Weekend Discussion: Tuesdays and such

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Mid-September Wrap-up

What books have I finished this month so far?  Come find out! 

Review: "A Sensible Arrangement" by Tracie Peterson

I went into this book hoping for the best and within the first few pages I knew I was going to be let down.  The concept for the book had great potential and the writing for the most part was fairly decent but this book honestly felt like Peterson wrote the first draft, sent it to her editors, they fixed any grammar and spelling errors, then they slapped a cover on it and sent it out.  There was nothing tying the story together. 

The love story between Marty and Jake took a back seat to pointless information on Colorado, politics and banking.  So many times Peterson sets up a scene where the two are getting ready to go out on a date and then right as you think you are going to get a glimpse of something interesting, she ends the chapter and goes on to something else.  Although I wanted more of the love aspect, it was not because I was rooting for these two.  I did not like either of the main characters but out of everything else in the book it was by far the best part of it. 

Marty was judgmental about everyone and everything, she lies repeatedly and never stops complaining.  Every time Marty is in the picture she is putting down someone or something and I know you are supposed to commiserate with her on the snotty upper class of Denver but honestly to me she came across just as snotty.  Yes, she goes to the orphanage and helps the children but even that seems so superficial and like she is only doing it to show these other women how much better of a person she is than them. It is very hard to read a book when the main character is so unlikable

Then there is Jake, a spineless, uninteresting man.  He allows his boss to bully and manipulate him around every turn.  He does things even though he not does believe in them or wants to do them.  He marries a stranger only because his boss tells him he needs to be married.  It is ludicrous, seriously…Stand up for yourself man!  And then there is his relationship with Marty.  He essentially lures her into a marriage under false pretenses.  He never tells her that he wants to eventually move back to Texas and own a ranch until after they are married.  Shouldn’t this have been in the advertisement? So Marty comes with all her baggage not knowing that the man she is marrying wants what she gave up.  How stupid!  And shouldn’t Jake have asked what her deceased husband had done for a living?  So much miscommunication that added to pointless drama.

Every other aspect of the story from the business, to the random murder mystery with Marty’s maid is just boring, does not make sense and nothing really jells together.  It is three different stories mashed together to create a choppy, messy novel.  And to top it all off, the book ends so abruptly with nothing resolved so it leaves you even more unsatisfied if that is even possible.  I am sure the rest of the series answers some questions but I will not be picking up the next one and mostly likely will not be picking up anything else by Tracie Peterson. 

Weeken Discussion: To Finish or Not to Finish

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Summer Madness Book Tag

Review: "The 5th Wave" by Rick Yancey

This novel is unlike anything I have ever read.  It is not your typical dystopian novel and it keeps you on your toes until the last page.  It is a story of what the world would be like if aliens invaded, but not in a way that you would first think.  Instead, their ship is just this ominous being in the sky and then a series of events-waves, crash into the Earth and they destroy humanity one wave at a time.  You don’t know who to trust, whether you will live to see the next day but you keep going because if you are the end of the human race you will go down with a fight.

This book is amazing from the action packed plot, to the great characters, and the twist on war, love, friendship and what it means to be human.  Yancey keeps you turning the page because he keeps you guessing every step of the way and you have to know what is coming next.

There is great character development and Yancey paints such a vivid picture that you feel Cassie’s loneliness, Sammy’s fear, and Zombie’s anger. You fight for each of them, hoping they are the good guys because you, as the reader, don’t quite know who to trust.  The switching of narrative and perspective was confusing the first time it switched but after you got into the flow of the new characters rhythm and language it was easy.  I normally don’t like narrative switching because typically I am more invested in one story over the other but Yancey did such an amazing job of showing that it was completely necessary to see part of it from Cassie’s eyes in order to understand Sammy, and you need Sammy’s perspective to completely grasp Zombie and Zombie brings more to the table that you did not see coming.  Yancey also gives each character such a distinctive voice that you know when it is Cassie talking or Zombie that the shift seems normal and makes for a richer story.

What else can I say but that I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves Sci-Fi, adventure, aliens, war stories and friendship. I cannot wait to pick up the 2^nd book in this series. 

Review: "Austenland" by Shannon Hale

If you love “Pride and Prejudice”, watched the BBC version or read the novel and love the story-then most likely you will like this book.  The story focuses around Jane, a single 32 year old woman who has never had the best luck when it came to men and has a secret obsession with Mr. Darcy who she measures every other guy up to.  When her great-aunt sends her on a 3 week vacation to “Austenland” Jane feels that this is her chance to once and for all say good bye to her fantasy and move on in life.  There she gets to live in 1816, dress up in period clothing, participate in period activities, live under the rules of the society at the time and play-act in her very own story and possibly “fall in love.” 

I enjoyed this novel from cover to cover.  It was funny, some-what witty, and shows that actually living life can be more enjoyable than living in a fantasy.  I did not have high expectations for this novel but I was pleasantly surprised.  The writing was great, character development at least on Jane was fantastic.  I liked how Hale kept you guessing on what was real and what was fantasy all the way to the end.  One of the aspects I loved the most was how Hale wrote about the ex-boyfriends.  Instead of trying to fit them into the actual story, she introduced them chronologically at the start of every chapter.  It gave great insight into why Jane acted the way she did, why she even fantasized about Mr. Darcy and it was such a natural way to bring this important part of the background into the story. 

You do not necessarily have to know the story of “Pride and Prejudice” to enjoy this book, but it does help to give more of an understanding of the overall aspects of the story.  Over-all a great little novel, you will not regret picking up. 

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