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YA novels

Quick Lit – June 2016

June 15, 2017 by Kim @ KimBocko 8 Comments

Happy Thursday, friends! This week just seems to be dragging and I am counting down the hours until the weekend. Here’s hoping it gets here soon! Today, I’m linking up with the fabulous Modern Mrs. Darcy for Quick Lit, a monthly reading round up. I’m focusing on the books I’ve finished in June…so far!

Quick Lit: Short Monthly Book Reviews

Quick Lit: June 2016

Exit West by Mohsin Hamid

Exit West by Mohsin Hamed

In a country teetering on the brink of civil war, two young people meet—sensual, fiercely independent Nadia and gentle, restrained Saeed. They embark on a furtive love affair, and are soon cloistered in a premature intimacy by the unrest roiling their city. When it explodes, turning familiar streets into a patchwork of checkpoints and bomb blasts, they begin to hear whispers about doors—doors that can whisk people far away, if perilously and for a price. As the violence escalates, Nadia and Saeed decide that they no longer have a choice. Leaving their homeland and their old lives behind, they find a door and step through. . . .

Exit West follows these remarkable characters as they emerge into an alien and uncertain future, struggling to hold on to each other, to their past, to the very sense of who they are. Profoundly intimate and powerfully inventive, it tells an unforgettable story of love, loyalty, and courage that is both completely of our time and for all time.

I finished this book yesterday morning. My expectations were high, based on what I heard from other readers and Book of the Month Club. I came away feeling…eh…about it. I liked it, didn’t love it. It was slow and I didn’t always understand what was going on. However, when I step back and look at the book as a whole, I see parts that I love. This book is beautifully written and will be filed under “good book, but not for me.”

The Commoner by John Burnham Schwartz

The Commoner by John Burnham Schwartz

In this national bestseller from the author of Reservation Road, a young woman, Haruko, becomes the first nonaristocratic woman to penetrate the Japanese monarchy.

When she marries the Crown Prince of Japan in 1959, Haruko is met with cruelty and suspicion by the Empress, and controlled at every turn as she tries to navigate this mysterious, hermetic world, suffering a nervous breakdown after finally giving birth to a son. Thirty years later, now Empress herself, she plays a crucial role in persuading another young woman to accept the marriage proposal of her son, with tragic consequences. Based on extensive research, The Commoner is a stunning novel about a brutally rarified and controlled existence, and the complex relationship between two isolated women who are truly understood only by each other.

I bought this book as an impulse buy at a book sale for $.50. I love books that take place in Asia and explore other cultures. This one, like Exit West, started a bit slow for me. However, once it picked up I couldn’t put it down. This book is loosely based on a true story, which I loved. I also enjoyed watching how this unconventional love story came together and the highs and lows that resulted because of it. This book also isn’t a day by day account of life, but rather focuses on different, important times within Haruko’s life, which I found helped deepen the story and provide a more birds eye view of the life she lived.

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

In the early 1900s, teenaged Sunja, the adored daughter of a crippled fisherman, falls for a wealthy stranger at the seashore near her home in Korea. He promises her the world, but when she discovers she is pregnant-and that her lover is married-she refuses to be bought. Instead, she accepts an offer of marriage from a gentle, sickly minister passing through on his way to Japan. But her decision to abandon her home, and to reject her son’s powerful father, sets off a dramatic saga that will echo down through the generations

Read this book. That’s all I can say!

Ok, I can say more. I loved Pachinko. Again, I love books that take place in other cultures. Pachinko is a family saga, following three (four?) generations of a Korean family that migrates to Japan. It explores all types of themes: love, lust, family obligation, wealth, honor, responsibility, truth, secrecy, identity…. I loved the layers and following the lives of the various characters. And I listened to the audiobook and the narrator was fantastic – just a plug for that!

If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo

If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo

Amanda Hardy is the new girl in school. Like anyone else, all she wants is to make friends and fit in. But Amanda is keeping a secret, and she’s determined not to get too close to anyone.

But when she meets sweet, easygoing Grant, Amanda can’t help but start to let him into her life. As they spend more time together, she realizes just how much she is losing by guarding her heart. She finds herself yearning to share with Grant everything about herself, including her past. But Amanda’s terrified that once she tells him the truth, he won’t be able to see past it.

