Book Review: Linger by Maggie Stiefvater

Linger by Maggie Stiefvater

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I liked this book, but it wasn't riveting. It took me 9 days to read - that's a long time for me. I like the story but didn't love it. Again there is flat out talking about teens having sex, but nothing ?descriptive. But again, why does it need to be in there. The one think I did think was cool (and didn't notice when I read the first book) is that the print in the book is the same color as the cover. This one was green, the first one blue and the last one red. That was fun!



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Book Review: Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


"As the hours crept by, the afternoon sunlight bleached all the books on the shelves to pale, gilded versions of them selves and warmed the paper and ink inside the covers so that the smell of unread words hung in the air." pg. 8 I love this quote form the first page of the story...it perfectly describes what independent book store smells like to me (chain stores don't smell the same)...like unread words. I LOVE book stores. That being said...this isn't my favorite teen book I've read. It was very plodding...the story was interesting but to me not climatic. I liked the characters and they were easy to picture in my head. I also liked the way some of them evolved. I am looking forward to the next books in the series (they came in set). My one big complaint is the illusion to teenagers having sex. There is nothing graphic, but why does it need to be in there at all? I wouldn't recommend this for young teenagers.



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My Feelings Exactly

I tried to explain to someone why I love the little cluttered used book store in our town. I told her that "I just love the way books smell." It's hard to describe, and she laughed at me "The way books smell?" I DO love the ways books smell, but not new books, Barnes & Noble doesn't smell like books to me. The scent I love, and sometimes crave is how I'd imagine the "library" in one of those old Victorian mansions would smell like. It's a combination of leather, parchment and glue. I don't even know how to explain it to you. Today I was reading a book and found the perfect way to describe it, someone really does understand how I feel about the way books smell. "A warm feeling came over Luce as she looked around the library. She's always loved the faintly sweet musty way that only a roomful of books smelled." That is from a teen book called Fallen by Lauren Kate. I don't know why I felt like sharing that little thought, but it so encompassed how I feel about the smell of books I just had to share it.

Book Review: 1000 White Women by Jim Fergus

One Thousand White Women by Jim Fergus

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I usually think about what I would rate a book as I am reading it, at one point in this book I was ready to rate it 2 stars. Part of that is purely my own fault...I have been dying to read this book. I was so excited to read this book, it could have never gotten 5 stars from me because I had expectations already of how good it would be. That being said, even if I hadn't had any expectations, I wouldn't have been able to give it 5 stars. I LOVED LOVED LOVED the story, it was very interesting. ***small spoiler alert*** I could even live with the less than tidy end to the main character's story...but there was just too much explicit content. There was content that was both sexually explicit and violently explicit. Call me sheltered, but some of that really could have been left out. I'm a grown up with an imagination, I don't NEED or WANT everything described to me. I was also a little disappointed in the authors use of modern language. This was supposed to be journals written by a woman in the late 1800's...since when did women back then say "I went outside to pee"...my Mom doesn't even say pee, and she certainly wasn't born in the 1800's. All criticisms aside, I really did like the story of this book. I was ready to give it 3 stars, but in the end I just couldn't do it because I liked the story too much. I am going to read another of the author's books and hope that it is better. This was his first novel.



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Book Review: A Bride In The Bargain by DeeAnne Gist

A Bride in the Bargain by Deeanne Gist

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This was a predictable but cute romance. I love historical fiction, it's my favorite genre, so it was fun to read about the logging community. I was surprised by the physicality of this book for being "Christian fiction", not that it was by any means Harlequin standards but I did think it focused a bit on the physical traits and reactions than I would have expected.



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Book Review: The Mill River Recluse by Darcie Chan

The Mill River Recluse by Darcie Chan

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I thought this was a clever "mystery" if not somewhat predictable. I loved the main character and enjoyed the story. What an interesting look into social anxiety.



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Book Review: First, There Is a River by Kathy Steffen

First, There Is a River by Kathy Steffen

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


The setting for this book was well written. You felt like you were on the Ohio river, aboard the boat interacting with the characters. That being said, there were two things that disappointed me about this book. First there was the language, while not terrible, didn't add to the story at all. The second was the introduction to a supernatural nightmare in the story. This element of the story was just confusing. I felt as if I was being thrust out of historical fiction and into science fiction. The nightmare did nothing to add to the story and was distracting to say the least. The characters in this book were so well written. I gave it four stars, it would have had five if it weren't for the nightmare sequences.



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