April Book Roundup

Books! Let’s talk about books!

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The Oddfits – I don’t even know how I came to own this book. Was it a Kindle First choice?  NetGalley? I don’t know! I found this a charming read. It reminded me a bit (just a bit!) of Harry Potter in that the main character, Murgatroyd, is a misunderstood boy into adulthood and isn’t treated particularly well, even by his parents. I love the way this book helps Murgatroyd find his own place and I’m looking forward to the next book in the series, which is due out later this year.

Life in a Fishbowl – Okay, I really did not enjoy that they gave an inanimate object – a brain tumor – a point of view in this book. And not just once, but multiple times. If you can get past that, and the fact that beyond the brain tumor every single other character gets a chance to play narrator, well then I didn’t hate this.  Look, I read a lot of YA and it doesn’t have to be great for me to see it through to the end. (If you want a laugh, I suggest the Goodreads reviews of this book. Lots of people got this one for free (as did I, although from the library) and still left bad reviews, so you know they really hated it!)

You Will Know Me – Competetive gymnastics is at the heart of this book, so I was sold. It’s a teenage drama that was fairly predictable, but see above about me and YA. I liked it and flew through it. This was on Modern Mrs. Darcy’s list of Unputdownable Books which has been a huge source of my reading inspiration lately.

Small Great Things – I enjoy Jodi Picoult and this book is no exception. I think I would put it in my top five books of hers. It’s okay with me that I know that there is a twist coming, which makes it much less of a surprise now that I’ve easily read 15 of her books. I thought this was a great story, although I did take a little bit of issue with the ending. I’ve read a few reviews that say that she addressed the ending of the book in the author’s note, which I never read and this was no exception, so maybe I would feel differently had I read that.

Here’s to Us – All you have to say is Elin Hilderbrand and I am IN. There are a lot of players in this book so it took me slightly longer than normal to feel engaged with this story but once I was in, I was all in. Add this one to your summer reading list right now.

The Forgetting Time – This is also from the Unputdownable list and yep, yes, all of the yeses from me. I hesitate to even tell you the premise of this book, but guys I was sold hook, line and sinker while reading this.

A Piece of the World – I was not familiar with the painting Christina’s World, which Wikipedia tells me makes me fairly ignorant of American Art History, but I am fascinated by the story behind it now, particularly after having read this book. While Andrew Wyeth features in this book, the focus of the story is Christina and her family. I loved Orphan Train by the same author, and I really loved this one.

The Last Chance Matinee – Okay. So. I have feelings about the number of trilogies and series that exist lately. Sometimes it’s great. I would read 100 more years of Harry Potter stories. However, some stories can probably be told in one book with the help of a good editor. I got The Last Chance Matinee from NetGalley and the rest of the trilogy has yet to be published, but I suspect this book might fall into the latter category. However, if you’re like me and don’t need every book you read to be the next great American novel and can easily fall into a book just for the comfortable storytelling, sometimes that’s okay. I liked this book and I’ll read the next two books in the series even if the last couple of chapters were HEAVY on the cheese factor.

My to-be-read list is getting longer and longer, especially as all of the summer reading lists are being released, but I always want to hear your recommendations! Leave them in the comments below!