February Reads

Explosive Eighteen (A Stephanie Plum novel) by Janet Evanovich

I read the most recent Plum novel to start off February. Goodness I love this series! It’s so silly, so slapstick at times. I can’t wait to see the first movie production, based on the first book One for the Money. I’ve heard mixed reviews but they are all from people who never read the book series. I need to be the real judge!

Anyway, in 18, Stephanie has returned from a mysterious trip to Hawaii, finds herself yet again dodging multiple people determined to kill her for various reasons, and still trying to make a living being a bondswoman. You just never know what to expect from her and her crew and this book didn’t disappoint. For serious… read this series if you need something light and fun! It is!

I went from “light and fun” in early February to the COMPLETE opposite towards the middle of the month. These next two books were doozies…

Girls in Trucks by Katie Crouch

My mom found this one (and the next one, below) at Big Lots I think on a clearance table. Who knew that they’d be so awesome! Anyway, in Girls in Trucks, the narrator (Sarah…cool) takes you through her life as a debutante. She is part of the Camellia Society in Charleston, but does not exactly see herself as following that path forever. See, they raise and train you to be this perfect little lady ready for mommy-hood and prepare you to be the perfect wife to the perfect husband. That doesn’t really fly with Sarah. (With this Sarah either, for that matter)! She sees all of the flaws in that and actually wants more out of life. So, she ends up moving to NYC and the story follows her into adulthood and how she learns to be basically the opposite of a Camellia. By the end, though, I think she realizes that ‘home’ is where you belong, amongst those who know you the best.

I like books that center around southern life and customs (though, no, no debutante here thank goodness)! I also loved the style of writing in this novel. It was …stream of consciousness, maybe? The book is not told chapter by chapter, in an exact order. It was unique that way. The narrator basically just takes you through her thoughts and reactions to things, and occasionally jumps back to tell a story of something that’s already happened. Some stories were sad, some downright disturbing, but all were entertaining. I found myself loving a lot of the “quotes” contained in the novel, too. So much that I wish I had flagged them somehow.

“He doesn't bother to talk, and I don't either, but we look. We stare. And for a moment, I am sure of everything. For a second, with my bare feet on the fresh thick grass, there has not been, for any of us, even one mistake.”

Pick this one up if you want something a little different and a little thought-provoking! And if, like me, you love the south and being a southern girl!

Sleepwalking in Daylight by Elizabeth Flock

All I can say is that this book ripped me up, chewed me up, and spit me out. The book is narrated by a teenage girl and her adopted mother. It’s strange. I’m 25, right, so it was only 9 years ago that I was 16. I can remember being 16 so clearly. I remember the angst. The frustration. The sheer hatred of anything and everything for no apparent reason, aka, hormones. I remember the boys, fighting with my parents, and wishing I could be someone else. So current-me could easily identify with the teenage narrator, Cammy.

But I am now an adult. So another part of me could identify with the mom, Sam, even though I’m not a mom and certainly not middle aged. I was torn between sympathies. These characters and this story tore me up, period. Cammy’s depression rang clear in my mind. Her melodramatic poetry is not unlike the kind I wrote in high school. She kept a journal – so did I. I GOT her. But then the mom… so lost, confused, ‘what do I do with my kid?’ I don’t know. I GOT her, too. These characters ripped me to pieces and left me all sorts of contemplative. All sorts of muddled up, like I need to go back and read it all again, but I won’t because really, quite frankly, it was depressing.

There was no shining light in this novel. It was raw, real, and hard. It hurt. My heart hurts. I want to fix these people, but they’re not real. This book SPIT ME OUT and I love when they do that. I love when they make you feel. Their sadness was so real to me. So palpable. Like I could reach right into the pages and touch their faces. Talk to them. Yep, their pain and stuck-in-life-ness, I’ve felt before and will again someday I’m sure. I am torn between loving this book and hating it for its hurtfulness. Not exactly a ringing endorsement for any of you, but trust me, if you like when a book is all emotion, and maybe not so much linear plot, pick this one up. If you like the way a book can knock you upside the head and send you staggering around like a fool, than pick this up. For a book about people who no longer feel anything, this book woke me up to feeling a LOT of things.

Naturally, after reading THAT I needed something really, really simple and light, so I picked up another Evanovich novel – one from her pre-Plum days.

The Grand Finale by Janet Evanovich

This book was just cute. It started off with a pizza delivery girl falling out of a tree, onto her pizza, and being rescued by the most handsome man she’s ever seen. He’s an inventor, a teacher, and super rich but not conceited about it. Our main character, Berry (short for Lingonberry, of course) is a divorcee who owns a pizza parlor, goes to college to make something more of her life, and lives with three little old ladies that she recently “adopted.”

Much like Evanovich’s other novels, this one is filled with self-deprecating humor and a lot of silly. It definitely made me smile and I enjoyed the teasing, flirtatious banter between Berry and her new guy. I was not too thrilled with the way it ended – ever read a book that is good….good….good and then it just ends abruptly? Like the author just needed an ending and bada-bing, there it is? Well, that’s how The Grand Finale ended…with a not-so-grand finale! Other than that, it served its purpose. It was light-hearted and fun and didn’t dive into anything deep and serious like the two that I read before it. It ended February on a good note.

I’m in the midst of a new book, now that we’re in March. I can’t wait to tell you about it and the others I am sure to read.