Book Review: Good As Gone by Amy Gentry

PURCHASE~GOODREADS

This year, I've read and dropped and didn't finish a lot of thrillers. I was scared the same would happen with Good As Gone, but then I read the first page, and I knew this was one thriller I'd be finishing in a long while. You have my review:

This book was one hell of a good one! I loved it entirely! From start to finish! The kind of book that when done you just have to read the author’s acknowledgement note to get more of a glimpse of her than her bio allows. 😉 Amy Gentry writes well! This year I’ve started and stopped, started and not finished a lot of thrillers, because they weren’t well-written. I mean, if you want to keep me glued to my seat holding your book whilst ignoring a splitting backache, your book has got to be literary and well-written! Suspenseful! Original story-telling! 😉 Imagine This: Your daughter gets kidnapped, according to the version of events of your youngest daughter who must have stayed hidden in the closet and screamed three hours later after the shock wore off. Though with help of the media, the cops, the posters you put around, the fake callers who tell they might just have spotted an exact girl being clubbed somewhere, the search is getting nowhere. Now, years later, you have got to keep on living. Even though your life has become this unfeeling void. Now that you’re done with hope you’ve got to reclaim the pieces of what is left of your family: a daughter who changes her hair colour than she does her underwear, a husband whose hoping you’re beginning to find cloying and irritating. Then one day, YOUR DAUGHTER APPEARS. You’re happy and relieved. But there’s this nagging thought that her eyes are a shade darker than the original. Who’s this girl and what does she want with your family?😄 #Goodasgone #amygentry #bookstagram #malemodel #bookporn #bibliophile #menwhoread #African #KNUST #thrillers #goodmorning #blackman

A photo posted by Kobby Ben Ben (@bookworm_man) on Nov 14, 2016 at 2:55am PST

Book Review: Lily and The Octopus by Steven Rowley

Purchase~Goodreads

Well, this was a walk through an unusual genre for me. And I wasn't disappointed. It was good. It was a fun ride. It was harrowing. I liked it! Here's my review on instagram:

Well, they weren't lying. They weren't hyping it so much for nothing. This book is good. A tumurous dog. A protagonist who's afraid of losing his best friend. General fiction with elements of fantasy thrown in. Great read! I emotionally connected with both characters (albeit not on a very strong level). I loved it. But I still wanted more. I kind of got really in during pg 200, I frankly didn't enjoy the sessions with his therapist Jenny. I felt it (those scenes with the therapist) were factored in upon someone's important (editorial) advice. They didn't merge uniformly with the rest. Still, you NEED TO READ THIS BOOK! 😀 Oh, and the background! It's actually a nice print I saw my roommate wearing and stopped him to take this picture before he was out the door! It's called #Dashiki #lilyandtheoctopus #bookstagram #bookporn #dashiki #fiction #funny #dying #pets #dogs #africanfashion.

A photo posted by Kobby Ben Ben (@bookworm_man) on Oct 30, 2016 at 5:02am PDT

Book Review: The Most Wonderful Time of the Year by Joanna Bolouri

Purchase/Goodreads

Joanna Bolouri is always on my must-read list! I read her debut, The List, last two years, and I've been promoting her as the funniest Chick-lit author on the block. She cracks me up! Her leads are hilarious! Her characters so easy-to-fall-in-love with even when they are cocky as hell.

The Most Wonderful Time of The Year was no different! But I did wish, it was as better than her previous, I Followed The Rules. Either way, it's a go-buy-go-buy!

"Maybe not. Look, if he loves you, he'll put up with your family. Between you and me, I cannot stand John's mother, but I only have to see her once or twice a year and, well, she'll be dead one day. Anyway, he's my boyfriend—it's not such a huge sacrifice." 😂 Imagine This: Your boyfriend decides to bail on you on seeing the family for Christmas—due to a shocking reason for which you really hate him now. He's garbage. He's an asshat. You deserve better. 😂 Your family wants you over for Christmas with your man, and you can't stand their pitiful, condescending looks and the jokes they might have at your expense when they are stoned (—because your family is nuts). Your neighbor. He's good on the eye. You hate him for his louder parties and his even louder sex. But, really your cuckoo mother, your bugging little sister, your brother's bad table manners and his girlfriend, might be too much even for a fake boyfriend.  Have a merry Christmas as you encounter the biggest, bestest Christmas holiday with your fake boyfriend and your wacko family. All the while, your boyfriend who your fake boyfriend is impersonating is lurking in the shadows, waiting to attack. 😂 #bookstagram #bookporn #malemodel #themostwonderfultimeoftheyear #hilarious #bibliophile #menwhoread

A photo posted by Kobby Ben Ben (@bookworm_man) on Nov 5, 2016 at 4:10am PDT

Book Review: Do Not Say We Have Nothing by Madeleine Theine

PURCHASE~GOODREADS

Loved this books so! So worthy to be on the Manbooker shortlist. Here are my thoughts on it!

Great read! Took me a week to read it because, well, School, and it didn't feel like a book you needed to finish in a sitting. It's slow plot documents the happenings in both present and past. Showing the effects of communism in China from the past to the present. While I loved Madeline Theine's writing style (very literary!), and loved her characters (though it's written in English you could still feel the peculiarities of Chinese culture in the language used and in the mannerisms and words spoken by the characters), and the documentation of the horrors lived through that dark time in China's past (very fast-forward scenes but still you could feel the pains in the evocative writing), I found it hard relating to this. Because a) I have no background in music and b) I'll be biased because The Sellout is a novel that portrays, describes my being and existence. 😔 I feel sad for the judges who are on this panel. While I don't want all the other three books I haven't read to win, I'm bloody frightened this novel may take it! Bloody frightened. But we'll see. 😥 Anyway, do eat something this morning. I pushed my Brunch to earlier this morning. 😎 #MadeleineTheine #DoNotSayWeHaveNothing #Bookstagram #Foodstagram #bookporn #foodporn #manbookerprize2016 #African

A photo posted by Kobby Ben Ben (@bookworm_man) on Oct 24, 2016 at 1:46am PDT