First Impression Friday #18

Sometimes it feels like it takes months for this post to come up. And then, there are times like this, where it feels like I wrote the last one yesterday! The holiday season seems to be putting time on fast forward!! But anyways, my calendar says it’s been 2 weeks since my last First Impression Friday post, so let’s get going!

For those of you who aren’t aware, First Impression Friday is a meme that was created by Joe at J.W. Martin – Storeys of Stories – it’s a post where, every Friday, he talks about the books he’s currently reading and what his first impressions are. I tweaked this a little and only do this bi-weekly and I also add my final rating and thoughts compared with my initial thoughts.

MY FIRST IMPRESSIONS – I’ll admit that I was a little confused in the beginning of this one. After the first two chapters there wasn’t really enough for me to go on. I wasn’t hooked, wasn’t in love with the characters, and wasn’t sure of the direction of the story. Hell, I wasn’t even sure that I was sold on the writing style! I guessed that I would rate this one 2.5 stars……

HOW I RATED –  WOW! I WAS SO WRONG! It took me a long while to get into this one completely. There were a few different perspectives so it took longer than usual to get introduced to them all and learn their role in the story. But, once this story got going, it was really wonderful! Not an easy read for sure, but an important one with a really important (and well written message). What made me love this more than anything was how real it all was. The situations, the relationships, their conversations, their parents, their feelings – it was all so genuine. I ended up rating it 5 stars!

MY FIRST IMPRESSIONS – This one is a little difficult to do for a first impressions. It’s a collection of short stories so there’s really no way to predict your experience based on the first story alone. But, for the sake of the meme, I will say that after the first story (By Rainbow Rowell) I guessed that I would rate this collection 3 stars…..

HOW I RATED IT – Well I was right. Some were fantastic while others were just too boring to continue. I found some authors that I would love to read a full length novel from, and a few others that I now know I don’t like the writing style. It was a great reading experience for the holiday season.

MY FIRST IMPRESSIONS – After reading the first chapter of this book, I was absolutely convinced that I would agree with all the hype. We have a man who owns a book store, alone after his wife died in a car accident, and spiralling down. He didn’t care about his life at all and lost his temper easily. I fully expected to fall for this man and hang on his every word with complete emotional investment. I guessed that I would rate this one 5 stars…..

HOW I RATED IT – Wrong yet again. Oh so wrong. The emotional investment that I expected to happen fell flat and, in the end, I didn’t really care about any single character in this book. I can’t put my finger on it, but the characters felt so one dimensional and flat. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t attach myself emotionally to the characters or the story. I ended up rating it 3 stars.

The books I’ve read over the last 2 weeks served as a life lesson in reading. I had one that I thought would be mediocre, and it ended up being amazing. And I had one that I thought I would fall head over heels for and it just fell flat. This goes to show that you need to give a book a chance before you make the decision to set it aside!

Until next time, happy reading!