I love taking a look at a book cover and description and then coming up with my own idea of what the book will be about. Sometimes I’m right, sometimes I’m so wrong it’s almost funny. So I’ve decided to launch myself off of WWW Wednesday, a bookish meme run by Sam@Taking on a World of Words, and write about my first, middle, and last impressions of each book I read.
The first impression is based solely on the cover and description. What do I think it will be about?
The middle impression is kind of a check-in on how the story is going about halfway through.
The last impression is my final thoughts on the book, what I’m left thinking.
I hope you have as much fun with this as I will!
Lost on a Page by David E. Sharp – Fantasy
First Impression: I think this will be a fun romp through books as the character seeks revenge in his author, with maybe some similarities to The Library of the Unwritten by AJ Hackwith?
Middle Impression: So far, this is an ambitious novel, though the execution of each part is a little mixed. Fortunately, the main story has some good twists going for it.
Last Impression: Definitely an ambitious novel with good twists and turns, but also way too much information is withheld. This is a fun romp through genres, but the execution is lacking and it ends on a semi-cliffhanger and I can’t quite tell if the main story actually wrapped up.
Check out how my review turned out!
We Have Always Been Here by Lena Nguyen – Science Fiction
First Impression: I’m expecting a psychological sci-fi thriller with people going seriously crazy.
Middle Impression: The middle isn’t exactly impressing me. It seems to want to move fast and slow at the same time, making it feel kind of stalled, especially with so many flashbacks to Grace Park’s childhood.
Last Impression: This is a crazy, creepy, eerie story about what it is to be human and the divides between people.
Check out how my review turned out!
To Walk Alone in the Crowd by Antonio Munoz Molina – Literary Fiction
First Impression: I think this will be a disjointed mass of what life is like in a big city, but with some cohesion to tell a story.
Middle Impression: This is about a man wandering Madrid, deep in his head, yet also very present in his daily life, paying attention to everything. Most of the paragraphs are focused on one thing and several of them can be focused on one topic, reminding me of tunnel vision as the narrator must finish writing about something before he can move on.
Last Impression: I liked how it came full circle, how we as the reader come to get an idea of why this man did this, but I was seriously disturbed by the portrayal of women, and ultimately was left feeling a little bored. I don’t think literary fiction is for me.
Check out how my review turned out!
Such a Quiet Place by Megan Miranda – Domestic Thriller
First Impression: I’m hoping this is a really thrilling read focused on two friends, one of whom has recently been freed from prison. I’m hoping the small community it’s set in will be turned on its head.
Middle Impression: This doesn’t really get interesting until about halfway through, but something about the story feels off, like the characters are clearly focusing on the wrong thing and the reader knows it. I wonder if they could all be in cahoots.
Last Impression: This wrapped up more or less as I expected. The exposition and the ending were nice, but I didn’t feel it was really thrilling until the last 10%.
The Sinful Lives of Trophy Wives by Kristin Miller – Psychological Thriller
First Impression: I’m expecting this to be about three women who live in an exclusive neighborhood to come together in an unexpected friendship while all their secrets unravel around them.
Middle Impression: This novel has a really good pace! The husbands sound kind of similar, like they’re cut from the same mold, and Brooke is kind of a lackluster character. But I love that their outer appearances and how they behave with others mask what’s really going on.
Last Impression: This story neatly ties everything together with something of a forceful, out of control ending that was a ton of fun. It didn’t turn out to be quite as catty and backstabbing as I had expected, but it was still a fun thriller.
The Timepiece and the Girl Who Went Astray by O. R. Simmonds – Fantasy
First Impression: I think this will be a mystery/thriller with lots of time travel involved.
Middle Impression: It’s a little rough, but interesting. I really like the characters and the time travel mostly made sense and sounds plausible.
Last Impression: This is a fun romp through time, albeit a little confusing with overlapping and crossing time lines, but the characters really shine in this book.
The Outlands by Tyler Edwards – Dystopian Science Fiction/YA
First Impression: I’m hoping for a fast-paced dystopian novel focused on a man whose life is on the line, but he’s surrounded by a lovable group of misfits who support him.
Middle Impression: Feels more and more like a standard YA dystopian, but take that with a grain of salt since I don’t read those. There’s lots of fighting between both sides, idealism, and so many secrets.
Last Impression: This turned out to be fairly predictable, but had some really nice twists. I was surprised by how much I ended up enjoying it.
Battle Royal by Lucy Parker – Romance
First Impression: I’m hoping this will be a delicious romance practically dripping cakes.
Middle Impression: Definitely delicious with an abundance of cakes, and the romance is turning out to be very sweet. I love the minor characters so much!
Last Impression: A very sweet, romantic romance. It had a surprisingly serious streak, but it fit in really well and made this into a gorgeous story. I thought it was a little too predictable, but I fell in love with the characters.
Where I Left Her by Amber Garza – Mystery/Thriller
First Impression: I adored Garza’s first book, When I Was You, so am expecting a similarly thrilling thriller with lots of twists and turns. This sounds like it’ll be about a mother coming to terms with her own secrets and dealing with not actually knowing her teen daughter at all.
Middle Impression: This is turning out to be such a fast-paced thriller! There are three time lines woven together and tons of flashbacks, but it manages to not be confusing at all.
Last Impression: This is a twisted story of motherhood and friendship. I had no clue what to believe until the very end, which was actually a little rough, but still tied everything together nicely. Though I kind of want a sequel because these characters are so incredibly manipulative!
Legacy of Light by Matthew Ward – Fantasy
First Impression: Literally no clue what to expect! This is the third book in the trilogy and, as I thought the second book read like a finale, I really have no clue what could be contained on these pages, so my only impression is that there must be a ton left to write about because this is 800 pages.
What about you?
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I find that when a book doesn’t live up to its cover, I tend to abandon them unless I’ve made a commitment to the author.
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That’s definitely a huge disappointment! A cover is usually a reader’s first introduction, so there’s so much pressure on it. I tend to agree that the two really should match up.
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