A waste of money… Three books I'm "throwing out."

I don't want to stir up any debate betwixt all my readers (haha), so the books will remain nameless, but I bought three books last year that I thought I would love. We chose one for book club, then one of the book club ladies told the rest of us that in reading reviews of the first book, she saw that there is one chapter that is very graphically pornographic. She recommended that we all skip that chapter, because even those reviews pointed out that the rest of the book is excellent.

The enthusiasm for the book and it's sequels totally died for me. I know I can just skip the chapter in question and enjoy the rest of the it… but, I don't know. I just don't care anymore.

Luckily, the two sequels were on sale when I bought them, so altogether the total cost for the three books was about $15. I hate wasting that much money, but it could be worse.

Here's the lesson I learned: I need to just buy books when I'm ready to read them. That way, if there is something objectionable about them, I still have time to return them for a refund.

It's going to kind of feel bad to delete three unread books (that I paid for!) off my Kindle, but I just don't want to read them anymore.

P.S. No, it's not the 50 Shades series. Haha!

Elijah of Buxton (Christopher Paul Curtis)

Why I have this book: My friend recommended it a while back, and since I have Amazon Gift Card money to spend, I took it off my Wish List and put it on my Kindle. :)

I liked this book a lot. It reminded me of reading The Great Brain books back when I was a kid. (It even made me stop to see if those books were available for Kindle yet… and they're not! WHY???) Anyway, it's been a very long time since I read The Great Brain books, so maybe they aren't like this book at all…

In any case, I was thoroughly entertained with the writing, and touched by the deeper storylines. In fact, I was so engrossed that I was surprised when the book ended. I wanted to see what happened next, but the ending really was perfect.

Very good and I highly recommend it.

Clean, although it deals to some degree with the difficult subject of slavery.

All Things New (Lynn Austin)

Why I have this book: I bought it over a year ago because I like this author and the book was on sale.

I enjoyed this book… It was a bit deeper than a lot of the books I've been reading lately, so that was a nice change. It tied up pretty quick and neatly at the end, but that's okay. And if you're offended by a religious angle, you might get bugged. (I didn't.)

It was set in the post-Civil War era, which is always an interesting time to read about.

Clean.

Living It Down (Pamela S. Williams)

Why I have this book: It sounded good, so I bought it with my birthday Amazon gift card balance.

I really wanted (and expected) to like this book. I think it had potential, but it felt like something written in the 60's. I don't know… even the parents seemed kind of naive, and the teenagers were way more naive than any teenagers I've ever known.

There were some characters/conversations that really kind of creeped me out. I think some were meant to be creepy (which weren't so much creepy as corny) and some were meant to be profound, but just made me shudder a bit. Everything felt a bit "cliché" to me.

I really wish I liked it more, because the author seems like a nice lady and I'm happy for her publishing her first book at a later age. That impresses me.

Clean enough… there was a "bad" teenage boy situation, but everything came from an LDS perspective of what is right and wrong. 

The Christmas Code (Ed J. Pinegar)

Why I have this book: I bought it with my Amazon gift card balance because it was Christmasy and it sounded like it might be good.

After reading it, I'm kind of bummed that I spent $5.76 on it.

It was a cute story. It reminded me of a cheesy Christmas movie you might see on Hallmark. It just didn't get deep enough to be more than "cute" for me.

Clean.

For What It's Worth (Karey White)

Why I have this book: I had a lot of Amazon Gift Cards to use up (I know… quite a problem.) and I have really enjoyed this author's other books, so I bought this one.

I enjoyed it well enough. I didn't feel like the relationship was super well-developed. It was kind of like they were falling in love, but I didn't see it happen. But I liked the storyline and the message it was trying to convey.

Most of it just didn't seem that realistic… everything happened in a way that maybe happens for some people (inheriting a ton of money, super success practically instantly, etc.), but not for most people. So in that regard, it was definitely one of those books that wasn't a deep emotional connection for me.

Still, it was a nice escape read and sometimes that's just what I need.  :)

Clean.

Can This Be Christmas? (Debbie Macomber)

Why I have this book: It was super cheap on Amazon, plus I think I must have bought it before I was worn out with her Cedar Cove Series. If it wasn't a Christmas story, I would have waited to read it until I was in the mood for her kind of story again.

This was a pretty short book about a group of people stranded in a train depot on Christmas Eve. It was okay. It was kind of cute. Luckily it was a short investment of time.

I might need a bit deeper of a read next. I feel like it's all been a bit too much "light" reading lately. My brain is feeling a little mushy.

This book was clean other than a handful of swear words.