Book Reviews: November 2015

In November I started reading the books I'd chosen for the SCWBC15.  It seems like for this month I read books that I really loved or really didn't love, there was no in between.  I'm super excited to share the books that I did love!

LOVE LOVE LOVE!!  I am seriously obsessed with this series!  The main character is one of my favorite book characters ever! The main character is a complete badass and I love her - I really love that she knows she's badass!  She's totally confident in herself and her abilities and I love that! There is a bit of a love triangle but this author did it right because honestly, I had no clue who would end up with who by the end of this book and the triangle was pretty subtle.  Just fantastic, I couldn't put this book down!

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

Meh.  I wasn't crazy about this book at all.  I think maybe if I had read it when I was younger I would have appreciated it a bit more but as an adult, it just didn't do it for me.  The book wasn't bad by any means and was easy to get through but I really just didn't connect well to the characters and I didn't feel compelled to read the rest of the series.  The premise is definitely interesting and if you're really into the whole dystopian thing, then I would recommend the book but I think it's a bit more suited for a younger audience.

This book was read as part of the SCWBC15.

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

Once again, LOVED!  This story just keeps getting better and better!  After reading this book I like the main character even better than I did in the first one.  The characters keep evolving and I really like the multi-POV so that you can really tell how much each person is changing. There is also quite a few plot twists and though I could see some of them coming, I really loved them all!  I absolutely can not wait to read the rest of this series!  If you are a fan of fantasy, I would highly recommend starting this series, like now.

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

All the feels!  How can you read this book and not be pissed at the end.  I was pissed at the two people that kidnapped her, obviously, but also at the law enforcement officers that went to that house multiple times, and the media for being such piece of shit leaches.  In this book she is very open about what happened to her and the first half of the book is very disturbing.  It really makes you wonder how many other people are being held captive in plain sight.  I'm really interested in psychology and there were definitely some aspects of her psychology (like why she didn't reach out at some points) that were very interesting to me.  You can also tell that her education ended in 5th grade as the writing is pretty simple but in this case I really think it added to her story.  As disturbing and terrifying as this was to read, especially since it really happened, I am still glad that I read it - it gave me hope that truly good people can endure terrible things and still come out of that ordeal a good person.
I read this book as part of the SCWBC15.

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

I'm not going to lie, I expected a bit more from this book.  It was a book about a girl who was stolen but also a bit of a love story and that really didn't sit well with me.  Yes, other than kidnapping her, Ty was very respectful of Gemma throughout the book, but still it's a little extreme even for Stockholm syndrome.  I did find myself feeling a bit bad for Ty as most of his issues were because of basically not being raised by anyone and he wasn't an awful person but still, that doesn't change that he kidnapped a human being.   I just feel like there was so much potential to this story but it just didn't live up.  It was slow paced and really nothing happened.  A lot of people really loved this book but it wasn't my cup of tea.
I read this book as part of the SCWBC15.

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

This book had a lot of potential but was so hard to get through.  It's kind of a fictional spin off of the Amanda Knox case which I found interesting and followed through the trial.  This could have been a great story but I felt like it just really drug on and I didn't like the main characters at all.  I also didn't like the language, I feel like the author was just trying a bit too hard and it really took away from the book.  It was so slow and had no real conclusion (SPOILER: you never find out if she did it or not, though it seems like she didn't) and for a book, I was just not OK with that.  I understand why the author wrote it like this because I guess we'll never know if Amanda Knox is really guilty or innocent, but still.   This is not a book I'd recommend.
I read this book as part of the SCWBC15.

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

Loved!  My boss actually recommended this book and I really loved it.  It's definitely a dark twist on Oz but it's so good!  I really loved Amy and how much she changes from clueless girl to someone ready to fight.  I also love that the evil side of all of the Oz characters are kind of perfect - just take their actual personalities and put an evil twist on it, it totally makes sense.  This was such a fast and easy read and really enjoyable.
I read this book as part of the SCWBC15.

I gave this book a 4/5 on my GoodReads.