I have no idea how I am supposed to feel about this book. I love how the author ***This review has also been posted on Xpresso Reads
Actual Rating 2.5
I have no idea how I am supposed to feel about this book. I love how the author builds tension throughout the book and I love the general creepiness of it but I struggled with a lot of other aspects of the book. The characters, the romance, and even some of the horror elements of the book.
I think my biggest qualm in terms of the actual horror parts of the book is how much they are based on Christian myth. This is obviously a very personal qualm and not all readers will have that same experience but as someone who exists outside of that narrative, it can be a little unsettling to have all this info forced down ones throat. It isn't even just the satanic elements but rather the very beliefs this small midwestern town is founded on. It isn't by any means unrealistic (given my own experience living in a small midwestern town) but that doesn't mean it wasn't slightly uncomfortable to read.
Liggett crafts the mystery and the intrigue within the novel really well though and I REALLY enjoyed the building tension and the unraveling of what the fuck was actually going on (although I don't know if we really know by the end of the novel.)
The Last Harvest relies heavily on 'what the fuckery.' You think you know what is going on? Spoiler alert. YOU DON'T KNOW NOTHING and you are probably going to find yourself being constantly surprised by the book since it really does pull all the punches.
The characters however were just really hard for me to get behind which made this book harder to appreciate. There was a completely unnecessary romance thrown into the book that was ick and made no sense whatsoever. The fascination the MC had with this girl (whose name I cannot remember even though I ~just~ finished reading the book) was bizarre and it seemed that he prioritized this person he wasn't even technically with over his own family.
This clearly made me feel not as sympathetic towards young Clay (the MC.) He was a character written to be sympathetic (at least I think he was) but one I had zero sympathy for. I couldn't relate to him and he just, he wasn't really that great? He was super moody, had no real friends and wasn't good to the one friend he had, and was just REALLY full of himself. We are supposed to want to see him succeed and I couldn't find it within me to give a fuck.
So while I liked a lot of things the author was doing in the novel, I also just couldn't connect to the characters and was upset that the one relationship we saw was unimpressive. Overall, I think that this book might do better in the hands of a reader who is able to appreciate the characters in a way I wasn't able to or just engage more with the horror aspects of the novel.
Note that I received an advanced copy of this book for review....more
The only reason this book wasn't a nightmare for me was because it was strangely addictive and***This review has also been posted on The Social Potato
The only reason this book wasn't a nightmare for me was because it was strangely addictive and it was more comically bad (in my opinion), than rage-worthy bad.
Grace is a young, rich, privileged, lady who chose to go to a boarding school in South Korea because she wants to get away from home. Then she proceeds to complain about all the things in Korea that are not up to her standards and how she misses home. Now, I understand cultural shock. Believe me, I do. But I have no sympathy for Grace. Especially since she chose to go to South Korea. If she was going to be so whiny, I would have advised her to choose a location more like the UK or Australia so could be far from home and not have to deal with language barriers and other cultural barriers. She does get a little better over the course of the book, but never enough for me to truly like her or feel bad for her.
Her love interest is also a douche. Talk about moody bad boy. Who even likes moody boys these days? (I am sorry if you do! I don't mean to offend you!) I don’t like moody. I don’t like boys who cannot make their mind up about whether or not they like a girl. And I certainly do not like boys who are assholes to girls they supposedly like. Jason does get better over the course of the novel but I never felt it. Why couldn’t he just be nice without, you know, having to fall in love to be nice? Wouldn’t that be nice?
Their relationship is also just weird and I never really understood that progression. Suddenly they were bffs and I never even saw them have any real conversations except for when they talked about music!
Let’s not even talk about all the ways this book can be offensive. That would be opening a can of worms I do not want to get into. Especially since it really just depends on who the reader is and how they interpret the way things are being said.
This is a book I’d recommend only to readers who are willing to overlook pretentious main characters (who admittedly do get better over the course of the book), asshole love interests and some clichés.
To conclude this review, I’d like to quote something my favorite character in the book said about American money.
“All the bills are the same color and have old white men on them.”
Duplicity is a book I can easily classify as brain candy. I had a lot of issues with the book ***This review has also been posted on The Social Potato
Duplicity is a book I can easily classify as brain candy. I had a lot of issues with the book itself but the premise just made it so much fun to read about even if the main character and I didn’t get along at all.
This book is fantastically imagined and the fact that I am not a computer programmer and barely understand HTML, did not hinder my understanding. The author never left us technologically challenged people out of the loop (at least I felt that way) and gave explanations instead to make the whole idea behind the book seem more plausible (because it is a little bizarre at first and takes some getting used to).
Which is why this book was so fricking fun to read. I was already drawn in by the premise and hoped the book would blow my mind but sadly that did not happen.
My no.1 problem in this book appears to us in the form of a lovely (sarcasm) character named Brandon. Aka the main character. Aka a self-centered, attention seeking, asshole. It was just so ridiculously hard for me to take this guy seriously. He is kind of a sexist jerk, demeaning most of the girls around him except for his one true love. *gags*. I CANNOT. I was so enraged by some of the comments he made and the things he said. He is bad boy who acts the way he does, does the things he does, because he wants his parents to pay attention to him and he actually admits to this. Which just makes it impossibly hard for me to like him. I found myself wishing he would be more mature but he wasn’t and it bothered me. I went in expecting him to be some badass hacker and he is just a sad puppy of a hacker. I will say that he does undergo character development over the course of the book but it wasn’t nearly enough to satisfy me and make me want to forgive him.
My next problem was the romance. It was so unnecessary and random. I felt like if this book hadn’t had any romance in it, there would be so much more room for Brandon to evolve as a character and for there to just be more badassery within the book. It could revel in it’s own awesomeness instead of just being a shadow of what it could be.
The romance is your typical bad boy meets good girl and decides he cannot be with her because he isn’t good enough and cannot understand why the fuck she would like him (and in this case, I kind of agree!). My problems with the stereotype aside (oh how I don’t like it when people do a 180 in their personalities for someone), I think one of the reasons why I never bought the romance was because we never really got to see the relationship. We were told the sparks were already there but since we never really saw their romance develop it was just all kinds of weird and awkward to read about. Emma was also just not a good love interest. She was incredibly boring and she was kind of just there. We never saw enough of her for me to form any sort of emotional attachment to her.
