Love in The Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Rating 3/5

I found this book to be good at the beginning, slow in the middle and then picked back up at the end. It was about the undying love of Florentino Ariza for Fermina Daza. I found the character of Florentino Ariza to be a little annoying. Who really pines for someone for their entire life. It was pretty creepy how he basically stalked her since the day he met her. He never really knew her, they never spent any real time together, so did he really love her? I think she realized this when she finally saw him and had the opportunity to be with him.

Four Letters of Love by Niall Williams

Rating 3/5

First Line: When I was twelve years old God spoke to my father for the first time.

Originally I was going to give this book a 4/5, but I didn't like the ending. It started out really good, but then it got weird and the ending seemed rushed. The book starts our telling the separate stories of Nicholas and Isabel. Nicholas's father quits his job to become a painter. This leads to the mental demise of both him and Nicholas's mother. Eventually both of his parents kill themselves.

Isabel is sent off to school when her brother becomes ill and is an invalid. She is reckless and breaks all the rules. There, she meets a boy named Peader and begins a relationship with him.

The story tell of how both Nicholas and Isabel's mothers thought they were in love with their husbands and how love is disguised by attention. Isabel feels the same about Peader and agrees to marry him although she and her family know that she doesn't really love him.

The day after her wedding, Nicholas shows up. Now,this is where the story gets unbelievable. Just after meeting Sean, he begins to get better, miraculously, all at once. After meeting Isabel, Nicholas becomes ill with love, almost to the point of dying. Isabel's mother keeps seeing the ghost of Nicholas's father. The ending was too magical and didn't fit with the rest of the book.