I've gotten into a really, really bad habit lately. I check out more books than I can conceivably read, so I don't even read them all. I start them, and then often will say "Hey, this book is really good" and skip to the end.
(Sometimes I say, "This book is not keeping my interest" and skip to the end, but the result is the same.)
My new standard of whether a book is actually
really good is when I actually read the whole thing (even if I skipped to the end first). I thought, since the year is half over, I'd share with you some of these books. Probably all of them. Which means this is going to be a long list.
I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Salt Lake County Library Services for introducing "Reading History" at the end of January so I wouldn't have to remember what I read. It's all there on the website for my perusal. However, when I summarize the book for you, I'll just be going off what I remember and not what the library says. More fun that way.
Here we go.
Red by Allison Cherry -- In a town where having red hair is key to everything, the main girl has a secret. She's also in high school. I have a soft spot for high school stories.
Across a Star-Swept sea by Diana Peterfruend -- It's a retelling of The Scarlet Pimpernel and that should be enough. (Set in the same dystopian world as For Darkness Shows the Stars which I also loved.)
Slayers: Friends and Traitors by C.J. Hill -- dragons? Also teenagers. Teenagers are so great.
Women and the Priesthood: What One Mormon Woman Believes by Sheri Dew -- It was an excellent perspective.
I Will Lead You Along: The Life of Henry B. Eyring -- I had to check this book out twice in order to finish it, but it was so worth it to see how a man of God has lived his life.
Palace of Spies by Sarah Zettel -- most of what I remember about this book was that I had it on hold for four months and was starting to think it was never coming (I was #1 in line). Also that I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked it. Court intrigue and stuff.
The Shadow Throne by Jennifer A. Nielsen -- finishes up the trilogy begun in The False Prince.
The Vanishing Thief by Kate Parker -- It's a Victorian Bookshop mystery! I'm not sure I'll remember to ever check back later for sequels, but I did like this first one.
Cress by Marissa Meyer -- I really like the direction these are taking. It's a retelling of Rapunzel, sequel to Cinder and Scarlet.
These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman -- He's a common soldier risen above his station due to heroism. She is heiress to the entire world, basically. When their spaceship crashes on an unknown world or something, they must figure things out.
Doon by Carey Corp & Lorie Langdon -- These two girls end up on Brigadoon and they have really hot guys chasing after them or something. I loved the review on the library website ("The main characters used a lot of slang words and were always talking about how 'gorgeous' these guys were. Would not recommend.")
Roomies by Sara Zarr and Tara Altebrando -- teenager stories are my weakness. These two girls end up being assigned as college roommates and strike up an email conversation to get to know each other before the school year. What a summer!
The Shadow Prince by Bree Despain -- Um, a son of Hades or something gets sent to the real world to pick up a "Persephone" but the one he's assigned is not going to come easily. Also some end-of-the-world plots probably.
Doomed by Tracy Deebs -- Okay first off her dad names her Pandora, then he tricks her into uploading a virus that basically destroys the world. Good going, dad.
Death Sworn by Leah Cypress -- This sorceress gets sent to the assassins (after her previous predecessors mysteriously disappeared). There's some plotty conspiracies and magic and stuff.
Rebel Belle by Rachel Hawkins -- This girl ended up becoming some protector or something
right before Cotillion. Protecting this guy that she's always had sparks with (the bad kind, totally the bad kind). I laughed out loud like 20 pages in.
The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski -- The general's daughter bids more than she meant to on a slave, who is not the most slave-like slave ever. Do they fall in love? Does he totally ruin her life?
Dangerous by Shannon Hale -- teenagers + superheroes. Plus diversity, which is important. If you haven't read this book yet I don't know why.
The Cracks in the Kingdom by Jaclyn Moriarty -- I only just read this (the library website goes by checkout date, and I renewed this a couple times). I loved it so much. Sometimes I skimmed a little of the world-building/philosophy stuff to get to the story, but when the third one comes out I will definitely read A Corner of White and this one again, slowly, to appreciate them. Um, this girl that lives in Cambridge notices a letter stuck in a parking meter. It's from a boy from The Kingdom of Cello, which is totally a different dimension! (Thats's the summary of the first book.) They each have major issues on their sides of the crack, which puts a strain on their developing friendship.
Deep Blue by Jennifer Connelly -- It is a Disney Hyperion book and it reads kind of like a movie. It is mermaids.
The House at Rose Creek by Jenny Proctor -- a Whitney award finalist for 2013, so I thought I'd check it out. This girl has a high-powered job but then she inherits her childhood home. And (spoiler) converts to Mormonism.
Mile 21 by Sarah Dunster -- a Whitney award finalist for 2013 (actually it might have won). She's at BYUI and a widow, but she has to live in approved housing and go to the singles ward.
Plus One by Elizabeth Fama -- The world is divided into people that live in the daytime, Rays, and those that must live in the nighttime, Smudges. Sol, a Smudge, is determined to kidnap her new niece, a Ray, so her grandfather can meet her before he dies. It doesn't go all that well (no thanks to a Ray boy who keeps saving her). This is my kind of book.
Also Known As by Robin Benway -- She is an international spy (a good guy spy) that on her first solo mission gets to go to high school for the first time. Her target: a really hot guy. Things happen. Probably even explosions. I have the sequel checked out right now but haven't read it yet. I have hopes for it, though.
Pivot Point by Kasie West -- Confession: I didn't read this one. This is one that I said "This is really good!" and skipped to the end and then said, "That was really good!" But you guys should read it. I think it won the Whitney Award for 2013 (at least it was a finalist). This girl lives in a place where they have certain abilities. Hers is to live out two diverging timelines from one choice, to see what happens. (Then she comes back to 'the present' and makes her choice based on what she learned in her 'future-seeing'.)
Oh, I guess that's it. The other ten or so books on my reading history I haven't quite read yet. I'll have to hit them at the end of the year.