My favorite character in this book was Seb. When Seb came onto the scene, I was torn between being creeped out and wanting to cheer Seb on. Basically, Seb is made of awesomeness. I loved the twists that came with their character and I enjoyed their creepiness. I enjoyed never knowing if Seb was pycho or not. I just really enjoyed reading about Seb. They made the book SO much more funner and definitely breathed some life into it!
The plot was also fantastically developed. It was fast paced and even when Brandon was bothering me, it gave me the will to continue flipping through the pages trying to get to the bottom of the mystery.
All in all, I think this was an okay read for me which makes me sad. I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that I had high expectations and went in expecting my mind to be blown away when that did not in fact happen. Many of the details amazed me but Brandon was such a hard main character to get behind that I found myself feeling withdrawn from a lot of the awesome happenings. So much could have been done with his character and it wasn’t and that made me sad.
I would recommend this if you are looking for a read to take your mind off of other books, or if you’re having a massive book hangover and just want something that is light and will encourage you to pick up more books....more
I adore Jinn stories. Jinn are my favorite PNR creatures ever so whenever I hear about a book ***This review has also been posted on The Social Potato
I adore Jinn stories. Jinn are my favorite PNR creatures ever so whenever I hear about a book coming out that features them, I get superrr excited. Just like I was about this one. Sadly though, it didn’t amaze me the way I wanted it to.
There are so many things about it that I love and so many others that just didn’t work for me and this book just makes me want to throw my hands up in the air with frustration.
I am going to start off by saying this, Oz was a horrible love interest. He was so incredibly bland. And don’t get me wrong, I adore sweet guys, I am totally on team good guy but Oz did not mark it. He was bland. Boring. He had no personality. Good guys are awesome and being good doesn’t mean you have no personality, but just because you’re good doesn’t mean you have one so… yeah. Oz definitely fell into the category of love interests who were just pretty much there. Oz has his purposes, sure, I mean he is Lyla’s master but that didn’t mean I thought he was a suitable love interest. In fact, the actions of his character are contradictory. He binds Lyla without her permission and then says it’s for the greater good. He is ‘supposed’ to be a nice guy but if he was so perfectly good and speshul HE COULD HAVE ASKED. But nope. Obviously some things just don’t work that way. Not that everything needs to go my way but I would have been able to get behind his actions with more ease if he wasn’t characterized as this good guy who can basically do no wrong (except binding Lyla without her permission).
The romance was also pretty much a nightmare. Nick and I were talking about this and she made a casual comment about how she had more chemistry with her pillow than the two characters had and she is totally right. Trying to compare their chemistry with the chemistry I have with my pillow would not be fair because my pillow and I have a very intense relationship, the kind these two cannot ever hope to have. *shakes head* It bothers me because when you read urban fantasy, you kind of expect the romances to have chemistry, it may not be all about the romance and I am 100% fine with that; what I am not fine with is the main couple having no chemistry. And moreover, their romance making no sense. THIS HAPPENS OVER THE COURSE OF A WEEK and the L word is used. WHAT IS THIS? Bah humbug. Rashika is so disappointed it’s annoying.
My rant aside, I can finally move on to the awesome bits, because believe me, this book does have a lot going for it.
For example, it has the best cast of best friends ever. They support her but at the same time, they rememeber to call her out on their shit. They tell her when they don’t agree with her, which is so important in friendships but when Lyla knows that what she is doing is the ‘right’ thing, her friends are willing to support her, regardless of the fact that they don’t necessarily think it’s the best idea.
Isn’t that what friendship is about? If I had Lyla’s friends as friends, I would never have to worry about someone trying to stab my back because they would have it.
Lyla is also a fun main character. Sometimes I got annoyed with her because whenever Oz came into the picture she would basically do things that made me question her. She is such a fun and feisty character and so easy to cheer for. I loved her wit and I just loved being in her head, even when she was swooning over a guy for no reason (that’s how I felt at least).
This book is fantastically paced and even if it was kind of long, I was flipping through the (digital) pages very quickly (considering that I was travelling and don’t usually like reading while on the move).
The world is built so fantastic too and I absolutely loved how this book included a completely different take on the idea of a true name. The world is so artistically developed and while it has many elements of typical urban fantasy novels, the author also managed to make certain ideas her own and I loved that!
This is a totally brain candy read and while many aspects of it disappointed me, I would not say I regret reading it. It was fun and had a wonderful cast of characters (except for Oz. Go away Oz, I don’t like you. Although don’t actually go away because then that would suck.) and fun world building and a well rounded plot. I may not have liked the ending and may have been more than a little frustrated by it but I won’t hesitate to continue to series so if you’re curious, I’d still say that you should give it a shot. ...more
Shutter has left me in a turmoil because I am not exactly sure how I feel. It’s safe to say I enjoyed reading it but at the same time, I did not like Shutter has left me in a turmoil because I am not exactly sure how I feel. It’s safe to say I enjoyed reading it but at the same time, I did not like the characters.
Our main character, Micheline is really self-absorbed at times. She seems to make everything about her, including the lives of her fellow team mates and I am not sure how I feel about that. Considering the fact that they work as a team, the fact that she keeps secrets from them, secrets that could possibly endanger their lives, just doesn’t sit right with me. She is a 17 year old with a superiority complex and she just reallllly bothered me at times with her self-pitying.
The rest of the characters are not much better and at one point Micheline calls one of her friends emo just because she thinks that some of his characteristics are ‘emo’. It’s so offensive and throughout the story, Oliver seems to be separated from the group because he is the brains and not the brawns and I don’t like this distinction. No matter what role they play, as a part of their team, all members contribute to the well-being and should NOT be put down because of that.
I don’t know what was happening with Jude either, he was kind of a sexist jerk and said things like “you punch like a girl” and I was just like whaat? What does he mean, Micheline punches like a girl? Is he putting her down because of the fact she is a girl? Even though she is a lot more successful at exorcising ghosts than he is? I think the author may have been trying to make him seem like a bad boy who was a puppy at heart but let me tell you that that did NOT work. He just came off as a jerk most of the times.
