2019 in review

Well, here we are. The end of a year.

Sometime towards the beginning of the year, I made a goal: read and review one book per month. It was a measley goal compared to other book blogs: some bloggers post book news daily and book reviews at least weekly. They also pad their blog with author interviews and book promotions. But I had been struggling with reading a book a month. So that was my goal.

One of my problems, I realized, was I have trouble reading a new book if I haven’t reviewed the old one yet. I get this guilty feeling in my gut, as though I’m cheating on the old book with the new one. Silly, I know.

The Belles

“The God of the Sky fell in love with the Goddess of Beauty after the world began…After she refused to return home…Sky cursed [the humans] with skin the color of a sunless sky, eyes the shade of blood, hair the texture of rotten straw, and a deep sadness that quickly turned to madness. In return, Beauty sent the Belles to be roses growing out of the dark and ravaged soil, destined to bring beauty back to the damned world, as the sun brings light.”

This excerpt from The Belles, by Dhonielle Clayton, drew me in fast and strong. I actually started this book before my book club’s The Wednesday Wars, but had to put it down because Book Club was approaching (and then I got sick, but oh well). I was worried about putting down this book because sometimes it is hard to get back into a book if I put it down mid-book. But with The Belles, I hopped right back in.

Book Club: The Wednesday Wars

Good morning! Or afternoon. Or evening. Or middle of the night. I’m not sure.

I’m reviewing another Book Club book! That’s because, alas, I’m a slow reader that’s trying to speed up and am trying to get two books per month in and am failing. (On a positive note, I had to quit Twitter cold-turkey because I’m seriously addicted and have now been Twitter-free for two whole weeks. In those two weeks, I managed to start to move my browse-anything-since-I-can’t-browse-Twitter time to let’s-open-my-Kindle-app time. Maybe eventually I’ll get to let’s-put-the-phone-down-and-be-physically-productive time)

And, as with the last book club blog, I was sick and couldn’t attend the meeting (they haven’t posted December’s book club book yet…hopefully they do soon!). So you just get my sorry thoughts!

Book Club: We Were Liars (with Spoilers)

When my book club chose We Were Liars, by E. Lockhart, for our October book, I was intrigued. After all, who wouldn’t be with the following blurb?
A beautiful and distinguished family.
A private island.
A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy.
A group of four friends—the Liars—whose friendship turns destructive.
A revolution. An accident. A secret.
Lies upon lies.
True love.
The truth.

We Were Liars is a modern, sophisticated suspense novel from New York Times bestselling author, National Book Award finalist, and Printz Award honoree E. Lockhart.
Read it.
And if anyone asks you how it ends, just LIE.

This book promises brilliance, destructive friendship, lies, suspense. I…was not impressed.