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| 9781633752511
| 3.66
| 1,850
| Apr 19, 2015
| Apr 28, 2015
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did not like it
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1 star Wow. Just wow. Having read this author before, and being naturally attracted to this premise, I honestly didn't expect this to be such a load of 1 star Wow. Just wow. Having read this author before, and being naturally attracted to this premise, I honestly didn't expect this to be such a load of horse shit. But it was. Honestly, it's like a meager half percentage point above Fifty Shades of Grey: PWP erotica, with a definite dominance aspect (though thankfully no abuse), with a power imbalance (he's her company's co-owner), based purely on physical attraction. These characters do not have personalities. Honestly, they meet at her desk when she has an IT problem, and then it's just physical attraction, gushing, obsession, and the "I love you"s and "I've never felt this way"s aren't far off. Why? Couldn't tell you. They don't spend a single second getting to know each other. I read quite a bit of romance nowadays but it's been ages since I've felt quite this ashamed of reading such a book. I expected way more from Megan Erickson. The nerdy details and jokes couldn't save this. At all. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Nov 13, 2016
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Nov 14, 2016
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Aug 26, 2016
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ebook
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| 0062259636
| 9780062259639
| B01415T0F0
| 3.51
| 1,552
| May 10, 2016
| May 10, 2016
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did not like it
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1 star My fond memories of Sarah Strohmeyer's Smart Girls Get What They Want were immediately evoked when I heard her newest title: This Is My Brain on 1 star My fond memories of Sarah Strohmeyer's Smart Girls Get What They Want were immediately evoked when I heard her newest title: This Is My Brain on Boys. Nerdy cute contemporaries are my jam, you might say. But whereas her debut novel was charming, fun, and practically perfect, this book was... not. Uh oh. The premise of this book sure was a promising one. You have a main character who doesn't believe in love. She wants to research the biological aspect of it though, with a theory that any two people can fall in love if they're put into high risk, high stress situations. Heck, she basically tried it out on her best friend and it worked. Now she wants to replicate it to build her case and win the Athenian Award. Throw in herself falling in love along the way, and this book could have been perfect. Here's the thing if you're writing a book about nerdy characters: they can rather understandably come off as a bit sheltered and naive because of a lack of "real world" knowledge and experiences. Not always. But it's a risk you take. Especially when the story is about them being exposed to new situations outside of their books. But that inexperience and naivety can work against you. In the case of Addie, at first it was charming and pretty relatable in a nostalgic way... and then it continued... and her voice began to sound younger and dumber. Part of that certainly is because of the romance though. You know. You know from page one that they're into each other - not only because they're the main characters. But she's so naive about it. She's naive about her own feelings and his for the large majority of the book, even when other people spell it out for her and pretty much just assume they're a couple and everything. Then she's still like, "Oh, I dunno...." This does not really fit with a smart girl. A smart girl, even a book-smart "doesn't get the real world" type girl, would have figured it out earlier. It started cute and became utterly ridiculous. But the science, after its fun and quirky introduction, also quickly went downhill. The experiment she does, involving one girl and two guys (one being Kris, Addie's love interest), has a control love interest and an experimental love interest. The latter (Kris) and the girl get thrust into adrenaline-filled activities. But this experiment has SO MANY FLAWS I could get intensely nerdy explaining all of them to you. First off, there's no way to really account for inherent attraction/repulsion. Addie cannot control the subjects from meeting outside of their experiments, which they obviously would do as they go to the same school. Addie starts getting involved herself when the girl gets too chicken to participate in some of the activities. And obviously she and Kris are attracted to each other from the get go. And after ALL OF THAT, her experiment rightly gets called into question and she still goes on with it, convinced she can prove her theory. Fuck. That. You're supposed to be fucking smart. What even is this. Any reasonable scientist would want to shoot themselves over the flaws in this experiment - and she certainly "seemed" to be that much into science. She practically sounded like a teenage female Sheldon Cooper at the beginning of the book. Sheldon Cooper would die before ever attempting any of this. You know, my original rating for this one was quite a bit higher. But this has turned out to be one of those books where, the longer you think about it, the more angry you get. This book just isn't right. There were a few cute scenes and humorous bits of dialogue at the start, but it all went downhill from there. Ugh. Why, book? You could have been so much more. :( Summing Up: I am so upset right now. This Is My Brain on Boys has an A+ title and a concept that absolutely should have worked for me. But it didn't. The main character was simultaneously a genius and a fucking idiot. The romance was kind of cute at first, but then it dragged on and on and I stopped caring. But the science. If you're going to have science be such a focal point of your story, you can't fuck around this much with the scientific method. In the name of the world's smart girls, I'm insulted. GIF it to me straight! [image] *An electronic advance review copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the contents of the review. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Apr 10, 2016
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Apr 13, 2016
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Dec 17, 2015
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Kindle Edition
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| 1250073901
| 9781250073907
| 1250073901
| 3.55
| 1,544
| Apr 19, 2016
| Apr 19, 2016
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it was ok
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2 stars Fake dating, a.k.a. fauxmance - one of my favorite tropes in romance novels. So, yeah, I couldn't resist No Love Allowed. I like contemporary r 2 stars Fake dating, a.k.a. fauxmance - one of my favorite tropes in romance novels. So, yeah, I couldn't resist No Love Allowed. I like contemporary romances because regardless of quality, they're breezes to read and I can usually find something entertaining or fun about them. No Love Allowed had that... and it didn't. It was rather average, though undeniably disappointing in some parts. Caleb and Didi meet and quickly engage in a fake dating arrangement. Caleb is a notorious heartbreaker who needs a "girlfriend" so that he can get away unscathed during all the high society events. (He's rich as fuck.) Didi is poor, her mother's working two jobs, she just lost her part-time job, and it sounds like a fun enough adventure for the summer. Caleb is clear: no love allowed. He has issues (surprise) because of the death of his mother, which turned his dad into a cold and heartless guy. Better to have no love, than to risk losing it. (Right.) Can you guess at all where this is going? Contemporary romances are cliché nine times out of ten, and most of the time I don't really mind that. If the characters are vibrant enough and the chemistry they have lights up on the page, I can easily give a cliché story five stars. No Love Allowed was not that story. The characters remained rather flat because the story is told in third person. And I could have mapped out the plot from the first chapter. There were a couple of entertaining moments, when there were the slightest sparks of chemistry and I cheered the couple on. Some of the glitz and glamour of the high society parties was fun to read about, in a Gossip Girl kind of way, especially with how Didi actually held her own there. And I did genuinely like reading about her passion for art. But clichés gave way to sap and then before I knew it, the story was over already. Honestly, the way that the book is written from two third person points of view kind of diminishes the effect that the book could have had. Didi is obviously coping with a certain mental health issue - she's seen taking meds in one of the first chapters, so that is not a spoiler. But I think it's sad to have that be such a crucial part of the story but not to delve into her mind and explain what it feels like to live with that condition. When I finished the book I was honestly most disappointed by that. This could have been a really important and eye-opening story. But it wasn't. Lastly, I don't know if it's because I read an advanced copy, but there appeared to be some continuity errors. I hope they were fixed by the time the final copy went to print, because otherwise some of the behavior of these characters would be hella random. For example, at the beginning of the story, Didi gets "fired" from the country club - but after she trips, Amber yells at her, and she's only pretty dumbfounded before throwing her name badge at her manager. Where did she get fired? Where did she have (view spoiler)[a bipolar episode (hide spoiler)] as she describes it later? Another example, so late in the game I'm putting it all behind spoilers: (view spoiler)[after the car accident, Caleb yells at his dad for not mentioning that Didi is bipolar, and his dad says he wouldn't talk to him after their argument so he couldn't have told him. But after he ran out on his dad, he got in the accident, and after he woke up, literally the first thing he's told is that she's bipolar. Where exactly was the delay in him finding out? (hide spoiler)] This book made little sense sometimes. Summing Up: Honestly, No Love Allowed is nothing special. Fake dating has been done before, and it's been done so much better. Romances with a mental health element have been done before, and done infinitely better. The characters here were unremarkable, and though they had some sweet moments, I never had that many feels for them. Even the cute-enough gay ship in the background couldn't save it for me. GIF it to me straight! [image] *An electronic advance review copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the contents of the review. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Mar 16, 2016
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Mar 19, 2016
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Nov 03, 2015
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Paperback
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| 0062380753
| 9780062380753
| 0062380753
| 3.69
| 16,716
| Feb 16, 2016
| Feb 16, 2016
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it was ok
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2 stars Time travel. Those are magic words to me. Words to which I perk up and think, "OH YES PLEASE." Throw in some pirate-y shenanigans and how on ea 2 stars Time travel. Those are magic words to me. Words to which I perk up and think, "OH YES PLEASE." Throw in some pirate-y shenanigans and how on earth was I supposed to resist this book? Well, maybe I'll take more care in the future. The Girl from Everywhere wasn't exactly what I was hoping it would be. The Girl from Everywhere tells the story of Nix, a sixteen-year-old girl on a ship that travels through time. Her father, the captain, is trying to find his way back to her mother in Hawaii, 1868, but to get there he needs to get the right map... which involves some thievery and some shenanigans. How cool does that sound, right? Right? Eh. Okay. I am a character reader, so I do have to say it: I felt zero connection to these characters. Nix had practically no personality. No voice. She wasn't completely cardboard, but there was nothing there to entice me. Her father seemed like a druggie fool that I couldn't imagine wanting to be around. Her two love interests (yes, hello triangle) gave me basically zero feels. The feels should have been there. But they weren't. The romance almost felt forced. I didn't actively dislike anyone or anything but it was all. so. average. I have some problems with the time travel in this book. Time travel, to me, is a science fiction concept that definitely needs some logical reasoning behind it. Heilig took a more fantastical approach to it, though. And maybe it's just me, but I didn't care for it. You see, Nix and her father can travel anywhere they have a map to. They travel to the date when the map was completed. I was okay till there. But then. If the mapmaker believed in mythological beings or stories and incorporated them into their map, that's the version of the world they travel to. And they always need a "fresh" map to get back to where they were before - maps are a one-time use thing. See, that's where it lost me. I know I'm maybe being too nitpicky right now. Time travel is not real, therefore it's fantastical, therefore it doesn't HAVE to make sense. By all means, let go and enjoy the story. But no. I couldn't. Because if they need a map every time they travel somewhere, and the mapmakers' BELIEFS are incorporated into the world they journey to, really every time they travel they're going to a parallel universe and getting farther and farther away from the real world. Plot-wise, it also got confusing as hell. At a certain point I honestly didn't know where they were going anymore and how it all tied together. The bare bones are clear enough: they need to pull off a heist in exchange for the map that will finally probably get them to 1868. But there are suspicions and backstories that all get jumbled together and I no longer knew what the goal was or what their plan was to get there. Not to mention Nix's fragile relationship with her father - one minute she wants to leave him, then she doesn't, then she does, then HE doesn't. It felt like I was playing catch up to this book and that's not a cool feeling to have. The timestreams got so jumbled that I honestly believe there may be plot holes but my brain hurt too much to try to figure it out. In particular, I'm so confused about Joss's timestream. (view spoiler)[So she was FIRST in Emperor Qin's tomb, then Nix brought her the map to... 1886? Then in the ...fire? she found a map to 1841? And there had the kid and grew old... and is gonna die there in the fire? For real? (hide spoiler)] I mean, if I read over it three times, I would probably get it. But words cannot describe how badly I don't want to do that. The longer I think about it, the more frustrated I become. In theory, The Girl from Everywhere is an okay book - maybe even a good book, but it just confused me. And that alone I could maybe handle if it weren't for the fact that I had such a low to middling connection to the characters that I did not for a second feel like putting in the mental effort to figure this book out. It actually gave me a headache. It actually made me think, "I don't get it, but ugh, whatever, just keep reading and I'll be done with it eventually." Summing Up: A swing and a miss for Heidi Heilig. The Girl from Everywhere had a pretty cool concept, but with average characters with zero spark, I never really got drawn into this story. Her take on time travel actually made me grumbly, and the jumbled timestreams just confused me. I'm not saying it's worthless, but it didn't work for me. To appreciate it, this book needed more of my attention than I was willing to give it. At the end of the day, I was pretty bored. GIF it to me straight! [image] Recommended To: I'm on the black sheep side of things, so... readers who don't mind some fantasy blending into their time travel? *An electronic advance review copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the contents of the review. [image] ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Feb 07, 2016
