The Little Paris Bookshop {Quick Review}

The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George

Visit the Author's website HERE

Publisher: Crown

Publishing Date: June 23, 2015

Goodreads Summary:

“There are books that are suitable for a million people, others for only a hundred. There are even remedies—I mean books—that were written for one person only…A book is both medic and medicine at once. It makes a diagnosis as well as offering therapy. Putting the right novels to the appropriate ailments: that’s how I sell books.”

Monsieur Perdu calls himself a literary apothecary. From his floating bookstore in a barge on the Seine, he prescribes novels for the hardships of life. Using his intuitive feel for the exact book a reader needs, Perdu mends broken hearts and souls. The only person he can't seem to heal through literature is himself; he's still haunted by heartbreak after his great love disappeared. She left him with only a letter, which he has never opened.

After Perdu is finally tempted to read the letter, he hauls anchor and departs on a mission to the south of France, hoping to make peace with his loss and discover the end of the story. Joined by a bestselling but blocked author and a lovelorn Italian chef, Perdu travels along the country’s rivers, dispensing his wisdom and his books, showing that the literary world can take the human soul on a journey to heal itself.

A Match of Wits {Review}

A Match of Wits by Jen Turano

Visit the Author's website HERE

Publisher: Bethany House

Publishing Date: July 1, 2014

Goodreads Summary:

After his departure from New York two years ago to meet up with his almost-fiancee, Zayne Beckett is the last person Agatha Watson wanted to stumble upon in her travels as a reporter with the New York Tribune. Quite pathetically bedraggled, he clearly needs to be taken in hand and sent back East to his family. Although she no longer has feelings for him, Agatha realizes--by hook or by crook--she'll have to be the one to get the obstinate man home.

Zayne has no desire to be taken anywhere and is prepared to drag his heels all the way home . . . until he finds himself slipping back into the familiar banter of his former friendship with Agatha. Once they arrive in New York, Zayne realizes Agatha's determined nose for news has earned her a few enemies, and he hopes to repay her help with some help of his own. When she rebuffs all his attempts to prove himself a knight in shining armor, the lengths to which they'll go to win this battle of wills lead to some memorable antics.

Everyone else may think them a match, but nothing could be further from the truth--until Agatha finds herself in real trouble. Have these two stubborn, too-smart-for-their-own-good people been meant for each other all along?

Hope Runs Review

Hope Runs by Clair Diaz-Ortiz and Samuel Ikua Gachagua
Find Diaz-Ortiz on TWITTER
Publisher: Revell
Publishing Date: April 15, 2014
Goodreads Summary: 

Sammy Ikua Gachagua had lost his father to illness, his mother to abandonment, and his home to poverty. By age ten, he was living in a shack with seven other children and very little food. He entered an orphanage seeing it as a miracle with three meals a day, a bed to sleep in, and clothes on his back.When Claire Diaz-Ortiz arrived in Kenya at the end of an around-the-world journey, she decided to stay the night, climb Mt. Kenya, then head back home. She entered an orphanage seeing it as little more than a free place to spend the night before her mountain trek. God had other plans.

Hope Runs is the emotional story of an American tourist, a Kenyan orphan, and the day that would change the course of both of their lives forever. It's about what it means to live in the now when the world is falling down around you. It's about what it means to hope for the things you cannot see. Most of all, it's about how God can change your life in the blink of an eye. 

I recieved this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. The Kindle version is $12.49 today! (6/6/14)

My Thoughts:
This is a book that I looked forward to in the way one looks forward to a missions trip--I wanted a touching story that would affect my life. Maybe even give me a broader perspective. And while the book did do some of that, I am not sure I could easily recommend it to others.

My largest issue? The writing. A lot of you may think me rude and say 'You try writing a book!' I know, I know, but when someone writes a book don't they want it to be the best it can be? I left this book with the distinct impression that not much effort was put into the writing and editing process. Sentences are very short, very direct, and very impersonal. It felt very rough and distracted me from the heart of the story.

Secondly, I missed the emotions. I never connect to Claire, one of the main 'narrators' of the tale, but whom seems to miss much of the events. I didn't learn about who she was, why she had such a travel, her relationship with Lara, her experiences and life lessons. I never got to know the true essence and drive behind Claire, Lara, and the Hope Runs organization. Most everything in this novel is pure fact ("I went there, did this, tried that."). Fascinating to be sure, but the book lacked the necessary elements to truly draw the reader in and care.

There was one good part and one redeeming quality. The good part: Sammy's story. I would have loved to read a more complete 'ending' to his story, but none the less his life story is interesting and inspiring. I wanted more and wouldn't raise the slightest fuss if they cut out Claire completely and renamed the book "Sammy's Story".

