Book Review: My True Love Gave to Me

Quick Facts

My Rating: 4.5 stars

Series: N/A

Date Read: October 15, 2014

Source: Free review copy from Netgalley

Publication Date: October 14, 2014

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Genres: Young adult, holiday, short story

Summary (taken from Goodreads): If you love holiday stories, holiday movies, made-for-TV-holiday specials, holiday episodes of your favorite sitcoms and, especially, if you love holiday anthologies, you’re going to fall in love with MY TRUE LOVE GAVE TO ME: TWELVE HOLIDAY STORIES by twelve bestselling young adult writers, edited by international bestselling author Stephanie Perkins.

Review

I didn't find a story I disliked in this collection. Of course I preferred some over others, but every one was well-written and sweet. The only thing better than reading this for the first time will be a few months from now, when I (hopefully) make time for a reread as the snow falls.

The stories themselves all felt unique and they didn't fall into any sort of routine - it was clear that they were written by different authors with different ideas, and they really stood out on their own because of that. It also gave the collection a great variety - I do think that anybody looking for a holiday read can find something in this book.

Overall, these were some amazing stories by great authors. I highly recommend it.

Stress-Free Blogging

I know I have been slow at posting and such lately, so I just wanted to give you guys a brief explanation for that and let you know what I'm going to be doing with this blog in the next couple months.

Basically, I started writing again recently - fiction writing, that is. And it's a great thing for me personally because as much as I enjoy blogging and reading, they're not my top priorities. I will always read, and I hope to keep this blog going as well. But writing is most important in my life.

Trying to focus on so many things at once has me burned out. It's a struggle to write daily, read review copies, and post here five times a week. I have been down on myself because I'm trying to not get behind on anything, yet I missed posts on both of my blogs. I might not finish the review copy I'm currently reading by its release date, which means I won't have the review up by the deadline I set.

Blogging is a hobby, as is reading. And when it's more stressful than fun, it's a problem. I'm not saying I want to quit, but I do have to slow down. It's difficult for me to realize, and especially admit here, that I can't do everything I would like to or "should."

For now, I'm setting up some "stress-free blogging" for myself. I will post when inspiration hits, and I will read when I have time. Hopefully I can still get 1-2 posts in a week, at least, but I'm not promising anything. I feel like if I'm less pressured, I can let things flow more naturally. In a sense, I'm giving myself time to miss blogging so that I can come back to it refreshed and ready to post - and also, hopefully, ready to set realistic expectations.

I'm sorry if this post is disappointing to any of you readers, but having this out there will make me feel a little better about my lack of updates. And just to make it clear, I'm not completely pushing review copies aside either - I'll have them done within the "30 days before or after release date" time frame that most publishers look for. I'm just not being so strict on myself.

Judging Books by Covers #1

I love looking at beautiful book covers. Even though I read ebooks for space reasons, I completely understand people who buy a book purely to stare at the cover. And although we're taught from a young age not to do so, I've never really applied the phrase "don't judge a book by it's cover" to actual books.

I just think book covers are so important. They can often tell you how professional a book will be, and if done right they can also say so much about the story.

This post is dedicated to a couple of books I've read and loved with gorgeous covers, where I truly do believe the insides are just as great as the outer appearance.

 

I judged Sway by its cover originally - I saw it on Netgalley and immediately requested it. I knew that I had to have it and dreaded waiting for the release if I was declined. The colors are beautiful, and I love the little rays from the sun that run across the text. Add to that a wonderful narrator and fantastic story altogether.

My review for Sway is here, and you can find it on Goodreads here.

The text on this one is just gorgeous. All the patterns and decorative effects really make this cover, but I also like the field and truck below it - they're features that I clearly remember months after reading the book, and I think they tie the story and cover together so nicely.

The writing in this book was also excellent. I know it's talked about often and there's so much praise, but I just have to include this one and recommend it to anyone who hasn't gotten around to it yet.

Although I didn't review this one, it can be found on Goodreads here.

Top Ten Tuesday

Here is the link to the Top Ten Tuesday information from The Broke and the Bookish.

This week's topic Ten Books For Readers Who Like Character Driven Novels. Before I start, I have to admit that the concept of a novel being either character or plot driven has always confused me. I'm not sure why, but it's something I've had difficulty grasping the difference between. So if you disagree that these are character driven, I apologize and you're probably right!

1. The Good Sister by Jamie Kain

This is the novel I've read most recently. The characters really ran the story here, as it is about three sisters grieving and moving on after one of them dies. I really enjoyed their different perspectives and how unique the characters - even the side characters - were.

2. Since You've Been Gone by Morgan Matson

I love Morgan Matson's writing. I really need to get around to my last unread book by her (and the Katie Finn books!), because the ones I've read already were perfect. Since You've Been Gone also had a wonderful protagonist and while at first she was just letting things happen to her, she ended up taking off and really choosing the direction she was headed. It was great to see her grow.

3. Ghosting by Edith Pattou

This is one I'm very uncertain about. Is it character driven? I'm not sure, but the characters decisions did really make the novel. And I highly recommend this one anyway, to everyone. (Actually, maybe not everyone. You won't like it if you dislike stories written in verse.)

4. Just One Day by Gayle Forman

I adore this book (and every other Gayle Forman book, really). This was hugely about Allyson growing up and finding herself, and that was an aspect of the novel that I really enjoyed. I also think this is a great thing to jump into if you want something character-driven, because I feel like those looking for just a love story will be let down (or possible pleasantly surprised). Sometimes it's nice to know what you're getting into so there are no false hopes!

5. Love and Other Perishable Items by Laura Buzo

The cutesy cover of this book fooled me. I went into it looking for a light, fun love story, and I was extremely let down in the end. However, I have always wanted to reread it since then.

