Recent Reading

Some thoughts on recent books, some completed, some still in progress:

Boat Girl by Melanie Neale- I grew up  a block away from the Tennessee River and we spent more nights on the boat than we did at the dinner table. I currently live on the banks of the Missouri River, and while I'm not on the boat every night (this IS South Dakota!), I spend a large portion of the summer on or near the water. When that fails, I stare at the river and let it calm me. I had high hopes that this book would feel familiar to me. Sadly, I was not a fan. From the very first page where the author discusses her memory of being in the womb, I found it hard to connect with her. Her life on an apartment sized sailboat was so far removed from what I experienced on the river that it felt exotic, which would have been fine if I connected to her as a person as well.  I find myself still on the hunt for the perfect memoir of life on (and by) the river.

The Perfect Match by Kristan Higgins- This is my second Higgins. The first one was funny and while it took me a while to read it, I ultimately enjoyed it. This one was not so lucky. If it takes your hero and heroine 50 pages to even meet each other, your book may need editing. Plus the book all but opens with her seducing her longtime friend-with-benefits.  I get that the scene is a set up for why she’ll agree to a marriage of convenience but it just didn’t work for me. The writing wasn’t smooth and the romance didn’t work for me. This is likely because I did not enjoy Honor or Tom.  The plot had a lot of potential for me, but I ultimately ended up feeling pretty indifferent to the whole book. I think Higgans is destined to be an author I skip without a personal recommendation from a trusted friend.

Mr. Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloane- I'm still reading and enjoying this one. It's a little bit geeky, a little bit bookish, and quite a bit smart. Clay finds himself working the night shift in a 24 hour bookstore, with very few customers. Some of the rules of the store are a bit... odd... and Clay starts to investigate.  It's about nerds, computers, google, hackers, and charming old men. (Well, charming so far anyway.) I only wish I could find this as an e-book from my library.

A Lady Most Lovely by  Jennifer Delamere - I requested this one from NetGalley based largely on the beautiful cover (Am I right? Beautiful.) . I'm only a couple chapters in, but so far it's going well. The conversations are a bit choppy and I failed to realize it was a Christian romance, but neither are overwhelming, yet.  It also has a lot of incomplete detail about book one, but I'm hoping that fades as I get farther into this one.