tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33203934075133653792024-03-12T22:53:08.094-04:00Ink and Tea ReviewsJaclynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00968157349105648322noreply@blogger.comBlogger20125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3320393407513365379.post-55018013522154933592013-08-31T20:17:00.000-04:002013-08-31T20:17:31.110-04:00This is Not a Test by Courtney Summers<a href="http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1314375864l/12043771.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="This is Not a Test" border="0" height="320" src="http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1314375864l/12043771.jpg" width="212" /></a><b>Title</b>: This is Not a Test<br />
<b>Author</b>: Courtney Summers<br />
<b>Publication Date</b>: June 19th, 2012<br />
<b>Publisher</b>: St. Martin's Griffin<br />
<b>Rating</b>: 3 stars<br />
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Ostensibly, <i>This is Not a Test</i> is a novel about a group of teenagers dealing with a zombie apocalypse, but in reality, the zombies are just a backdrop. This book is more about depression, suicide, and somehow finding a reason to survive against all odds. There’s not a whole lot of action, and we only meet the zombies face-to-face a couple of times – most of the novel is spent inside a fortified school, where the characters get to know each other and Sloane works through her many issues. </div>
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Sloane was best friends with her sister, Lily, and they shared in the abuse their father doled out. Lily was practically her world, and so when she runs away and leaves Sloane behind (despite promising her she’d wait for her), Sloane finds no reason to keep living. The abuse gets worse, and Sloane decides she wants to die. Even as zombies ravage the town, her mission is clear – find a way to die that doesn’t put everyone else in danger. </div>
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It’s easy to get angry at Sloane, but I find that you must be able to understand her and forgive her. She can be mean and selfish at times, but she’s a very damaged character. Those who have dealt with depression, the desire to commit suicide, or any other mental illness might recognize the bleakness of being in Sloane’s mind. They might recognize how she lashes out at others, even when she doesn’t actually want to hurt them. I know I do. </div>
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It’s hard to get attached to the other characters, simply because this isn’t their story. <i>This is Not a Test</i> is very much centered on Sloane, and she spends a good deal of time shutting everyone out. Even when she finally lets up, and even when she gets involved with another one of the survivors, I didn’t find myself particularly caring for anyone else. I find this inability to deeply care for the entire cast the novel’s weakest point.</div>
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Overall, it was a good book and I’m glad I read it. It’s probably not one that I will revisit in the future, but I’ll still be reading any book Courtney Summers comes out with. Her strength is in creating a believable main character and her writing is lovely, and she remains one of my favorite young adult authors. </div>
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Jaclynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00968157349105648322noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3320393407513365379.post-31317033076578449632013-08-28T20:17:00.002-04:002013-08-31T20:17:55.555-04:00WWW Wednesdays #1<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5FVjZZ19Ndjlyf8BpOSJIahCNeaUXpy2ItKKd8for6KVW0lYmgeUPg_mMcBqOW8oC_oGcoGclvuPmGoquAgFe3a7WN5x2ooo5YWH1bf0FUUyDCMDLfG7yuJe7yGZfTs7D7kCzhXVf_9Zx/s1600/www_wednesdays41.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5FVjZZ19Ndjlyf8BpOSJIahCNeaUXpy2ItKKd8for6KVW0lYmgeUPg_mMcBqOW8oC_oGcoGclvuPmGoquAgFe3a7WN5x2ooo5YWH1bf0FUUyDCMDLfG7yuJe7yGZfTs7D7kCzhXVf_9Zx/s320/www_wednesdays41.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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As hosted by <a href="http://shouldbereading.wordpress.com/2013/08/28/www-wednesdays-aug-28">Should Be Reading</a>! </div>
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To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…<br />
• What are you currently reading?<br />
• What did you recently finish reading?<br />
• What do you think you’ll read next?<br />
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<a href="http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1314375864l/12043771.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="This is Not a Test" border="0" height="200" src="http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1314375864l/12043771.jpg" width="133" /></a>I'm currently reading "<b><i>This Is Not A Test</i></b>" by Courtney Summers. I loved "<i><b>Some Girls Are</b></i>" by the same author, so I'm expecting to write another positive review! I decided to start on this book not only because it has been on my to-read list for ages, but because I just finished the game The Last Of Us, so I'm really in the mood for some post-apocalyptic survival stuff. Such a good game.<br />
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<a href="http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1357961172l/15942674.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="Truly, Madly, Deadly" border="0" height="200" src="http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1357961172l/15942674.jpg" width="129" /></a><br />
I recently finished reading "<i><b>Truly, Madly, Deadly"</b></i> by Hannah Jayne, which I reviewed <a href="http://inkandteareviews.blogspot.com/2013/08/truly-madly-deadly-by-hannah-jayne.html">here</a>. Unfortunately, I wasn't a very big fan of the novel. I had hoped for so much more and was kind of let down in every way. Oh, and I'm really not a fan of the one GLBT+ character being evil. I absolutely hate the Evil Lesbian trope and find it very offensive.<br />
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<a href="http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1361098973l/345627.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Vampire Academy (Vampire Academy, #1)" border="0" height="200" src="http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1361098973l/345627.jpg" width="133" /></a>So, I'm one of the only YA lovers who hasn't read the <b><i>Vampire Academy</i></b> series by Richelle Mead. With so many reviewers adoring it and even my friends on Tumblr enjoying it, I figured, hey, might as well finally start on it. Especially with the movie coming out -- but wasn't one of the main characters whitewashed? Oh, and that's another reason I'm looking forward to starting it! I heard there was a diverse cast! Yay!<br />
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Jaclynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00968157349105648322noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3320393407513365379.post-23766157277190932732013-08-28T00:17:00.000-04:002013-08-28T23:41:09.965-04:00Truly, Madly, Deadly by Hannah Jayne<a href="http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1357961172l/15942674.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Truly, Madly, Deadly" border="0" height="320" src="http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1357961172l/15942674.jpg" width="207" /></a><b>Title</b>: Truly, Madly, Deadly<br />
<b>Author</b>: Hannah Jayne<br />
<b>Publication Date</b>: July 2nd, 2013<br />
<b>Publisher</b>: Sourcebooks Fire<br />
<b>ISBN</b>: 1402281218<br />
<b>Rating</b>: 2 stars<br />
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After Sawyer’s football-playing boyfriend dies, she receives a note in her locker, suggesting that it wasn’t an accident. Someone may have discovered his abuse, which she kept hidden from the world. But as Sawyer attempts to remain a normal high school student, more people end up dead, and it seems to be that she has a vengeful stalker, snapping pictures of her from afar and killing those who harm her. </div>
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I read this book in one setting over the course of a couple of hours. Not because I needed to know what was going to happen next, but because I kind of wanted to just get to the next book. It’s a shame, because I had heard many good things about this book, but I just didn’t like it at all. The mystery wasn’t compelling, the characters were one-dimensional, the romance was boring, and the villain was, quite frankly, insulting. With that said, the prose is one of the few things I didn’t have a problem with, so if my criticisms do not seem to be a big deal to you, I would say to give the novel a try. </div>
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I feel like the plot wouldn’t have worked if the characters hadn’t been so mind-numbingly stupid. Sawyer rarely told people what was going on – for no discernable reason – and when she did, no one believed her. Even when they had absolutely no reason to doubt her. If you need to make your characters really dumb to make your story work, it’s probably not a very good story.</div>
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What I hated most, though, were the characters. Maggie is the mean popular girl who used to date Sawyer’s (now deceased) boyfriend. Predictably, Maggie has no personality outside of being “a bitch.” There is nothing I hate more than when an author decides to have undeveloped female characters with no more than one personality trait, all to prop up their ~superior~ main character. Also, Chloe, who I quite liked at first, being the scrappy trailer park girl, was the only notable girl character besides Maggie and Sawyer. And guess what? It turns out she’s evil.</div>
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And I guessed that only 80 pages in.</div>