Ryder, the love interest, is pretty much the only character that didn't really bother me. He was, for the most part, respectful of Micheline and it was only his 'golden boy perfectness' that bothered me at times.
As a team, they aren't much better and at one point Micheline mentions that the boys have this ‘macho’ thing going on where they won’t really talk about their injuries in front of one another. SERIOUSLY? You are a team. You work as a team. The fact that you get hurt is completely normal and this should not be something to hide from your team. I really just don’t understand the dynamics within their team. They are called a team but they don’t seem to work as one and that was a huge issue with me.
I want to give them credit though and I like that when Micheline’s dad slapped her and she refused to acknowledge it, her friends told her to stop because it was abuse. He slaps her and breaks all of her cameras and she cannot just keep making excuses for him! Her friends realized that and that made me feel a lot better about them.
Her dad has some serious issues and I don’t think there is enough words to talk about what kind of a jerk he was to his grieving young daughter. He is not fit to be a father and should have his parent card revoked. I do not kid.
The romance within the novel was kind of awkward and given the nature of their situation, I just wished it would go away.
Now, I am done ranting about the things I didn’t enjoy and I can finally move on to the good stuff. The horror aspects of this novel were so incredibly well done and they were the reason why I could continue reading even though I wasn’t getting along with the characters.
The author really knows how to create a creepy atmosphere. Plus the way she incorporated the Van Helsing/Dracula stuff within the story made it so enjoyable. More than that, she also has an original take on the whole idea of ghost hunting where the main character hunts the ghosts with her camera. At first, I admit I was a little thrown off (for some reason I had missed that part in the blurb), but it’s clear the author has done her research and isn’t just randomly throwing something like that in for the purposes of originality.
The plot is also well paced and the mystery aspect is well done. I was scared for these characters’ life (hey just because I wasn’t their biggest fan doesn’t mean I want them dead). She had me on the edge of my chair, flipping through the pages, trying to figure out why all of this was happening.
The twist towards the end was one that I only guessed at and so it managed to take me off guard. I had no idea that was the direction the author would head down and that just made me so much more interested.
Going back to the character’s for a moment though, seeing them in all these scary situations really helped me understand them better which was why, in the end, I was able to still enjoy the story in spite of the drawbacks.
I genuinely hope there will be a sequel because I want to see where the author can go with this and I am curious to see how things will change and develop in future books.
This may not be a perfect book but it is fantastic brain candy and if you’re curious, I wouldn’t hesitate to tell you to give it a shot....more
Now that some of my rage has cooled off, I can say with certainty that this is by far one of t***This review has also been posted on The Social Potato
Now that some of my rage has cooled off, I can say with certainty that this is by far one of the most disappointing books I’ve read this year. When I first saw it on Edelweiss, I was so excited! Greek Myth combined with Fantasy sounded like a dream and I was excited to dive in. I was let down on so many accounts, it’s not even funny. Although I imagine that if anyone had been watching me while I was reading the book, they might disagree.
For starters, this book has almost no elements of fantasy. It reads like historical fiction that’s set in a time when people still believed in the greek gods. That was slightly disappointing but I loved greek myth enough to let that one pass.
The POV this book was written in made it a lot harder for me to stick with the book. It’s written in 3rd person present tense which is just awkward. I kept on thinking it would change at some point but it didn’t and it just kept on throwing me off. At first, I felt like I wasn't being open enough to the idea of another POV and that it would become easier to read once I got used to it but I never did. I continued to look for things about this book that would make it stick out or would be even a shadow of what had been promised by the blurb.
The main character Alexos was actually pretty decent. I liked how he seemed to continue to push through in spite of all the misfortunes that befell him and while he was brave, smart, kind and giving, he also knew when he had to be a leader. Of course, sometimes I wish he would be a little bit more child-like considering he was just 13. Except when he wasn't. About half way through the book, there was a 7 year fast forward.
That really got me. What more was that the story wasn’t even being told from his POV anymore after that 7 year skip even though he was supposed to be the main character. A 20/21 year old main character for a middle grade book is a little awkward. What more was that this book some very predictable turns and there was a VERY AWKWARD romance thrown in that pissed me off so much. It’s not that the two characters weren’t compatible, it’s just that they don’t actually know each other. They meet and then BAM. Okay. I need to calm down a little because the romance still bothers me, as you can see quite clearly.
This book was lacking in the world building department as well. We are provided with the bare minimum which is basically some details on the gods that have any influence on the outcome of the story. We are thrown into a world with no other details which is why I said it read more like a historical book than fantasy. As someone who LOVES world building, I was heartbroken! Here we have such great potential yet it’s wasted. It’s barely brushed. I can only imagine the rich world that could have otherwise been created had the potential been utilized.
However, the worst thing about this book was the way in which the conflict was resolved. That broke my heart into pieces. It’s the kind of resolution you expect from picture books, not a novel. Not a novel where there is so much build up and the character goes through so much as a result of his ‘destiny’. We have a build up for nothing because when it comes down to the actual resolution, nothing happens. It’s like when you light a firecracker that you expect to explode but all you get is a tiny crackle.
Throughout the first 60%, I kept making excuses for the book because I expected to get better, I wanted it to get better. I wanted it to blow my mind. I wanted it to be everything it had promised. The last 40% opened my eyes and by the last couple of pages I was craughing and really just wanted the book to end. So much disappointment is not good for the soul.
One might attribute the simplicity of the book to the fact that it’s middle grade. I am obviously not the intended audience but if I had read this book in middle school, I would have been heartbroken because it would have made me realize that not all books are great (I never really read a bad book as a kid… yes I am boasting. A little bit. COME ON. My bubble has already been burst.). Plus, as a kid (and almost adult))who loved adventures , it would have bothered me that something that promised to be a fabulous adventure wasn’t one.
