Book Review - W

W by John Banks
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

I was definitely in the minority with this one so far. Oh man, this book.
I'm sure where to begin. It was a mish-mash hodge-podge hot mess. I could not find any plot throughout this book. It was impossible to follow. There are numerous stories going on, which don't seem to have any purpose. The Norway story was my favorite and had that been the novel itself, I think I would have enjoyed it. I feel John Banks is definitely talented, but I'm not sure what he's doing with that talent. I don't find this to be anything like Mark Twain as others have suggested. I feel like the author took all his talents and abilities and wrote every random thought, poem, conversation that popped into his head. There was no order, the wording, style, characters all jumped from here to there without any explanations or meaning. I like to read for entertainment and fun and this did not fit the bill. I might consider this author again, but this book was certainly not for me.

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Book Review - Ashley Bell

Ashley Bell by Dean Koontz
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I have read a ton of Dean Koontz and I traditionally love them. Every now and then though, he throws one out there that I just can't get into. Ashley Bell was one of those. It was SOOOOOO slow and tedious. I was not intrigued or interested, the characters, the plot, nothing did it for me. I found myself skimming through and even that dragged on. It was quite the letdown because I really am a huge fan of many of his books. I will continue with this author, but this one was definitely not for me.

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Book Review - The Quick

The Quick by Lauren Owen
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I really wanted to like this book way more than I did. It was given a lot of hype and it fell very flat. To start with, the beginning dragged on incredibly slow, but some books are like that and you stick it out because the building is worth it in the end. I did love the character/relationship development between Christopher and James. I wasn't even really bothered by the shift in points of view. What I struggled with the most is the plot twist really wasn't very unexpected. I kept expecting something else to change. And when that "twist" came, the writing changed. It wasn't the same. It felt like two separate books smooshed together because they contained the same characters. My least favorite character was Charlotte, and the one I was most interested in was James, but his point of view disappears halfway through the book and it just fell flat to me. The writing itself was good and I definitely think the author has potential for greatness but this debut novel wasn't for me.
I was interested while I was reading but it was easy to stop and once I put the book down I found myself starting other books before finishing this one. It took me a very long time to get through it. There were numerous side plots that distracted from the main storyline and feels like so much of those cross streets were left undone. The ending was depressing and unfulfilling. This was perhaps done as an open ending for a sequel or series. I would like to keep an eye on this author in the future, the potential is definitely there.

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