The redeeming quality? Claire tried to focus on how missions work really affects the people who remain. The central question of her college career: Would it be better to send money or go and visit personally? Often those mission trips are 2-3 weeks and then you never return. Does it truly make an impact? Does it help, or hurt? This is a fascinating realization to me, and one I find should have been obvious to me. It certainly has changed some of my viewpoints and has caused me to think more wisely about where I spend my money and time.

"The way to enact true social change in the world is to acknowledge that the biggest impact at work is often not in the conversational English skills or hygiene needs of the local populations but rather in the volunteer's own transformation. If it was really all about the locals, after all, many times we'd be much better off sending our money to organizations that employ locals on the ground to do the English teaching and the health work. However, by having one cross-cultural experience, then another and another, these volunteers - if given the right tools to recognize the importance of what they themselves are actually learning - have a good chance of one day doing something that can hopefully make things a little better. The volunteer's value to the local is not in that single three-month stint building a church or two but in the possibility that those three months can transform the volunteer into someone who gives for life." (pg. 29)

Overall, "Hope Runs" was not what I was looking for. It felt unemotional, factual, and I believe, could have used tighter editing. I have historically loved books published by Revell, but I find myself sorely disappointed in this one. I am rating it with a low 1.5 stars. I can only recommend it to those who have read a lot on the topic of poverty and Africa, and are only looking for another quick read through. I also wouldn't be beyond recommending only reading the chapters told from Sammy's point of view.

Know any other inspiring, life-affecting out of Africa books?? Please, recommend them to be below!!

Second Star: Review

Second Star by Alyssa B Sheinmel
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Publishing Date: May 13, 2014
Visit the author's website HERE
Goodreads Summary:

A twisty story about love, loss, and lies, this contemporary oceanside adventure is tinged with a touch of dark magic as it follows seventeen-year-old Wendy Darling on a search for her missing surfer brothers. Wendy’s journey leads her to a mysterious hidden cove inhabited by a tribe of young renegade surfers, most of them runaways like her brothers. Wendy is instantly drawn to the cove’s charismatic leader, Pete, but her search also points her toward Pete's nemesis, the drug-dealing Jas. Enigmatic, dangerous, and handsome, Jas pulls Wendy in even as she's falling hard for Pete. A radical reinvention of a classic, Second Star is an irresistible summer romance about two young men who have yet to grow up--and the troubled beauty trapped between them.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. Preorder it from Amazon for $8.89 today (4/28/14)

My Thoughts:
I'm not sure what to say about this one, friends. I had read some bad reviews prior to starting the book and so forged ahead with little expectations. Whether that was helpful or harmful, I have yet to determine.

The idea of the book is that Wendy Darling is looking for her twin brothers, John and Michael, who, obsessed with surfing, disappeared one day. Police are certain they died after finding their broken surfboards on the beach, but Wendy doesn't believe it. She sets out to find them on her own. Her journey leads her to an abandoned house full of lost kids who love to surf. Instantly she is attracted to the 'leader' of the group Pete, makes out with him, only to find out later he is dating Belle. Just up the beach cliffs is Pete's ex-best friend Jas, who sells a wickedly addictive drug called fairy dust. Wendy stays with the kids in the abandoned house, learning to surf and trying to gain the acceptance of the others. Along the way there is surfing, drug taking, surfing, and pure craziness.

I really struggled with Wendy's character. She was a self-professed straight-A student who had never broken a rule or told a lie. Yet along the course of the story we find her easily smoking cigarettes, breaking into houses, swigging beer, and even popping some fairy dust. All with barely a second thought. I couldn't wrap my mind around that. Why was I supposed to believe Wendy was such a good kid?? She was distrustful, and rash, and sort of bland. I couldn't understand her attraction to Pete beyond the fact that he was hot and the original Peter Pan fairy tale indicated that they should be. Her attraction to the dark, stoic, handsome, BUT STILL a drug seller, Jas was almost just as weird.

I am NOT GOING TO HAVE ANY SPOILERS, but.......the ending. It felt rushed, confusing, and completely lacking some good detail. I was totally on Wendy's 'side', wondering how it was all going to go 'that way'. Only to find out otherwise, maybe?? --->All of that will only make sense if you read this book all the way to the very end.

Since I can't give away an spoilers, I feel like I can't completely share why I was so disappointed in this book. It was good enough while reading to not feel the need to DNF it, but after finishing I wondered where the author had just taken me. What was the point of that journey? The original Peter Pan ended as if the Darlings' time in Never Never Land was just a dream, but at least along the way we got some good story and some good morals. In "Second Star" we aren't given story, or morals, or a point to the journey we just completed. It was a nice attempt, but I think it just fell totally flat. I'm giving "Second Star"  1.5 Stars and recommend it to those who are also obsessed with surfing and don't mind taking a journey that may be enjoyable, but pointless.