My childish aspirations aside, it's clear that I wasn't the intended audience but I don’t know who this book is aimed towards. I suggest that if you’re thinking about reading this one yourself, you may want to skip it unless childish is exactly what you’re looking for after being fed up of everything else....more
This book is sad. Not because it's actually a sad book but because it has the potential to be so much more. I felt sorely disappointed by this book beThis book is sad. Not because it's actually a sad book but because it has the potential to be so much more. I felt sorely disappointed by this book because I found it to be lacking. The premises was so intriguing yet we didn't get what we had been promised.
The book is set in a world where the people are stuck in an ice age of sorts and you can kind of imagine the kind of trouble that would cause. The poor tend to suffer from frostblight since they cannot get warm enough and the rich hoard heat credits. Sounds interesting? Yeah. And over time, the population has forgotten how to read and text speech is now what is being used to communicate with the population. Sounds scary? HECK YEAH! Unfortunately all these things that could have been further developed to make the world more solid and definite were only mentioned. Plus, the mythology fan in me was severely disappointed when the aspect of Atlantis was only mentioned. The entire book is based on them finding it yet we got nothing about it besides how awesome it was. More than a little saddening.
That isn't all though. The characters themselves weren't as well developed as they could have been. I don't know a lot about them and what I know kind of makes me shake my head. The two main characters, Wes and Nat, were just not that smart. When you get ready to plan some sort of adventure across a polluted ocean and you have the money to buy provisions, BUY THEM. Buy them so you don't resort to eating twigs and fishing a polluted ocean for fish that may or may not be poisonous. Think things through.
They are also supposed to be super smart. The weird thing about Wes is that in spite of all his experiences he doesn't seem to be the hardened solider one might expect. In fact he is pretty soft, he admits it himself! He is also a horrible leader, that he also admits. He's got the lives of his own crew to protect yet he is willing to take on extra passengers even if they have nothing to eat and taking on said passengers could lower all of their survival rates. Way to call the shots and make tough decisions.
These little things bothered me but what also bothered me was the fact that two fell into a serious case of insta-love. It seemed like insta-love was the norm in this book. I don't understand how they could have fallen in love so quickly, with so little to go on and so many secrets between them. I am sure love happens but at the same time, there wasn't enough development afterwards to make the insta-love believable.
The plot was okay. Okay is a sad word to use but really that's what it was. A bunch of random things happened and were not really elaborated on and the we never really got a lot of the answers. Of course, the author may be saving the answers for the sequels. I just feel like I wanted more out of this book than I got.
A lot of the plot seems to fly by and in a bad way. They don't face as many challenges as one might expect and on top of that, the major obstacle goes by in a matter of pages, not even a chapter, pages! It happens and then THE END.
I never really noticed them using the map all that much either which made me wonder how they got to their location in the first place. In fact, I would have imagined that having the map would have been useful but with the way things turned out for them, they didn't seem to have needed it.
All these little inconsistencies with the plot bothered me but I never really hated the book.
It's not a bad read, it's just it's not quality reading material either. The pages might fly by for you and you might love this book to pieces but that was just not the case for me.
If you're looking for a quick mindless read and are intrigued by this one, I'd say go for it, just don't expect miracles. ...more
This book was incredibly infuriating yet at the same time, it let me down. It could have been ***This review has also been posted on The Social Potato
This book was incredibly infuriating yet at the same time, it let me down. It could have been incredible yet it wasn’t . All that potential down the drain.
Doesn’t the idea of a girl who has no idea who she is but knows she cannot die intrigue you? Doesn’t it make you want to know more? Let me tell you, you do NOT want to know more about this girl and the drama that is her life.
For starters, I just want to rant about the amount of materialism in this book. I don’t know if materialism is the word I want to use but let’s just roll with it. Brooke is this vampire who doesn’t really like Cessie (so she likes to call herself) because she is after her man yet, she takes her shopping to buy her all these things she doesn’t fucking need. THEY LITERALLY BUY CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTINS because she’ll need them some day. WHEN? WHEN YOU’RE ON THE FUCKING RUN? She also buys all these pricey things including a Chanel winter coat. You might be wondering why this bothers me though? Why am I so anti this girl spending a lot of money? This is a girl that is used to living on minimal things, yet as soon as she gets her hands on money, she goes cray. Of course, it’s not that she wants these things as we are reminded, but then Brooke tags her along and it would be weird to refuse to waste money on such trivial things. I cannot even.
That’s just a little bit of an insight into her character. She isn’t all that strong. She is incredibly jealous and cannot make her fucking mind up about which boy she wants (more on that later though). She’s also very dependent on people and cannot seem to connect the dots. There are things that are so glaringly obvious but she has her head stuck in the sand so it’s impossible for her to acknowledge these things about her that she should have acknowledged ages ago.
Moving on to the love triangle or I should say love square. I want to start this off by saying that if you’re looking forward to reading this book and love triangles discourage you, you might just be able to justify this one and not let it affect your enjoyment of the book. In fact there is a way the love triangle can be viewed to make it so you don’t hate it as much as I did. I personally don't like them in any form which is why I wasn't convinced by the explanation but that depends on personal tastes. The most annoying thing about this love triangle is that on top of the fact that there are two guys interested in the girl, there are other girls interested in the guys too and it just makes this whole thing a dramatic mess. I just don’t understand why.
Plus on top of that, none of the love interests are particularly appealing. One is creepy stalker who stares at her while she changes (and she blushes instead of being creeped out) and is generally very pushy and rude. If I met someone like that in real life, I wouldn’t hesitate to place a restraining order on him. Gabriel on the other hand wasn’t nearly as unbearable… in the beginning. What changed things was his inability to just tell her to truth. He just let her jealousy fester until he had no choice but to tell her things. It’s really annoying when he refuses to tell her the truth because he doesn’t believe she is ready. Who is he to tell her if she is ready or not? Her father? Seriously.
The plot was actually interesting, or would have been if it weren’t overshadowed by the drama in Cessie’s life. I mean, they were on the run, but they spend a ridiculous amount shopping so that kind of took from the plot.
There was definitely some interesting world building and I would go so far to say that it makes the book stand out from all those typical angels/demons books but alas this cannot make up for the other faults that had me shaking my head and yelling at my kindle.
