I know it’s not the end of December but you are getting my monthly book review early! Why, you ask? Because at the end of the month I will put out my 2018 book review recap…and…I will name my number one favorite book of the year!
Only three books this go-round….
The Great Alone by: Kristin Hannah — Oh my this was good! I’d seen this book around and even picked it up a time or two, but the blurb just didn’t grab me at all. I’m not an outdoorsy person so the idea of the vast Alaska wildness just seemed boring. But the title kept popping up on my Kindle screen so I jumped in. Right away I was gripped by this storyline. There’s plenty of quirky residents but really the story is about Leni and her parents. Domestic abuse is part of the plot and I really love how it was handled. The one thing I didn’t like…the fathers name. It’s Ernt. Yes Ernt. What? Is that really a name? I was so excited about this book I went on to read another highly rated Kristin Hannah book (see the next review). I give the Great Alone a huge 5 stars!!
The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah — Wow. Is this book even by the same author as The Great Alone?? I was excited to see that this was another book of hers that was rated almost 5 stars on goodreads. I tried to like it, I really did. But the characters were pretty flat and honestly, kinda boring. Even with the heavy topic of the Nazi occupation in France during WWII, the storyline just plodded along. I kept thinking it would get better, that it would grab ahold of me like The Great Alone. I just can’t see how this book is so highly rated. I feel generous giving it 2 stars and really it’s more like 1 1/2 stars. Now I’m really not sure if I should give one of her other books a try. Seems risky! haha!
Plain Truth by: Jodi Picoult — I’ve read several Picoult books now and two of them I have LOVED (Nineteen Minutes and A Spark of Light) so I was excited to read this one about what appears to be the murder of a newborn in Amish country. I found many things about this book implausible and the ending was…well…it was just kinda weird. I don’t always need book endings tied up with a bow but I did feel like this one needed a few more pages to wrap things up in a cleaner more concise way. Plain Truth was just OK. Nothing truly special. 3 stars seems fair.
Well, that’s it…3 books for my December book review. Now you get to look forward to my end of the year wrap up! I know you’re excited!! (well, I atleast I am! 😉 )
Here’s a complete list of my monthly book reviews…
