Year 6, week 14: White Horse

This week's book:
White Horse
By Erika T. Wurth 

There is a lot of buzz around this book on the web in the reading community, so when this was an option on Book of the Month this month I picked it lickity-split. The author is a Native American woman, and November is Indigenous People Month, so I doubly wanted to read it. 

The novel is a coming of age tale that has ghosts and deals with maybe a curse or two (umm yes please!). The second the book came in the mail I started reading it. Originally I was going to read it with my sweet hubby, but due to me being pregnant I fall asleep by the time we put our three kids to bed, we would have never finished the book. 

I would definitely recommend this book, and have already given my copy of the book to my ghost loving sister. 

Year 6, week 13: Fairy Tale

This week's book
Fairy Tale
By Stephen King

This is King's newest book, I do believe. I kept on picking the novel up and then putting it down because I don't have time to sit down and read a hardback book that is over six hundred pages, and it's also on the pricey side. Instead of buying the book, I put the audiobook on hold from the library and waited. I ended up doing a buddy chat for the novel on Facebook messenger. I'm glad I did because I don't know if I would have finished it otherwise. 

This novel feels like three books in one, which are all different genres. The book opens with a high school football player that befriends an elderly neighbor and takes care of him after he has had a fall, then the boy goes to a fairy tale land that totally reminds me of Narnia, and then the book turns into a Hunger Games-ish nightmare land. The book kept giving me whiplash. 

In the buddy chat we were talking about how some of King's novels seem like they are a little too long, and this book is one of those times. Of course, the novel is very well written and has such amazing descriptions, but the novel just seemed a little too long. 

I would probably recommend the book, but it just wasn't my favorite of King's works.

Year 6, week 12: Eligible

This week's book:
Eligible
By Curtis Sittenfeld

I bought this book on clearance at some point at Barnes and Noble. I really have no idea when, but it's been years ago. I kept meaning to read the book, but I just kept putting it aside. This month for one of my reading challenges, one of the prompts was a retelling of a Jane Austen novel. This book is a modern retelling of Pride and Prejudice, so I thought it was the perfect time to read it. 

Retellings of classics are hit or miss, but this book actually doesn't do a half bad job of retelling the story. The updates to the classic doesn't take away from the original source material. All the Bennet sisters come home to take care of their childhood home after their father had a heart attack. All the characters are pretty much the same as the original story, just more modern. The only part that was a bit jarring with the modern take of the novel was that the characters are sleeping with each other, which is so different then the modest ways of Austen's works. 

I enjoyed the book, and if you are a fan of Austen I would recommend you check out this book. 

Year 6, week 11: Mad Honey

This week's book:
Mad Honey
By Jennifer Finney Boylan and Jodi Picoult

I have no shame saying I love reading books by Jodi Picoult. Yes I know, she is known for chick lit, which I normally avoid like the plague; but for some reason I have enjoyed a lot of Picoult's books. Now to be fair, the last three books of hers that I have read (Spark of Light, The Book of Two Ways, and Wish You Were Here) were disappointing, and there are a few others I have read that legitimately made me mad. For the most part, though, I enjoy her work. 

This book takes the reader back to some of her classic books and gives the feeling of a story that really pulls you in. Is it my favorite of her works? No, but I did enjoy it. 

The story is of a single mom who's only child is accused of murdering his girlfriend. There are twists and turns like all of Picoult's books, and here they work well. The book is written by Picoult and another author, Jennifer Finney Boylan. Stories with multiple authors sometimes feel clunky and don't flow as well as when just one author writes a book. I haven't read anything by Jennifer Finney Boylan as of yet, but she seems good. 

At the end of the book, both authors talk about how the book came about and it's fun back story. Jennifer had a dream with a lot of what this book ended up being, and in that dream she wrote the book with Jodi Picoult. When Picoult saw the post, she private messaged Jennifer, and the rest is history. 

I would definitely recommend this book if you enjoy some of Picoult's past work.