40/100

But Inside I'm Screaming by Elizabeth Flock

My review

rating: 2 of 5 stars
For some reason, I found this book to be fluffy. A woman tries to commit suicide and then winds up in a mental institution. She fights everyone that tries to help her because she doesn't think she should be there. It vaguely touches on her abusive relationship with her husband and her troubled childhood but I felt like it never really delved into enough depth. The scenes in the institution did not really seem deep enough either.


View all my reviews.

39/100

Blueberry Muffin Murder by Joanne Fluke

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
I choose this book because it was recommended as an audio book. I thought it was a cute who-done-it that was not as good as a Stephanie Plum book, but of the same vain.



Hannah Swensen owns a cookie shop. A famous tv cook is found murdered in Hannah's shop and this forces her to close down until the murderer can be found. Rather than sit by and wait, Hannah chooses to investigate herself and finds more dead bodies along the way.



Again, it was cute and when I went home I found myself wanting to go back in the car to see what happened. I found the reader's pronunciation of "cookie" really annoying for some reason. The story was also pretty predictable.


View all my reviews.

38/100

The Hour I First Believed: A Novel by Wally Lamb

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
I have to start by saying I LOVE Wally Lamb. His novels are some of my favorites, and a new one has been a long time coming. With that being said, this book was my least favorite of his three.



I took this book on a trip with me as the only book I was bringing, so I first looked at the reviews to make sure I would like it. I couldn't agree more with the person who said the book completely changed when it hit page 400. In the first 400 pages, a huge focus was on Columbine and its effects on its victims, including the main character, Caelum's wife, Maureen. Although Maureen did not actually get shot, she suffers terrible Post Traumatic Stress from the ordeal.



Once page 400 comes around, a whole new story begins about Caelum's family history. To be honest, the story within a story is my least favorite part of all Wally Lamb novels. I found myself disinterested in the back story. The names (Lily, Lydia, Lizzie) were also confusing and hard to keep track of. After this point in the story, there were just far too many things going on at once. The book was still engaging, but not as good as it could have been. Despite not loving the book, I will still be a dedicated Wally Lamb fan.


View all my reviews.

37/100

Breaking Her Fall by Stephen Goodwin

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
This book was about a single father raising his two teenage children. One night, he get a phone call that he daughter Kat is "in trouble." When Tucker goes to rescue his daughter, he winds up seriously injuring one of the boys at the scene. I like the premise of this book a lot. But to be honest, I found the character of Kat to be extremely annoying and ungrateful. I also found Tucker to be a bit of a jerk at times. But by the end of the book, I really wanted to finish it to see what would happen.


View all my reviews.