Tag: books

Posted in Book Reviews

Book Review: Five Feet Apart by Rachael Lippincott

Posted on by Meredith @ Books by the Water

One question: HOW IS THE GOODREADS RATING ON THIS BOOK SO HIGH?????? I feel very out of the loop on when we decided books like this are good. For starters, the writing is immature, the characters (to be frank) lack intelligence and substance, and overall this book feels like an adult is trying their very absolute hardest to relate to the kids. So hard, in fact, that there’s a selfie stick moment. Yea, that one hurt me.

Rating: 2 Shells

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Posted in Book Reviews

Book Review: We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

Posted on by Meredith @ Books by the Water

The island is ours. Here, in some way, we are young forever.

Big yikes on this one guys. This is one of the rare YA classics that I didn’t enjoy. I think I can basically credit that to the unlikable narrator (unlikable for most of the book, at least), boring plot (again, for most of the book), and (at least on audiobook) confusing timeline.

Rating: 2 Shells

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Posted in Book Reviews

Book Review: The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

Posted on by Meredith @ Books by the Water

It’s strange the times people choose to be generous.

I just reread the quotes I typed into my phone for this review as a refresher (because, no, it definitely hasn’t been three weeks since I read this) and they punched me straight in the heart. I was rethinking my love for this book as I, for three weeks, kept trying to force myself to write this review. Turns out that was unnecessary! I really freakin’ love the prose here. Chbosky captures that certain nostalgia that comes with every classic, and it makes this novel feel like reading on a snow day with a candle lit and a mug of hot chocolate and a fuzzy blanket wrapped around you. In a sentence that isn’t a run-on, this book feels so comforting.

Rating: 5 Shells

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Posted in Book Reviews

Mini Review: We Can Be Mended by Veronica Roth aka Why We Can’t Have Nice Things

Posted on by Meredith @ Books by the Water

Welcome to possibly my biggest rant since I read The Selection.

Did this really have to exist? Did my own eyes really have to see all of this? I feel betrayed.

Rating: 0 Stars (I’m sorry. Is that rude? As the self proclaimed biggest fan of Divergent that I am this was just offensive. I don’t like the rating, but it’s necessary.)

***PROCEED WITH CAUTION; MARKED SPOILERS LIE AHEAD***

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Posted in Book Reviews

Book Review: Carve the Mark by Veronica Roth

Posted on by Meredith @ Books by the Water

*This was previously posted on my Goodreads account

You see, I have a lot of mixed feelings about Carve the Mark. I hesitate to call it bad because I really do enjoy V Roth’s writing. However, it’s just Not Good. There were too many times where Cyra and Akos felt like Tris and Four and too many moments where I considered a big ole DNF to consider this good. Allow me to call Carve the Mark what it is: slow, book slumpish, but if you force yourself to sit down and read 200 pages of it (no, I definitely didn’t have to do this) it’s oddly…enjoyable? Yea, I’m confused about this too.

Rating: 2 Shells (trust me, I’m just as upset about this as you are)

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Posted in Book Reviews

Book Review: Caraval by Stephanie Garber

Posted on by Meredith @ Books by the Water

*this has been previously posted on my Goodreads account

Mama I made it! I made the painful trek through summer work (a trek so awful and long that it got me LITERALLY eight books behind on my challenge. I’m gonna pretend like I’m not at all to blame for this!), and I made it out alive. Cheers to the weekend! Thank goodness for a new, functioning laptop! I’m just happy to be here. And happy to talk about this book. Because it’s been a while and I’ve read like 16 pages of Legendary and have a new appreciation for this lush, magical story. So it doesn’t seem like things are going to fare well with Legendary, but that’s only because I loved so much of this book. And because, fight me on this, Scarlett is the superior sister and Tella really doesn’t even have a chance.

Rating: 5 Shells

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Posted in Book Reviews

Book Review: This Cruel Design by Emily Suvada

Posted on by Meredith @ Books by the Water

We’ve come full circle, kids. The first book I officially reviewed (not including one certain 4,000 word rant…ahem..The Selection) was This Mortal Coil. And here we are! One year and some months later reviewing This Cruel Design. This fact is irrelevant but there it is and now you can’t unlearn it! Anyways, How do you follow up the wild ride of This Mortal Coil? I mean, it’s like how they’re making a Frozen 2 and a Toy Story 4 in the same year. Can we even handle that? Will they be as good as their predecessors? Time will tell on those. But as far as This Cruel Design goes, I think it stands up well compared to the thrill-ride of This Mortal Coil.

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Rating: 5 Shells

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Posted in Reading Challenge Updates

January Wrap-Up: A month that sure was a thing

Posted on by Meredith @ Books by the Water

Yea…we don’t need to talk about this. But, let me give my various excuses for my only reading five books in January.

The thing is, I read a lot in November and December. Like, 9-10 books each month. And I know that that’s the norm for some people (Y’all are a whole different type of bibliophile. I am in awe of you.), but for me that is a HUGE AMOUNT OF TIME SPENT READING. I’m a slow reader, so you can rest assured that I, in fact, did not fly through my 300 page books. I spent around eight hours on them. But at least it wasn’t all in vain- I did complete my reading challenge! And that was so worth it.

Anyway, January was my month spent in book burn out. I tried to recover from my reading binges and didn’t force myself to pick up a book if I didn’t feel like it. So I was slumping and burned out and all around things weren’t looking so great. But, here are my books:

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Posted in Book Reviews

Book Review: Goodbye Days by Jeff Zentner aka Why I would trust Jeff Zentner with my life

Posted on by Meredith @ Books by the Water

Jeff Zentner, you have my heart. I’ve been reading a lot of contemporaries lately because, let’s be honest, I’m behind on my reading challenge (what else is new?) and I read through this genre a lot quicker than I do fantasy or sci-fi. So I picked this book up expecting maybe a cute romance or a nice, touching book on grief or healing (because Carver, the main character, loses his three best friends in a car accident that resulted from Carver sending his friend who was driving, Mars, a text), but I got something special here. So I really need to talk about this. Because I’m tired of the blurbs calling Zentner a John Green. Jeff Zentner is his own genius and while calling him a John Green might be seen as a compliment, it’s just not enough.

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Rating: 5 Shells

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