Book review: The Royal We

Title:  The Royal We

Author: Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan

Format: ebook

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Summary:  American Bex Porter's life is changed forever when she goes overseas to Oxford for school and meets Nick, the heir to the British Throne.  Years later, on the eve of their wedding, Bex reflects on their love story and if past transgressions can be forgiven in time for one of the most anticipated events of the century.

Review:  This book, written by the Fug Girls, is pure, amazing fluff.  Like light, airy cotton candy.  If you ever wondered what Princess Kate's life was like as she met Prince William, this is the escape for you.  Sure, Kate is made an American and Pippa is a twin instead of a younger sister, but we all know what this book is about.  If anything, it makes Kate a little more interesting.  Kate is such a perfect princess, sometimes I want to see her break out of her shell a bit.

Time to write: 2:29

Book review: That night

Title: That Night
Author: Chevy Stevens
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Format: Audiobook

Summary: Toni Murphy is a typical teenager--she has a boyfriend that she's crazy about, her little sister annoys her and she fights with her parents.  Toni's also bullied at school by a group of four girls.  These four girls seem bent on ruining Toni's life.

Toni's life changes forever when Toni's sister is killed and Toni and her boyfriend are charged and convicted with her murder.  After serving her time, Toni's back in her hometown.  She wants to prove her innocence and find her sister's killer.

Review:  I finished this book months ago and I'm just getting to writing the review.  I initially gave this three stars but I'm going to bump it up to four.  I really liked Toni and her toughness, as well as her drive to prove her innocence in a town where she was considered a bad seed.  For obvious reasons not a lot of people (including her parents) trusted her when she came back to town.  I suppose she really had nothing to lose.  A good murder mystery if you're into those!

Time to write: 4:22

Book review: Sisterland

Title: Sisterland
Author: Curtis Sittenfeld
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Summary: Kate and Violet, twin sisters, have known since they were little that they were different because of their "senses".  Kate has ignored her skills and has focused on a suburban life near St. Louis raising her kids with her husband.  Violet, the more eccentric of the sisters, has used her skills to make a living.  When Violet senses that a major earthquake is coming to St. Louis, the sisters are reunited and Kate is torn between shunning her sister and quietly wondering that Violet may be right.

Review: I read this book a few months ago but I'm behind on my reviews.  However, even when I'm behind I start the draft and put my rating in and then come back to it.  When I came upon this draft I couldn't remember what the book was about at first.  I knew it was about identical twin sisters but I couldn't recall any details beyond that.  When I reread the summary online I thought, "huh, only three stars?  Because this was considered to be one of the best novels of 2014."  However, I am always wary of those raves.  What can I say?  I'm a skeptic.  I thought about upping the rating to four stars but I can't really remember what happens in the end, so clearly it wasn't memorable enough for my terrible memory.  I guess this book was good enough?  I think I liked it, but the inability to remember why leaves me at three stars.

Time to write:4:11

Book review: this dark road to mercy

Title: this dark road to mercy
Author: wiley cash
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Summary:  Twelve-year-old Easter Quillby and her 6-year-old sister Ruby are living in a foster home after the death of their mom.  Their dad Wade relinquished his rights to them a few years back so the girls don't have much of a relationship with him.  He appears out of nowhere and kidnaps them in the middle of the night.  Meanwhile, somebody is hunting down Wade for some money he stole and a caseworker is trying to find the girls before Wade gets too far with them.

Review: You know a book is good when it's hard to put down and you can't wait to pick it back up again.  I waffled between four and five stars.  This book rotates the point of views between Easter, the guy hunting the dad down and the case worker trying to catch up with them.  Even while writing this review I couldn't decide, thus I landed on the 4.5.  I initially didn't think the viewpoint of the killer added any value but the more I think about it, the more it does.  If anything, I wished it were longer--that's ultimately the reason I didn't give it 5.  Selfish?  Maybe.