Elevator Reviews

I have a lot of books to review. I want to get to all of them and share my thoughts, but that isn't always possible. My blog wouldn't be nearly as engaging if I only posted reviews. So that's why I'm doing this post of mini reviews that I'm calling elevator reviews. Basically, I'm pretending I'd be able to impart all the relative information about each book in the time that it takes to get from the first floor to, say, the fifth floor of a building. 


Alive by Chandler Baker
Grade: F
This ARC was provided by Read Between the Lynes in exchange for an honest review.
Summary: Girl needs heart transplant. She gets it. After, she starts hallucinating and experiencing extreme pain but her new heart seems to be fine. She meets a mysterious guy. Trouble ensues.
Review: I found the protagonist to be extremely naive, oblivious, and, well, dumb. She made stupid choices and didn't take care of herself. She kept everything from her parents. I thought this book was contemporary, but it definitely turned into a horror/ghost story, which I do not enjoy.
Will I be adding this book to my library?: No way, Jose.


Conviction by Kelly Loy Gilbert
Grade: C+
This ARC was provided by Read Between the Lynes in exchange for an honest review.
Summary: A famous Christian radio show host is arrested for murder. His son, a star pitcher, deals with the trial, baseball, his past, and his faith.
Review: This was a fairly interesting read. I always hope that books with a heavy emphasis on Christianity will portray it well. I don't think Conviction did a terrible job, but at the end of the book, I just kind of felt meh about the plot and characters. There was more language than I was expecting, too.
Will I be adding this book to my library?: No.


The Notorious Pagan Jones by Nina Berry
Grade: B-
This ARC was provided by Read Between the Lynes in exchange for an honest review.
Summary: Pagan Jones is a teen actress in 1960s Hollywood. She drove drunk and killed her father and sister. She's taken out of a reformatory to do a film in West Berlin - just weeks before the Berlin Wall goes up.
Review: Pagan saw a lot of character growth. The supporting characters were interesting, but I wasn't really rooting for any of them. It was fun to read historical fiction with a focus on something other than one of the World Wars. The Notorious Pagan Jones wasn't terrible by any means, but it didn't particularly wow me. It was a bit slow at the start but once it picked up, I was definitely entertained.
Will I be adding this book to my library?: I'm still deciding.