The weird thing is, in spite of everything, I want to read the sequel. I have this crazy hope inside of me that things will get better. Considering the fun synopsis, I want things to get better; I want to love the book.
If you’re looking forward to reading the book, don’t get discouraged, there is a good chance you might still like it, but if what I am saying doesn’t make things sound fun, you might want to give this book a pass. ...more
When I first saw that this book was being pitched as Sherlock meets Doctor Who, I lost it in t***This review has also been posted on The Social Potato
When I first saw that this book was being pitched as Sherlock meets Doctor Who, I lost it in the best way possible. My expectations sored and as I saw my friends enjoying it, I started to really look forward to reading it. The sad thing is that while this book was good, it just wasn’t the kind of good you would expect when a book is pitched as Sherlock meets Doctor Who. I only watch one of the two shows and have seen season 1 of the other, but even with that, this novel doesn’t even begin to cover the awesomeness of the two tv shows and that’s what majorly let me down.
Instead of being the mind-blowing, addicting as hell book that I expected, I got brain candy. It was fluffy. FLUFFY. It also read a tad bit like Sherlock fanfiction. That I didn’t mind too much considering how the author built her own world and the book was overall fun, but there wasn’t a whole lot originality to this book.
I think my favorite character in this entire book was Jackaby and if you have read the book, it won’t be hard to understand why. He is a fun enigmatic character who is characteristically similar to Sherlock, but unlike Sherlock, he isn’t a sociopath; he can be empathetic when the situation requires him to be, but for the most part, he is lost in his own world. He is a supposedly silly being no one can take seriously and the heart-breaking thing about this whole thing is that we never get to find out more about him. He has no back story; there isn’t much to him aside from endearing characteristics; in fact, we don’t even find out his first name.
The main character, Abigail, on the other hand does have a back story. Not one that really makes me think highly of her, but still, there is more to her than there was to Jackaby at least. She actually seemed to read more like a whiny child at times than she did a young adult. I was never really sure what her age was. I’d put her around 17/18 and maybe teenagers sound whiny at that age, but for all her talk about being an independent young woman, she could be pretty silly at times.
Throw into the mix the fact she may or may not have fallen in love within 2 days. I wouldn’t say there was a romance, not really, but there were feelings… feelings after never having really talked and just seen each other a handful of times. Feelings involved when the two don’t even really know anything about each other. Although admittedly, the author never really said the L word, but I don’t believe I am reading ‘too’ much into this. Abigail did admit to being smitten and that counts in my book!
All those little problems I had with the book aside, it really does make for a good comfort book. It’s the perfect thing to curl up with on a rainy day and it’s just fun.
The mystery admittedly was a little weak. It was done well but it was so glaringly obvious to me who the villain was so the mystery kind of felt flat in some ways. That is not to say I didn’t enjoy it, I did. I wholeheartedly did, I just needed more and the mystery fan in me was somewhat disappointed. Especially considering that it was pitched as SHERLOCK MEETS DOCTOR WHO.
You may be wondering why I keep on repeating that and that’s just because I felt like the book didn’t meet the expectations it set by declaring the book as such.
Even the paranormal aspect was a little disappointing . There was SO much potential and strong emphasis on the so because seriously, this book could have been amazing, mind-blowing and just all around fabulous but it wasn’t.. it was just fun.
This could probably be the result of me setting my expectations incredibly high after seeing the pitch but I just wish this book could have been more.
It could have done way more than just make me laugh, it could have told me to strap in because it was going to take me on a fucking crazy ride but that’s not what happened.
My disappointment with this book aside, I definitely do recommend this book, it may not be the next big thing but it is most definitely worth the read. It is fun; won’t fail to make you laugh and I promise, Jackaby is WORTH IT. ...more
Trial by Fire was exactly as I had hoped it would be but more. That sounds a little contradictory, doesn't it? I suppose the best way to explain it isTrial by Fire was exactly as I had hoped it would be but more. That sounds a little contradictory, doesn't it? I suppose the best way to explain it is that I knew I would love this book but I had no idea how much. Angelini never fails to surprise me.
I remember when I first read Starcrossed and now, reading the first book in her new trilogy, I feel the same way as I felt then. I feel that excitement. I feel the thrill. I feel everything. Yet at the same time, it's obvious how much she has grown as a writer. Angelini knows what she is doing.
This book does not start off lightly and if you're like me and don't deal well with anticipation, the first chapter and a half is going to be HARD to read through but once you're past those hard bits, it gets a lot better, I promise.
Lily is a fantastic character. She is strong and her strength never fails to amaze me. When 'her' Tristan is a jerk to her, she doesn't just curl up into a ball. She's heartbroken but also realizes that what he did to her, the way he treated her, was wrong and she doesn't just let that go away, she tells him that he was a jerk. That's just one showcase of the strength she possesses. She has to adapt to a whole new world yet she does it realistically. Even though she is quick to understand the mechanics of the new world, she continues to hold the ideologies of her own. She isn't just going to change who she is to adapt to this new world, instead she tries to understand these differences and the reasons behind them. That's what makes her such a likeable character.
The secondary characters are just as well developed. I want to start off by mentioning the brilliance that is Lillian. I have NO CLUE how Angelini does it. Lillian isn’t your typical villain and I have to say, I find it incredibly hard to hate her. Her actions are inexcusable yet Angelini still develops her character in a way where it’s possible for us as readers to empathize with her. Okay, so I know many won’t be enthusiastic about empathizing with a villain but just trust me. It’s important to the story. Juliet is a wonderful addition although to be honest, throughout the entirety of the book, I found myself missing Lily’s Juliet. That does speak volumes about Angelini’s character development skills, especially if you find yourself missing a character you knew for 1.5 chapters.
Let’s not forget Caleb and Tristan though. I think we get to know more about Tristan (the other version who is a lot nicer) more but I kind of connected to Caleb after a certain event. That said, they are both wonderfully developed as well and I cannot wait to see more of them in the sequels.
