The Girl in the Red Coat

Holy moly, this book. Excellent. Read it. And don't read much about it beforehand. Here's what you should know:

A little girl disappears and yes, she's wearing a red coat. The book is mainly about what happens to her, with some chapters about how her family is dealing with the disappearance.

I will let you know, there is no sexual child abuse which as a mother is too difficult to read. There is some physical and emotional abuse though.

Falling

This book has very mixed reviews. It is about a woman, Emma, who moves away from her family in England and worked in banking for 5 years. She was ready to get out of the rat race, so she moved to a small community and tried to find her self. She ended up falling for her landlord, who fell for her back.

First, let me talk about the characters. They were good, but archetypes. But at lease I cared about them. I felt something for all of them, either love or disdain. I enjoyed some of the quirks Jane Green wrote into them, however she tries too much to be relevant with her characters. While the point I'm sure was to relate, I just found myself bored and passing judgement on them. Emma was overly dramatic about life which made her obnoxious.

Second, the writing. It was straightforward and not at all interesting. She tried too hard to throw in every type of modern cultural reference. Ie. Tinder. Facebook. Etc. Nothing much happens the whole book until the last few pages.


Third and lastly, the end. There is a great twist at the end, but getting to the end was a tiny bit boring. And while it certainly makes for a shock, it's not what you want to happen. I love a sad ending, but this one was too much. Maybe it was my state of mind, but I wish the ending was different. But, alas Jane Green wanted it to end in drama and she certainly succeeded.

Behind Closed Doors

Wow, this book. Think Room plus Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. It was an amazing book. It opens with the perfect couple having a dinner party. For a while, you get the sense not all is perfect and as the book goes on, you start to look for what is the problem.

Then the author lets you know. And you are caught in between being utterly shocked and not surprised at all. It's a book you don't want to know more about, but for anyone reading this, please for the love of all good books, read this novel.

The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper

This book had so much potential. Finally, a book with a creative and unique plot. Authur Pepper is a recent widower who finds a charm bracelet of his late wife that he's never seen before and has exotic charms on it. He is struggling with the loss of his wife and trying to figure out who he is without her when he decides to try to track down where the charms come from.

Through this journey, he becomes aware that he actually likes adventures and is learning about the parts of his wife he never knew through them.

It was a good book. I never wanted to put it down. But it wasn't as compelling as I hoped it would be. The writing was just fine. Patrick told the story, but didn't have much of a great commentary. Worth the read if you want a change of pace from love story to adventure.

The Light in Paris

This was such a fantastic book. One of my favorites in 2016. Eleanor Brown is the author of another book I love, The Weird Sisters. So, I knew I liked her writing style, which is brilliant, but unassuming. Cultured, but not pretentious.

The Light in Paris is narrated by a 30 something very unhappily married woman who married a man just because her mom wanted her to and it's what her peer group did. You get married, you have kids, you go to women's league meetings.

Her story parallels her grandmothers, Margie who did the same thing; she settled because she was expected to. However, not before going to Paris in 1924 for the best 3 months of her life.

The Light in Paris is about breaking free from traditional roles and others expectations of you. It's about finding yourself before you settled down. Knowing who you are, what you love, and what gives you joy. All of which is outside of a man's love. While there are love stories in this book, it's not about finding love. It's about defining what womanhood is. It's about empowering women to be who they were meant to be - an artist, an adventurer, a writer.

I loved this book and highly recommend it.

Dark Matter

I could not put this book down. It is one of the best books of 2016. So smart it makes me dizzy but in a good way. Crouch does an amazing job of turning something so complex as a multiverse into something the every day non-scientist can understand on some level, even if you can't fully wrap your mind around it.

Jason is abducted from his life one evening and finds himself in an impossible place. Unless you are a quantum physics genius. Jason tries to untangle what is happening to him and find his way back to his family. This novel is mind bending similar to the movie "Interstellar". Excellently written. The characters are lovable, believable, and easy to connect with.

The First Time She Drowned

Oh how I loved this book so so much.  And the farther along in the book I got, the more I loved it.

Cassie was committed to an in patient mental care facility as a teenager. Except, she wasn't mentally ill. This debut novel looks at childhood abuse in a new and unique way. The authors use of words is beautiful and poetic. Sometimes I re-read a line just because it was so poignant.

I was taken with the family life Kletter created and how well she shows the shattering affects of mental illness, childhood abuse, and identity in teens. Because of the language throughout and one sexually charged scene, I'm not ready for my middle schooler to read it. But, once she's in high school, it'd be great to read.

