January 2019 Overview

     Almost a week through February, and I've finally gotten a free day to sit down and write my blog post for the books I read in January. I got a wisdom tooth out this morning, so no better time like now when I'm sitting here numb with gauze in my mouth and can't do much else!

     Between both physical books and audiobooks, I read 11 books in January. Some of them you may have already read me write a little bit about, but for these monthly overview posts, it's going to be just that. An overview. With links provided to the full reviews if you want to read them, instead of needing to scroll through paragraphs and paragraphs to get to the parts you want to read. 

     January was an ok month of books. I tried a few I wouldn't usually read, I did some easy reads as well, and a few that were a continuation of a series I'd been chipping away at. Hopefully February will be a bit better! So, here we go!

Star of Shadowbrook Farm by Joanna Campbell     
     Released 1/1/92
     Read from: Dec 23, 2018- Jan 12, 2019
     Format: Print (library)
     Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

     An enjoyable, quick, light and easy read about a skilled young teen horseback rider who loses her confidence after a dangerous fall. With the help of an amazing horse and a new friend at school, we watch her get the courage back to start competing and succeeding again. You can't help but root for a girl like Susan, especially after watching her deal with the typical school bully who constantly makes Susan feel bad about herself. If you like horses, and want a light read, this is a good one!

Goodreads review here.

The Total Package by Stephanie Evanovich      
     Released 3/15/16
     Read from: Dec 28, 2018- Jan 4, 2019
     Format: Overdrive Audiobook
     Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

     As you can tell I didn't love this one, but I didn't dislike it enough to give it 1 star. . I found it hard to get into, or to like or care about any of the characters. I felt like everything that happened to them just happened, without any buildup. This book was about the rekindling of an old flame between a now famous NFL football player who overcame a drug addiction, and a now successful sports media-woman who has a young son. It had potential. And some may like it better than I did. 

Goodreads review here.

The Journal of Jasper Jonathan Pierce: A Pilgrim Boy by Ann Rinaldi   
     Released 7/1/00
     Read from: Jan 2, 2019- Jan 5, 2019
     Format: Print (library)
     Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

     This is a fictional journal of a 14yr old orphan boy who comes to MA on the Mayflower. He gets to meet many of the local Native Americans, and is even based off a real boy who helped form an alliance between the pilgrims and the typically belligerent Nauset indian tribe. I enjoyed reading this book a lot, and thought it did a good job tying in a lot of education and real life events both in the story and in the Historical Notes at the end. Definitely recommend for fans of history if you're looking for an easy read right now.

Goodreads review here.

A Map of Days by Ransom Riggs 
     Released 10/2/18
     Read from: Jan 4, 2019- Jan 12, 2019
     Format: Scribd Audiobook
     Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

     This book is the 4th installment in the Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children series. I was beginning to lose interest in the series, but I need to finish them once I start them. This one peeked my interest a little more because they were spending time in modern day and semi modern day America, which I thought was a fun twist from the really mythical events that were happening all over time from their base in England. I think lovers of this series will continue to love it with this book.

Goodreads review here.

An Anonymous Girl by Greer Henricks & Sarah Pekkanen  
     Released 1/8/19
     Read from: Jan 6, 2019- Jan 17, 2019
     Format: Print (BOTM)
     Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

     This was a much anticipated book for January. It is grouped as a psychological thriller that gives you the point of view of Jessica, a 26 year old makeup artist who sneaks her was into a study conducted by the mysterious Dr. Shields. Jessica originally joins for the money, thinking all she has to do is answer a few questions on a computer. But when the tests start becoming real life assignments, Jessica finds herself wrapped up in a twisted potential murder mystery. You never know who to trust. One second someone seems innocent the next they're not. Can you even trust the main character? I enjoyed reading the book, but was wishing for more suspense.

Goodreads review here.

