L's short book list (rest of 2008)

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I have started third book of the Twilight series Eclipse.

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Finished Eclipse and am now a quarter of the way through Breaking Dawn. I'm interested to see what happens, but Bella and Edward are so frustrating.....

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I finished the last of the Twilight series Breaking Dawn, which was full of surprises. Over all I enjoyed this series and would recommend it to young adults and adults. It was not nearly the best piece of fiction ever written, but it was an entertaining and easy read. However, the characters, Bella and Edward, left me very frustrated and often annoyed in New Moon and Eclipse. My qualm with Bella was that

she constantly and relentlessly expressed how perfect Edward was and even held herself responsible for everything that went wrong. Even when Edward let Jacob, the third in the "love triangle", overhear a conversation that sent him crying and howling into the woods she didn't blame Edward. She blamed herself.(I was rooting for Team Jacob.

I assume it was the intention of Meyer because Jacob points this out to Bella many times.

Half way through Breaking Dawn I was very disappointed when

Bella was turned into a vampire. I still had hope that she would remain human.

I did love all of the other surprises, which I will not disclose because I know how tempting spoiler highlights can be.

Over all it was a suspenseful and romantic series and it is easy to see why it has been so popular.

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I have now started The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets by Eva Rice. This was not originally on my TBR, but after going to the library I have decided to expand it a bit. This sounded great!

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I finished The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets and I loved it. It was an enjoyable coming of age novel that was a pretty fast read.

 

I'm now on The Monsters of Templeton by Lauren Groff.

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The Monsters of Templeton by Lauren Groff was different than I thought it would be, but I wasn't disappointed. Not the best ever, but it was pretty entertaining. It was a neat mix of small town life, old secrets, and the paranormal. This is the authors debut novel so I can't wait to see what comes next for her.

 

Now, I've started A Bend In the Road by Nicholas Sparks.

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Since I last posted I have read A Bend In the Road by Nicholas Sparks, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen. The first one was okay, but Harry Potter and The Sugar Queen were both excellent.

The later is Allen's second novel after Garden Spells. I enjoyed this one even more. The story is set in North Carolina and centers around Josey, who is lonely and trapped by her family name, and Chole who is determined to find out a secret her boyfriend is hidding. Overall entertaining novel, but I think that some of the "magical" elements that Allen uses in both novels are a bit overdone.

 

I have started Mermaids In the Basement by Michael Lee West.