Books I Have Changed my Mind About

     People change. Some changes will come around quicker than others. I have also grown quite a bit and so has my taste. When I was a child I used to love American cheese and would eat it straight out of the package. Now, I hate it with a burning passion of a thousand suns. On the flip side, I used to not care so much for coffee, but now I have a cup almost every day. Although eating is different activity from reading my taste in both aren’t the same than five years ago. Since I started college, I’ve become a much more critical reader. Flaws I have never noticed before are poking at me. However, some books I’ve revisited had some very nice elements I missed my first time through. 

Red Queen

     In high school, I was obsessed with this series! Although my life became busier as I got older, I found the time to work my way through these fairly large novels. I think the only thing keeping me from reading the books faster was how they were only released once a year. Which means my reading taste had changed dramatically by the time the last one came out. I decided to read through the other three books again in preparation to making my way to the finale. I even had plans to devote an entire month of articles on my blog to the Red Queen series the month War Storm was released. That didn’t happen as I was greatly disappointed with my re-read of Red Queen. I realized how predictable, clichéd, and mediocre this series is. I don’t hate them, but I no longer adore these books anymore and see them as bland but not bad. 

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Matched

    Once again, one of my high school favorites turned out to just be okay if that. Matched was my bridge series that brought me from middle school books to YA books. In early high school, I was addicted to this series, the romance, the characters, and the government that I loved to hate. I don’t think I could’ve read a trilogy any faster. The summer before I started college I decided to re-read the books of my childhood, The Hobbit, The Ordinary Princess, The Giver, and several others including Matched. It took me much longer to get through Matched the second time I read it. I couldn’t understand why the book suddenly seemed, cliché, predictable, and kind of bland by dystopian standers. Then I realized Matched hadn’t changed, I did. I still have a special place in my heart for Matched because of all the other authors and books I found through it, but I think I’ll leave the trilogy to rest in my heart. 

The Merchants Daughter

      I’m surprised I managed to finish this book the first time I read it. This isn’t the best book I’ve ever read, and I didn’t enjoy it as much as Dickerson’s other books. However, it’s still a good book and I will recommend it to Beauty and Beast fans. I cannot recall what I didn’t enjoy about The Merchant’s Daughter on my first read through. What I do remember was my very low rating I gave it on Goodreads. A few years later I decided to give it another chance. Upon finishing, I found this book to be an enjoyable historical-fiction romance with a good message. It’s still not my favorite, but I think it’s worth taking the time to read.