It's never good when my predominant feeling while reading a book is boredom. The Right Swipe should have been a fun, breezy modern-day romance, but instead it felt like slogging through 400 pages of molasses.

Almost from the first page, that spark of interest and excitement I should feel while reading a new book was missing. I thought if I kept going, it would eventually show up, but it never did. I think a large reason is that I just couldn't relate to the main female character, Rhiannon. She's extremely rigid in her view of relationships and weirdly sensitive to any perceived slights. She's constantly on her guard waiting for the other person to slip up, and when that inevitably happens, she jumps up and down on them and pretty much says "I knew you're no good!" Sorry girl, but if that's your attitude, your relationships are doomed to failure.

The writing also came across as stilted and awkward. The author writes in detail about everything, including every business meeting, every conversation with friends, every thought in the characters heads. It came across as if I, the reader, is quite dumb and must have every interaction spelled out in triplicate detail for me to understand. I don't need a plot point harped upon in so many different ways... I got it. The phrase "leave them wanting more" obviously doesn't apply here.

And for all that quantity, there was no quality. The dialog lacked wit, the main characters had no chemistry, and the plot line was unimaginative and plodding. This reading experience is like being accosted by a rambling relative known for telling long and pointless stories, and you can't escape. Sigh.

Maybe I need to take a break from light romances and romcoms. The last few I've read have been disappointing across the board. The conflicts have been surprisingly contrived and the characters were unlikable, one-dimensional extremes of who they should be. Without likable and relatable characters, what's even the point of a romance?

Readaroo Rating: 2 stars

In House of Salt and Sorrows, Annaleigh lives with her sisters, her father, and her stepmother in a remote manor by the sea. Once there were twelve sisters, but four have died recently. As Annaleigh becomes suspicious and starts digging around, she realizes that all is not as it seems.

This book starts off so promisingly. The story had me hooked immediately, and the first 50 pages whizzed by. The premise is so fascinating that I was sure it would pay off. But then the forward pace of the story slowed down... to a crawl. Every time I tried to read some more, my mind would wander off, and I'd catch myself daydreaming about something else. It's not that nothing is happening, but rather so much mundane or seemingly irrelevant things are going on that it's hard to figure out where the story was going. And it remained this way for the next 200 pages.

I think this was a case where the author was trying to fit in the fairy tale of "The Twelve Dancing Princesses", but it wasn't necessary to the story and added too much fluff in the middle. As a result, this story was more complicated than it needed to be. Thankfully it finally started coming together in the last 150 pages. The ending felt sufficiently good and enjoyable, though not as memorable as I was hoping for.

Readaroo Rating: 3 stars

Every year for the last couple of years, I've gone through the winners and nominees of the Pulitzer Prize for Nonfiction, and tried to read the ones that interest me, in the hopes that it will expand my horizons and introduce me to viewpoints I've never considered before. I'm so glad I picked up Amity and Prosperity.

It provides an in-depth look at fracking and the small towns that bear this burden so that the rest of us can have the energy we often take for granted. It specifically follows a few families near the poor Appalachian towns of Amity and Prosperity in Pennsylvania, first as fortune seemingly comes knocking in the form of a gas company looking to lease their land for fracking, then the fallout as their water and air become polluted, their animals die, and they cannot puzzle out the cause of their mysterious symptoms and flagging health.

What this book excels at is exposing the human toll of fracking. It juxtaposes the lure of easy money for an extremely poor region with the poisoning of its water and air. It pits neighbor against neighbor as some make it out with money while others must leave their now uninhabitable homes with a slew of health problems. It shows the extent that greedy corporations will go to make profits, even at the expense of real people's lives and livelihood.

This book also details the legal battle that ensued as these families' lawyers tried to fight for their right to clean air and water. It's a long and drawn out battle. And it emphasizes how important a state's laws and its legal/judicial systems are, either in helping the people it swore to protect in their fight for justice, or in helping the corporations that pay its coffers to maintain their right to expand and extract.

This book is timely and relevant. It made me realize that someone has to pay the price for the energy we take for granted. And for those people, being put on the other side of the balancing scale doesn't feel balanced or fair at all.

Readaroo Rating: 4 stars

In Dear Wife, local real estate agent Sabine is missing, and her husband Jeffery has secrets to hide. Meanwhile, Beth (not her real name) is on the run from her abusive husband, and it's going to take all her careful planning and wits to stay one step ahead of him. The police have assigned detective Marcus to the case to find Sabine and figure out what really happened to her.