Truly, Madly, Guilty

Erika and Clementine have been friends since their youth. Due to family circumstances with her mom, Erika was sort of an adopted child, which made Clementine resentful. Their relationship is a strange one and gets even more strange when Erika asks something of Clementine that she's not sure she can give.

Mysterious enough? The whole book is one big "What is going on?!" which was delightful to read. You know something big is coming and it's not until the very end of the book when it finally does. So, everything that happens you are wondering if it relates to the "something big" or if the author is just toying with me.

Great writing, as always from Liane Moriarty. The book doesn't get as high reviews as I thought it would. But, as I think back through it, the "something big" isn't as big as I thought it would be. The relationships are fleshed out well, but flimsy and seem to fall apart easier than I would expect.

Overall, a great read that I recommend. Just have lower expectations and you'll absolutely love it.

A House for Happy Mothers

A House for Happy Mothers is about a couple in America who as a last choice has their baby via a surrogate in India. It goes back and forth from both families involved, the surrogate and her family and the couple using the surrogate. It was just okay. It was certainly good enough to read and I never wanted to quit reading it, but I critiqued a lot as I read. Parts were very repetitive and lacked the depth of emotion I would expect in a book like this.

Night

So, even though this is supposed to be my year of classics, I have taken a break to read some YA for my daughter and some "must reads of 2016" according to Pinterest.

I listened to this book instead of reading it with my eyes and I am very happy I did that. There aren't many books I'd rather listen to, but this one was the perfect choice.

Night is a classic written in the 1960s and I'm calling it a classic. If it's not in that category yet, it will be. It's a memoir about Elie's experience in Nazi Germany. The interesting thing about this story that's different from other ones similar to it, is that his dad is an almost constant point in the camp with him. The horrors of what they went through and saw is unlike any other novel I've read about it (movies don't count, so stop thinking "Schindler's List").

I highly recommend this book to anyone, just be ready for a heavy heart.

The Lake House

Oh how I love Kate Morton. This is her newest novel and I was super excited to delve in, confident I would not be able to put it down, like so many of her other good works.

I was very disappointed. It was boring and I couldn't keep reading it. If I didn't have other great books to on my "to read" list, I'd probably have powered through in the hopes it'd get better. But I do have a large stack of "must reads" so alas, I'm giving up and may try again another year.

With Love From the Inside

Grace Bradshaw was convicted of killing her baby son and was sentenced to death. Because of that, she is estranged from her now adult daughter, Sophie. This novel is a very well woven story between the two women's perspectives. The narration style is excellent and the messages in the book are excellent.

It's been a very long time since I've read a book I wanted to stay up late reading. I highly recommend it! And even though there was quite a bit of language and some very heavy themes, I let my 12 year old daughter read it and she loved it as well.

Here's a caveat: read with tissues.

Shatter Me

I read this because my 12 year old daughter asked me to preview it for her. It's a compelling dystopian story about a group of kids who have super hero powers. Juliette is the heroine who turns out can't touch people without hurting them. She ends up a prisoner of the bad guys, who actually want to turn her into a weapon for them. The story is halfway between unique and overdone.

It's a fine YA book for adults, but I can't recommend it for kids. Lots of sexual scenes and language.

David Copperfield

I like Charles Dickens. However, I can now qualify that statement: I enjoy short Charles Dickens. David Copperfield is LONG. As much as I enjoyed the book, I quit halfway through. I just didn't have to stamina to continue reading. And these days, I don't have the time to read such a long book (like over 900 pages) since I read for only about 15 minutes before bed.

Hopefully, one day I will have the energy and stamina to stay on one book for that long. But, with 4 young kids (one of which I read her YA books beforehand) David Copperfield will have to wait. Ahhhh..the irony. Poor David Copperfield yet again is at the mercy of some other adult who doesn't have his best interest in mind!

A Farewell to Arms

Oh, how I wanted to like this book. I have in general, loved this last five months of reading classics. This was the first Hemingway I've read and I will also say it's my last.

Sometimes it's poetic when authors don't follow the rules of grammar. But not so with Hemingway. I found it very distracting. If it were a compelling story, perhaps I could look past the obnoxiousness. However, I didn't even like the story line. I couldn't even make it to my 50 page minimum; I stopped at 37. But glad I tried him and now can talk about why I don't like him.

