I read a lot of books that I don’t end up reviewing for whatever reason. Some because I wasn’t impressed. Some because I didn’t have the time. Some I just wasn’t feeling it on whatever particular day I finished. Reviewing the Unreviewed is my monthly post where I share my few thoughts on all the books I didn’t formally review.
Lord of Shadows (The Dark Artifices #2) by Cassandra Clare. Read May 28-June 1. 3 Stars.
Once again, this book was much, much longer than it needed to be. There was just so much that felt unnecessary to the story in any way. I’ve been thinking how to describe the writing and it’s kind of like this: You know when you watch a tv show and someone is in their house doing something random (watching tv, reading, cooking, going online, etc.) and then someone else walks in and the scene begins? Well in this book, instead of the scene starting there, you spend a few pages on the person sitting there watching tv. And then some time with the other person as they drove there. And let’s not forget to check in with the neighbor who doesn’t really have anything to do with what is going to happen between the first two people. Ok, now we can finally start the scene and see where the story is going. But only for a few minutes before we abruptly leave to go see what someone across town is doing. There’s just too many perspectives and we get WAY more of them all than makes sense.
But, ok, other than the ridiculous length of this book, and wading through all the mundane (haha) things that happened, the actual plot of the story isn’t bad. I liked the characters. I liked that the supposed love triangle didn’t really take up much time like I thought it would. I was surprised by the ending, but I’m not sure how I actually feel about it. It was kind of abrupt and there was a couple of deaths that I’m not really sure made sense, but it does make me want to see what happens next.
Ready to Run (I Do, I Don’t #1) by Lauren Layne. Read June 5-6. 4 Stars.
I really enjoyed Ready to Run! It was exactly the sweet, lighthearted book I needed right now. Full review to come.
Dead Woman Walking by Sharon Bolton. Read June 16-19. 4 Stars.
Even though I figured out most of the twists, I thought Dead Woman Walking was a really well-constructed mystery and I enjoyed pretty much every moment of it. I am impressed by Bolton’s writing in every book I read by her and this year she has become one of my favorite authors. I definitely recommend this one to mystery/suspense fans. Full review to come closer to release date.
When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon. Read June 23-25. 3 Stars.
This was one of my most anticipated YA books this year and while I liked it, I didn’t love it. The romance was super cute and I liked how Dimple and Rishi’s personalities really complemented each other. I liked both of them, but they both did things that frustrated me at times – especially Dimple. I liked that I got to learn a little more of Indian culture and I thought it was interesting the different feelings towards it that Dimple and Rishi had. I thought that it was kind of strange that Dimple went on and on about how important Insomnia Con was to her, but pretty much all her free time was spent being cutesy with Rishi. I mean, I don’t particularly mind because I’m not really into coding and all that, but the app development was supposed to be a big part of the story and we saw very, very little of it.
****************BACK ON THE TBR****************
Soulmated by Shaila Patel. I got a copy of this from the author and thought it looked pretty interesting. I started it, but found myself not in the mood for it and I didn’t want that mood to color my feelings of the book, so I set it down and I will try it again soon.
****************DNF****************
Sweet Little Lies by Jill Shavlis. DNF at 30%. This isn’t a bad book. It seems pretty standard Shalvis . I just can’t make myself get into it or care about the characters. And just like in the other book I read in this series I do not understand why the chapters titles are all hashtags? I thought it would be explained in this book, but this far in and no one has gone on Twitter. It’s a little thing, but it annoys me.
Thanks for sharing these – I always appreciate your honest reviews. I’m going to look out for Dead Man Walking. And btw, unexplained hashtags would bother me too!
Thanks! I hope you get to read Dead Woman Walking. It’s good!
I have read the Jill Shalvis series with the hashtags and I wondered about them too when I noticed every chapter started with one. It isn’t explained in any of the books and it does seem out of place. I would have thought one of the characters would be really into social media.
Right?! I don’t remember anyone even mentioning social media. If it was a big part of the story then it would make sense. Or was it like part of the book campaign where you were supposed to tweet the titles when you were reading? I didn’t see anything suggesting that, though.
Dead Woman Walking has been calling my name the past few days. I was trying to break up my suspense reading before I pick it up, since I just finished a suspense and I don’t want any weird expectations or lingering feelings about the book I just finished to hinder my reading enjoyment. Does that make sense? LOL. So I’m reading a romance now and plan to pick DWW up after!
That makes perfect sense. You can get burnt out on a genre if you read too much of it in a row and it can make otherwise good books seem not as impressive. I hope you love Dead Woman Walking!
Great Post! I’m looking forward to read When Dimple Met RIshi. I’m glad you liked it, despite the issues. 🙂
Thanks! I hope you enjoy it!
I also guessed the main twists on DWW but it was an awesome book ayway 😀
She’s such a good writer that everything else pretty much made up for it.
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You read some great books in June. The covers are amazing. Is that what made you choose to read them?
They aren’t what drew me in initially, but definitely a great perk.
I have that LL book to read! It makes me happy to see you liked it!
I also have read that Shalvis book/series. I wondered the same thing about the hashtags. I thought it was cute, but it wasn’t my favorite novel of hers. The most recent one in that series has been my favorite of it so far.
I hope you enjoy the LL one as much as I did. It was so cute! I’ve read one of the other books in the Shalvis series (I think it was the most recent? I’m not sure though) and I liked it fine, but I just couldn’t get into this one. The hashtag thing just drove me crazy, though. It made no sense! No one ever went on social media.
I just started the LL book, but didn’t get too far into last night. It seems cute so far.
I really only picked up When Dimple Met Rishi because of all the hype it was receiving. I ended up really enjoying it. It’s definitely a cute and quirky summer read, but after a while all the clichés and quickness of the romance between Rishi and Dimple (3 weeks dating, another 3 to fall it love? Really…?) became almost unbearable…
Dead Woman Walking has been under my radar for quite some time so I look forward to your full review on it soon!
Happy Reading 😀
Yes When Dimple Met Rishi was cute, but wasn’t quite as good as I was hoping for. Dead Woman Walking was very good. I definitely recommend that one!!