snark (reading) lady

3.5 starsA good book that I probably don't have a lot to say about because it was so perfectly, middle of the road, solidly and completely good. Something Like Normal tells the story of Travis as he visits home for the first time since enlisting in the Marines. He comes home physically intact, but suffering from PTSD after witnessing the death of his best friend in Afghanistan. Travis navigates the life he left behind, the tricks his mind plays on him, nightmares, and even has time for a pretty girl who helps him through it all. I really, really liked Travis' voice. I'll admit that I sometimes have trouble reading male narratives. Or maybe just the badly done ones. But Trish Doller gets it right with Travis, I think. He felt genuine. All the things he is as a young war veteran come out in his thoughts and actions. He's a little crude, but he's also learned and aged a lot in his time away. He makes mistakes still, but he's learning how to own them. I'm not sure if I'm telling you I enjoyed reading him or that I want to date him. He's a little young for me, though, so we'll move on. My favorite parts of the book were Travis' relationship with his mom and with his Marine buddies. Mostly with his mom, though because it made my heart swell.Not as favorite was Travis' relationship with his father and brother, which sort of faded off into the distance and were only ever touched upon briefly. Superficially. There were big, gray, issues here but they weren't handled as deftly as the PTSD, etc.The romance aspect of it was okay. Nothing out of the ordinary. My main gripe was with Harper herself, who was basically a Mary Sue disguised in worn jeans and ratty t-shirts. She was almost too good to be true, considering what Travis did to her, past and present. But it's fine. Sweet, even, and it helped advance the story and get Trav to where he was going. I don't want to get into a discussion about politics or the military, which Doller does a nice job of avoiding in favor of the story, but one thing this book really made me realize, really made me digest, is how young soldiers can be. In one scene, Travis' mother looks at him disapprovingly when he orders beer because he isn't old enough. It's so strange to think about it, especially when he tells him mother, "I'm a veteran of a foreign war." (paraphrased.) I say, pour him another one. Like I said, a good story. If you really love contemporary YA, this wouldn't be a bad one for you to pursue. Lastly: I am such a dork for stories set in Florida. It's so sad. So very, very sad.

Weird and embarrassing confession time! So. When my sisters and I were little, we were kind of obsessed with watching "Days of Our Lives" during summer breaks. We got really into the story lines. So much so, that we made it a habit to block the clock near the TV, because it would stress us out to see the time. I mean, if something crazy was happening and it was 1:45, you just KNEW it wasn't going to get resolved that day, you know? I was reminded of that, the stressed out feeling, while reading this book. I turned page after page and I felt myself getting anxious. Another page and I feared for the resolution. Another page and I had to stop glancing down at my progress. I banned myself from looking at it, banned myself for calculating how much resolution the author could possible give us as the end drew near.All that to say: well done Courtney Summers. A lot of times when I comment on pacing, it's to say that the author has propelled us forward through their story. Most of the time it's about momentum and being able to get through something quickly. What I want to say about Summers is that she controlled her pacing expertly. There's a chunk of the book where close to nothing happens as these kids spend their days barricaded indoors, but she balances this out so well with the action at the end, and the character developments. It was well crafted. Next I should say that I read some reviews complaining about how this wasn't a zombie book and I tend to roll my eyes at that. The zombies are not at the forefront, so if that's all you want, a book full of zombies and blood, fine. This isn't for you. I saw a few questions about why Summers included zombies at all, and why not nuclear warfare or, I don't know, the bubonic plague. Uh. Because it's her book and she chose zombies. I'm not really sure where this argument is going. No, the zombie aren't at the forefront but they added a wonderful element to the story. They are dark and gruesome and I don't think it was gratuitous because Summer's story and characters were already dark and gruesome. They complimented each other. The zombies, walking around with a hunger our characters could feel, served as a foil for main character Sloane Price. It fit together in this story, that the end of her world would come at the hands of walking dead, when she's felt like a dead woman walking for a long time. And that's what sets apart this end of days book from others that I've read. Sloane Price doesn't want to live. She had resigned herself to dying before the outbreak. The end of the world doesn't change how Sloane feels about life or about living it. How do you survive when you don't want to live? It's such an interesting character study. I'll admit that I had a little bit of trouble through the first few chapters. 1.) Sloane's narration is a little choppy. It's all short observations and incomplete phrases. 2.) Sloane is not a very happy person. At first it was so morose, that I kind of wanted to shake her. It all settled into place, though. The narration style fits the story. Forgive the word, but it's raw. Summers manages to convey so much in her stripped narrative, observing and commenting on life and survival in a cut-to-the-chase manner that I loved. Yep. I ended up loving what I didn't like at first. Sloane's, uh, pessimistic outlook on life settles as well. You understand her more, you understand what brought her to this point, and as the world falls apart around her, it becomes easier to relate to. The surrounding characters are all good, even the one I disliked. They are all flawed and dealing with their own losses. I loved what each one of them added to the group dynamic. I won't tell you how it ends, but I will say that it is vague with just a slight tinge of hopefulness. Or maybe not, depending on how you read it. It's left as open ended as I imagine a post-apocalyptic world would be. Overall, I really enjoyed reading this. It didn't quite feel like my version of a five star book, but I understand anyone who marks it that way. I'm off to mark Ms. Summers' other books as to-read. The thing no one tells you about surviving, about the mere act of holding out, is how many hours are nothing because nothing happens. They also don't tell you about how you can share you deepest secrets with someone, kiss them, and the next hour it's like there's nothing between you because not everything can mean something all the time or you'd be crushed under the weight of it.

