February Reads

Compared to January, February was a fairly light reading month for me. The last time I went to the library I saw they released a Where the Wild Things Are themed card and of course, being the adult that I am, I needed to swap my boring blue logo'd card for the card that I'm sure was intended to appeal to the under age 12 demographic. But alas, I didn't realize that by swapping my card, all of the book's I'd had on reserve didn't transfer to my new library card number. So I had to wait for a few books to become available before I could start gobbling up fiction again. While I waited, I slowly plugged away at What Happened, which I started at the beginning of the month with hopes of finishing before February's book club meeting. And to be honest, I STILL haven't finished it. I've now checked it out twice and well, that review is for another months book list. Also, I should probably mention that I don't ever keep record of the horribly written free books that I sometimes download off the Books app on the iPhone to pass the time on the Subway. I'll go ahead and tell you right now they're awful and I would never recommend them to a single living soul. Moving on!

*Everything I Never Told You, by Celeste Ng has been showing up on every "must read" book list I've seen recently and I've got to admit: I wasn't impressed. I didn't think the air of mystery was compelling enough to keep my attention and I didn't feel like the character motivations were fully developed. It was a fine enough read, but it didn't have me almost missing my subway stop the way other books have.

*The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, by Taylor Jenkins Reid was so good! An old coworker told me about this book two years ago and I just now got around to reading it. It was not at all what I thought it was going to be about, but was happily surprised with the twist. I know it was purely fiction, but as someone with marriage on the brain, I took more away from this book than a normal person probably would. I don't want to give away too much of the plot, but I really enjoyed the way it depicted the types of marriages people can have and the reasons why a person may decide to get married. Outside of Harry Potter, this is probably the first book I wholeheartedly enjoyed in a very long while.

*All The Missing Girls, by Megan Miranda is another book I've seen on many a "must read" lists and again, I wasn't impressed. It's yet another mystery book who's reviewers have it pegged as the next Gone Girl. The unique thing about this book, however, is that it reads backwards. Essentially the main character, Nic, returns to her hometown to help her brother sell their fathers home. Nic's best friend went missing when they were teenagers and has never been heard from again. Fast forward a decade and another girl goes missing the day after Nic returns to town. The story jumps ahead two weeks after the second girl goes missing and then begins to unravel the story one day at a time in reverse chronological order. Honestly, I found it to be an annoying way to read a book. And that's coming from someone who ALWAYS reads the end of a book. Always. Same as with Everything I Never Told You, I didn't find the characters motivations compelling. And as someone who's read a shit ton of murder mysteries and has watched an equal amount of Law & Order in their lifetime, I'll be the first to tell you that motivation can make or break the story line. But apparently I'm alone in this opinion because the New York Times says its gold. And who am I to defy the New York Times?