Disappointing Reads of 2018 (So Far)| CarenzaOnBooks

As a general rule of thumb in the book community, I feel as though we only talk about books we love or positively about books. But, I thought it would be interesting to talk about some of the books I have been left feeling disappointed.

Still Me by Jojo Moyes

This may come as a surprise to some of my longtime readers as I loved Me Before You when I first read it. But the sequels After You and Still Me were not on the same level as Me Before You. I managed to read it through the Overdrive, which I am now glad about as I'm not sure I'll be picking up a physical copy. I feel as though Louisa's story was well done in Me Before You and that the two sequels were milking the cow for all it's worth. This was still a good, fun book, I gave it 3/5 stars, but I just feel that it added nothing to her story. It followed the same pattern that the other two books and I was happy with Lou's story in the first book. 

Silence is Goldfish by Annabel Pitcher

Another author I have loved books from is Annabel Pitcher. However, I finally decided to pick up her most recent release (and the only book of hers I hadn't read), and I really didn't enjoy my time reading it. I found the characters irritating and was not invested in the story. I have a feeling that this is because it's been about four years since I read those books and I am a very different reader now. As I've matured as a reader, I feel as though Annabel Pitcher's book might not be as enjoyable if I picked them up now. I would recommend her first two novels, but there was something about Silence is Goldfish that I did not enjoy.

  

The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

I have yet to read a Holly Black book that I enjoyed. I found The Darkest Part of the Forest alright and The Cruel Prince was no difference. I had a sampler from the signing I attended and I read it after that. I was so excited and when I finally picked it up, I was underwhelmed. I plan on continuing this series, but I'm going into it not expecting that much. 

 

Zenith by Sasha Alsberg and Lindsay Cummings   

My most disappointing read of the year is Zenith. I was very excited to read this and now that I have read it, I wish I hadn't. I gave it 1.5/5 stars. To be nice, I'll say that I found it dull. The main plot of the novel was over in less than 100 pages and this novel was 500 pages. There were far too many P.O.V and the writing style made me cringe. I have no intentions of continuing this story and I can't help but feel disappointed by it.

Carenza x

Book Review Monday- After You by Jojo Moyes| It'sCarenzaB

Hey Guys!
How are you?

Last Monday, I posted my review of Me Before You by Jojo Moyes and this week I am reviewing the sequel, After You. As After You is a sequel, you will not be able to read this review if you have not read either books. I am going to be discussing spoilers, so you have been warned.

After You by Jojo Moyes- Contains Spoilers

Non-Spoiler Thoughts

I will say that I preferred Me Before You as I felt After You was simply answering the fans questions and giving the fans what they wanted. I didn't feel as though it added much to the overall story and I was quite content with how Me Before You ended. However, I did enjoy it as I have been loving contemporary books at the moment. I gave After You 4/5 stars, but looking back I feel as though it was more of a 3.5/5 star book.

Cover Chat

I quite like how minimalistic these covers are. I do wish I had the matching edition of Me Before You, but I do love my movie tie in edition.

Plot

Lou Clark has lots of questions.
Like how it is she's ended up working in an airport bar, spending every shift watching other people jet off to new places.
Or why the flat she's owned for a year still doesn't feel like home.
Whether her close-knit family can forgive her for what she did eighteen months ago.
And will she ever get over the love of her life.
What Lou does know for certain is that something has to change.
Then, one night, it does.
But does the stranger on her doorstep hold the answers Lou is searching for - or just more questions?
Close the door and life continues: simple, ordered, safe.
But Lou once made a promise to live. And if she's going to keep it, she's going to have to invite them in...

This summary is taken from Goodreads and the average rating on Goodreads is 3.71/5 stars.

Opinions

Like I said at the beginning, I did prefer Me Before You. I do think the story could have survived without this book, but I do understand why the fans wanted this. Me Before You left it open to interpretation, so it was interesting seeing where the author would take it. 

I'm going to say that I really didn't like Lily and found her story line uninteresting. She was really self-centred and just kept on getting into trouble. The only moment where I felt sorry for her was when she revealed someone had indecent photos of her. I would have been quite happy if she hadn't been in the book.