I'd say there are spoilers in this review, but since there is very little by way of plot it's almost like a warning isn't even necessary! But, yeah. There are spoilers. Before I finished this book, I came across a statement made by one of the book's villains and it was a better recap than I could ever, ever write. I copied it, knowing that it needed to make its way into my review. After looking over lots of the other reviews, I see my idea isn't a unique one. But, it must be said: In this lifetime you're nothing more than you appear to be: a stupid, selfish, ignorant, spoiled, little girl who thinks the world lives or dies on whether she gets to go out with some good-looking boy at school."Oh, hey, villain? WORD. It's a sad day for a book when I most agree with something said by a poorly developed antagonist who came out of left field, also known as the field of thinly veiled contrivance. I'm getting ahead of myself. I figured I'd read this book because I saw some talk about the recently released final installment in the series. I figured I'd catch up, see what the hype was about, KILL BRAIN CELLS -- except that no, I didn't actually count on that last thing happening, but alas. Fallen tells the story of Lucinda Price. Shortly before we join the story, her boyfriend Trevor spontaneously combusts and she sees shadows no one else sees, so she's sent to reform school, and not a psych ward, because that's logical. Let's talk about the reform school. I understand that our story has angels and demons. That's fine. Other than that, though, we're supposed to be reading about present time in our known universe, right? I just cannot accept that this school, Sword & Cross EXISTS in our world. I mean, it's bad enough that this book suffers from something YA books are prone to: absent-adult-syndrome. Except that we're supposed to be in A REFORM SCHOOL. I understand if the author didn't want adults in the story, BUT THEN WHY SET IT IN A REFORM SCHOOL. Seriously, don't mention things like high security and cameras and crap like that, WHEN YOU ARE GOING TO MAKE IT SO EASY TO GET AROUND THEM. The school itself is built next to a cemetery, the pool is in the middle of an old church and a number of the buildings have civil war era tunnels. REALLY? ALL IN ONE SCHOOL? The kids at Sword & Cross really didn't seem all that criminal to me. The worst we are told about them is that they have piercings or have bumper stickers on their dorm doors. It's poor character development.I mentioned that Luce's boyfriend Trevor explodes, setting the story in motion. Thing is, that's never explained. EVER. I'm not sure if it comes up in later books, but that would be too little, too late. So, here comes Luce into the Unlikely and Contrived School for Reforming Hardly Criminals. She meets a few characters but no one makes an impression on her quite like Daniel Grigori. He's super hot, bathed in light and DUN DUN DUN, he flicks her off. Luce is distraught. She's just been transferred to a new school, it's basically falling apart, it's next to a cemetery, it stinks, she can't talk to her parents or her old friends BUT WHAT REALLY BOTHERS HER IS THAT A REFORM SCHOOL BOY FLICKS HER OFF. She spends pages and pages wondering what his problem is and, seriously, this should not be a major plot point. Get over it. What comes next is a ton of pages of Daniel treating Luce like crap but Luce feeling like they know each other and are meant to be and like she loves him. I have so many problems with this romance. 1.) It's a "we're meant to be" romance. It's a "I've loved you all my life" romance. I'm not critiquing it in essence, but only because of what this means for the reader. It's never SHOWN to us. We're only told about how they are meant to be together but we DON'T KNOW WHY. We don't know anything about how Luce and Daniel fit together. I mean, the most I can say is that they both like swimming but that hardly seems like the foundation for a love of ages. We don't know anything about Daniel and get no sense of personality or character traits. Through the story we only get brief glimpses of him being a dick, or at the very best, being mercurial. I don't care how many times you tell me that these two people are epically in love, you haven't shown me anything or made me care. Your characters are flat and so it doesn't matter how much electricity they feel when they touch. I'm over here wishing they'll be standing in a puddle the next time it happens. 2.) Daniel spends a better part of the book making Luce feel bad. We're supposed to be okay with this because he CAN'T be nice to her because she might disintegrate if he is. (Actual and true plot point.) I don't fucking care. You've basically subjected your female lead to shitty treatment from a boy. He insults her, lies to her, flicks her off, ignores her, leaves her stranded, and we're supposed to be okay with all of that because they are meant to be. Bite me, Lauren Kate. 3.) The romance doesn't make sense. She dies every time you kiss her? STOP KISSING HER YOU SELFISH PRICK. She shows up every 17 years? RUN THE HELL AWAY.I'd be hard pressed to recall examples of other books with comparably flimsy plots. A person dies here or there, but none of it matters because all Luce talks about is Daniel. Why doesn't Daniel like her? Why doesn't Daniel want to kiss? Someone just died in an unexplained fire? Let's get over that immediately and instead focus on finding a book tied to Daniel because of, um... um... reasons. And, of course, there is the fact that Kate opens with a prologue that essentially gives the whole book away. Doesn't matter. Lauren Kate doesn't care. She made her heroine stupid as hell, and we get to suffer through all of her transparent excuse for a plot while Luce refuses to catch on. The big reveal that Daniel is a FALLEN angel is actually a slap in the face to anyone who invested any time in this book. Yeah, thanks, your book is called FALLEN. We got that. Kate tries to shroud her story in mystery but what she actually does is leave the reader with nothing. We get no explanations, no satisfaction, no logic, no characters worth liking or rooting for, and then, finally, we're left with no will to live. Just kidding! But this book did make me want to kick puppies.

