Going Too Far by Jennifer Echols

Title: Going Too Far
Author: Jennifer Echols
Publication Date: March 17th, 2009
Publisher: Pocket Books
ISBN: 1416571736 
Rating: 2 stars

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.

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Touch of Power [ Healer # 1 ] by Maria V. Snyder

Title: Touch of Power
Series: Healer
Author: Maria V. Snyder
Publication Date: December 20th, 2011
Publisher: Mira
ISBN: 0778313077 
Rating: 4 stars

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.

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Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott [ TW: RAPE ]

Title: Living Dead Girl
Author: Elizabeth Scott
Publication Date: September 2nd, 2008
Publisher: Simon Pulse
ISBN: 1416960597 
Rating: 2 stars

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.


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The Mockingbirds [ The Mockingbirds #1 ] by Daisy Whitney [ TW: rape ]

Title: The Mockingbirds
Series: The Mockingbirds
Author: Daisy Whitney
Publication Date: November 2nd, 2010
Publisher: Little Brown
ISBN: 0316090530
Rating: 2 stars

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.

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.

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