Tales of the Peculiar by Ransom Riggs   
     Released 9/3/16
     Read from: Jan 12, 2018- Jan 17, 2019
     Format: Scribd Audiobook
     Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

     I think all fans of Miss Peregrine, or anyone who likes fantasy short stories or fairytales, will enjoy this bonus book to the series. We got to hear the tales that peculiar children were told as kids, just like we were told fairytales and nursery rhymes as kids. It was fun. I'm not going to supply a like to a full review for this one because the Goodreads review is basically the same as that short blurb I already wrote :)

The Female Persuasion by Meg Wolitzer    
     Released 4/3/18
     Read from: Dec 21, 2018- Jan 19, 2019
     Format: Library Audiobook CD
     Rating: 1 out of 5 stars

     If you saw my last post about my first 1 star read of 2019, you already know how I felt about that book. The Goodreads review is the exact same as the blog post I wrote on that. Link to that is here. This book was made out to be a good read for feminists, or people with interest in the feminist movement. It was not one I'd typically pick up, but I gave it a try since I had been seeing a lot of it online lately. The synopsis tells you that the book is about Greer Kadetsky, and how she meets someone who becomes her idol in college. A leader in the feminist movement. And her experiences during and after college becoming a well known author and speaker in the feminist movement as well. I had a lot of problems with this book, as you'll see in my review on this bog, and personally would not recommend it, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't give it a try like I did!

The Forgotten Filly by Joanna Campbell 
     Released 6/3/98
     Read from: Jan 18, 2019- Jan 20, 2019
     Format: Print (library)
     Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

     I didn't write much of a review on this book for Goodreads either. It's a standalone novel in the Thoroughbred series, about a girl named Joelle whose beloved horse Dancer dies while birthing her first foal. It was Joelle's idea to breed Dancer, and her parents made her agree that Dancer and the foal's care and training would be 100% her responsibility. But after Dancer dies, Joelle blames her death on the filly and can't bring herself to spend time around here at first at all. She mopes for a long time and eventually her parents have enough and make her start training her, but she dead it very halfheartedly. Instead, her physically handicapped younger brother begins to start working with, and bonding with the filly. Her parents get fed up and start looking into selling the filly, and Joelle doesn't even care. 

     I didn’t dislike it but I didn’t really like it all that much until the end when an interesting and dangerous turn of events occurs. Unfortunately most of the story was focused on Joelle moping and being miserable. We watched Jeff, her younger brother, make progress and we watched her form a relationship with Devin, the veterinarian's son. I was hoping to see things turn around in relation to the filly earlier on so that we could see what becomes of her obviously great potential. But because this is a stand alone book I don’t think we’ll ever find out. I don't highly recommend it, but I don't regret having read it, so not bad. Just an average book.

My Sister, the serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite 
     Released 11/20/18
     Read from: Jan 17, 2018- Jan 21, 2019
     Format: Scribd Audiobook

     Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

     I think I missed the point with this book, as I often do with anything labeled as a satire. It's about Korede, a nurse in Nigeria, who has a beautiful younger sister named Ayoola that everyone loves. Only thing is, Ayoola kills all her boyfriends. And gets away with it, thanks to the help of her sister. When Ayoola starts dating Korede's crush is where things go wrong. She doesn't want her sister to kill him obviously, but she cares about and wants to support her sister too. 

    The concept of the book intrigued me, but the ending was disappointing. Nothing felt resolved. I'm also not supplying a link to Goodreads for this one either, since I wrote more here! LOL

Us Against You by Fredrik Backman
     Released 6/5/18
     Read from: Jan 20, 2018- Jan 217 2019
     Format: Print (library9

     Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

     This book is the sequel to "Beartown," but you don't necessarily need to read it before reading this one. I think you may get more of a connection to the plot and the characters if you do though. It picks off where the last book left off, and you watch them try to rebuild the hockey team, and continue to fight a rivalry with Hed. In a way though, it's worse, because now ex-Beartown players are playing for Hed. People loved this series, but I just didn't. Still holding onto my love for the author though after one of my favorite books ever, "A Man Called Ove." That book, I will never stop recommending. 

Goodreads review here.

 The Amateurs by Sara Shepard
     Released 11/1/16
     Read from: Jan 121 2018- Jan 29, 2019
     Format: Scribd Audiobook

     Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

    I really enjoyed this book. Pretty Little Liars fans will love this. It's a book about a girl named Seneca, who's mother was killed, and the crime was never solved. She is really into an amateur cold case site, and ends up arranging to meet up a friend she met on the website, Maddy, because he lives in Dexby, CT, a town where the older sister (Helena) of one of her classmates was killed and the body found years later. Again, this case was never solved. They wind up working to solve the mystery with Maddy's step-sister, Brett, another one of Maddy's friends from the website, and Aerin, the younger sister of Helena. It has the exact same feel as Sara Shepards other books, but a different storyline, and it kept me interested and wanting to find out what happened next.