I borrowed this book a whim from the library because (1) I liked the cover and (2) it had a good review from the author of All The Bright Places. This YA novel is short and a quick read. Overall, I enjoyed it. I liked the main character, Amanda and thought she was relatable. The friendships and love interest were enduring and I found myself racing through the book wanting to figure out how everything would work out…or if it would work out. This would be a great companion read to This Is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel.

Your Turn to share your Quick Lit reads! What books have you read and loved (or not loved) in June?

Posted in: Reading Tagged: audiobook, book of the month club, fiction, quick lit, YA novels

Favorite YA Books of 2017 (so far)

June 5, 2017 by Kim @ KimBocko Leave a Comment

Happy Monday friends! It’s been two weeks since we got from Europe (did I tell you we went to Europe for two weeks in May?) and I’m ready to jump back into the blogging world. Even though I was busy planning for our trip, I’ve still managed to read some great books (just updated my 2017 reading page!). Surprisingly, I’ve read some great YA books. This isn’t surprising because YA books aren’t good, but because I just been anxious to read YA books lately. That has changed! Today I want to share some of my favorite YA books of 2017 (so far).

Favorite YA Books of 2017

I haven’t been very excited about YA novels in the past few years. They just haven’t been what I opt to pick up in this season of my life. However, this year has shown me that when done right, YA novels are great. I’ve started reading more YA books and am excited when I find ones that are beautifully written and sometimes can transcend their “YA” genre. I wanted to share some of my favorite YA books that I have loved this year so far…

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

If you read one book this, I highly recommend this one. Not as  YA book, but as just a great book. This book is about a teenager named Starr, who witnesses her friend get shot by a police officer. In terms of subject, this is on point for issues we are currently dealing with in our society. But more, what I found particularly poignant was the exploration of identity, of trust, and of relationships as Starr tries to navigate her world after what she experiences. This book is phenomenal and I cannot recommend it more highly.

All The Bright Places by Jennifer Niven

All The Bright Places by Jennifer Niven

I checked this book from the library not knowing what to expect. I began reading in Europe, because I figured it would be a light, YA novel I could quickly read. HA! I got a lot more from this book. The novel focuses on two characters, Violet and Finch. These two characters could not be more different, but somehow find their way to each other and have an incredibly intriguing relationship. This book explores relationships, family relationships, mental health, and love. I laughed and cried and loved this book.

Everything, Everything by Nicole Yoon

Ooooooh, this one. I loved it. After I read a few YA novels, I was super into this one. Plus, the movie just came out and there was a lot of hype about this book, so I went in with high expectations. Personally, I loved it. It centers around Madeline, who is basically a bubble girl. And she falls in love with the boy next door. But how do you date someone when your a bubble girl? Oooh, I was all in on this. Plus, there is a pretty great twist ending. If you go in knowing this is a more typical YA novel, I think you’ll enjoy!

 

A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Gray

I will admit this – is this 100% a typical YA series. And I loved it. It had all sorts of great aspects – a great female protagonist, a love triangle, travel between dimensions (oh yeah!), and so much more. The main character is Marguerite, who comes from a loving, if not entirely “normal” family. Her parents are physicists, who are trying to figure out how to travel between different dimensions. The books opens with the murder of Marguerite’s father, and suspicion that a close family friend did it. And off we go! This was a quick read. This was my favorite of the three book series. I loved this!

If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo

I just finished this book on Saturday. I saw it at the library and picked it up on impulse because it was endorsed by the author of All The Bright Places. It was a short read, about a girl Amanda and her secret. Amanda is (SPOILER) transgender, and the book explores her experience working through transitioning from being a boy to girl – by navigating relationships with others and figuring out her identity. I got so caught up in Amanda’s journey and her world. I highly recommend reading, particularly if you liked This Is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel.

Tell me – what are your favorite YA novels of 2017 so far?

Posted in: Reading Tagged: books, Reading, YA novels

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I'm Kim, a 30-something living in Minneapolis, by way of Wisconsin. I'm an avid reader, coffee aficionado, higher ed professional, wife, and fur mama.

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