Book Reviews: January 2015

Today I'm throwing it back to the beginning of the year.  Unfortunately, I did not have a good start to the year as far as books are concerned.  Luckily it started looking up in February!

I fell really hard for this book!   This is the first book I've read by Ann Brashares since the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, so I wasn't really sure what to expect but I must say, I'm impressed! I have thought about what it would be like if you were born again and were able to "re-do" life knowing what you know now.   This was definitely an interesting take on reincarnation and a very good story; I loved reading about Daniels life over time in different parts of the world.  I loved Lucy/Sophia and though I did find Daniel to be a bit whiny at times, who could blame him?  I read more about this book because of the cliff-hangers ish ending and apparently it was supposed to be a trilogy but since it didn't sell that well, no sequels have been released which is a shame!
I gave this book a 5/5 on my Goodreads. 

I had a hard time starting this book and had actually tried reading it once before and didn't make it though the first few chapters.  It turned out to be just OK and a little on the silly side.  Most of what I liked about this book had to do with the description of chocolate making and the observations on Paris.  There were times when I really felt like I could see Paris.  I liked that both of the characters were passionate but other than that, they weren't my favorite.  Like I said, this book was just OK.  I wouldn't not recommend it but I also wouldn't go out of my way to recommend it. 

I gave this book a 3/5 on my GoodReads. 

I really wanted to like this book and there were a few things I liked but for the most part it was ... meh.  I did like the insights into German life after WW2 and the collective guilt about the Nazi regime.  I didn't really like much else about it, though.  The book was fairly short but the language was pretty dry so it was hard to get through.  It also didn't help that I didn't like any of the main characters, and the affair between them seemed to happen way too abruptly - it didn't seem to occur naturally.  Also, just after reading the description, I could figure out what Hanna's secret was - or at least have a good idea - so the twist wasn't much of a twist.  I can maybe understand why some people liked it, but it just wasn't for me - it was way too metaphoric.

I gave this book a 2/5 on my GoodReads.
 

Meh, I didn't really care for this book at all and to be honest, the only reason I finished it was because I was reading it as part of a book challenge.  I feel like it had a lot of potential but just didn't live up to that potential.  I was never on the edge of my seat wondering what was going to happen next, and I didn't really connect with any of the characters.  I also didn't care for the ending and my opinion of this book may have been slightly different if the ending was strong.  I was just really let down by this book and definitely don't plan to read the sequels. 

I gave this book a 2/5 on my GoodReads.