2012 - the year of mediocrity?

Well, so far, at any rate. Now that I am not working on my master's degree, I am finally getting to do more reading. Sadly though, so far this year hasn't had a lot to offer. Or maybe I'm just making some bad literary choices. It could have to do with the fact that at least one of the books I read was a free Friday download. But so was Game of Thrones and I love that!
So here are this year's latest:



I enjoy a good Nicholas Sparks novel as much as the next person, but for the most part, this wasn't it. Amanda and Owen were teenagers when they fell in love. Star crossed lovers. When a mutual friend dies, he requests that Amanda and Dawson return to their home town for his funeral. While the novel has it's warm plot twists, like Tuck's garden, it just isn't enough to overcome the trite, formulaic feel. Unless you are a huge Nicholas Sparks fan, I wouldn't recommend reading this one. Best of Me is definitately not Sparks' best offering.



This was a free Friday downloaded. I guess I should have known better, but the cover was appealing enough. It started out in an intriguing way and then quickly devolved into the every day minutae of a person who has their identity stolen. In some ways, the loss of her identity does help Alice change certain aspects of her life that she has been longing to change but has been hesitant too. Still the idea that a person could be grateful to the individual who essentially ruined her life, and desire to maintain a friendship with that person was a little far fetched as far as I am concerned.