What's On My Kindle - January 2014

Reader, you may remember that my sweet husband bought me a Kindle Fire for our Five year anniversary last year. And it has been my new best friend! For Christmas Andrew gave me a Kindle gift card as a stocking stuffer, and I wasted no time downloading as many books as I could.

So far in January I have read 3 books. (Give me a break there's only 15 days so far! A girl has to work sometime.) Here are the books that I have read and my own reviews. I'll do my best not to put any spoilers. I hope you enjoy!

1. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

We'll start with the best. I haven't read a book this good in a long time. You all know my favorite genre is YA, and this one fits the bill. But it still provides some very adult themes and situations. And a very high literary maturity. (It's not your typical teeny-bopper literature.)

The book is told from the point of view of Hazel who is a "miracle survivor" of cancer, but ultimately is a ticking time bomb who must carry around an oxygen tank with her everywhere. It's a love story, but more than that it's a very realistic look at cancer and those who are dying. They also take a trip to Amsterdam in the novel which was fun to read and helped me add it to my travel list.

 I highly recommend this book. I even forced my parents to download it. It's a great read for adults and teenagers.  As a bonus it's being made into a movie this year. You'll want to read the book before the movie inevitably changes things. 

2. Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell

I found this book because a friend of mine was posting a ton of quotes from the novel on her Pinterest. After the hype about The Fault in Our Stars was well deserved, I figured I would give this one a chance. If The Fault in Our Stars gets 5 out of 5, this one gets a 4.

 It is also a YA novel that has some adult themes and situations. It focuses around the relationship of Eleanor and Park. Eleanor has some serious familial issues and struggles to deal with her insecurities, and Park must deal with his need to fit into society.

 It's a coming of age story with a rather ambiguous ending. As much as I hate those, I totally applaud the author for the last sentence of the book. It's a literary move that I can appreciate. (Sorry for the vagueness, but no spoilers remember?!) 

3. The Predicteds by Christine Seifert

I heard about this book while I was listening to the radio one morning. The author, who is a professor at a University in Utah was speaking to a radio station about something totally unrelated, but mentioned that she authored a YA novel. Well of course I was all on it! I would give this book a 2.5 out of 5 stars. It's a really neat concept (a person can be predicted to be a criminal) and asks a very important question (should we treat someone differently because there is potential for them to be a criminal) while alluding to historical injustices (Nazi interment camps, racial segregation.) 

But there were a few things that turned me off. First typos. UGH. I found several...which seems to be more and more of an occurrence these days. (Please understand, I know that typos will happen. Hell, I've edited a novel and later found typos. It's really hard to not find any these days...but it's just so distracting while you are reading!!!) 

The more serious issue though, is that when I read it, I felt like there was some underdevelopment. I just didn't see the teenage characters as being very realistic. Some were super stereotypical, and others were too mature. There were some other situations in the book that weren't very believable. Like the main character gets her head thrown into a window...but nobody sues. The mom doesn't even seem upset, and no one gets the blame. It's just an accident...however, the mom is a strong female role model. I have a hard time believing any mom would just let something like that slide as an accident. Things like this are my biggest pet peeve when reading novels. I can let a lot of things slide, but when there are multiple situations that are unrealistic..the book gets a lower ranking. Again I loved the concept, and hope this author publishes more...but there needs to be some more development of the characters and some reality checks. 

If you want to know more about the things I'm reading, friend me on Goodreads!