Speaking of, I still haven’t mentioned Rowan, the love interest. I am all about the romance and while I genuinely enjoyed the romance in this book, I also felt really uncomfortable at times. Knowing that Rowan had loved Lillian in the past and was hurt so badly by her made me uncomfortable. It makes me wonder if Rowan actually has genuine feelings for Lily as an individual or if he sees her as a nicer version of Lillian? Those kinds of questions kept on bothering me as I read the book so it made it harder to enjoy their romance, no matter how sweet it was.
What takes the cake is the world building and I am not the least bit surprised by that. If you’ve read Angelini’s Starcrossed trilogy, you’ll know what I am talking about. If you have not, you should go get started on that. Moving back to the world building, I have always loved the idea of parallel universes and this book explores the idea in an interesting way. It’s not a brand new idea but at the same time, Angelini manages to make it original. Angelini does an original take on magic but she also creates an interesting power hierarchy. There isn’t much in-depth world building and we learn more about the differences between this world and our own than we do about the history of this new world, but I think we’ll find out a lot more in the sequels.
The plot was so well paced although that’s to be expected in this kind of book. The pages flew by and before I knew it, I only had 30 pages left in the book and had to take a quick break so I wouldn’t die of thirst.
The way this book ends has me dying to read the sequel and all I can say is that anyone looking for an interesting book featuring magic, you need to check this out. ...more
The best way to describe Tabula Rasa is fun. It’s far from perfect, but it is undoubtedly***This mini-review has also been posted on The Social Potato
The best way to describe Tabula Rasa is fun. It’s far from perfect, but it is undoubtedly a novel you will speed through and have a lot of fun reading.
I think the weakest point of this book would be that there just weren't enough details. If this novel were the start to a series, it would have been fantastic but it wasn't (from what I gather). Which means that there were many loopholes that weren't closed off as well as they could have been. I cannot count the number of times I thought, 'I cannot wait to see the author expand on this in the sequel’, and when I realized, after finishing the book, there wouldn’t be one, it was kind of disappointing. Not only because I had questions but also because this actually had a lot of potential that wasn’t fully realized.
That aside, the characters were fantastic. I LOVED getting to know Sarah and I thought she was a strong and likeable female lead. The love interest, who shall not be named in this review, was a hacker and was incredibly adorable. He was a little shy and awkward too which made him all the more loveable.
The romance was a buzzkill though. Oh, it was definitely slow burn, until, suddenly, they were in love. It’s kind of instalove, but at the same time, it’s not even that. I am pretty sure I had cartoonish question marks sticking out of my head when those three words were said. I mean, I knew it would happen - I just expected more buildup and more hints of chemistry, perhaps.
The plot was good enough. I mean like I mentioned earlier, the potential was not fully realized but there were a handful of awesome action scenes and I was too swooped up in those to care about anything else.
I’d definitely recommend this to anyone looking for a fun, action filled book that also has a few conspiracies thrown in....more
Amulet of Elusion is more of a skeleton than an actual book. Reading it was.. not fun. This book had an interesting premise which was the only reason I could actually tolerate reading on. Had this been a first draft, I would have been impressed, as it is, it wasn’t.
The only thing working for this book is the concept. The characters are iffy, the romance is weird and the plot is rushed and the world building? Well I have no idea about the world building. It’s just the idea of amulets and how they work that really intrigues me, even now.
Caleb is basically the perfect guy. He is hot, modest, smart, kind of rich and oh he likes helping people. Except he is horrible. He is self-centered from what I see. When he helps a kid and realizes how bad the situation was, his first thought was, “This kid really does need my help”. I am sure that is supposed to be a good thing but no. Hell no. The kid needed help, not YOUR help. And any guy who chains a girl up so that she doesn’t get herself killed while he goes off to fight, especially when she is actually powerful and could help, is not a wonderful guy. He is a fucking nightmare. He is also the kind of guy who emphasizes someone’s beauty above everything else. When he is telling everyone about ‘his girl’ he emphasizes her beauty because that is what is most important. Yes, you’re DEFINITELY the kind of guy I want as a life partner (they get married). Let’s not forget his policy about not fighting with women. Even when it’s to train him so that he doesn’t fucking die. Nope, not going to take this shit seriously. He is way too cool for this. I wanted to bitch slap him right then. Your chivalry is going to get you fucking killed, sure respecting women is important, showing them courtesy is a good thing but have some limits dude.
Our wonderful female lead, what’s her face Alexa is no better than her lover. For starters
“Caleb is my husband. It’s his job to protect me now.”
That was what she said to her foster parent when she tried to be ‘overprotective’. She is incapable of making smart decisions and rushes into danger without thinking things through. She is TSTL. When she learns that she is a speshul snowflake, she barely questions anything after the initial shock. Let’s not forget someone always needs to save her pathetic ass.
Both these characters feel like checklists or just lists of characteristics. They don’t feel like real characters. Just a bundle of characteristics. Their backstories don’t feel like stories, they feel like facts. There is no emotion involved, or if it is, it’s more rational than emotional. Her parents died and she is supposed to be sad about that, she is, but I don’t feel it. I don’t feel anything. I have no real connection to her. I feel a mild annoyance towards her but that’s about it. The same goes for Caleb, I cannot even bring myself to hate him because I just don’t care. I am annoyed, pissed, but at his actions not his character. His character does NOTHING for me.
The secondary characters were just… there. Like her best friend tagged along but she has a beau back home and what about her father? What? They all seem to fade into the background when it comes to Alexa and Caleb for they are the center of this stories. The secondary characters serve no other purpose than plot devices.
The romance though. Oh dear. *shudders* I was so excited about the fact that a relationship already existed but that theory was shot to hell pretty soon. Sure they were in a relationship but they knew NOTHING about each other. Not their middle names, not where they came from, not about their families, NOTHING. Yet in spite of this, they claim to be in love. How do you love someone you know nothing about? Oh and then moving on to getting married. That took everything a step too far. That’s just moving way too fast. You can love each other and still be in a dangerous situation, marriage won’t change anything. Seriously. Now I have nothing against marriage, but really they should have waited before taking such a huge leap.. I mean they JUST declared their love for one another. I cannot even. *storms out*
The plot is just.. bland. Things happen, more things happen, one after another. Like some sort of to-do list. This happened? Check. Next thing. Check. Check Check Check Check. *cricket noises in the background* At one point, I felt like I was reading some sort of ultra-dramatic soap opera. Everyone has seen this story a gazillion times. Orphaned girl, secrets being kept, girl super special complete with a prophecy that declares her so. Let’s not forget she is supposed to save everyone. Did I mention she was speshul?
