Andrea
It was an interesting concept but I felt the author spent waaaay too much time on the characters insecure inner monologue about her sister and about herself. It got to the point where I was starting to feel like whole sections were just copy pasted. Not enough emphasis was placed on solving the crime.
3.5 stars
It was interesting but felt a little too fanfic-y. Which isn't a bad thing per se. It just felt a little hollow of the soul and energy that the games had. I had a few issues with how they decided to portray the time jumps. I felt they could have used the medium in a more creative way–and it would have made it less confusing in the beginning. I did enjoy the story though. It was fun to see these characters again.
As with anything by Rainbow Rowell, this was full of heart and feels. Everything felt nostalgic and wonderful. I love everything fall so this was right up my alley. I could almost imagine I was right there with them. As much character as Deja and Josie had together I felt the biggest character was the pumpkin patch–it stole the show! I loved every page of it. Faith is a great artist that perfectly matched with Rowell's style. A match made in heaven.
This is now one of my favourite books. I LOVED this with all my heart. What a wonderful, wonderful story. It reminded my a little of Tamora Pierce's books so I was thrilled when I finally noticed that Tamora has a quote on the front of the book. I honestly can't wait until the next book comes out so I can go back into this world. I never wanted to leave it.
Part of me was annoyed that it seemed Hank was using this novel as a way to complain about how very hard it is to be obscenely rich and famous. An annoying problem only famous people have. ;)
But there was so much more to this book. I was completely hooked... I'll admit I was pleasantly surprised to find Hank is a great writer in his own right. I really really enjoyed the ride.
Fascinating read. I think the end portion where the author comes up with his theory of what happened was really well thought out and explained. I'm convinced. However, I would have liked to see more evidence throughout the book. There were times when the author would put quotes of what people said but no reference to where he got them. It made it feel a little fanciful and less credible. Overall, a really fun and quick read.
Minor spoilers
I felt this book focused too much on the manic pixie dream girl cliche which is especially problematic when used in conjunction with the “damaged first nations” girl trope. I would expect better from a Canadian on how to represent first nations in literature. I don't expect it to be perfect but I expect it to at least try and avoid the damaging stereotypes. The book dragged on for me. The first half was a struggle to get through. The writing is beautiful but the story was too slow paced for me. This is entirely preference based and does not speak poorly about the book itself as I know some people like a sleepy small-ish town story. It just wasn't for me. I was hoping for a little more ghost story of the literal kind and less of a ghost story metaphorically. I wanted to give this a two star but I changed it to three because the last half took an interesting turn.
Utterly delightful. I'm so glad I listened to the audiobook. It was amazing to listen to her sing parts of her songs before each chapter. And the end bloopers made me laugh. My only two complaints are that she added a section where she wrote letters to her younger self. I found them hard to listen to. They were too personal and too specific for me to find myself in them. As such, I felt like an outsider listening in and it made me uncomfortable–not the intended effect. My other problem was that she spent the whole of the book humanizing herself and discussing her flaws really driving home that we are all unique people with flaws, yet she never extended this life lesson to anyone else she mentions in the book–or hardly ever. She spoke of everyone in her life as amazing, wonderful people. She spent paragraphs praising them and building them up on a pedestal but constantly putting herself in her place. It had the effect of making her life lessons about herself feel like put downs rather than personal growth because everyone around her was amazing and she was constantly in the wrong. I often wished I could just hug her. Of course, this is all an over simplification of my thoughts on the book. There are exceptions to both gripes. But all this to say that it took a little away from the positive vibe she was trying to uphold.
Well worth a read, though. Sara is a brilliant song writer and singer. She's soulful, introspective, and humble. It was a wonderful insight into a her world.
Nice summer read. Light and fluffy. I felt the pacing had a few hitches. My biggest gripe was that the 3/4 of the book was spent on wedding mishaps and not a whole lot of character development. Most, if not all, the interconnected issues between characters was addressed at the end feeling rather rushed as the majority of the book was spent on resolving one hiccup after another. I felt it could have been dispersed a little better throughout the story. Spoiler the moment where Brooke reveals herself to be a psychologist was probably the cringiest scene in the whole book. “‘Brooke. What kind of doctor are you?' She looked at me, then smiled. ‘I'm a psychologist.' She held my eye for a moment longer, then gave me a nod.” This was seriously too much for me. I had to put it down. The whole holding the gaze and nodding after a reveal felt like what you'd see in a very dramatic movie gunning for an Oscar. I actually groaned out loud. end of spoiler I give it a 3/5 because while I had a few problems with it I don't think this book was meant to be taken seriously. It's fun. It's perfect for a beach read. I actually laughed out loud a couple of times. In fact, the second to last chapter was so much fun I read it twice and giggled the whole time.
I was hoping this book would tell me whether or not I like Matson's books (I really didn't like Since You've Been Gone but I loved The Unexpected Everything). This was to be the tie breaker but alas, I'm still not sure. Not sure if i'll pick up any more of her books, but I'd still recommend them to someone looking for a summer read.