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Feb 11, 2016
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Sep 05, 2015
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Hardcover
| ||||||||||||||
| 144242673X
| 9781442426733
| 144242673X
| 4.02
| 389,247
| May 26, 2015
| May 26, 2015
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did not like it
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1 star God - fucking - dammit. I think my review of To All the Boys I've Loved Before made it exceedingly obvious that I adored that book. I shouted my 1 star God - fucking - dammit. I think my review of To All the Boys I've Loved Before made it exceedingly obvious that I adored that book. I shouted my love from the rooftops. I couldn't wait to dive into the sequel and have more of the happy shippy feels that so delighted me. BUT NO. THIS. FREAKING. SUCKS. [image] At the end of To All the Boys I've Loved Before, we are left on a pretty exciting and promising cliffhanger: Lara Jean finally admits to having feelings for Peter and maybe they can happen for real. Misunderstandings notwithstanding, he makes her happy, and that's worth an actual shot. So she writes him another letter - which you soon learn is made of cuteness - but then the drama quickly follows. It's not happy times for Peter and Lara Jean. No. Peter is still friends with Gen, his ex and the one-dimensional mean girl who makes Lara Jean's life miserable. Gen can't seem to let Peter go, and he lets it slide because of mysterious things happening in her personal life. Yeah, they were friends for a long time, and maybe Gen doesn't feel that close to anyone else, but if your girlfriend feels uncomfortable with this, you need to AT LEAST meet her halfway. Instead he runs off to Gen the second she calls and leaves Lara Jean in the dark. That's. Wait. What? [image] There's arguably a reason for Gen's meanness - the personal stuff she's working through - but it's nowhere near good enough for Lara Jean to forgive her or for Peter to keep taking her side. Seriously, when it becomes abundantly clear that Gen leaked a video of Lara Jean and Peter making out in a hot tub onto the internet - which looks like they might even be having sex - leading to cyberbullying and actual bullying for Lara Jean? Yeah. No. That shit will never fly with me. Nothing excuses Gen's total bitch moves in this book. Peter is almost the complete opposite of who he was in the first book. He's withdrawn, inattentive, and he pushes Lara Jean away. Lara Jean makes some excuses for him, but arguably when the two are together, they have some cute moments. But there's so much tension building throughout the story, and it's untenable. This book pushed me to start to resent Peter (as much as my head didn't want to), to become tired of Lara Jean's (rightful) jealousy, and to believe the relationship was absolutely doomed to fail. So much drama. WAIT - SERIOUSLY - I DIDN'T SIGN ON FOR THAT. [image] And Josh, the other angle on the love triangle in the previous book? Swept under the table and almost never heard from again. But, we couldn't just let the romantic drama die there, right? NO. Lara Jean has to have another beau come into her life - the last recipient of her love letters: John. John comes out of nowhere, pretty much, and as he lives in a different district, he barely gets any page-time. But when he's there he's being the perfect gentleman (seriously, no negative or complex elements to his personality that we know of; completely adhering to Lara Jean's idealized image of him from three years ago) and he clearly indicates that after so many years, he still has feelings for Lara Jean. YOU CAN'T MAKE ME SWITCH SHIPS THIS LATE IN THE GAME. Honestly, this guy is here being the quintessential good guy, while Peter's being a douche, pretty much. You feel such an urge to just say, fuck the douche, Lara Jean, and be with this guy. (EVEN THOUGH PETER FREAKING KAVINSKY WOULD NEVER BE SUCH A DOUCHE.) John may be completely boring, but at least he's honest with you. But THEN, at the end of the day, Lara Jean decides she's REALLY in love with Peter, and though they don't actually talk about any of their ten billion ISSUES and just retcon a lot of shit instead, they stay... together. Seriously. Wut. [image] This book is for the people who believe that exes can (and should be able to) be friends, that drama is almost a charming part of life, that fighting serves to make a relationship stronger (even if it's not actually resolved *grumble grumble*), that teenagers do stupid shit - and that that kind of realism is fun to read about. Now I'm not saying that I don't like any of those things at certain times, but the combination was deadly and completely the opposite of the first book. This book made me confused, sad, and angry, and I expected happiness. The banter disappeared, Peter was no longer swoon-worthy, and all I got was 337 pages of (arguably avoidable) drama. That's... not what I wanted. Seriously, if all these characters insist on being so stupid and drama-laden, they deserve to all just die alone. [image] Summing Up: P.S. I Still Love You is absolutely one of my biggest disappointments of the year. It reached soap opera levels of drama, and it took a massive surge of willpower to not just toss it into the garbage with 30 pages left, never to be finished. I did finish it, but I'm not at all happy. This is the kind of sequel book that I'm going to sell secondhand and then pretend never happened. To All the Boys I've Loved Before was a standalone. Right? RIGHT?! Right. Okay bye. GIF it to me straight! [image] ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Oct 04, 2015
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Oct 06, 2015
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Sep 04, 2015
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Hardcover
| ||||||||||||||
| 1595148353
| 9781595148353
| B01NB0IPKU
| 3.45
| 3,987
| Apr 19, 2016
| Jan 01, 2013
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liked it
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3 stars Hand me a premise involving fandom and fanfiction, and I'm on the hook, man. It's no exaggeration that that premise made Scarlett Epstein Hates 3 stars Hand me a premise involving fandom and fanfiction, and I'm on the hook, man. It's no exaggeration that that premise made Scarlett Epstein Hates It Here my most anticipated debut of the year. But, sadly, this book wasn't quite like I expected. Scarlett is an introverted, fandom-loving loner. She doesn't have a lot of real life friends, and instead found an online community around her favorite TV show called Lycanthrope High, which, as you may have guessed, involves werewolves. She's one of the fandom's biggest fanfic writers, but then... the show is canceled. Scarlett struggles with how to move on after the heartbreak of losing her show and gets entangled in some IRL drama at the same time. Here's the thing: Scarlett is not exactly likeable. That's not a dealbreaker for me, because I like complex characters. But I know that it's going to make this book quite polarizing. Scarlett is highly judgmental, slightly arrogant, and completely oblivious to these traits. She cuts herself off from the people around her - to the extent that she has two friends, one of whom is a 70-year-old neighbor. She kind of looks down her nose at everyone else, but doesn't realize she's doing it. Now, that is part of her character arc, but her behavior is pretty constant throughout the book. The reason I could tolerate it is because I could relate. I wasn't too different in high school, and the whole idea of cutting yourself off from people without realizing it, thus creating a vicious cycle in which you're always excluded? Yeah, I got that. I still can't say that I like Scarlett too much, but I understood why she behaved the way she did. And she did grow out of it a bit by the end. The other thing that makes her so hard to like is that for a fanfic writer, Scarlett sure doesn't know much about fanfics. She and her fellow fandom writers come up with the idea to write a spin-off set in the same universe after the show ends. Scarlett starts right off by writing herself into the story - even using her own name - and she has to be alerted to the fact that she is writing a Mary Sue. She takes all the drama from her real life and with thinly veiled analogies puts it all into the story. She doesn't change the names, because that would just be... smart. And I'm sure you can't guess where this is going. The drama mostly revolves around a boy, Gideon. They used to be friends, and Scarlett had a crush on him for a long time, but now they haven't spoken in a good couple of years. Scarlett seems to forget this fact because suddenly she's 100% fixated on him, and she's excruciatingly jealous when he gets involved with one of the popular girls and gets drawn into the popular circle. Scarlett feels betrayed in ways she has no rights to. So, no, I didn't ship it, and I was not really cheering for them. The girl who ends up being her rival in love is her best friend's sister, who first seems like your typical, cliché mean girl, but then ends up being so vulnerable and hurt and weak and aww, we should all pity her. This was maybe the most exhausting part of the whole book. Scarlett puts up with Jen the whole time because of Avery. Avery sees Jen's abuse happen but never says anything against it. Scarlett pushes back sometimes, which seems reasonable, but by the end, Jen makes her out to be the enemy because Avery and their parents like Scarlet better than her. Like... I'm rolling my eyes so hard, you could not even believe. BUT IT'S NOT ALL BAD. I mean, this voice is polarizing, but though I winced at the things Scarlett did, I understood her more or less and was drawn in by her story. I liked the glimpses of fandom - though not so much Scarlett's fanfic, but the community surrounding it all. Scarlett has some great online friends, and I like that the book showed they can be as comforting as IRL friends - if not more so. There's also a great side story about her dad's white male author privilege in the disgusting book he writes, which is kind of only halfway done so as not to detract from Scarlett's story, but definitely had me nodding smugly. So there was enough to keep me entertained, but not enough to get me cheering. Summing Up: I was really excited about Scarlett Epstein Hates It Here, but it just didn't quite meet my expectations. Scarlett is hard to like, and I think your liking of this book will depend on whether or not you can see part of yourself in her. I could, and so I kept reading, and the fandom details about online communities and nerdiness pleased me. The overall story, however, did very little for me. GIF it to me straight! [image] Recommended To: Fans of complex, unlikable characters, like Jeane from Adorkable . ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Jul 26, 2016
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Jul 27, 2016
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Jun 28, 2015
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Hardcover
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| 0062242938
| 9780062242938
| B00RLR9TSE
| 3.93
| 18,829
| Sep 22, 2015
| Sep 22, 2015
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it was ok
