Monday, May 11, 2020

Should I Stay or Should I Go? TBR Edition- Part 2


I've seen a bunch of people do these TBR posts where they go through their To-Read List and debate whether or not to keep or dump the books.

I want to credit someone because I obviously did not come up with the idea, but I have no idea who started this or which blog I specifically see it on.  So if it's you, let me know and I'll link you up!!


Anyway, I'm going way back-- back to the beginning of my Goodreads List!!  Hopefully after doing this for a while, I'll get the massive list of 760 down to a semi-reasonable number (but probably not).




Here are the next books on my TBR (we're talking 2011 adds):





Then Came You by Jennifer Weiner

The lives of four very different women intertwine in unexpected ways in this new novel by bestselling author Jennifer Weiner (In Her Shoes; Best Friends Forever).

Each woman has a problem: Princeton senior Jules Wildgren needs money to help her dad cure his addiction; Pennsylvania housewife Annie Barrow is gasping to stay financially afloat; India Bishop yearns to have a child, an urge that her stepdaughter Bettina can only regard with deeply skepticism until she finds herself in a most unexpected situation.

Interlocking dramas designed to ensnare; bound to be a bestseller.




  • I was a devoted Chick-Lit reader back then, so of course Jennifer Weiner books are on my TBR.  I think I'll keep it because of the Pennsylvania connection, plus I really did like In Her Shoes, Good in Bed, and Best Friends Forever.
  • Verdict: STAY





Love the One You're With by Emily Giffin


The New York Times bestselling author of Something Borrowed, Something Blue, and Baby Proof delivers another captivating novel about women and the choices that define them. This is the story for anyone who has ever wondered: How can I truly love the one I'm with when I can't forget the one who got away?

Ellen and Andy's first year of marriage doesn't just seem perfect, it is perfect. There is no question how deep their devotion is, and how naturally they bring out the best in each other. But one fateful afternoon, Ellen runs into Leo for the first time in eight years. Leo, the one who brought out the worst in her. Leo, the one who left her heartbroken with no explanation. Leo, the one she could never quite forget. When his reappearance ignites long-dormant emotions, Ellen begins to question whether the life she's living is the one she's meant to live.

Love the One You're With is a powerful story about one woman at the crossroads of true love and real life.



  • Okay, even though we'd all like a do-over when it comes to certain parts of our lives... AND it's interesting to think about the road-not-traveled... I can't keep every Chick-Lit I added because that is just not genre I really read much of anymore.
  • Verdict: GO





Remember Me? by Sophie Kinsella


When twenty-eight-year-old Lexi Smart wakes up in a London hospital, she’s in for a big surprise. Her teeth are perfect. Her body is toned. Her handbag is Vuitton. Having survived a car accident—in a Mercedes no less—Lexi has lost a big chunk of her memory, three years to be exact, and she’s about to find out just how much things have changed. 

Somehow Lexi went from a twenty-five-year-old working girl to a corporate big shot with a sleek new loft, a personal assistant, a carb-free diet, and a set of glamorous new friends. And who is this gorgeous husband—who also happens to be a multimillionaire? With her mind still stuck three years in reverse, Lexi greets this brave new world determined to be the person she…well, seems to be. That is, until an adorably disheveled architect drops the biggest bombshell of all. 

Suddenly Lexi is scrambling to catch her balance. Her new life, it turns out, comes complete with secrets, schemes, and intrigue. How on earth did all this happen? Will she ever remember? And what will happen when she does? 

With the same wicked humor and delicious charm that have won her millions of devoted fans, Sophie Kinsella, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Shopaholic & Baby, returns with an irresistible new novel and a fresh new heroine who finds herself in a life-changing and utterly hilarious predicament…



  • Wow, I've got the Chick-Lit trifecta here.  I added this because I liked the Shopaholic series & Can You Keep a Secret?.  Although, I know this author used to make me laugh, I'm going to dump this one because of the same reason as the previous book.
  • Verdict: GO





Prom by Laurie Halse Anderson


Ashley Hannigan is one of the few people in her urban Philadelphia high school who doesn't care about the prom. It's pretty much the only good thing that happens there, and everyone plans to make the most of it--especially Ash's best friend, Natalia, who's the head of the committee and has prom stars in her eyes. Then the faculty advisor is busted for taking the prom money and Ash finds herself roped into putting together a gala dance. But she has plenty of help--from her large and loving (if exasperating!) family, from Nat's eccentric grandmother, from the principal, from her fellow classmates. And in making the prom happen, Ash learns some surprising things about making her life happen, too.




  • Confession: I used to be mildly obsessed with prom books.  I don't even know why because I had no desire to attend my own high school prom.  Maybe it's the idea of dressing up and the drama usually surrounding it??  No clue.  This is one of my favorite all-time authors, and even though I did read part of this and put it down years ago-- I think I'm keeping it on my list just because I think Laurie rocks.
  • Verdict: STAY





Suicide Notes by Michael Thomas Ford

I'm not crazy. I don't see what the big deal is about what happened. But apparently someone does think it's a big deal because here I am. I bet it was my mother. She always overreacts.

