Friday, September 20, 2019

Mini-Reviews: Library Purchase Suggestions

Today I'm reviewing a couple more books that were purchase suggestions to my library!

The Enlightenment of Bees by Rachel Linden (2019)

After losing her job and being dumped by her boyfriend, Mia is given the opportunity to join a humanitarian trip around the world.

Unfortunately, I liked the premise of this book a lot more than the execution and details.  From a young age, Mia knew she wanted to help others and make a huge impact on the world - and the reader is told this over and over again.  I liked that she was inspired by her aunt, but I never really got the impression that Mia did any volunteer work when she was younger or had any sort of plan to do charitable work as an adult, so her proclamations felt a bit hollow.  The humanitarian trip just kind of fell into her lap, and honestly it felt a little sketchy - the trip seemed a little disorganized, wasted a lot of money, and seemed too concerned with its social media image.  It's not really a good sign when the volunteers themselves feel like it's a waste of time.  It also rubbed me the wrong way that baking was Mia's passion, yet she felt it wasn't a worthy profession and that she was destined for better things.  I felt she was being shortsighted.

However, there were things I enjoyed.  Mia does experience a lot of growth during the book, and so I found myself liking her a lot more as the story went on.  Also, her Nana Alice was the sweetest - I loved how encouraging she was.  3 stars


The Passengers by John Marrs (2019)

In the not-so-distant future, driverless cars are the norm in Britain.  A hacker takes control of 8 cars, setting them (and their Passengers) on a collision course, leaving the public to decide who lives and who dies.

I love how John Marrs was able to take the idea of self-driving cars and perfectly articulate the main fear I have about them - that someone else could take control of the vehicle, leaving me powerless.  He kicks it up a notch by adding this whole social media aspect to it, as people around the world follow along with the Passengers and vote for who they want to survive, using hashtags.  The action and tension in the story move along at a fairly good clip for most of the book, except for the sections where we break away and learn more about the Passengers themselves.  These chapters messed with the pacing a little, but it was really interesting to learn more about these people.  It was a perfect character study in how people are not always who they appear to be and also gave insight into how the hacker was manipulating the entire situation.

One of my pet peeves with thrillers is when the villain is omniscient and omnipotent, and there was a lot of that here; the hacker seemed to always be 20 steps ahead.  It made me roll my eyes a bit, but honestly, I was so invested in the story that I didn't care too much.  This was a super-quick read that will have you guessing until the end!  4 stars

22 comments:

  1. I really don't like it when there's something in a book that's being told over and over again. I've come across things like that in a lot of books. The Enlightenment of Bees has a beautiful cover though! And with The Passengers I have the same fear about self-driving cars. The thought alone freaks me out. But it does sound like a good read.

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    1. The cover is definitely what drew me in! Repetition is a killer, though.

      Self-driving cars are not for me!

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  2. I'm not so sure about The Enlightenment of Bees but I do really like the sounds of The Passengers. Great reviews! Have a great weekend.

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  3. Totally agree about the hacker's knowledge--I get that it was crucial for the story, but how can anything be that far ahead of everything? Regardless, I'm so glad you enjoyed it! The Enlightenment of Bees does have a really interesting premise, so it's unfortunate when the execution doesn't match.

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    1. Right?? At some points I rolled my eyes, he just knew SO MUCH! It didn't seem plausible!

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  4. I've been really curious about The Passengers, having seen it around quite a bit. I think the always-a-step-ahead hacker would irritate me too, but other than that I kinda want to read it- that premise sounds so fun. :)

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  5. I definitely want to get to The Passengers - it sounds like something that would translate well to screen too!

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  6. Oooh The Passengers sounds really interesting! This is the first I've heard of that one.

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  7. Ooh! I need to add The Passengers to my TBR list!!

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  8. Okay, now my fear of driverless cars just TTOTALLY when up a notch!

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  9. The Enlighten of Bees sounds familiar, but I can't put my finger on it. It's a bummer it wasn't executed well. I had a similar reading experience recently... the book itself was interesting, but I felt like I was reading the bones of what the book was meant to be. It's super disappointing. I'm glad The Passengers worked better for you!

    Lindsi @ Do You Dog-ear? 💬

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    1. Right! It's hard when the idea is so good, but the execution doesn't match.

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  10. The Passengers sounds really good. I'm glad to hear that you were able to keep enjoying the story in spite of the hacker making you roll your eyes a few times. That usually bothers me about villains too so I'm curious to see if I would enjoy this one.

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  11. The Enlightenment of Bees has a gorgeous cover; too bad it wasn't that good. The whole stating things over and over is one of the things I'm working on in my book. Readers don't have to read things over and over again.

    The passengers sounds really interesting.

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    1. Exactly! It's like the author is really trying to drive a point home, but there are others ways of doing that.

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I'm so glad you stopped by, and I would love to hear your thoughts! Comments are always greatly appreciated!