I'm going to have to write this Recent Reads a bit differently this time! I have been reading an absurd amount, so there is no way I can go as in depth for each book. Blake got me a new Kindle for our anniversary this year, so I've been reading up a storm! I had one, but this is a new version and it's so much faster and comfortable to use. (If you are in the market, highly recommend the Paperwhite!)
I made the goal of reading 40 books again this year, and I just finished number 19. So yeah, like I said...reading like crazy over here!
Here's what I've read recently:
The Shatter Me Series
Basically: Juliette can't touch anyone without killing them. (Think: Rouge in X Men) She is kept in an asylum until someone helps her get out and they go on the run. It's a YA distopian.
This is what really kicked off my reading streak, because there are 6 books. This series came out around the same time as Hunger Games and Divergent. I shamelessly loved the whole series. I actually liked books 2-3 better than the first book, which I felt was unusual. And books 4-6 were written later so it feels like it's own trilogy. Super fun and I found myself holding my breath so much! Tahereh Mafi is a great writer and I really enjoyed her style.
Rating 4-5 Stars! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Glass Hotel
Basically: I can't describe this book basically, it's very complicated. This book is about Vincent (a girl) who works at a fancy hotel. Her story is woven with other people's stories all steming from this hotel. Including her brother, another man she ends up marrying who is getting rich with a Ponzi scheme.
I loved Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel, so I hoped to like this as well. It started off really strong and just got weird. Very slow burn, but atmospheric so it was enjoyable to take the journey. But, I was left confused and let down.
Rating 3 Stars ⭐⭐⭐
A Study In Charlotte
Basically: It's a modern retelling of Sherlock Holmes with their great-great-etc grandchildren as the main characters.
Gosh, what a fun book! I didn't love how fast Watson and Holmes go from enemies to bffs in the begining, but the rest of it plays out on a normal speed. It's a series, but I don't feel compelled to keep going. Also, I started this as an ebook, but had a hard time with the writing style, so I switched to the audiobook and felt like it was much better.
Rating 4 Stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Royal
Basically: During WWII, families who lived in London sent their kids to the country to keep them safe (Like in Narnia!). Including the King and Queen. They send their daughter to the countryside. It's a secret, so no one knows who she is. She ends up falling for the son of the family she is staying with and the rest is history.
This book has such a great concept and story, but the writing was so strange to me! This was my first Danielle Steel book, so maybe it's just how she writes. I felt like I was being told a story not experiencing it? Like "this is what happened, and then this happened, and the they did this."
Rating 3 Stars ⭐⭐⭐
The Unhoneymooners
Basically: Olive is the maid of honor at her twin sister's wedding. She and the best man hate each other. Conicidentally, everyone, except them, gets food poisioning at the wedding. Like bad, sick for weeks poisioning. Her sister won their honeymoon in a giveaway, and convinces her twin to take her place. Meanwhile the groom offers the same trip to the best man, the one Olive hates. They go reluctantly, but have to act like newlyweds to keep up the ruse.
This book was ridiculously unrealistic, obviously. But I loved it! I can't remember laughing out loud this much with a book in a long time! It was so fun and silly.
Rating 5 Stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Send Down The Rain
Basically: Allie lost her family restaurant and now her husband has been killed in a terrible semi accident. Meanwhile Joseph, who has been away for years, can't stay away when he knows Allie needs him.
Gah, this book. I read it because my mom passed it to me. It takes place in Cape San Blas, which is where we vacationed growing up. The Cape is between Panama City and my home town of Tallahasse. All these places are mentioned in the book, so that was pretty cool. Meanwhile the story was SUPER dramatic and such wild ride. I didn't not like it, but it was way to Halmark movie for me.
Rating 3 Stars ⭐⭐⭐
Where The Lost Wander
Basically: The May family is heading west on The Overland Trail in 1853. Naomi is widowed already at 20, and heading to make a new life with her parents and former in laws on the wagon train. Also on the train is a man named John Lowry who is half Pawnee. The trail has all the problems you know from the video game: tragedy, hardship and death.
I downloaded this book because with my new Kindle I got a free trial of Kindle Unlimited, so it was free. I really like that Kindle Unlimited gives you the ebook and the audiobook so you can do both at the same time. This book was just okay! It was definately dramatic, and the kind of book you could recommend to your grandma, LOL. I do love historical fiction, and it's always interesting to read a book from a different time!
Rating 3 Stars ⭐⭐⭐
Cinder
Bascially: Cinder is a modern retelling of Cinderalla, but super loosely. She is a cyborg (!!) who works as a mechanic. She has a 'step mother' and two sisters and there is a prince and a ball. But that's where the similarities stop. There is a plague, and people on the moon!!
I really enjoyed this. It was a really unique and fun story. It's a series, but I haven't felt all that compelled to pick up the next one, even though it ends on a pretty major cliffhanger. My library has all of these books with no wait, so maybe I will pick them up sooner or later.
Rating 4 Stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐
When We Believed in Mermaids
Basically: This book is about two sisters. One was killed in a terriost attack on a train many years ago. Then while the other sister and her mom were watching the news, they see her in New Zealand alive and well. Kit packs her bags and heads to find her.
So much drama here! These sisters are very fortunate to have each other, especially after their horrible childhood. You can see why Josie wanted to start over. That's basically the book though, slowly learning about how bad their childhood was. I did not love Kit's romance plot point. It was so weird to me. If you went to go find your long lost sister, when would you feel like going on dates with a man you met in a foreign country?
Rating 4 Stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Searching For Sylvie Lee
Basically: This book has three points of view: 2 sisters and a mom. They are Chinese. The mom and dad imigrated to New York. They sent their oldest daughter to be raised by her grandmother in the Netherlands, and then they have a second daughter who was raised in NYC. So the mom speaks Chinese, the oldest daugher (Sylvie) speaks Dutch, and the youngest daughter English. Sylvie goes to live with her parents after living in the Netherlands for most of her childhood. She goes to back to Amsterdam to visit her dying grandmother, but never comes home. Her younger sister goes there to find out what happened.
This book was such a pleasure to read. It was written so well! I loved the points of view. You start feeling one way about these characters and then realize you have it all wrong. The ending was a mess and I feel like there was a better solution. I did enjoy the setting of The Netherlands! We visited in 2019, so it was fun to read something farmiliar. For example, knowing first hand how difficult it would be for a petitie Chinese girl to see in the bathroom mirror in a country where all the people are really tall.
Rating 4 Stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Love and Other Words
Basically: Elliot and Macy meet when they are tweens. Her dad bought a cabin next door to Elliot's family after her mom dies. Elliot and Macy are fast best friends and basically soul mates. But they have a falling out down the road. It's told one chapter in the past, and then one in the future, and then back again.
Loved this so much! It was pretty predictable, but still so cute and sweet. Definately PG13+! This book was written by the same author as The Unhoneymooners, which I also loved, so I think I will check into some of her other books.
Rating 5 Stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Leave me a comment below and tell me what you've been reading lately! Do you or have you tried Kindle Unlimited? I'd love to hear your thoughts on whether or not to keep my membership past the trial!
-Kristen
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