Book Review: After Her by Joyce Maynard

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I have to be honest, there's no great reason that I picked up this book. It was recommended to me by Kobo, presumably because I read Labor Day, but it didn't really stand out all that much on it's own. It was a good price and I was lacking inspiration to read something, so I bought it. 

My Rating (via GoodReads): 4/5 stars.
Kobo Price: $11.99

This book surprised me, I actually really liked it. In my opinion, it was a lot better than Labor Day.

It's about 2 girls, sisters, living in San Francisco starting in 1979. Their dad is a police detective and that year he gets a really high profile case revolving around the murders of several young women in the area. His young daughter's, Patty and Rachel become consumed by the case also, intent on helping their Dad in some way, which of course goes terribly wrong. 30 years later, Rachel is still searching for the killer and in turn starts to learn more about her father's mysterious life.

The author fooled me a few times and I enjoyed that, I didn't find it to be predictable. Again, it's another quick read, which is apparently all I've been reading lately.

What are you reading? 

Book Review: "Labor Day" by Joyce Maynard

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This book is on my 2014 to-read list and has also been made into a major motion picture, in theaters now. I have not yet seen the movie, but when I do, I will add a short comparison to the end of this review.

My Rating (via GoodReads): 3/5 stars
Kobo Price: $11.99

I'm sort of ashamed to admit I liked this book. It's not the type of book I would normally go for. The writing intrigued me though, even though it was simple. It is told from the perspective of a thirteen-year-old boy named Henry who lives with his mother. His mother Adele appears to be extremely odd from the start of the book.

On one of their rare trips to the grocery store, Henry meets a strange and injured man who asks to go home with them... Yea, would you say yes? Well, they did. I know right, who does that? Anyways, they find out as time goes on that he is an escaped convict which seems quite obvious to me. He stays with them for all of Labor Day weekend, through which Henry learns a lot about himself, life, and those around him. Yup, totally cheesy statement, but it's true.

The premise was so outrageous and unrealistic, it fueled my need to know how it ended. It's a nice quick easy read and though I find it unlikely to happen in real life, I enjoyed the book nonetheless and the ending was less depressing than I pictured which is always a nice surprise.

It's pretty much made to be turned into film... I'm interested to see how they translated it to screen and whether it's any good. So why 3/5 stars, well I liked it, I didn't LOVE it. Would I have read it, if not to compare it to the movie? I'm not sure, but likely not.