Home Sick AND Books 4 & 5

Since the middle of March, I've had this sore throat.  Towards the end of march, I completely and utterly lost my voice.  With time, I thought the runny nose and sore throat and cough would go away.  But last night, I coughed a MINIMAL of every 30 seconds until 3 a.m.  So naturally, when the alarm rang this morning at 6:30, there was no way I was equipped to head to work.  I am so incredibly sick of coughing up mucus (gross I know, sorry).

Through all of these nasty boogie Kleenex's I started reading a book ... after all, I need to complete 10 books as part of my New Years Resolution.

Have you seen the preview for this movie?

Something Borrowed is based on a book by Emily Giffin and I HAD to read it when I heard what the plot was about ... SO, I read it, and didn't really put it down.

Something Borrowed

By: Emily Giffin

Grade: B ++

How Long Did it Take To Read: About 4 days.  Hee hee.  It's a QUICK read.  AND, it's pretty addicting.

Why I Read It: I saw the preview and was wondering how the heck she would write this book ... 

First Thoughts: From page 30, I was hooked.  The entire time you read the book you think to yourself, "where the hell is this going?  Am I supposed to like the main character?  I kinda hate her ... is this normal?"

Plot: Darcy is engaged to Dex.  Darcy's BFF (Rachel) starts having an affair with Dex.  The rest of the book explores how Rachel feels semi-bad about the affair, yet keeps sleeping and having a relationship with Dex.  By the end of the book, you wonder if the wedding is going to be called off, if Rachel and Dex are going to end up together, if you want them to end up together, and who really is the big jerk in the equation.

At the end: With about 30 pages left in the book I had the "oh shit" moment.  I DEFINITELY didn't see the end coming.  I thought I had figured it all out and was so very wrong.  At the end though, I realized that nobody is perfect and there isn't ONE jerk in any story.  Everybody messes up ... I couldn't stop thinking that even if so, some mistakes are just unforgivable.  I think cheating is atrocious and especially if you're doing it with a friend.  Can't get over it.

Why a B ++: Honestly, I would give this book an A but feel really silly doing that.  This book isn't a masterpiece and isn't super intelligent by ANY stretch of the imagination.  But, it's entertaining as hell.  It's like Sex and the City in a book.  If you want a fun and quick read, READ THIS.  AND, don't make the same mistake I made ... order the next few ones too.  You'll want to jump right in.

Something Blue

 By: Emily Giffin

Grade: C+

How Long Did it Take to Read: 3 days! I went through this one quickly as well. 

Why I Read it:  I HAD to know how the story continued.  The first book ends without too many things resolved.  I was hoping the second installment would finish with a more conclusive ending, and it did.

First Thoughts: The books are each narrated by a different character and I thought that was a brilliant idea.  It starts with Darcy (the best friend that found out her friend was cheating with her fiance) narrating how her life was continuing when the first book ended.  It hooked me pretty quickly.  Since it was written by a different character, the writing style was completely different.

Plot: I can't say TOO much about the plot because it would give away what happened in Something Borrowed.  But, the book is mainly describing how Darcy handles losing her fiance.  She travels to London to live with a friend so that she could get away and try to figure things out.  While in London she tries to discover herself and get her life in order.

At the end:  There was no big twist in this one.  I saw the end coming about 200 pages earlier than it did.  It ends all happy go lucky.  And in my opinion, it was pretty unrealistic.  But I suppose that's to be expected.

Why a C +: I didn't grade this as high as I did the last book because I wasn't nearly as hooked.  It just seemed like a rather cheap continuation of the first one.  

Conclusion: Like I said above, I knew the ending WELL before the "twist" happened.  But that wasn't really the point of this one.  The point of this book was more of a "discovering yourself" theme and in that sense, it was done well.  Also, let it be known that the THIRD installment is already in the mail!! ; )