So I’ve been slowly been getting back into reading again. With everything going on before I couldn’t see myself carving out a couple hours to get lost in a book. However, reading over a series was a great alternative because it was a little easier to put down and get back to real life when I had to. Of course I read over the Significance series. It’s still one of my favourite books to get lost in. Anyways, I tried reading a book called Finding my Prince Charming by J.S. Cooper.
It didn’t have the greatest reviews on Goodreads but I just needed to get back into reading so I started it. It started off okay, smart girl has a bit of a wilder friend that needs taking care of but then she started to do some stupid things and I couldn’t finish it. I can’t really stand to be in the head of a smart person doing out of character stupid things and then being upset at the outcome. I don’t know if maybe it’s because she was younger than me but then again I read a lot of books where the protagonist is younger and I get through them, even like them.
Of course I needed another book to get that one out of my head and I picked up Only With You by Lauren Layne.
She’s a new author for me so I didn’t know what to expect with her writing style and I was kind of surprised to find it was third person. She didn’t write from the perspective of any of the characters but as a fly on the wall that so happened to be privy to all of their thoughts and actions. It’s interesting. I can’t really think of another book I’ve read recently that was written like that but I’m pretty sure Harry Potter was written with that same style of point of view. There’s nothing wrong with it but it took a little getting used to since I hadn’t read anything written like that in a while.
The book is really good. I love the protagonist Sophie Claire and I love how full her character is. All of the characters are actually. Even though a lot of details may not have been given for all of them, what was provided really filled out what wasn’t said in a way that you can imagine how they would be in different situations. I love that I found a book with an older main character who is more relatable in terms of life experiences. Something I didn’t expect to happen was that I cried. I can’t remember the last time I cried from a book so it surprised me. There are certain books where you know right away that it’s going to be sad, like The Fault in Our Stars, or there are hints that it’s getting to a sad part but this gave no such warning. And it was beautiful. I loved it! It was such a great moment for the character and it just felt really honest.
I love the themes that are dealt with in the book, what the different characters go through as they try to figure out life and the changes they’re going through or the changes they have to force on themselves. How the author, Lauren, writes just really deals with all of these things in a really head on and honest way that makes it such an easy read. Nothing seems to far fetched or too impossible to believe. When I actually got to the end I had that awesome moment of wishing to know more about what happened next.
The happy moment after I finished the book was that I found out that there’s another one so I’m going to also read that one.
From what I can gather its about Sophie’s sister and kind of carries on where the character left off in the first one. I haven’t started it yet, life is busy, but I’m thinking a nice quiet night before I go to bed would be a great time to get sucked back into Lauren’s world :).
Carla Jones 