Book Blog #287: Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

 

Title: Where the Crawdads Sing

Author: Delia Owens

# of Pages: 12 hours, 12 minutes (audiobook)

Genre: Adult, Historical Fiction, Mystery

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Synopsis: For years, rumors of the "Marsh Girl" have haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet town on the North Carolina coast. So in late 1969, when handsome Chase Andrews is found dead, the locals immediately suspect Kya Clark, the so-called Marsh Girl. But Kya is not what they say. Sensitive and intelligent, she has survived for years alone in the marsh that she calls home, finding friends in the gulls and lessons in the sand. Then the time comes when she yearns to be touched and loved. When two young men from town become intrigued by her wild beauty, Kya opens herself to a new life - until the unthinkable happens.

Review: Not exactly sure why this book is so popular. Disclaimer: Since I listened to the audiobook rather than read this book, I only comprehended maybe 80-90% of the story. This means I might have missed some finer details. 

Full of flowery, artsy descriptions, I found the story (and therefore the mystery aspect) of this story overall very uncompelling. I wasn't thinking this book would be structured so much around romance. I didn't like how the story kept skipping between two different time periods.

I just did not like Owen's prose, structure of the story, nor did I ever really connect with any of the characters. However, I don't know if I believe I wasted my time reading it, thus it gets 3 stars. I won't be recommending this book to anyone anytime soon. 

Book Blog #286: The Duke and I by Julia Quinn

 

Title: The Duke and I

Author: Julia Quinn

# of Pages: 440 (ebook)

Genre: Adult, Romance, Historical Fiction

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Synopsis: In the ballrooms and drawing rooms of Regency London, rules abound. From their earliest days, children of aristocrats learn how to address an earl and curtsey before a prince—while other dictates of the ton are unspoken yet universally understood. A proper duke should be imperious and aloof. A young, marriageable lady should be amiable… but not too amiable. Daphne Bridgerton has always failed at the latter. The fourth of eight siblings in her close-knit family, she has formed friendships with the most eligible young men in London. Everyone likes Daphne for her kindness and wit. But no one truly desires her. She is simply too deuced honest for that, too unwilling to play the romantic games that captivate gentlemen. Amiability is not a characteristic shared by Simon Basset, Duke of Hastings. Recently returned to England from abroad, he intends to shun both marriage and society—just as his callous father shunned Simon throughout his painful childhood. Yet an encounter with his best friend’s sister offers another option. If Daphne agrees to a fake courtship, Simon can deter the mamas who parade their daughters before him. Daphne, meanwhile, will see her prospects and her reputation soar. The plan works like a charm—at first. But amid the glittering, gossipy, cut-throat world of London’s elite, there is only one certainty: love ignores every rule...

Review: The first time I heard of this book was because of an article on the Netflix adaptation “Bridgerton.” Or, more specifically, it was on Regé-Jean Page breaking people’s hearts after he’s seen with his girlfriend on Valentine’s Day. I obtained an e-copy of this book, and the rest is history. 

 This book was going to get a strong 4 stars. The beginning half is great; it reads like a comedy (if you read it as a serious romance book then it’s just tacky), so I was thoroughly enjoying the read. 

 The most controversial part of this book, based on other reviews I have read, is the rape scene, and it was after this scene that my enjoyment of the book began its descent. The occurrence itself was not the part that bothered me so much as how the characters were made to handle it afterward. There was little to no acknowledgement of it being considered rape. In fact, I would say that the victim plays down the assault, and this grievous offense is therefore glossed over without any serious consequences. 

 When the book focus turns to sex scene after sex scene, I began to feel like I was reading Regency era Fifty Shades of Grey (aka shallow, non-interesting plot). 

 This book goes pretty fast, so if you’re interested in the synopsis, I would say go ahead and read it. If it doesn’t sound interesting, no need to “give it a shot.”

Book Blog #285: The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

 

Title: The Silent Patient

Author: Alex Michaelides

# of Pages: 8 hours and 43 minutes

Genre: Adult, Mystery, Thriller

Synopsis: Alicia Berenson’s life is seemingly perfect. A famous painter married to an in-demand fashion photographer, she lives in a grand house with big windows overlooking a park in one of London’s most desirable areas. One evening her husband Gabriel returns home late from a fashion shoot, and Alicia shoots him five times in the face, and then never speaks another word. Alicia’s refusal to talk, or give any kind of explanation, turns a domestic tragedy into something far grander, a mystery that captures the public imagination and casts Alicia into notoriety. The price of her art skyrockets, and she, the silent patient, is hidden away from the tabloids and spotlight at the Grove, a secure forensic unit in North London. Theo Faber is a criminal psychotherapist who has waited a long time for the opportunity to work with Alicia. His determination to get her to talk and unravel the mystery of why she shot her husband takes him down a twisting path into his own motivations—a search for the truth that threatens to consume him....

Review: Wow, this book EXCEEDED my expectations. 

I didn't hear about this book until I saw the audiobook version was available in my local library's e-collection. A "who done it?" mystery story with so many unexpected twists and turns, if I read this book rather than listened to it, I have no doubt that it would have been a page turner. I was hoping this book would last me for at least; I couldn't help but finish it in under a day. 

This story is told in a first person POV (sometimes breaking the fourth wall by addressing the reader), switching between Theo's perspective and Alicia's diary entries. This is one of the few instances where I wasn't that bothered by POV switching; it was exciting to hear from both perspectives, and the mystery element where each perspective helped peel the onion of truth kept the plot driving forward. 

