Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel 🔖🔖🔖

I wanted to love this book cuz one of my coolest friends ever rated it five stars. Evidence that I'm not as cool is that I can only give it three. I was not drawn into the book like I have been with my favorites. I admit I struggled a tad with the contrast from regular experiences to those of a more supernatural tone which were scattered throughout. I realize that was a cultural twist and I may have really been pulled into those if this were my own, so I'm admitting how shallow I am here by the fact that those moments distracted me. Including the ending of the book. A positive sign it was more than a mediocre story for me is the fact that I'm still, two days after completing it, pondering whether Tita's choice between John and Pedro was well chosen. Still not sure I'd recommend it to others to read.

Act Normal by William Manchee 🔖

I received this book as a First Reads to review. I thought it sounded interesting from the description. However, I was not won over. I gave it my token 40 pages or 4 chapters - in this case it was both - and could not consider moving on. This was written in first person, but each chapter alternated between Stan and Paula. Maybe I'm merely not smart enough, but this got confusing. And when Stan and Paula were in the same conversation, I couldn't remember who "I" was from chapter to chapter. The premise as well couldn't drag me in. Stan's son has been abducted by "aliens" who are actually humans from another planet, and the son is taken to their planet. This is in order to make sure Stan complies with his "job" with the CIA to keep the aliens' existence secret. (I'm not giving anything away. That's all in the prologue and first chapter.) In chapter two, Stan meets one of the main aliens and the conversation and "ploy" to get Stan's compliance just didn't sit well with me. Wasn't believable enough, I suppose. I know, we're talking aliens here, but a great author can convince me with ease. This one didn't.

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare 🔖🔖🔖

This one kept my interest for the most part and it is one I would have loved as a teen. As an adult, I found the lack of adult characters added to the flimsiness of the plot. There were a few pivotal parts of the book when characters were talking amongst each other, figuring out how to fix this or that issue, and pages were the teens having the discussion, the whole time an adult in the room, silent. Surely they could have had more play in fixing the problems that came up without detracting from the characters of the kids. There were also times when the writing almost grated on me as there were overused cliches, repeated phrases to describe something, or an overall feel of inexperience. It was also fairly predictable in significant ways. For those reasons, this doesn't get 4 or 5 stars.

It was entertaining for me and I didn't feel like I wasted my time on it. Yet I won't be highly recommending it and I don't need to own it. I will likely read on in the series, but it's not high on my list.

The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen ✖️

I struggled to get past the non-sentences. As my daughter put it, forgiving a novelist trying to be a poet. Then it got gross. Being an Oprah pick, I knew there would be irredeemable characters, but I couldn't even get past Chip's terrible decisions and the unnecessary description of his sex life. Just not for me.

The Rule of Sebastian by Shelter Somerset 🔖🔖

I'm not a fan of explicit sex scenes. I think this has the potential to detract from the story (unless that is the point of the novel, in which case label it erotic rather than mystery), and leaves nothing to my imagination. I like using my imagination. That being said, I did not finish the book, which is unfortunate, because the writing was quite nicely done and the mystery set up was going to be awesome. That's why it gets 2.5 as opposed to 1 star.

The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera 🔖🔖

I would give this one 1.5 stars, but only because I made it nearly half way through. This book was about Tomas and his wife Tereza, his mistress Sabina, and her lover Franz. It wasn't even a story, per se, but a lot (and I do mean a lot) of reflection and finding meaning in their lives, behaviors, and relationships. I enjoy a book with some introspection and a quest to find purpose and clarity in life, but this one was so over the top, it was too much for me. I found myself wanting to say something about a cigar just being a cigar, and sometimes an ugly pendant is just an ugly pendant. I found myself feeling like I was wasting my time and so I did not finish this one. Not recommended and not one I want to own.

Napoleon's Pyramids by William Dietrich ✖️

Didn't finish. Got several pages in, well past my "rule" of reading to page 40 or chapter 4, whichever comes first. Hoped it would get interesting as it had a few interesting parts. Yet, not enough. So I won't be finishing this one and don't recommend it.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins 🔖🔖🔖🔖

So I finally got on board and read this book ... It may have been a disadvantage that I saw the movie first. Knowing the twists, turns, and the ending made it less suspenseful and edge of your seat than intended. Even so, I really enjoyed the book. Loved Katniss, of course, and enjoyed the character development. I have thought prior to picking the book up that I wasn't sure I wanted to read a book about kids killing other kids, but that completely misses the gem that really is this story.

The book was interesting, the plot kept my interest, and the development of Katniss from beginning to the end of this book (and what I know of her development in the others in the series) is subtle, believable, and on some level relate-able. Well written story.