The world building made no sense to me. Ivy (the overprotective guardian) mentioned that she searched the whole kingdom for Alexa when Alexa decided to ‘screw it’. Is the kingdom small? Big? What? Everyone is confined inside for their own good until they become adults? Again … what? I have no idea what was going on with the world building and after a while I no longer cared to figure that tangled mess out.
I’d say something about the only good thing about this book, the concept of amulets but at this point I don’t care. The intriguing concept of amulets does not make up for everything else that didn’t work. I may have read this fairly quickly but I simply don’t care about this book. I was surprised when it ended.. and when I say surprised, I mean in the best way possible because I was miserable and really did not want to continue reading.
In the end this book is just not something I would recommend. It did not do anything for me and didn’t read like a story but instead like a fact book, a fictional fact book at that but still. There was no emotion rolling of the pages, I didn’t immerse myself within the world. A text book would have been more interesting....more
Vivian Divine is Dead is so bad that it’s almost comical. I was craughing after finishing it. ***This review has also been posted on The Social Potato
Vivian Divine is Dead is so bad that it’s almost comical. I was craughing after finishing it. No joke. With its clichés and "coincidences", this book is like a big fat joke. This is something that would be a million times better on TV than on paper. When you write a book, it’s important you close all the loop holes or at least attempt to. Unfortunately, that doesn’t happen in this book. What we have here instead are dramatic twists that are so predictable they just make you want to bang your head on a wall.
Vivian Divine came from a perfect family. Her mother was voted Hollywood’s most beautiful woman 3 times in a row. Her dad's one of the best directors in Hollywood and she herself was the youngest person to be nominated for an Oscar. She had a perfect boyfriend and a beautiful best friend (throw in some self-image issues, too, when she compares herself to her bff) but then her mother died (6 months before the start of the novel) and her father tried to commit suicide. They are trapped in a bubble of grief and no one can seem to catch a break. Her boyfriend cheats on her with her best friend (there’s that trope), her life is in danger (ooh, another one) and now she must go on the run (YAY! Another one, too).
The one thing extremely off with the situation is how her bodyguard lets her go off on her own into the wild without any backup. NO ONE lets celebs go on the run on their own, never mind a celeb who's not even an adult (she is like 16!). I cannot believe Vivian never questioned that. She must have lived a VERY sheltered life.
Which is kind of evident from the fact that Vivian doesn’t even understand the seriousness of the situation she is in. The police may or may not be trying to hunt her down and she is on her way to another country to take refuge, yet she still manages to be self-important and goes around expecting everything to be handed to her on a silver platter. Welcome to the real world, hon. But you know what? She is not ‘that’ bad; she realizes that the real world is completely different because like there are people who go to churches with enough gold to buy Beverly Hills but cannot afford to buy shoes. So, so sad. *sigh*
Vivian Divine also feels like people owe her. She commands people to help her, strangers that have no obligation to do so but should because she ‘wants’ them to. *shakes head*. She is a flip flop of a character. I cannot actually decide what the author wants us to feel. Are we supposed to like her or are we supposed to be annoyed? Hell, what does Vivian even want herself? I GOT NO IDEA because she cannot make her bloody mind.
The author tries to create a contrast between the environment and where our main character comes from, but the author takes it to the extreme, like to the extreme-extreme. It’s kind of ridiculous.
Her family is surprisingly normal (like before everything went down the shitter) and I have no idea how I feel about that. On one hand it's a positive portrayal of families and doesn't follow the 'bad parents' stereotype (except her dad is overworked and doesn't give her enough time) but on the other hand, I feel like it just seems so weird that they are these famous Hollywood people and yet they appear extremely normal. This could be a result of my own bias but I definitely found the normalcy somewhat odd.
That wasn't the only thing that struck me as odd, though - the romance was off-the-charts weird. It was horrible. For the first day there seems to be hope that you might see a somewhat developed romance, but then the next day the L words are thought and it’s just like a wtf moment. This book has a tendency to make you go:
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Chloe would look pretty damn awesome as the cover of the book. That also happened to be my reaction to the plot. Plot? What plot? This is a soap opera with dramatic twists that can be seen coming from MILES away. It’s not so much unpredictable as it is question mark inducing.
Vivan seems to arrive at the right places and strangers always seem willing to help her. She even compares this to how ‘back home’ people won’t help an old lady cross the road and everyone seems to be nice here. Wait, wait, hold on a second; is this supposed to be the real world because where the fuck is the real world? COINCIDENCES LIKE THESE DON’T HAPPEN.
With all that said, the ending was actually pretty nice. I said that. Go ahead. Throw stuff at me (I have a tendency to do this). I was surprised by it but it did nothing to redeem the book. The book still sucked and I wished I could have my time back.
In all honesty, I really wouldn’t recommend this book to anyone. It’s a waste of time and unless you’re really bored and cannot find any books to read, skip this and read something that’s been on your shelf since the dawn of time....more
LOL Never again MY EYESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS What a mess.
-people falling in love within a week -thinking about marriage in that same time span -stupid alpha malLOL Never again MY EYESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS What a mess.