Goodreads review here.

What I'm Reading Now
1) All the Light We Cannot See (CD audiobook) by Anthony Doerr
     Released 5/6/14

     Started listening: Jan 23, 2019

     I'm a historical fiction fan, and this was a book I kept seeing so I decided to give it a try. I'm about halfway through now and to be honest, I'm considering not finishing it if the library due date comes up and I'm not done :/ It's just not holding my attention and I keep zoning out.

2) The Woman in Cabin 10 (Overdrive Audiobook) by Ruth Ware
     Released 7/19/16
     Started listening: Jan 29, 2019

     Ruth Ware is a popular author right now, and this is my third book by her. So far I'm really not loving her. I was really excited about this book at first, but it slowly lost my interest more and more as the book went on. I'm about 75% through now and FINALLY we just found something out in relation to the mystery.

3) Jahanara: Princess of Princesses
     Released 9/1/02
     Started reading: Feb 5, 2019

     I just started this last night and so far am liking the writing style, and the information we've been given to set up the story. I'm reading a lot of historical fiction in order right now, grouping together series like this one, Dear America, American Girl, etc into an ongoing series that I'm reading in chronological order. I just finished reading a few books about the earliest settlers in the new world, and now we're heading over to what was happening in India in 1627. While the early colonists were struggling to feed themselves in crude houses, other areas of the world were very developed. It's interesting to go back and forth to see what was happening elsewhere, while our young country was just being born. 

4) Insight Guides: Hawaii
     Released 9/1/14
     Started reading: Jan 27, 2019

   

     Because I'm going to Hawaii for my honeymoon in May and need to learn about its history and what kinds of things we get to do there!! :)

     

My First 1 Star Rating of 2019 (and other reads so far)

The Female Persuasion by Meg Wolitzer      
     Released 4/3/18
     Read from: Dec 21, 2018- Jan 19, 2019
     Format: CD Audiobook
     Rating: 1 out of 5 stars

NOTE: There are some slight spoilers mentioned in this review. It won't completely take away from this story if you do still desire to read it after this review, but will give you a bit of an insight into

what does happen to some of the characters in the end.