The premise is intriguing enough, though I mainly picked up the book based on the strength of its stellar reviews. And there were parts I really enjoyed about this book. I thought the writing was riveting, the short chapters kept me turning the pages swiftly to find out what happened next, and the "good" characters were likable and interesting.

But I figured out what was going on not long after the halfway point, and then the book lost its thrill. There were many clues all pointing one way, and it was so obvious what was going on (which I don't think I have ever said about any book before). And once it became clear to me, reading the rest of the book became more sluggish and plodding.

Still, I enjoyed the book for the most part, and found at least the earlier half to be snappy and riveting. I just wish its mysteries were better concealed for longer so that I had more time to bask in the thrill of twists and secrets instead of just reading to reach the ultimate conclusion.

Readaroo Rating: 3 stars

Going into The Unhoneymooners, I expected this to be a light, fun rom-com based on all the gushing reviews out there. After all, I enjoy a good love/hate relationship as much as the next gal. Instead, coming out of it, I'm left wondering if I read the same book everyone else did.

The initial pages were bubbly and charming as events unfold that lead to Olive and Ethan going to Maui together. Then, bam! The awkward train arrives, and my enjoyment of this book completely falls apart. You guys, I don't understand this coupling at all. There is no chemistry between them. It was odd how they were cold towards each other one moment, then hot the next. Love/hate relationships are only fun if I can understand the whys of one and the other, but all I got was whiplash trying to follow along.

As far as I can tell, Olive likes Ethan solely because he's attractive. On every page, Olive mentions his muscles, his abs, his biceps, his beautiful face, his long lashes, his blue eyes. Please, someone make it stop. And Olive hates Ethan because she thinks he doesn't like her. And the only reason Ethan gives for liking Olive is her boobs. *facepalm* Can we just try a little harder here to make the reasons more than skin deep?

The supposed flirty banter between these two made me cringe in embarrassment for them, especially Olive. She tries so hard in their interactions to be snarky, but it comes across as forced, inappropriate, and awkward. And she reads into everything he says, and ends up incorrectly interpreting almost everything. It was exhausting to read. And Ethan doesn't help, giving signals he's thinking about his ex, then acting like a clueless dumbass when Olive is hurt.

Usually a romance either has a few explicitly steamy scenes or the author can chose to let all those happen behind the curtains, and either is fine with me. But this book oddly tries to straddle both. There's no explicit scenes shown, but instead we are told constantly at random, unrelated times that they happened A LOT. It's so awkward.

But for all this, it wasn't until the last 100 pages that this book took a complete left turn to somewhere stupid, for no reason. The story was wrapped up, and then it kept going, right off of a cliff. When someone you care for tells you that they got an unwanted advance and it made them uncomfortable, your response should not be in the vein of "I don't believe it. Really it's he said/she said. And what does it matter what the truth is anyways?" Umm... say what?

I found this book to be an odd mix of boring and awkward, with a good dose of "Oh hell no!" thrown in at end. This is my second book by this author duo, and I'm starting to think that they aren't for me. In both books, silly main characters acting on questionable calls make it hard for me to see them as viable romantic leads, which ultimately defeats the whole purpose of a romance.

Readaroo Rating: 2 stars

Sometimes I'm in the mood for something light and fun, and A Lady's Guide to Etiquette and Murder fits the bill perfectly. It combines Victorian decorum with the intrigue of a murder mystery and adds in a dash of romance. What results is something altogether charming and enjoyable.

One of my favorite things about this story is that Frances, Countess of Harleigh, is strong, independent, and audacious at a time when women are expected to be meek and dependent on a man. She has just become widowed, and is now forced to live on her own and seek her place in the world. She does so with good humor, even as her circumstances become less fortunate.

The mystery in here is its one weak point. Instead of having lots of clues so the reader can join in and figure out whodunnit, we more or less follow along as Frances pokes around, discovers things, and eventually is led to the guilty party. It's all very straightforward without any cleverness or eureka moments involved.

Even with that one weakness, I still greatly enjoyed this story. The characters in here are all extremely endearing and adorably witty, and Frances is the perfect focal point. I'll read pretty much any story with a strong female lead, so this has me hooked. Good thing it's the start of a series, and I can't wait to read more.

