this was a hit & a miss novel for me. It met me right in the middle. It wasn’t boring enough for me to put down, but it wasn’t interesting enough for me to keep wanting to come back to it…yet I did.  Some of the characters felt like they had no purpose and there seemed to be many loose ends.

I did enjoy the honesty of Brown’s writing. The story felt very real, almost too real.  You could easily relate to the characters and empathize with their short-comings, hardships, and successes. However the story heavily lacked dynamic. The summary of the book suggested that when Amber and Will became involved Amber would go from good girl to bad. The book started out with her making out with a bunch of random strangers and eating pot brownies? I don’t know about your definition but this is not the actions of a typical “good girl”.  If anything I think Will made her better. I kept waiting for this pivotal moment to happen in the book where Amber would do something really bad – like  a “no going back ever can’t believe I even thought of this” bad. But when I reached that pivotal moment I was really let down. The moment was weak and although it set up the ending, it wasn’t shocking enough to make up for the slow pace of the story.

So all in all, it’s a good one if you like some southern charm, enjoy country folk tunes, or watch Nashville. It’s a not so good one if you don’t.

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All opinions are my own and are not endorsed or affiliated with any company or organization.

Review | I’ll Give You the Sun

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20820994*****
Rating: 5/5

Guys. This has been by far my favorite read this year. It is of extreme importance that you dash to your local library/bookstore or grab your nook/tablet/iPad and buy this wonderful, wonderful, (did i mention wonderful?), book RIGHT this minute.

Dear Jandy Nelson, where have you been all of my life? There is so much good in this book I could go on and on and on, but I don’t want to give away any spoilers. With that being said here is an overview of Nelson’s masterpiece of a novel:

Jude and her twin brother, Noah, are incredibly close. At thirteen, isolated Noah draws constantly and is falling in love with the charismatic boy next door, while daredevil Jude cliff-dives and wears red-red lipstick and does the talking for both of them. But three years later, Jude and Noah are barely speaking. Something has happened to wreck the twins in different and dramatic ways . . . until Jude meets a cocky, broken, beautiful boy, as well as someone else—an even more unpredictable new force in her life. The early years are Noah’s story to tell. The later years are Jude’s. What the twins don’t realize is that they each have only half the story, and if they could just find their way back to one another, they’d have a chance to remake their world.

This radiant novel from the acclaimed, award-winning author of The Sky Is Everywhere will leave you breathless and teary and laughing—often all at once.

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Nelson will leave you with feels that capture every emoji on your iphone. It will make you laugh, cry, and scream. At times you’ll be confused, happy, often angry, but in love. It will wrap your heart up and open your eyes to a world of acceptance. Your vision will become renewed by Noah’s unique perspective and life around you will seem a bit more vibrant.

This is a book that makes you appreciate the brokenness, or at least embrace the heart ache. Friends, this one is a giver, a taker, and one that you will not put down nor forget. This is the next big one, I can feel it deep in my bones.

Seriously, what are you waiting for? Go read it.

QUOTES:

“How can you judge a fella until you picnic with him?” (211)

“A broken heart is an open heart” (348)

“Or maybe a person is just made up of a lot of people’, I say, ‘Maybe we’re accumulating these new selves all the time hauling them in as we make choices, good and bad, as we screw up, lose our minds, find our minds, fall apart, fall in love, as we grieve, grow, retreat from the world, dive in to the world, as we make things, as we break things.” (354)

“Maybe some people are just meant to be in the same story.” (365)

“Meeting your soul-mate is like walking into a house you’ve been in before-you will recognize the furniture, the pictures on the wall, the books on the shelves, the contents of drawers, you could find your way around tin the dark if you had to.” 

“If a boy gives a girl an orange her love from him will multiply.” (178)

“People die, I think, but your relationship with them doesn’t. It continues and is ever-changing.”

“When people fall in love, they burst into flames.”

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All opinions are my own and are not endorsed or affiliated with any company or organization.