June 2018 Book Review

As I mentioned on Tuesday, I finished the POPSUGAR book challenge, hallelujah! June was another big month of reading with mixed results, but I'm so happy I finished the challenge, I don't really care, ha.

Let's start with the YA selections {since I seemed to rely on those heavily to finish}, shall we?

Winter by Marissa Meyer - The last book in the Cinder series I started last month. I enjoyed this series - it wasn't amazing - but I did like it! This book was set on the moon and was the final battle between the rag-tag team from Earth {comprised of Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood and Rapunzel basically and their counterparts} to battle the Moon Queen {basically every evil stepmother ever}. We added the Snow White-esque character who is the stepdaughter of the Moon Queen. I know it sounds ridiculous, but I liked them!

Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine - Has anyone seen this movie? I think it's so cute! Ella was blessed by a fairy when she was a newborn with the 'gift' of obedience. Basically, if someone tells her to do something, she must. After her mother passes away, she decides to find the fairy who gave her this gift. Princes, ogres, evil almost-stepsisters all get in her way as she tries to change her fate. It was cute but nothing special - I think Drew would enjoy it in a few years.

The Witches by Roald Dahl - I only saw a few books mentioned in other books and narrowed it down to this [Found in Trick or Treat Murder] or Wuthering Heights. I wasn't up for a classic this late in the challenge so a children's book won out! This is not a fairytale, this is a REAL book about witches! {grin} The main character is a little boy who lives with his grandmother who tells him story after story about witches, but nothing prepares him for when he comes across a meeting of hundreds of witches including the Grand High Witch! Another one that wasn't anything special, BUT I am reading it with Trent and he's LOVING IT!

The Love that Split the World by Emily Henry - Natalie is finishing her senior year of high school when she starts noticing things are 'off'. One minute her front door is a different color, later as she drives through town the buildings are changing. She meets someone in her small town she's never seen before yet he's her age and goes to her school. What is going on? This was up there for me this month. Yes, it was YA. Yes, it was overwrought with teenage emotion. BUT I love that kind of stuff, ha. I'm probably not selling it, but it was fun AND is being made into a movie, yay!

Y is For Yesterday by Sue Grafton - I've listened to a couple of these before, but when I saw someone reading this at Starbucks, I thought it'd be a good one for that category [A book you have seen someone reading in public] given it's the last in the series due to Sue's death. This series is about a private investigator named Kinsey. This story revolves around a guy who just got out of prison for killing a classmate 10 years earlier and is now being blackmailed. I thought the mystery was interesting, but I just don't really LIKE Kinsey - she isn't a very personable character, and that's why I don't think I could ever get into this series. It was just okay.

In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson - A non-fiction book about the U.S. Ambassador to Germany in the 1930s as Hitler rose to power. Parts of this book were fascinating - learning about the things Hitler did/caused and the German people's reaction {acceptance} and America repeatedly turning a blind eye, to name a few. BUT it was also very dry and at times, dull. I kept thinking 'How is it possible for a book to be shocking and disturbing but boring too?' Has anyone read this? Is it just me? So many people tell me how much they LOVE Erik Larson, but maybe he just isn't the guy for me...

Year Zero by Nora Roberts - My first Nora book in a LONG time - well over a year! And it's a new trilogy! A plague hits earth and wipes out 80% of the earth's population. This book follows some survivors during and after the epidemic. Very different for Nora but it also felt like a Nora trilogy {of course there are magical elements, ha}. I'm excited to read the 2nd book in December!

10 Habits of Happy Moms by Meg Meeker - My mom gave me this book for Christmas, and I don't normally like advice books, but I love my mom so I dug in. I really liked the habits Meg picked and the stories she told/moms she profiled, but it was too long. I felt like each chapter could have been half as long, but then it wouldn't have been long enough to be a book, ha. There's a little workbook at the end that I want to look at in more detail to try and put some of these details into practice.

Chomp, Chomp Chomp: How I Survived a Bear Attack and Other Cautionary Tales by Allena Hansen - I really thought I'd never find a book written by someone with the same name as me but what do you know, here was my find! And what a find it was! This Allena is a HOOT. She's about my mom's age and tells stories starting back when she's a little girl. If HALF of what she said is true, she's had a crazy life and a great outlook on it by the end - and after the bear attack {which is true because there are news articles about it you can google}. But I often felt she was a little too jaded/off for my taste - I don't think I liked her too much in her earlier years? Fun stories but another one that was slightly too long.

I'm not sure I gave any of these enough of a review to encourage anyone to read them. Let's hope July - when I'm reading JUST FOR ME - improves the selections!