Review: Smile

Title Smile
By Raina Telgemeier
Genre Graphic Novel, Middle grade
Pages 224
Rating ⭐️⭐️

Synopsis
Growing up is hard enough with grade school to junior high transitions, crushes on boys, dealing with snarky friends, breakouts and puberty. Throw in some serious dental issues and poor Raina might not survive.

First Sentence
 Smile!!

• Graphic novels really aren't my thing because I like more depth but I adore how quickly you can read them. This whole book took me about 20 minutes to read. 
• This book is totally relateable. I never had to get braces but I had to go to the dentist so much I ended up with a irrational fear of dentists and dental work...luckily I grew out of it. But reading this story and seeing the great pics that went with it brought back some memories. 
• I love that the story AND the art is by the author and that it's a memoir of sorts. 
• I liked the style of art work. Except the pics of the bloody dental work and the gauze. *shudders*
• A cute read that pre-teens will love. For me it wasn't a favorite but I liked it well enough. 

Should you read it?

It's a good clean read with fun pictures and a relatable MC. If graphic novels are your thing (or your kids) then yes, read it.  

Review: Winter

Title Winter (Lunar Chronicles 4)
By Marissa Meyer
Genre YA Scifi/Fantasy
Pages 824
Rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Synopsis
The exciting conclusion to the Lunar Chronicles finds Cinder and and the gang traveling to Luna for a final showdown with the evil queen Levana.


First Sentence
Winter's Toes had become ice cubes.

• Finally! I feel like it's been forever waiting for this one. I'm glad I finally got to read the exciting conclusion to this fun series. 
• My new favorite couple in this series is Winter and Jacin. I adored watching their relationship grow and learning more about them and their past. 
• Winter is an interesting girl. It's almost funny to read about her odd behavior but mostly sad. I was most excited to read her book and that excitement was amplified when we got a glimpse of her in Cress. I thoroughly enjoyed her character. She was sweet and caring and, yes, a bit naive but I loved her. 
• I really wanted to love this series as a whole but this book did have it's issues. It wasn't perfect. I was frustrated with its length. It was way too long. Unnecessarily long. It's like the author kept dragging it on because she couldn't bear to part with her characters. I get it but it didn't need to be that long. 
• I didn't like how easily the people of Luna joined Cinder. I found it a bit unbelievable. 
• All in all I loved the series. It's easy to overlook some minor annoyances when you love the characters and world the author has created. 

Should you read it?

Obviously! I think whatever you like reading that this series will appeal to you. 

In My Thoughts This Fine Day #11

It's been a while since I did one of these posts. Since I'm still working my way through Winter (very good but long!) I don't have any book reviews to post. So hey, how about some random thoughts. Enjoy!


1. Book Shelves
So most of us book lovers just love organizing and reorganizing our book shelves. I know I do but lately I've been trying to decide something a little different. See, I was always taught that books are to be lined up with the front of the shelf. So that's how I do it. But I've noticed that others push their books to the back of the shelf and put little knick knacks in front of them. I think it's actually very cute and heaven knows I need more room for my knick knacks but...the dusting. Sigh! What to do? What to do? What do you do and like best?

2. This video explains how I feel about the cold and snow to a T.

I actually like winter better than summer but I'm so tired of being cold!

3.I'm SOOOO excited about my reading plans this year. Now before you ask what I'm going to read let me just cut you off and say, I don't know yet. I do know that I'm doing all adult books for the month of February and can't wait to go into my library and pick out what I'll be reading. And then...! I plan on getting some series finally read. Usually I read a book in a series and then read something else but not this year. This year I plan on finishing some series I'm in the middle of and starting AND finishing some others. Don't ask but this makes me so happy and excited! You can follow me on Instagram if you'd like. I'll be posting pics of my monthly TBR books each month!

Review: The Year of Magical Thinking

Title The Year of Magical Thinking
By Joan Didion
Genre Adult not fiction
Pages 227
Rating ⭐️⭐️


Synopsis
Joan Didion's recollections and thoughts as recorded the year after her husbands passing.

First Sentence
Life changes fast.

• Obviously I read this one for book club. It's not a book I would normally pick up. I did vote to read this one, though, because, well, look at the title. It leads you to believe this will be a book of hope; a book full of stories of this woman's life and how it changes after her husband dies. Alas, it was not magical at all.
• Random and sad are the best words to describe this book. And maybe repetitive. She kept telling us about the events of her husbands death over and over! 
• I'm not heartless. I've never lost a spouse. I can only imagine the pain and despair that would bring me. I did lose my father when I was only 19 and while I grieved, mourned and despaired, it was not at all like this woman. Maybe because it was my father and not my spouse but still.
• How do you flat out say you didn't like a book about a real person's feelings upon losing the love of their life? You can't. I will say, I couldn't connect. I felt no attachment or sympathy for the author and I wanted to. She sounded like she had this perfectly golden life traveling and writing with her husband. She made it sound so beautiful. It didn't match up with the woman we read about in this book...and maybe that's the point. 

Should you read it?

No I can't recommend this one. Only to those who love books like this. AKA, memoirs and random notes. 

Persevere or Give Up?

When you're reading a book and it's just not doing it for you what do you do? Stick with it and hope for a nice ending to bring it all together or give up. Life's too short to waste reading a book you're not liking. Right?

I struggle with this decision. It used to be that I'd keep reading a book no matter what and force my way through it. Then, as I joined this blogging community and Goodreads and my TBR list got bigger than Mt Everest, I started to realize maybe, just maybe, it wasn't so bad to just give up on a book I'm not enjoying. The problem with this way of thinking is this: I've read quite a lot of books that I really was not enjoying and then, suddenly, BAM! It's has this awesome ending! What if I hadn't finished it? I would have missed out!  I call this Readers Regret. When I give up on a book I always wonder if I'd stuck with it, if I would have liked it.

Some people say there's a way around this. If you're not liking a book and want to give up, they say, just flip to the ending and see if it's worth finishing. Well, I have a problem with that. Reading the ending without context it like popping a delectable dessert in you mouth and swallowing with out really chewing it, savoring it, TASTING it. You know? So I can't do it. I'm either all in or all out. No flipping ahead for me.

On the other hand I've stuck with very long painful reads only to shut the book with rage building inside. I'm furious that I stuck with it, persevered and for what?! The crappiest book with the crappiest ending ever! Argh!

So what's the right decision? I don't know, I just don't know.


via GIPHY

So what about you?  Do you ever have regrets about giving up on a book? Do you think it's worth sticking with a book till the end? And how do you know if you should stick with it or not?