June 11, 2019

Books in 2019 (#4)



An Anonymous Girl
I devoured this. And by "devoured", I mean I read it over 3 days during nap times. That's how I devour books these days. It wasn't as good as The Wife Between Us, but it was good.



Verity by Colleen Hoover
This was really messed up in a lot of ways. I get what Hoover was trying to do (This is the first book I've read by her!) but ughhhhhhhhh. If you want to know what was triggering about it, just ask and I'll reply to your comment without spoiling it here.



One Day in December by Josie Silver
This was...fine? I wanted to like it more than I did. A story in England that's a bit of a rom-com seems like I'd really enjoy it. I just never felt anything for the characters. Like, I just didn't care.



Evidence of the Affair by Taylor Jenkins Reid
This is a short story but I'm counting it. It says the typical time to read is an hour and I read it in 25 minutes. It's just a series of letters documenting an affair. It wasn't life-changing but I cared more about these characters in that 25 minutes than I cared about the characters in One Day in December in the week I spent reading that book. I think this is *evidence* of how well TJR can craft a story in a very short amount of time. If only every fiction, chick-lit-ish author could do the same.




The Overdue Life of Amy Byler by Kelly Harms
This wasn't my favorite. It was non-believable. To be honest, I really liked the first few pages. This isn't really a spoiler...I had assumed that her husband had up and disappeared and she had no idea where he was or what he was doing and all of a sudden he was back. But no. She knew where he was and what he was doing and I don't remember if I paid enough attention to details, but I can't remember if she shared that with her kids. The whole thing just left a bad taste in my mouth.
Also, Talia was a bad friend. Did we ever find out why Amy had shown up at the wrong apartment building? Did she have the wrong address, after all?
This was just one of the narrative issues, I felt. It was like two Hallmark movies (but not because this was rated R, I think) jammed into one.

Sadie by Courtney Summers
This was a page-turner. I really enjoyed the Serial-esque format. It kept things moving and didn't give me time to want to put the book down. I finished it in a couple days of bedtime reading.
I did feel like the end was a little rushed. For the first time, maybe ever, I would say the author could've given a bit more at the end. But I'd rather have a book that ends too soon than have it be a slog.

Overall, this month was much better than the last one. I have a few books on my kindle ready to go and I have a few hard copies taking up space (I hate that!), but I think I might be ready to jump back into some library requests. I've found that, over the last few months, I 100% prefer an ebook (to the point where I'll just peruse Amazon for cheap ones) instead of going to the library. This library does most of their books in hard copy, I've found. 


Linking up with Jana and Steph!

18 comments:

  1. Wow - I really think every one of these books are either on my online TBR or are actual books on my TBR bookshelf at home ... twinning! :) Interesting how I'm still looking to get my reading mojo back but I can't stop buying books or requesting them from the library, only to have them sit in a stack at home until I have to return them.

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  2. I loved Anonymous Girl. I was not a fan of Verity and I have loved other C. Hoover books. I felt the same way about One Day in December, it was fine but very predictable.

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  3. I really want to read Verity and Sadie!

    -Lauren
    www.shootingstarsmag.net

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  4. I feel like the worst thing I've heard about TJR is that she is "fine," but it's usually that she's great. Need to just add everything by her to my TBR!

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  5. Every single one of these books are already on my TBR list.
    The life of a momma - take advantage of those naps times :)

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  6. I loved Sadie and evidence of the affair.

    I heard that verity is super triggering. Ill still read it but I may have to be in the mood and Im still annoyed by the last hoover I read.

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  7. Verity is definitely triggering and it's hard to disclose what's triggering without giving away plot points. I enjoyed it but I also weirdly felt that it was somewhat predictable in execution. The things Verity did were WTF but the outcome was not, in my mind. I loved The Wife Between Us and am looking forward to Anonymous Girl. I've been so grumpy with my reading lately that I've put off reading some books because I'm afraid my grumpiness will affect my enjoyment.

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  8. Ahh! All of these make me soo happy! I got An Anonymous Girl from BOTM in December 2018 {I think…} and still haven’t read it. I’ll get there… eventually. I’m looking forward to Verity. It’s so polarizing. I know it’s fucked up (children I think?) but that type of thing has never deterred me. Evidence was the first TJR I read and I instantly fell in love with her style and mastery. I’m reading the Overdue Life for one of my choices in Erin’s challenge. Sadie I “read” via audiobook and it was AMAZING.

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  9. Sadie was one of my favorite books of last year.

    I wish Verity had come with some sort of warning because that was ROUGH to read.

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  10. glad you liked an anonymous girl, i remember liking it. i own The Wife Between Us but still haven't read it. Verity is nothing like CoHo's other books, so I'd probably stay away from those if I were you, she's more of a general romance writer, in my opinion. She likes to take on heavy subjects (one about infertility, another about domestic abuse). bummer you didn't like the overdue life book, it's on my list and i've heard really good things. sadie is also on my list, i keep putting it on hold and getting it way sooner than the number says i should and i'm not ready for it yet lol. like i was #30 yesterday and it came in today, but the library only has like 4 copies. i don't understand why it is happening lol

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  11. I really liked The Overdue Life but you are right about the apartment mix up! I have a bunch of these on my list! I did read Verity and thought it was crazy in a good read way!

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  12. I loved Sadie and Verity and the short story as much as I can like them. They're not my genre. I always want more.

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  13. I just picked up the overdue life in my haul today. I enjoyed the Anonymous girl also!!

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  14. I'm currently reading An Anonymous Girl but only a few chapters in. Glad to hear that it's a page turner! Verity was something else-- I enjoyed it but goodness, there were some parts (okay, a lot of parts) that I didn't think were entirely necessary!

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  15. I really enjoyed Sadie. I'd like to read a Hoover book soon. I haven't yet!! :) Here from SUYB! XO - Alexandra

    Simply Alexandra: My Favorite Things

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  16. I really liked An Anonymous Girl and Sadie. It's funny that today at my work book club I suggested either Verity or One Day in December for our next read! I want to read them both! I've read almost all of Hoover's books and have loved almost all of them.

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  17. I see Taylor Jenkins Reid so much I assumed she's written about 20 books but looks like she's only done 7 REALLY good ones. ("Only" sounds dismissive there from a woman who can't post 3x/week)

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  18. I had to come back and read your review on Amy Byler. "Two Hallmark movies crammed into one." LOL!!! Yes. That pretty much sums it up. It had moments of being entertaining, but it had a lot of issues. Too many for me to be able to recommend it.

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