March Book Round Up

1. History is All You Left Me by Adam Silvera

        "He broke me in a way everyone should be lucky to be cracked open at least once." 

    I can't explain to you how beautiful this book was--told alternative from the past to the present, the story of a boy who's in love, has his heart broken and spins into chaos after his first love dies. After Griffin's ex-boyfriend Theo moves to California for college and finds himself a new boyfriend, nearly a reflection of Griffin, he spirals into chaos. Not only has he left his boyfriend, but also his best friend. When Theo drowns in the ocean, the chaos that has been Griffin's life turns into a black hole, especially when Theo's boyfriend comes to the funeral and stays with Theo's family, basically replacing Griffin in every aspect of Theo life. Now as he searches through the past, he has to piece together his future and who he is.
     This is Adam Silvera's most recent release and the first of his that I've read, and it was absolutely beautiful. I devoured it. With some of the authors I've read, like Leigh Bardugo, I met Adam before I read his books. He spoke at Yallfest and was so inspirational and interesting to listen to. He's definitely one to keep on your list.

2. Reign of Shadows by Sophie Jordan

    I was really excited about this book, and the world she created is pretty interesting. However, the plot was really predictable. I was very intrigued by the main character Luna. In a world of darkness, this girl, the hidden princess living in a tower, is blind. How do you survive in that kind of world without sight? But she does, and it's impressive. But the rest of her character falls flat. She's a little bit self righteous and a little bit predictable. Fowler is a lovable, slightly more complex character but again is predictable. Less so than everything else. 

    Jordan threw a huge plot twist in at the very end, which I must admit left me reeling, however I don't think I'll continue on to the second book. 

3. Vampires in the Lemon Grove & Other Short Stories by Karen Russell

"There is a loneliness that must be particular to monsters--

the feeling that each is the only child of a species." 

     So I read short stories all the time. Obviously, I'm an english major, and it's what we do as creative writing majors. However, I've never actually read a full short story collection. Technically, this is assigned reading for my final project in Traditions in Short Fiction. When I raised my hand to coincidentally take this collection, my professor said, "I knew you'd choose this one." Ha-ha! And I'm really loving it! Russell is ironic, weird, unique, and awesome!! She makes all of the unusual stuff she writes about sound completely normal while also keeping the weirdness of it. Then she throws these sentences in that are just...woah!

Up next, Saturday by Ian McEwan!

Happy Book Week!
      HER