I think I can get through these quick reads. I love romance. I particularly love historical. These are  some of the Netgalley books that I am committed to reading and reviewing this year, ASAP. 

Black History Month

#ReadSoulLit

My Expectations Before Reading

I braved the hype and finally read The Fault in Our Stars. Before I read this book, I knew surprisingly little about it, considering the massive popularity and the release of the movie. For the most part, I managed to skip past all the spoilers, especially on Tumblr. Of course I knew that John Green wrote it and that it was about cancer. Oh and I didn't manage to escape the metaphor of the cigarette. Then again, I couldn't make heads or tails of it, so that doesn't really count.

In terms of expectations, I tried to ignore all the hype surrounding this book. Still, I couldn't ignore that John Green wrote The Fault in Our Stars—not necessarily because of who he is but rather because I've read two of his stories before. The first was A Cheertastic Christmas Miracle in Let It Snow, and the second was An Abundance of Katherines.

A Cheertastic Christmas Miracle amused me greatly, and I thoroughly enjoyed Green's writing style for the story that he had written. As for An Abundance of Katherines, it's one of those books I disliked so much, I still am irked just thinking about that book. After reading The Fault in Our Stars, I've decided that John Green is a hit-and-miss kind of author for me.

My Thoughts on The Fault in Our Stars

Mixed Feelings

What I enjoyed most about The Fault in Our Stars was the prose. Paradoxically, I didn't very much care for Hazel's voice. The writing style itself was clear and concise, with few words wasted. But the voice of Hazel's left me unconvinced.

I hated hurting him. Most of the time, I could forget about it, but the inexorable truth is this: They might be glad to have me around, but I was the alpha and the omega of my parents’ suffering.

Moments like these sucked me right into The Fault in Our Stars. Yet that was more because of the linguistic flair than because of the story or the characters. Like I said, in terms of the prose, it was a pleasure reading this book. However, this also worked against the book. The signature wittiness I found endearing in A Cheertastic Christmas Miracle somehow resurfaced in The Fault in Our Stars. Instead of charming me into loving The Fault in Our Stars, that built a barrier that prevented me from fully immersing myself into the life of Hazel.

Lack of Depth

Either way, the characters themselves were likeable enough to me, even though they lacked the depth I'd expect from people who were on the brinks of their deaths. They lived day-to-day, not knowing if that day would be their last. Somehow that didn't translate. In fact, the frailness and fragility of Hazel didn't even came across, in my opinion. 

Sweet Romance

In terms of the romance, the relationship between Hazel and Gus was very sweet and innocent, and I couldn't help but root for Gus. He pursued Hazel with all his heart, was unrelenting, fully treasuring every moment that he had with Hazel. I liked that for all the time that they spent together, they didn't sideline Isaac, who was Gus' best friend.

Witty vs. Solemn Tone

Sadly, even though I got to know Hazel, Gus and Isaac pretty well in terms of their ailments, likes and dislikes, I just didn't connect. At no point during the book did I feel inclined to cry, even though I tend to be very emotionally involved in the books that I read. I wasn't moved much by the story. I think in part that's because I felt the approach to the issues at hand was too light-hearted and a bit too concerned with wittiness.

It's not that I expect a book such as The Fault in Our Stars to be solemn every single moment but glossing over the worst sides of cancer, and indulging so much in the romance between Hazel and Gus left a lot to be desired in terms of the pain that they suffered physically, mentally and emotionally because of their terminal illnesses.

This review first appeared on Word Revel.

When I was younger, I used to read a lot of murder mysteries with female protagonists. I read one book after the other. Sadly, I don't remember the authors or the titles but I do know where they used to reside on the library shelves. As it is, most of the books published in the late 1990s and early 2000s have mostly been taken from those shelves, so I'll probably never know again which books I read. But there is one thing I do remember: all those clichés! It's no wonder that after two or three dozen, I was done with them.