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2.5 stars Oh how I wish I had loved this more. Rae Carson and I have had a kind of rocky relationship till now. Though I wouldn't say I really disliked 2.5 stars Oh how I wish I had loved this more. Rae Carson and I have had a kind of rocky relationship till now. Though I wouldn't say I really disliked the Fire and Thorns series, I was never really impressed, and the hype completely baffled me. Despite that, I decided to give Walk on Earth a Stranger a shot, hoping that different characters in a different setting with a different story would finally let me fall in love with this author like almost all of my friends are. But... unfortunately... I'm still unimpressed. Walk on Earth a Stranger is a perfectly adequate and average novel, but when I read books, I want more. Walk on Earth a Stranger is a historical fiction/fantasy story about the California gold rush and the many pioneers who set out across the country hoping to reach the fortunes they've always dreamed of. Our main character, Leah, has a secret, magical gift: she can sense when gold is near. This gift however, leads to the murder of her parents by her uncle, who hopes to exploit her. Desperate to stay out of his manipulative clutches, she runs away to take on the trail herself. Though no part of this book really made me mad, disappointed, or squeamish (the childbirth scene notwithstanding), every part of it just screamed average to me. Leah's a pretty good main character, but I didn't fall in love with her. I appreciate her thirst for independence - going so far as dress like a boy to give herself more freedom to escape from her uncle - and the lengths she goes to to protect and help others. She takes on tough manual labor and work that no woman chooses or is allowed to do, and she kicks some men's butts at it. But other than that, her personality didn't really sparkle. She's not particularly witty or funny or charming. Maybe I was lacking a sense of complexity in her character and her voice. Plot-wise, I was mildly entertained but also a bit let down. I mean, the beginning was really strong - Leah discovering her parents' murder, the small-town Georgian atmosphere, the appearance of her shady Uncle, and her decision to don the guise of a boy to escape from it all. But after that, it was walking. And walking. And riding a horse. And riding a boat. And riding a wagon. And walking. I mean, she meets people along the way, and there are some interesting interactions there, but they're traveling for the entire book. A lot of people die along the way - the trail providing all the risks you'll know from The Oregon Trail game: cholera, childbirth, stampeding buffalo, measles, Native Americans, land and weather conditions - but for some reason, I just had not forged an emotional connection to any of them, so I didn't even blink. It felt like the plot had no peaks or valleys. No build up to exciting climaxes. Leah's magical gift of goldscrying was hardly used, just as a thing she was hiding from other people that occasionally helped find things. She didn't even meet her uncle again until the very end of the book, for all of like five minutes. There's no big conflict in this book aside from man vs. nature, and I'm sorry, it turns out that that isn't enough to enthrall me. I liked some of the nostalgia winks to The Oregon Trail, but I was also growing increasingly more bored. It's like this whole book is just a set up for the series, but I have no idea what the long run plot is even going to be. In the bad way. It feels kind of pointless. What I will say is nice is the diversity. Carson includes a lot of characters from different backgrounds, but she doesn't forget the historical context and inherent prejudices. Leah's best friend and love interest, Jefferson, is of mixed race decent: half-Native American, half-Caucasian. The company they join to travel west includes families of Southern conservatives, a slave owner and his slave, French-Canadian immigrants, German immigrants, a zealous priest, and "confirmed bachelors" - a charming name for gay men. As such, Carson manages to tackle a lot of topics of racial tensions, gay rights, and feminism, and she does this in authentic-feeling ways with a modern, humanist perspective. If anything, I have the utmost respect for that - and I loved how at the end of the book, the characters that remained managed to become a charming family of misfits. There's a couple of scenes that made me really proud of them and of Leah. But that romance? It gave me exactly zero feels. Which is also a weird thing, because it is very clearly a friends-to-something-more kind of romance, which ordinarily would totally be my thing. But you barely see the friendship that had built up for years. It's further complicated because by the time Leah and Jefferson meet up with the company to travel west, he's kind of infatuated with another girl. So there's not much romance either. There are small moments that I suppose should set my shippy heart on fire, but I just shrugged. I think that might have something to do with the fact that (a) Jefferson ran off after a rushed, out-of-the-blue proposal (for convenience) to Leah at the start of the novel, leaving her alone to deal with the deaths of her parents, (b) the fact that after that he seemed infatuated with someone else (which he might be retconning later, because screw you), and (c) the fact that Leah seems to really just see him as a friend until she sees him fawning over Therese. This... is supposed to make me cheer for them? I can see why some might, but I just will not. Here's the part where I decide to break up with Rae Carson. As far as historical fiction (and fantasy) goes, I tend to expect more from the writing. Carson's writing has always seemed rather simplistic to me, and in Walk on Earth a Stranger, it struck an additional nerve as she frequently and casually threw in modern terms that absolutely would not fit into the time period. That's jarring to me and pulls me out of the story. Neither do I feel like the magic was explored well enough or described in beautiful, engrossing ways. It was just a thing. Kind of there. In the background. What other kinds of magic exist and how this shapes the world is a complete mystery for now. But other than that, I think it's a style issue. I can't seem to bond with her characters, no matter how hard I try. I'll never be more than slightly impressed in passing. Her plot-lines do not have enough action for me, and there's not enough character growth or swoon-worthy romance to make up for it. I can totally understand why a lot of people swear by this author, but I can't keep forcing myself to read these books that are never much better than "okay" for me, in a desperate attempt to understand the hype. So for now... Goodbye, Rae Carson. May you have much better luck with other readers. Summing Up: Walk on Earth a Stranger was never bad enough for me to decide to stop reading, but by the time I finished, I realized that I was pretty bored the whole way through. There wasn't enough of a story for me, and I just couldn't connect to the characters or the romance. I will, however, give a big thumbs up to the diversity. And though I appreciated finally getting a book exploiting my nostalgic feelings about The Oregon Trail, I should have realized that a story about traveling for miles and miles and miles and miles might inherently be a bit boring. GIF it to me straight! [image] Recommended To: Rae Carson's established fanbase. *An electronic advance review copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the contents of the review. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Aug 17, 2015
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Aug 21, 2015
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Apr 30, 2015
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Kindle Edition
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| 3.61
| 680
| Jun 26, 2014
| Jun 26, 2014
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did not like it
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1 star I guess this is karma, right? I read Catching Liam and I was totally in love - filled with hope for more NA books I could completely fall in lov 1 star I guess this is karma, right? I read Catching Liam and I was totally in love - filled with hope for more NA books I could completely fall in love with - and then the SAME AUTHOR just has to ruin everythinggggggggg. Teaching Roman is just blah. So bad, it's almost hilarious but for the fact that I want to cry. I can't even believe the sheer stupidity that happened in this book. But I'll try to keep calm and explain. [image] My basic problem with Teaching Roman is that it is nothing but sex. And I like my sexy scenes every once in a while - the slew of NA titles I went through in March will attest to that. But this relationship has no development, no emotion, no reason. Jess and Roman are attracted to each other physically, but I swear, NOTHING else about their relationship is developed. And thus it becomes a steaming pile of sappy crap that just makes me craugh if not rage. And that's about all I can say without spoiling the whole book. WARNING: The following spoils all the events of Teaching Roman. You have been warned. I just cannot talk about its ridiculousness otherwise. So Teaching Roman had a foundation in Catching Liam - where one certain scene made clear that Jess had a crush on her ex-professor. Now, I'm generally pretty okay with student-teacher relationships when done well, and especially since in this instance he was NO LONGER her professor, I didn't feel like a power imbalance would keep me from shipping it at all. But. I never got on board this ship. The book starts out that Jess breaks up with her boyfriend Brett because he proposed to her and she realized she wasn't really in love with him. I thought for about 5 seconds that I could relate to Jess, because I've also always been the studious type with a "5 year plan" who maybe stuck to the safe choices that ensured that plan. A passionate relationship hasn't really occurred for me. But that's about all of the character depth that we even get for Jess. At a certain point in the story she mentions off hand that her dad died when she was young. And my reaction was, "wait, WHAT?!" Jess = studious. That is her only character trait. I feel like I don't even know her. [image] But, okay, she is newly single, and her best friend Cassie is also single after being cheated on, so the two go off to Mexico for a week-long vacation. At the airport, they run into the ex-professor, Roman, who is coincidentally going to the same place. In this first scene, he already seems to be mentally undressing Jess, and they exchange flirty comments. Cassie notices and teases Jess that she should hook up with him. Jess brushes it off. When they arrive at the airport, Roman is being picked up by his grandmother, and he introduces Jess as she was standing right there. The grandmother seems to instantly think they're in a relationship or going to be or well they're going to be together forever. Er... okay. Jess's luggage gets stolen and Roman shortly runs after the guy, so she thinks he's kind of heroic and then the two part. Later that day, Cassie is completely wasted - her goal for the vacation - and almost gets arrested, so Jess calls Roman for help. (She doesn't speak Spanish and didn't have any cash.) Roman helps her out and gets Cassie back to their hotel safely... and then he and Jess kiss. And they have sex. And they agree to have a one week fling on their vacation, with the promise that "what happens in Mexico, stays in Mexico." At this point the book kind of fast forwards from sex scene to sex scene. Any actual conversation between the two is pretty much omitted, so I feel like this relationship is purely physical. However, even the sex scenes are completely bland to me. Apparently there's some spanking and biting in their relationship but... [image] Notably one of the most awkward scenes is when Roman invites Jess over for dinner at his grandmother's place. They almost have sex in the kitchen. And I swear, I am not joking about the next part. He fingers her, but he had been cutting up peppers, so when they start actually having sex, their genitals are pretty much on fire and they have to stop. Yeah. That's so awkward. And not even funny awkward. Just cringe-cry-sigh-wince awkward. Which isn't helped by the fact that after they get themselves cleaned up, the grandmother is waiting for them and knew what they were doing and suggests for them to keep some milk on hand in the future. I swear to god I'm not kidding. [image] In some of the very brief dialogue that takes place in this novel, Roman indicates that the second Jess walked into his classroom, he knew she was everything he wanted in the world. And that it was therefore tortuous that she was his student. She will think endlessly on how handsome and whatever Roman is. But I never got the sense they actually got to know each other. I honestly don't know anything about Roman aside from the fact that he's close with his grandmother and apparently has a smoking hot body. Seriously. They are that undeveloped. Okay, so the week ends, and Jess has to go back to college, and per their agreement their involvement will end. On their last night, Jess prevents Roman saying, "I love you," but the sentiment is obvious. Then. Of course. One of my favorite (/sarcasm) plot elements: Jess has a pregnancy scare. Jillian butts in and calls Roman so he can be with her when she takes the test, and then he confesses that he loves her, he will always love her, and no matter what he wants to stand by her side. Well, haha, the test is negative. But yeah. They decide to actually give the relationship a shot - because, yeah, they're in love. Ugh. The book then speeds through a couple months of them in a relationship which mostly consists of studying together in private and having sex in between. They then make the stupid fucking mistake of going to a bar together, where of course Jess's jealous ex-boyfriend sees them together, and he reports them to the dean and the Student Ethics Committee. This is a student-teacher relationship book, so obviously this was a necessary cliché. [image] Roman then freaks out about potentially losing his job - but more importantly not being able to finish his PhD - which makes Jess think that he regrets their relationship and thinks it's just a physical thing not worth more trouble, and drama drama drama. She offers to transfer to a different school so they'll both be okay, but he refuses, she cries, and drama drama drama. They break up. HUZZAH! But I was not rejoicing for long. Jess still has to go before the Student Ethics Committee, where her lawyer sister helps her out, getting the case dismissed by insisting that they got together after she took his course, and they are both students and consenting adults. Roman is there and afterwards tries to win her back. He pushed her away before because he didn't want her to sacrifice her academics. He came prepared to offer to resign if it looked like she would get expelled. But Jess doubts his love for her and runs away again. But then. If only the book had ended then. No... then, Jess finds out that Roman rushed off to Mexico because he got a call that his grandmother was dying. She obviously goes after him. Her sister gives her a lift to the airport, where she pretty much tells her to, "go for love! I had one chance at a romance and I let it slip away, and now as a result I'm married to my job." The feminist in me is screaming. Her sister is twenty-freaking-six. And being ambitious in your work is fine. For fuck's sake, can we stop spreading this idea that you are incomplete without a romantic partner???? And that if you don't marry that one true love in college you'll end up a spinster????? [image] Yeah, you probably see where this is going now. Jess finds Roman at the airport and they are reunited. In Mexico, they rush to the hospital and his grandmother - who barely fucking knows Jess and had seen them like twice - is delighted to see her. Jess herself had said earlier that, "Aba would expect to see me." FOR FUCKING WHAT REASON!?! She also muses to herself that she can't remember the exact moment when she fell in love with Roman, but for a certainty she knew why. BUT THEN DOESN'T EXPLAIN WHY AND I WAS KIND OF HOPING SHE WOULD BECAUSE I DON'T FUCKING KNOW. Fine, after an afternoon with grandma, they go back to the hotel where Roman tells Jess he snuck her into the hospital room by saying she was his wife (it was family only). And. Of course. This made him realize how natural it sounded. And how much he wanted it. And then he proposes. And he doesn't even let her answer because he knows her answer. And then he says he wants to get married tomorrow. And I wish I were fucking kidding. [image] Jess is overjoyed Yeah. That all happened. I'm not kidding. I don't like instalove. I don't like rushing into a romance without having that foundation. There was NO foundation here, aside from the hint that Jess liked Roman in Catching Liam. I don't like early I love yous. I don't like lust-based relationships - at least, not when there's never any development on top of that. I don't like cardboard characters. I don't like pregnancy scares. I don't like jealous ex-boyfriends. I don't like marriage being treated like a totally normal, accepted thing when altogether the two have been together for max 3 months. FOR. FUCK'S. SAKE. [image] The only thing this book even remotely had going for it was the friendship between Jess, Jillian and Cassie - but then Jillian and Cassie apparently found out about Jess's spontaneous marriage - weren't fucking mad about it despite Jess not telling them at all - and surprised them with a deluxe villa for their wedding night. Real friends. Would not support. Such. Fucking. Bullshit. [image] Screw you, book. Screw you. Summing Up: This book is ridiculous. And stupid. And bad. And aggravating. Thoroughly undeveloped and unromantic. And Jess is supposed to be the fucking SMART one in the group. *concussion-worthy headdesk* To be clear, I still would say Catching Liam is worthy reading, but definitely skip this one. It's not as enraging as other NA books which promote abusive relationships and possessive love interests, I guess, but it's just so undeveloped. I'm amazed that anyone thought this was worth hitting the publish button. I mean, if the sex scenes were REALLY FUCKING HOT that would maybe be a reason, but even those weren't that good! I'm just stunned and thoroughly disappointed. I will, however, tentatively be checking out the next book in the series when it's released, hoping that Albin got all of these awful tropes out of her system now, because I know she can do so much better. GIF it to me straight! [image] Recommended To: Don't even. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Mar 18, 2015
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Mar 19, 2015
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Mar 16, 2015
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ebook
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| 0062279904
| 9780062279903
| 0062279904
| 3.80
| 7,637
| May 13, 2014
| May 27, 2014
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it was ok
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Not as good as Foreplay.... Honestly, Shaw made me feel uncomfortable with how much pressure he put on Emerson, and how he wouldn't leave her alone ev
Not as good as Foreplay.... Honestly, Shaw made me feel uncomfortable with how much pressure he put on Emerson, and how he wouldn't leave her alone even when she asked. There's a fine line there, and yeah, they kind of addressed that behavior at the end, but I still winced too many times for me to really like this. It's also a bit too dramatic for my taste. But the bedroom scenes are really hot. So there's that.
...more
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Notes are private!
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1
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Mar 13, 2015
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Mar 13, 2015
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Mar 12, 2015
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ebook
| ||||||||||||||
| 0062368567
| 9780062368560
| 0062368567
| 3.43
| 1,861
| Sep 06, 2016
| Sep 06, 2016
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did not like it
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1 star How... did we end up... here. After loving Brodi's Everneath series and her latest co-writing adventures in My Lady Jane ... Between all 1 star How... did we end up... here. After loving Brodi's Everneath series and her latest co-writing adventures in My Lady Jane ... Between all of that, I figured this was an author that couldn't possibly lose my love. But I guess there are still some surprises to be had in the world. Diplomatic Immunity just wasn't good. So this is a story of the uber-privileged kids in Washington D.C. Piper winds up at their school on a special scholarship and hopes that it'll be able to get her a win in a journalism competition that would get her a college scholarship. Considering her family's financial struggles, it's a dire need, and Piper has long had an affinity and love for journalism, so she ends up wanting to do an exposé of the lives of these privileged kids of rich guys and diplomats. Well, what could possibly go wrong with that idea? [image] First things first: Piper is hopeless as a journalist. I mean, an exposé of these lives is a pretty good story. But before she even starts, she already gets too attached to the people - mostly Raf, the super charming and literally "exotic" son of a Spanish diplomat. Honestly, he's kind of a douche. But from the first page, basically, it's obvious they're going to be a thing. She still throughout the whole story thinks that she can write a story about him, exposing secrets he only tells her, and that he would never find out slash be totally cool with it. She doesn't know shit about gathering good sources, writing fairly and representing both sides... for a hardcore journalism piece it sure sounds a lot more like tabloid gossip. And as the world's biggest fan of The Newsroom I basically take personal offense to it. Piper's voice is incredibly annoying. She does this thing where she has an internal monologue about something or other and then suddenly says the next line of her thoughts out loud. This honestly happens five or more times. NOBODY DOES THAT. IT'S SO STUPID. IT'S NOT CUTE OR FUNNY. IT'S PATHETIC. And as a journalist, it's horrible. Because she almost blurts out what she's working on or how she's trying to get information out of people. She can't lie, or at least tell convincing cover stories. I wanted to bash my head against a wall because honestly. [image] The romance is god-awful. Seriously, I see zero appeal in Raf, and it was a pretty big NOTP for me from the first encounter. Obviously this is because they simultaneously lie to each other and reveal too much at other times. It's just dumb. And dramatic. And not at all swoony. And Piper gets so dumb when it comes to him. She waffles back and forth about the article based on how they interacted with each other on that particular day. And then she drools all over him with such brilliant commentary as the following... "I briefly imagined scrubbing clothes clean on his washboard abs, and I was going to mention the idea, but I still had just enough wits about me to keep the thought to myself." [image] I honestly wanted to barf. Multiple times. "I wanted to savor every tidbit with Rafael. It was like a good book, one I'd been waiting for and anticipating, and once I'd gotten it in my hands, I couldn't bear to read one single page because that would be one fewer page I would get to read. [image] However, maybe the most disappointing thing of all is that from reading the premise, you basically already know 100% how this story is going to go. And it goes exactly the way you think. It's actually astonishing that Piper still thinks her story wouldn't obviously be by her when it contains information only she knows and photos only she was there to take. She's actually surprised by peoples' reactions to the story. "I was pretty sure successful reporters weren't supposed to lose every single friend afterward." Bitch, what did you think was going to happen??? Against all the odds, the romance of course manages to survive, but it seals it with a quote so disgusting that I don't even understand who exactly was supposed to find it romantic. "I ran to him and he picked me up and kissed my face all over and I kissed his face off. Clean off." [image] Summing Up: This book is a disaster. I normally try to reserve judgment and claim that a book is just "not for me" but may in fact work for somebody else. But on this rare occasion I feel like I can say that qualitatively, this book just isn't good. I don't know who would actually like it. Just... no. Diplomatic Immunity, I'm sorry. But it's not me, it's you. GIF it to me straight! [image] *An electronic advance review copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the contents of the review... Clearly. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Aug 08, 2016
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Aug 09, 2016
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Jan 23, 2015
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Hardcover
| ||||||||||||||
| 1595148035
| 4.25
| 306,745
| Apr 28, 2015
| Apr 28, 2015
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it was ok
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2 stars An Ember in the Ashes is easily one of the most hyped up 2015 debuts / releases overall. Ever since it was announced, people have been clamorin 2 stars An Ember in the Ashes is easily one of the most hyped up 2015 debuts / releases overall. Ever since it was announced, people have been clamoring for the book - excited by this "Gladiator style" high stakes middle eastern-inspired fantasy. So, obviously, this book had a lot to live up to. Fellow bloggers who read this before me have been excitedly shouting about its perfection. Unfortunately, it didn't really work for me. An Ember in the Ashes tells a fantasy story from two points of view: Laia and Elias. Laia is a Scholar - a native resident of the area which has been conquered by the Martial Empire. The story starts off when in the middle of the night, her brother is taken on suspicion of being a part of the rebellion - and her grandparents are killed. She turns to the rebellion herself, promising to become a spy for them masquerading as a slave if they'll help her save her brother. Elias is a Mask - a warrior of the Martial Empire. However, he was raised by the tribes and hates his heritage, planning to desert the army until he lands in a competition to become the next emperor. Four trials stand in his way between him and a destiny he isn't sure he would want anyway. Now, here's the thing: this book falls short in every way imaginable to me - writing, world building, characterization, romance, and plot. It's never really aggravatingly bad, but it's just average and underwhelming, so the fact that I've seen this book being heralded as "the next J.K. Rowling" is extremely frustrating to me. First up: writing and world building. These kind of fall together because what I was lacking all throughout the book is a real engrossing setting and atmosphere. There wasn't really enough description, so it was really hard to picture things in my mind. Like, at a certain point Elias is riding in a "carriage" and later he says his grandfather "drove off". The only descriptor we get is that it's ebony. But is it a horse-drawn carriage? Or something else? A car? I don't know things. Like, the Masks have silver masks that morph with their faces.. but how does that work? Is it the full face or just the eyes? Do they have silver lips? Elias pulls his off at the neck, so... wut? The setting also confused me. It's clearly inspired by the middle east - which is supported by the existence of such mythological creatures as jinn, efrit, wraiths, etc. These creatures themselves are kind of cool, though usually their descriptors are glossed over as well - for many I was just picture masses of shadows and stuff, not really inspiring. But, for the middle east, it seems like there are hardly any POC characters. The majority are described as having white blond hair, silver hair, red hair, and I was just confused out my mind. I was trying to rationalize it, if the Martial Empire was like a European-esque nation that invaded a middle eastern-esque nation, but that wasn't consistent when one of the rebels(!!) has red hair. I was baffled. For what I thought would be a beautifully diverse high fantasy, this definitely failed. Second: characters. They bored me. I'm a big character reader, and I definitely think that if you're more of a plot reader, you won't have as much of an issue as I did, but these characters were so boring. They just don't have personalities that really spark, you know? A lot of the time, it felt like they were just letting things happen to them, letting the plot carry them along, so I didn't feel a strong connection. And it ties into the next point... The romance. Or, "WTF WHY SO MUCH CHEMISTRY-LESS ROMANCE?" Let's be upfront about this: there are not one but TWO love triangles in this book. Laia and Elias obviously have to get tangled up in each other because they're the two main characters. Laia also has a little thing going on with a rebel boy though, and Elias quickly comes to realize that his best friend Helene has feelings for him. But every. side. is so devoid of passion and chemistry. And I would say that's a LOT of romance for a book that's so heavy and dark - with slavery, war, rebellion, a Gladiator-type competition, etc. Now, romance isn't the focus, but that really only makes it worse because it keeps being thrown into the equation without any real development. The characters are also so bland that I can't imagine why they would be so drawn to each other when they have so many other important things going on. "It must be a purely physical thing," says my brain, desperately trying to rationalize it. Actually, I did have a passing admiration for Helene, who is a Mask also - the only female in her year. She was so bad ass and strong, but then they threw in this romance, and she got all jealous and became all petty.... and then she was kind of written off. So... way to go. Seriously. Finally: plot. The plot was undeniably the strongest aspect of the novel. When I started reading, it was incredibly easy to just immerse myself and read 100 pages in one sitting. That's kind of a big deal for me. But, on the other hand, when I put it down, I often waited three days or so to pick it back up because I just didn't feel connected to the characters. The book is split into a number of parts, and the first is admittedly a bit slow, but by part two the Trials started, and it was action-packed and quite entertaining. And Laia's spying storyline has enough twists and turns to keep people entertained as well - though I saw through some of those elements. However, the ending was again incredibly disappointing. It left so much unresolved, and that just pissed me off (especially considering the length of this monster). As I'm typing, this book is still a standalone in the sense that a sequel has not yet been contracted. But please believe me when I say that this is the start of a series, no doubt about it. First off: (view spoiler)[Laia's brother is still in jail (hide spoiler)]. Then there's just the fact that this world is still in peril - the oppression isn't resolved at all. The background for that is also still left in the dark. There was one infodumpy chapter where some myth was revealed about a mythological creature that is pulling the strings, but then we never saw that character again! This is not a standalone at all - so keep that in mind. You may want to wait until it's sure a sequel is coming (which I'm 90% sure will happen, because hype) before you pick this up. Summing Up: This is a lengthy review, but An Ember in the Ashes is not all bad. The plot did keep me entertained, for the most part, and the story itself is quite unique. But I do believe it is massively over-hyped. The characters bored me, the romance was excruciatingly bland, the world building was a murky mess, and the story left way too much unresolved at the end. My disappointment just increases when I think that this is the book that people have been raving about for the past six months or so. Wow... I really expected more. GIF it to me straight! [image] Recommended To: Fantasy fans who care more about plot than characters. *A review copy was provided by American Book Center in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the contents of the review. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Apr 10, 2015
