books on tap: doing what I do

With all the books passing through my hot little hands, a few of you have wondered how I review a book and how I decide on the rating I give it. I thought I would explain the method behind my madness in hopes that you can better understand my reviews and use them to determine if you think a book I've reviewed would be a good fit for you.

Here's the key:
Five stars: I absolutely love a book. I'll definitely acquire my own copy if I don't already own it, and I know I'll re-read it again, probably multiple times.
Four stars: Really great and highly recommended. I may still obtain my own copy, and will re-read, but for whatever reason (slightly underdeveloped characters, an unfinished ending, confusing writing) it's not quite a five.
Three stars: my middle-of-the-road catchall. You'll see a lot of these. I don't dislike these book, they're just not my favorite. I may or may not own or re-read them. They can kind of be divided into two categories: high 3s, which are good but not quite 4s, and low 3s, which are not that great but I don't feel they're as bad as a 2. There's a lot of variation here; you may love a book I rated three stars. 
Two stars: I didn't really like it at all, but there's still some redeeming shred in it somewhere.
One star: Bad. Poor writing, poor subject matter, poor everything. I've only given out 6 of these.

Here's how to get more stars:
Good writing is huge. I prefer concise, clear writing with good enough descriptions that I can easily picture the setting, character, or situation. The story has to flow well and make sense. For already-published books (not ARCs), I also note any recurring grammatical, punctuation, or typo errors.

For nonfiction, my biggest pet peeve is too. much. detail. Authors tend to overexplain when writing nonfiction. I would guess it's because they don't want to be accused of fabrication or misrepresenting facts. This can lead to a cumbersome, overly wordy book that is way longer than it needs to be. I loved Dead Wake by Eric Larson, but it could easily have been 100 pages shorter.
 
For fiction, it's alllllll about the characters. If the characters aren't believable, interesting, or well-developed enough, I simply can't get into a book and will never rate it highly. Bad dialogue is also a deal-killer. Often authors write dialogue how they think people talk instead of how they actually talk. Stilted, overly formal, or dull conversations between characters causes me to lose interest fast.

Anyway. In order to keep you from losing interest, I'll stop boring you with my nerdy editing stuff. Here's the goods. Enjoy!
 
xoxo,
E

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Sidney Chambers and the Dangers of Temptation, by James Runcie. This book is a worthy fifth installment of the Grantchester Mysteries series, but the formula is getting a little stale: 5-6 short mysteries, not much detail and solved quickly. I'd like to see more development of Sidney and Hildegard's relationship, and I'd rather see him focus on one long mystery, with more detail, than the short little ones. Also, he's really gotten away from Sidney's vicar duties. But still, it's a cozy, lovely British mystery series and, as always, worth a read. 4/5 stars.

The Provence Cure for the Brokenhearted, by Bridget Asher. You had me at "Provence" (You ALWAYS have me at France anything). You lost me at confusing present-to-past-and-then-back narration. The premise great - a grieving widow takes her son and disaffected teenage niece to the family's farmhouse in Provence that was recently affected by a fire. But I got lost between the narrator's flashbacks and reminiscences into her past, both her childhood and with her husband. It wouldn't have been a bad idea, just needs to be more clearly delineated. 3/5 stars.

Attachments, by Rainbow Rowell. This is a funny, lighthearted read that I read in four hours at the pool on Seabrook Island on July 4th. It takes place in 1999 as the Internet is taking off, and a newspaper has hired someone to monitor the company's emails and Internet usage. The guy, Lincoln, falls in love with a girl whose email he reads - with hilarious consequences. I fell in love with the funny, flawed characters. Although half the novel is written as emails, the writing is still done well.. I haven't loved Rowell's teen books, but this adult-based one is great. 4/5 stars.

The Flower Arrangement*, by Ella Griffin. The first chapter of this was great. The rest of it, not so much. Each chapter features a different, but somehow interconnected, person in Dublin (think like Love Actually). But it's done clumsily, and I was more interested in Lara, her brother, and her father than the others. Further, the different points of view and tenses drove me insane, and I started confusing minor characters. The writing is also flowery and overdone in places. I wanted to like this, but I could only give it 3/5 stars, and that's being generous.

The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend, by Katerina Bivald. I'd wanted to read this book for a while, but it was hard to find. In hindsight, that might be God's way of warning me not to bother. The plot is far-fetched: a woman from Sweden moves to BFE, Iowa, to live with her elderly pen pal for a few months, only to find the pen pal has died, but the residents want her to stay, and she opens a bookstore. I mean, what? The writing is also convoluted at times, and I never could really identify with the main character or any of the townspeople. It's cute, but not that cute. 3/5 stars.

