It's the end of the month so it's time for another Book Chat!
SOMETHING JUST LIKE THIS by Tracy Krimmer
Another Krimmer book this month! I really loved this one. Krimmer takes a female Grinch and turns her world on its head when Juliette meets Landon. This was a cute, sweet story, and a fast read too. I devoured it in only a few sittings. Honestly, I need more books like this in my life. Well-written, believable books. Thank goodness for Tracy!
Because…
I'm sick of crappy books!
Guys, I don't like to be negative here, especially about books or the authors who write them, which is why you only see the books I enjoyed reading and I don't talk about the books I've set aside. But 2017 must have been some sort of record! I wish I had kept track of every book I tried to read and set aside (DNF, which stands for Did Not Finish). It was more than 20, I'm sure. And they weren't all self-published either.
Just last week, I set aside a very popular YA fantasy series-beginner, traditionally published, that was a snooze-fest and so boring that at 33% no one had done anything in the story. What the hell? Where was the conflict? What was the motivation? No clue. There was none. And after reading the 1- and 2-star reviews of the book, I know I wasn't the only one who felt the same way.
In December alone, I set aside 5 different books for various problems. One, I opened the book and it was a wall of text for three Kindle screen swipes. No line breaks. No dialogue. Just the main character doing something utterly boring after waking up. PASS. Another, I got to the 50% mark and had no idea what the plot of the book was. PASS. And another, the main character leaves her home in the rain and meets a strange boy and we hear all the little details of where he lives and then I fell asleep from boredom. PASS.
Lawd. I know I'm picky but this? There are a lot of authors that need to learn about story structure, inciting incidents, hooks, and ALL THE OTHER THINGS that make a good story.
I've given up on new books for now. I bought IRON GOLD, the newest Red Rising book by Pierce Brown, and I was totally hooked after a page, BUT with my crappy memory, I couldn't remember anyone in the story. So, I've started RED RISING again from the beginning. Yes, I am re-reading the whole series. I loved all of these books and I know they will not disappoint me. The next few Book Chats will concentrate on audiobooks, I'm sure, and I'll share any further thoughts about this series as I read the books again.
PERSEPOLIS RISING by James S. A. Corey
This was another strong book in the Expanse series. Finally, someone has learned how to use the protomolecule to build spaceships and alter humans. Unfortunately, it's not the good guys that have made this advancement. Lol. It's always the bad guys! They left a major plot line hanging at the end which I hope will be resolved in the next book, but it wasn't a cliffhanger. Plenty of other plot points were wrapped up. I was sad to see the end of a character I had grown to like, but the death of this character was satisfying. All in all, I'm still very pleased with this series and I recommend it to everyone who loves really good sci-fi.