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Apr 20, 2015
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Nov 03, 2014
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Hardcover
| ||||||||||||||||
| 0062001051
| 9780062001054
| 0062001051
| 3.36
| 2,797
| May 19, 2015
| May 19, 2015
|
did not like it
|
1.5 stars Having heard amazing things about Dixon's debut, Entwined, that I have had on my shelf for years but shamefully not read yet, when the option 1.5 stars Having heard amazing things about Dixon's debut, Entwined, that I have had on my shelf for years but shamefully not read yet, when the option to review Illusionarium came up, I jumped on that instantly. I'm generally a sucker for all things labeled steampunk anyway. But. Well, I think I may have learned my lesson not to jump the gun like that again. From the very start, Illusionarium and I didn't get along - to the point where I honestly should have just stopped reading. But my sense of obligation bade me to continue. The problem with Illusionarium lies mostly in the premise and the utterly failed world building. The story takes place in a steampunk England in the late 1800s, where a plague has just broken out. Jonathan's father is a scientist hunting for the cure, and he is his apprentice. For *whatever* reason, the king believes that the cure can best be found by illusioning. And this illusion concept is where the novel crashed and burned for me. Basically, by inhaling a chemical called "fantillium", people can make illusions: imagine substances and magic so long as they understand the compounds that the illusions would be made of. Okay, sure. Sounds fine and vaguely alchemy-like. Apparently, if multiple people inhale the stuff they *share* the illusions and can all see the same thing. A bit iffy, but it's fiction, I'll accept this. But. Apparently you can also illusion doors to parallel universes and then disappear into them. Um. No. Illusions are not real. What happens in an illusion is not real. This bugged the crap out of me because the rest of the book tried to be ultra-scientific about the world building. No. Just no. [image] Instantly I was unamused by this flawed world building, and it didn't help that I cared nothing for the main character. Jonathan has absolutely no personality and the book spends little to no time on characterization. It all feels extremely undeveloped and rushed. At the beginning, the book is moving so quickly from action scene to action scene but I didn't connect to any characters and hardly felt the real tension of this plague they were fighting. Things were just happening. I was a passive observer. I had trouble keeping myself reading - seriously, plucking my eyebrows was more interesting. Jonathan ends up in a parallel version of London, a city in crisis, where the antagonist tries to keep him because he can illusion. APPARENTLY that's a rare gift that only speshul people have. (Why? How? Never explained.) In this parallel version, illusionists are the rulers of the world because... the orthoganagen (fuel) miners... like... watching them? Honestly, it made no sense. Especially when it becomes apparent that inhaling too much fantillium will cause your body to MUTATE and schism, resulting in multiple sets of eyes, noses, mouths, fingers. YEAH. GROSS. AND STILL THEY USE THIS STUFF LIKE DUMB ADDICTS UNTIL THEY ALL GO CRAZY. AND THE QUEEN CASTS OFF AND KILLS THE ONES THAT MUTATE TOO FAR AND THEN JUST GOES AND GETS MORE PEOPLE TO POPULATE HER CRAZY EMPIRE. EVEN THOUGH SHE SAYS SHE'S TRYING TO "SAVE" IT. WHAT. THE ACTUAL. FUCK. [image] This book is just bizarre. I tried to read as quickly as possible to just get it over with, but I had to stop at times because I was filled with such utter disbelief. My face hurts from being scrunched up so much. There wasn't even a romance to lighten the mood (which I would say makes this cover QUITE misleading - he doesn't even have a female sidekick, so wtf?), as Jonathan only has a passing crush on a girl back home. His awkwardly intense companion, Lockwood, manages however to fall in love with a girl in ONE DAY - to the extent of them being ready to give up their lives for each other and stuff. Uh... Yeah. No. That's the weirdest, most passionless, most awkward instalove I've ever seen. But I will give this book the tiniest amount of points back because, with the bodies schisming, it turned into a very uniquely creepy story that could easily be found within a Studio Ghibli film. If such a version of this story were made, I would probably enjoy it. At least a little. I don't know. Summing Up: Illusionarium is a colossal disappointment. With cardboard characters, majorly flawed world building, a bizarre as fuck plot, and no romance to write home about, I can't in good conscience recommend it. Now I'll try to wipe this from my memory and eventually give Dixon another shot with Entwined. Maybe she should have just stuck to fairy tales. GIF it to me straight! [image] *An electronic review copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the contents of the review. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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May 15, 2015
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May 18, 2015
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Oct 16, 2014
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Hardcover
| ||||||||||||||
| 1250055393
| 9781250055392
| 1250055393
| 3.54
| 1,258
| Apr 21, 2015
| Apr 21, 2015
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it was ok
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2 stars I've been super excited about this mini-genie trend that's popped up in YA the last couple of years, having loved The Art of Wishing and liked 2 stars I've been super excited about this mini-genie trend that's popped up in YA the last couple of years, having loved The Art of Wishing and liked Exquisite Captive, but I suppose it was only fitting that at some point I'd come across one that I really didn't care for. Becoming Jinn is - unfortunately - a boring flat mess. I think the biggest issue Becoming Jinn has is that the plot is so weak, it's near non-existent. Azra turns sixteen and inherits her jinn powers, and then it just kind of plods along. She has to grant her first wishes and finds out some more about her powers and the world the jinn came from, while also having to keep her identity a secret, but... there's no pressing action. The jinn world is split and in peril, and there's a rebellion secretly building in the background, but Azra isn't involved in any of these things and just learns about them in passing comments. A lot of these things are withheld from the reader, I suppose to foster a sense of mystery and suspense, but there's not enough left over to keep me engaged with the story. I just don't care. About any of it. When some of this information is finally revealed (including what should have been a surprising twist but I'd figured out almost instantly), I merely shrugged - and then the book ended. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, we have another “Wait, Nothing Happened in this Book” Cliffhanger. And it doesn't help that one of the main things Becoming Jinn does choose to focus on is a completely boring, chemistry-less love triangle. Yep, Azra has two love interests: the boy across the street, who she always liked but couldn't be with because of the death of her best friend, and the hot guy from school who *suddenly* takes interest in her after she's transformed into a hottie. Yes, he'll say that he was interested in her before that, but apparently they hadn't spoken two words to each other, so I kind of find that hard to believe. Then that romance is complicated by spoilery events, and Azra feels like she needs to stay with him because duty and. No. Just no. I have exactly zero feels. I don't ship or unship either side of this triangle. It's just so. freaking. boring. I've talked before about how I'm a big character reader, so it pains me to have to say that I did not care for any of these characters. They're all horrifically flat and boring and I cannot really even come up with any descriptors for their personalities. Azra seems to hate everything and has purposefully kept herself at a distance from her fellow jinn. But then she'll muse on how it hurts to know those girls are close in spite of her. I have zero sympathy for your self-imposed exile. And obviously Azra is stronger than everyone else, because duh, she's the speshul main character, and I bet you can't guess why that is. None of the members of her Zar really stand out either except for the mean girl who is stereotypically mean and hates Azra because she's more powerful than her, but obviously she's also secretly vulnerable. I have no words for how these people bored me. I guess the one thing that did have some development and creativity would be the world building, though again much of that is kept secret from Azra and the reader for most of the book. The rules of the jinn magic, the Zar sisterhood, and the class system ruled by the Afrit are at least mildly entertaining. But without a plot with substance and characters to draw me in, this book just doesn't merit a higher rating from me. Summing Up: Becoming Jinn wasn't quite bad enough to enrage me or get me to stop reading, but it's so boring and flat that I'm left completely apathetic. With flat characters, a snoozefest plot, and one of the most boring love triangles I have ever encountered, this is a book I would tell you to skip. GIF it to me straight! [image] Recommended To: Nope. Go read The Art of Wishing instead. *ARC provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the contents of the review. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Mar 23, 2015
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Mar 25, 2015
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Oct 09, 2014
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Hardcover
| ||||||||||||||
| 125004720X
| 9781250047205
| 125004720X
| 3.53
| 1,973
| May 12, 2015
| May 12, 2015
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it was ok
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2 stars When I head about Love Fortunes and Other Disasters, three main things convinced me to pick it up: that adorable illustrated cover, the fun and 2 stars When I head about Love Fortunes and Other Disasters, three main things convinced me to pick it up: that adorable illustrated cover, the fun and quirky premise, and the promise of a hate-to-love romance. For all intents and purposes, this should have been the perfect book for me. But somehow, it ended up being something completely different. Love Fortunes and Other Disasters tells the tale of the town called Grimbaud, where love fortunes, charms, and hints of magic are real. These love fortunes are seen as binding, so when a group of high schoolers gets less than optimal fortunes, they decide to fight back and try to end Zita's reign over the town. Now, there were a couple of things that I definitely had to get used to in this premise. All of the people in this town take these love fortunes completely seriously. I thought the love fortunes would be more like, "HAHA look it says I'll be alone forever," taken about as seriously as a fortune cookie would. No matter the gender, age, or sexual orientation, the townspeople's lives revolve around these love fortunes and they have no doubts that they will always pan out. Fallon, the main character, gets badgered by her mother about her love fortune - despite the fact that she's a high school freshman, her mother is actually already planning out her wedding. Because, well, she has a love fortune, and that means she's close to finding her true love, and obviously all things will be set. The lives of the townspeople completely revolve around love. And I think it's trying to be comical in a way - in the same kind of style as the movie The Invention of Lying, making fun of our society by greatly exaggerating everyone's actions. But it felt more awkward to me than anything. For me, the believability was shot because no characters before this had ever had any doubts about these love fortunes. Emma Ward, the current high school librarian, was handed a fortune to become a spinster - lonely forever. She actually left the town and went traveling for a year to get away from it but then came BACK for reasons that never became clear. There are residences set up for Spinsters and Bachelors, doomed to never find love, but I was sitting there thinking, "Can't they just... hook up with each other? If they're all sad about not being in love?" It's like this never occurred to them, and that kind of bugs me. Something else I had to get used to is that there is definitely an element of fantasy to this story. In this town, there are love charms, weather charms, silence charms, focus charms - there are little bits of magic all around. Some people make it their business to make these charms. I couldn't figure out where to place this world - is it still Earth? Is it a fantasy world? Is it the US or not? It read like a contemporary romance in the US, so whenever something magical happened, I got a bit confused. Now, the location also confused me, because although this felt like it was set in the US, there were a shit ton of Dutch names. Characters, like Mirthe and Femke De Keyser, Bram De Groote, Ines Aandekaart, Thom Janssens; Places like Verbeke Square, Lambrechts... I'd almost say the book is set in Holland, but then there were non-Dutch random names like Fallon, Anais, Hijiri, etc. Now this might be a strange thing to hone in on and definitely only something that stood out to me because I'm Dutch, but it illustrates the messy world building and premise. This book requires you to just laugh a whole lot of things off. Sense-making is not its priority. I tried to brush off these things and just focus on the romance, and that at least went a tiny bit better. It is hate-to-love romance though not the best I've ever seen. I didn't connect much to Fallon because her narrative voice was pretty boring, but I liked the idea of the straight-laced, serious, uptight girl being stuck with the heartbreaker boy who flirts with her mercilessly but is probably far from serious. There were some fluttery moments, with banter and nicknames and teasing... but there were also many many clichés, with misunderstandings and purposeful holding back of information... And then the plot got in the way when Sebastian's fortune came to light. Like, that should have made the ship and plot stronger, but I just rolled my eyes at it. The ending was a mess of magic, clichés, and drama, and I just felt exhausted. Summing Up: At the end of the day, I kind of get what Love Fortunes and Other Disasters was trying to do, but it didn't work for me. When I should have laughed, I sighed instead. I think this is a unique brand of over-the-top fluffy sillies that just didn't work for me. It was never really bad enough for me to consider not finishing the book, because certainly there was still a hint of amusement and curiosity as to how the story would pan out. (I wanted so badly for it all to make sense.) But it just didn't have that spark for me to really like it. GIF it to me straight! [image] Recommended To: People who like unique, over-the-top stories. (I honestly can't compare this to anything.) *A review copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the contents of the review. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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May 03, 2015
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May 06, 2015
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Oct 09, 2014
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Paperback
| ||||||||||||||
| 0307942716
| 9780307942715
| 0307942716
| unknown
| 3.49
| 205
| unknown
| Aug 26, 2014
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it was ok
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2.5 stars I start this review with pain in my heart because I wanted to like Chasing Before so badly. I really enjoyed The Memory of After in spite 2.5 stars I start this review with pain in my heart because I wanted to like Chasing Before so badly. I really enjoyed The Memory of After in spite of a few quibbles, and I've met Lenore on multiple occasions. She's awesome! So awesome that she's the one who gave me this audiobook! And sadly, I didn't really like it. I didn't hate it either, but it was just a bit meh. First off, I shouldn't have listened to this on audio. I should have read it in print. Right away, I realized that Cynthia Holloway is not the narrator for me. Her voice is high pitched, whiny, and couldn't hold my attention. I've been listening to quite a few audiobooks this year, and for the most part, I've had absolutely no problem staying focused on them. Something about Holloway's voice made me want to tune her out. I got distracted really easily. And I don't know why, really. Partially it's the tone of her voice, I guess, and I may have been listening to it while having too many other things on my mind. I should have stopped and switched to print, but I don't own a copy and I'm on a book buying ban, so that wasn't really an option. If anything, I do want to try rereading it in print sometime, because Chasing Before definitely deserved more of my attention. But the story wasn't that great either that it could save itself from the narration. Now, I'm willing to bet that that's partially because this was supposed to be the second book of a trilogy - but the third will likely never ever happen. I was confused, for the most part, about what happened in this book. Felicia and Neil got to Level 3, but apparently, this level of the afterlife involves training for a certain profession, which then becomes your role for the rest of your afterlife. Professions include muses, who travel to earth and inspire the people there (I...think...), or fighters, which I have completely forgotten the names of, who hunt down demons and send them to hell. Now, I'm very confused by this concept of afterlife professions. Shouldn't your afterlife be about... umm... "living" in peace? Getting to do whatever you want? For eternity? Granted, it may be boring after a while, but to be forced into a job, so that you'll retire one day and move on to Level 4? It felt like such an in-between step. To have multiple levels of heaven is okay, in fact quite creative when you think about the parallels to Dante's Inferno, but at the end of the day, it felt endless and repetitive, and I wish we could have seen more of what came after this. I'm still confused about this world and though I like a lot of its creative elements, I feel like it lacks a certain cohesion. As middle books often do (though, again, a sequel to this is up in the air), this book focused on the characters and the love triangle of doom. And that, in combination with the grating narration, is what keeps me from appreciating this novel. Felicia is super annoying, because all of her life revolves around Neil. Neil wants to be a muse? I want to be a muse. Flashback: Neil, you won't marry me at 18?? WHYY??? In the afterlife: WE SHOULD LIVE TOGETHER. YOU DON'T WANT TO LIVE WITH ME? BUT TWO DOORS AND A HALLWAY SEPARATE US, NEIL, THIS IS ABSOLUTE TORTURE. Oh my god, Felicia was super annoying. And Neil is just boring as all hell. It's not that I hate him, he just bores me. Here he's keeping secrets from Felicia, and while she should be getting annoyed with him, she just keeps clinging to him and letting his lies and avoidance slide. That's so ridiculous. Meanwhile Julian is being awesome and all Julian-like, and she keeps herself from giving in because she's a dumb-ass who hates amazing kisses. *pouts* Though I will say that I appreciate the lady in the story being the lusty one - it was a nice switch from the usual YA. Now, again, I do kind of understand the arc that she's going through. She's put Neil on a pedestal as the example of goodness incarnate, and because of her own past sins, she wants to follow his example and has some idea that being with him will make her good. It's an interesting theme of morals and righteousness and fighting your personal nature. But it's delivered in such a grating way, not only because of the narration, but because it just drags on too long, and we don't get to that conclusion - when she realizes that nobody's perfectly good, that Neil can't fix her, and that she should be herself and be with someone who complements her (FREAKING JULIANNNNNNNNNN). *cough* I have some harsh feelings about this. It makes me so sad, because I can perfectly tell where this book is going, but without a follow-up, it's just not there. And it's sad. Neil sucks. Felicia's annoying. Julian deserves better. *sigh* Summing Up: I wish I'd liked this better, and I still feel like I might in print. This narrator is one for me to avoid, so at least I've learned that much. I'm sad because Chasing Before has all the tell-tale signs of a middle book, but the sequel will probably never come. The world building left holes, the character arc has not come full circle, and the love triangle is still swaying to the wrong side. I appreciate the themes of goodness, forgiveness, and letting go of your past, I enjoyed the creativity of this afterlife of limitless potential, and I believe that these characters will ultimately grow in amazing ways. But I'm scared we'll never see that. And thus what I'm left with in this book is a bunch of little annoyances, which may have been necessary for the full journey, but none of the subsequent rewards. Should a sequel ever come, I will be first in line to read it though. It still has a ton of potential. GIF it to me straight! Dear Felicia, about Neil... [image] Recommended To: Those who are a little more immune than I am to romantic melodrama. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Oct 27, 2014
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Nov 02, 2014
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Sep 27, 2014
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Audio CD
| |||||||||||||
| 0008179999
| 9780008179991
| 0008179999
| 4.22
| 102,472
| Aug 09, 2016
| Aug 11, 2016
|
it was ok
|
2 stars I did it. I killed the beast - this 600+ page monster of a novel. It took me three weeks to get through it I did it. I killed the beast - this 600+ page monster of a novel. It took me three weeks to get through it When I saw an opportunity to read the much hyped Nevernight early, I LITERALLY jumped at the chance. I did love the first book I read by Kristoff, Stormdancer, and at the time, a bloody book about assassins in a dark fantasy world sounded like a fantastic idea. I feel like a lot of us fantasy readers on the older end of young adult, who sometimes cross over to adult, are all kind of tempted by that, right? We love a fierce main character who isn't afraid to take a life - who stands for something and will let nothing and no one stand in her way to achieve it. Revenge fantasies sound both dark and fascinating. So imagine my surprise when this book just didn't really work for me on any level. The first thing to know about Kristoff: he likes his fantasy elaborate and wordy. The number of pages should have already given part of that away, but this is not the kind of fantasy that's easy to jump into or action-packed from the get go. Instead, the book takes over 100 pages to actually get going. That's when Mia finally reaches the Red Church, where she trains to be an assassin. Before that it's all world building and character development infodumps, about half of them in flashback form. Now, if you know me, you know I'm not the biggest flashback fan. So this was already working my last nerve, and I struggled to keep going. This book could have been so condensed, oh my god, I can't even. [image] The writing style is kind of odd. Yeah, it's elaborate and some may call it purple at some times. But my detachment with the writing goes even further than that. Kristoff randomly interjects his own dark and snarky humor throughout the book. Not enough to give the narration a unique and consistent voice, but just sporadically, in random sentences and footnotes which make you kind of scratch your head a little bit. Oh yeah, FOOTNOTES. Because there wasn't enough room for world building in the 600 page text, he also needed footnotes for more random facts and background information about the world that have absolutely no influence on the story and are neither interesting nor amusing. Exhibit A: But with the weight of her unneeded companions shed, Mia's camels travelled all the swifter, spitting and snorting and making whatever noise it is that camels make as they ran.[72] (Note that some footnotes were so long they spilled over onto the next page. I'm not even joking.) And that's another thing, to keep his world consistent, Kristoff changes up the slang in an otherwise pretty modern way of speaking. This world has three suns, and the religion is devoted to Aa, the God of Light. Mia, as an assassin, serves Niah, the Goddess of Night. Instead of hell, there's the "abyss", which everyone naturally shortens to "'byss" when they say, "What the 'byss is going on?" (which they say A LOT). I appreciate the efforts to create a new world with consistent terminology and understand, mostly, where it comes from, but this really annoyed me. Also, two sorcerer characters speak Shakespearean English, so really this is all over the place. The story picks up... a little. When Mia finally reaches the Red Church, it does get marginally more interesting. IMHO we don't get to see nearly enough of their lessons - those parts are kind of sped through or skipped for whatever reason - but it is an interesting setting. They do fierce training in combat, poison, seduction, and thievery. It's not at all a Hogwarts, and this is no nurturing environment. From the outset, students are whittled away - most of them dying as a result of their training or as an added mystery. I found some enjoyment in these scenes because all of the characters were rightly suspicious and combative towards each other - and yet, Mia still manages to strike up connections with select people. All the while, she's not stupid enough to forget that she's there on a mission, and they're all actually competing for four assassin positions. The teachers set up some ruthless and potentially fatal tests for the group, and Mia navigates them really well, proving on more than one occasion that she's smart as well as dangerous - physically but also psychologically. Forced romance is forced. I'm of two minds about this. I liked certain romantic scenes because - hell, that's when it really became clear this is an adult book. There is some serious hotness going on, and Kristoff writes it surprisingly well. But I did not care much for Tric, the character. And as Mia develops feelings for him, but adamantly denies said feelings, but figures she needs to learn about sex and seduction, so what the heck, let's have pleasure for the sake of pleasure... It feels forced. I kind of would have liked her to be wholly focused on her mission to be an assassin. I did not ship this. I also didn't unship it. I just didn't care for it. Do not tease me with "the most shocking plot twist ever." As the UK advance copies were sent out, photos appeared online that the publisher had included a note at a certain page number that YES that shocking thing did just happen, and people should definitely post about it on social media with their shocked faces. Now, this does not work on me. Because for one, now I know something SUPER SHOCKING is supposed to happen. And then, I know the page number where it should happen. My mind goes off without my permission and dissects everything, thinking up one million options of shocking plot twists, and ultimately deciding what would be the most awesome. And no, it's never the most awesome thing. So yeah. I was not surprised. Considering the setting and the shady nature of literally every character in this book, I more or less expected exactly what happened to happen. My pick for a more awesome plot twist? (view spoiler)[That Mister Kindly was somehow taking over control of Mia without her knowledge and killing the people. Which would have been SUPER AWESOME because then the second book would be all about an internal struggle with this darkin and... yeah. (hide spoiler)] [image] Where exactly was this book supposed to wow me? This is one of the most hyped novels of 2016. And yet... here I am. Let's see how this book did. - Writing? Too long, overwrought, odd style. I have to be in the right mood to be able to read super dense high fantasy, and I definitely was not. - World building? Interesting, though too elaborate. Weird mix of Venetian and Middle Eastern terms/descriptions? Dunno how I feel about that. - Characters? Mia gets a firm nod of respect from me, but the rest I don't really care about. - Romance? Decently hot, though I don't care for the ship. I know it's en vogue to ship couples who have sex for the heck of it without feelings, but I am not really that kind of shipper. - Plot? Alternates between intense, gory, high stakes action, intriguing mystery, and the slowest filler material. - Twists? Did not even blink. So... that's a hard no. Summing Up: I think I've adequately explained why this book didn't work for me, but I get why it exists. This book is like what would happen if Arya Stark got to be in an even darker and bloodier House of Black and White. It's playing on the trends in the book world to love assassins, blood and gore, casual sex, and revenge plots. In that sense, it's brilliantly calculated and constructed. But it feels like I saw through all of it... and I was not impressed. Over-hyped and overrated? I would say so. I mean, you know you're pretty much over a book when the sentence, "After all, this tale is only one of three," makes you visibly cringe and audibly groan. No thank you. GIF it to me straight! [image] Recommended To: Fans of denser fantasy, like A Song of Ice and Fire, or, hell, Stormdancer. *An advance review copy was provided by the American Book Center in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the contents of the review. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Jul 05, 2016