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But! Not only is Chloe evil, she’s an evil lesbian, murdering people to prove her love for Sawyer! If your only gay character is evil, that’s a problem. If every female character besides your main character is evil, that’s a problem. Before I realized that Chloe was going to be the villain, I was hoping she would just be a lesbian. Sure, she had boyfriends, but I smelled that lesbian subtext a mile away.</div>
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The romance is also boring and cookie-cutter. We have a “unique” protagonist and a muscled, dull love interest. Seriously, is it just me, or do the majority of MCs in YA novels seem to be the same character? </div>
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I really didn’t like this book, but I also have a nagging feeling that I’m going to forget most of it within a few days. I had to make this review quickly – even though I read the book today – because I was already unable to recall a few things. Overall, it just wasn’t for me.</div>
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Jaclynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00968157349105648322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3320393407513365379.post-17696351566113678012012-09-12T12:53:00.002-04:002013-08-27T23:31:52.195-04:00Waiting on Wednesday #2<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at <a href="http://breakingthespine.blogspot.com/">Breaking the Spine</a>, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My choice for this week is...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Title</b>: Dance of Shadows</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Series</b>: Dance of Shadows (#1)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Author</b>: Yelena Black</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Expected Publication</b>: November 27th, 2012</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Bloombury</span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Vanessa Adler isn’t so sure she really belongs at the School of American Ballet. But dance runs in her family. It’s been a part of her life for as long as she can remember. Her grandmother and mother were prima ballerinas, and her older sister Margaret was, too. That is, until Margaret mysteriously disappeared from school three years ago. Vanessa is heir to the family’s gift and the only person who can fulfill her sister’s destiny. She has no choice.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But she never could have guessed how dangerous the school is. The infamous choreographer, Josef, isn’t just ruthless with his pupils, he guards a sinister secret, one in which the school’s dancers—prized for their beauty, grace, and discipline—become pawns in a world of dark, deadly demons.</span></i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrV8sZMUIDzmfz_vmBuDZYwvFKBkAKZt7TaEkDXNKk8C7Y8NjZvdvdAUSVGZ2PWXnVsYr8ey0F-JzqhYQhxviT5lwdcC1a3sOiV3pqkeqQt0t8E1ip_64c1hOlq-P4lGbE7qVBry47lOCL/s1600/New+WoW.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrV8sZMUIDzmfz_vmBuDZYwvFKBkAKZt7TaEkDXNKk8C7Y8NjZvdvdAUSVGZ2PWXnVsYr8ey0F-JzqhYQhxviT5lwdcC1a3sOiV3pqkeqQt0t8E1ip_64c1hOlq-P4lGbE7qVBry47lOCL/s1600/New+WoW.JPG" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What a beautiful cover. From Black Swan to Princess Tutu, I love a tale of ballet. The darker, the better, and with ruthless choreographers, fierce competition, and demons, I could just swoon. From the little blurb, this book has my hopes high, and it looks like it has so much potential -- which I hope it realizes fully. After all, if it does, I expect that this book could be one of my favorites.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm just a sucker for that sort of artistic, but deadly setting.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I haven't read anything from Yelena Black before, nor have I seen this book reviewed by anyone just yet. As such, I admit, I'm a little bit nervous, because I think I would be most upset if it didn't turn out as awesome as I hope. With that said, November looks like it'll be an interesting month for books, and I will be awaiting reviews of this one in the meantime. </span></div>
Jaclynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00968157349105648322noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3320393407513365379.post-73074631316149869212012-09-10T08:56:00.002-04:002013-08-27T23:31:42.718-04:00Musing Mondays #1<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Musing Mondays is a weekly feature hosted by <a href="http://shouldbereading.wordpress.com/">ShouldBeReading</a>. Each week, a question is asked, and bloggers answer it and thus reveal a little about themselves!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This weeks question is:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Do you take notes while you read?</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have just begun taking notes while I read, although they're not the most eloquent. My notes tend to be short and choppy, reflecting the fact that I'm just trying to quickly get a thought down so I can immediately go back to reading. I think I will try and change my note-taking style; perhaps using a notebook instead of a laptop, and taking clearer, more well-written notes whenever I take a break from reading. I keep having thoughts, things I want to talk about or add to a review, and then I don't write them down and I totally forget. </span>Jaclynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00968157349105648322noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3320393407513365379.post-69242170900447639592012-09-09T14:36:00.006-04:002013-08-27T23:40:16.003-04:00The Daughter of Smoke and Bone [ The Daughter of Smoke and Bone #1 ] by Laini Taylor<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Title</b>: The Daughter of Smoke and Bone</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Series</b>: The Daughter of Smoke and Bone</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Author</b>: Laini Taylor</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Publication Date</b>: January 1st, 2011</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Little, Brown</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>ISBN</b>: 0316134023 </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Rating</b>: 5 stars</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">[NOTE: I will have a section called “SPOILERS”. It will, as you may have guessed, feature spoilers. So, here’s your warning to look at for that, lest you be spoiled!]</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Daughter of Smoke and Bone is one of the best books I have read this year, and the hype has definitely been earned. Laini Taylor weaves words with magic; her style is eloquent and poetic without ever going over-the-top, and I’m sure she’s going to quickly become one of my favorite authors. Beautiful prose mixed with excellent characters that are constantly developing, an enchanting setting, and an intriguing plot makes this a book an excellent start to what will surely be a wonderful and immensely magical series. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The synopsis certainly doesn’t do the Daughter of Smoke and Bone justice. The plot is so much more than what is described there; it is magical and fantastic and utterly beautiful. The chimaeras have a magic in which they can buy wishes of various value, and this concept is so well-executed that it becomes such an entrancing, fascinating thing. I am usually left languid at the magical elements in urban fantasy, but it was just so well-done that it completely enraptured me. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Karou is a flawed and three-dimensional protagonist. Her thoughts, beliefs, desires, and actions are all multi-layered and conflicting in a way that makes her true to life and believable, where many characters in young adult literature fall short. Karou is described as beautiful, and for this, I was thankful, as many authors feel the need to call their characters “plain” when they are obviously meant to be conventionally attractive. Likewise, how refreshing that Karou was not some social pariah! I appreciated her blue hair and her rough-edgedness, the way she yearned for Kaz despite not really liking him, her kindness, and her unusualness. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As unusual protagonists often do, Karou had a “normal” best friend – a human named Zuzana. Fortunately, she was not looked on as lesser by the narrative, nor was she discarded by Karou over the course of the book. Zuzana made for a wonderful best friend (who else teared up when she was taking care of Karou?) and a great character, and I hope she becomes more immersed in the otherworld and becomes more of a central part of the plot in later books. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The love interest, Akiva, was a great character, a bit of a douche, but completely sympathetic. He was bred to be a killer, had very little family in his life, and learned to shut emotion out entirely. He reminded me a bit of Castiel from Supernatural, especially in the way that Akiva had a fair bit of idealism in him, and that it was a person of a race he was taught to devalue that taught him how to feel again. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Prague made for an excellent setting. The imagery was so alive and beautiful and perfect, and how could you have read it and NOT had the sudden, overwhelming desire to visit Prague? The way Prague is described makes it seem like the perfect place to set this fantastical story, as if it were the natural gateway into another world. And the other world! The world of angels and chimaeras was beautifully executed. We got angel politics, chimaera government workings, culture and myth of both, and absolutely no info-dumping. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Neither the angels nor the chimaeras were the bad guys – the angels were bred to be militaristic soldiers, but they were not evil. The chimaeras are called devils in the synopsis and are not always completely human-shaped, but they are not evil. Even the douchebags are not portrayed as unequivocally evil; everyone is flawed and three-dimensional, perhaps morally grey (who isn’t, really?) but never able to be put into constricting categories so vague as “good” or “bad”. Thiago, a chimaera, is the closest thing we have to a villain, but even he is more than that.