Here at Chapter Break, we don’t always write a full review of every book we read. Well, now we decided to do these monthly wrap-up posts with roundups of our reviews this month and mini-reviews to fill in the gaps. Enjoy!
Why Animals Love Santa: This book has four stories about Santa’s interactions with the animals in the Forest. Overall I’d say this might be aimed at older children. It was too busy and the stories too long and wordy to keep my five-year-0ld’s attention. The illustrations were cute but were so different like it was a collection of clip art of various artists contributed a piece. The overall lesson in the stories is to be kind and help others in need, which is an important lesson for kids to learn. But with how busy each page was, I don’t know if the lesson is coming across. This could have been much shorter and each page much smaller with less text, maybe that would be more engaging for a younger child.
Wraith, Hawaiian Shadows: This book made me super happy for several reasons. It was the first actual book I read in ages, on my kindle app. I read it on the plane. Because my kid is old enough now to entertain himself with his kindle. I loved that it takes place in Hawaii and everything described was so familiar and so real, down to the detail of the wild chickens. I loved the storyline of the girl seeing ghosts, and this one is different somehow. And how their interaction unfolds and builds, and what it turns into. It was wonderful and exactly what I needed and wanted in a book. I gotta get the next one.
Fountains of Silence: Not nearly as depressing as Salt to the Sea, which is a good thing. I mostly liked this. The characters are well developed and easy to connect with. I did struggle with finding the plot\point of the whole story. The book is more scenes\vignettes that are connected finally at the end. (Which, honestly, reminds me a bit of how Diana Gabaldon writes.) I did learn a lot about the Franco regime that I hadn’t known\thought about previously. Audio was ok, not much to remark on there.
I also read some shorter books this month to finish out my Goodreads challenge. Because I make my own rules!
One Wish: I actually won this book in one of the Goodreads giveaways. I think it’s the 3rd or 4th that I’ve won in the years on Goodreads. It is a cute short-story about childhood friends reconnecting as adults. For me, the romance does move very quickly, but feels authentic. In the spoiler-y zone, Sam and Webster remind me of The Child and The Mandalorian. I’ve clearly been seeing way too many memes on the internet!
Reverse Transmission: Well, there’s two hours of my life I’ll never get back. I have no idea where or what the plot is in this story. And I think (hard to know for sure) that it is told out of sequence. I’d say hard pass on this listen.
Books we reviewed this month:
- [9 Dec] Throne of Winter by Sophie Davis ★★★★
- [17 Dec] Death Wish by Harper Brooks ★★★★
- [20 Dec] Santa Claus Bank Robbery: A True-Crime Saga in Texas by Tui Snider ★★★★★
I read The Fountains of Silence as an ARC and loved it. Then, the author came to my local Barnes & Noble and I got to listen to her explain the years of research she put into this book as well as learn the meaning behind the title. The best part was when I found out we practically grew up as neighbors–our cities border each other–and she signed my book. I’ve been recommending this book to everyone, even if they don’t read historical fiction.
Surprisingly, this is the first review I’ve seen for Fountains of Silence. Sounds like an interesting read—I’ll have to keep in mind that it all comes together in the end.
Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction recently posted…Sunday Post: Book Pre-order Campaigns & Giveaways Galore – 1/12/20
It’s worth checking out if you are into historical fiction, Nicole.