Fiction

Vicki Beautiful

2 Comments / 2016, Books in Bed, Favorites, Fiction, Kindle /

My friend Somer wrote a book. It’s horror, which makes sense because Somer loves to be scared and loves to scare people. I also enjoy reading horror novels so I was extra excited to buy Vicki Beautiful.

Until chapter two.

Good grief, Somer! Did you have to go there? REALLY? That was the most horribly awesome chapter, EVER.

It was so horribly awesome that I wasn’t sure I could continue. But I did — and then I couldn’t stop reading because OMG, really? REALLY???? NO WAY! OMG.

And as I got closer and closer to the end, I was more and more afraid about what was going to happen at the end.

Yep. That’s what I thought would happen.

OMG, Somer. REALLY?????

Totally awesome but shudder. It still makes me queasy just thinking about it.

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Dumplin’

2016, Audiobooks, Books in Bed, Cybil Challenge, Favorites, Fiction, Young Adult /

When it was time to leave Chicagoland, we were on the last disc of the audio version of Dumplin’. Grrr. So frustrating, particularly since it wasn’t available on Overdrive or Hoopla. HMPH.

But, we got lucky because the first thing I did when I picked up my Alachua County Library card was to head for the audiobooks and guess what was there waiting for us? DUMPLIN’!

Woot.

We finished it today. It was awfully cute but it kept giving me Dolly Parton earworms. (Also, I would have liked to know who won, darn it.) And, I’ll be honest and say that I didn’t expect the Willowdean in the beginning of the book to be the Willowdean in the middle of the book. And, I can’t decide if that’s good or not good.

I really don’t like it when teenagers have their acts TOO much together. It doesn’t ring true. So when the book started and Willowdean had her act together, I was skeptical. And for awhile there, I thought maybe the shift that seemed to occur was too big of a shift. But, as I thought more about it – it made more sense to me that she would have started to struggle more, or admit the struggle, with her body image as she got older, had to deal with changes in her friendships, relationships with boys, and the loss of her aunt. Makes total sense. I think.

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Blackthorn Key

2016, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Cybil Challenge, Fiction /

I really enjoyed Blackthorn Key and hope I remember to look for the sequels at some point down the line. Christopher is a good character. So is Tom. I am disappointed about one thing that happened, pretty early in the book but I understand why it did… I really hate it when characters I like die very early in the first book of a series. (And as TW said, Harry Potter must have been hard for me — and yes, yes it was.)

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Infandrous

2016, Books in Bed, Cybil Challenge, Favorites, Fiction, Young Adult /

It was a bit of a mistake to read Infandrous right after reading All the Rage… all the bad things that can happen to girls can get a little overwhelming and depressing when you’re reading about it constantly.

But, I really liked Infandrous except I’m not sure it read as YA. The myths scattered throughout the book went a long way towards making this one hell of a dark and deep novel. Not to mention “Felix”… I wonder if teens reading this would have realized who Felix was without having it spelled out at the end. I wish I knew a teen who might read it so I could find out, lol.

Anyway. I really liked this one. It’s one of my favorite books of the year, so far.

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