Without Merit - Colleen Hoover

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There is no doubt about it, Colleen Hoover is one of my favourite authors. She is a brilliant writer and can get a message across in a way that most authors can’t. This book’s cover had me hooked from the reveal, I knew I had to get a copy ASAP and then once I did for some reason I put off reading it.

The book centres around the Voss family, they are definitely not your average American family. The once cancer-stricken mother lives in the basement, the father married to the mother’s former nurse, the little half-brother isn’t allowed to do or eat anything fun, and the eldest siblings are irritatingly perfect. Then, there’s Merit.

Merit Voss collects trophies she hasn’t earned and secrets her family forces her to keep.

It was definitely a page-turner, with all the secrets that were revealed and then, of course, Merit’s own revelation. This wasn’t your average Colleen Hoover book that revolved around the romantic relationship aspect, but more about the family dynamic and how families work through their own issues.

The characters where interesting, each one getting their moment to shine, my only complaint would be that the book ended so abruptly with a lot of the story not being done (if this is the first book in the series, I will change this part of the review). I would really like to know how the story ends for them.

Other than that, it was an enjoyable read.

Turtles All The Way Down - John Green

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Here we are at the end of the most anticipated book of the year for me.

I adored The fault in our stars, it’s still one of my favourite books, and to be honest the rest of John Green’s books weren’t top of my lists. When I heard what the book would be about, I thought, this was a character I could relate to.

Which I did, I could see some of her actions in myself, I could relate to the way her mind would go into a downward spiral about one little thing, maybe it hit a little too close to home in some ways.

Aza has OCD and anxiety. From the outside, she looks like she has everything. We meet her best friend Daisy who is a brilliant fanfiction writer. There is Davis her sort-of-not-really-almost boyfriend. And don’t forget the Tuatara lizard. As always Green has a very eclectic band of friends, each with their own very distinct personality, and he writes all of them beautifully.  

I did struggle a bit with the book, but in the end, I flew through it. I loved that Green points a big spotlight on some very difficult issues regarding mental health, but the rest of the stories almost felt forced. Each character worked on their own, but once you paired them off, then it didn’t really work for me. Especially Aza and Davis relationship, it felt very forced at some stages.

Overall, it was a good read. Will I read it again? Probably not.

To Conquer a Scot - Tamara Gill

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I know Diana Gabaldon didn’t invent these types of stories, but all I could think while reading this was copycat! While the story of getting transported back into time, and finding yourself a Highlander is intriguing and usually works for me, this book didn’t.

There were so many different things that just happened it felt like the author just threw some of it in to make a full-length novel. There was also a lot of continuity problems, which could’ve been picked up by the Beta readers. Not to mention the ending felt very rushed.

The characters didn’t really speak to me, in fact, our main character Abby was irritating. Sure the laird was one of those tall, broody types, but their chemistry didn’t really work for me.

Needless to say, I won’t be reading the rest of this series.

*I received a copy from NetGalley to review*

Textrovert - Lindsey Summers

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This is one of those books that if you frequent Wattpad you get excited that someone’s story made it to the big league. I personally did not read the original, and it's okay that I didn’t.

Keeley is about to start her senior year when disaster strikes, she accidentally picks up the wrong phone and it turns out to belong to arrogant jock, who just left for football camp with her phone.

I really enjoyed the banter between the two characters in the beginning, but it did seem to drag on for a while during the middle. This story really had a lot of promise.

The characters were a little immature and you could see some growth throughout the book.

My only real complaint is that although it started out fast-paced, it slowed down to a snail's pace in the middle with an abrupt ending, leaving the reader wanting for more.

Definitely, a quick read especially if you are looking for something that doesn’t require a lot of thinking.

Play Dates - Maggie Wells

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This is one of those stories with a cute premise that just fell short of delivering an unforgettable tales. I can probably put money on the fact that I won’t remember this story for too long, so here is a review straight from the last page.

Monica Rayburn is a workaholic, not so doting aunt who eyes the hot dad at the park. They go on a date, some truths aren’t revealed and that is the start of the story.

There were some parts where I felt that the author might’ve forgotten about continuation, it felt very rushed and the two main characters could’ve saved themselves a lot of trouble by just communicating. Guess there is a life lesson that can be learned from this.

If you like corny romantic comedies with some one-liners, this is the book for you. 

Wuthering Heights - Emily Brontë

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This is one of those classics that loomed like an ominous mountain in front of me. Then I downloaded the audiobook narrated by Juliet Stevenson and she made all the difference to the experiencing. She is a true entertainer, the voices and accents that she made for each character brought a whole different level to the experience.

The story was dark and bewitching, with a love story that could’ve ended differently if the two characters weren’t stubborn. Catherine really worked on my nerves, she was selfish and with her betrayal of Heathcliff that set the wheels in motion of the plot, I found her very childish.

To a certain degree, I can not really understand why people always reference Catherine and Heathcliff as the perfect couple. Heathcliff is an emotional abuser and Catherine is a spiteful young woman who damned everyone with her actions.

