Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

★★★☆☆
As a young man, Jacob Jankowski was tossed by fate onto a rickety train that was home to the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth. It was the early part of the great Depression, and for Jacob, now ninety, the circus world he remembers was both his salvation and a living hell. A veterinary student just shy of a degree, he was put in charge of caring for the circus menagerie. It was there that he met Marlena, the beautiful equestrian star married to August, the charismatic but twisted animal trainer. And he met Rosie, an untrainable elephant who was the great gray hope for this third-rate traveling show. The bond that grew among this unlikely trio was one of love and trust, and, ultimately, it was their only hope for survival.

I was really excited to read Water for Elephants, it has almost 10,000 ratings on BN.com and still has a 4.5 star rating.  They made a movie about the book after all - it has to be good, right?!  However, I was really disappointed in this book. 

There are some very depressing overtones - much of the beginning of the story is told by Jacob, the main character, while he is in a nursing home in a decrepit, depressive state.  It was a relief when the book jumped back to the 20-something Jacob telling the story.  But the whole first half to two-thirds of the book is filled with traumatic and depressing occurrences.  In addition, there's not much of a story up to that point, just a lot of describing what life on the circus was like and some character descriptions.  The book title includes the word 'Elephant,' the synopsis of the book talks about Rosie the elephant, and yet she doesn't even make an appearance in the book until it's halfway over.  I started reading some of the 'bad' reviews on BN.com, and the people who gave it 1 and 2 stars said things like, "Am I missing something?" and "What's all the hype about?"  Those were my feelings exactly for the vast majority of this book.

As disappointed as I was in the beginning, once I got through the first two-thirds of it, the storyline really started to pick up (there was actually a story!), and the love story emerged.  As I've said before, I am a sucker for a good one.  So even though this love story took a while to reveal itself, there were a good 45 pages or so of this book that I really enjoyed.

I will say it is interesting to read about the circus from a historical perspective.  I think the author did a lot of background research to make it historically accurate, and she even incorporated some real events into the book.  I just wish the plot filtered through the whole book instead of just a portion, and I wish much of it weren't so depressing.  Also, I feel like it just kind of ended empty.

There are several scenes of violence in this book, both toward people and toward animals.  There are some sexually explicit scenes as well.  I get that the author was trying to depict some of the things that happened, I just thought the level of detail was probably unnecessary.

Overall, I am glad I read this book.  Although I didn't love all of it, there was a portion that I did enjoy.

The Good Daughters by Joyce Maynard

★★★★☆
The bestselling author of Labor Day returns with a spellbinding novel about friendship, family secrets, and the strange twists of fate that shape our lives

The Good Daughters

They were born on the same day, in the same small New Hampshire hospital, into families that could hardly have been less alike.
Ruth Plank is an artist and a romantic with a rich, passionate, imaginative life. The last of five girls born to a gentle, caring farmer and his stolid wife, she yearns to soar beyond the confines of the land that has been her family's birthright for generations.

Dana Dickerson is a scientist and realist whose faith is firmly planted in the natural world. Raised by a pair of capricious drifters who waste their lives on failed dreams, she longs for stability and rootedness.

Different in nearly every way, Ruth and Dana share a need to make sense of who they are and to find their places in a world in which neither has ever truly felt she belonged. They also share a love for Dana's wild and beautiful older brother, Ray, who will leave an indelible mark on both their hearts.
Told in the alternating voices of Ruth and Dana, The Good Daughters follows these "birthday sisters" as they make their way from the 1950s to the present. Master storyteller Joyce Maynard chronicles the unlikely ways the two women's lives parallel and intersect—from childhood and adolescence to first loves, first sex, marriage, and parenthood; from the deaths of parents to divorce, the loss of home, and the loss of a beloved partner—until past secrets and forgotten memories unexpectedly come to light, forcing them to reevaluate themselves and each other.

Moving from rural New Hampshire to a remote island in British Columbia to the '70s Boston art-school scene, The Good Daughters is an unforgettable story about the ties of home and family, the devastating force of love, the healing power of forgiveness, and the desire to know who we are.

The Good Daughters was a good book - I did want to keep reading it to see how it would turn out.  However, I thought it had mildly depressing undertones, perhaps because of the solemn tone in which it was written.  I thought it was sort of a 'flat' novel, somehow some of the characters didn't seem very dimensional.  I waivered between giving it 3 and 4 stars and ultimately decided on 4 since I did want to see how it would end.  There are some suprising twists that occur throughout the book; some are unexpected and others are not.  Overall it was a good read - not one of my favorites, but worth reading.

The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson

★★★★★
Part blistering espionage thriller, part riveting police procedural, and part piercing exposé on social injustice, The Girl Who Played with Fire is a masterful, endlessly satisfying novel.

Mikael Blomkvist, crusading publisher of the magazine Millennium, has decided to run a story that will expose an extensive sex trafficking operation. On the eve of its publication, the two reporters responsible for the article are murdered, and the fingerprints found on the murder weapon belong to his friend, the troubled genius hacker Lisbeth Salander. Blomkvist, convinced of Salander’s innocence, plunges into an investigation. Meanwhile, Salander herself is drawn into a murderous game of cat and mouse, which forces her to face her dark past.