3.5 starsI started off wanting to hate on this book. Somewhere along the middle, I really wanted to like it. Clearly, as is true more often than not with me, I have mixed feelings.For Darkness Shows the Stars is a retelling of Persuasion by Jane Austen. To simplify, it's Persuasion meets a light dystopic sci-fi. It's ambitious to say the least, the way that all retellings are. And this isn't based on any book, but on Persuasion which is arguably the best novel of one of history's most beloved authors. For Darkness manages to stay dutifully faithful to the source material, and yet, at points strips it of what is so essentially Persuasion. Then again, there were so many times I wished that this book had nothing to do with Austen, and that we could explore the world independently. Peterfreund introduces to us the world of Elliot North. Experimentation in genetic manipulation has brought on consequences that no one involved could've foreseen. The population has been "reduced," that is, turned to a state of limited understanding and speech and thus ability to care for themselves. The only ones that survived being reduced were the Luddites, a group of people who refused any of the genetic enhancements and instead hid in under ground caverns while their world succumbed to war and destruction. When the Luddites emerges, they found the Reduced population and pledged to care for and provide for them. In exchange, of course, for the free labor of the Reduced. So they lived, as slaves essentially. Things get even more complicated as Reduced start giving birth to Posts, "normal" humans born into this indentured lifestyle. There are Posts who start rebelling, running away, some to their detriment and some making their own fortunes and fates.I usually don't really give plot summaries in my reviews, but damn if that isn't some great and imaginative world building. It brought up so many arguments for and against genetic experimentation, exploration, risks and duty. I truly would've loved to have been in this world a little more detached from Persuasion or, at the heart of it, a little more removed from the LUURVE story. As much as our Elliot speaks and acts in favor of duty rather than her affections for her childhood sweetheart Malakai Wentforth, these are such big issues and too many times they were shirked in favor of the romantic entanglements. I mean, we all understand that this is slavery, right? There was passing mention of rape and very cruel circumstances for the Reduced and Posts, but it was so glossed over that it often made me uncomfortable. I mean, "My father can be cruel and our slaves are going hungry but OMG WENTFORTH LIKES ANOTHER GIRL.I know, I know. It's the story. It's the point. Elliot is 18 and not 27 like Anne, Austen's beloved and steady and mature protagonist. The point is betrayed love and second chances. It was just so distracting to have this bigger world built around it and then pushed aside. Even the end seemed a hasty wrap-up of it all. Suddenly the antagonist decides to up and leave, simply and off screen. Suddenly, the Posts and Reduced are working but there is no mention if they are paid or free. Sure there is food and education, but, what else? Oh, I know. LUUURVE.This is not to say Elliot North is not without her virtues. She is also steady and she does right by those she loves. She's brave in an understated way. She was worthy of being modeled after Anne. Even with it's fault, I think the world was one of the ways the retelling worked. I know that seems like I've just taken back everything I've said. Hear me out: the entire system of Reduced (being unable to communicate and so reliant on their Luddite masters) the Posts, the Luddites and being born into your station is a GREAT representation of the social system in place in Persuasion. Other parts of the retelling faltered. Anne Elliot was persuaded to stay because of a duty to her family that was a little less tangible than Elliot North's. Yes, Anne did take care of her family, but there was more about the social acceptability of the match. Anne was young and was made to think that it was right that she should stay. Elliot North herself decided to stay behind because she had the life of all the Reduced on her farm to consider. She was literally in charge of lives. This is not a bad plot point, by any means. It made me respect and like Elliot. It does little to represent Persuasion though. The state of mind Anne was in, 8 years later, knowing she'd let herself be mistakenly be persuaded, and the state of mind Elliot was in, four years later, knowing she made the right, moral high ground choice, drastically altered the story. And yet, the main plot points remained the same. It was a little jarring, I must admit, to have it changed but not changed. Am I still making sense? I'm going to assume so and keep rambling. I also wasn't a fan of the letter. Guys, it's THE LETTER. Wentforth's letter to Elliot didn't feel so much as a re-imagining as it did a dumbing down. Again, it was ambitious. THE LETTER from a romantic classic and you'd like to rewrite it? LOL. Good luck with that. All said and done, Peterfreund writes well. I have nothing to say against her writing or her characters. It took me one day to read this, though. Obviously, I knew how it would end, but Peterfreund created an easy and entertaining enough story that I still plowed through it. Plus, I'm partial to books that make me think or FEEL things and this did both. An ambitious work and one that in the end had its merits.

