Friday, January 1, 2021

December Wrap-Up and Mini Reviews

 1. This Close to Okay by Leesa Cross-Smith - This was a lovely book.  I would say it is a "quieter" story overall, focusing more closely on characters and relationships than on a plot.  I do not mean that as a negative, because I enjoy books like this if the characters are strong, and in this book they were definitely strong characters.  The characters were good, kind people who cared deeply about each other and about their mental health.  This was ultimately a powerful and hopeful story with good messages, though there were sad parts throughout as well.

2. Written in the Stars by Alexandria Bellefleur - This was a light and fun romance that I was able to read almost all in one sitting.  I was connected and attached to the characters, which made the story more emotional and kept me turning the pages wanting to know how everything would turn out for them.

3. The Office of Historical Corrections by Danielle Evans - I took my time reading this one gradually, as it was a short story and novella collection.  I would say that the standouts from this one to me were the "Boys Go to Jupiter" story and the title novella.  The ending to that novella was shocking.  While some stories were stronger than others, this was overall a strong collection.  This was the first short story collection that I have read, and the first short stories I've really read since high school, and I would like to read more.

4. In a Holidaze by Christina Lauren - This was a cute and fun holiday romance.  I think it did exactly what it was trying to do.  While it wasn't super deep and I didn't feel very emotionally connected to the characters as I have in some other romances, I still enjoyed the read as it was light and happy.

5. The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins - This was a quick and twisty read.  I enjoyed the characters and the development, even if many of them ended up being terrible people.  This book was at least partially a retelling of Jane Eyre, which I have never read, so I would definitely be interested in reading it and seeing how the books relate.

6. The Summer of Impossibilities by Rachael Allen - This was a cute and fun read with a strong focus on friendship.  The girls in the book were dealing with a lot of serious issues and it was fun to see them grow in their relationships to each other.

7. The Cousins by Karen McManus - This author is one of the few young adult authors that I have consistently kept up with.  I prefer One of Us is Next to this book, but I still enjoyed the characters.  I did put this book down partway through to read some other books, but I liked it when I picked it back up again.

8. People Like Her by Ellery Lloyd - This book had characters that were such terrible people in the influencer world.  I ended up putting down the book for a while partway through.  I finished it because I wanted to know how it would end, but I wouldn't really say that I liked this book particularly much.

9. The Beauty in Breaking by Michele Harper - I think it is better to think of this book as being short stories about different patients in the author's life.  As a whole, I wasn't a big fan of this, but I enjoyed some parts/patients/stories.  I think Dr. Harper is a great doctor and cares a lot about people, but I didn't enjoy all of how she wrote this book.  I found the spiritual aspects to be a bit too "New Age-y" for my taste, and the book was a bit preachy.  The connections between her patients and her own life were too much of a stretch sometimes.  Overall, I have mixed feelings on this book.  I enjoyed some parts more than others.

10. The Invisible Life of Addie Larue by VE Schwab - This was a magical and unique read.  I loved Addie and Henry and their relationship.  I was hoping for a different ending than how this book actually ended, but I can't say that much about that due to potential spoilers.  I liked the present timeline more than the historical portions of the story, but they were still interesting as well.  While I really liked this one a lot and flew through it pretty quickly, I don't think I loved it quite as much as the hype about it.

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