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Jul 25, 2016
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Sep 23, 2014
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Hardcover
| ||||||||||||||
| 3.99
| 13,875
| Feb 23, 2016
| Feb 23, 2016
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liked it
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3.5 stars Once upon a time, I read a cool book with a genie in it. Ever since then, I've been weirdly convinced that this is something I need so much m 3.5 stars Once upon a time, I read a cool book with a genie in it. Ever since then, I've been weirdly convinced that this is something I need so much more of in my life. And so, it was no surprise that when I heard about The Forbidden Wish it instantly got put on my TBR list. And this book sure did a lot of things well. But other things... were not quite there for me. The Forbidden Wish is kind of a retelling, or more like a reimagining, of Aladdin. Aladdin finds Zahra's lamp in the desert, where she's been abandoned for hundreds of years after a haunting betrayal of her former master. She does the whole three wishes pitch, and Aladdin decides to use them as he tries to get revenge on the corrupt rulers who put his parents - leaders of a previous generation's rebellion - to death. A partnership develops in a vibrant Arabic-inspired world that slowly develops into something more... Let's start there. Because the romance kind of... frustrates me. Like, the story was going just fine: Zahra and Aladdin are a bit suspicious of each other, but they work together well. You find out about both of their back stories. And you think that Aladdin's revenge and the corrupt rule of the current government are the focus of the story, while Zahra also aims to find her freedom. Then out of LITERALLY NOWHERE, Zahra comments that she keeps feeling drawn to Aladdin. That she can't help but look at him all the time. And she feels a pull to be near him. Like where did that come from? There was no basis! Suddenly this romance began to take over the focus of the story. And I would maybe be more open to it if it didn't just APPEAR OUT OF NOWHERE. It wasn't even instalove. It was like... retconning a long building attraction since the very start which just felt WEIRD. And that felt cheap. Like, is this necessary because it's YA? It also leans very heavily on the forbidden romance trope, which is not one of my favorites... because it leads to denial, lying, moping, and (self-sacrificing) sap. I honestly feel like I could have liked this book so much more if there was no romance. The world was pretty cool, to be honest. Considering this is a standalone, Khoury did a great job at building up a unique world with its own rich history and vivid mythical creatures. It was easily accessible and understandable, not full of holes. I liked learning about Zahra's past and the complicated relationships between humans and the jinn. I also extremely liked the political side of the story when Aladdin poses as a prince to get inside the castle. It was very well-thought out and had an authentic and respectful feel to it. I also loved the second half of the story because of Caspida. Caspida is the princess and she is amazing. (Side note: would have greatly loved this story more if I got to read her perspective instead of Zahra's.) Like, she can kick ass, pretty damn literally. She's wrapped up in political games, but no one is pulling one over on her. And she has such a strong sense of justice and morals that just instantly make you want to put her on the throne. She was amazing, and she kept impressing me more and more as the story went on. The plot definitely kept my attention because it had the right mix: political maneuvering, magic, deception, mystery... It read smoothly, although in the parts without dialogue I did get distracted because Zahra's voice has some quality to it that's distancing to me. She tries to be too verbose or flowery for me or something. But I was really interested, and despite not caring about the romance basically at all, I was cheering on the characters because they were fighting for the right things. To be honest, I was incredibly impressed with the quality of the story, and I was planning to give it a higher rating... but then we got to the end. The end is one of the most horrifically clichéd disappointments I've encountered in recent weeks. Zahra literally becomes all powerful. The villain is pushed out of the story in one of the most bizarre and hastily, messily wrapped up ways. The writing becomes incredibly lazy in the process. Because I'm not even kidding you, but the sentence, "I conjured like I had never conjured before," actually appears in this book. Like where is the vivid magical battle that I can picture in my head like one of the most stunning animation movies ever? No. Just no. So disappointing. And sappy. And meh. Summing Up: The Forbidden Wish does a lot of things well, and fans of Aladdin should definitely put this book on their radar. Plot-wise, this story is brilliant, and the world building was creative and illuminating. I just didn't care for the romance, which after a while did become a barrier for me to really like this book. And the ending... what a waste. GIF it to me straight! [image] Recommended To: Fans of Aladdin and the forbidden romance trope. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Aug 20, 2016
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Aug 24, 2016
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Sep 23, 2014
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Hardcover
| |||||||||||||||||
| 0062275348
| 9780062275349
| B00JJV0PBK
| 3.21
| 2,305
| Dec 30, 2014
| Dec 30, 2014
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did not like it
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1 star *sigh* I knew that I was taking a risk in picking up Love and Other Theories. See, it sounded like it could be AWFUL, but it could also be the e 1 star *sigh* I knew that I was taking a risk in picking up Love and Other Theories. See, it sounded like it could be AWFUL, but it could also be the exact kind of banterfluff I love. Because, I mean, what's more banterfluffy than a main character who stubbornly refuses to get into a real relationship? I mean, sex positivity and independence YES, but then to make it bantery and cute, an amazing guy could come in and convince her to take the plunge and it could be ALL OF THE ADORBS. Well. It was not. It was absolutely not. [image] The thing that immediately got to me in this book is that I freaking hate the characters. I mean, I suppose I'm meant to - because there is a clear and necessary character growth arc. But they're awfulllllll. The main character, Aubrey, is part of this clique of girls who have decided that relationships are the worst. High school boys are unevolved and will just cheat on you and break your heart - so don't get into these relationships and just have fun, going around kissing guys when you feel like it and whatever with no defined relationship. And that, in theory, is fine. The problem is that these girls go around and JUDGE everyone else who DOES choose to be in a committed relationship. They literally call those girls "unevolved" and stupid - because they're just going to get their hearts broken, and why don't they learn??? Fuck you girls. Fuck you. Choose your lifestyle - fine - but don't start being massive bitches to everyone who decides to go another way. The problem is that they are such a clique - they're constantly involved in groupthink. Aubrey narrates as, "We do this. We do that. We think this," and that just makes me CRINGE. [image] They are, in fact, bullies. They used to be friends with Chiffon, but one of the girls had a crush on some dude for a long time, and he ended up liking Chiffon better. Chiffon didn't even freaking DO anything with him, but him asking to hang out with her over the summer was grounds for severing their friendship for always and then going around calling her the worst things, claiming to everyone that she has STDs, pranking her to humiliate her... the list goes on. I was disgusted. The fallout with Chiffon is actually what started their theories about love, to never take it seriously or get emotionally involved. To always choose their friends above the guys. But the extent to which they take these theories is clearly flawed. And I mean, you freaking hypocrites! Why didn't the same go for Chiffon??? She didn't even agree to anything with that guy and you already dumped her and started bullying her! [image] I started getting a bit queasy thinking about these theories actually, although - yes - sex positivity and independence are good things. But the way that these girls behave, constantly hooking up with everyone, is also creating an image that guys should just take advantage of that. They delude themselves that they don't get hurt because they aren't emotionally involved, but they so obviously are. The prime example there is Aubrey and Nathan. Nathan comes to town as the golden boy and they're instantly smitten with each other. They hook up, but after a while Nathan gets disillusioned that Aubrey won't commit to him, and though he was clearly in love with her, (view spoiler)[he has sex with her best friend (hide spoiler)]. The. Fucking. Rage. I didn't even ship him and Aubrey, because frankly, it was instalove pretending it wasn't. Aubrey so clearly did have feelings for him but denies it - but not in a cute way, in an obvious and cliché way. But here was a good guy who was clearly all about committed relationships, and because of these girls promoting their hook up culture and claiming that anyone who does get into a relationship is LAME and UNEVOLVED, he changes - for the worse in my opinion. He becomes the douchey high school guy that they claim every guy is, which was what necessitated the theories in the first place. This is how these guys are made. And then Aubrey is heartbroken but HAS to put on a brave face because of course she wasn't emotionally involved - if she was, she'd be losing points for "Team Girl". So yeah, she's fine with it. Nathan was fair game for anyone. [image] Obviously this doesn't hold up. And fair enough, the character growth is there as Aubrey begins to see that the theories are crap and more damaging than anything, because they force her to lie about and deny her feelings. But by this point, I didn't care anymore. I disliked the characters. There was no romance to cheer for anymore. (I mean, there was one possibly good ship but Aubrey shuts that down for some reason.) Friendships fell apart and I thought GOOD RIDDANCE. But the growth was so obvious. I knew what revelations Aubrey would have. I knew it. It took a long time to get there, and then it was just thoroughly unsurprising and obvious. It never got me to care. She grew as a person? Good for her. Moving on. [image] Summing Up: With a shit ton of unlikable and hypocritical bitchy characters, Love and Other Theories made me facepalm way more than once. It was actually painful to read - even if that pain was self-inflicted. It's not even funny, like Mean Girls or something! That blurb claiming it's a comedy is a LIE. This story had potential. I would have loved to see a close group of friends celebrating their freedom and flirting with guys whenever they pleased, until one day, one of them realizes a great guy is worth settling down for. Instead they are the most judgmental bullying bitches creating an absolutely toxic high school hook up and party culture and I do not care for any of it. They grew from it, at least a little, but I give zero fucks. I'd already made it to the rage phase and there was no going back. GIF it to me straight! [image] Recommended To: Absolutely no one. *Review copy provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the contents of the review. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Nov 29, 2014
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Dec 02, 2014
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Aug 29, 2014
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Kindle Edition
| ||||||||||||||
| 0062335707
| 9780062335708
| B07H58FT91
| 3.92
| 122,827
| Jul 31, 2014
| Mar 30, 2015
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did not like it