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The love story moved along quickly, perhaps even too quickly for comfort, but it didn’t seem out of place. Akiva and Kaoru were always depicted as a tragedy waiting to happen, never a happy ending in the making. Their love was functional in many ways, but it was not fluffy or perfect, and they had to deal with both internal and external forces as an obstacle to their relationship – just as one does in real life. Also, the love story never detracts from the rest of the story, and there is a constant balance, no one aspect (setting, romance, characters, etc) ever dominates everything. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Towards the end of the Daughter of Smoke and Bone, I found myself wondering if Megan Whalen Turner might have been one of Laini Taylor’s formative influences, with some of the scenes involving the various myths of creation being highly evocative of scenes in the Queen’s Thief series. This is certainly not a bad thing, as it never seemed like imitation, but rather a testament to Laini Taylor’s skill with storytelling. All in all, this series is off to a magnificent start, and it will most likely find a place on my favorites list. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My only nagging concern is the whole Madrigal/Karou thing. I figured early on that it was going to be some sort of reincarnation type thing, but I’m a wee bit nervous about it! Karou and Madrigal had very different personalities, and now that their…or her…memories are back, what does this mean? Has Karou now reverted to Madrigal? In the end, there certainly seemed to be more Madrigal than Karou, but I don’t WANT Karou to be gone. After all, your experiences play a large part in shaping who you are, and as such, even with the same soul, how could Karou just cease to exist, when she was made into the person she became? In the sequel, will we find that Karou is warring with these two different aspects of her personality, one of the past and one of the present? Or will they have joined into one new personality? Or will one overcome the other? I’m very nervous about the answer to that, but I’m also excited to find out, as I do trust Laini Taylor’s writing enough to have faith in her delivery. </span>Jaclynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00968157349105648322noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3320393407513365379.post-3948086780809307832012-09-07T10:52:00.000-04:002013-08-27T23:30:36.681-04:00Enclave [ Razorland #1 ] by Ann Aguirre<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Title</b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">: Enclave</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Series</b>: Razorland</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Author</b>: Ann Aguirre</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Publication Date</b>: April 12th, 2011</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Feiwel & Friends</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>ISBN</b>: 0312650086 </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Rating</b>: 2 stars</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">[NOTE: There are mentions of rape in this review, due to the way it was handled being insanely problematic and just wrong. However, the book does not show graphic rape, and just alludes to the fact that it was a possibility for Deuce, and was in Tegan’s backstory.]</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Look at that synopsis! How could I have possibly resisted? Unfortunately, Enclave didn’t really live up to the promises of the synopsis, the hype, or my expectations. With a heavy heart (I am really disappointed that this wasn’t a better book), I am giving this book only 2 stars, as it lacked in many of the most important areas and occasionally made me want to rage. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The horror was as good as could be expected from a low-quality young adult dystopian novel, not exactly bone-chilling but creating a decent amount of suspense. I also liked some of the characters, finding them to be interesting and almost believable, although they did tend to lack in some way, as if they wanted to come to life as three-dimensional characters but were just prevented from doing so by the author. The love interest, Fade, was a lovely character, and perhaps was the one that was given the most depth. I also liked Tegan, a young girl who has suffered through horrible things. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And that’s pretty much the extent of my praise. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I had trouble warming up to Deuce, although she does (almost – there are a few problems I will touch on in a bit) get better after becoming disillusioned by the government of the Enclave. Still, it was hard to sympathize with her. I have no problem with unlikable protagonists or characters with great flaws, but a good author can make the audience sympathize with them and care about them despite their assholery. This was not the case here, where Deuce grated more often than not.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The first half of the book is regarding the Enclave and Deuce’s disillusionment with their methods. The second half consists of adventuring outside (these people have somehow lived underground without proper nutrition or sunlight, but I suppose one must suspend their disbelief to an extent) after being exiled with Fade. Topside, Deuce and Fade meet Stalker, a clever, but savage rapist and gang-leader. He seems like a great antagonist, somewhat charming, interesting, but utterly unforgivable in his actions.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The problem?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He almost becomes a love interest to Deuce. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He’s a SERIAL RAPIST! And no, it’s not some dysfunctional thing in which Deuce is just a masochist or has to reconcile her attraction to him with his being a horrible person or whatever, it’s like there’s just a sudden BACKTRACK. Deuce and Fade go from finding him to be this horrible RAPIST, to excusing his actions and forcing Tegan (one of his victims) to deal with his presence. At one point, Deuce thinks something to the effect of, “if Tegan isn’t over what happened to her yet, there’s no hope for her.”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Really, Tegan is seen as weak, as she “let” guys rape her, and is even weaker for voicing the fact that Stalker is a horrible person. And then, as if to just force this problem to go away, Tegan is suddenly seemingly totally over everything that happened and is willing to hang out with Stalker with the rest of them. I think, perhaps, the author was making this dastardly villain, then decided he was pretty cool, so HEY LET’S JUST THROW A RANDOM LOVE TRIANGLE IN HERE AND MAKE HIM NOT REALLY SUCH A BAD GUY EVEN IF HE’S A RAPIST.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yeah, it’s just disgusting.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Some of the minor characters are little more than cardboard cut-outs, especially the women, who Deuce is very critical of. She thinks “Breeders” are useless and tends to think of most women as victims. This novel suffers from the horrible pseudo-feminism in which the only women who are worth anything are “strong women”, which only consists of women who can kill things. Nevermind the fact that MEN who can’t kill things aren’t devalued, and the male breeders are not, by any means, looked down upon in the narrative nearly in the same way as the women.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Enclave is an interesting, albeit unrealistic, take on the apocalypse, but there are just far too many really problematic aspects (from the treatment of women to the low quality writing) to make it an enjoyable read. I’m not sure I could recommend it without some serious guilt or a big ol’ disclaimer about Stalker, Tegan, and Deuce’s really disgusting views on things. With that said, my utter masochism and desire to see if this series will get any better will probably cause me to eventually read the second book in the series. From there, I’ll decide if the series is worth sticking with. </span><br />
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Jaclynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00968157349105648322noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3320393407513365379.post-85849316842710210032012-09-07T09:14:00.001-04:002013-08-27T23:30:47.181-04:00Feature & Follow #1<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Feature & Follow is a blog hop hosted by two hosts, <a href="http://parajunkee.com/">Parajunkee’s View</a> and <a href="http://www.alisoncanread.com/">Alison Can Read</a>. Each week, answer a question and follow the Featured Blogs to gain more followers and meet new friends!</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Q: What book(s) are you reading right now? What do you think of it?</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I just finished up with <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7137327-enclave">Enclave by Ann Aguirre</a>, which I will try to do a review of today. I am also now halfway through <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12241620-asphodel">Asphodel by Lauren Hammond</a>, as I've been having a serious craving for some Hades/Persephone. Unfortunately, I find the quality of this one to be rather lacking, and I'm not a big fan of characterization. I'm hoping it becomes better, as the prose has been increasingly less awkward, but I'm not sure quite yet.</span></div>
Jaclynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00968157349105648322noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3320393407513365379.post-74972792846069970402012-09-06T14:54:00.001-04:002013-08-28T00:20:06.296-04:00Going Too Far by Jennifer Echols<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Title</b>: Going Too Far</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Author</b>: Jennifer Echols</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Publication Date</b>: March 17th, 2009</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Pocket Books</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>ISBN</b>: 1416571736 </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Rating</b>: 2 stars</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I read Going Too Far with complete ambivalence. I cannot say that there were a plethora of offensive, glaring faults, but I did not enjoy the story, and upon finishing, I neither had the desire to think further on what I had read, nor was I excited to review it. As such, I read this at least a week ago, and have been putting off the review until now. It might be clear by now that romance is not my preferred genre, and I do not always pay close attention to the synopsis when going into a book, especially if it has come highly recommended. This is what happened with Going Too Far – it’s a straight-forward romance, and romances rarely leave me anything other than bored.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The writing in Going Too Far was smooth and enjoyable, and if Jennifer Echols ever writes something in a genre I’m a bit more fond of, I will certainly give it a try. I had no problem with the prose, nor the main characters and their developments – I found both Meg and John to be realistic and believable, although I wasn’t the biggest fan of John. In fact, I thought it was a bit more interesting when it seemed that John was a much older fellow (but, really, how did Meg get him confused with a middle-aged man?) and that there was going to be a dysfunctional, torrid love affair.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The actual direction of the story – a normal ol’ romance in which the main characters must overcome their inner demons – was just a bit too boring and fluffy for my tastes. I thought John was kind of a douchebag, with his constant berating of Meg and his eventual causing her (on purpose!) to have a panic attack. It never seemed as though he actually cared for Meg and appreciated her flaws – but, instead, put her on some sort of pedestal and had affection for an idealized version of her.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You know how there’s this trope in romance where there’s a dysfunctional sort of guy, and the female love interest just “fixes” him by trying to change his personality to make him easier to be involved with? I kind of felt like John was doing that to Meg. And I LIKED Meg, with her casual sex, her dyed hair, her drunken highness, and her desire to live life to the fullest in case it was snatched away from her. She was flawed and interesting! John was just so straight-laced and he frowned upon everything she did; I’m just not convinced that they were actually compatible. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I did wish there was a bit more depth to the minor characters – like Meg’s best friend, Meg’s parents, the EMT guy, and the antagonistic drug-dealing-son-of-a-lawyer. That, perhaps, would have made me a bit fonder of this book, distracting me from the plot that was just not my style. As it was, though, I felt that the minor characters were just shadows, shallow and lacking, with only hints of something more. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Going Too Far’s plot twists weren’t really twists at all, and I saw them both coming. John’s backstory was obvious from the beginning, and I had suspected Meg’s, as well. And as I didn’t really want John and Meg to get together, I wasn’t rooting for them, and there was little suspense. There was nothing I wanted them to overcome, because the entire time, I was just thinking, “Meg, don’t bake the fruit cobbler, John isn’t for you.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the end, I’m not sure I would recommend this book to anyone, although I’m sure some would enjoy it. For me, however, it left me bored, and I didn’t appreciate the relationship, which…well, was the book. That doesn’t mean I wouldn’t read a non-romance novel of Jennifer Echol’s were she to write one, however.</span></div>
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Jaclynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00968157349105648322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3320393407513365379.post-65294630253738713062012-09-05T21:58:00.000-04:002013-08-27T23:31:37.228-04:00Waiting on Wednesday #1<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at <a href="http://breakingthespine.blogspot.com/">Breaking the Spine</a>, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.<br />
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My choice for this week is...<br />
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<b>Title</b>: Velveteen<br />
<b>Series</b>: Velveteen (#1)<br />
<b>Author</b>: Daniel Marks<br />
<b>Expected Publication</b>: October 9th, 2012<br />
<b>Publisher</b>: Delacorte Books<br />
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<i>Velveteen Monroe is dead. At 16, she was kidnapped and murdered by a madman named Bonesaw. But that’s not the problem. The problem is she landed in purgatory. And while it’s not a fiery inferno, it’s certainly no heaven. It’s gray, ashen, and crumbling more and more by the day, and everyone has a job to do. Which doesn’t leave Velveteen much time to do anything about what’s really on her mind.</i></div>
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<i>Bonesaw.</i></div>
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<i>Velveteen aches to deliver the bloody punishment her killer deserves. And she’s figured out just how to do it. She’ll haunt him for the rest of his days. It’ll be brutal... and awesome. But crossing the divide between the living and the dead has devastating consequences. Velveteen’s obsessive haunting cracks the foundations of purgatory and jeopardizes her very soul. A risk she’s willing to take—except fate has just given her reason to stick around: an unreasonably hot and completely off-limits coworker. </i></div>
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<i>Velveteen can’t help herself when it comes to breaking rules... or getting revenge. And she just might be angry enough to take everyone down with her.</i></div>
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This book looks so, so good, with dark, biblical themes, a possibly unhinged and violent protagonist, and a healthy sprinkling of horror. I love the freaky setting, Velveteen looks badass and appropriately sinister, and I'm excited to meet this evil Bonesaw guy. I can't wait, October can't come soon enough! </div>
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Jaclynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00968157349105648322noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3320393407513365379.post-3579745541719110652012-09-05T20:15:00.001-04:002013-08-27T23:32:28.351-04:00Touch of Power [ Healer # 1 ] by Maria V. Snyder<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Title</b>: Touch of Power</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Series</b>: Healer</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Author</b>: Maria V. Snyder</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Publication </b>Date: December 20th, 2011</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Publisher: </b>Mira</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>ISBN: </b>0778313077 </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Rating</b>: 4 stars</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Avry is a selfless healer with a pure heart who is rescued from execution by a band of rogues. By rescued, of course, I mean kidnapped, as they intend to use her to heal Prince Ryne, whose body has been frozen in time to prevent the plague from killing him. The leader of the group – Kerrick – claims that Ryne is the only hope to put the Fifteen Realms back together, stop the fighting over who should rule, and make things right ever since the plague. Although Kerrick can be an asshole, especially if Avry is insulting Ryne (he’s very, very obsessed), these rogues are actually quite nice, so it’s not surprising that Avry becomes attached to them and learns to enjoy their company. They are a very close group and Avry slowly becomes an integral member of their makeshift family, which was very lovely to read.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I did love this book, but part of me loves it most for what it could have been. I’m used to elaborate fantasy novels ala George R. R. Martin, and so I wanted more – more political intrigue, more information on the workings of the government, a reason to root for Ryne over Tohon (and Kerrick’s man-crush on him isn’t enough to convince me that Ryne is going to be the greatest ruler ever), and perhaps a bit more world-building. Still, the fact that I wanted more did not majorly detract from my enjoyment of the novel, because I became so attached to the world and characters that I just filled in the blanks in my head! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My favorite characters were the villains. Tohon is our main antagonist, and he has the ability to compel people and control emotions, which he uses against Avry quite a bit. I was worried that he was going to become a love interest, but I think (please tell me I’m right) we dodged that bullet. Tohon is a terrible person with the hobbies of experimenting on children and using his powers in dastardly ways. This guy also has a very loose definition of consent, and I think he’s a little bit crazy. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The other villain I adore is Jael, Kerrick’s ex-fiance. She’s a bit of a warrior, has the power to control air (meaning she can literally take your breath away), and is power-hunger, manipulative, and has a huge ego. She appeared only for a short amount of time, and I cannot wait to see her more. She, Tohon, Kerrick, and Ryne all went to school together, and so they have backstory that is touched upon and that I am absolutely obsessed with. Oh, and Tohon is obsessed with her, and more than anything else, I want them to get together and wreak havoc!