If you're looking for something that really explores character, I think this is a great one to read. Just don't expect one of those light, summer reads - remember that the cover lies. I remember this being really well-written, and I read it well before I started blogging - which explains the three stars I gave it on Goodreads. If I reread, I'm nearly positive this rating would go way up.

I'm going to stop there for this week, mostly because I'm awful and didn't pre-schedule this post. Things might slow down on the blog this next week or so, but I'll try to keep up the best I can. At the very least, you can expect that I'll be writing as many blog posts as possible when I have time this weekend.

Book Review: The Good Sister by Jamie Kain

Quick Facts

My Rating: 5 stars

Series: N/A

Date Read: October 4, 2014

Source: Free review copy from Netgalley

Publication Date: October 7, 2014

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Genres: Young adult, contemporary

Summary (taken from Goodreads): The Kinsey sisters live in an unconventional world. Their parents are former flower-children who still don’t believe in rules. Their small, Northern California town is filled with free spirits and damaged souls seeking refuge from the real world. Without the anchor of authority, the three girls are adrift and have only each other to rely on.

Rachel is wild. Asha is lost. Sarah, the good sister, is the glue that holds them together. But the forces of a mysterious fate have taken Sarah’s life in a sudden and puzzling accident, sending her already fractured family into a tailspin of grief and confusion. Asha has questions. Rachel has secrets. And Sarah, waking up in the afterlife, must piece together how she got there.

Review

I didn't expect this book to be so sweet, so dark, so sad, or so unpredictable. We begin reading in Sarah's point of view. She is the sister everyone expected to be taken by cancer, but she wasn't. She is dead, however. Between the three points of view of Sarah and her sisters, we learn of her death and how everyone attempts to move on after.

This was emotional from the start. It was so easy to care about the characters, because they were unique and incredibly real. The feelings, the guilt, the hindsight - it was all there and written perfectly.

Although Sarah was "the good sister," she wasn't my favorite. I'm not sure if this is a personal thing - probably, it will vary depending on the reader of the book - but I felt so much more connected to Asha's character than the others. She was the clueless one, fitting in with the readers since neither of her sisters went into detail about what happened until late in the book. She was confused and wanted answers, until the answers became too much to bear. (Sin helped her, too. I adored him and he only came up in her point of view, so there was that.)

Something that really struck me was that, as their family fell apart, each of the sisters blamed themselves. That's how things usually are, really. When it comes down to it, we are more likley to look back on the things we could've done differently. We get more critical of ourselves than we do others. I feel like this was shown wonderfully and I really enjoyed seeing so much of the cause and effect throughout the story. In the end, it's not just one action that could have changed a situation, but the combined actions of many.

Overall, I just really loved this. If every book were so real, so heartfelt and emotional, I don't think I could ever complain.

Do You Like Cliches?

I have been told that, as a child, I put the adults in my life through years worth of repeated Winnie-the-Pooh. It was my show; I loved it to death. Even today, I find myself reading the books with a huge smile. I know I have heard those stories time and time again. I remember them.

That is a thing that kids do. I'm also not saying it's uncommon that we sometimes return to the stories we loved as children. What I am saying is that I'm not sure I outgrew that love for stories on repeat. I don't know that any of us do.

Of course, there are only so many tropes that can be used in stories. They can be mixed together differently, and they can be written in a unique way, but that's not exactly what I'm thinking about now. I am wondering about cliches that serve as the base of the story - the bad boy falls for the nerd; the girl falls for her best friend's brother; the characters struggle through forbidden love. They're things we've all read before, and some of us will continue reading them time and time again.

Personally, I love cliches. I try to mention them in my reviews, and I will admit they usually make the story less memorable - but I love them. Of course it's nice to see a twist on the story, or a completely different plot altogether. Of course it takes the right author to make them fun and sometimes, to draw so much other stuff (for lack of a better word) into the mix that the cliche hardly even matters.

I would love to know how you guys feel about cliches. Do you love or hate them? What is the one storyline you just can't get enough of?

Reading Children's Books

I have always found it interesting (and usually kind of silly) that we separate genres into age groups. I understand the purpose behind this - we have different experiences at different times of our lives. The average five-year-old would struggle to identify with a book about a thirty-year-old's life. They're just not there yet. It doesn't matter to them as much as books about games and bedtime and other things they actually worry about. Another obvious reason is reading levels, because we need beginner books unless we'd like to overwhelm kids and make them frustrated with reading from the very beginning - they wouldn't see the fun and likely wouldn't like books at all in the end.

But I think the silly part is that people are so strict about these genres and the ages at which others read them. I'm sure every YA reader has seen at least one of the many discussions out there about older readers and why they should/shouldn't be reading about teenagers. And I also think that many people put children's books, no matter how well-written, below their standards for what they would ever read.

Personally, I don't stray much into children's fiction. Too much of it doesn't interest me and so, although I'll read a few books now and then, it's not a normal thing for me. I also don't go any lower than middle grade reading - while I know there are great authors for small children out there, it's just not usually my style. I like words and going so far as picture books doesn't suit me. Even graphic novels aren't usually my thing, so while this does have a lot to do with reading level and my wanting more than ten words a page, it's also a preference of mine that goes further than that.

I have (fairly recently) noticed that I enjoy older children's books, as well. Most classics I enjoy are about children and intended for them to read, and I think they tend to be more suited for older readers as well as younger. I'd guess it's the reason they stuck around long enough to be classics, really.

But my main reason for this post is that I'm super interested in how others read when it comes to children's books. How low do you read in terms of age groups? What's the last book you've read that's lower than YA, if any?