There are many reactions that an Austen fan gets when they confess themselves as such. Perhaps a shared fangirl squee. Maybe an "of course you are." Plenty of times it's the admission of not getting Austen. Of not enjoying "romance novels." Of being confused or bored by her prose.I carefully say that I am a fan, as I haven't yet made my way through all her works. More than anything, I love Pride and Prejudice with a deep, nostalgic, I've-read-it-a-million-times love.A friend of mine recently picked this up for a re-read, and her reading updates inspired me to give Persuasion a try. It took about three or four chapters before I liked Anne Elliot immensely and reading through the rest of the book was surprisingly easy. What Austen writes is more nuanced than just a romance novel. Her books, Persuasion included, are full of humor and smart commentary and little treats throughout the narration. I think it's all the better that my first time reading Persuasion has happened in my mid-twenties. Where while reading Pride and Prejudice I am all giggles and swoons, Persuasion had me relating and nodding sagely. Anne Elliot is the Austen character I've found so far the easiest to relate to. We've all had our opinions persuaded, we've all felt overlooked, we've all questioned the decisions of our family, we've all questioned our own past decisions. There we find Anne as she finds herself once again moving in the same social circle as Captain Wentworth, "the one that got away," to put it tritely. Anne is to be appreciated as a more mature Austen character. She has many admirable traits and many quirks that made me like her. I loved that at 27, and sort of lost in the shuffle of her life, losing consequence and being overlooked, her happiest moments are when she feels useful. Yes, girlfriend. I also loved that often times, she had to retreat, and sit in silence and consider her own thoughts.Though I didn't feel the relationship between Wentworth and Anne quite as much as Darcy and Elizabeth, I loved the themes the plot set up let Austen explore. I loved the relationship between Admiral and Mrs. Croft. It is not often that Austen gives us peeks of long lasting, happy marriages, and in the Crofts she comments on what she thought it ought to be. Sharing the reigns while driving sort of thing. A second favorite moment came when Anne was discussing the differences in feeling between women and men. More than agreeing with anything that was said, I loved it in context. And, of course, that conversation led the way for THE romantic moment in the book, Wentworth's letter to Anne.At the end, I can't really compare this to Pride and Prejudice. I loved that one longer and better. That said, I also can't give Persuasion anything less than five stars. For any faults you might find in Austen, she was not a one hit wonder. Here she provides another book to fall in love with, and I have no doubt that I will visit Anne again. And again, and again.