The Beautiful Pretender*, by Melanie Dickerson. This book is a G-rated retelling of Beauty and the Beast and the Princess and the Pea. A servant girl is sent to the Lord of Thornbeck in place of her mistress, as he is conducting a search for a bride. She is, alas, eventually found out, but there are even worse plots afoot...such as the extremely basic writing. And the absolute lack of a love scene. This is a book for people who don't really read. The story itself was fine and could have been great in the right hands, but apparently not these hands. 3/5 stars, and again, that's generous.

Mother, Can You Not?*, by Kate Siegel. A combination of text message screen shots and essays about her life, Kate Siegel's book is very funny. However, I liked the actual text messages from her mother more than I liked her stories. I know there needed to be some kind of narrative, but I almost think it would be funnier if her mother had written it. But the love and friendship between this mother and daughter is undeniable, and being the daughter of a rather...um...opinionated woman made me totally relate. Most of the time.  3/5 stars.

Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen. Considered by many to be Austen's first "mature" work, Mansfield Park tackles the subject of class more heavily than her earlier works, such as Pride and Prejudice. A girl, Fanny, is taken from her poor family and sent to live with her aunt, uncle and cousins at Mansfield Park - where they make sure she knows her place. There's a lot of drama in this one, and a lot of class commentary. But the book moves a little too slowly for me, and it just isn't my favorite Austen. 3/5 stars.

Thrice the Brinded Cat Hath Mew'd*, by Alan Bradley. I GOBBLED this book up on the plane to Spain, stopping only when I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer. This is a great addition to the Flavia de Luce mysteries. I legitimately just love that kid, and all the other characters. I love Flavia's relationship with her sisters and cousin, and I especially love Dogger. And Bradley's writing. I don't want to give anything away, but this story is unique and heart-wrenching and has me dying to read the next installment, and the next, and the next... 4/5 stars.

The President's Hat*, by Antoine Laurain. I am in love with Antoine Laurain's writing. It is SO good. His stories are like a perfect baguette - crunch and texture on the outside and light and airy on the inside. I was almost hesitant to read this book after reading "The Red Notebook," because I thought there was no way he could even match the delightfulness of that story. Turns out he could. This was such a perfect little jaunt, and I loved the characters. I read this book in an entire afternoon. I cannot WAIT for his newest book to come out this fall. 5/5 stars

The Summer Before the War, by Helen Simonson. I don't know how, in 400+ pages, that nothing happens, but seriously...nothing happened. Okay, I mean, things happened: a lady moved to town, a war started, people got married, people had babies - but there was not a single bit of tension or anticipation, and there wasn't a climax to the book at all. It just...was. The sad thing is, the characters were really good. I loved Beatrice and Hugh and Agatha, but their escapades were written incredibly poorly. Simonson's first book, Major Pettigrew's Last Stand, was far, far better. This is a poor sophomore attempt. 3/5 stars.

Margherita's Notebook*, by Elisabetta Flumeri and Gabriella Giacometti. The description said this book would be loved by fans of Chocolat and Under the Tuscan Sun, both of which I adore. This, not so much. The writing was extremely basic and overly obvious and clumsy. There was zero subtlety to the story, and the characters seemed two-dimensional and fake. The story also felt forced. Maybe it's because it was translated from Italian? I don't know. But I was deeply disappointed in this. The premise could've been good but was done very wrongly. 3/5 stars, and once again I'm being generous.

The Bette Davis Club, by Jane Lotter. I don't know what I expected, but this book was a whimsical delight. An aunt goes to her niece's wedding, which the niece promptly flees from - and the aunt and the groom go after her. Wacky adventures follow, naturally, including a lesbian dance contest and being rammed off the road by a guy named Boone. The whole time, I was like, "Um, what just happened?!" My only beef is Margo's relationship with Finn. I don't think it added anything to the story, and could easily have been left out. All in all, still great, though. 4/5 stars.

Paris Letters, by Janice Macleod. I think we all know how I came to read this. It's about a woman from California who saves up for a year to quit her rat-race job in advertising (believe me, I feel for her) to travel around Europe. While she's traveling, this vegan meets a hunky butcher boyfriend in Paris, where she eventually moves. Paris Letters are not only her way of recording her adventures, but also supporting herself to be able to stay in the country. Lord, how I identify with this woman and her travels, especially in Paris. Plus, her writing is light, to-the-point, and funny. Highly recommended.  4/5 stars

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*Disclaimer: The titles notated with a star (*) above were given to me for free by either NetGalley, BookLook Bloggers, or Blogging For Books, in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.
**Also - the books linked in this post are affiliate links, meaning that if you click on any of the book links and order one (or any) of them through Amazon, I may earn a small commission. B thanks you in advance for helping to support my psychotic book-buying habits.