Fifteen-year-old Jeff wakes up on New Year's Day to find himself in the hospital. Make that the psychiatric ward. With the nutjobs. Clearly, this is all a huge mistake. Forget about the bandages on his wrists and the notes on his chart. Forget about his problems with his best friend, Allie, and her boyfriend, Burke. Jeff's perfectly fine, perfectly normal, not like the other kids in the hospital with him. Now they've got problems. But a funny thing happens as his forty-five-day sentence drags on: the crazies start to seem less crazy. 

Compelling, witty, and refreshingly real, Suicide Notes is a darkly humorous novel from award-winning author Michael Thomas Ford that examines that fuzzy line between "normal" and the rest of us.



  • Probably I don't want to read this anymore.  It sounds a bit like It's Kind of a Funny Story-- which was hard to read for various reasons & still makes me sad when I think about the author.
  • Verdict: GO





The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards


On a winter night in 1964, Dr. David Henry is forced by a blizzard to deliver his own twins. His son, born first, is perfectly healthy. Yet when his daughter is born, he sees immediately that she has Down's Syndrome. Rationalizing it as a need to protect Norah, his wife, he makes a split-second decision that will alter all of their lives forever. He asks his nurse to take the baby away to an institution and never to reveal the secret. But Caroline, the nurse, cannot leave the infant. Instead, she disappears into another city to raise the child herself. 

So begins this story that unfolds over a quarter of a century - in which these two families, ignorant of each other, are yet bound by the fateful decision made that long-ago winter night. Norah Henry, who knows only that her daughter died at birth, remains inconsolable; her grief weighs heavily on their marriage. And Paul, their son, raises himself as best he can, in a house grown cold with mourning. Meanwhile, Phoebe, the lost daughter, grows from a sunny child to a vibrant young woman whose mother loves her as fiercely as if she were her own.


  • I'm not sure what prompted me to put this on my TBR.  Probably because it was one of those bestsellers that you see everywhere.  It's definitely not my kind of book even though it sounds interesting (and sad!!).
  • Verdict: GO





Burned (#1) by Ellen Hopkins

I do know things really began to spin out of control after my first sex dream.

It all started with a dream. Nothing exceptional, just a typical fantasy about a boy, the kind of dream that most teen girls experience. But Pattyn Von Stratten is not like most teen girls. Raised in a religious—yet abusive—family, a simple dream may not be exactly a sin, but it could be the first step toward hell and eternal damnation.

This dream is a first step for Pattyn. But is it to hell or to a better life? For the first time Pattyn starts asking questions. Questions seemingly without answers—about God, a woman's role, sex, love—mostly love. What is it? Where is it? Will she ever experience it? Is she deserving of it?

It's with a real boy that Pattyn gets into real trouble. After Pattyn's father catches her in a compromising position, events spiral out of control until Pattyn ends up suspended from school and sent to live with an aunt she doesn't know.

Pattyn is supposed to find salvation and redemption during her exile to the wilds of rural Nevada. Yet what she finds instead is love and acceptance. And for the first time she feels worthy of both—until she realizes her old demons will not let her go. Pattyn begins down a path that will lead her to a hell—a hell that may not be the one she learned about in sacrament meetings, but it is hell all the same.

In this riveting and masterful novel told in verse, Ellen Hopkins takes readers on an emotional roller-coaster ride. From the highs of true love to the lows of abuse, Pattyn's story will have readers engrossed until the very last word.


  • I've read a few of this author's series-- they're all kind of the same.  I mean, they're about different issues, but they're all written in the exact same poetry prose.  It's not just that it's in prose, but it's IDENTICAL prose--so, it's like the same person is in every book.  It gets old.  Also, this author is messy online.  I think I'm gonna dump all her books just because BLAH.
  • Verdict: GO





Have you read any of these??

WOW, I'm getting rid of all but 2 of these!!!  Go me!!  I haven't 100% made up my mind or deleted anything from Goodreads, so if you want to talk me out of (or back into) one of these books, feel free!!



7 comments:

  1. Ooh, you've inspired me to clean up my TBR a bit today. It's been a while since I was last in there, so I may need to sweep out some cobwebs. Great post! :)

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    1. I've never gone through it until now!! It's a hot mess!!

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  2. I would keep Emily Giffin's book just because she's one of my favorites, but I agree, you can't just keep every chick lit book!

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    1. They're tough decisions bc I really like all 3 of those authors!! Something Borrowed and Something Blue were big hits for me!

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  3. I gave Prom the benefit of the doubt, and took a look despite all the low ratings, and yeah, I DNFed. Not for me. I did love the Kinsella book, but I love them all. I tried to read one Emily Griffin book, and the character starts dating her friend's father, and I was just turned off by that. I never tried anything else again.

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    1. Woah!! I don't know what book the friend dates her friend's father, but ICK!! I read Something Borrow and Something Blue and really liked them, but I was in a different reading place at that time. AND I know what you mean about PROM. I can't remember why I put it down, but I know I only read like 1/3rd of it before I got bored or something. :(

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