     I'll start out saying that I read the synopsis of this book many times before I decided I'd give it a chance. It didn't sound like the type of book I'd like. The main premise is feminism and I'm a woman but I'm not as extreme as I thought some of these characters were going to be (and I was right). I kept seeing it mentioned in book blogs because it was a new release in 2018. Give every book a chance right? Maybe I'll go back to being a little selective after this one. Being a CD audiobook, I only listened to it in my car on my short drive to and from work so it did take a lot longer than it would've otherwise. BUT, I will say the length of time it took for me to finish it does still reflect on my thoughts of this book.
     I wanted to like it. There were times that I did feel like I cared about the characters. Mainly when they focused on Cory I'll be honest. I just did not care about the others. For a novel that is basically 0% plot driven, you'd expect to have highly developed and dynamic characters, and that did not happen. I felt ok about it at first but as it went on my rating just kept going down.
     I didn't like how the book started out as if it was going to be about a character named Greer Kadetsky and her relationship with her boyfriend Cory as they made their way through college and into their adult life. More than half of the book WAS just about them. And then all of a sudden the story switched to be primarily about her best friend Zee after college, and a little but about her back story. Then near the 70% mark it switches to focus solely on Faith Frank, the feminist activist that Zee first introduces Greer to in college, whom she goes on to work for after college. We learn about Faith's early life and growth into adulthood. It shows Faith's investment in Greer as an employee once she started working for her new foundation called Loci, which to be honest, I could not tell you what it even did. They talked constantly about "summits" they'd host, but they told you nothing about them. I kept thinking "What the F**K is a summit???" They talked so much about them existing but literally never explained a single thing that they did at them. Faith also seemed to really be invested in Greer and they never really showed why. Faith would give her more and more opportunities, but literally nothing in the story happened that made you think she did anything to deserve them. I was so annoyed by the book at this point that I would get mad at nit picky things like the fact that the author almost constantly referred to Greer by her full name, but every one else was referred to only by their first names. I always hated the name Greer, and the way the narrator pronounced Kadetsky really irked me, so throwing them together CONSTANTLY really just made me hate the book further.
     After spending more than half of the book focusing on Greer and sometimes Cory, and then spending another 25% focusing on only 2 other people and barely even mentioning Cory and Greer, I was wondering if they'd ever tie back into the story again. How are all these characters stories going to connect in the end and why will I care? Will I even remember anything about the first two characters when 75% through the book they basically aren't mentioned again? Terrible organization if you ask me. To add on to my thoughts of terrible organization, this books theme is supposed to be feminism, They sure love to talk about how women are so great and equal to men, but men are misogynists and suck (so why do we want to be equivalent to men again?) but they never once discussed any people that they came across that were great feminists. They are supposed to be working with famous feminists and other women but they NEVER mention any of them. So again, what in the hell does this Loci organization do again?
     Another thing this author loves to do is spend an intense amount of time in one short time period and then all of a sudden jump forward 5 or 10 years without giving you any idea of what may have brought them to the current point that they're at. If those years were so unimportant they must've been REALLY boring, being that all the times they did choose to discuss were already boring AF.
     They painted Faith in this almost godlike light. Her employees worshipped her. Greer, a vegetarian, literally ate meat she cooked repetitively because she was too afraid to reiterate that she didn't eat meat. And then when Greer quits Loci, they paint Faith in an extremely vindictive light. Like a reality show character. Or a middle schooler. What true professional would ever act the way Faith did when you're the founder of a company. I have no idea. What was going on in your head Meg Wolitzer? I can't imagine what the drafts of this book were like if this version was considered publishable. But anyway, I digress. At this point of the book I couldn't stand Greer anymore and really enjoyed seeing her decline. But to continue the nonsensical organization of this book, we skip forward again 5 years and all of a sudden Greer and Cory are together again, they have a daughter, Greer has a best selling book, and they're apparently receiving enough of an income from it to be able to give money to their parents. Cory seems to not really be doing much more than he was 5 years ago, so not really sure how that makes any sense. The ending is sort of just like, really? I hated you, and now Wolitzer is trying to make you give a crap about where Greer is now. It also ends there, and for all the nonsense we have to delve through to get to the end, they never even give you an idea of how Greer apparently becomes famous in the feminist world one day down the road. They loved to mention that early on when she was in college, but then they sort of stop, and you're left thinking you're gonna see how she gets there but you don't.

     This review feels like a lot of jumbled, negative thoughts, and that's basically how I felt listening this book, so there's a little insight into what it'll be like if you do still decide to give this book a chance. To be honest, I really wouldn't recommend this book to anyone. If you have the attitude that all men are bad, then maybe you'll like this book. But I don't even think the self proclaimed feminists and activists would love this. Never mind what it's about, but as a novel in general it's a huge flop. Nothing of any purpose happens. We hear a lot of complaining. A lot of repetition, and a whole lot of boring. I thought maybe I'd learn something about a group of people I don't know much about, but I was wrong about that as well. To be honest, the only good thing about this book was that something of meaning actually happens to Cory. And he's not even really that important of a character. I didn't despise listening to his sections of the book. I bet if you erased everything else about the book and just included the other characters as mentions in Cory's personal story, we could've had a book here. But instead, we waste our time for 80% of the book with the other characters stories.



Wondering how I felt about the books I was reading while I wrote my last blog entry? Well here are some VERY quick blurbs!

Star of Shadowbrook Farm by Joanna Campbell      

     Released 1/1/92

     Read from: Dec 31, 2018- Jan 12, 2019

     Format: Print (library)

     Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

     This was, believe it or not, my first read from a book series that I owned many books from as a

kid. I thought it was good. I didn't love it, but I did enjoy reading the book and seeing what happened to the main character Susan, as she went from being a confident riding teacher but a shy girl in life outside the farm, to being afraid of horse, making a fun new horse loving but confident in everyday life friend, and back to competing and rocking it.
     The book takes place in Litchfield County, CT and mentions many places that I'm familiar with, which was awesome because I live here. A great light, easy, quick read for middle grade to young teenage readers and adults alike.