Prep School Confidential, I figured, would satisfy that nostalgic need for fluffy teen murder mysteries, after which I would just chuck it aside and move on. That is not the case. I am not moving on. I picked up the second book and plan to read it this month. All the clichés I remember from the murder mysteries I used to read can be found in Prep School Confidential but they were so much more than that. Taylor took all the good good elements of a whodunnit novel and added layers of depth and developed the characters throughout the books.

I was easily sucked into the book, although I was afraid at first that this book would be simply a cross between Gossip Girl and mystery or something. The first couple of chapters featured spoilt rich kids, and I was all ready to bet against myself that I wouldn't even finish the book. Turns out I not only finished reading the book, I finished liking it very much.

The characters were diverse, the protagonist's voice was relatable, there were plot twists and yet it still managed to be the light book I was hoping for when I started reading. I wanted a quick read and I got. Albeit not because it was fluffy but rather because I couldn't put the book down and kept flipping the pages to see what would happen next.

This review is also available at dudettereads.com.

I think The Almost Truth is a great book for times when nothing but a light-hearted book will do. We all know those days when we want to read but our minds just won't focus on anything that requires us to think all too much for ourselves. Not to knock The Almost Truth for being light-hearted; it's just that the roadmap of a plot was extremely clear for a book that reads like a mystery. I easily predicted almost every turn in events, such that what should have been plot twists hardly surprised me.

Sadie was a likeable character with a believable voice. Despite her lies and con activities, I could relate to her as a reader. She had ambition and never let her goals out of her sight. Her relationship with her best friend, Brendan, was complex and I appreciated the nuances that were brought out between them. Their relationship deviated from the strict camps of pure platonic friendship and full on romance. Eileen Cook's decision to explore the in-between fit well with Sadie as a character who didn't have qualms cheating people out of a few bucks but never more on principle. Sadie knew she wasn't right to cheat people but she also knew what she thought was wrong.

The Almost Truth was a quick read once I got down to it proper. The narrative flowed and the plot didn't slow down at any point. Besides Sadie though, I didn't really feel like I got to know the other characters much. They waltzed in and out of various scenes but beyond their actions and a few words, there wasn't much to them. Then when I came to the last couple of chapters, I felt like these weren't nearly as developed as the preceding chapters. They came across like plot points simply strung up to conclude the book. Instead of seizing the end to create more depth, I felt they were appended in order to come to a resolution. That kind of sucked a bit of my appreciation out of the creativity that The Almost Truth was based on. After all, it's not everyday that I get to peer into the head of a con artist.

This review is also available at dudettereads.com.

Heartbeat was a relatively good book for me, although I didn't think it was exceptional. No matter how much I tried, I couldn't connect emotionally. For a book such as this, not connecting emotionally feels like a downfall because the whole concept of it is actually very heartbreaking. Instead, I felt rather detached. Maybe because the protagonist, Emma, was such a detestable character. The subject matter and plot however were original, which is why my interest in the book itself didn't waver all too much.

Emma was so self-absorbed and so filled with self-pity, I felt a strong urge to shake her for at least half of the book. But I did understand her to some degree. Through an inexplicable feat, she managed to make sense as the world's most spoilt brat on earth. I could see why she was so upset but she was so self-involveded, I found it difficult to care much about her.

Still, the issue about life and death definitely got me thinking. While I disagreed completely with Emma's assessment of the whole situation, seeing her brain-dead mother couldn't have been easy in any sense of the word. It's natural that she was overcome with such an exceeding grief. Yet taking her mother off life support wouldn't have been any easier a decision. That's the core of Heartbeat that made me read on—the moral dilemma of sustaining a life.

Moral ambiguity is always difficult to grapple with, especially when it causes such great emotional distress for everyone involved. Weighing the costs of particular choices can't be measure in absolute terms, so the explorations of life and death, love and hate, were extremely difficult in this novel. It's stories like these that make me appreciate fiction more because it allows us to think about our own lives and reflect on who we are and what we believe in.

This review is also available on dudettereads.com.