Without Merit by Colleen Hoover - Reshelved Books

Hello Dewey Readers!

Those are clean tissues I crinkled up... I promise....

I'm sorry I've been M.I.A.  Life has been CRAZY, but I have been reading, just nothing review worthy.  My last review was on Colleen Hoover's It Ends With Us, which I adored.  Surprise, surprise, this review is also about a book by Colleen Hoover.  I'm in love with Colleen Hoover.  I can't get enough.  I'm bookishly addicted.  Maybe I need rehab...

Without Merit is Hoover's latest novel, which I found while perusing the new shelf at my public library.  Everyone should go to their library right now and look at the new shelf.  I know that Hoover writes New Adult Fiction (N.A.) but I wasn't sure that this novel quite fit that category.  To me, it seemed like more of a young adult (Y.A.) fiction novel primarily because instead of having characters in their 20s, Hoover has main characters who are 17-19 years old.   Interesting to me, because all of the local libraries had this book shelved with their adult fiction collection...

Anyway, back to the book.  In this novel we meet Merit.  Merit has a twin sister named Honor and the two are COMPLETELY different.  Honor is into makeup and boys who are near their death bed, and Merit is socially awkward, a little bit borderline depressed, and collects trophies in which she buys every time something bad or embarrassing happens to her.   So one day while Merit is skipping school and eyeing up a trophy at the local antique shop, she runs into this older guy who kisses her.  WHY DOES A STRANGE MAN KISS HER?  Well, he thought Merit was Honor.  *Ba da bum!*

But if that's not embarrassing enough, this man, who goes by the name of Sagan, moves into her home.  She can't escape the embarrassment.  He's eating breakfast at her kitchen table!  Her family is a mess!  Her mother, who had battled cancer lives in the basement after her father slept with her mother's nurse and got her pregnant / married her, the family is looked down upon by town members after her atheist father bought a church and renovated it into a home, none of the siblings actually talk to Honor, and Honor doesn't appear to like them very much either.  

So, if you're looking for a read that's part soap opera, part romance, and part individual and familial mental disorder, pick this novel up.   I would give it 5 out of 5 Coffee Beans.  

And until the next read, which I promise will be something different from Hoover... (even though I just bought a new one)... Happy Reading!        

~Jessica

One of Us is Lying by Karen McManus- Reshelved Books

Who is ready for a new review on a new book?! 

I hope you all are eagerly waving your arms up in the air! haha.

I don't know how old the majority of our readers are but if you fall into the mid to late twenties and up, you should know about all of those classic John Hughes films from the 80s! 

Sixteen Candles! Pretty in Pink! St. Elmo's Fire! The Breakfast Club!

And this 90s baby does love Sixteen Candles and The Breakfast Club   :)

Let me know what you're favorite John Hughes movie is!  You can post down below OR find us on Facebook! FortheLoveofDewey is now a group and we'd love it if you joined!

But onward to the good stuff...   

One of Us is Lying is Karen McManus' debut novel.   As a YA fiction story, One of Us is Lying is a story about five teenagers, one who mysteriously ends up dead in detention.  The "who done it" and the why are what you as the reader are trying to figure out.  

This book is a mash up between the game of Clue and The Breakfast Club.

From what I could find out there on the great internet, it seems like McManus was influenced by the writings of Agatha Christie for her debut novel.  According to Book Club Babble, McManus used The Breakfast Club as her primary inspiration. 

Which is something I can totally see... Take for example Brian and Simon.  For anyone who has seen this movie, do you think that McManus loosely based Simon on Brian?? Brian had the intentions of suicide but was never success.  Simon actually *dies*...

Tabitha Lord of Book Club Babble did an *amazing* review with Karen McManus. I strongly recommend to everyone to go and check out her review!  Another good review on the book was done by The Big Thrill- you can check out that review here.

Lord brings up great questions that included awesome points.  I love how she brings up how nowadays, teenagers don't have a sense of privacy (which is true, when I was in high school, TEXT MESSAGES were just becoming a thing! and I am by no means old!).  How social media has taken over and made things that were once private, public.  (Not only that, but suicide is something that's increasing in teenagers :(  )

I very much liked the delivery of the story!  I liked how as the reader got deeper into the novel, the plot became more twisted.  The police were pitting Bronwyn, Nate, Cooper and Addie against each other- something that should have pulled them apart, made them stronger together in the end.  You slowly learn about Simon's life and 

As, I said before (because for anyone who knows me, I love to repeat myself) I liked how the book was a spin on The Breakfast Club: you had the athlete, the criminal, the brains, the outcast and the pretty girl.  While the five of them were able to walk out together at the end, One of Us is Lying loses the outcast. 

There was a twist at the end of the story that I was not expecting.  I could see how the "killer" was who they were, but I would never have imagined who was helping them.

I give this book 5 out of 5 coffee beans.  It held the right amount of suspense and it answered all of the questions that it laid out.  I didn't get tired of the characters and I didn't find them to be annoying.  The book progressed in a way that didn't leave you feeling ripped off. 

~ Jillian

How to Hang a Witch by Adriana Mather - Reshelved Books

Witches, ghosts, Salem, and pumpkin lattes...No, it's not October, but how could I pass up a book that takes a modern look into the Salem Witch Trials by placing Samantha Mather, a descendent of Cotton Mather, inside this spooky town?

I found How to Hang a Witch by Adriana Mather (yes, the author is a decedent of Cotton Mather as well) at Target. I walked around the store with it in my arms 3 times until I decided that yes, I needed to buy this book.  For those of you who aren't up to snuff on your witchy history, the Salem Witch Trials occurred in the 1690's in Salem, MA with the killing of 20 people who were accused of witchcraft.  Cotton Mather was a minister who, as according to Wikipedia, tried to prove that demons were alive and real in Salem (Wikipedia, 2017).  

Reviews of this book as found on it's Google Books page claim it to be a mixture of the Salem Witch Trials and Mean Girls.  I guess I can see how this is kind of true.  In this book, Samantha's father goes into a coma, resulting in Samantha and her step-mother returning to her father's hometown of Salem.  Once in Salem, Samantha learns about her heritage and how it makes her disliked by the kids in her school who are descendants of the people murdered during the witch trials.  The descendants take on the role of the "popular" crowd, targeting Samantha and making her feel uncomfortable and bullied.  Hence, Mean Girls.  

I enjoyed this book up until the point where the book began to take a dive away from the witchy history of Salem and Samantha, and shift towards a supernatural Casper-like ghost story that was too flamboyant to be believable.  This is seen where Samantha makes friends and falls in love with a ghost, as well as by how the person who her step-mother is quickly changes....almost too fast.  

For this reason, I am going to give this novel 3 out of 5 coffee beans.  I didn't like the ghost friendship or the elements at the end, but I did enjoy the novel overall.  

For readers who are looking for a historical novel with a modern twist, this probably isn't the book for you.  However, for reader's who enjoy ya paranormal reads,  even if elements may not be too believable, then give this book a try! 

~Jessica 

P.S.  According to a little stalking I did on Adriana Mather's GoodReads and Instagram accounts, not only is this novel going to become a movie BUT Mather is also coming out with a second book that takes Samantha and places her on the Titanic.  Apparently, Adirana Mather's ancestors were also on the Titanic.  How crazy is that?.... And, she's an actress? (Not the actress in the book trailer though!)  

Take a look at the book trailer. This might be one of those rare instances where the movie is slightly better than the book...What do you think?