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But I digress.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Avry does dislike Kerrick at first, but they do, as expected, fall for each other. This is not in any way a case of insta-love, and it organically develops in a way I can really appreciate. I actually quite like their relationship, although I will miss the more tense and angry relationship that they began with. Just as their relationship was expected, however, I found some of the plot developments to be somewhat predictable. I actually think I called pretty much every twist, all the way up to the ending. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There was a bit of a problem with pacing, as well, with exploring taking up the bulk of the novel and actual plot developments speeding by too quickly. We would have a chapter that would encompass a month, and then a chapter that encompassed only a day, so it was a bit difficult to understand the way time passed. The ending also wrapped some things up a bit too neatly and conveniently, which might be one of my largest gripes, and for which I docked the rating by half a point.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All in all, this was a good start to the series, and it set the stage for what is to come. The next installment will undoubtedly expand the backstory, the world, and tie up a few plots with the characters. I hope we will get to know the characters better, get more interaction between the old schoolmates (there is some serious obsession between these guys), and learn more about the political workings of the Fifteen Realms. I’m eagerly awaiting the next book – Scent of Magic – which is due later this year, and you'll definitely see a review from me. </span></div>
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Jaclynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00968157349105648322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3320393407513365379.post-85875069410745301522012-09-04T14:30:00.002-04:002013-08-27T23:36:35.241-04:00Easy by Tammara Webber [ TW: RAPE ]<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Title</b>: Easy</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Author</b>: Tammara Webber</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Publication Date</b>: May 24th, 2012</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Self-Published</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>ISBN</b>: 098566181X </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Rating</b>: 3 stars</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I didn’t pay enough attention to the synopsis, as I went into Easy thinking it was more of a drama about a girl dealing with the aftermath of a sexual assault as opposed to a romance. I tend to avoid books in which the plot is essentially a love story, and had I known what Easy really was, I would have definitely skipped it over. I’m thankful that I was under the wrong impression, because Easy was fabulous, heartfelt, and made me sob while reading it in the bathtub! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Easy begins with Jacqueline being attacked by an acquaintance that has always seemed like a decent sort of guy, and the only reason he didn’t succeed in his attempted rape is because a fellow student beats him up. Alarm bells immediately went off when Lucas, Jacqueline’s savior, berates her for not paying enough attention to her surroundings. If there’s one thing I cannot stand, it’s victim-blaming, and so I was prepared to wade through yet another book that makes it seem like the victim’s responsibility not to be attacked. Fortunately, this heartless remark is just thanks to Lucas being a flawed character, and the narrative is certainly not one that blames the victim. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After the initial attack, the book goes into romance territory, and Jacqueline deals with her attraction to Lucas in an attempt to get over her long-time boyfriend, Kennedy. Although Jacqueline does eventually deal with the aftermath of the attack (and must try to avoid her attacker, Buck, following her and attempting to assault her again), the book primarily focuses on the romance and relationships between the characters. Despite romance being the overall plot, it is the handling of the attempted rape that made me love this book. Had it been less of a romance, I’m sure I would have loved it even more, and it would have received at least four stars. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With that said, the romance was well-done, and I was rooting for Lucas and Jacqueline to get together and make it work. For those who are fans of romance with a tortured love interest, I’m sure they would love this book, and probably adore Lucas. The characters were well-rounded and believable, with my favorite being that of Jacqueline’s roommate and unlikely best friend: Erin, the peppy, badass cheerleader who helps Jacqueline not blame herself for Buck’s actions, and who loves to injure the groin of potential rapists. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When Easy goes back to being a story about rape, it does it so, so well. This comes full circle in the last portion of the book, when a young girl, Mindy, is raped by Buck. Jacqueline had previously decided not to go to the police when she was attacked, but now that there is another victim, Erin convinces both Mindy and Jacqueline to speak up about their attacks. Fiction mirrors real-life in the way that other characters react to this: many people do not believe them for a variety of reasons, from the fact that they weren’t virgins to the fact that Buck was a popular guy who seemed perfectly nice. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jacqueline defends herself, and she finds an unlikely ally in one of the sorority sisters. It was this part of the book that made me cry, when some of the girls make it clear what the message of this book is: victim-blaming is not okay. Rape is never anyone’s fault but the rapists. The victim has no obligation to not be attacked, it is the attacker who is at fault. Nothing but “yes” gives consent: not having consented before, not not being a virgin, not drinking, not knowing the guy, nothing but “yes”.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The other frat brothers want to deal with the situation internally by expelling him from school and not allowing him to return to the fraternity. Thankfully, Easy says “this is not enough.” Buck is a rapist, he needs to actually be punished, not just pulled from an activity or school. That doesn’t save any future victims. That doesn’t really punish him. And so the girls press real charges, they don’t go to a tribunal of students to give him a slap on the wrist. Unfortunately, again in a case of fiction mirroring reality, Buck doesn’t get a long sentence, but it’s more than he would have gotten had they not pressed charges.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Easy had another flaw, and that was that some of the built-up conflict was dealt with too quickly and too conveniently. But this is the only flaw worth mentioning (other than the fact that I had wanted less romance and more plot), and all-in-all, this was a successful book with true heart and emotion. The message was spot on and was something we don’t hear nearly enough. If you love romance with a plot: please, please read Easy. You won’t be disappointed.</span></div>
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Jaclynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00968157349105648322noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3320393407513365379.post-88443928429701657212012-08-31T09:58:00.002-04:002013-08-27T23:37:03.690-04:00Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott [ TW: RAPE ]<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Title</b>: Living Dead Girl</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Author</b>: Elizabeth Scott</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Publication Date</b>: September 2nd, 2008</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Simon Pulse</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>ISBN</b>: 1416960597 </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Rating</b>: 2 stars</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I’m settling on 2 stars for this book, although I’ve been unsure of how to go about rating it. It had an effect on me, which makes me want to get it three stars off the bat, but then there’s the problem that I didn’t actually like it all that much, which made me consider giving it a lower score. So I’m going for the middle, but even that doesn’t satisfy me.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I think my main problem with the novel was that of the writing style. Something about it just didn’t jive with me, and I felt the dialogue was forced and stilted. It is incompatibility of the writing style and my preferences that prevented me from getting fully absorbed into the story, and is the (main) reason this novel is getting less than an average rating. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, Living Dead Girl is one of those contemporary novels about rape and abuse. The victim is “Alice”, who was kidnapped during a school trip by a creepy fellow named Ray. Ray is violent, off his rocker, and has mommy issues, occasionally giving snippets of his past to Alice. Although Ray claims to still “love” Alice, she is no longer the ten year old she was when he obtained her, and he is trying to hold on to her youth by under-feeding her, getting her shaved, and putting her in too-small clothing. These efforts are in vain, and Alice feels that he’s going to kill her soon, as she’s growing out of his preferred age.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is one of the bleakest novels I’ve read, even of this genre. This is not a book to read if you want a happy ending, if despair and suffering and abuse without end turns you off of a book. I would only tell you to read this if you’re really into young adult contemporary abuse novels, like me.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Also, important to mention is that Alice is not the average fictional victim, and she’s certainly not a heroine. She doesn’t long to see her family again, she longs for death. She has not become a good person, she has become cruel and bitter. She uses sex to hurt others, and she craves to break people so that they’re as messed up as her. At one point, Ray decides to obtain another little girl, and Alice is more than willing to pass off her messed up situation to someone else. This cruelty in Alice does not bother me, and I actually found it to be refreshing and new, but I’m sure it would upset many.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Although I didn’t actually like Living Dead Girl, I would say it’s worth giving it a try and seeing if it’s more your style. With that said, I probably wouldn’t read anything else by this author. </span></div>