I Am Malala

I read the Young Reader Edition, so I'm not sure how the adult version compares. But, I thought it was a good book. Not excellent, but good. I've let my both my 6th and 4th grader read it. It's a surface look into the Taliban coming into Pakistan from Malala's perspective.

Some of the Parts

This book is a YA novel about a girl who's brother dies in a car accident and about how the family deals with the aftermath. I thought it was just okay as a novel. Forgettable and not a great plot. But, I did let my 6th grader read it. There are some heavy topics since the girl was the one driving the car that killed her brother. She ends up thinking about suicide and of course, the minor language. But, there are positives such as a friendship with a boy who really cares about her and you only see them starting to date at the end of the book once she is in a healthier spot in her life. Great things about family relations and how different people deal with the loss of a loved one.
Some minor langauge inckudes: BS, Bitch, dammit, shit.

Faking Normal

Once again, I read this for my daughter, but I actually ended up loving it myself. It's well written, endearing characters, and a great plot. It deals with real high school issues of sex, drinking, peer relationship, dating. Also harder stuff like rape and how not telling can ruin you. And about what true friendship and real love looks like. There is some language, but once a kid can handle the heavy topics, the language doesn't matter. There are heavy topics, there is sex. But there is love and what real forgiveness looks like. There is redemption from the hard. There is truth that dealing with the hard is messy. There are beautiful words. I'd recommend for older teens and also for adults who enjoy YA.

The Body in the Woods

I read this for my 6th grader, as it's a YA and she can't read just any book in that genre. This book is definitely not something I want her to read. Think law and order, but also from the viewpoint of a serial killer, which just gives too much emotional pull for a pre-teen to read. Too mature material for middle school. Includes serial killer, drug addiction and homelessness, suicidal thoughts, and mental illness. All things I want my daughters to know about, but not 6th grade. But no language or sex.

Slated Series

I loved this series. It's YA and appropriate for a mature 5th grader or any middle schooler. 

From Goodreads:

"Kyla’s memory has been erased,

her personality wiped blank,
her memories lost for ever.

She’s been Slated.

The government claims she was a terrorist and that they are giving her a second chance - as long as she plays by their rules. But echoes of the past whisper in Kyla’s mind. Someone is lying to her, and nothing is as it seems. Who can she trust in her search for the truth?"

I would highly recommend this book trilogy for a quick read that is unique. 

Looking for Alaska

I heart John Green. I think he is borderline genius. Okay, he's just genius. This book didn't disappoint.

From Amazon:
"Before. Miles “Pudge” Halter is done with his safe life at home. His whole life has been one big non-event, and his obsession with famous last words has only made him crave “the Great Perhaps” even more (Francois Rabelais, poet). He heads off to the sometimes crazy and anything-but-boring world of Culver Creek Boarding School, and his life becomes the opposite of safe. Because down the hall is Alaska Young. The gorgeous, clever, funny, sexy, self-destructive, screwed up, and utterly fascinating Alaska Young. She is an event unto herself. She pulls Pudge into her world, launches him into the Great Perhaps, and steals his heart. Then. . . .

After. Nothing is ever the same."

In Other Words

I really love this author. She really is one of my favorites. However, i was disappointed in this book. It's great for literary students or writers. But it's too slow and all the pages are too similar.

I appreciate her desire and accomplishment of writing the book in Italian though and the split translation is a unique and wonderful way to publish a book.

I can appreciate the beautiful language and words even as I put down the book for something more interesting.

A Window Opens

From Amazon:
"In A Window Opens, beloved books editor at Glamour magazine Elisabeth Egan brings us Alice Pearse, a compulsively honest, longing-to-have-it-all, sandwich generation heroine for our social-media-obsessed, lean in (or opt out) age. Like her fictional forebears Kate Reddy and Bridget Jones, Alice plays many roles (which she never refers to as “wearing many hats” and wishes you wouldn’t, either). She is a mostly-happily married mother of three, an attentive daughter, an ambivalent dog-owner, a part-time editor, a loyal neighbor and a Zen commuter. She is not: a cook, a craftswoman, a decorator, an active PTA member, a natural caretaker or the breadwinner. But when her husband makes a radical career change, Alice is ready to lean in—and she knows exactly how lucky she is to land a job at Scroll, a hip young start-up which promises to be the future of reading, with its chain of chic literary lounges and dedication to beloved classics. The Holy Grail of working mothers―an intellectually satisfying job and a happy personal life―seems suddenly within reach.

