Trail of Tears

True Sisters
Sandra Dallas
Fiction

While this book is fiction, it is a novel based on true events. In 1865, a group of Mormons (men, women, and children) head out to Salt Lake City from Iowa City. On foot. Every single one of them. The novel goes from POV to POV of several women who accompany their husbands/families to reach Zion. We have Louisa, who’s married to the group leader, Nannie, traveling with her sister and brother-in-law, Jessie, heading out with her two brothers to start a new business, and Anne, who refuses to convert to Mormonism, despite her husband’s pleas.

Sandra Dallas is an excellent writer. She pulls you in to the world she creates and makes you care about her characters. I’m not gonna lie, there were a lot of difficult-to-read parts in this book. These people are traipsing their way across America with limited food and water, of course there’s bound to be hardship. But, as you know, I’m a bit of a softie and too much death and despair makes me want to slam a book shut (see A Different Sky review). The depressing parts were fairly well-balanced with the uplifting parts, though, so I forgave Ms. Dallas and forged on (no pun intended). By the end of the book, I was as ready for their journey to be over as the characters were.

For anyone interested in history, the Mormon faith, or just a plain old good storyteller, this book is for you.

Cotton Candy

Revenge
Sharon Osbourne
Fiction

Every once awhile I need to read something frothy and light. I call these kinds of books cotton candy books. They don’t hold much weight with me after I’m done reading, but the characters and plot are entertaining enough to capture my attention for a few hours. So when I saw that Sharon Osbourne had written a novel, I knew it was time for a cotton candy break.

Revenge is the story of Margaret, Chelsea, and Amber Stone. Margaret always wanted to be a star, but is forced to give up her dreams when she becomes pregnant at seventeen with Chelsea. When her boyfriend abandons her, she marries his sturdy older brother and they have another child together. Both girls eventually end up in show business, and LA, where they start a rivalry to end all rivalries. There’s a lot of sex, back-stabbing, and scandal. This is your typical Jackie Collins fare with the Briticisms ramped up to ten.

I was expecting this book to be horribly cheesy and awful, but it actually wasn’t that bad. Sure, the sex scenes are cringe-worthy and some of the dialogue feels like it was lifted right from a How Not to Write a Novel instructional manual, but the plot was surprisingly engaging and the characters were all interesting. By the end of Revenge, I was convinced there is no way Sharon Osbourne wrote this. Most likely, she thought up the storyline and dictated it to a ghost writer because it’s way too decent to have been written by her.

Bottom line, Revenge is a good beach book, but don’t expect to use much brain power when reading it.

Love Connection

Promises, Promises
Erica James
Fiction

This was another book I picked up, having never heard of the author before, read the back, and decided it sounded good. Boy, was I right! I love being right (it’s a Virgo thing).

Promises, Promises is the story of Ethan, Ella, and Maggie, three people whose lives end up intertwining in surprising ways. Ethan’s unhappily married and struggling with his business, Ella’s a painter his wife hires to redecorate the living room, and Maggie is Ethan’s cleaning woman who’s having her own problems with her marriage. I adored all the characters in this book. The dialogue is snappy and the plot twists are great. There were a few times I wasn’t sure what was going to happen, and it’s pretty hard to surprise me (also, I usually hate being surprised). But the ending was great and tied everyone’s stories up nicely.

I will definitely be checking out Erica James’ other books in the future. Romance lovers and general fiction lovers alike will delight in reading Promises, Promises. I promise (sorry, couldn't resist).

Blood, Sweat, & Tears

A Different Sky
Meira Chand
Fiction

I tried with this book. I really, truly tried. As you know, I’m not one of those people who keeps pushing through when I’m not enjoying a novel—I’ll stop one chapter in if I’m not feeling it. But I almost felt bad doing it with this one. Probably because the writing style reminded me of my all-time, number one favorite novel, The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan (if you haven’t read it, go out and get it now, you will not be sorry).

So if I liked the writing style, what was the problem with A Different Sky? Well, the story revolves around, once again, World World II. I need to stop picking up these fiction books set during wars. Three different young people living in Singapore grow up and apart while the island struggles to free itself from British rule. Sounds good, right? I’ve always liked epic novels. But the descriptions of war are awful. They’re accurate, of course, but I just couldn’t stand reading about dead bodies, guts being strewn everywhere, and soldiers being mistreated. Plus, none of the characters particularly drew me in. And where were all these “magnificent” romances a review on the back mentions? None of the love stories came even close to being magnificent, let alone making me want to read more.

