Show Us Your Books:: October Edition

It's time to link up with Steph and Jana for another edition of Show Us Your Books! I always wind up reading less than I want to, because sometimes I get stuck on a book that I just don't particularly like, but have a hard time leaving, which wastes time I could be spending reading something else I truly enjoy. I think this is one habit I need to break! But here's what I did get through this month:

The Sister's Club- Lauren Baratz-Logsted- 4 stars

From Goodreads: 
"Four women have little in common other than where they live and the joyous complications of having sisters. Cindy waits for her own life to begin as she sees her sister going in and out of hospitals. Lise has made the boldest move of her life, even as her sister spends every day putting herself at risk to improve the lives of others. Diana is an ocean apart from her sister, but worries that her marriage is the relationship separated by the most distance. Sylvia has lost her twin sister to breast cancer, a disease that runs in the family, and fears that she will die without having ever really lived.

When Diana places an ad in the local newsletter, Cindy, Lise, and Sylvia show up thinking they are joining a book club, but what they discover is something far deeper and more profound than any of them ever imagined."

My Thoughts:

First of all, I liked that the story was told from each person's point of view. And I absolutely loved Sylvia's character. Yes, she came off as kind of a bitch initially, but I feel like she was also the easiest to relate to (maybe a little too much like me), and would drop everything in a heartbeat for the people she cares about. Her words may seem harsh, but they are meant with love, and as a wake-up call because she believes in you and that you can do better. At the same time, she is scared as well, and though she may try her hardest to shut people out, she definitely needs these ladies, and is grateful when one breaks past her hard shell. This is how I felt about each of them:

Diana- annoying; when she went on and on about weight loss, I started skimming. 

Cindy- youngest, most naive, but also most open and able to change

Sylvia- my favorite, blunt

Lise- wannabe author, ex-college professor; I couldn't connect with her very well

I think the idea of the book club and how it evolved into just a group of women who liked to talk, drink, and be friends is exactly how my book club turned out; a book was chosen and spoken about loosely, but overall it was a place/time where we could get together and just talk. I thought the story progressed seamlessly, and each character had a clear voice. This was a quick read about love and friendship.

*This book was given to me by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Lies We Tell- Meg Carter- 2 stars

From Goodreads: 
"The last time Katy saw Jude was on a school trip, when Jude was attacked by a stranger and Katy ran away. Twenty years later, Jude is back, and her reappearance coincides with a series of unsettling incidents: a stranger appears in the downstairs flat; one night Katy’s house is vandalised; her mother is mugged and her home ransacked. And Jude seems to know an uncomfortable amount about Katy’s current life...

For fans of Gone Girl and Girl on the Train, THE LIES WE TELL is an addictive, complex and completely gripping psychological thriller in which present and past intertwine to devastating effect. Forced to revisit the same rocky waters of friendship and power they inhabited when they were fifteen, as the story reaches its explosive climax, Jude and Katy realise that when it comes to memory, truth and family – nothing and no-one are what they seem. "

My Thoughts:

I read this because it was described as a psychological thriller for lovers of Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train. Maybe I set my expectations too high based on that description, but more than half the time I thought Katy had some major mental issues, and I couldn't connect with her at all. In writing this, I suppose she did have a mental health condition, PTSD. But other than one or two incidents, the pieces and "bad things" that happened to her in present-day didn't seem to make any sense and many threads were left loose in the end. Switching between past and present sometimes left me confused, and I had to re-read certain parts. I did finish this because though some "mysteries" were easily solved before Carter straight up announced them, there were some that she revealed at the very end, and it kept me intrigued. However, I didn't like how the end left room for a follow-up book. 

*This book was given to me by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Eleanor & Park- Rainbow Rowell- 5 stars

From Goodreads: 
"Two misfits.
One extraordinary love.

Eleanor... Red hair, wrong clothes. Standing behind him until he turns his head. Lying beside him until he wakes up. Making everyone else seem drabber and flatter and never good enough...Eleanor.

Park... He knows she'll love a song before he plays it for her. He laughs at her jokes before she ever gets to the punch line. There's a place on his chest, just below his throat, that makes her want to keep promises...Park.

Set over the course of one school year, this is the story of two star-crossed sixteen-year-olds—smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try."

My Thoughts:

I absolutely adored this book. The only other thing I've read by Rainbow Rowell was Attachments, and this was completely different. It's YA, and I suppose it would be categorized as romance, but there was so much more. The characters were so well-developed, and it didn't seem as fake or predictive as some others I've read. I've read that some authors write in a very formulaic manner, especially within this genre, and it didn't feel that way for this novel. It was easy to relate to those initial feelings of a first love and the awkwardness that goes along with it. Maybe it's also because I was a bit of a nerd in high school, but this story hit home. It was descriptive in that I could actually picture not only the main characters, but the town and townspeople that were mentioned. I've heard that a lot of people didn't like the ending, but I thought it was pretty perfect. 

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Right now I'm struggling through The Martian. I'm only 30 pages in (where I've been stuck for, oh I don't know, going in 2 weeks?), and I still can't get into it. Erin mentioned that it picks up around page 60, so I'm trying to stick with it until at least then, but it's difficult. I'm starting to think something is wrong with me because pretty much everyone who's read it, especially in Bloglandia, loved it. I mean, I straight put it down to read Eleanor & Park, and I've never done that. What do you do when you just can't connect with a book, especially when it gets such rave reviews?