The Art of Devotion - Samantha Bruce-Benjamin

Genre: Fiction
Format: Trade Paperback
Pages: 378
ISBN: 9781439153949
Rating 3.5 Stars

I was one of the lucky ones who received this book for free from the author on The Next Best Book Club (TNBBC). This book not only has one of the most beautiful covers I have ever saw but it s filled will poetry, drama, scandals, twists, turns, and just plain ol' creepy-remarkable. It is told in 4 different voices; Sophie, who is the mother of Adora and Sebastian, Adora, who is the main center of attention who everyone seems to love but is crazy in her own poetic way, Miranda who I did feel sorry for in the beginning but grew to seriously hate her, she was the mother of Gigi and the former lover of Sebastian, and then the last voice was of Gigi who used to stay at the home of Adora on a Mediterranean island every summer. It gets confusing in the beginning to remember who is who and who does what but after the 30 or so pages you start to get the hang of it. There is so much melodramatic tragedies and so much scandal that it is amazing. No characters are really likable but I like that about the story. I rooted for no one. The closest person that I liked was Gigi only because I felt bad for her to be trapped in such a world with such people who really only cared about themselves or who were obsessed with something that they could not control.

There is so much going on in this book that it would take me all day to try to explain but it was a good read. This is definitely what people may call a good "beach read". I recall many times when I was reading this that my mouth was hanging open and people on the subway probably thought I was crazy or just plain ol' slow. I think that in every "chapter" I felt like "OH MY GOD, REALLY???" and I think that causes for a good book. I gave it 3.5 stars only because of being so much drama and no happy moments. I know that there were times when I wished for something and then when it happened I was mad. I never, or very rarely, do I give 5 stars and 4 stars bring it very close to 5 so I think 3.5 is a very good rating and I would recommend it to others.

Shanghai Girls - Lisa See

Genre: Historical Fiction

Format: Softcover/Library

Pages: 309

ISBN: 9780812980530

Rating 4/5 Stars

I don't know why I can't give it 5 stars but it came very VERY close to it. There were so many times where I wanted to throw my book across the room because I was all too excited or angry with something in the book. Not in a bad way. I love when that happens. I was so animated throughout the whole book. I constantly made faces, whether happy or sad or whatever. There were so many twists and turns and a lot of unexpected things that happened but there were also a few things that I knew were coming. I love to read historical fiction. It paints a picture of a history that you were not a part of but of how it changes the way we know things and how it shapes our lives.

I loved this book and I am very excited to find out that there may just be a sequel which is good because the ending drove me nuts! It was such a cliff hanger! It is a nice marketing strategy but I hate that! I hate when you are left with nothing and are forced to wait until many months later until the next installment comes along but at least I got that. I would have rated the book lower if I had not known about the impending sequel.

I have Snow Flower and the Secret Fan and Peony in Love but have yet to read them but I do hear so many great things so I am excited about getting to them in the near future.

The Help - Kathryn Stockett

Genre: Fiction
Pages: 444
ISBN: 9780399155345
Rating: 4/5 Stars

This was a good read. It kept you reading throughout the entire story. I am sure everyone has said it or heard about The Help but I gotta admit I didn't love it, was just good. At first I got annoyed of having a white woman speak in a black voice but then I realized that men write in women's voices all the time (and of course that annoys all of us women) so then what is the difference right? No one can really, truly write in the opposite anything voice so I had to just give up on that and move along. I tell myself that it is a story and I should read it that way instead of really analyzing it. I gave it 4/5 stars because I didn't fall in love with it but I did enjoy it all the same. But for some odd reason I really don't understand all the hype about this book. I mean, I know it brave, and dangerous on both sides but still I just saw it as an average good read and pretty much nothing more than that. There are so many other books that have similar situations or worse and they don't get as much praise as this one. But yet I still give it 4/5!

I kinda liked the whole idea of putting her spin on it. It was kinda like reading the story of how this book came about within the actual pages of this book. I guess you would really understand what I mean unless you have already read it but I do like how she Incorporated her life in Jackson, Mississippi to a life of "someone else". I also liked her little story at the end just to tie things up. It really put a close on the book. I had so many thoughts throughout the book and I guess it is a good thing that this book is not only my personal book club online at Goodreads but it is also one of the monthly book reads for my work book club so there will be lots to chat about.