Book Reviews: Recent Reads

There used to be a time when you could always find me looking like this:

Then I discovered that I had other interests and the internet, well it’s so distracting, isn’t it? So I rarely have time to read books these days.

I have managed to read a few in the past months, though, and I decided to do a bulk review of those.

Every Day
by David Levithan

Synopsis
Every morning, A wakes in a different person’s body, a different person’s life. There’s never any warning about where it will be or who it will be. A has made peace with that, even established guidelines by which to live: Never get too attached. Avoid being noticed. Do not interfere.

It’s all fine until the morning that A wakes up in the body of Justin and meets Justin’s girlfriend, Rhiannon. From that moment, the rules by which A has been living no longer apply. Because finally A has found someone he wants to be with—day in, day out, day after day.

Verdict
I’m a sucker for unusual premises, so when I read this one’s overview, I just had to read it. I enjoyed it, it makes for nice light reading that also makes you muse once in a while, what if that had been me? What a tough life, but I probably wouldn’t mind waking up in some celebrity’s body for a day – say, Kate Middleton? I wouldn’t want to be Angelina, though. Yes, she has Brad Pitt, but she has too many children. I wouldn’t know how to look after them all. 😮

Wedding Night
by Sophie Kinsella

Synopsis
Lottie is tired of long-term boyfriends who don’t want to commit to marriage. When her old boyfriend Ben reappears and reminds her of their pact to get married if they were both still single at thirty, she jumps at the chance. There will be no dates and no engagement—just a straight wedding march to the altar! Next comes the honeymoon on the Greek island where they first met. But not everyone is thrilled with Lottie and Ben’s rushed marriage, and family and friends are determined to intervene.

Verdict
This was a nice, funny Chick Lit, not extraordinary (I’ve actually forgotten some of the story by now), but perfect for when you just need some light reading. The book was written from the alternating first person POVs of two sisters, so it was nice to be able to read two different thoughts, as the two have quite different personalities.

Reconstructing Amelia
by Kimberly McCreight

Synopsis
An academic overachiever despondent over getting caught cheating jumps to her death. Impulsive suicide, tragic and awful, but far more common than anyone realizes. At least that’s the story Grace Hall tells Kate. And clouded as she is by her guilt and grief, it is the one that she believes. That is, until she gets an anonymous text : She didn’t jump.

Told from Kate and Amelia’s alternating points of view, as well as Amelia’s e-mails, texts and Facebook posts, Reconstructing Amelia, tells the story of why Amelia was on Grace Hall’s roof that day. And how she ended up plunging to her death. It is a story of secret first loves, old friendships and an all girls club steeped in tradition. It’s about having the strength to accept your own truth, even when you’re betrayed by the people you trusted most. But most of all Reconstructing Amelia is the story of how far a mother will go to vindicate the memory of a daughter whose life she couldn’t save.

Verdict
I had such high hopes for this book as it was compared to Gone Girl (which I loved) and has a movie in the works. It was a humongous disappointment. It’s supposedly Gossip Girl meets Gone Girl (Gossip Gone Girl?) but ended up falling short of both. The premise was interesting, certainly, and it did make me flip the pages, which is good, but I actually found myself rolling my eyes too many times to count all throughout the book. The characters were annoying, especially Amelia, and the plot lines were ridiculous. I guess I would’ve enjoyed this in my teens, it’s very Sweet Valley-ish, now that I think about it, but while Sweet Valley Twins was what hooked me into reading before, it’s not my thing nowadays.

Insurgent 
by Veronica Roth

Synopsis
One choice can transform you—or it can destroy you. But every choice has consequences, and as unrest surges in the factions all around her, Tris Prior must continue trying to save those she loves—and herself—while grappling with haunting questions of grief and forgiveness, identity and loyalty, politics and love.

Tris’s initiation day should have been marked by celebration and victory with her chosen faction; instead, the day ended with unspeakable horrors. War now looms as conflict between the factions and their ideologies grows. And in times of war, sides must be chosen, secrets will emerge, and choices will become even more irrevocable—and even more powerful. Transformed by her own decisions but also by haunting grief and guilt, radical new discoveries, and shifting relationships, Tris must fully embrace her Divergence, even if she does not know what she may lose by doing so.

Verdict
I was a huge fan of Divergent, the first book in this series. So I was majorly disappointed when Tris became an annoying damsel-in-distress in this next one. It was like watching Katniss turn into Bella. Ugh! Nevertheless I think I’m still gonna read the third book – Detergent? – because this one ended on an interesting cliffhanger.

