You guys. This is the second book that I’ve added to my DNF pile in one month. I am not liking this trend. I am sorry to tell you that The Witch Elm by Tana French has the dubious honor of being another book that I will never finish. Which is incredibly disappointing because I had heard such good things about it. There are rave reviews about her previous work, In the Woods, which is part of a series, and The Witch Elm (I believe) is her first...
Sometimes, the books we look forward to the most leave us the most disappointed. *cries* I’m sure I’m in the minority on this, but Melmoth has been put on my DNF list. You all know about my 50-page rule: the book has 50 pages to suck me in, or I drop it. Melmoth was kind of a backwards read for me. I started off really into this book. It’s very atmospheric, and I flew past the first 50 pages without even realizing it. I have no...
I’ve been trying to write my review of Two Steps Forward since June. Yup, June. That’s how long ago I read this book. I usually read and prep my reviews a few weeks in advance, but six months is really stretching it. It's hard to see a story for what it actually is and not the hopes you were pinning on it. I first fell in love with author Graeme Simsion's writing with The Rosie Project, which took the world by storm and, if you remember,...
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo wins the award for the best last sentence of a book, ever. No, don’t go look at it! Do not flip to the back of the book to read it, or search for it on Google books, or anything like that. You have to read the entire book in order to fully appreciate – and understand – that last line. Just know that it made me cackle happily, close the book with a great big grin on my face, and say, “Oh, Evelyn.”...
I read All We Ever Wanted the weekend I wasn’t supposed to read a book. I had decided to take about a week off from my TBR list in order to concentrate on revising my query letter. However, in true CJ fashion, I woke up super early on Saturday morning and couldn’t get back to sleep. I didn’t think that editing my query letter at 5:30am was a stupendous idea, so I grabbed my copy of All We Ever Wanted, climbed back into bed, and began...
I almost stopped reading this book. I have a 50-page rule when I read something new -- every book has 50 pages to get me interested in the story, or I put it aside. Most novels grab me right from the get-go; others take a bit of time to get into the story. I used to dismiss books after only a few paragraphs or pages, but I decided to make the cut-off point 50 pages after reading We Need To Talk About Kevin, which is perhaps one of my favorite...
I immediately loved The Ever After. In my head, I sounded like Anchorman's Ron Burgundy when he says “I immediately regret this decision." Except there’s no regret here whatsoever. Only contentment. After a false start with another book, which shall remain nameless, I picked up The Ever After and quickly knew this was going to be a story I would not want to put down. I started reading this at 10:30 on a Sunday night, which is very late for...
I have a friend who, without fail, asks me “So, what have you been reading lately?” every time I see him. Despite the fact that I’m a book blogger, I usually draw a blank when someone asks me for literary recommendations out of the blue. I’m always reading something, but I can’t always recall the title of my current read off the top of my head. (Meanwhile, I remember the name of my best friend's sophomore year math teacher quite...
I <3 Curtis Sittenfeld. This woman can do no wrong. I'm here to talk about her newest book, You Think It, I'll Say It. But, first, we have to talk a little bit about the author. My appreciation for her work began when I read American Wife at the recommendation of a friend. Said friend is highly intelligent and often has, oh, let’s say, more educated entertainment preferences than I do. Read: she regularly watches documentaries; I’m still...
I won’t lie – I mainly picked this title because of the author’s name (shout out to the CJ’s!) and the fact that there is an adorable orange cat on the front cover that looks very much like MY adorable orange cat. I figured with the stars aligning like that, I HAD to read this book. Honestly, the book description didn’t intrigue me that much (mainly because it didn’t offer much plot reveal—more on that in a bit), but I usually...
