Tag Archives: Contemporary

These are the books that fall into the contemporary novel genre.

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The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh

I wanted to love this book, I really did. Using flowers to convey feelings is something I knew a little bit about, but not as much as I’d like. I was hoping this book would provide a bit more of an insight into that language, but was left a little bit disappointed by the end.

Victoria as a character was a bit difficult to connect with and I spent the first part of the book really annoyed with her as a person and I really couldn’t find it in me to feel even a little bit of sympathy for her. The next part made me feel some sympathy, but I was still annoyed with her. The third part of the book left me resenting her a little bit, even though it was the most sympathy I had for her during the entire book. The final part of the book left me with hope for her and her life as she finally started to see a tiny glimmer of what everyone else saw within her during the rest of the novel.

Usually, I have to feel a strong connection with a character to enjoy a book. However, with this book, I think the disconnect between Victoria and myself was what made me keep reading. I wasn’t feeling what she was and I kept thinking to myself, “I would never do that,” but I needed to see if she could find it in herself to turn her life around against the odds and make something of herself.

The reason I wasn’t completely in love with the book is some of Victoria’s actions just felt too extreme and I couldn’t see any way to make them justified make her completely redeemable. Maybe that was the point of the book, but even with the ending, I just couldn’t feel towards Victoria what I needed to feel.

This was an interesting book, and I’m glad I read it, but there was just something missing that I wish was there.

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How to Kill a Rock Star by Tiffanie DeBartolo

It is hard for me to put words together to decide how much I loved this book. It drove me absolutely insane and in turn, I think I drove my friends a little crazy as well. I wished so many times I had this book as a physical copy instead of on my Kindle because I wanted to throw it across the room, cover my ears and just block the rest of the world out because I was feeling too much.

I had a feeling when I started this book that it was going to be different. In fact, I even told my friends that I was afraid to love this book too much because writing this beautiful can’t be happy all the time. I thought this book was going to rip my heart out and stomp on it. And it did. And yet I finished this book happier than I thought possible.

I think the thing that made this book so emotional for me was the characters. They are real people. They have their flaws and their love isn’t perfect rainbows and butterflies and the writing felt so raw that I felt every single thing in this book. I soared when Eliza did and I felt my heart being slowly crushed as well.

And the writing. Oh my god, the writing. If I am ever able to put words together a tenth as well as DeBartolo did in this book, I will thank my lucky stars. There were so many lines in this book that spoke true and real. It was powerful and I think the writing itself was a character within the book.

I don’t think I will ever stop singing DeBartolo’s praises and I will tell every single person I know to read this book. It’s a romance, but it’s real, and yet I could escape through it. This was an amazing book and I’m so glad it found its way to me to read.

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Hand Me Down by Melanie Thorne

I don’t have enough words in my vocabulary to describe how much this book moved me.

I could feel the pain Liz was going through each time I turned the page, and the anger she had at the world around her. I had more hope for her than I’ve had for any other character in a long time. She was such a strong character, with so much determination to not let the mistakes of those around her bring her down to their level.

I wanted to shake some sense into the adults in this book. They are flawed and not very good human beings, but as horrible as they are, it is written so wonderfully there are a few you feel a tiny bit of sympathy for. You learn enough about why some people are they way they are that, while it doesn’t excuse them, it makes their behavior believable. Each person is the way they are for a reason, and after you learn those reasons, each character becomes a real person.

I was incredibly touched by this book and will tell every single one of my friends they need to give this book a read.

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Dog’s Purpose by W. Bruce Cameron

After I finished reading this book, all I wanted to do was drive home and give my own dogs a huge treat and all the love I could.

This was a heartwarming book that made me laugh and cry. As a person who loves her dogs more like little people than actual dogs, I simply loved reading about life through a dog’s eyes and his search to find his purpose. Why was he put on this earth and what can he learn each time his soul is brought back?

I fell in love with the dog a little bit more through each of his lives, completely immersed in the story he was telling. This wasn’t like The Art of Racing in the Rain where the dog understands words and concepts completely. Instead, this dog knows simple words, but builds the view of the world through actions and his own feelings. He trusts his dog instincts and uses those to guide his life. He’s more like how I envision a dog thinking about everything going on around him.

There were several times when I started to cry reading, so I suggest having a box of tissues near you as you read. It’s happy and sad tears, but it’s all worth it to read this stunning book.

I wish I was able to write more about how this book made me feel, but I can’t think of any words that adequately describe the feelings. If you are a dog lover, you must read this book. It will make you love your dog even more than you thought possibly.

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You Are My Only by Beth Kephart

I can’t get over the writing in this book. The plot itself is an interesting one, but the style of writing Kephart uses to tell the story makes this novel exceptional. The descriptions in this book are amazing and the imagery they create is incredibly unique. You can see the story unfolding as it happens; you are right there, feeling everything, seeing everything, experiencing it all.

I fell in love with Sophie and Emmy. Sophie is a girl who doesn’t know everything she is missing until she breaks the rules to find it and Emmy is the distraught young mother who wants to stop at nothing to find her missing baby. The aunts and Joey are Sophie’s neighbors and her introduction to the real world. Autumn was the girl who listened to Emmy and helped her keep from falling completely apart. These characters were so real, I couldn’t help but cry for them.

