Books Lately

Tidewater: A Novel, by Libbie Hawker
This book is a historical fiction based on the true story of Pocahontas and the Jamestown Colony.  The story was a little slow going for me at first but in the end I really learned a LOT and I also really enjoyed the story line.  Pocahontas has always been one of my favorite Disney princesses, but this was no Disney story.  I really rooted for Pocahontas in this story.  Her people were treated horribly and even though the Pocahontas in this story was not the gorgeous, well-loved princess that we all know, she was still someone I ended up loving in the end.





Gone Girl, by Gillian Flynn
There have been so many reviews on this book so I'll keep this short.  Hated Nick throughout the entire book and Amy irritated me until the second part when she revealed her true psycho.  All the sappy stuff she did in the beginning made me cringe.  Do people really do those scavenger hunt things and like them?  I mean, it'd be cute once or twice, but every year?  No thank you.

The Girls, by Emma Cline
An eerie, yet captivating story inspired by Charles Manson and the murders committed in 1969.  While the book is inspired by these murders, the main character in this story is Evie, a bored suburban girl who eventually falls in love with Suzanne, one of the main cult followers.  Because she is in love with Suzanne, Evie fails to notice how messed up everything else around the "ranch" so she follows Suzanne and Russell (the cult leader) blindly.  The pace of the story was actually really good, slow and stretched out, just like the summer it was set in.  I had expected it to be more gore-y and creepy, like a horror story, but it wasn't like that at all.  The author wrote it in a way that makes you connect with Evie and understand how a smart, normal teenage girl could easily get caught up in a cult.  If you liked The Virgin Suicides, you'll enjoy this book.

Me Before You, by Jojo Moyes

I cannot believe how much I loved this!  I didn't have very high hopes for this as 1) I'm not the romance story type and 2) I don't like to rely on other people's hype about a book as everyone has different opinion.  The book had been in my Kindle for a while because I was hesitant about whether I would like it and when I finally sat (okay lay) down to read it, I almost finished the entire book in one night (3am still counts as night if you've read into the next day)!  This book made me laugh out loud and cry and even though I hate unrealistic happy endings, I was like Louisa, hoping until the very end that things would change and Will would change his mind and a miracle would happen to make Will better.  This book gave me all the feels and I would definitely recommend it, especially to those, like me, who aren't the romance novel type.  ;)



Star Sand, by Roger Pulvers
Okay, this one had me confused at first.  Part One is written like a diary but in the final entry, it's obvious that it couldn't have been a real diary if the Hiromi (the girl who owns the diary) is writing about her own death.  Part Two is supposed to be a military report of the findings of Hatoma Island (where Hiromi lived) after the war.  Then in Part Three, the author introduces an entirely new character who discovers new information about Hiromi and the diary.  It was a nice story, but I found it hard to believe that a teenage girl would just help two male soldiers so openly.