It’s book review time! This month was so much better than last month! October was a dud of book month. Thankfully November had a lot more to offer….
During the month of November I managed to read 5 books. All but one scored 4 or 5 stars!
one
Something in the Water by: Catherine Steadman— This book was a bit of a slow burner. It starts off with a newly-wed couple on their honeymoon somewhere in the Fiji area. As the title suggests, they find something in the water, which, of course, brings about chaos, paranoia and death. In fact the books very first chapter finds the wife burying her husband. Naturally the book goes back in time to fill in all the details. I didn’t really like the wife. She made so many bad decisions that at several points in the book I wanted to reach in there and punch her in the neck…BUT I think she was made an irritating character on purpose…she certainly was pretty easy to hate. LOL! This would have been 5 stars if the pace had been faster, instead I’ll give it 4 stars.
two
A Spark of Light by Jodi Picoult— This isn’t my first Picoult book, in fact I think it’s my 3rd. And while I enjoyed this storyline I much preferred Nineteen Minutes. Be advised this plot of this one surrounds a hostage situation at an abortion clinic and therefore there is, naturally, quite a bit of moral discussions as well as actual descriptions of abortions being performed. While I think the author attempts to provide arguments for both sides, I think it’s fair to say her Pro-Choice stance comes through. The only thing I really didn’t like about this book was the method of storytelling…it was told backwards in time. Although it did provide two pretty decent twists at the end that I’m not sure would have worked if it had been told in a more standard timeline. All around I give this a 5 stars, mostly for those twists at the end.
three
All Your Perfects by Colleen Hoover—Let me start off by saying that I am convinced that I will never love another Colleen Hoover book as much as I loved “It Ends With Us”. If you only ever choose one book by this author make it that one! Now having said that I am giving this 5 stars. This time around Hoover gives us Graham and Quinn a happily married couple dealing with infertility. Deep, soul sucking infertility that creates deep cracks in the foundation of their marriage. I’m telling you, you really feel this couples pain and I’m also telling you that you won’t likely guess the ending. This is a good one and like I said it’s a solid 5 stars, but seriously go and read “It Ends With Us”…so, so good.
four
Handle With Care by Jodi Picoult—Interesting storyline on this one. The youngest daughter, Willow, has osteogenesis imperfecta, a condition where her bones break for the slightest reason. For the most part the family has learned how to cope with the ups and downs of this condition but a chance meeting with an attorney brings a “wrongful birth” court case into the forefront. How can a mother, wholly devoted to her ailing child, say with conviction, that had she known ahead of time, she wouldn’t have brought Willow into the world. This simple idea fractures friendships and marriages. Is it all for the money? This book was flowing right along for me until the end. WTF! The ending is so bizzare. I couldn’t believe what I just read. Overall I give this one 4 stars for the storyline and the court case, which was very interesting…but I’d give the ending zero stars if I could. It’s disjointed and feels like a totally different author wrote the last chapter. 4 stars although I can’t honestly recommend it.
five
The Pact by: Jodi Picoult—ok, apparently I was having a Jodi Picoult sort of month! Haha! Oh, how I wanted to love this one. A teenage couple who’ve known each other literally their entire lives. A deep friendship bleeds into a romantic relationship only to find Emily dead with Chris passed out and bloody. He says it was a suicide pact gone wrong. The police (and Emilys mom) say Chris killed her. A court case ensues and, of course, the truth comes out. The fact is I didn’t like Emily (or really 3 out of 4 of the parents!) Usually I don’t need to like a character to recommend a book, but in this case not liking Emily makes me not care about the entire storyline. She was whiny and annoying. As for Chris…ugh! If you choose to read this one you will spend your entire time wondering why he doesn’t just do ONE thing differently. If he just did that ONE thing, their entire future would be different. Of course there also wouldn’t be a plot line if he did that ONE thing, so there’s that. 😉 In the end I can only give this one 3 stars. I really liked the defense attorney and his investigator but other than that…eh…I wouldn’t bother. There are much better Picoult books than this one.
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By the way…big book news for me! I read all of the above books on a Kindle PaperWhite e-reader! Now, if you know me, you know I’ve said for YEARS and YEARS that I would never use an e-reader…that I like to hold a physical book in my hands…that theres just something about the feel, the smell, the turning of the pages. And yet here I am using a Kindle.
Last year, for Christmas, I bought Nick a Kindle. I was thinking it might encourage him to read more (and play fewer games on his phone). Alas, nope. It pretty much sat unused for months and months. I would ask him about and while he said he would try it out, he never did.
At the end of October I decided to charge it up and give it a shot myself. Well…turns out I love it! It’s light weight, I can just slip it in my purse. I can download a new book whenever I feel like it, and of course, there are thousands and thousands of choices right at my fingertips! I can even “borrow” books from the library (although I’m telling you some of those wait lists are LONG!). I love that I can make the print size larger and/or change the font style for easier reading. There’s no glare, unlike reading on my ipad or phone (something that has never worked for me). While I’m sure I will still pick up an actual book every now and then, I am pretty sure that I’m an e-reader convert! 🙂
Check out my book review page for all of the books I’ve read in 2018
