SUYB – November Edition
Happy Show Us Your Books link-up day! I missed posting the last couple of months, so I have a few more books to discuss than usual.
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
Arrgh, I have mixed feelings about this. I’m a HUGE HP nerd, but I put off reading this forever. On one hand, it’s really cool to revisit that whole world and learn about what happens in the future. On the other hand, the play format robs the reader of the world building and storytelling that make the original books so good, and the familiar characters didn’t really feel like themselves. Overall, I was pretty meh about it, which makes me sad.
An Anonymous Girl by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen
I picked this up from Netgalley because it’s by the same two authors as The Wife Between Us, which I reviewed in October of last year. Like that book, this one is told from two different perspectives – Jessica and the psychologist running the ethics experiment that she stumbles into participating in. From the first chapter, I noticed that the writing style is great – lots of showing vs. telling, rich characters, just solid storytelling. It’s not as predictable as most books in this genre, and while it’s not a five star book, I’d give it a thumbs up as far as being worth reading.
(Complimentary ARC via Netgalley)
I’ll be Gone In the Dark by Michelle McNamera
It is a little weird to listen to/read a book about a murderer when you know the author died during its writing. There are a few chapters that were pieced together from the author’s notes and previous articles she’d written in order to finish the book, and those do stand out as a different writing style, but I can’t think of a better way they could have done it. I have to admit that while the book was interesting and really well researched, I wasn’t blown away by it, partly because I had high expectations due to all the hype around it. Worth reading if you like true crime stuff, but not a must read in my opinion.
The Glittering Court by Richelle Mead
This is the first in a series of YA novels that was described as being similar to The Selection series, which was a fun, light read, so I decided to grab the first one from the library. I wasn’t really drawn in by the writing style, but I stuck it out and got drawn into the story. It turned out that what I thought was the plot of the book was only about the first third, so at least it wasn’t totally predictable. Overall, I liked it enough to get on the library waiting list for the next book in the series, but not so much that I’ll definitely read the third, too.
I Owe You One by Sophie Kinsella
Sophie Kinsella is one of those authors whose books I keep picking up even though a lot have them have been lackluster. This one was a pleasant surprise. Her protagonists are usually insufferable, almost always because they’re pathological liars. but this one isn’t bad – she just starts out a little weak and evolves over time. This story revolves around family and the obligations that come with it, but also includes the usual romance aspect, too. It was a little slow in spots and I would have liked better character development, but overall it was a nice breezy read.
(Complimentary ARC via Netgalley)
Head over to Life According to Steph and Jana Says to check out the link-up and see what dozens of other bloggers have been reading lately!