The Forgetting Time by Sharon Guskin C
I found this to be a page-turner. I had a lot of trouble putting it down but I really found myself in skim mode toward the end. I skimmed the doctor's stories about his experiences in other countries too. A good idea, a good story, a little creepy, but not completely unforgettable (no pun intended).
The Good Widow by Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke A+
This reminded me of something Taylor Jenkins Reid would write. It was twisty and kept me engaged enough to listen, listen, listen until the book was finished. There's very few audiobooks that I've finished in less than 24 hours. It's a thriller/mystery and that's all I'm going to say.
Until You by Denise Grover Swank B-
This was not as good as the first in The Bachelor Brotherhood series (last summer's Only You), but it was fine. I would describe some of her stories as dorky but she makes those characters SO likable. I never expect that to happen and I always end up enjoying the characters anyway. It's a perfect beach read.
The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley by Hannah Tinti C+
I found myself really engaged in the first 1/4 of this book. As Loo grew up, she got to be less interesting to me (I LOLed at the "rock-in-a-sock"). Kids amuse me more than adolescents and there's a reason I don't read YA books very often. A lot of it came to be told from her POV and I didn't love that.
I liked the character of Samuel a lot and found Lily to be slightly off her rocker but maybe that's just me. Anyway, a decent book but not for everyone, I'm sure. It'd make a good movie too.
The Breakdown by B.A. Paris A+
Ahhh so good! I couldn't stop reading. I finished this in 24 hours too. I was thrilled when NetGalley sent me the ebook, and I sat with the Kindle until it was done. It's 100% thriller, down to the last page, but isn't disturbing like Paris' first book Behind Closed Doors. BCD gave a lot away at the beginning and The Breakdown doesn't do that at all. They're quite opposite in that way. I made a couple of good guesses early on about what was happening but it unfolds in a really frustrating and satisfying (at the same time) way and I wasn't able to predict everything. I found that the title seems to have a double meaning too.
I would recommend this to just about anyone.
Never Let Me Go by Chevy Stevens A-
This was so hard to read. Domestic violence really bugs me in books and movies more than regular violence ever could. I had trouble putting it down, as it was an easy read and flowed from past to present and back again really well. I didn't love Sophie's POV chapters because that part came across as very YA, but it was necessary to the story, I suppose. (Spoiler in white: I really had trouble once the dog almost died. Violence against pets makes books hard to read.) It was tied up a bit too nicely toward the end but the rest of the book was interesting enough that I could overlook that.
Those Girls by Chevy Stevens C+
This was hard to put down. I really like her writing style. It flows. It's easy to keep going and going. She writes a good narrative. There's not a ton of depth to the characters but there's just enough to give you what you need to know. Anyway, the first half of the book was so good that I read it in one night. The second half led to a lot of skimming. I won't say it was predictable but it was just "easy".
Dreamland Burning by Jennifer Latham C+
This is okay. It's YA, flashing back and forth between modern-day and 100 years ago. It was fine. I wouldn't seek it out. I think I got it for $3 on Kindle.
Didn't finish:
The Dry by Jane Harper. This wasn't so bad that I couldn't finish it. I just got bored/annoyed and made the decision not to. I never wanted to turn the audio on and I know I would've been in full skim-mode if I'd had a hard copy. I think some of this may have to do with the fact that I started it weeks and weeks ago, found really amusing things to listen to in the meantime, and then couldn't get back into it.
40 books for the year at the official halfway point. It's worth stating that I read all of these in the first half of June and I read absolutely nothing for the second half. I have two to three books started for July and two new kids' books I hope to use in August to begin the school year, so we'll see if I finish all of those by the next Show Us Your Books.
Linking up with Jana and Steph!