Despite the disapproval of her best friend, who owns the local bookstore, Alice is proud of her new “balancing act” (which is more like a three-ring circus) until her dad gets sick, her marriage flounders, her babysitter gets fed up, her kids start to grow up and her work takes an unexpected turn. Readers will cheer as Alice realizes the question is not whether it’s possible to have it all, but what does she―Alice Pearse―really want?"

Well, what can I say. I don't really remember this book. Yes, it's been about a year since reading it. But, I only vaguely remember the plot. So, that says something, right?

The Vault of Dreamers and The Rule of Mirrors

From Amazon:
"The fast-paced, psychologically thrilling sequel to The Vault of Dreamers follows Rosie after her consciousness has been split in two.

The entire country was watching when Rosie Sinclair was expelled from Forge, the prestigious arts school that doubles as a reality TV show. But few know how Dean Berg was mining students' dreams in laboratories deep below the school. And no one, least of all the Dean himself, knows that when Rosie's dreams were seeded into the mind of another patient, Rosie's consciousness woke up in that body--a girl far from Forge, a girl with a completely different life from Rosie, a girl who is pregnant.

Told from alternating points of view between Rosie as she makes sense of her new identity and the shattered subconscious that still exists in her old body, The Rule of Mirrors will keep readers on the edge of their seats and leave them hungry for more."

My 11 year old and I both loved these books. Unique plot, good character development. 

The Invisible Man

I am very embarrassed to say that I have never read this before this summer. Yes, I am 37 years old. Hence my journey through some classics.

This one didn't disappoint. However, it is juvenile. A mature 5th grader could read it, any middle schooler could.

But, I'm glad I read it and can now say I know what it's about.

Anna Karenina

So, I'm on a classics streak. For the rest of the year I am going to read classics, unless I have a really good reason to read a non-classic.

So, I read Anna Karenina for the first time this summer. While I skimmed some of the politics and farming details (which is totally ok to do by the way. I used to feel bad and "less cultured" because I skimmed some parts of books. I don't anymore. So, feel the freedom to skim away the parts you don't want to read!), the book was amazing. I highly recommend it.

Okay, I don't think I need to give an overview because 1. it's a classic and 2. it's memorable. That being said, I have a terrible memory, so I will recap a little.

Old country Russia. Aristocracy. Affairs. Beautiful clothes. Farm. Unrequited love. Forgiveness. Suicide.

Amazingly written. Beautiful story and language. Literary genius.

Sully

I wanted to see this movie, but my rule in life is that I have to read the book first. So, I bought this book in the airport while on my way to NYC. Seemed appropriate. It was a fine book. He's clearly not a writer and he gave a lot of background as to how he could make the choices he made on the Hudson Flight that day. I don't think I'd recommend the book though. Just watch the movie and know they put a Hollywood spin on the story.

Throwing Like a Girl

From Barnes and Noble:

"No one asks Ella how she feels about moving halfway across the country in the middle of her sophomore year. But she ends up in Texas anyway, without plans for the weekend or friends to guide her through the alien campus of her new private school. So she decides to try out for the softball team — and she makes it! Now if only she knew how to throw, hit, and field the ball. “This is the part you can’t read in a book. You just have to do it.” Ella has a lot to learn — on and off the field.

Softball changes Ella’s life, for better and for worse. She discovers a confidence she never knew she had and makes new friends — and enemies. When Ella falls for her snotty teammate’s gorgeous brother, suddenly she isn’t just fielding balls, she’s also dodging evil glares from girls in class and on the team.

When life throws you a curve ball — learn how to hit it!

If Ella’s going to survive this year, she’ll have to set some ground rules and learn to stand up for herself — in the game and in her life."

Cute book, great for middle school girls.

Inside the O'Briens

From Amazon:
"From the New York Times bestselling author of Still Alice Lisa Genova comes a powerful and transcendent new novel about a family struggling with the impact of Huntington’s disease.

Joe O’Brien is a forty-four-year-old police officer from the Irish Catholic neighborhood of Charlestown, Massachusetts. A devoted husband, proud father of four children in their twenties, and respected officer, Joe begins experiencing bouts of disorganized thinking, uncharacteristic temper outbursts, and strange, involuntary movements. He initially attributes these episodes to the stress of his job, but as these symptoms worsen, he agrees to see a neurologist and is handed a diagnosis that will change his and his family’s lives forever: Huntington’s disease.