Readaroo Rating: 4 stars

In 1985, Anthony Ray Hinton was wrongfully convicted of murder and then imprisoned for almost 30 years in solitary confinement, waiting to be put to death for a crime he didn't commit. The horrific injustice that was perpetrated upon Mr. Hinton is beyond belief. Yet through it all, Mr. Hinton remained unwavering in his hope and his kindness. The Sun Does Shine is his story told in his own words.

Reading this book, almost every page made me sick to my stomach. Everyone working for the state of Alabama in this case—including the prosecutor, the judge, the ballistics experts, witnesses, and even Mr. Hinton's court appointed lawyer—willfully lied and maliciously conspired to put a man in prison for a crime they know he didn't commit. One person even went so far as to tell him that they didn't care if he was guilty, and that as a black person he should take one for the team.

Thirty years is a lifetime, and it was taken from Mr. Hinton in the blink of an eye. Yet, his words of faith and hope, and his positive attitude and kindness to fellow inmates and guards were moving to read. He took what was one of the worst situations anyone could find themselves in, and made a life out of it in a room that's 5 ft by 7 ft.

One of the things that struck me was how Mr. Hinton tried to remove the hate from his heart towards everyone who essentially conspired to kill him. He looked upon them with forgiveness and kindness, and I just don't know how he could do it. I feel hatred in my heart towards all those people after reading this book, and it didn't even happen to me. But I'm glad he was able to, and that it brought him some measure of peace.

Mr. Hinton's courage and kindness fills me with awe. He is a hero and so is his team of dedicated lawyers led by Bryan Stevenson of the Equal Justice Initiative who worked for two decades to exonerate and set Mr. Hinton free. This book is tough to read, but it feels essential to understanding all that is wrong with our criminal justice system, including its excessive, racially-motivated punishment of poor black people.

In the end, Mr. Hinton's steadfast fight to see the good in everyone and to keep hope alive in his heart reminds me of the humanity in all of us. With grace, kindness, and love, he passed through hell and survived to tell his tale. Now he is working to bring visibility to all the injustices he has suffered and witnessed, and the world needs people like him. He is truly an inspiration to us all.

Readaroo Rating: 5 stars!

Police is another solidly gripping installment of the Harry Hole series. This time, someone is brutally murdering police officers at the site of old, unsolved homicides where they have investigated and the trail has gone cold. As the body count starts ratcheting up, and it hits closer and closer to home, the police realize they have no leads, and their best investigator is not available to help out.

I feel this series is at its most entertaining and spine-chilling when dealing with serial killers, and I'm happy that this book went back to that theme. There were so many clues and red herrings in here, and for a while sinister vibes were coming off of everyone. It was great fun, and I couldn't turn the pages fast enough. About two-thirds of the way through, I started to get an inkling of what might've been going on and was pleasantly surprised when I turned out to be right, for once!

As a random aside, I'm someone who's quite squeamish and the crimes in this book are gruesome (a Jo Nesbø hallmark), but for some reason that doesn't bother me in this series. I've been trying to figure out why for the last four books, and I still can't put my finger on it. Maybe it's so outlandishly horrifying that it comes across as quite hammed up and therefore I find it to be great fun? Although if that's the explanation, I'm not sure what it says about me.

I noticed with this and the last book that even though each is a standalone and the main crime is solved, there are a few loose ends that doesn't get wrapped up and are carried over into the next book. I personally prefer my books to be wholly self-contained due to poor memory issues, but this just means I can't wait too long until I read the next one.

Readaroo Rating: 4 stars

In The Bookish Life of Nina Hill, our quirky heroine Nina is perfectly happy with her life exactly the way it is: she works in a bookstore, plays trivia, has a small group of friends and a cat, and often prefers the company of her books to that of people. She's organized to a fault, doesn't like surprises, and finds her home to be her favorite place in the world. Then life throws her for a loop when she finds herself attracted to a fellow trivia player and family she doesn't even know existed intrudes into her life.

This is an adorable story, made all the more so because I can see parts of myself in Nina. I found the first half of this story to be especially enjoyable, with lots of laugh-out-loud moments in the witty banter and popular references as we get to know Nina. For me, the second half wasn't as interesting, especially around all the interactions with the new family members. A lot of the fun of the first half petered out, and it became more wacky than quirky.

Still, it was a lovely and charming read for the most part. I'm glad I picked it up, largely because it was so entertaining to see a lot of my own introverted tendencies in Nina Hill. She's definitely a character I can understand and cheer for.

Readaroo Rating: 3 stars