meg reads and reads

Title:  The Memory Keeper's Daughter Author:  Kim Edwards Well, y'all, this one hit me pretty hard, and I wasn't prepared for it. I had no idea what this book was about when I picked it up, but I don't think anything could have prepared me for it. It starts out with a young couple, a doctor named David and his wife, Norah, who becomes pregnant. She tells her husband if they have a boy, she wants to name him Paul. If they have a girl, she wants to name her Phoebe. When Norah goes into labor in 1964, they are in the midst of a terrible snowstorm, so David carefully drives his wife to a clinic to give birth. He has to deliver himself. To his utter delight, his wife gives birth to a healthy son. His nurse, Caroline, is keeping Norah drugged, so she's pretty out of it, and surprise! Another baby comes out, a baby girl with obvious signs of Down's Syndrome. Knowing the chances of Phoebe not having a long life expectancy due to the health risks associated wit...

Title: I'm Done Author: Gurpreet Kaur I have always had a bit of a soft spot for confessional poetry, and Gurpreet Kaur's I'm Done  is no exception. I breezed through the poetry in this book, ravenously consuming words of love, heartbreak, despair, determination, and resilience. Almost any person can relate to Kaur's work, and I'm truly pleased with how the writing has matured since the publication of Warriors.  The layout of this book is stellar, with the alternating black and white pages and the creative spacing to enhance the reading. Kaur also employs strong use of metaphor. My only real complaints are that some of the word choices are a little awkward and repetitive and that the book could use a good editor to help smooth out some of the rough spots. I am quite glad that I read this one and give it a strong four out of five stars. ------------------------------------------ READING PROGRESS Ammey McKeaf by Jane Shoup: 73% Insomnia by Stephen King...

Title: Something Borrowed Author: Emily Giffin I have a lot of issues with this book. A lot of issues. First of all, I don't like reading a book where the protagonist (Rachel) is completely unlikable. She is weak, and the entire plot of the book is about her doing something completely despicable to her best friend (Darcy). Not that Darcy is an angel. She's terrible, too. Two of the main guys in the book (Dex and Marcus) are also horrendous. Then there are the other girls in the book--Claire, Hillary, and Annalise. Claire is horrible. Annalise is weak like Rachel. Hillary is the only female that is remotely sympathetic, but I find her pretty abrasive and I hate how she condones what Rachel is doing throughout the book. The only person in the book that is completely likable is Ethan. But what is the point of him even being in the book? He literally serves no purpose except as an excuse for what Rachel does to Darcy. All of this said, despite all of the issues I have with ...

Title: The Night Trade Author: Barry Eisler After the disappointment of Livia Lone , The Night Trade really makes up for it. Reading about Dox is always a pleasure, and it was nice to see him team up with Livia. I love that they are not perfect. They are very human, making mistakes and false assumptions, jumping into situations without fully thinking about them. Livia and Dox balanced each other out well. They would certainly be dead without one another. Five out of five stars. -------- READING PROGRESS: Written in My Own Heart's Blood by Diana Gabaldon: 68% The Waste Lands by Stephen King: 51% Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn: 18% The Dark Bones by Loreth Anne White: NOW STARTING

Title: A Dark Lure Author: Loreth Anne White It's been over a month since my last review, and I apologize for that. The lengthy absence was due to a number of factors: my health, a hectic life, and the fact that a lot of the books that I'm reading are quite lengthy. This wasn't one of the lengthier books, but I have to say, it was definitely a great read. I had a hard time getting through it, not because it was bad, but because it was so good. The author did such a good job of writing a thriller that I would literally have a sense of dread so severe that I would have to put the book down and read something else, just because I was so nervous! That said, this is definitely one of the better thrillers I have ever read. One of the things I like most about it is that, though there is a love story subplot, this is not a story where the man saves the woman. The woman saves herself. It's definitely refreshing in this genre. There were a couple of grammatical issues I...

Title: The Dark Half Author: Stephen King For me, this was an extremely slow, painfully boring read. The concept was a stretch at best, and though I feel like it may have had some sort of personal significance to Stephen King, as a reader, it was not pleasant. I found it to be uninteresting, kind of gross, and all around a waste of time. I do not recommend this at all. Two out of five stars. ----------- READING PROGRESS: Let's Dance, Snoopy by Charles M. Schulz: 87% The Killer Collective by Barry Eisler: 50% Written in My Own Heart's Blood by Diana Gabaldon: 3% The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands by Stephen King: NOW STARTING

Title: The Tommyknockers Author: Stephen King This is something I probably have not discussed in this blog before, but I am a huge science-fiction fan. It's by far my favorite genre. So here we are with Stephen King's first real jump into the realm of science-fiction. King is indisputably a fantastic author, one of the all-time greats, even. All of that said, I did not enjoy reading this book. The biggest issue I had was that there were too many characters who were unnecessary to the plot. It was a lot to remember for no reason. That begs the question...who were the important characters? Gard was the most important, obviously. Bobbi was a close second. The only other storylines we really needed were the David/Hilly storyline and Ruth's storyline (and the aftermath). There were so many side characters that it was overwhelming, and it took me way too long to read this book. I will say that what King did very, very well was create an absolutely terrifying atmospher...

Title: Hate Notes Authors: Vi Keeland & Penelope Ward These workplace romance novels are usually nothing but trash, and while this one is plenty trashy in places, it's actually a pretty sweet story. The man isn't a domineering pig, which is a pleasant change of pace in these types of books, and the woman is almost likable. She's definitely relatable, if nothing else. All in all, it's not the best book I've ever read by any means, but it wasn't terrible, and I was happy with how it ended, even if it was completely cheesy (literally and figuratively...you'll have to read it to find out what that means). Three out of five stars. -------- READING PROGRESS: The Tommyknockers by Stephen King: 36% A Breath of Snow and Ashes by Diana Gabaldon: 36% Rock Needs River by Vanessa McGrady: 48% Say You're Sorry by Melinda Leigh: STARTING NOW

Title: What Have You Done Author: Matthew Farrell This is not a genre I read much, but it was still extremely predictable. I had the entire plot figured out before I was halfway through with the book, and there was no surprise twist at the end. I hung in there hoping to be surprised, but nope. Never happened. This was just your typical, run-of-the-mill "thriller" "mystery," but it fell woefully short of being either thrilling or mysterious. Two out of five stars.

Title: Two Weeks Notice Author: Whitney G. Okay, from the cover, I knew it wasn't going to be fine literature, but boy is this book trashy. I mean, it's so  trashy. It is seriously the trashiest thing I have ever read in my life. It's like she read Fifty Shades of Grey  and thought to herself, "How can I be even sleazier?" It got a few chuckles out of me, and the writing wasn't terrible. I just...I mean, how many times did I have to read about how "wet" she was? Why was she so turned on by this horrible human being? Like, he clearly had control issues and was probably going to turn out to be a wife beater, but okay. And am I supposed to believe that he could get away with treating employees that way? And why would anyone leave a child in the care of this psycho? I don't understand. I was not a fan at all of this book, but for the few laughs, I give it two out of five stars.