Monthly Archives: March 2012

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The Face Thief: A Novel by Eli Gottlieb

I really enjoyed this book. It was a great look into the minds of people and how one person can use knowledge to completely manipulate others and become the perfect criminal.

It was hard in the beginning to see how each story would tie together. The lives of John Potash and Lawrence Billings are very different, separated by the country and seemingly not connected at all. But as the story unravels, you can see just how Billings’s actions, through Margot, directly affect the life of Potash.

And then you have the story of Margot, told as she recovers from a horrible “accident.” She can’t remember who she is, but slowly, her life comes back to her. You see what led to her being the person she is and you see that she was good at one point, but life happens and you see through her slowly recovered memories what made her the perfect criminal she is throughout the rest of the novel.

What I enjoyed most about this book is I was less interested in figuring out the “who” of the crime, and more invested in the “why.” I wanted to know more about the people and their actions instead of trying to figure out what happened.

I greatly enjoyed the look into human action and what can lead a person to make the choices they do. It was a wonderful read and I plan on picking up Gottlieb’s other books soon.

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The Future of Us by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler

Jay Asher absolutely moved me when I read “Thirteen Reasons Why” and if I’m remembering correctly, I didn’t get out of bed for a couple days after so I could recoup from that experience. So when I saw his name attached to this book, I knew I had to give it a read.

It’s certainly not as deep as 13 Reasons, but it still has an important message to convey. I felt that in making Emma the vain, worrisome character they did, Asher and Mackler got the point across. Don’t worry so much about the future that you forget to enjoy today. I spent much of the novel being annoyed with Emma. She was way too worried about not getting her perfect future when Josh gets his. It was a competition with her and it was difficult for me to like her much. But by the end of the novel, I understood why she was like that and I don’t think the novel would have been as good had she been the perfect person.

And Josh! I loved him. He was sweet and nice and wonderful. He was curious about the future, but he didn’t want to make huge changes to it when it was uncertain what those changes would be. He realized that they might be able to change the future, but once changed, they can’t undo it. He <i>got</i> it and I loved that. He was happy in his present and happy in his future and that was enough for him.

I do wish some of the plotlines had been tied up a little better, but I can understand that the book had reached its end and those little plots weren’t as necessary to the overall story.

This was a great book and I devoured it. I’ll definitely be recommending it to my friends, not only for the great story, but the nice little trip down 90’s memory lane.

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The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith

I don’t really know what the statistical probability of love at first sight is, but I fell in love with this book at first read.

It was sweet with a touch of bitter reality and a happy ending. It’s a quick read, but a good one. The entire book takes place in the span of a day and I was incredibly impressed with how Smith was able to pace the book and make it flow easily. It never felt rushed or drawn out, but everything seemed to happen right when it should. I never once thought, “How is she going to make this day last an entire book?” or “there’s no way she’ll be able to wrap this up the right way in the time left.” I’m in love with how Smith told this story.

And the characters! Hadley was the perfect teen. She wasn’t too old for her 17 years, but she wasn’t too young. She was what I’d expect of a 17 year old being forced to go to her father’s wedding to a woman she partially blames for her parent’s divorce. She felt the anger towards her dad I’d expect, but she was also mature enough to have a life realization moment and grow from it. Oliver was a delightful British boy with just enough quirky to keep me smiling. He was sweet and funny and wonderful.

I loved this book and I’ll definitely be reading it again whenever I need a fast, sweet pick me up read. It’s the perfect book to read when you just need a little love story.

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The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

I’m biased when it comes to stories like this. I don’t have cancer, but I do have an illness that will one day kill me. I can understand the emotions Green wrote about better than a lot of people.

However, I just couldn’t connect with this book. The two main characters seemed like two halves of the same coin. Yes, teens can have deep, thoughtful discussions about life and death and what it all means. But they don’t always use big words and extreme metaphors to do it. They don’t sound like 30 year old trapped in teen bodies. I get that these are Green’s characters and he can write them how he wants. But I think I would have liked reading these teen’s words if they spoke like teens. You can have the same meaningful talks without coming across as slightly pretentious.

I’ll admit to not crying once during this book. I didn’t even tear up. Maybe that makes me heartless, but there was just something missing and I think it goes back to how the characters thought and talked. They weren’t teens in my head. It wasn’t a teen romance centered on teens with cancer facing death. Facing a terminal illness makes you grow up a lot faster than anyone else, it’s true. But it still doesn’t make you an adult. It makes you a teen with some of the worst cards life can deal.

The whole plot around Van Houten just felt unrealistic and forced. This book could have been just as thought provoking without the trip to Amsterdam. You don’t need a huge trip to someplace special to have the same impact on readers.

For all the hype that surrounded this book, I felt extremely let down. It wasn’t what I thought it would be and left me feeling a little more annoyed than sad.