I also felt that it would be very unlikely for someone working in an ambulance to use it as a taxi and let people have lifts in it. It is an ambulance, not a taxi. It is used to save lives, not to drive people around. It would be highly unlikely for a paramedic to let someone distract them while on the job and also put that persons life at risk.

It was nice seeing how the relationship between Lou's family had changed. I did feel a bit disconnected from Lou's mum trying to become a feminist as I felt that it was put in there to make people laugh at Lou's father's reaction.

I did like how Lou had kept in touch with Nathan and that he had been able to move on. It was good that Nathan helped her get a job, which meant she could finally move on. I was happy that the author chose not to go down the romance line again. 

Overall, I did enjoy this, but felt that it wasn't necessary to the overall plot. Let me know what you thought in the comments.

Love,

Carenza x 

 

Book Review Monday- Me Before You by Jojo Moyes| It'sCarenzaB

Hey Guys!
How are you?

I recently read Me Before You by Jojo Moyes and I knew that I had to review it. I had seen lots of people in the book community talking about it, but never got around to picking up a copy until January this year. This review will contain spoilers, so if you have not read this book, you will not be able to read this review.

Me Before You by Jojo Moyes- Contains Spoilers

Non-Spoiler Thoughts

At first, I wasn't overwhelmed by this book and for a while, I couldn't understand why there was so much hype around it. It wasn't until I was about half way through, that I began to understand why this book is so loved. It does cover a difficult and slightly controversial issue, but it covers it very well. I gave it 5/5 stars and had I not been on a train whilst finishing it, I would have cried.

Cover Chat

The version I have is the Movie Tie-In edition as the movie came out last year. I do like getting tie-in editions as it shows that a book was popular/ successful enough to become a movie. 

Plot

Louisa Clark is an ordinary girl living an exceedingly ordinary life—steady boyfriend, close family—who has never been farther afield than their tiny village. She takes a badly needed job working for ex-Master of the Universe Will Traynor, who is wheelchair-bound after an accident. Will has always lived a huge life—big deals, extreme sports, worldwide travel—and now he’s pretty sure he cannot live the way he is.

Will is acerbic, moody, bossy—but Lou refuses to treat him with kid gloves, and soon his happiness means more to her than she expected. When she learns that Will has shocking plans of his own, she sets out to show him that life is still worth living.

A love story for this generation, Me Before You brings to life two people who couldn’t have less in common—a heartbreakingly romantic novel that asks, What do you do when making the person you love happy also means breaking your own heart?

Opinion

I'm going to start this section by talking about why there is so much controversy surrounding this book. As Will is a disabled man, he believes he cannot going on the way he is. He isn't happy with his life and wants to die. The author is not saying that all disabled people feel like this or that they should all kill themselves, she is simply saying that this individual feels that their life isn't worth living. I'm sure that the author never intended to offend anyone. There are cases in the media of people who have become severely disabled through illness or accident who want to die because they feel they cannot live their lives to their full extent. I can see why there is controversy, but at the end of the day, this is a work of fiction and these characters are not real.

It would have been interesting if the author had chosen to write this from Will's perspective rather than Lou's, as at some points Lou's feelings cloud her judgement and gets in the way. At times I found Lou irritating as she wouldn't respect Will's wishes and feelings. I understand that in that situation it is hard, but it was Will's wishes and she was unwilling to respect it.

This story was not your traditional love story, which I was happy about. It was very subtle and didn't take over the central plot. I was happy that the author chose not to let Lou's involvement in Will's life change his decision. It would have felt like "oh, I just let this pretty girl change my decision".

I really liked the characters as they all had different voices. However, I felt it unnecessary when the author would change the chapters perspective as it felt as though she was doing this to fill us in. It didn't add to the story, it felt more like a info dump. If this was something she wanted to do, she could have chosen to add more chapters with perspectives from characters other than Lou's.

It wasn't until I was half way through, that I began to feel connected to a character. I guess this is because this book is for adults and I am used to reading about teenagers.  This was one of the most emotional reads I have ever read and like I said in my non-spoiler section, I would have cried if I hadn't been on public transport.

I'll end this on a positive, while this book deals with a saddening issue,  this book had moments of being really funny. Will and Lou's relationship was quite humorous. They would joke about each other and I really liked this as it lightened the mood for the whole book.

So that concludes my review of Me Before You. Let me know what you thought and if you agreed with me at all.
Love,
Carenza x