Show us your books {August 2019 edition}

Book time... 

Time to break out the Goodreads & load up on new books to add to my "Want to Read" list

My favorite time of the month

Here's my current reads - a down & up & then back down again month.  

That's ok - cant win them all

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Barefoot by Elin Hilderbrand

** / 2 Stars / It was OK

Quick Summary - three women go to Nantucket for the summer, each trying to escape something in their life.

I think this was a typical Hilderbrand story. I usually love her books. I did love that this one was once again told in spurts, from various points of view.  I just never really got into the story though. Some of the characters aggravated me & I got to the point where I didnt even care what happened to some of them.  One of the women, I really did care about & her story, the other two? Meh.

& to be fair, I'm in an awful reading slump so this could very well be a great book but I'm just not in the mood for it.

I'd be anxious to hear of any other Hilderbrand fans who has read it & if I'm off base & need to try & re-read it again down the road....

“When you peered into the windows of someone else's life, you could only guess what was going on.” 

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The Siren by Kiera Cass

**** / Really Liked it

Quick Summary:  Kahlen, a Siren, girls who sing to draw others to their death in the ocean, ends up falling in love with a human.

I really needed a fluff read to just sit back & relax & enjoy - not giving much thought.  This was what I needed.

It's totally mystical & magical - a world where the Ocean talks to her Sirens & needs to feed of the death of humans in order to sustain the world with water... but I was totally down for it.  I loved the Siren sisters & loved the magic of it all.  Could be classified as corny in some areas, but I thought it was just a fun, light read... I mean, taking away from all the people that die! LOL ... you feel for Kahlen & her struggle & I just really enjoyed this mindless fun.

"It was a fact that too many people ignored:  

Children's books held truths."

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We are Okay 

By Nina LaCour

DNF

Quick Summary: A young girl leaves everything behind after her grandfather passed away, whom she lived with when her mother died when she was young.  She is now at college & her best friend finds her & they discuss the truth of why she left.

I had heard about this on Currently Reading & they really spoke well of it.  I got it & tried to get into it. I was about 25% in & was just not clicking with it.  Didnt hold my attnetion & I wasn't getting any attachment to the characters.

It's funny - I'm finding most books that win awards like this one did - its won quite a few awards actually - I really have a struggle reading them. I guess I'm just that into "depth" kind of books.

So I just let it go & moving on....

"What I mean is don't be a person who seeks out grief. There is enough of that in life.” 

( I think for me - that quote from the book is exactly why I stopped reading it - I'm still in a spot where sadness & grief - it hits me at the wrong time & I just cant read it...)

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When All is Said
By Anne Griffin
*** / 3 Stars

Quick Summary:  A man sits in the bar & toasts a drink to the five people that sums up his life journey.

This is like a mix of A Man Called Ova, The Five People You Meet in Heaven & Big Fish.  My friend Leslie said that exact thing too & its sport on.

I had a really hard time getting into it at first.  That first chapter was torture. I only stuck with it because we were reading it for a Reading group.  But I'm glad I stuck with it.

It's in an "Irish" tone so some of the words, language, the way things are written out,  I struggled a little bit.  But the story was beautiful really. How it weaved in all these people together that Maurice toasts too ... & to see his life through his eyes in his old age.

In the end, this was heartbreaking too - the last chapter, I actually cried.  It tore me up.  Showed me I enjoyed it - but equally disturbed me.

It's a good book to show how one little action can affect so many other through years.  The ripple effect of decisions.

"No one, no one really knows loss until it’s someone you love. The deep-down kind of love that holds on to your bones and digs itself right in under your fingernails, as hard to budge as the years of compacted earth. And when it’s gone … it’s as if it’s been ripped from you."

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