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Jaclynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00968157349105648322noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3320393407513365379.post-69583599123561025902012-08-30T10:42:00.000-04:002013-08-27T23:37:25.608-04:00Angelfall [ Penryn and The End of Days #1 ] by Susan Ee<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Title</b>: Angelfall</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Series</b>: Penryn and The End of Days</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Author</b>: Susan Ee</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Publication Date</b>: May 21st, 2011</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Feral Dream</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>ISBN</b>: 0983597014 </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Rating</b>: 5 stars</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Angelfall is a post-apocalyptic novel in which angels have taken over earth in a reign of terror. People must abandon their old lives in a fight to stay alive, so gangs roam the streets, cars are lined up on the highway, and individuals take cover in abandoned houses until someone stronger comes along and either kills them or kicks them out. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In this chaotic new world, our heroine, Penryn, is just trying to take care of her occasionally violent mentally-ill mother and her crippled little sister. When things get stressful, Penryn is usually abandoned by her mother, forcing her to be able to protect herself as well as her sister. This is how the story begins, when they witness a fight among a few angels, and Penryn rashly decides to help one of them (all on her own) after his wings have been cut off. All seems to be going better than could be expected, up until one of the angels flies away with Penryn’s sister.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So Penryn goes on a quest to get her sister back, and our lovable douchebag of an angel, Raffe, travels with her in an attempt to get his wings back. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The first half of the novel is a pretty straightforward supernatural post-apocalyptic survival story. We get to know our two main characters more, as well as meet others – primarily a human resistance group that plans on striking against the angels and taking earth back. It’s clear early on – just due to trends in young adult books, not because of any misstep on the author’s part – that Penryn and Raffe are going to end up together. Fortunately, it’s not a case of insta-love, as Penryn actually doesn’t like Raffe at first, and at times contemplates allowing him to die. No, it’s a gradual build-up, first with attraction, and then culminating into a genuine affection, although it’s never really a functional, healthy relationship. To be honest, I tend to be rather ambivalent about designated love interests, but I really liked the relationship and chemistry of Raffe and Penryn. I was rooting for them to get together, although I enjoyed all of the tension and arguments, as well.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">While I quite enjoyed the first part of the novel, it was the second half that made this a five star book. Goodness, the second part of the book…we meet our villainous angels, who are as dastardly and charismatic as I could ever hope for, and things take a turn for the creepy. There’s some serious Silent Hill-esque creatures, medical experimentation, and a scary but heartbreaking twist. Everything is just perfect. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I loved all of the characters. From our main characters to our resistance members to our villains – all of which I’m sure we’ll get to know much better in the next installment of the series – the characters were interesting, engrossing, and never one-dimensional. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I never expected to absolutely adore this book as much as I do. It’s one of my favorite books I have ever read, and I plan on reading it over, and over, and over, especially in anticipation of the next part of the series. I would recommend this to anyone who reads young adult, or likes creepy things, or dystopias, or…well, anything, really. I just cannot get enough of Angelfall, and I’m seriously excited for the next book.</span></div>
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Jaclynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00968157349105648322noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3320393407513365379.post-46941726109940811612012-08-30T10:37:00.001-04:002012-09-07T09:59:13.877-04:00Update!<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sorry I've been MIA, I've been starting a new year of school, as well as moving into a new apartment. But another review is coming today, and then hopefully everyday after! :)</span>Jaclynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00968157349105648322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3320393407513365379.post-24002179511725176452012-08-17T22:26:00.000-04:002013-08-27T23:37:46.189-04:00Some Girls Are by Courtney Summers [ TW: RAPE ]<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Title</b>: Some Girls Are<br /><b>Author</b>: Courtney Summers<br /><b>Publication Date</b>: January 5th, 2010<br /><b>Publisher</b>: St. Martin's Griffin<br /><b>ISBN</b>: 0312573804 <br /><b>Rating</b>: 4 stars<br /><br /> I love characters that everyone else hates. I love the asshole jocks, the douche villains, and especially, the evil popular girls. So a book where the main character is one of the mean girls? Even though it could go so terribly, terribly wrong, I am immediately intrigued.<br /><br /> And thankfully, Some Girls Are got it so very right.<br /><br /> Regina Afton is one of the most popular girls in school, being the best friend and second-in-command of Anna Morrison, the school’s queen bee. Her clique is deliciously vicious – they start rumor campaigns, they destroy reputations, they ruin lives. Regina and her friends are those girls that everyone loves/hates. However, one party changes Regina’s social status overnight, when Anna’s boyfriend comes very close to raping her. In her desperation, Regina goes to the only person she can, Kara, a frenemy and member of her clique. This was the wrong move, and Kara takes this opportunity to ruin her reputation by convincing Anna that Regina had sex with her boyfriend behind her back. </span><br />
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<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /><br /> One of the things that makes me want to gush is that Courtney Summers doesn’t make Regina a good person. She’s not the unwitting accomplice to Anna Morrison’s alpha bitch, she doesn’t have a change of heart, she doesn’t decide that she wants to be a better person. She’s just a mean girl that we can sympathize with. And we sympathize with her because Courtney Summers makes these characters real. They’re three-dimensional, and they’re unforgivable, completely bad people, and I love them.<br /><br /> When Regina decides she wants to take Anna down, it’s not to save other students from her reign of terror, and it’s certainly not because she thinks it’s the right thing to do. It’s because she wants revenge. Some people were disappointed with the fact that Regina doesn’t morph into a good person, but I am so glad, and it seems so much more real that way. <br /><br /> Right after Regina loses her spot at her lunch table and with Anna and the others, she becomes anxious – she can’t be alone, so she sits next to Michael, a boy she has bullied in the past. Michael might be the only decent person in this book, and even then, he can be kind of a jerk at times – although he is completely justified. Michael seems indifferent (if a little irritated) by Regina’s presence at first, but it doesn’t take a lot for him to blow up at her and her self-centered audaciousness. As anyone can guess, Regina and Michael end up having a romance. I’m not convinced that it’s a completely functional relationship, but that might be one of the reasons I loved it so much. Their chemistry was palpable, their issues were real, and I couldn’t help but route for them to get together and somehow, despite their multitude of problems, make it work. <br /><br /> The other characters – from Regina’s ex to Anna herself – don’t make it easy for Regina to be happy, with or without Michael. This book is brutal, and those girls are downright abusive. Not only do they torment Regina emotionally, but there’s a good deal of violence, as well. Anyone who is a fan of three-dimensional douchebags, good contemporary young adult, or high school dramas, or just a plain good book with wonderful prose and great characters, should give Some Girls Are a chance. </span>Jaclynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00968157349105648322noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3320393407513365379.post-1049336465358465812012-08-15T23:44:00.000-04:002013-08-27T23:38:05.551-04:00Wake [ Dream Catcher #1 ] by Lisa McMann<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Title</b>: Wake</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Series</b>: Dream Catcher</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Author</b>: Lisa McMann</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Publication Date</b>: March 4th, 2008</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Simon Pulse</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>ISBN</b>: 1416953574 </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Rating</b>: 1 star</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Janie is a teenage girl with a tough life. In addition to being poor and having a drunk, emotionally negligent mother, Janie has the burden of experiencing the dreams of others. If someone falls asleep and begins to dream, Janie comes right along for the ride. This becomes a huge problem when she begins to experience someone’s nightmares, which affect her so strongly that she has violent seizures.