Dear Emmie Blue by Lia Louis

SPOILERS BE HERE

I've been remiss about writing reviews lately. A new puppy, super busy time at work, company—I'm about three or four books behind, and they may not all get done!

This book was cute. There really isn't a better word to describe it. Everything was predictable—of course Emmie's landlord left her the house. Of course she ended up with the brother (whose name is escaping me, but I want to call him Emmett. I know that's not right). Of course he came back just in time for the meteor shower. Of course Lucas kissed her and someone saw them. Of course her dad wasn't some French rock star. But it was charming enough that it worked. I can't describe why I liked it so much, but it was just a comforting read. Sometimes it's nice knowing what's going to happen.

The two things I didn't like were the France aspect and her sexual assault. There just seemed to be no rhyme or reason to have Lucas in France. They could have easily been as distanced in the same country. (The brother's name is Eliot!) Just seemed unnecessary since there were no real cultural differences brought up. The sexual assault was important to Emmie's character and integral to the book, but I was annoyed that it was revealed in tiny bits and pieces. I would have preferred to have it all laid out. I guess the author was probably trying to go for realism in that assault victims likely don't just blurt it out and share it in bits and pieces, especially when they became pariahs after reporting it, but it seemed kind of distasteful to drag it out like that. I also felt like her friends were a bit cliche and could have been fleshed out better, but they are supporting characters.

Completed: 13 March 2021

Rating: 4/5

Recommend: Yes

Comments

The Royal We by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan

**SPOILERS BE HERE** I am whelmed. I'm also ignoring that this is a fictionalized account of William and Kate. The beginning of the book was great! I was super into it and it was cheesy cute, which was exactly what I needed after reading the very dry Presidency of William Howard Taft . I love how Bex and Nick bonded over a trashy TV show and Twinkies. They were so cute together. But it went south pretty quickly after Part 1. This book was just so long . It does span eight years, but I couldn't have told you that because the time jumps were difficult to follow. Has a year passed? Have three? Who knows? What could have been the most interesting parts were completely skipped over—Bex goes home to finish university but it's only briefly mentioned. Visit the long-distance relationship and her decision to move to England! Her father dies but we barely get to see her grieving (not due to a time jump). What about her settling into a new country full time? Or her job, which is ju...

Ready Player Two by Ernest Cline

SPOILERS BE HERE Trash. This book was trash. I had no idea what it was about beyond it probably being a sequel to Ready Player One , which I really enjoyed. But this was just a rehash of Ready Player One , and done really badly. Wade was awful. The relationships were awful. The story was awful. That Prince segment was sooooooooooo overly long. It would have been much better if we could have followed a different set of characters on the quest (those five who called themselves something I can't remember). Or if it had just been about how the winners were using their money to try to help the world. Or a prequel. Anything but what it was. That's it. That's the review. It doesn't deserve anything else. Parts were fine but overall it was just plain bad. Completed: 7 March 2021 Rating: 1/5 Recommend: Absolutely not

Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

SPOILERS BE HERE I really wanted to enjoy this book, but it fell flat for me. I 100% believe part of that was due to me listening to it rather than reading it—I drifted in and out and couldn't keep the characters straight, specifically Izzy and Lexie; something about their names is too similar. I think the plot was interesting, but actions were random and didn't make sense. Why did Mia keep Pearl? I never felt like that decision was fully explored—she just up and left. And why did Izzy (...not Lexie, right?) set fires in the house? That seemed like such an extreme response to the things that happened. The characters were not fleshed out enough. I also felt like I was being led a little too much to sympathize with certain characters and dislike others. I said the plot was interesting; it was also clunky. It jumped around from one thing to another so sporadically that it felt like a different book at times. It could have been handled a lot more smoothly by cutting some of the ...

Manuscript Musing

Search This Blog