When She Was Electric

This is an interesting book. I picked it up off the library book shelf to take to the beach based on the title and cover alone. I'd heard nothing about it. It was fine. Not great. Nothing substantial. Just a story of a broken family. Perhaps it could be deep if I had put more thought into it or if it was a book club book. Boiled down, this book is about what infidelity and babies out of wedlock can do to a family. It's a story of three generations of women, which I enjoyed.

While the plot was a little ho hum, the words MacPherson wrote had weight. It was beautifully written, but not flowery. Even simple sentences like "And then it rained." were placed so well and the sentence structures made it beautiful and artsy.

If you are looking for something unique and interesting, it's worth the read.

The Shadow of the Wind

Oh. My. Word. I loved this book. It was beautifully written. The characters were very well developed. The plot was amazing. It's one of my favorite books. It has a similar feel to The Book Thief, so if you enjoyed that book, you'll like this one, too.

It's about a boy, Daniel, who discovers a book that he loves. When he goes to find more books by the same author, he finds out that they have all been destroyed. Daniel starts researching the author and finds there is a big story there. He becomes detective with the help of a homeless man turned friend.

That's all the detail I want to give since part of the beauty and joy of reading this was not knowing much about it. My one caveat is that some of the characters get confusing at times. But I think that's because I didn't read it very quickly, but over a 2 week period. If I had read it faster, I don't think I would have forgotten the secondary characters as easily.

I highly recommend this book! Read it!

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay is a book about twp brothers during WWII who become famous comic book writers. Yeah, it was boring to me, too. I'm sure it was well written and amazing since it's a Pulitzer prize winner. But it never captivated me and it was just too much work to read and follow the plot. I got through seven miserable pages before I put it down. Perhaps if you enjoy comic books, escape artists, and WWII you'd enjoy the book.

True Colors

I've recently read two of Hannah's other books, Firefly Lane and Fly Away. Both were good books. True Colors blows them away. Everything about this book is better than the others. The characters had more depth. The plot was more interesting. The writing was better.

The three Grey sisters grew up as best friends, due to their mother dying when they were young (a theme in Hannah's novels!) and their stern father. As they grow though, their fidelity to one another gets tested. Winona is the eldest and yearns for her father approval. Aurora is the peace-maker middle sister. And Vivi Ann is the fun loving baby of the family. Just the birth order stuff alone in this book is fascinating!

There is a tragic event(s) that take place that will turn the girls against one another and that's when the book takes off. From that point on, you can't put it down. There's love, murder, a legal case, and family ties that all make this a great book.

I recommend this book - though it is more of a click lit. Some men might enjoy it, especially the legal side of it. But probably, it's for women.

Revenge Wears Prada

I enjoyed The Devil Wears Prada years ago when it came out. It's just your usual chick lit, but with a unique plot. I decided to read the sequel that just came out and it was just okay. Nothing to write home about. Not good literature. No great new plots. Just an okay book.

It's been 10 years since Andy left Runway. The book starts off a little confusing because it doesn't end where the first left off. Instead, Weisberger backtracks throughout the book to tell the whole story, which was well done. There are new love interests, new fashion fiascoes, and of course, same old Miranda. Some of the conversations were drab. Some of the explanations were drab. And some of the plot was drab.

I do hope this turns into a film, like The Devil Wears Prada. I would be happy to see those characters play out in Revenge Wears Prada. Similar to the first book, I think this one would make a better film than book.

Firefly Lane

When I first read Fly Away by Kristin Hannah, I didn't know that Firefly Lane was actually the first book. I loved the characters so much in Fly Away, I decided to read the background story in Firefly Lane and I wasn't disappointed. It's a beach read at its best. Quick, easy, a little sad, good characters, good story. Unfortunately, I knew how it would all end, which made the book less authentic for me. I wish I read this book first, then Fly Away.

It's a great story of best friends, a man in the middle, and ultimately a story of what makes us happy in life and the sacrifices we make to find that happiness. Worth a read if you're looking for a well written book with good characters with moderate amount of depth.

The Silver Star

This was a highly anticipated book for me. I loved some of Walls other books - The Glass Castle and Half Broke Horses in particular. Amazing memoirs. So well written and compelling. I was so intrigued to read some fiction from her since her memoir was so good.

This book is a page turner for sure. However, it's just okay. I'd give it a 3 out of a 5. Maybe a 3.5 if I've had some chocolate and wine and am feeling generous.

It has loads of potential but just not pulled off as well as I expected. The story was not fleshed out as well as it could have been. I can see how her past has influenced her fiction though and that's interesting. It's a fine story but one of those that makes you want to root for evil and makes morality ambiguous. The bad guy certainly deserved punishment. Justice certainly needed to take place. SPOILER ALERT!!! I felt happy that the bad guy got more than he deserved. That's just not justice. Too much punishment is just as bad as not enough. There's a venue for justice to happen and while I get that the courts messed it up, that doesn't mean people can take it into their own hands.

This book is great for book clubs though. And I'm glad I read it. And I'd even recommend it. I was just disappointed with Walls execution of the novel.