Books Read in 2019: Three-Star Reads
Marilyn's comment - that giving one star seems "too mean" - is interesting. I do often wince a little internally when I'm writing something critical about a book, because I am very much aware that there is an author behind it. This is especially true now that there is Twitter where you can actually watch authors talk about how it feels to be reviewed, and even interact with them. Sometimes I actually feel like a one-star rating is less mean than a two-star, though. One star on Goodreads simply means "I didn't like it". This can easily be interpreted as "it wasn't for me", whereas two stars, or "it was okay" seem a bit like damning with faint praise. In any case, I'm always trying to be honest, not mean, and I do realize it is only my opinion. I think if I ever published anything I would follow the example of the authors who don't read their reviews, at least not non-professional ones. It's a thorny subject, though.
Fiction (sort of)
The Dream Daughter by Diane Chamberlain. Synopsis from Goodreads: From bestselling author Diane Chamberlain comes an irresistible new novel.
When Caroline Sears receives the news that her unborn baby girl has a heart defect, she is devastated. It is 1970 and there seems to be little that can be done. But her brother-in-law, a physicist, tells her that perhaps there is. Hunter appeared in their lives just a few years before—and his appearance was as mysterious as his past. With no family, no friends, and a background shrouded in secrets, Hunter embraced the Sears family and never looked back.
Now, Hunter is telling her that something can be done about her baby's heart. Something that will shatter every preconceived notion that Caroline has. Something that will require a kind of strength and courage that Caroline never knew existed. Something that will mean a mind-bending leap of faith on Caroline's part.
And all for the love of her unborn child.
A rich, genre-spanning, breathtaking novel about one mother's quest to save her child, unite her family, and believe in the unbelievable. Diane Chamberlain pushes the boundaries of faith and science to deliver a novel that you will never forget.
Fiction (sort of)
The Dream Daughter by Diane Chamberlain. Synopsis from Goodreads: From bestselling author Diane Chamberlain comes an irresistible new novel.
When Caroline Sears receives the news that her unborn baby girl has a heart defect, she is devastated. It is 1970 and there seems to be little that can be done. But her brother-in-law, a physicist, tells her that perhaps there is. Hunter appeared in their lives just a few years before—and his appearance was as mysterious as his past. With no family, no friends, and a background shrouded in secrets, Hunter embraced the Sears family and never looked back.
Now, Hunter is telling her that something can be done about her baby's heart. Something that will shatter every preconceived notion that Caroline has. Something that will require a kind of strength and courage that Caroline never knew existed. Something that will mean a mind-bending leap of faith on Caroline's part.
And all for the love of her unborn child.
A rich, genre-spanning, breathtaking novel about one mother's quest to save her child, unite her family, and believe in the unbelievable. Diane Chamberlain pushes the boundaries of faith and science to deliver a novel that you will never forget.
I feel like an asshole giving this three stars (really more like two and a half), considering the plethora of high-starred reviews and how many books this author has written, but I just really didn't think the writing was anywhere near as good as the plotting here. It was a great story with some good narrative energy, but the characters were incredibly flat and the writing did nothing but outline the events. People in love were just in love, without any details that really brought home why. Hunter's mother is repeatedly described as "efficient rather than compassionate", but it's not really illustrated how that feels to Caroline. The scene that stands out most in my mind was Caroline saying she was about to undergo surgery to repair her daughter's heart that might not work, "so I'm pretty nervous". Um? Too much telling, not enough showing. I get the feeling Chamberlain is a book factory, which works for some readers I guess, but I won't be reading anything else by her unless it's by mistake, which, let's be frank, is highly likely. YA Fiction I'm Not Dying With You Tonight by Kimberly Jones and Gilly Segal. Synopsis from Goodreads: Lena and Campbell aren't friends. Lena has her killer style, her awesome boyfriend, and a plan. She knows she's going to make it big. Campbell, on the other hand, is just trying to keep her head down and get through the year at her new school. When both girls attend the Friday-night football game, what neither expects is for everything to descend into sudden mass chaos. Chaos born from violence and hate. Chaos that unexpectedly throws them together. They aren't friends. They hardly understand the other's point of view. But none of that matters when the city is up in flames, and they only have each other to rely on if they're going to survive the night. I really wanted this to be good, it was such a cool concept - a black author and a white author writing a novel about a white teenager and a black teenager caught up in a race riot, and the publishers allowed the ebook to be borrowed without restriction for a certain period of time. It's just that it's about teenagers, not children, and for a YA novel it's very simple, maybe too simple. As a middle-grade novel it might work, but racialized themes are in a lot of YA right now, and at a higher level and with some better writing, in my opinion. I didn't hate it, I wanted to see what happened, but I felt a little let down. YA Fantasy Three Sides of a Heart: Stories About Love Triangles, edited by Natalie C. Parker. Synopsis from Goodreads: You may think you know the love triangle, but you've never seen love triangles like these. These top YA authors tackle the much-debated trope of the love triangle, and the result is sixteen fresh, diverse, and romantic stories you don’t want to miss. This collection, edited by Natalie C. Parker, contains stories written by Renee Ahdieh, Rae Carson, Brandy Colbert, Katie Cotugno, Lamar Giles, Tessa Gratton, Bethany Hagan, Justina Ireland, Alaya Dawn Johnson, EK Johnston, Julie Murphy, Garth Nix, Natalie C. Parker, Veronica Roth, Sabaa Tahir, and Brenna Yovanoff. A teen girl who offers kissing lessons. Zombies in the Civil War South. The girl next door, the boy who loves her, and the girl who loves them both. Vampires at a boarding school. Three teens fighting monsters in an abandoned video rental store. Literally the last three people on the planet. What do all these stories have in common?The love triangle.
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Comments
But, um, carry on - I do anxiously await the 4 star book list because in my dream world where I read books and my incessant diving loops ends, I will need some good recommendations.
I now get why you work in a library. Nothing gets past me!