It was good. But I don't recommend bingeing it all in one go. I would suggest reading chapter by chapter in small doses when the mood arises. Otherwise, you'll notice pretty quick how often she says things like, “the most,” “for the first time,” “never in my life.” It felt like everything was a superlative. Everything was one extreme or another. Every person she mentioned was her “best friend in the world” or “the most amazing person she's every come across.” There was also a lot of screaming which was hard to listen to in audiobook form. I kept having to turn the volume down during several of her war cries. As a memoir-style book I felt some of it came across as disingenuous. (Granted she does mention it's not really meant to be a memoir.) She only talked about all the good times in her life; or if she did talk about the bad times it was only to say how it related to how one of the best things in her life came out of it. I know it sounds counter-intuitive but the level of positivity and optimism was just too much. Almost sickly sweet. And her love letters to her kids just didn't interest me. It felt too personal and something she should have written out and given her kids when they're older. Not put it in a book for the public.
There were some great parts. I really enjoyed when she talked about getting emancipated and how hard she worked to self-educate herself. How she taught herself to do laundry. Her love of books. And her never-ending drive to be the best version of herself even when it's hard. All of that was incredibly fascinating and inspiring. But it was bogged down by all the rest I mentioned. By the time I reached the end it was a slogged to get through the rest and I had to push myself to finish it.
I love her as a person, I love her movies, and I'll continue to do both. But I probably won't read anything else she produces (if she ever does).
I would have given this book a 3 star if he'd tone down the crassness a little. But this book should be given a 1 star for the complete and utter disrespect he flippantly throws around of not only his fans, his friends, and his family but most especially to women in general. I'm not someone who usually gets bent out of shape about this topic. I notice it but it's not my soapbox. However, David would just. not. let it. go. I GET it! Women are objects who threaten your ego... lay off a little. Jesus. He even mentions that half his followers/fans are female. Not sure he knows what that means when it comes to who will be reading his book. No tact whatsoever. I was a fan of his before this. Not a huge fan, but I liked him. Now... he's just so unsavory to me. He talks about social media being the worst for him because it was so much easier for him to be caught cheating and lying. He plays it off like the fact that he's an unfaithful lowlife is not his problem but the fact that he gets caught doing it that is the real issue. Which is all just such a shame because if it wasn't for his complete lack of personality and kindness there was a lot of interesting parts to his book. I was fascinated by a lot of his struggles and goals, his up and downs, I even laughed a few times. But it's completely undercut by his disregard for the people around him–unless its someone he is intimidated by (which he confuses for respect). Then he's pretty careful to mention how great they are.
Overall, I really wanted to like this but by the end I put the audiobook on 2X the speed desperately ready to put this book, and Dave, forever out of my life.
I really wanted to give this book a two star rating but I bumped it up to three because I think the premise is really interesting and the main character's sexual orientation was like me which I haven't seen in books before so I was pleasantly surprised by that. But I feel like it was such a waste of a great idea. The book felt forced in a lot of ways. All the characters sounded the same. The mystery was just... not. I knew right away who did it and why and some of the clues were poorly executed. The writing was good though. Obviously, McGuire knows how to write. I just think this wasn't as good as it could have been and I'm sad about that. 2/5 = 3/5
SPOILERS**
I'm not going to write too long of a review but the first half of this book was delightful and then the second half just crumbles into weak writing and weak plot.
Some examples:
1. Percy is incredibly protective of his violin case and keeps it with him, glued to his side the entire journey and YET the minute it's important to the plot when Monty asks if he took it with him his response is “it's just a violin...” ummm what? The entire book you've been cuddling that thing like it's your lifeline and now for Reasons it's “just” a violin... made me cringe it was so corny.
2. I never got the sense that Monty idolized his father or cared what his father thought. In fact, he spends the majority of the time doing the complete opposite. And hates him. But suddenly, because plot, we find out in the last like 50 pages that his father was no role model. That whole set up was just weak. Left a bad taste.
3. Finally, the whole monty mutilation at the end was just so trite. Perfect Monty had to be “ugly” to learn his lesson. His good looks had to be taken away for him to be put in his place and accept that Percy is forever sick, and that he had no life back at home... By this point in the story I was just done with it all.
I really enjoyed the first half. So it's a shame by the end I just wanted it over.
This book set the bar pretty high for the rest of 2017. I absolutely loved this memoir/exploration of Canadian culture/history of Canada! It was such a weird yet satisfying blend of so many things that it's hard to pinpoint exactly where it falls. But labels don't really concern me. Whatever you want to call it, it was fantastic.
While so many of the things Myers reminisces about from his childhood are far removed from my own experience, the way he luxuriates in the comforting realm of nostalgia kept bringing to mind my own nostalgic feelings for a time gone by. It felt like being in on all his references while never having experienced them personally.
What stands out the most for me is how funny it was. You might be thinking that I should have expected a book written by a comedian to be funny, but honestly it didn't cross my mind. It was a memoir about his life and about Canada–both of which rely heavily on relaying facts and series of events... not much room for humour. Within the first 25 pages I'd laughed out loud a minimum of six times in a crowded store–and I didn't care! I was in love. I knew I needed this book in my life.
I don't want to give too much away so I'll just finish this by saying I'm feeling fiercely Canadian after reading Myers' book and I felt the full range of emotion during my journey between its pages. Every Canadian should read it.
If all the warmth and feeling of summer could be turned into a book it would be Anne of Avonlea. I went into this novel with the firm understanding that to equal Anne of Green Gables was an impossible feat and so I should just enjoy the book for what it was and not compare it to its triumphant sibling. Boy, was I wrong. Anne of Avonlea was as charming and delightful as its predecessor. Genuine, endearing, and heartwarming to the very last syllable. L. M Montgomery is a masterful story writer and her words sing with poetry that makes your heart ache. One of my favourite lines–that still sticks with me–is, “...over which the wind was harping an old lyric learned when the world was young.”