In my reviews, I usually criticize books for being too predictable. This was not the case this time; every twist caught me by surprise. 

Usually I am scared to read books categorized as "thrillers," but I would say this book isn't so much of a thriller as it is an incredibly compelling mystery story. I wasn't scared as some thriller aim to make their reader feel, rather I was intrigued. I would highly recommend this book.

Book Blog #284: Sadie by Courtney Summers

 

Title: Sadie

Author: Courtney Summers

# of Pages: 7 hours, 57 minutes (audiobook)

Genre: YA, Mystery, Contemporary

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Synopsis: Sadie hasn't had an easy life. Growing up on her own, she's been raising her sister Mattie in an isolated small town, trying her best to provide a normal life and keep their heads above water. But when Mattie is found dead, Sadie's entire world crumbles. After a somewhat botched police investigation, Sadie is determined to bring her sister's killer to justice and hits the road following a few meager clues to find him. When West McCray—a radio personality working on a segment about small, forgotten towns in America—overhears Sadie's story at a local gas station, he becomes obsessed with finding the missing girl. He starts his own podcast as he tracks Sadie's journey, trying to figure out what happened, hoping to find her before it's too late.

Review: This book is somewhere between 3 and 4 stars.

This is the first time I've listened to an audiobook all the way through. Since I read in the synopsis that part of the book was told as a podcast, I thought it would be a good book to listen to. This wasn't entirely true; the podcast sections WERE nice to listen to in audio format and hear the different voices from their 30 person cast. However, with all the switching back and forth between time (e.g. flashbacks, between radio personality West McCray following Sadie's tracks vs hearing from Sadie in the moment when she was making said tracks) was confusing in audiobook format. There were also a lot of characters and names to keep track of that I found harder to do than if I were to read the book, but this might be my own fault rather than the fault of the book. 

On one hand this book was definitely not as good as other YA contemporary books I have read. I am not sure if it's because I didn't care for the voice actor/her rendition of Sadie's voice, but I found Sadie mildly annoying. Her internal tough girl narrative rubbed me the wrong way, or perhaps it didn't feel realistic to me. The fact that Sadie has a stutter was an interesting characteristic, although I would like to know the reasoning behind why Summers decided to include this. 

Of course, there is POV switching between West McCray and Sadie. This always bugs me, although in this case I think this is what made me so interested in the story, the reason why I also gave this book 4 stars. Since the search for Sadie and the telling of the story from Sadie's perspective are running in near parallel, the plot is constantly pushing toward uncovering the mystery of what happened to Sadie and Mattie. Without West McCray's narrative, the story would be too mundane; without Sadie's narrative the reader would not get any relief on knowing the truth of what actually happened. 

I would recommend this book, although I'm not sure if I would recommend listening to it over reading it. It was a quick listen for me, and it was nice to be able to take walks/do chores while listening to a story. 

Book Blog #283: Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

 

Title: Little Fires Everywhere

Author: Celeste Ng

# of Pages: 338 (ebook)

Genre: Adult, Contemporary 

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Synopsis: In Shaker Heights, a placid, progressive suburb of Cleveland, everything is planned--from the layout of the winding roads, to the colors of the houses, to the successful lives its residents will go on to lead. And no one embodies this spirit more than Elena Richardson, whose guiding principle is playing by the rules. Enter Mia Warren--an enigmatic artist and single mother--who arrives in this idyllic bubble with her teenaged daughter Pearl, and rents a house from the Richardsons. Soon Mia and Pearl become more than tenants: all four Richardson children are drawn to the mother-daughter pair. But Mia carries with her a mysterious past and a disregard for the status quo that threatens to upend this carefully ordered community. When old family friends of the Richardsons attempt to adopt a Chinese-American baby, a custody battle erupts that dramatically divides the town--and puts Mia and Elena on opposing sides. Suspicious of Mia and her motives, Elena is determined to uncover the secrets in Mia's past. But her obsession will come at unexpected and devastating costs.

Review: "But the problem with rules, he reflected, was that they implied a right way and a wrong way to do things. When, in fact, most of the time there were simply ways, none of them quite wrong or quite right, and nothing to tell you for sure which side of the line you stood on." -p.269

Ever since it won a Goodreads Choice Award back in 2017, I've been meaning to read this book. I finally got my hands on a copy, but I don't think it was exactly worth the wait. 

Little Fires Everywhere is DEFINITELY a contemporary book. The story ultimately compares and contrasts the lives of the rich and the poor, exposing how even in the most peaceful and planned suburbia, life isn't always as perfect as its residents make it seem. 

My main takeaways are that a "fair" system isn't always fair in reality to marginalized groups, relationships (between lovers, parent and child, etc.) can be complex, and people are not always as they seem (e.g. rich people are fake nice). Although these are interesting topics, the book was incredibly slow moving, very much a slice-of-life type. What made this book lose two stars was how predictable everything was. The plot dragged to get to a revelation that the reader had many pages back, which made me struggle to finish the book. It seemed to me that Ng concentrated more on crafting her characters' inner thoughts almost poetically than telling an engaging story. While some people might love this, it's just not the style for me. 

Overall an okay book. I would tentatively recommend this book, but it was definitely not one of my favorites.