Tag: contemporary fiction

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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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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Mini Review: All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven

Posted on by Meredith @ Books by the Water

Some books are capable of transporting the reader to other worlds for moments when the book is directly in front of them. And that’s such a difficult thing to come by, just mere moments. However, other books, like this one, are so vivid that the world simply refuses to be left, even when the book is closed.

At least, that’s how I felt reading this. I had to read this book in one day (yes, had to) because when I wasn’t reading, my heart and mind were perpetually in Bartlett, Indiana. This story is just so hard to escape. The characters have such real and identifiable struggles that I empathized with them more than I think any other character I’ve had the pleasure to read about.

Rating: 5 Shells 

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