November books

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Wedding Night - Sophie Kinsella
After finding out her boyfriend has no intention of marrying her, Lottie leaves him and makes a rash, life-altering decision. Her older sister, Felicity, is strongly opposed to Lottie's "unfortunate decision" and goes out of her way to try and undo the problem. The real summaries of this book will tell you exactly what Lottie does, but I feel it's too big of a spoiler. This book has all the normal Kinsella elements, for better or for worse (no pun intended). Embarrassing moments, characters being overly-fixated on sex, and silly scenes are among the things I don't like about Kinsella's books. But dang, they're also really enjoyable. This one had me rolling my eyes a lot, but I was always eager to get back to my car and listen. Her books always provide a light-hearted escape that sometimes makes you feel better about your own problems or embarrassing moments. Still, this particular book wasn't my fav, so probably don't rush out to read it unless you're a huge Kinsella fan or have nothing else to read.

The One and Only - Emily Giffin
Shea is an ultra die-hard football fan, particularly when it comes to her college team in Walker, TX. She is also best friends with the Walker football coach's daughter and has grown up being like part of the family. So after the coach's wife dies, Shea's outlook changes and she reevaluates her job and relationships, finding things are more complicated than she had admitted to herself before. I think one of the Amazon reviewers says it best like this: "Giffin writes with the effortlessness that makes you read every page, even if you don't like the story." So true. I "enjoyed" this book because it held my interest throughout, even though I thought it was longer than necessary. But the story itself was annoying in various ways, and I really didn't care for the main character. She was like a teenager--selfish, oblivious and dramatic. She would act surprised by things she had just described to us for several chapters. ? I don't want to spoil it, but the love aspect of the story is really eyerolling and also inappropriate. It was interesting to learn more about the world of college football, but I found Shea's emotional dedication to it something I couldn't relate to or respect. I guess you have to be from the south to understand.

Radiance - Alyson Noel
Riley and her family have died in a car accident and are now living in the afterlife. Riley is wishing to go back to earth to her normal life, so she jumps at the chance to go back for her assigned soul-catching mission. This was just a random choice when I needed some audiobooks for my drive. This book is really short so that I was confused when it suddenly ended. But it's meant for preteens and it's part of a series, so whatever. I guess it follows another series, too, so it was probably the wrong place to start. Anyway, considering how short it is, I am surprised at some of the places where it dragged and Riley dramatically went on and on about a scene. Overall, barely anything actually happened and things were resolved extremely quickly and easily. Still, this book had some positive messages and would probably be enjoyable for young girls.

Let me know if you've read any of these, and what you thought! Don't forget to post your lists here!

Books for November: 3
Books for 2014: 37

November Books

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Flight from the Eagle by Dinah Dean
(I was a little disappointed to find that my copy of this was abridged, but not much was cut out. As far as I can remember, the only part missing was the description of a battle at the beginning, and how the hero came to be wounded.)

I'm always impressed by how Dinah Dean can make a fairly simple, uneventful story so interesting. Reading it for a second time I thought it might get boring, since I knew there was nothing to be worried about, but I still loved Lev and Irina and their sweet, slow love story.

The Thousand-Dollar Tan Line by Rob Thomas
I wasn't planning to read this, but after finally watching the Veronica Mars movie I thought I'd give it a try. I...was not a fan. (But then I haven't really loved Veronica Mars since season 1.)

The Eagle's Fate by Dinah Dean
Another Dinah Dean where nothing really momentous happens, but the love story is so much fun to watch unfold.

Mortal Heart by Robin LaFevers
The conclusion to a trilogy that I'd been looking forward to all year. I probably should have re-read the previous books first, since there were several characters and plot points I was hazy on, but I was more interested in Annith's romance than whether the Duchess would surrender to the French, to be honest. And for the most part it didn't disappoint - Balthazar is an awesome hero, mysterious and infuriating and always somehow there right when Annith needs him - except that after taking her time telling the story for most of the book, the last few chapters felt rushed.

Wheel of Fortune by Dinah Dean
I barely made it through this one the first time I read it, and the only reason I kept it was that I liked having a complete set. This time I appreciated it more, even though I still feel cheated by the bait and switch love story. 3/4 of the book is spent making you think Galina would make a good match for one man, and then out of nowhere the hero shows up, and they fall in love in about 10 pages.

Elsker by S.T. Bende
This book is the most ridiculous mashup of Thor and Twilight, and I wish that I could say it was deliciously cheesy and worth the 99 cents I paid for the ebook, but it was not.

The River of Time by Dinah Dean
I think this is my favorite of Dinah Dean's Russia series. It's a bit sexier than her other books - not that anything is graphically described, but the chemistry between the hero and heroine is off the charts, and I'm a sucker for a second chance love story.

The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis
This was about the fourth or fifth time I'd read this, and even though I've always thought of it as one of my favorite books, I found it slightly tedious this time around. C.S. Lewis's writing always goes right over my head anyway - every time I think I know where he's going with a point he goes somewhere different and I feel like a moron - and maybe I just wasn't in the mood for that, or maybe I wasn't willing to give it the attention it deserves. I just know that I was glad to put it down, and probably won't read it again for a good long while.

The Chocolate Touch by Laura Florand
Another book I'd previously considered a favorite but wasn't in the mood for when I picked it up this month. I'm finding that I can't really re-read Laura Florand's books. The first time around I get lost in the fantastic descriptions of Paris and chocolate and romance, but the second time what jumps out at me is how, frustratingly, the characters always use sex as a way of getting to know each other rather than getting to know each other before going to bed.

Trade Wind by M.M. Kaye
Yet another re-read in this month of them! I read this one so long ago that I barely remembered what it was about - I remembered the heroine's name being Hero and that she went to Zanzibar and was kidnapped and raped by the hero, but that was about it. Which is strange, because it's such a long book and full of political intrigue, a cholera epidemic, marauding pirates, racism, slavery, shipwrecks, buried treasure...a little of everything, really. It's not quite as epic in scope as M.M. Kaye's India books (The Far Pavilions and Shadow of the Moon), but as always she does an amazing job of bringing to life a time and place "long ago and far away".

The Ordinary Princess by M.M. Kaye
Yes, another re-read! (I'm trying to read more of the books I own, especially the ones I've read once and then forgotten about.) I remembered it as a charming, fun little fractured fairy tale, but didn't like it as much the second time around. There's just not much to the story, especially as it's only about 85 pages long, so when you already know what happens it loses some of its charm.