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This book sounded so interesting! Dreams are so fascinating, there are so many directions to go, and with the addition of horrible nightmares? It just seemed like such a great concept. The execution, however, was most disappointing, and I really struggled with finishing this book. It’s a short book, too, and I just wanted to drop it. I have the entire series, so I’m in the midst of debating whether or not I’m enough of a masochist to go ahead and read them, too.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, why was this book so bad? First off, the dreams themselves were so boring. The dream sequences weren’t fun. They weren’t interesting. They did not let us get to know the characters that were experiencing them. In fact, most of the dreams were such clichés, that I don’t understand why the author chose to make a dream-based book if she had no fresh ideas. Really, the only dreams we see are those overdone showing up in nothing but your underwear dreams and sex dreams. They dragged and were so dull that I wonder if the author wanted to just get the dream scenes over with to get to the romance.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">However, the romance wasn’t any better. Janie and her love interest, Cabel, were both as interesting as cardboard. There was no chemistry, but really, that was no feeling of any sort in this book. I didn’t have the slightest concern or care about any of the characters, the plot, anything. Anyway, Janie more than experiences Cabel’s dreams – which are, by the way, the aforementioned nightmares – she participates. But that doesn’t make it any more interesting. Cabel is, apparently, a “bad boy.” Janie learns that he sells drugs, has a bunch of sex, and has a troubled past. Their relationship becomes strained when she finds out that he is involved with a flat, one-dimensional popular character. Like everything else in this book, however, it seemed completely forced.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Not only were the characters and the plot a hot mess, but the writing was just completely not my style. The sentences were insanely choppy, and the skill level seemed like that of an average eighth grade English student. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I might read the rest of the series, but even that thought exhausts me. I wouldn’t recommend this book to anyone, and I plan on getting rid of it pretty soon. I’d really like to cast it out of my mind.</span><br />
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Jaclynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00968157349105648322noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3320393407513365379.post-67642810066580697842012-08-15T23:39:00.000-04:002013-08-27T23:38:38.750-04:00Graceling [ Graceling Realm #1 ] by Kristin Cashore<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Title</b>: Graceling</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Series</b>: Graceling Realm</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Author</b>: Kristin Cashore</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Publication Date</b>: October 1st, 2008</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Harcourt</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>ISBN</b>: 015206396X </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Rating</b>: 3 stars</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Some people in the Seven Kingdoms are born with a “Grace”, an extreme skill that manifests itself at a young age, and is marked by heterochromia. One can be graced with a multitude of different things, from cooking to dancing to mind-reading. Our heroine, Katsa, is graced with killing, and she is exploited as King Randa’s personal assassin slash torturer. Unexpectedly, she meets a graced fighter, and she cannot help but become his friend. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The world of Graceling is fascinating, and one of the strongest points of the novel, although fans of intricate worldbuilding ala George R.R. Martin are bound to be disappointed. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I found the prose to be quite lovely, and I believe Kristin Cashore is a talented author. With that said, the pacing was occasionally problematic, and I often felt that there was too much about Po and Katsa’s relationship and not enough about the actual plot. It was so relationship-driven that I sometimes felt like that <i>was </i>the plot itself, as opposed to saving the Seven Kingdoms from an evil king with a dangerous Grace. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There were also too many scenes with little action – scenes of riding around on horseback without anything happening. The bulk of the action, when the plot actually comes to head, ends as abruptly as it came. We spend almost no time with our villain, and if there’s one thing I can’t stand, it’s an underdeveloped villain! I just wish a few chapters of Po and Katsa’s trekking to their destination were cut in favor of expanding the actual drama and plot.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now, that doesn’t mean I didn’t like Katsa and Po’s relationship. Quite the contrary, I can’t recall the last time I’ve rooted for such a functional, fluffy couple. Anytime Katsa and Po had problems, they tended to talk it out and fix it. It was so different from most young adult relationships, and I was very surprised that I was as invested as I was.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The characters were another strong point of the novel, and although Katsa and Po (and a bit of Bitterblue) are the only ones who get to be properly fleshed out, I was intrigued by even the more minor of characters. I’m excited to see more of these characters in later books.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Despite some of the shortcomings of Graceling, I still immensely enjoyed it, and I’m eager to read the rest of the trilogy. I would recommend it to anyone who reads young adult fantasy and wouldn’t be put off by the fact that Katsa wants neither marriage nor children – something I had absolutely no problem with. </span><br />
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Jaclynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00968157349105648322noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3320393407513365379.post-33863062350543441772012-08-09T08:09:00.001-04:002013-08-27T23:36:02.178-04:00Sisters Red [ Fairytale Retellings #1 ] by Jackson Pearce<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir9MsmMMNMKQd-AJkEEW4JWmgkxVhiHEoW2fvvAXGihDOuGJFwh8ZMtYzpQmtchzH8HyNYSbYyYvKCSY2uao18zp1yAzKDO9u_cse5U1uUXammbOwegla3L0aE9lHR8AobiezG5PoZk4Ya/s1600/6357708.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir9MsmMMNMKQd-AJkEEW4JWmgkxVhiHEoW2fvvAXGihDOuGJFwh8ZMtYzpQmtchzH8HyNYSbYyYvKCSY2uao18zp1yAzKDO9u_cse5U1uUXammbOwegla3L0aE9lHR8AobiezG5PoZk4Ya/s320/6357708.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Title</b>: Sisters Red</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Series</b>: Fairytale Retellings</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Author</b>: Jackson Pearce</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Publication Date</b>: June 7th, 2010</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Publisher</b>: Little Brown</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>ISBN</b>: 0316068683</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Rating</b>: 3 stars</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I wanted so, so much more from this book than it gave me. I expected an epic sister relationship, badass girls, horror, creepiness, some sort of monster-of-the-week type of format, and a new favorite book. I was so let down; I was given very little of what I was looking for.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Sisters Red is a Little Red Riding Hood retelling. The main characters are Rosie and Scarlett March, two teenage werewolf hunters. Scarlett is scarred – like, actually scarred, not typical YA fantasy scarred – from an encounter with a werewolf in her childhood. She lives for the hunt, and she loves nothing more than killing the wolves. Rosie, on the other hand, mostly hunts because she feels like it’s her duty, and because she feels like she owes her life to Scarlett. They are close with a fellow hunter, Silas, who is close to Scarlett’s age, and like Rosie, does not live for the hunt.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I actually loved Scarlett and Rosie. I thought they were great characters, and I loved them together, even when they weren’t getting along. They were both flawed, three-dimensional characters, and I am far more attached to them than I am the book as a whole. I thought werewolf hunting sisters was a fresh take on the Little Red Riding Hood tale. Really, the premise was so promising, and with such awesome main characters, how could this book end up so dull?