February 2014 Books

It was a tough month. Generally speaking, all I read were trashy books I was able to download onto my Kindle for free. These are not the best quality books, of course.

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell - So I LOVED Eleanor and Park and I was nervous about reading another Rowell book because there was no way it could be as good.  Anyway, I think it's possible that I loved Fangirl even a smidge more than Eleanor and Park and now I'm one very small step away from wearing a Rainbow Rowell 4eva tshirt (that small step being I need to, you know, make the tshirt).  Words cannot describe how much I related to Cath, the main character in this book.  There was one sub-storyline I could have done without, but this is about as good as fiction gets in my world.  Everyone, go read both Eleanor and Park and Fangirl and be ready to make your own tshirt.

The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater -  In this, the second book of The Raven Cycle series, we tie up no plot lines, but create 348293048 new ones to follow. I didn't adore this one as much as I did The Raven Boys, but it's mostly because the world has now been built and I'm not entirely sure I like this world.  I will be reading more of the series, but I'm not as super excited as I was before. 

And that was it. I read some trashy books on my Kindle including Blitzing Emily and Rushing Amy both by Julie Brannagh, two perfectly acceptable romances with NFL players as our dashing white knights, and Finger Prints by Barbara Delinsky, a contemporary romantic novel I first read in high school and is sort of a "comfort" book for me when things are tough.

So since this list is not so much a "list" as one book everyone should read, let's recap some of my other favorite comfort reads. Below you will find the most reread books in my collection.

1) Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling - Apparently other people have different favorite books in the HP series, but this one is mine. I love the introduction of other magical worlds and the book leads you down all sorts of issues with regards to international relations between the magical and Muggle worlds. Plus, Harry's not a prat yet in this book. Anyway, I've read all the books dozens of times, but this one is the one I read if I'm going to read them out of order.

2) Just Listen by Sarah Dessen- I will defend this book with my life. It doesn't hurt that Owen is dreamy. This book manages to fill all of my needs - solid story, great characters, and an ending that doesn't make me want to throw the book against the wall.

3) Where She Went by Gayle Forman -  This is the sequel to If I Stay, but it's so much better. I've read If I Stay once and that's enough for me. But when I reread this book, I always learn something new about Adam.  If I could just do away with the last twenty pages of this book, it would be perfect.

4) A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith - I've written about this book so frequently here that I feel like I need a special "Betty Smith" tag.  Francie and I are soul sisters.

5) Perfect by Judith McNaught - Admitting that I love the contemporary McNaught romances is totally just outing myself as having horrible taste. But I do.  I love the overly complicated plots, the emotionally unavailable hero, and the naive heroine who has just enough quirks to be not quite perfect, but almost perfect.  Do I love the last third of the book?  Absolutely not.  But it's a great journey.

6) Naked in Death by J.D. Robb - This is the first book in the In Death series and sometimes I like to go back to it to see what Eve was like when she was still badass and I didn't have to deal with Roarke and his domestic violence.

7)  Rock Me by Cherrie Lynn - I can't believe that I'm opening admitting this, but I've read this book dozens of times. It's just the right amount of absolute escapism for me. Most of my favorites are books I love because I relate just so much to the characters (see: all time obsession for Betty Smith and Francie Nolan), but I love this book so much because it's so far from my life that I can only imagine just how wonderful it would be. (Hearts in Darkness by Laura Kaye gets a runner up prize for most of the same reasons. It's delightfully delicious, but the idea of making out with some guy you've never seen might skeeve you out if you think about it too much.)

What are your comfort reads? Do you even have comfort reads or is that exclusively an NGS-type thing?  My husband has taken extra care to tell me how weird it is that I reread so many books, so I believe that it is possible that not so many of us just get too attached to characters and can't let go.