-people falling in love within a week -thinking about marriage in that same time span -stupid alpha males (they gotta be done right and this book failed) -the chick falling in love again with a guy.. who she had a crush on in high school who basically took her virginity and ran off -a grown man thinking the best sex of his life (before he went at it with the same chick as an adult) was when he was 18... that bothers me.. I am not sure how most people will feel about it. The same goes for the girl. Again she was a virgin. -A girl whose been emotionally abused finding love out of nowhere. Dude at least let her trust people again before making her magically fall in love with one of the dudes who in a round about way was one of her kidnappers. I DONT FUCKING CARE THAT HE NEVER INDULGED IN THE ACTUAL ABUSE. HE WITNESSED IT AND DID NOTHING and basically 'did not understand why she would do that to herself'. Fuck you man. -Bad mystery -Bad everything
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Basically if you're even contemplating reading this, read it for the laughs, not because you're actually going to get something out of it. ...more
You know what sucks? When you know the author of a book is a really nice person but you end up ***This review has also been posted onThe Social Potato
You know what sucks? When you know the author of a book is a really nice person but you end up absolutely hating the book. I was looking forward to this one, the premise was intriguing and well the cover was amazeballs, so yes, when I dove in, my expectations were high, but when I read the book, they hit rock bottom. This book was awful. It pains me to say that but less than 10% in and I was counting down how much longer it would take me to finish it.
I think one of the biggest drawbacks of this book is its length. The final copy has around 250 pages and well that doesn’t do the book any favors. Everything is crammed into those pages. Events occur one after the other with no real emphasis put on any of them. For example, her mother dies and she cries but thats about all we see in relationship to her mother's death. Also, I felt no connection with what was going on in the book and the characters did nothing for me.
Sia is one of the worst characters I’ve encountered. She is impulsive and never thinks things through. She never thinks about how her actions would affect people or if her plans would even work out. She is incredibly self-centered in that way and honestly, I think she had everything bad that happened to her coming. I really did not like her character. She was not brave, she was not smart. She was STUPID. She was IMPULSIVE and really, she was a clueless teenager given the situation she was in. She basically goes along with people she just met because she assumes they’ll be safe since they don’t look like they could do her much harm. Honey, did no one teach you that looks can be deceiving? Hell the cover of this pretty book was deceiving.
Mace is just as stupid. He ‘chooses’ Sia because he saw something special in her but is surprised when she doesn’t readily jump at the chance to join a revolution. Yeah, when you pick people of the street without actually getting to know them, you’re probably going to be in for a shit load of disappointment son.
Did I mention Mace’s stalkery habits that are waived off because ‘at least he was being honest’. Yeah no, if a guy is following you around and you aren’t even aware of it, something is absolutely wrong here.
None of the other characters are developed enough for me to even say anything about them. For the most part, they didn’t even register on my radar. I could say that I enjoyed the fact that Sia and her dad shared a good relationship but really I didn’t care. I was completely detached from the book and the characters and just everything.
There are 15 days to live. 15 days until she and everyone else in her sector will be dead and she has already embraced that. Now that isn’t a bad thing, what is a bad thing is how her will to live makes an entrance overnight and that to because of guy she JUST met. I get what the author is trying to do here but because of the length it becomes an issue and it almost seems like the character underwent a personality transplant, and honestly the end result wasn’t someone I could like. It didn't make Sia a more enjoyable character, if anything, it made her a bigger pain in the ass.
The romance in this book was a nightmare. My insta-love alarms were set off and they were ringing really loudly (ouch). I mean seriously. She started having feelings for him without even having a decent conversation. The two times the conversed before she becomes aware of her feelings, he was basically trying to get her to join a rebellion and she ran/hid away from him EACH TIME. How does she suddenly care for him? At the rate they are going, they’ll probably be married in a couple of days (after the end of the book).
Both the villains and the rebels have no sort of logic to them. The villains are evil for the sake of being evil. When you find out their reasons for doing what they were doing, it just feels so fake. Oh, I am going to only pick the cool humans to hang out with me. Nobody else is worth it. Ugh. I am such a special snowflake. Stop. No seriously. If there was a legit reason as to why they were doing what they were doing, their actions would have been easier to swallow. The rebels were just wannabes. I can see why they feel the need to rebel. Obviously. But there are only 20 rebels in total. And they’re going to have to fight against cyborgs. Pray tell me, how they’re even going to survive. Yeah they mentioned recruiting more people later but uh. No. If they were talking about saving themselves they would have thought things through and would have been more organized but as it is, they’re just a rag tag group of wannabes.
The world building sucks. These citizens were closed inside the walls for some reason and are now going to be killed for another. I have no idea why any of this happened/is happening (well we do know the reason for the latter but as I mentioned earlier, it all felt very fake). This book was a very odd sort of dystopia where I didn’t even understand the basic mechanics of how the government worked. The world building had a lot of potential from what I saw but it needed so much more development.
The plot. No let’s not go there. Everything is so rushed that I can hardly discern the plot from the tangles of everything else. It’s not paced well enough and really, I just didn’t care about what the hell was going on. Hell I was practically rooting for everyone to die instead of getting the happy ending they all desperately yearned for.
The ending is probably the best part about the book, I liked how the author ended the book with an open ending giving us the choice to imagine what would happen afterwards. Not that I actually cared. I was just happy the book was over.
I am sorely disappointed by this book and really it sucks that I didn’t enjoy this more. I really wouldn’t recommend it to anybody unless you’re looking for a quick read to help you catch up on your reading challenge....more
I was actually looking forward to this book after reading the synopsis. I may or may not have a little obsession with novels involving second chance rI was actually looking forward to this book after reading the synopsis. I may or may not have a little obsession with novels involving second chance romances which is why I jumped aboard this one, and I was let down.
There is WAY too much cheese in this one and so many stereotypes used. The characters were cliche-like and while this bothered me, it didn't bother me nearly as much as the amount of cheese in this book.
At first I thought the main character would genuinely try to get revenge and while she did seem all gungho about it at first, she... fell too easily again and I don' really understand why. From what I understand, they shouldn't have even fallen in 'love' the previous summer seeing that they were not being themselves (from what I understand). And so that would imply she barely knows the guy (after all, they only dated for that one summer and weren't even completely honest) and so after one heartfelt moment, she falls head over heels all over again? Whaaa?
These characters, while on the verge of going to college, could still be seen as teenagers and well, from what I've seen, teenagers are not usually like that in relationships. That isn't to say they cannot be, but these two barely dated and so it just doesn't add up.
With all that said, it wasn't a horrible read per se, the book is short so it flew by and was over pretty quickly and so in the end, I wasn't so much as enraged as I was... icky because gawd that much cheese cannot be good for anyone!...more
Rashika (is tired)
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