All the blood and guts and sorrow and lack of romance led me to put this book down halfway through. I was reluctant to do so, because Chand is a very good writer. But I just couldn’t handle it anymore. For those of you with a strong stomach and enjoyment of reading about wars, you’ll love this. Anyone else should skip it.

Colorblind

Alligator Lake
Lynne Bryant
Fiction

My favorite thing about reading is when you pick up a book by a new author, decide the plot sounds good, and then when you start reading, you’re sucked into this fictional (sometimes) world and all you want to do is keep turning pages until you get to the end. That’s what happened with this book.

Alligator Lake is the story of Avery, her mother Marion, and her mother, Willadean (can I just say how much I love that name? Totally going to use it in a future novel). Ten years ago, pregnant Avery fled her Mississippi hometown and vowed never to go back. But now her brother is getting married and he wants her and her daughter in the wedding. Avery decides it’s time to reconnect with her family, and her child’s father. Everyone has secrets, though, and soon her mother and her grandmother are forced to face past mistakes, along with Avery.

I could not put this book down. Every time I started to, a chapter would end in a way that made me want to read more. That is the sign of a good book. Ms. Bryant is an excellent writer, too: her dialogue is crisp, her descriptions captivating, and all her characters, even the bad ones, are three-dimensional. My only teeny tiny complaint is all the flashbacks. And yes, I know in a story like this one, flashbacks are essential. Crucial, even. They usually pull me right out of the book, but to give Ms. Bryant credit, they were definitely needed here, so I’ll give her a pass this time. There were quite a few plot twists I never saw coming, either, and I appreciated her not going the cliched route.

This is a great novel and I highly recommend it to everyone.

Big Brother's Watching Me

I Know Who You Are and I Saw What You Did: Social Networks and the Death of Privacy
Lori Andrews
Technology

This book freaked me the eff out. Good lord. It also made me very glad that during the period of time I was applying to colleges, a little more than ten years ago, Facebook did not even exist.

I Know Who You Are and I Saw What You Did is a disturbing expose on just how, well, exposed we are on the internet these days. Ever notice how you do a little Google search one day for a new pair of high heels, then the next day you’re on a different website and all the ads seem to be for shoes? Yeah, that’s not a coincidence. Basically, everything you do on the internet is being tracked. There’s no such thing as a “private” setting anymore. Ms. Andrews delves deep into what this means for us as a society and gives horrific examples of ways the internet has taken our lives and turned them into public spectacles.

Andrews is a good writer and despite a few spots where my eyes glazed over because of long paragraphs (gah, I just cannot escape them!), this book really intrigued me. Mostly because I’m fairly wary of the internet. I realize what a joke that statement is considering I have my own blog, but it really is scary how much info some people put out there and the devious ways other people use it. Apparently, these days, college recruiters think nothing of looking up potential applicants online and deciding their four year future based on beer pong photos and status updates about smoking weed. Potential employers do this, too, which is even more disturbing. Not to mention thieves who scan Facebook pages to see who is currently on vacation so they can look up their addresses and rob them. Scary, scary stuff. In the conclusion of Andrews’ book, she suggests ways we can get some of our privacy back and most of her ideas are solid ones.

Everyone should read this book and learn more about what, and who, is really out there tracking us.

Put a Ring On It

I Suck at Girls
Justin Halpern
Memoir

Why is it that bad reviews are so much easier to write than good reviews? Most likely because I’m all fired up when I’m writing a bad review and can think of lots of nitpicks. Unfortunately, when I read a good book, all I can think is how great and funny it is and I just want to gush and tell people to go read it themselves.

In case you couldn’t tell, I Suck at Girls is one of these kinds of books. Never mind the cringe-inducing title (Oh, Justin, grammar is your friend). This book is hilarious. Pretty much on par with You’re Not Doing It Right by Michael Ian Black. It’s also a quick read (I read it in a day).

I Suck at Girls is about a lad named Justin Halpern, whom you perhaps may have heard of. He wrote Shit My Dad Says, which went on to become a failed sitcom, but the book soared on the bestseller list for awhile (Back when I used to work at a bookstore, people would come in and ask for it every day. This was quite amusing because almost no one wanted to say the s-word so it took me a bit to figure out what they meant). Anyway, Justin’s dad figures heavily into this book, too, but the main topic is how badly Justin does with girls. I found his utter haplessness and desperation for a nice girlfriend endearing. He’s a good guy and after several depressing relationships, he finally finds someone who is worthy of his love. In the meantime, his many confusing interactions with his friends, family, and women provide plenty of laughs.

This book is awesome and anyone who likes humor and relationship books will love it. Hell, anyone will love it, period. Unless they don't like cursing. This book is full of cursing.