June Book Review

Daily reading has always been a must for me, and I can assure you, there will always be a book I’m in the middle of on my nightstand. Some books are there longer than others (see #4), but I’d consider myself a semi-vivacious reader.

I’m proud to say that my girlfriends have begun coming to me for book recommendations, so I figured the blog would be a great place to discuss the ones I’ve crossed off my reading list for that particular month.

JUNE 2015: Monthly Goal= 3 Books

1. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

I usually try to avoid WWII novels (fiction or non-fiction, in fact, make that any book about war) but I’m kind of a sucker for novels with alternating chapters from several characters, all with different perspectives and view points on the same event. The fact the this particular novel is told in the view points of a 16 yr old blind Parisian girl, and an 18 yr old German solider (cue the tears)… I couldn’t pass it up.

In short, beautifully written sentences, strung together with vivid imaginary, full of powerful emotions, and completely captivating. Absolutely heartbreaking in every sense, I felt the deep despair from each character, chapter after chapter.

Verdict: Read

2. Still Missing by Chevy Stevens

I bought this right before my LA trip, mainly because of the high reviews, and it was only $5.99 on Amazon. It was such an easy and enthralling read, that I ended up burning through more than half of it on the six hour flight to LA (now that is the perfect kind of airplane read). I finished the book before we flew back to DC. It was very tough to put down.

What I really enjoyed about the book was the way it was written. Each chapter was told in first person narrative by the main character, Annie, a realtor, who was abducted during an open house, and kept captive at a mountain cabin for a year. She is a survivor, and retelling her story to her therapist, which unfolds to us, the reader, chapter by chapter (or, I guess, session by session). As Annie works through this year of hell, we are taken on a roller coaster ride of heavy emotions, mental anguish, and uncover many deep family secrets. It’s very dark, twisted, and emotionally heavy.

Verdict: Read

3. Music for Torching by A.M Homes

This book was interesting. It follows Elaine and Paul, a miserable married couple in their 40s, living in the suburbs of New York City during the week following their attempt to burn their own house down. Whoa, right?

It was fun to read. The author did a great job of really allowing the reader to understand what was going on behind each characters actions, why they did this, what they really thought of that, and how it made them feel. As if we cracked open and studied their inner psyche. The book was dark, funny, twisted, and slightly depressing. I don’t think this book was highly recommend, but I give it a 4/5.

Verdict: Read

4. Never Knowing by Chevy Stevens

I bought this at LAX, because of how much I enjoyed reading Still Missing. When I stumble across a great read, I will usually try to read that particular authors other books. After I finished The 9th Girl last year, I bought another novel by Tami Hoag. That one was amazing, so I bought another, and then another, and now have read over 10 of her books.

I figured if Never Knowing came even close to the thrill I had while reading Chevy Stevens first novel (Still Missing), I wouldn’t be disappointed. Sadly, I was quite wrong. This book was absolutely horrible, it was so awful. The format was the same as the first novel, each chapter was laid out as a therapy session, great! But in this book, for whatever reason, the writing was beyond atrocious and seemed very juvenile. The plot was pretty poor to start with, but more importantly, the development and the story seemed to stagger and go no where. It was a total bore-fest, I felt like nothing happened until the last 15 pages. It was a frustrating read, chalk full of unlikable characters of all different sorts. Such a shame, her first book was great!