The last three books I've read have had NOT ONE THING to do with one another. But hey, variety is the spice of life, right? Here goes...
The Hostby Stephenie Meyer.
I read
The Host, by
Twilight author Meyer, over the 4th of July when I was at the lake with my family. They complained for 48 hours about the fact that I would not take my face out of it and interact with them, if that says anything for the book.
The story is not so different from that of
Twilight, a tale of a "monster" who doesn't really want to be a monster, and because of their willingness to love those who are human, is able to bridge the gap of differences. Edward anyone?
The premise is quite different however, "souls" instead of vampires, a female monster instead of Edward, and instead of humans being the dominant race, the souls have taken over the earth. The monsters rule. However, there is less of a clearly defined good vs. evil in
The Host because the souls have supposedly perfected the flaws of human life. They do not kill, lie, steal, get angry, or anything negative. At least the majority don't. This makes it harder to take sides with the humans, and Meyer does a good job drawing the reader into the internal conflict.
The greatest element Meyer does carry over from the Twilight series is the impossible romance theme. Wanderer, the main character is a "soul." Humans hate souls. Souls hate humans. She falls in love with a human, etc. etc. I'm not going to give you a bunch of plot summary because it really is worth a read!
Grade: A
The Crowning Glory of Calla Lily Ponder
by Rebecca Wells.
I grew up on
The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, Wells first novel (I think...). My high school friends and I imitated the relationships, hairstyles and nail polish of the four friends in the novel. I've never had a sister, and I have always longed for the type of relationships chronicled in that book.
I've read the prequel to the
Ya-Ya's,
Little Altars Everywhere, and the sequel,
Ya-Ya's in Bloom. I had high expectations for Calla Lily. And I was not disappointed.
Though Wells writes with a choppier style, which makes the book more difficult to be drawn into right away, once you bond with the main character, Calla Lily herself, you find yourself immediately attached.
Similar to the
Ya-Ya books, the story is set in Louisiana. She uses a lot of the terms from the other books, "alligator tears," "the moon lady" and captures the same essence of the small-town south portrayed in the other books, but reading the others isn't necessary by any means.
Calla Lily is easy to love. She cares deeply for those around her, doesn't make bad decisions, doesn't judge others and has a willingness to go where the "moon lady" takes her. Through it all she is true to herself and the reader finds that her victories become her own. And in case you don't follow me on
Twitter, I burst into tears on the plane home from Chicago reading this book, if that tells you anything.
Grade: B+
Style A to Zoe by Rachel Zoe with Rose Apodaca.
I just got this book from my co-worker J for my birthday and though I have only done a skim through the pages and photos, I CAN NOT WAIT to read it! Rachel Zoe dresses many of my fashion icons and is pretty darn adorable herself.
I'll keep you posted on this one...What have you been reading loves?
Mel, Me, Jaime, Mand (The FAB FOUR).