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1.5 stars I knew that picking up Solitaire would be kind of a risk. It was the kind of blurb that attracted me because maybe I could relate to this mai 1.5 stars I knew that picking up Solitaire would be kind of a risk. It was the kind of blurb that attracted me because maybe I could relate to this main character and it would make me SOB. But it could also be pretentious, sappy, and/or completely boring. Sadly... it went for the boring route, and I just give zero fucks. Part of what attracted me to this book was the knowledge that the main character is a blogger. But that was a big ass mistake. Blogging is hardly even mentioned in this book. It's just a detail about her character - and she'll mention a couple times that she has a blog or receives messages through her blog, but that's it. At one point she has a remark about how strange it actually is to whine about your life online to get comfort from anonymous strangers, but other than that, blogging is not really a feature of this book. Then there's the pranking by the anonymous group "Solitaire". Also hardly a feature of the book. They do some pranks, which gradually get more and more dangerous, but it's not like Tori is actively working to unmask them. She spends a good 70% of the book not caring about them at all - like she doesn't care about anything because everything is stupid. What boggles my mind is that her classmates seem to LOVE what Solitaire is doing, even after they arrange for the violent assault of an admittedly horrible guy and the ignition of fireworks in a crowd leading to widespread burn wounds. OH YEAH MAN, GO SOLITAIRE, WE LOVE YOU, YOU'RE SO COOL. What we're left with is a book that is obviously trying to become The Catcher in the Rye for the modern teen. And I am perfectly qualified to say this because I read (and hated) The Catcher in the Rye just last year. Though Solitaire is slightly less irritating and nowhere near as infuriating as Catcher, it falls into the same traps. You have a main character who suffers from "chronic pessimism" as she self-identifies it, but clearly there is more wrong with her than that: (manic) depression and/or some kind of personality disorder. Something about her voice kept me engaged, though. The reason I picked this up was because in the blurb I thought that I might be able to connect with her on some level. I also have bouts of pessimism, when I'm looking at the world and just thinking, "Why do we bother with conventions? Why do we keep up whole conversations of small talk that really don't mean anything? Why am I so godawful at making friends?" (Yes, I realize that most of those questions answer each other.) In that sense, I thought that maybe this book could help me - if not inspire me to grow from certain behaviors, at least it could make me feel less alone. But that unfortunately never happened. Though I could see myself in some of her troubling thoughts and behaviors, her voice was way too unfeeling and the ending just killed all my hopes. This book just got weirder and weirder as time went on. At some point, Tori clearly has a psychotic break (i.e. literally laughing manically and uncontrollably when telling a completely depressing story), but none of this is ever really talked about upfront. Never is her mental illness clearly identified. Never is it suggested that she should seek help or go into therapy. (Though I suppose it's kind of implied at the end that this will happen.) In fact, Michael the sort-of-yes-sort-of-no love interest ends up saving her by making her feel less alone and realize that actually everyone's fucked up in their own way and goddammit I do not want to see this in a book ever again. This book was utterly pointless. Let's stop throwing around the word "insane" like that answers all questions and is just an "average teenage problem" as the blurb implies. Love is not a cure to mental illness. Having friends doesn't fix mental illness (though surely it'll help). I mean, at different points in this book, Tori has friends, but then she has another breakdown and screws it up again. In the end, I can't see how that'll be any different in the future. I didn't see any growth from her - the whole book was just a gradual downward spiral. In fact, the ending just left so much more to be desired. I didn't get why Becky suddenly came back to Tori after legit ending their friendship. I was still wondering where the hell Michael came from at the beginning of the book - why he was so interested in Tori at all and what his mental illness exactly is. And I just wasn't surprised by anything. I wanted to be surprised. I had running theories all throughout the book of potential plot twists (view spoiler)[like, that Tori imagined Michael and he doesn't exist; or that Charlie's mental illness was actually Tori's and she'd projected it onto him; or SOMETHING (hide spoiler)] but it ended up just being the most boring turn of events that didn't surprise me nor make me particularly emotional at all. "The end? Okay. Moving on." Summing Up: This book was ridiculous and weird and boring and meh. It was nothing like what I hoped for. Somehow I still kept reading, intrigued by the mystery of what exactly is wrong with Tori but that was never really answered. *headdesk* I am not falling for blurbs like this ever again. IT'S A TRAP. GIF it to me straight! [image] Recommended To: I honestly wouldn't. *eARC provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book nor the contents of the review. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Mar 04, 2015
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Mar 05, 2015
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Aug 29, 2014
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Kindle Edition
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| 1594746125
| 9781594746123
| 1594746125
| 4.06
| 243,266
| 2014
| Jan 14, 2014
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it was ok
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2 stars Sigh. [image] This is one of those series that gets raved about all the time by everyone. It's one of the bestselling YA series of all time. And 2 stars Sigh. [image] This is one of those series that gets raved about all the time by everyone. It's one of the bestselling YA series of all time. And in theory there's nothing that "wrong" with it. But I do not get everyone's fascination. Not one bit. I enjoyed the first book quite a bit, but right from the start, Hollow City was not the same. There was more action at the start, so arguably it should be exciting. But in terms of plot and world building, this is very much a middle book. They're chasing down Miss Peregrine the whole time, but dawdling here and there and not really advancing the story until the very end. The end is arguably exciting and intense. There are some new areas and characters as well - most notably, peculiar animals - and there are a ton of interesting photographs again. But a cool concept does not necessarily equal an engaged reader. My problem with the book is mostly the same as it was in the first - I still feel very disconnected from the characters. At the beginning, I was getting a bit more engaged as the other peculiar children got considerably more page-time. But Jacob remains a very blah character to me. I don't get much personality from him. His powers are increasing exponentially which makes him very conveniently formidable. But he still makes really dumb mistakes sometimes, (view spoiler)[like NOT killing the hollow the instant he saw it in the iced up building (hide spoiler)]. The worst, though, is the romance. Because I feel a great big ZIP, ZERO, ZILCH, for Jacob and Emma. The book is not overly sappy in romance - in fact, I was wondering more than once why they felt so strongly about each other when there were barely any romantic moments to back it up - but when it comes down to it, it's blown out of proportion at the worst of times. And it caused me to basically lose all respect for Jacob. "Why do you think I stayed instead of going home? It wasn't because of my grandfather or some stupid sense of duty - not really - or because I hated my parents or didn't appreciate my home and all the nice things we had. I stayed because of you!" Actually, a pathetic loser is exactly what you sound like, Jacob. Honestly, you do not have the serious love connection to be giving up your entire life and putting yourself in constant jeopardy for one girl. You should be the tiniest bit motivated to ACTUALLY SAVE THE WORLD. Honestly. This romance feels so forced that I basically unship it now. And as the cherry on top, the world building in this is so confusing, it's honestly given me headaches. So they left the loop in the loop's actual time, so the peculiar kids DON'T age up (even though they're still over 80 years old?). Then when Emma tries to give Jacob his escape clause, she says that Miss Peregrine could manipulate a loop to bring him back to his own time. But when they exit the London loop in the crypt, someone else has to walk ahead of Jacob, because if he crossed first, they would all end up in the present time? IT MAKES ABSOLUTELY NO SENSE and I'm sick of trying to figure it out. Summing Up: I'm the black sheep. Baaaa. Honestly, this book wasn't that bad while I was reading it. It was a bit slow and not the most engaging, but the story and concept held enough mystery to keep me reading. But particularly the ending with its cringe-worthy romance and the headache-inducing world building makes me look back on this book with the utmost skepticism. I honestly don't get the hype. I just don't. GIF it to me straight [image] Recommended To: Ugh, ask someone else. *A finished copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the contents of the review. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Jun 06, 2016
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Jun 09, 2016
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Aug 28, 2014
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Hardcover
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my rating |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| 3.66
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did not like it
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Nov 14, 2016
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Aug 26, 2016
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| 3.51
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did not like it
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Apr 13, 2016
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Dec 17, 2015
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| 3.55
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it was ok
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Mar 19, 2016
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Nov 03, 2015
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| 3.69
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it was ok
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Feb 11, 2016
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Sep 05, 2015
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| 4.02
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did not like it
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Oct 06, 2015
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Sep 04, 2015
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| 3.45
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liked it
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Jul 27, 2016
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Jun 28, 2015
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| 3.93
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it was ok
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Aug 21, 2015
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Apr 30, 2015
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| 3.61
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did not like it
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Mar 19, 2015
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Mar 16, 2015
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| 3.80
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it was ok
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Mar 13, 2015
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Mar 12, 2015
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| 3.43
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did not like it
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Aug 09, 2016
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Jan 23, 2015
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| 4.25
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it was ok
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Apr 20, 2015
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Nov 03, 2014
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| 3.36
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did not like it
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May 18, 2015
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Oct 16, 2014
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| 3.54
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it was ok
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Mar 25, 2015
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Oct 09, 2014
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| 3.53
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it was ok
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May 06, 2015
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Oct 09, 2014
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| 3.49
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it was ok
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Nov 02, 2014
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Sep 27, 2014
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| 4.22
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it was ok
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Jul 25, 2016
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Sep 23, 2014
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| 3.99
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liked it
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Aug 24, 2016
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Sep 23, 2014
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| 3.21
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did not like it
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Dec 02, 2014
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Aug 29, 2014
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| 3.92
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did not like it
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Mar 05, 2015
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Aug 29, 2014
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| 4.06
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it was ok
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Jun 09, 2016
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Aug 28, 2014
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