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Today I had the chance to catch up on blog browsing, finding many posts on 2018 Reading Challenges.  Though I am not participating in a reading challenge, it was fun to see what other people added to their lists.  My Goodreads TBR has fattened up quite a bit, and I realized that there were MANY books I hadn’t reviewed — either here or on Goodreads.  Though this isn’t a comprehensive list, I wanted to share some of those reviews.  

First in line — The Maze Runner by James Dashner.

So, I waited until this series was finished before I picked up book 1.  THANK GOD.  Because if I would have had to wait years before the end, it would likely have driven me insane.  The Maze Runner is very different from other books in its genre. I loved the incredibly fast paced plot, and the diverse characters. It was confusing at first and I wasn’t sure if I’d even keep reading it, but as I started to figure out what was going on, it totally grew on me.   There are still some questions that linger in my mind after reading this series, but overall I liked the ending very much. It’s a great series for teens who enjoy (and can understand) a complex story line, but don’t really enjoy reading unless it’s a very engaging book. Definitely consider it for a read aloud!

Nicola Yoon is now one of my must-read authors.  How did I miss The Sun Is Also A Star for so long?  SIGH.   This is one of those books that etched itself onto my heart. To fall in love with this story, you have to allow yourself to believe in the magic of love. It’s kind of the way that you rewatch a movie over and over, still crying at scenes when you know what will happen. The characters, Natasha and Daniel, are so different and unlikely to be friends, YET…. There is that little sprinkle of magic that somehow works its way into their story. I love the timeline of the plots, which allowed me to get engaged in the fast pace without feeling like I missed something.   Reading this book made me realize how very immature I was as a teenager, though!   I also read Everything, Everything this year but didn’t like it as much.

The Secret History of Us was an impulse read.  I saw it on the library bookshelf and the cover caught my eye.  Overall, I liked this book. The ending was a bit underwhelming, but the overall plot was decent. It reminded me just a little bit of With Malice by Eileen Cook.  The main idea behind the story involves trauma-induced amnesia, which seems to be a common theme these days.  It’s a short book and can be finished in a couple of hours.

One book I expected to like more than I did….Bad Romance.  It was one of those shiny-new-toy moments when I saw the features online, expected to be amazed, and just felt kind of disappointed after the first time I played with it.  It was hard for me to like the main character because the whole time, I was yelling at her in my mind. I kept telling myself that she was really a pretty typical teen. Also, the story kept shoving itself into the mama section of my heart. I was frustrated beyond belief with the adults in the book, and wanted to just intervene! Thankfully, by the end, there was a little bit of peace for my sanity. This is a very good read for mothers of teens, and especially for teen girls.

If you want to see some of the other books I’ve reviewed on Goodreads, check out my Read Shelf here.   I haven’t done a good job of keeping it updated in the past, but I’m going to really follow through in 2018!