Book Talk with Rebecca Rivera

Let's talk about Everything Under by Daisy Johnson! Have you ever read a book that did not make sense? The writing was just so ethereal that you couldn't put two and two together about who was who or what was happening? That was my experience with Everything Under . I recently watched a video by Books and Things on YouTube, which I will link here , where Katie talked about two books she had read that were written, in my opinion, in a similar fashion to Everything Under . She was nice enough to say it was pleasant reading them, but it cracked me up how she "struggled to find a focus" and couldn't find it! The two books she mentioned were Spring Garden by Tomoka Shibasaki and  Warlight by Michael Ondaatje, in case you're interested 😊. If you'd like to hear her reviews of these two books, begin at timestamp 12:00. I find her explanations so succinct. That she admits to "not getting" these two books is refreshing to me and gives me a big tic...

WARNING: Please remember that these Book Talks contain spoilers. I do not aim to review a book but to encourage a conversation about it. That means I'll talk about my favorite parts and  unfavorite  parts, INCLUDING SPOILERS. I actually created this photo for Instagram, but I worked so hard on it I had to use it twice. Lol. Horror and psychological thrillers are not usually on my to-read list. But movie trailers and Bird Box , the book, sitting on my library's "new" shelf put it into my life in a way I couldn't ignore. I did a quick check of average ratings, and here's what I found. Again, Goodreads has a lower rating for the book than Amazon or B&N. Must be all those picky readers out there. Lol. Ratings 4.03 star rating on Goodreads (for the first time I noticed Goodreads rates to the 1/100th place) 4.4 star on BarnesandNoble.com 4.4 star on Amazon Before I tell you my personal rating, I'm going to bend your ear with what I thought of ...

Hello, welcome to Book Talk. I'm going to chat about The Catcher in the Rye today and I don't promise to avoid spoilers. I like to discuss books with those who have already read them. Let's dig in there and hash out what we liked, what we didn't and talk about all the good stuff, INCLUDING spoilers. So if you are one of those "Uh, dun't spoil meh!" readers, then these book talks may not be for you. But if you have read the book and want to vent your frustrations or share the high of your favorite scene, by all means, read on and let's chat in the comments below. And now, for today's Book Talk: I feel as if everyone who claims themselves to be a reader must read this book. It's one of those titles that is thrown around as a good book or something. However, now that I've read it, I can't remember one thing I heard about the book before I opened its covers. So I'll just tell you what I thought of it. First of all, I want...

Have you ever read Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell ? What is that book about?? What is the point? I read umpteen pages just to get to the end and NOTHING HAPPENS! I thought I was just being picky. Or maybe I didn't get it. So I checked reviews on Goodreads and found I was not alone. There are mixed reviews on Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell . Some absolutely love it, the magic, the detail, the characters, the world that Clarke created. Others had the same reaction I did. WHAT IS THE POINT? Nothing really happens in the book. There is no resolution at the end. We are still waiting to see if Strange and Norrell come out of the black cloud (in which they seem none too eager to leave). I don't know if the point is to relate to that type of person or creative who gets so involved in their work they fail to notice whether it's night or day. I enjoy that type of person. I fantasize about being that type of person. I might even dare to say that I've achieved it once or twic...

I've finally reached Dream Kiss . I don't currently remember what it was about. (Lasting impression, huh...) Ok, let me check, and I'll be right back. ... ... ... Ok. Here's what it's about. Our main character, Brooklyn Hamlin, falls for yet another guy, a dreamy, romantic piece of human that she goes physically crazy for. But when she goes on a two-week family vacation with absolutely no contact with her new boyfriend, she comes back feeling quite differently about him. I think I've said this before, but I was excited when I first started this series. The author is a Mormon from what I can tell, so she writes about teens that actually have some rules governing their lives. It's not everyone sleeping with everyone all up in these pages. Brooklyn makes her own personal rule of not kissing a boy until she turns sixteen. All of that is what intrigued me about reading these books, especially since today's YA has limits on barely anything. However, a...

Yesterday I finished reading a book called Summer Breeze by Nancy Thayer. It was one of those sweet "beach" type reads. I actually started it at the beach last Saturday. That is something I've wanted to do: read a book with a setting near water while being at the beach. I don't normally choose "sweet" books like this. I grew up reading adventure or coming-of-age or romance with fantastical life circumstances getting in the way, making you wonder if the couple will ever get together. These stories didn't always have happy endings...unlike Summer Breeze . If that book doesn't have a happy ending, you'd probably want your money back. The title, the front cover picture, all of it, advertises a happy ending. If I was rating the book out of five among others of its kind, I'd give it a three. The writing was competent, but it lacked that certain flair that makes an author really stand out. However, I think lots of people like this kind of writ...

I first started on the Sweet N' Sour Kisses series, I had been looking for some teen fiction I could enjoy. Most of it just did not suit my taste. When I came across Cindy's books, they were different; there were guidelines to these teens' lives and morals at stake, and I was hooked with First Kiss. As I continued the series, I began to try other genres in between the books of this series. In the process I discovered some books I really liked or at least enjoyed the challenge of reading even if my overall opinion of said books wasn't great. Coming back to finish up this series has been a bit of a bummer. I think these books would still be great for the teen age group or those who truly enjoy teen fiction. (I have never been a true fan. It was more "wishful thinking" than anything. I just couldn't make it work. :/ ) I've found myself just kind of waiting out the events of books #2-4 so I can find out how everything turns out for Brooklyn in book #...