A Weekend Full of Books

I did a TON of reading this weekend, mostly because I was flying.  For as long as I can remember, I've read on the plane.  Even when there's an in-flight movie, I'll still read while listening to it.

This weekend, I polished off three books.  First up was Stuck in the Middle by Virginia Smith.  It was a free download on my Nook app, published by Revell in 2008.  It was not a bad book, but it wasn't really my thing. I felt like I was being given a message on a silver platter, with a big flashing sign pointing at it.  I don't mind books that have a message or a lesson, but I prefer to have the lesson be more subtly woven into the story.  I also wasn't too keen on the way the relationships between the sisters were portrayed.  They felt very cliched, and then too easily overcome.  The writing was still a good quality, though I wish the story had continued a little further along.  However, compared to most of the other free books I've read, it was great!

The next one I finished was Jane by April Lindner.  It was published by Poppy in October 2010.  I picked this one up as a 'real' book from the airport in Toronto when I found out my flight was delayed by two hours.  I had listened to Jane Eyre as an audiobook last year, after several failed attempts to read it.  Even though Jane was set in a modern time an place, it captured some of the same feelings as the book it was based on.  There was definitely a constant sense of melancholy, and the voice made Jane sound much older than her 19 years.  I believe that this was intentional, and it worked with the history that Jane had, but I'm not sure if I liked it.  Does that make sense?  It was well-written, it was a clever re-interpretation of a classic, but I feel as ambivalent towards Jane as I did towards Jane Eyre.  I think that the character, no matter which setting she is in, just doesn't resonate with me.  However, if you were a fan of Jane Eyre, I can see how you would really enjoy Jane.

The last one was Making Waves, by Tawna Fenske.  It was published by Sourcebooks in August 2011.  I first heard about this book by reading Tawna's blog.  I've followed her for about a year now, and I've always enjoyed her posts.  Her sense of humor works well with mine, and I think that's part of the reason that I could barely put the book down.  I finished it within a day of starting it, and I'm mostly just disappointed that I ran out of words.  Juli's quirks are adorable, and they're the sort of weird little habits that I've seen in other people (and myself).  The near-misses in the bedroom are intense, and Tawna does a great job of building the tension between Juli and Alex, without overdoing it or making it too cheesy.  I like my romance with a good dose of humor, because, really, romance never goes as smoothly as most stories would have you believe.  If you like a good HEA, and hot-but-not-too-hot-to-lend-to-my-mother love scenes, and a good laugh, this is a great choice.  Of the three books this weekend, Making Waves is the one I'll recommend to most of my friends.  In fact, even though I purchased it in e-book format, I'll be swinging past B&N this week to pick up a physical copy so I can start lending it to my friends.