To get my reading juices flowing again, I fell back on my old stand-by trick of turning to light, fluffy, easy and addictive books. You know, the kind of books that don't make your brain work too hard and are easy to breeze through. It worked, because I made it through five books in June. The only downside to this trick is that these books never tend to be good ones, or ones I feel strongly about recommending. I might even be a tiny bit embarrassed to admit I read these. I guess that's what makes them fluff reads. Anyway, in the interest of accurate record keeping, here they are:
So, I've actually had this book on hold for a while through my library, and it just happened to become available at the beginning of June. The second book came off the holds list two weeks later, and the third book didn't have a wait list, so I read the whole trilogy in a month. I find it funny that my reading of this series coincided with Janssen of Everyday Reading's reread of this series (which, if you follow her on Instagram, you couldn't help being aware of). To say that Janssen loves this series might be a bit of an understatement, but the whole time I was reading, I wondered if we were reading the same books. I mean, it's fine. I agree that when it comes to contemporary YA romance, this one is pretty well written. There is lots to like. Lara Jean is a very likeable character, I think her tight-knit family life was sweet and lovely, and I really liked her volunteer work at a retirement center and the character of Stormy. But beyond that, it was nothing super special. The premise, that her secret love letters to the five boys she's loved in her life accidentally get sent to them, was ridiculous. First off, she's sixteen. She has not been in love. These five boys were merely unrequited crushes. Second, just because they get these love letters does not mean all five of these boys (well, three of them) will suddenly fall madly in love with her. Third, the one she ends up with was actually my least favorite of all the options. And finally, contemporary high school is just a nasty place to be. This series is fairly innocent (PG-13-ish), but just the amount of talk and obsessing over sex made me super depressed. If you enjoy fluffy reads, this one's pretty good, but overall you'll be fine if you skip it.
This is actually the one serious book I read in June, but it's fairly short so I managed to make it through. I'm not sure how to describe this one. Sort of essay-ish with rambly thoughts about life and art and creativity and bird watching. I liked parts of it, I felt like some of it was profound, but mostly I think I will forget about this one. With all the romanticization of bird watching, I expected to come away from this book with a new awareness and appreciation for the birds in my environment, but nope. Not really.
Another choice based on it's fluffiness. I read Eleanor and Park a while ago, and while I could see what other people liked about it, there was just too much heavy content for me to find enjoyable. Anyway, I was intrigued by the premise of this one (about a girl who writes fanfiction) so I thought I'd give it a go. And... it was close to being okay. There was still just a little too much language and sexual content for me. Ugh. Why is contemporary life so dirty?
Second book in the series. See review above.
Third and final book in the series. See review above.
Whew. Okay, and now I am officially fluffed out and ready to return to some more serious reading. I've got some stuff I want to get through before I start school again next month. But first, I really need to figure out where my new library is and go get a new library card! I've got to get on that ASAP.
Anyway, read any of these ones? Thoughts on the fluffy stuff?
So interesting to get your thoughts on that trilogy...it seems like literally every blogger I follow has been reading them, which has made me feel all sorts of left out! I might have to give the first one a shot just to see what all the fuss is about, but based on your comments about it, I might not make it past that one since we seem to have fairly similar reactions to a lot of the other books we've both read. We shall see!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing :)
I think everyone's been reading them because the third one just came out, but it had been on my holds list for a while. It's funny it just coincided with all the fuss. If you do check out the books, I think there's a good chance you'll enjoy them. There is a lot to like (and they are kind of addictive, so you might make it past the first one). There's just also some stuff not to like too. Sigh.
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