Summer 2012 Reads I

I’ve read so many books this summer that I required two posts to review them all!! With the 44 hours in the car to Maine and back, a two week vacation with lots of reading time, and a promise to myself to relax this summer, I managed to read a ton of books. Did you read anything good this summer?

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The Uglies, The Pretties and The Specials by Scott Westerfield

I am a sucker for juvenile fiction. The Book Thief, Twilight, Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, the list goes on and on. This is another in my list of favorites. It is not the best series I’ve ever read, not even close. But it’s so unique and strange, that I really enjoyed it.

Basically, the world is divided into two camps: The Uglies and The Pretties. When you turn 16, you undergo an operation that makes you pretty; you also look just like everyone else. Everyone has the same face, hair, body, teeth and personality which they call “bubbly”. From the time you’re born until you turn 16, you live in UglyTown and dream of the day you will cross the river into New Pretty Town. Once you cross over, you enjoy parties and drinking and being bubbly. There is no war, there is no trouble because everyone is the same.

Talli, a girl about to be 16, makes a friend, Shayla, who wants to escape their life. She doesn’t want to turn Pretty. They try to escape and mayhem ensues through the trilogy. They discover a shocking secret about the surgery and what it really does to you. They meet Uglies on their journey, frighteningly scary Pretties called Specials and savages. They struggle to define what it means to be…pretty.

It is a quick read, a fun read and very unique. One aspect of the trilogy that I really liked was that I had no idea what was going to happen. After reading so many books, that’s a quality that I don’t find too often. Usually I can gather some inkling of what’s coming next. Not with these books. It’s a really enjoyable series.

I also think this would be a great series for a pre-teen/teen to read. It brings up very intriguing questions about what it means to be pretty. The second book has a little too much love in it for boys, but it passes quickly. Give it a try!!

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I went back to good ole James Patterson this summer too. I was able to read his new book in the Murder Club series, 11th hour. I love the women characters in this series. They are strong and funny and fierce. I thought the murder story in this one was kind of silly and, in fact, boring, but I enjoyed reading about the 4 main female characters. If you’re a fan of this series, it’s definitely worth the read.

I also read Private Games by Patterson. I’m not a huge fan of his “Private” series, but this one was really good. I think part of the reason I enjoyed it so much was because it’s set during the London Olympics! Reading about a terrorist trying to take out athletes at the Olympics that were happening right now was fun. It was difficult to figure out who the killer was and how on earth they were going to catch him or her. It kept me on the edge of my seat.

Lastly, I read Guilty Wives by Patterson. This was one of my favorite books I read this summer. I loved it. It felt like good old-fashioned James. You didn’t know how the plot was going to be resolved, who was bad, who was good and what was going to happen next. Four best friends go on a girl’s weekend to the south of France. All of them are unhappy in their marriage and engage in major flirting. They end up going back to one of the men’s yachts and getting into fun trouble. They wake up the next morning to a SWAT team putting guns to their heads and arresting them for murder. That’s about all I can tell you…and that you should go read it right now!

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I can’t wait for Karin Slaughter to come out with her next novel, so I snatched up her single, Snatched, on Amazon. It’s a short story, about 80 pages, about Will Trent trying to solve a kidnapping. I held my breath the entire 80 pages and couldn’t put it down. It made me even more excited for her next book!

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Another goodie that I returned to was Stolen Prey by John Sandford. I love his Prey books mostly because I love Lucas Davenport and his crew. I feel like it’s been a long time wince I’ve read a Prey book and I was so glad to return to Minneapolis and Lucas’ world. Stolen Prey was a little slow to start because there are three different stories. The main plot involves money laundering, drugs and crazy, scary Mexican enforcers/murderers/psychos. It takes a while for Sandford to get all of these plots started and he is great at making sure you have all of the necessary details before he takes you on the ride. Once you really get into it, the story is a total adventure. I was terrified of those Mexicans! I couldn’t figure out how it was all going to tie together, or if it even would, and I didn’t know what was coming next. It’s a must read for me!

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My absolute favorite book of this summer was Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. HOLY SHIT this book is amazing. I heard they are making it into a movie and I can’t even imagine how they’ll do it well! There’s not much I can tell you about this book, honestly, because it would give away the best part of the story—the crazy plot! But, in a nutshell, it’s the story of a marriage. If you enjoy suspense, excellent writing and not knowing what the hell is possibly going to happen next, you will LOVE this book. Please come back and talk with me about it after you read it…it’s definitely the kind of book you need to chat about with a fellow book-lover!!

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STay tuned for Part 2 tomorrow!!! And I’d love to hear about your summer favorites.