Book #5, 6, and 7

I'm hoping this year that my reading goal will be completed long before the January 1st deadline and so far I'm making great progress! I started all three of these books a week ago but managed to finish them all this weekend. Two of them are expiring on my Kindle this Monday and Tuesday so I was desperate to get them finished in time.

Swept Off Her Feet by Hester Browne -- This was my least favorite of the books read this weekend and, honestly, the entire year so far. I'm planning to read a few more contemporary romance novels (or 'Chick Lit'--a term I despise) this year because it's a genre I do generally enjoy. This was severely disappointing though.

Maine by J. Courtney Sullivan -- I thought I was going to love this one and while it was better than the previously mentioned novel it wasn't as enjoyable as I expected. There were so many characters that I had trouble keeping their names and stories straight. The entire novel felt very chaotic and I couldn't really connect to anyone in the book.

Swamplandia! by Karen Russell -- I really enjoyed this novel. From the Goodreads description:

The Bigtree alligator-wrestling dynasty is in decline, and Swamplandia!, their island home and gator-wrestling theme park, formerly #1 in the region, is swiftly being encroached upon by a fearsome and sophisticated competitor called the World of Darkness. Ava’s mother, the park’s indomitable headliner, has just died; her sister, Ossie, has fallen in love with a spooky character known as the Dredgeman, who may or may not be an actual ghost; and her brilliant big brother, Kiwi, who dreams of becoming a scholar, has just defected to the World of Darkness in a last-ditch effort to keep their family business from going under. Ava’s father, affectionately known as Chief Bigtree, is AWOL; and that leaves Ava, a resourceful but terrified thirteen, to manage ninety-eight gators and the vast, inscrutable landscape of her own grief.

This book was a bit haunting, definitely sad, a little mystical, and thoroughly well-written. I've mentioned before about my love of books set in Appalachia. The same applies to books set in Southwest Florida. This no doubt contributed to my love of Swamplandia.