Huntington’s is a lethal neurodegenerative disease with no treatment and no cure. Each of Joe’s four children has a 50 percent chance of inheriting their father’s disease, and a simple blood test can reveal their genetic fate. While watching her potential future in her father’s escalating symptoms, twenty-one-year-old daughter Katie struggles with the questions this test imposes on her young adult life. Does she want to know? What if she’s gene positive? Can she live with the constant anxiety of not knowing?

As Joe’s symptoms worsen and he’s eventually stripped of his badge and more, Joe struggles to maintain hope and a sense of purpose, while Katie and her siblings must find the courage to either live a life “at risk” or learn their fate."

I liked this book, but certainly not as well as Still Alice. But, still worth a read.

What Lies Between Us

From Amazon:
"In the idyllic hill country of Sri Lanka, a young girl grows up with her loving family; but even in the midst of this paradise, terror lurks in the shadows. When tragedy strikes, she and her mother must seek safety by immigrating to America. There the girl reinvents herself as an American teenager to survive, with the help of her cousin; but even as she assimilates and thrives, the secrets and scars of her past follow her into adulthood. In this new country of freedom, everything she has built begins to crumble around her, and her hold on reality becomes more and more tenuous. When the past and the present collide, she sees only one terrible choice.

From Nayomi Munaweera, the award-winning author of Island of a Thousand Mirrors, comes the confession of a woman, driven by the demons of her past to commit a single and possibly unforgivable crime."

It's been a long time since I've read this, but I remember loving it and wanting to read it again to see what I missed the first time. It's also best to not know a lot about the book before reading. But, well worth the time and it's a quick read.

Undress Me in the Temple of Heaven

I really enjoyed this book. It's a memoir about Susan Jane Gilman's journey across the world cut short by some interesting events. I would highly recommend it to wanderlusters, but also to anyone who enjoys reading about people's interesting lives and adventures.

MosquitoLand

From Amazon: 

"After the sudden collapse of her family, Mim Malone is dragged from her home in northern Ohio to the “wastelands” of Mississippi, where she lives in a medicated milieu with her dad and new stepmom. Before the dust has a chance to settle, she learns her mother is sick back in Cleveland.

So she ditches her new life and hops aboard a northbound Greyhound bus to her real home and her real mother, meeting a quirky cast of fellow travelers along the way. But when her thousand-mile journey takes a few turns she could never see coming, Mim must confront her own demons, redefining her notions of love, loyalty, and what it means to be sane."

It's been over 9 months since I read this and am just now reviewing it. Although I don't really remember the book, I remember it being good. Well written and an interesting and fairly unique book.

It's not appropriate for kids though.

One Second After

This book was not well written, but it was a page turner, especially for someone like me who is borderline prepper. It's about a catastrophic event that takes out the power and how people survive or not. It's set in Asheville, which made the novel even more fun. 

Worth the read, but not for the sake of the writing or characters. Mainly for the message it has to say. 

The Rent Collector

A great start to this book. It's about a family who lives in the slums who is terrified of her landlady, but eventually has the guts to ask her to teach her to read. It had so much potential and i got over half way through. But, the middle of the book is too repetitive, so I put it down. Maybe another time I'll pick it back up and finish it. Just don't have the stamina to at this point in my life. 

Zero K

This book was boring. I didn't like his writing style or the characters voices. Interesting idea for a novel, but poor execution. 

Put it down before reaching my 50 page minimum. 

New York

Well, I got half way through this book. It was a great half. And I know if I had the emotional energy and stamina, I'd finish it. It's just really long and not an easy read (but worth the work).

It's a historical fiction novel mostly set in New York from the mid 1600s to the early 2000s. Oh, how I made it to the early 2000s.

It follows one family through the generations in a unique and wonderful way. The author (brilliant person) weaves meetings of distant family who never find out they are relatives. But us readers know, which makes it feel like you are ready family secrets.

Historical facts are dropped in so wonderfully and sometimes expectantly.

Once my little girl wins her battle with her illness (#emmalineforthewin !!) I will try to pick this back up and finish the book.

Ashley's War

This is an amazing book. It is the story of a group of women who go through the special ops training to be able to serving alongside Army Ranger teams.

There is a lot of hoopla in the US media about women entering special ops. I have come to the opinion that you can not have an educated opinion about the issue until you read this book.

Excellent book.

