Book Review: Forever, Interrupted

Author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
Title: Forever, Interrupted
Pubisher: Washington Square Press
Publish Date: July 9, 2013
Buy: Amazon

Review Copy Provided By: Net Galley
Book Blurb: 

“Have you ever heard of supernovas? They shine brighter than anything else in the sky and then fade out really quickly, a short burst of extraordinary energy. I like to think you and Ben were like that . . . in that short time, you had more passion than some people have in a lifetime.” Elsie Porter is an average twentysomething and yet what happens to her is anything but ordinary. On a rainy New Year’s Day, she heads out to pick up a pizza for one. She isn’t expecting to see anyone else in the shop, much less the adorable and charming Ben Ross. Their chemistry is instant and electric. Ben cannot even wait twenty-four hours before asking to see her again. Within weeks, the two are head over heels in love. By May, they’ve eloped.

Only nine days later, Ben is out riding his bike when he is hit by a truck and killed on impact. Elsie hears the sirens outside her apartment, but by the time she gets downstairs, he has already been whisked off to the emergency room. At the hospital, she must face Susan, the mother-in-law she has never met—and who doesn’t even know Elsie exists.

Interweaving Elsie and Ben’s charmed romance with Elsie and Susan’s healing process, Forever, Interrupted will remind you that there’s more than one way to find a happy ending.

Review: This book should come with a disclaimer, if you don't believe in love at first sight and you hate books that will ultimately depress you, proceed with caution.

I knew this wasn't going to be a shiny happy book, but lordy Elsie's lack of coping skills were enough to make me punch her...oh wait, that's something she did when a guy asked her to go for coffee shortly after her husband's death.

For me there is so much that drove me absolutely insane about this book. It left me feeling much like I did while reading One Day by David Nicholls. Though the books are very different the feelings I had about the characters was very much the same.

I didn't like them.

Nope...I didn't like any of them.

Elsie is wishy washy, and when it comes to coping...she really doesn't even try.

Ben...first of all, who rides their bike to go get a box of Fruity Pebbles? Actually who goes to the store just to buy a box of cereal? And while I'm being annoyed by Ben...how is he even real! His relationship with Elsie goes beyond the typical "love at first sight thing." Oh and you date someone for six months and then marry them, but you don't introduce them, or even mention them to your mother? WTF!

Then there's Elsie's parents..they are just unbelievably self-absorbed. When she calls to tell them about her husband or as they believe, her boyfriend's death, they were so callous.

Then there's Elsie's friend Ana. I liked her more after Ben's death than before.

The only character that I could remotely like was Ben's mother, Susan, but even she starts out bitchy and then comes to terms with what her son did, and decided to hang onto Elsie, because she's now family.

It is a terribly emotional read. I found myself putting the book down, because I needed a break from all the "feels" that this story brings with it.

The only feel good moment in the book is at the end when Elsie finally pulls it together and does a wonderful thing for the library she works at. I have to admit, I loved some of the bookish discussions she has with Ben. One of the cute quirks about Ben is prevalent in the thing she does with the insurance money.

It wasn't a bad book, but it wasn't a book that made me go wow! What it did do, was leave me emotionally drained.

Rating: 3 flowers

Book Review: Plain Truth

Author: Jodi Picoult
Title: Plain Truth
Publisher: Washington Square Press
Publish Date: May 1, 2000
Buy: Amazon
Book Blurb: From the bestselling author of My Sister's Keeper comes the riveting story of a murder that shatters the picturesque calm of Amish country -- and tests the heart and soul of the lawyer defending the woman at the center of the storm.
The discovery of a dead infant in an Amish barn shakes Lancaster County to its core. But the police investigation leads to a more shocking disclosure: circumstantial evidence suggests that eighteen-year-old Katie Fisher, an unmarried Amish woman believed to be the newborn's mother, took the child's life. When Ellie Hathaway, a disillusioned big-city attorney, comes to Paradise, Pennsylvania, to defend Katie, two cultures collide -- and for the first time in her high-profile career, Ellie faces a system of justice very different from her own. Delving deep inside the world of those who live "plain," Ellie must find a way to reach Katie on her terms. And as she unravels a tangled murder case, Ellie also looks deep within -- to confront her own fears and desires when a man from her past reenters her life.
Review: I had a very hard time with this book. I've read a lot of Amish fiction, romance, mystery and otherwise. By 190 pages I was really ready to give up on this book, but I hate abandoning books, so I soldiered on. I will say that I had a little peak at the end because I wasn't sure if I was going to give up.

Here are the things I liked about the story:

1. Picoult did her homework on the Amish pretty well and she really managed to bring to light their way of life and a little about the religion. She did this without making this come across as Christian fiction, when it is in fact a mystery.

2. The romance between Ellie and Coop. This is actually what kept me reading. From the beginning it was terribly hard to like any of the characters in this book, but as these two kind of got together, it made the book a little easier to read.

That said, there wasn't much else I liked about the book. Here's the stuff that bothered me.

1. The courtroom drama. I hated the prosecutor, George. He was a total asshat. Most of the time I wanted to smack him in the face.

2. The characters were so weak at the beginning and terribly unlikable. Ellie was just too unsympathetic and too jaded. Katie was unlikable too. I don't even think I grew to like her much even at the end of the story.

3. The actual mystery itself was hard to take; an Amish girl killing her baby.

4. The sub-plots: How Katie got pregnant, the ghost-hunter boyfriend from Penn State and the ghost of her dead sister Hannah. Please stop already! None of this makes much sense.

5. The ending. We learn the killer but we can safely assume justice is not forthcoming.

I have never read any of Jodi's books before, but this one really put me off. It was also terribly depressing. Not what I want to go for in a read. I doubt I'll be picking up any other books by Jodi Picoult. I'm giving it three flowers because it wasn't awful, but it just didn't do it for me.

Rating 3 flowers

Book Review: Little Earthquakes

Little Earthquakes is a novel of friendship, motherhood and loss. Jennifer Weiner has really created a wonderful story that you don't want to put down.

The novel revolves around the lives of 4 women, three who meet at a yoga class during their pregnancy and a fourth who has returned home to recover from the loss of her child.

All three women experience a "little earthquake" that rocks their world and changes their lives.

The women's struggles with their pregnancies and dealing with their new additions were depicted perfectly. None of the women had it easy and the outside forces.

Becky is a chubby chef with daughter Ava and mother-in-law, Mimi who would try the patience of anyone.

Kelly is an events planner with baby Oliver and an out of work husband that is enjoying his unemployment more than she'd like him.

Ayinde is a newscaster, with preemie, Julian. She is married to a professional basketball player who does the unthinkable.

All three of these women are tied together by Lia, an actress who returns home to put her life together. Together she helps them with some of their smaller problems and they help her with her grieving process.

It was hard not to love every character because their problems were those that so many women face daily, trying to juggle their lives and motherhood. But what really made me love this book was how the bonds of friendship never broke once.

This is one of those books that will have you feeling a wide variety of emotions while you read. This was a fantastic book!