I am however very glad that I am only reading this now as an adult since I can see where a younger person would romanticise the relationships, but as an older reader, I can say it is disturbing to think so many people have these two characters as their ideal of how a relationship should be. 

Please children, spiting one another and then ruining each other does not make a great relationship. 

Windfall - Jennifer E. Smith

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First off, whoever designed this cover was a genius, it pulled me in immediately and that was the main reason why I picked up this book. Secondly, this premise is one that will make anyone one run out and buy a lotto ticket.

Alice who has been pining for Teddy, her best friend, buys him a lottery ticket for his birthday. To their astonishment, he wins $140 million, and in an instant, everything changes.

This is probably everyone in the world's dream, to win so much money, but I believe the author captured the burden that comes with instant millions and what effects it can have on you and the people around you.

The characters were well written, all of the characters have extremely well planned out backstories to show the reader how they got to where they are. And when this lucky win does happen you can’t help but feel elated for the characters.

There was a small section where Alice really worked on my nerve, but probably just because I wouldn’t have made the decision she did. But other than that, this was a very enjoyable quick read. I might actually pick up one of the authors other books. 

The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern

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I really wanted to like this book. I read this one with my friends as part of our monthly Books with friends, they had both read this on previous occasions and raved about it. Since our tastes in books are very similar I thought this was going to be a great read, how wrong was I?

The circus arrives without warning, no one knows when or where it will pop up. Inside the boundaries of the circus unique experiences full of breathtaking amazements awaits. Only one catch, it is only open at night. There is a competition that has been going for years and the two major players have been chosen when they were children and have since been training. They don’t know the rules of the game, especially the one where only one can survive the game.

It wasn’t that the book, that was supposed to be filled with so many wonderful things, was boring but it just felt like something was off. It took me more than half of the book to finally be pulled into the story, the jumps in the timeline had me confused most of the time and I had to reread several passages to finally get back on board.

There were some colourful characters in this story, and this was probably the only thing that really kept me reading, I wanted to find out what was going to happen to the characters, and in the end, if the circus will be able to survive the game. 

The Bronze Horseman - Paullina Simons

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Here we go, it took me a while to compile this review, which isn’t a surprise considering it took me almost 84 years to finish this book. I usually love war stories, even with the backdrop of the horrible events during that time period, most authors get to write wonderful tales that pull you in and make you want to fight for the characters. This was not the case with this book. To me, it felt the torture just kept continuing.

No wonder this book was so thick, there was so much useless information in it, and I usually like descriptions of settings in books, but here I learnt how one can overdo descriptions.

The characters were shallow, with little to no growth throughout the book. Almost everyone dies and that just makes you stop caring about any of the characters. Alexander had a horrible temper and what could be considered as an emotionally abusive relationship with both the sisters, but of course he is an officer and girls just fawn over him.

I knew this was a series of books before I started it, but honestly, I can’t think that I would ever pick up the rest of the series or in this case, anything by this author.

Her Touch – Alexa Riley

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Well, I thought this day will never happen, an Alexa Riley book that didn’t make me jump for joy. Those who follow my blog, know that Alexa Riley is one of my go-to authors when I am in a reading slump, I always love her books, the stories are quick and pull you in from the beginning. This one, not so much.

The story follows Eli Strong, a military vet who moved in with his commanding officer. Maggie Drummond has been moved around more times than she can count, starting at a new high school sucks.

At first, you think this is going to be a sweet story, two characters who will fall in love quickly, just like Riley is known to do, but then almost everything that can go wrong in people’s lives goes wrong with these characters. It felt like too much was happening all at once, and somehow this just didn’t work for me.

Maggie also reminded me a little about Bella Swan from Twilight with her moaning at some point, and this just irritated me even more.

But one thing is for sure, Riley knows how to write, the writing still pulled me in, the storyline just didn’t work for me. 

The Postcard - Leah Flemming

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I enjoyed one of the authors previous books (The Captain’s Daughter) and didn’t think twice before buying this one. But sadly I was a little disappointed by this one.

The story spans across a couple of generations, starting just before World War 2, it kicks off when Melissa finds a postcard that was addressed to her late father, she wanted to find out the story behind the postcard.

Some of the characters were a little flat for me, I couldn’t really get into the story and after a while, I got very impatient that it didn’t get to the point. The build up fell very flat. The characters weren’t really believable and seemed very shallow.

Scarlett Epstein Hates it Here - Anna Breslaw

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I’m a big fan of fanfiction, having read a lot and even dabbling in writing my own sometimes, so anything that shines some light on it makes my heart very happy.

The story is about Scarlett Epstein whose favourite show gets cancelled and they decide that they will continue writing fanfictions about the story along with some other fans in the community.

When Scarlett’s world starts crumbling around her, she turns to the community for advice and comfort. She uses her real life situations in her fanfictions, and this could have some serious repercussions for her.

I have to say although I liked the story, Scarlett got on my nerves. But still an enjoyable read as I flew through it.