Seven Ways We Lie was very ambitious. With seven main characters a lot could go wrong: unresolved plot lines, not enough depth, loss of focus and characters that might be too similar. I’m glad to say that Seven Ways We Lie didn’t suffer from any of these shortcomings. In fact, the choice to integrate so many characters’ perspectives worked!
COUNTING STARS by Keris Stainton
Books set in university that aren’t entirely pre-occupied with romance are surprisingly tough to find. During my own undergraduate studies I wished for so many more but had to make do with books set in high school. Maybe “make do” sounds like I didn’t enjoy those books but I did. It’s just that the university setting tends to be rather neglected. That’s why I was pretty excited to learn that Counting Stars featured university students.
Review Anthology #1: Mental Illness
As I browsed through all the titles of books that I read last year, I realized that there were a lot of them that I didn’t share here on the blog (yet). Some of these were books that I thought were fairly important and I always meant to feature.
FALLING INTO PLACE by Amy Zhang
When I first finished reading Falling into Place, I didn’t know how to rate it. It spoke to me in the most painful manner. No other book in recent memory has made me cry so much. When I wasn’t crying, I was on the verge of tears. The rest of the time I was uncomfortable. Liz wasn’t a nice person and yet I felt a connection because a lot of her thoughts had been mine before.
THE REST OF US JUST LIVE HERE by Patrick Ness
Going into The Rest of Us Just Live Here I felt very disconcerted. The main text reads like a contemporary book but each chapter starts with insights on the Chosen Ones and the gods above. There are however overlaps that can be seen when the paranormal events have an impact on the ordinary people. This makes the setting a very strange yet familiar one.