A Piece of Cake

Let me just say that I love messy books. I love dysfunction. I love reading about how people rise from the ashes. This book is that. Cupcake Brown tells her story of how she ended up in the foster care system and ends up in really dark places of sexual abuse, drugs, and gangs.

If it were believable, I'd love the book, minus the poor writing. But, it's just not believable. The first thing that is questionable is that after a long hard custody fight between her birth father and the man who raised her, the birth father gets custody. However, he just puts her in the foster care system. I find it hard to believe that while there is a kin who wants her and has proven he can take care of her and love her well, she would still end up in the foster care system.

The second red flag is how the system let her down, again and again. She told a judge that she was being abused and that judge still sent her back to the foster home. Whaaa? I know social services was lacking in the 70s, but really? A child says they are being hurt and there's no real investigation?

The thing that made me put the book down without finishing is that the writing is poor. Spoiler alert - Cupcake ends up being a lawyer. The redundancy and lack of flow to her story makes it hard to read.

Overall, when I was reading it, I just couldn't stop thinking of A Million Little Pieces and I'm not convinced this book won't have the same ending as James Frey.

Shantaram

This is my best book of 2015. Gregory David Roberts is an Australian convict who escaped from prison, where he was serving years for armed robbery. This book is his life. He brings his true account of going to India to life. The characters he meets, the crimes he commits, the honor he strives to keep even as he becomes involved with the Bombay Mafia. I highly recommend this book, but be warned - it is long. But a quick read and you will want to end your days reading this book.

Dead Wake

I loved Erik Larson's The Devil in the White City. His style of writing brings history to life.

Dead Wake is the story of the last crossing of the Lusitania. The story Larson recreates is amazing and while I'm reading about nautical terms and war strategy's, I am loving it.

It is a fantastic book and does not disappoint.

Almost Famous Women

These are short stories based on women in history. While it had such potential, the stories really didn't captivate me at all. A disappointment. Too many other good books to read to keep reading.

Frog

Supposedly this book is about the one child policy in China. However, I got to page 113 and the book still hadn't really developed a plot or gotten to any kind of a conflict to be solved. So, I stopped because it's not compelling enough to finish.

This book is a translation from Mandarin and is set in China, so it's to be understood that all the names are so similar its hard to remember who is who.

The plot is slow, assuming there actually turns out to be one.

I will say that while I never thought about the book during the day, when I picked it up at night, it wasn't unpleasant. Just not good enough to think about and want to finish. Maybe if you really love the Chinese culture and are studious and smart enough, you can get through the book.

Station Eleven

This is a post civilization collapse world that the author created. A pandemic occurs and there are few who survive. This book follows the lives of a group who do.

This is a mixed review.

Character development and plot - 2.5 or 3 stars. There is no real plot or thrust to the end of a conflict. There is just enough mystery to keep you reading though. The book tries to be deep but just comes across short and inconsequential. I enjoyed the world St. John Mandel was setting up. However, I felt like she could have taken her time and turned the book into a series in order to set up her characters better and develop an actual plot.

Creativity - 4.5 stars. There was such potential and it was an interesting idea.

It's one of the books that I think will actually make a better movie than book, so just wait and watch it when it comes out, as I'm sure it will.

Nowhere But Here

Good girl meets bad boy and they fall for each other, when they shouldn't. Stupid.

YA maybe at its worst? Interesting story, but almost zero character development. I didn't see that it is categorized as teen harlequin until too late. Don't read and don't let your kids read.

Alive

It was okay, not great. A quick read, and an easy one. It was a little redundant in places, but overall fine.

A girl wakes up from a box not knowing where she is. She quickly realizes she's a 12 year old in a 20 year old's body.

The less you know about the plot, the better.

The writing was pretty bad. It was maybe supposed to be fast paced, but came across choppy. Characters were boring and predictable.

This is book 1 in trilogy, with the second book coming out in April 2016. I won't be reading it.

Unlikely Hero of Room 13 B

Boy with issues falls for girl with issues. Almost the same storyline as The Fault in Our Stars except with OCD almost as its own characters and not as good. Unless you want to read about OCD, skip this one and just read The Fault in Our Stars.

13 Reasons Why

This is one of those books that is actually unique. Very good story, story telling, characters, and writing.

Clay is a teenage boy who receives a set of tapes in the mail. They are from his classmate who committed suicide a few weeks ago. These tapes lay out 13 reasons why she killed herself.

It's YA, but definitely only appropriate for older high schoolers.