Book Review: Confessions by, Kanae Minato

Confessions by, Kanae Minato

Summary: I’m not even sure where to start with this book. If I could sum this book up in three words they would be: page turner, psycho, and repression. This book is about a teacher who announces to her class that she’s quitting mid school year and won’t be a teacher anymore. BUT, there’s so much more to this story than that. The teacher’s daughter dies suspiciously at the school and the teacher thinks a few of her students were involved. Each chapter of the book is from a different person in the class’ perspective and it all ties together at the end. Without giving too much of this story away, this book is a revenge story between the teacher and her students.

Thoughts: Typically I don’t read too many translated books, but I saw a review for this one and decided to give it a try. The style of writing is interesting. It’s quite possible that the translation doesn’t explore the author’s true meanings behind situations, or that there aren’t specific words in English for the Japanese sayings, but nonetheless this story was interesting.

Criticisms: This is a perfect example of a revenge story. There were some points that were extremely fictitious, and others where it would be crazy if it happened in real life. Another qualm I have is that there were a few parts in the story that were the slightest bit difficult to follow along to and piece together what was going on.

Rating: 3.8/5

xoxo,e

Book Review: Verity by, Colleen Hoover

Verity by, Colleen Hoover

Summary: Lowen is a nobody author who is scouted out to finish the three books in a series by Verity Crawford, a famous author who is no longer able to write due to a car accident. By chance, Lowen meets Jeremy, Verity’s husband to which offers his home to Lowen so she could go through all of Verity’s notes, outlines, etc. Lowen accepts the offer to finish the series and moves in to The Crawford’s home. When she arrives, she immediately feels like something isn’t right, and she’s right, there’s something not right in the house and it’s up to Lowen to figure out what that might be.

Thoughts: I. COULD. NOT. PUT. THIS. BOOK. DOWN. Everything about this book is what I enjoy reading- psychological thrillers, weirdos, and even some romance sprinkled in. Lost sleep over this book for sure, but rightfully so. It was a bit different than the other Colleen Hoover books I’ve read and it did not disappoint.

Criticisms: I didn’t really like how the author portrayed the ASD diagnosis. There was a part in the book that said one of the Crawford children’s teacher’s suspected the kid to have Aspergers Syndrome. This might just be because I have a background in education, but teachers should NOT be so quick to say a child has Aspergers. Aspergers is a form of autism and autism disorders spans almost indefinitely, therefore the teacher’s in the book would not have known that, AND for them to suggest a diagnosis, no thank you!

Rating: 4.5/5

Book Review: It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover

It Ends With Us by, Colleen Hoover

Summary: This story is about Lily and Ryle, two people who couldn’t be more different from one another. Lily is a flower shop owner and Ryle is a neurosurgeon who never has real relationships. Lily and Ryle find their way to each other and Ryle discovers that he could in fact have a relationship with Lily. All is well until something happens between Ryle and Lily out of the spur of the moment. Not only this, but someone from Lily’s past makes their way back into Lily’s life. Lily now has to decide the future she wants for herself as not to follow in the same pattern as she is so accustomed to.

Thoughts: This was the first Colleen Hoover book I read (thank you Tiff!) and I literally could not put this down. Colleen’s writing is so easy to read and each chapter makes you want to keep reading more and more. I lost sleep over this book because of how enthralled I was with it. At first, you don’t want to believe what is happening with Lily and Ryle, but then you think about her past and what she went through and it all makes sense. The title makes sense! She’s such a strong heroine of a character. This book cover is probably my favorite out of all the Colleen Hoover books-it’s so pretty!

Criticisms: After reaching Colleen’s books, I’m starting to see slight similarities to events, personalities, or locations she uses throughout all her writing. This book has similar senes to Heart Bones. Not a criticism per se, but just something to note.

Rating: 4.5/5

xoxo,e