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appelkers's review
2.0
I have one of the Chicken Soup for the Teenage soul books somewhere hidden on my bookshelves. I bought it after reading some of the stories in a copy of my friend and thought it was pretty neat. This was a couple of years ago and I haven’t reread the book since. But when I saw this one pop up on Netgalley, I thought I would give it a go, seeing as I remember liking one of their previous books. But maybe I’ve changed or just grown out of this genre, or there is too much difference between the teenage books and the ones for grown ups. This just wasn’t for me.
The intro to this book was interesting in my opinion. It was nice to find out how this book has made it this big and how it came to be published in the first place. That was one of the only parts I really liked about the book. Just the fact that these were (for the most part) older stories just being republished was a bump on the road to liking this book. Yes, they were honest about it (I mean, it is in the title after all). However you put it though, you are just still recycling old materials and trying to make money from it again. This is just lazy, especially seeing as they have so many entries from people that try to submit their story to these books. Couldn’t they have just put those in instead of the older ones? I don’t see how people who bought the first book will be enthused about buying this book since they already own a lot of the stories…
Onto the real content of the book. I like that it’s all divided between themes so you can just sort of pick and choose what you like to read about. This is a good thing for sure, because this is not a book you just read and read and read, it’s just not made for that sort of purpose (or if it is, I can’t handle it like that). There were definitely some stories that I enjoyed, don’t let me convince you of anything else. But most of the tales were not to my liking. Usually not really due to the morals (or whatever else you call the lessons you get from these) in them but due to the way it’s put. I guess I was hoping for a bit more fluff around the morals instead of some straight up lesson. I don’t want to be spoon-fed that you should cherish each day or that just hugging people can make life better for everyone involved. Or even that a small gesture can save a live. I would have also understood these messages if they were told in a less direct manner. This is probably just the nature of the book, I can’t really compare it to my Chicken Soup for the Teenage soul book seeing as it’s been too long. But this format is just not for me. All of the lessons that were in these stories were just not packaged in a way I wanted to read them.
But there were some good ones in there, they truly were. They weren’t the run of the mill stories and they actually made me feel what people were supposed to feel while reading them (that you should cherish people more or the like). Those definitely made me give it the extra star. I really think that you have to be in the right mindset to read this book and that it should be done so sparingly in any case. Perhaps this is the reason why I didn’t like most of the book, or maybe it’s just not for me.
Have you read any books in the series? Have you checked out this one? How did you like them? Or why didn’t you ever pick them up? Let me know, I’d be happy to find out more!
Do you want more reviews like this? Check out my blog about books
The intro to this book was interesting in my opinion. It was nice to find out how this book has made it this big and how it came to be published in the first place. That was one of the only parts I really liked about the book. Just the fact that these were (for the most part) older stories just being republished was a bump on the road to liking this book. Yes, they were honest about it (I mean, it is in the title after all). However you put it though, you are just still recycling old materials and trying to make money from it again. This is just lazy, especially seeing as they have so many entries from people that try to submit their story to these books. Couldn’t they have just put those in instead of the older ones? I don’t see how people who bought the first book will be enthused about buying this book since they already own a lot of the stories…
Onto the real content of the book. I like that it’s all divided between themes so you can just sort of pick and choose what you like to read about. This is a good thing for sure, because this is not a book you just read and read and read, it’s just not made for that sort of purpose (or if it is, I can’t handle it like that). There were definitely some stories that I enjoyed, don’t let me convince you of anything else. But most of the tales were not to my liking. Usually not really due to the morals (or whatever else you call the lessons you get from these) in them but due to the way it’s put. I guess I was hoping for a bit more fluff around the morals instead of some straight up lesson. I don’t want to be spoon-fed that you should cherish each day or that just hugging people can make life better for everyone involved. Or even that a small gesture can save a live. I would have also understood these messages if they were told in a less direct manner. This is probably just the nature of the book, I can’t really compare it to my Chicken Soup for the Teenage soul book seeing as it’s been too long. But this format is just not for me. All of the lessons that were in these stories were just not packaged in a way I wanted to read them.
But there were some good ones in there, they truly were. They weren’t the run of the mill stories and they actually made me feel what people were supposed to feel while reading them (that you should cherish people more or the like). Those definitely made me give it the extra star. I really think that you have to be in the right mindset to read this book and that it should be done so sparingly in any case. Perhaps this is the reason why I didn’t like most of the book, or maybe it’s just not for me.
Have you read any books in the series? Have you checked out this one? How did you like them? Or why didn’t you ever pick them up? Let me know, I’d be happy to find out more!
Do you want more reviews like this? Check out my blog about books
hmorgz11's review
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
fast-paced
4.0
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