The Girl Who Played with Fire is the second book in Stieg Larsson's Milennium Trilogy Series (the first is The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo).  I thought this book was as good as the first.  Larsson has such an ability to create a very complex story while still allowing the reader to follow along.  The characters are so real in his books that, if they were actually real, you could pick them out from a crowd and would know their personalities and quirks.  As in the first book of the series, this book contains some very dark, violent scenes.  But again, there was so much to this story that those scenes didn't ruin it for me.  This book is another long one, but it's definitely a page-turner!

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

★★★★★

An international publishing sensation, Stieg Larsson's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo combines murder mystery, family saga, love story, and financial intrigue into one satisfyingly complex and entertainingly atmospheric novel.

Harriet Vanger, a scion of one of Sweden's wealthiest families disappeared over forty years ago. All these years later, her aged uncle continues to seek the truth. He hires Mikael Blomkvist, a crusading journalist recently trapped by a libel conviction, to investigate. He is aided by the pierced and tattooed punk prodigy Lisbeth Salander. Together they tap into a vein of unfathomable iniquity and astonishing corruption.

Wow. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is definitely one of those books that makes you think 'now THAT is a good book.'  This story was so riveting and page-turning.  There is a lot happening all at once, and there are a lot of characters, but it is so wonderfully written that I never lost track of what was going on.  This book is long, as are the rest in the series, but once I picked it up I didn't want to put it down - even through several hundred pages!  There are definitely some gruesome, evil, dark, horrendous scenes in the book.  However, for me that didn't overshadow the story as a whole.  There was so much more to it.  The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is brilliantly written.  It's definitely not an uplifiting tale, but it is an amazing story.

Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen

★★★★★
Ever since her parents began fighting, Auden has been unable to sleep at night. Now, spending a summer at a charming beach town with her father and his new family, she has to find new places to pass the time she spends awake. And so she meets Eli, a fellow insomniac who becomes her nighttime guide. Together, they embark on parallel quests: for Auden, to experience the carefree teenage life she has missed; for Eli, to come to terms with the death of a friend. In her trademark blockbuster-style, Sarah Dessen creates a powerful and irresistible story of two people learning how to connect. 

I thought Along for the Ride was a really great light, easy read.  At first I was a bit disappointed to find out it was about a couple of teenagers - I wasn't sure how much depth the book would have.  But the characters are so well-developed and likeable, the fact that they are teenagers certainly didn't have a negative impact on my impression.  I loved reading about  Auden and Eli's love story, I certainly am a sucker for a good one.  :)  I also really enjoy books set in easygoing, beachy locations, and this one fits the bill for that, too.  After reading this, I will definitely keep my eye out for other books by Sarah Dessen.  Who doesn't like getting lost in a good love story?!  Definitely recommended if you like these types of books, such an enjoyable read!

Millie's Fling by Jill Mansell

★★★★★

He's the best thing that ever happened to her. He's also the worst. He's Millie's Fling.

From one of the premiere contemporary authors in the UK, here is a fun and romantic tale that proves the road to matchmaking hilarity is paved with good intentions.

Bestselling novelist Orla Hart owes her life to her friend Millie Brady, whose rotten boyfriend has just left her. So Orla invites Millie to Cornwall, where Millie looks forward to a summer without any dating whatsoever. But Orla envisions Millie as the heroine of her next novel and decides to find Millie the man of her dreams. Except the two women have drastically different ideas about what kind of guy that should be.

With Orla and Millie working at cross-purposes, and a dashing but bewildered hero stuck in the middle, the summer will turn out to be unforgettable for all concerned...

I loved Millie's Fling, I thought it was a really fun romantic comedy.  It is set in the UK, and I found myself reading in my head with a British accent because of the words they use in the story!  There are bits of humor that don't translate, but it was fun to read this book.  The characters are very likable, and I honestly didn't want the story to end.  I was so glad that this was a longer novel!  I liked this book so much that I purchased another of Jill Mansell's books, Miranda's Big Mistake.  I may actually be bummed out a bit that Millie's Fling is over!  Definitely recommended.

The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks

★★★★★
Seventeen year old Veronica "Ronnie" Miller's life was turned upside-down when her parents divorced and her father moved from New York City to Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina. Three years later, she remains angry and alientated from her parents, especially her father...until her mother decides it would be in everyone's best interest if she spent the summer in Wilmington with him. Ronnie's father, a former concert pianist and teacher, is living a quiet life in the beach town, immersed in creating a work of art that will become the centerpiece of a local church.

The tale that unfolds is an unforgettable story of love on many levels—first love, love between parents and children — that demonstrates, as only a Nicholas Sparks novel can, the many ways that love can break our hearts...and heal them.

The Last Song was so amazing, such a good story! As much as I LOVE Nicholas Sparks, ever since reading The Notebook, I am cautious when I pick up his books because I'm not usually in the mood for a tear-jerker! Although this book will take you through a variety of emotions, I certainly didn't end up with an empty box of kleenex. It was such a great story that I had to watch the movie just so I could experience it again (of course the movies are never as good, but at least the important parts of the story were similar!). I would most definitely recommend this book.  Probably one of my favorites.