A One Paragraph Book Review
My husband asked me recently why I don’t review books I actually like and I argued that I have reviewed books I like; I LIKE most of the books I’ve read in the last year, I just don’t LOVE them. The problem is Maggie Stiefvater’s The Raven Boys. It’s ruined me for other books which, admittedly, is a little odd considering that I wasn’t all that interested in the overall plot of the book (Finding the burial place of a Welsh king? Meh.). The characters, though. I would happily read an entire book about Ronan folding his laundry. Gansey and Blue and Adam and Ronan are the kind of characters that make you angry with the world for not having seen fit to make them into real people. They are lovely and, for better or worse, I doubt I will ever love another book quite as much as I love this one.
Go here to learn more about One Paragraph Book Reviews
I get excited about books, sometimes I get REALLY excited, and Renée Ahdieh’s The Wrath and the Dawn was one of those REALLY exciting books. Until I read it (or really, didn’t read it, I couldn’t finish the whole thing). Maybe it’s my own fault; I came in with high hopes of complex characters and conflicting emotions, as a girl destined to die in the morning, not only survives her death sentence, but falls in love with her would-be executioner. But, I just… sigh. If two people are going to fall in love, and I’m expected to care about it, this affection has to have a basis beyond one of them having “kind, velvet brown eyes of soft, chocolate kindness” or some similar nonsense; if you’re looking for a fun weekend read, I’d skip this one.
When I outlined the 
Rebecca Schaeffer’s 2018 Not Even Bones was a gift from my husband, given after he’d spent several weeks listening to my lamenting that science fiction (paranormal, westerns, steampunk, what have you) and fantasy don’t mix nearly enough. Enter Not Even Bones: billed as Dexter meets This Savage Song, this debut novel is both creepy and weirdly captivating (I never thought of myself as someone who would enjoy reading a book about magical creatures being dissected, but- hey, here we are). While I was fascinated by both the characters and the plot, I did find myself wishing there was a little….more… to the story. But I guess that’s what sequels are for.
I don’t read historical fiction very often and I picked up Marie Benedict’s 2018 novel, Carnegie’s Maid, on a whim but, after finishing, I began to wonder what else I was missing and immediately added The Other Einstein to my reading list. Einstein is a heartbreaking and infuriating look into what life might have been like for the famed physician’s first wife, and while a considerable amount of speculation went into crafting this perspective (facts about Mileva Marić aren’t exactly plentiful), I walked away feeling utterly outraged on her behalf anyway. If nothing else, Ms. Benedict offers a poignant view into the historical struggles faced by women who dared to deviate from cultural norms and that, in itself, is reason enough to pick it up.
Erin Simpson 