The Total Package by Stephanie Evanovich      
     Released 3/15/16
     Read from: Dec 28 2018- Jan 4, 2019
     Format: Overdrive Audiobook
     Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

     I didn't enjoy listening to this book, but I didn't hate it. So it got itself 2 stars. I gave Goodreads a

pretty detailed review, so if you follow me on Goodreads and want more details, definitely check it out. Clickable link to my Goodreads page here: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/28985233-emily

     My biggest problems with this book was the lack of character development (I didn't care about any of the characters), and nothing really of that much feeling every happened. Things DO happen to the characters, but you just won't care. There is no feeling behind the things of importance that do happen to the characters. The book just sort of ended all of a sudden while I was sitting there listening, waiting for something to happen! LOL
     The story is about a character named Dani, who is in love with someone she went to college with. A football star who makes it to the NFL after battling addictions. They cross paths again in the future because they are both professionals in the football world.. Dani has a big secret that Tyson needs to know, and she holds it from him for most of the story. In a way I wanted to root for them, but again, the characters were not developed enough for me to care. The story is supposed to be a romance, but again, it just fell flat. I don't really recommend you spend time on this one. Sorry, Evanovich.

The rest of my 2019 reads so far:
Check out my Goodreads profile for reviews!
      

The Journal of Jasper Jonathan Pierce: A Pilgrim Boy by Ann Rinaldi      

     Released 7/1/00

     Read from: Jan 2, 2019- Jan 5, 2019

     Format: Print (library)

     Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Goodreads Review here.

A Map of Days (Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children, #4) by Ransom Riggs    

 

     Released 10/2/18

     Read from: Jan 4, 2019- Jan 12, 2019

     Format: Scribd Audiobook

     Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Goodreads Review here.

Tales of the Peculiar (Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children 0.5) by Ransom Riggs

     

     Released 9/3/16

     Read from: Jan 12, 2019- Jan 17, 2019

     Format: Scribd Audiobook

     Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Goodreads Review here.

An Anonymous Girl by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen      

     Released 1/8/19

     Read from: Jan 6, 2019- Jan 17, 2019

     Format: Print (BOTM)

     Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Goodreads Review here.

P.S. I HIGHLY recommend the Scribd app if you like audiobooks and ebooks over ANY other app I've tried, and I've tried a few. Overdrive is amazing but you need a library card to use it. Scribd has improved greatly over the last 2 years. For $8.99 a month you can get unlimited audiobooks and ebooks every month now, as opposed to apps like the kindle and audible apps where you need to pay for each individual download, or spend $15+ for a monthly membership. There are SO many new releases on there now, my wish list is now HUGE. Click my link above to sign up for a free 30 day trial! You won't regret it! ;)

What I'm Reading Now
1) My Sister, the Serial Killer (Scribd audiobook) by Oyinkan Braithwaite
     Released 11/20/18
     Started listening: Jan 17, 2019

     They call this book a "satire meets slasher." I was intrigued when my favorite blog author read it

and liked it. It's about a Nigerian nurse, whose "perfect", beautiful younger sister Ayoola has a bad habit of killing her boyfriends. Korede, the main character, is her "saving grace", who help Ayoola cover up the crime, and keeps her from posting stupid pictures of her food when she's supposed to be mourning her "missing" boyfriend Femi.

     But then Ayoola sets her sights on Korede's secret crush. Where will this story go? I guess we'll find out!

1) The Forgotten Filly by Karle Dickerson (Print: library) 
     Released 6/3/98
     Started reading: Jan 18, 2019

     I will probably finish this book today, and I don't think it will get more than a 3 star rating, but

we'll see! This book is about Joelle, the daughter of two successful horse trainer, and riding school owning parents. Joelle's beloved horse Dancer dies in childbirth, and Joelle can't bring herself to love the foal because of it. We watch Joelle mourn and basically totally give up on horses. In my opinion, so far, this book is mainly about this, and it's getting a little stagnant. I'm at the point now where Joelle thinks she might actually care about the filly. We'll see if this can turn around.