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">First off, isn’t this supposed to be a horror book? I don’t see how it is! It never picked up the pace. Basically, Scarlett (and sometimes Rosie) go around killing werewolves – known as fenris. But it’s never challenging – even when they are in danger, you know they’re going to win, you don’t feel like anything is at stake. I like being on the edge of my seat, irrationally scared of the outcome even if, logically, I know there are 100 more pages left, so the characters obviously live. This book didn’t give me that suspense that is so integral in a horror book. Nor did it give me any creepiness in place of suspense.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Which brings me to my next point: the fenris were SO bland. The fenris were all interchangeable, which made for very uninteresting villains. I didn’t expect woobified, angsty wolves – I didn’t even expect any of the fenris to get a whole lot of depth -- but a weak villain makes for a weak book. Briefly, it seemed like we might get something more than the rapey, bland fenris with guttural growls (seriously, how many times was “guttural” used in this book?) when we meet a character in Rosie’s tango class, but we never see him again. What a wasted opportunity.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The actual plot takes a really long time to develop, and when it does, the book doesn’t get any better for it! Scarlett, Rosie, and Silas (who Rosie has developed feelings for), are looking for something called a “Potential”. A Potential is a person who can be changed into a werewolf – and all the wolves are looking for him, too. So this new plot is unveiled, and…what? They mostly spend their time talking about how they have no idea how to find him.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">During this time, Rosie and Silas develop a relationship behind Scarlett’s back. I was actually glad when Rosie and Silas finally got together – not because I cared for their relationship, but because I was glad Rosie got what she wanted. Actually, their relationship was kind of boring. While Rosie and Silas are enjoying happy make-out sessions, Scarlett is spending time with her true love: hunting. Now, I quite love Scarlett, flaws and all, but there was a very problematic aspect in Scarlett’s narration. She finds these girls she dubs “Dragonflies” – they are pretty, giggly, and blissfully unaware of the supernatural around them. She resents them, she considers them vapid, stupid, and she actually says (well, thinks) that they are bringing on any attacks themselves. She completely victim-blames, and I saw nothing in the text to indicate that we weren’t supposed to agree with her.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The plot finally thickens in the last few pages of the book, and there’s a bit of suspense when we’re unsure of if Rosie’s going to get out of a certain predicament and if they’re all going to survive. (SPOILER ALERT!) I was a bit bummed that they do all survive, although I was happy for Rosie’s sake, because it seemed like a bit of a cop-out. I was extremely displeased with the conclusion of Sisters Red – Rosie and Scarlett split up, and Rosie goes to live with Silas. The sisters should have stayed together! This was supposed to be seen as a happy ending, but I hated it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Although this book wasn’t quite up to par, I will definitely be reading the sequel. Depending on how I enjoy that will determine whether or not I’ll continue reading Jackson Pearce’s works. I’m hoping Sweetly will succeed where Sisters Red failed, but I’m not going into it with super high expectations.</span>Jaclynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00968157349105648322noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3320393407513365379.post-3825608691823750622012-08-09T06:35:00.001-04:002013-08-27T23:38:57.744-04:00The Mockingbirds [ The Mockingbirds #1 ] by Daisy Whitney [ TW: rape ]<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo2ggV1jlAgB1esp0GVVcYAQujopHHGJCxahBDdED8pLaYDdXWs_qvD3MAbxMQyDI3D5wP3phoCnWQa2uBRen1rrZKaZXM0r2E7N06OCz84egb-WD6A21lF7TzJ8zCWUCX9A_X6QCMt9om/s1600/6882274.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans; font-size: 11px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo2ggV1jlAgB1esp0GVVcYAQujopHHGJCxahBDdED8pLaYDdXWs_qvD3MAbxMQyDI3D5wP3phoCnWQa2uBRen1rrZKaZXM0r2E7N06OCz84egb-WD6A21lF7TzJ8zCWUCX9A_X6QCMt9om/s320/6882274.jpg" width="210" /></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 14px;"><b>Title</b>: The Mockingbirds</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 14px;"><b>Series</b>: The Mockingbirds</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 14px;"><b>Author</b>: Daisy Whitney</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 14px;"><b>Publication Date</b>: November 2nd, 2010</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 14px;"><b>Publisher</b>: Little Brown</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 14px;"><b>ISBN</b>: 0316090530</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 14px;"><b>Rating</b>: 2 stars</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 14px;">The Mockingbirds was intended to be a quick read while I was sitting in Starbucks one day with a craving for some high school drama. I had seen mixed reviews for the book, so I went into it not expecting a whole lot. Unfortunately, my expectations were met.</span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 14px;">Our protagonist is Alex, a teenage girl at a boarding school that demands excellence. After a night partying and drinking, she is raped by another student – Carter. The first part of the book primarily deals with the question of whether she was raped or not, as she cannot recall the details, and is, at first, unsure of if she just made a mistake or if Carter took advantage of her. Eventually she decides that, yes, it was rape, as she was in no state to consent, and so she calls on the Mockingbirds, a sort of secret society at Themis Academy that try and punish other students.</span></span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 14px;">First, let’s get one thing clear – this isn’t a bad book, it just wasn’t for me for a few reasons I will expand on shortly. Second, a lot of the criticism of this book came from the fact that some people believed that Carter did not, in fact, rape Alex. I am not one of those reviewers, and I believe that it was CLEARLY rape, and it is somewhat confusing that this is a contested fact. </span></span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 14px;">I found much of the book cartoonish and over-the-top. This is especially noticeable in the beginning of the book, and although it decreases later on, it definitely impeded my getting absorbed into the story. Alex’s sarcasm is ridiculous – she doesn’t have that dry, witty sarcasm, but has that over-the-top sort of immature sarcasm of “yeah, okay, whatever.” Random scenes she imagines will be described to us when they really don’t need to be – for example, Alex hears the phrase “knock out” and so we get half a page of her imagining herself in a boxing ring. It just seems unrealistic and like a bit of a caricature of the way minds really work.</span></span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 14px;">Themis Academy seemed to be suffering from a bit of <a href="http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AdultsAreUseless">Adults Are Useless</a>. The faculty doesn’t believe that the students behave badly, so The Mockingbirds are the law. Maybe this wouldn’t bother me so much if they went to the police with their evidence, or forced the school to take notice, but that’s not the case. The punishment for every case is that the guilty party must relinquish what they love most. So if Carter is found guilty, his punishment is that he gives up water polo.</span></span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 14px;">Giving up water polo. For raping a girl. I’d prefer him to be put in jail, get expelled, get put on a sex offender registry, SOMETHING. But giving up water polo? Really? That’s just offensive.</span></span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 14px;">I wasn’t invested in any of the characters. Of course, I wanted Carter to be found guilty, but this was less for Alex’s sake and more for the principle of the thing. Alex’s friends seemed to each have one specific personality trait that was played up, so they didn’t seem like real people. Instead of any sort of character development or fleshing out personalities, more attention was given to describing their outfits. The teachers were useless. It’s unfair to call them characters, really, they were just there to show that Alex couldn’t get help from the school. </span></span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 14px;">Oh, Alex entered into a relationship with one of the Mockingbirds, Martin. I didn’t buy the romance at all, primarily because the text claims they were in love. There was very little chemistry, and I thought it was more realistic when it seemed like Alex was using Martin to get over her trauma. Towards the beginning of the book, Martin was introduced as a guy Alex only really knows because he’s friends with her best friend’s boyfriend. Then, towards the middle, they begin to strengthen their friendship, and that was believable and totally fine. Then, suddenly, Alex remembers that she wanted to be with Martin at the party where she got drunk, and not long after, they’re admitting their love for each other. It was just kind of an abrupt change.</span></span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 14px;">So, The Mockingbirds isn’t a keeper for me, unfortunately, and it wasn’t the most enjoyable read. I had to force myself to finish it over the course of three days, when I was whizzing through other books and dreading having to re-open this one. I might still read other works by the author if the synopsis catches my eye, but I’m not reading the sequel. </span></span><br />
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Jaclynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00968157349105648322noreply@blogger.com0