Crazy Rich Asians
by Kevin Kwan

Synopsis
The outrageously funny debut novel about three super-rich, pedigreed Chinese families and the gossip, backbiting, and scheming that occurs when the heir to one of the most massive fortunes in Asia brings home his ABC (American-born Chinese) girlfriend to the wedding of the season.

When Rachel Chu agrees to spend the summer in Singapore with her boyfriend, Nicholas Young, she envisions a humble family home, long drives to explore the island, and quality time with the man she might one day marry. What she doesn’t know is that Nick’s family home happens to look like a palace, that she’ll ride in more private planes than cars, and that with one of Asia’s most eligible bachelors on her arm, Rachel might as well have a target on her back.

Initiated into a world of dynastic splendor beyond imagination, Rachel meets Astrid, the It Girl of Singapore society; Eddie, whose family practically lives in the pages of the Hong Kong socialite magazines; and Eleanor, Nick’s formidable mother, a woman who has very strong feelings about who her son should–and should not–marry. Uproarious, addictive, and filled with jaw-dropping opulence, Crazy Rich Asians is an insider’s look at the Asian JetSet; a perfect depiction of the clash between old money and new money; between Overseas Chinese and Mainland Chinese; and a fabulous novel about what it means to be young, in love, and gloriously, crazily rich.

Verdict
I found this book to be a very interesting read because it is set in Singapore, where I live now. It was funny, entertaining, and informative and I learned a lot about rich Chinese people’s lifestyles and customs.

The Avery Shaw Experiment 
by Kelly Oram

Synopsis
When Avery Shaw’s heart is shattered by her life-long best friend, she chooses to deal with it the only way she knows how—scientifically. The state science fair is coming up and Avery decides to use her broken heart as the topic of her experiment. She’s going to find the cure. By forcing herself to experience the seven stages of grief through a series of social tests, she believes she will be able to get over Aiden Kennedy and make herself ready to love again. But she can’t do this experiment alone, and her partner (ex partner!) is the one who broke her heart.

Avery finds the solution to her troubles in the form of Aiden’s older brother Grayson. The gorgeous womanizer is about to be kicked off the school basketball team for failing physics. He’s in need of a good tutor and some serious extra credit. But when Avery recruits the lovable Grayson to be her “objective outside observer,” she gets a whole lot more than she bargained for, because Grayson has a theory of his own: Avery doesn’t need to grieve. She needs to live. And if there’s one thing Grayson Kennedy is good at, it’s living life to the fullest.

Verdict
Handsome, popular, serial dater guy rescues shy, nerdy but surprisingly cute girl and transforms her into popular chick then he ends up falling in love with her. Sounds familiar? This is the kind of book that I probably would have liked in my teens. But now? Hated it. I didn’t actually finish the entire book, I just read the first few chapters, skimmed the rest, and read the oh I didn’t expect that! – just kidding – actually very predictable happy ending. Next, please. I’m getting too old for this stuff.

The Cuckoo’s Calling
by Robert Galbraith (aka JK Rowling)

Synopsis
When a troubled model falls to her death from a snow-covered Mayfair balcony, it is assumed that she has committed suicide. However, her brother has his doubts, and calls in private investigator Cormoran Strike to look into the case.

Strike is a war veteran – wounded both physically and psychologically – and his life is in disarray. The case gives him a financial lifeline, but it comes at a personal cost: the more he delves into the young model’s complex world, the darker things get – and the closer he gets to terrible danger.

A gripping, elegant mystery steeped in the atmosphere of London – from the hushed streets of Mayfair to the backstreet pubs of the East End to the bustle of Soho – The Cuckoo’s Calling is a remarkable book. Introducing Cormoran Strike, this is the acclaimed first crime novel by J.K. Rowling, writing under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith.

Verdict
The Harry Potter series is my most favorite series of all time so when I heard that JK had been caught out as being the real author behind the pseudonym Robert Galbraith and that she had written a mystery novel, which is my favorite kind, I just had to read it.

But while Harry Potter wowed me and had me reading the entire series in less than a week, I couldn’t even go through just this one book in that same amount of time. I like my mysteries fast, they have to hook me right from the start. This starts out really slow, perhaps because it’s supposed to be the first book and is still introducing us to the main characters. It had a satisfactory ending, though, so it’s quite a decent read, though not one that I’d include in my list of favorite mystery novels.

And that’s it. I don’t know what to read next. Any recommendations?