January Books
My Story by Elizabeth Smart
As I mentioned last week, I downloaded this audiobook to listen to on my drive to and from SC. I was a teenager, just a few years older than Elizabeth herself, when she was kidnapped. I remember this happening. I have a weird fascination with getting the inside scoop on things, especially when it involves learning about someone’s unimaginable strength. Call me crazy, but I thought I could learn a thing or two from Miss Smart. And I was right. As for the book itself, it was very well done. I was navigating out of town, so I must have missed the introduction where it mentioned that the narrator was actually Elizabeth Smart herself, but I imagined it had to be. I think if you read this book on your own, it would be a very quick, interesting read. But let me encourage you, if I can, to listen on audiobook. Hearing Elizabeth herself recount the events is bone chilling and nothing short of admirable. Highly recommend.
Maybe Not by Colleen Hoover
This was a cute novella based off of the roommates from the book Maybe Someday. (Doesn’t Maybe Not sound like it could be the sequel to my book, “Yeah, maybe?” hah). Anyway, this was a cute, quick read. I liked seeing what was going on on the other side of Maybe Someday(5 stars)–who knew there could be a whole story there. I ended up really liking the character Warren, and I really liked finding out why he was watching so much porn in the first book! Take this for what it is, but the last few books by Colleen Hoover have read like a soft porn in some parts. This one was like that. And while everyone likes a good love scene, I think sometimes it goes too far considering the audience.
Never Never by Colleen Hoover + Tarryn Fisher
This was way different than anything I’ve read before. I was sucked in from the very first paragraph, and it was an impressively quick read. I liked how the fast pace of it made the book almost un-put-down-able. I’m not sure I’m in love with it because it’s the first of a series, and I pretty much got enough information from this one book to know that I will, without a doubt, have to read the next one. But as a stand alone it didn’t do much for me. It was a little irritating how it left on such a cliffhanger–but I guess that’s sort of the point of a series!
Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
Let me start by saying, I do not read the backs of books. So when I go into a book, I have no idea what it’s about unless someone has told me. This wasn’t at ALL about what I was expecting, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I really enjoyed the characters and the main story. Like, a lot. But all the fanfiction stuff I honestly couldn’t have cared less about. I realize it was important to share because that’s what the whole book was about, but as someone who only read Harry Potter after being brutally bullied into it (I know, I know) I had absolutely zero interest in the fanfiction that Cath was writing considering it seemed an awful lot like Harry Potter. (Don’t get me wrong, I loved Harry Potter and was seriously impressed with the writing, the world, the story and all of the above. It just wasn’t my normal cup of tea to read so it took some convincing to dive into it). About halfway through, I realized the storyline in the fanfiction really had nothing to do with the actual storyline of the book, so I honestly started to just skim those parts.