I loved this entire book, from start to end. The very last line of this book is one of the best I’ve read. It gets across the entire weight of Sophie and Emmy’s stories and was the perfect way to end this story.

Everyone needs to get this book and read it. It is one of the most extraordinary books I have read this year.

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Shine by Lauren Myracle

The cover of this book is what drew me in at first, but the amazing writing is what kept me reading from the first page to the very last.

This book deals with several hot-button issues, namely homophobia and what it can do at its worst. But even more than that, it deals with many other problems that exist in society. While the main focus is the horrible hate crime and its aftermath, you see abuse, alcoholism and how fear can turn into hatred and its ability to destroy.

I loved the slow build Myracle used to tell the story. You got enough information to make you turn the page, where you’d get just a tiny bit more before you hit the peak and it all came into focus. It made the ending much more powerful.

This is definitely a book people need to read. It’s powerful, and yet the message comes across in such a wonderful way, you can help but walk away feeling a little bit different.

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LIE by Caroline Bock

This was an intense book. Bock took on a hard subject and handled it in such an impressive way that this book will be sticking with me for a while. This is a book that will get people talking.

This book was extremely realistic and that makes it all the more shocking. To think that this book, while a work of fiction, is true in many ways was extremely powerful. I felt so much for Skylar, the shy girl who doesn’t want to lose another person in her life. She knows if she goes along with the lie, she will be able to keep the people around her. But if she tells the truth, she will be losing several people important to her.

I know some people might have a hard time with the multiple points of view, but I found them extremely helpful in understanding how this hate crime affected the town. You see the truth eating Skylar and Sean alive, and how Lisa Marie can delude herself. You see into the mind of the town and how this one event can disrupt the lives of so many not directly involved. I only with there had been Jimmy’s point of view, even if it was only a short little blurb.

I think this is a book that everyone needs to read because it opens your eyes and makes you think. It’s a powerful book that I will definitely be recommending to anyone that will listen to me.

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If I Tell by Janet Gurtler

I’m mixed on this book. I liked some parts of it and other parts I could do without. It just didn’t feel as developed as it could have been.

Gurtler wrote a book about issues that need to be addressed, but I feel like some of them were put in the book to make the characters flawed and dysfunctional, instead of actually serving a higher purpose. This book dealt with racism, prejudice and the ability to forgive others, and all these other issues just seemed a bit too much. I can understand not writing perfect characters, but to add so many heavy issues in a book already about a tough subject just seemed a little over the top. It made it hard for me to feel for the characters.

This wasn’t a bad read; there was just way too much happening in it. It made it difficult to connect with any of the characters and it’s hard for me to fully enjoy a book I can’t connect with. However, I do believe this is a book other people can find themselves in and don’t discourage anyone from reading it if the premise interests you.

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Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

I think one of the the reasons I enjoy young adult romance books so much is there’s such a wonderful, first love quality to them that’s hard to find some days in real life. The reader feels as head over heels about the characters and the characters feel about themselves. Yes, there’s a bit of a struggle, but there’s not of the adult “real life” involved. There’s no kids, no house, none of the typical “adult” things to overcome. It makes it easy to fall in love with the love.

I absolutely loved Lola. I’m not sure there’s an adequate word to express just how much I swooned through the entire book. Not only over Cricket, but the little piece of Anna and Etienne that were in there, too. Perkins has such a fabulous way for writing completely wonderful, swoon-worthy, perfectly imperfect guys that I’m not sure my heart could handle much more. Of course, that will never stop me from rereading Anna and Lola and eagerly awaiting Isla.

The huge difference I loved between Anna and Lola was the realness of Lola. Anna was amazing, but there was this special feel to it. It was set in Paris, with amazing English boys, living the life almost every girl dreams of. Going away to the city of love and finding it. Lola was set in San Francisco, with a delightful, tall, slightly awkward American boy. It was what could happen to almost any girl.

My heart hurt from all the happiness and love I felt reading this book. It was so amazingly sweet and wonderful and I fell in love with it several times over.

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Light from a Distant Star by Mary McGarry Morris

This was a riveting book and a wonderfully written coming of age story that really highlights the moral struggles of Nellie Peck as she grows up.

Nellie starts the book as a young thirteen year old who’s biggest problem in life is having to be her brother’s caretaker and try to toughen him up. Slowly, as her family’s problem start to come into view (such as her sister’s hunt for her father, her family’s money problems and her parents’ marriage problems); she realizes that the world isn’t as clean as she has viewed it.

When Dolly, the young woman who rents her family’s apartment, is killed, Nellie is the only one who knows what really happens. She has to choose between doing the right thing, and doing what her family wants her to do. She is forced to decide if one life is equal or worth less than another. In the end, Nellie is forced to grow up way beyond her thirteen years of age, making for a wonderful and interesting story.

My only issue with the story was how long it took to get into it. I felt there was a lot of build-up, and while I understood why some of it was necessary, other parts of it just felt a little unnecessary.

Overall, this was a fantastic read, and I can’t wait to tell my friends to read it.