1.) I am not a Trekkie. I have watched episodes and I knew enough to know what a "redshirt" is and be intrigued. So, though I can appreciate and have basic knowledge of sci-fi series and tropes, I am not an expert.

 

2.) These are three fun stars. Because all said and done, and despite the problems I had with the book, I never stopped enjoying myself as I read it. It was incredibly easy to read and moved quite quickly. I'm sure most people would be able to manage it in one sitting. I did laugh, though not the LOL, fully belly shaking laughter some people have described in their reviews. I think I had one or two chuckles and an amused "mmm" or two. I also know, though, that many of the nods to other sci-fi works went over my head, so I lost LOL opportunities there.

 

Even though I liked this book and found it entertaining, I can't help but feel that there was so much more promise in the premise. We see fuller manifestations of that promise in the opening chapters and then in the three codas at the end. At the beginning, Andy Dahl, our protagonist, fumbles around as he figures out that something strange is going on- that nonsensical things happen on the ship, that people avoid particular crew members and that away missions are avoided at all costs. This opening action is full of humor but not yet beaten down with the meta hammer or bogged down by shoddy plot devices.

 

The truth is that Scalzi does what he intended by taking on these tropes. But. What we love to hate on TV doesn't completely work in novel form. It's easier, for example, to get away with a rotating cast of underdeveloped characters in a series than it is in a book. On TV we have visual clues. In the book, I kept asking myself, "who is this one again?" Most of the time, though, it didn't matter who "this one" was because the characters all bled together. The Girl, the Friend, um, the Other Friend... another guy... etc. There were no personalities, which again, is funny when you think about them being "redshirts" but is also a disservice to the book as a whole, as you read it.

 

The writing is okay. Even though all the characters were basically the same person, the bright side is that they were a funny person! I would call the dialogue a bright spot, except that Scalzi suffers from Bad Dialogue Tagging-itis, which isn't a real thing but should be. He ends nearly every line of dialogue with a so and so said. All those "saids" add up and it grates.

 

Despite my best efforts to accept it for what it is, I have a little bit of a problem with the plot. Scalzi uses this novel to poke fun at nonsensical plot devices used to solve unsolvable problems nice and neatly. Then, he employs one of these devices to solve all his problems, nice and neatly. Again, it's amusing to look at it in a "I see what you did there," sort of way. While you are reading it? In the middle of the book when things keep making less and less sense? At the end of it all when you couldn't explain what happened if someone asked you to? Meh.

 

The main action of the novel ends super abruptly. I was not expecting the end when it came and it really provided no satisfaction. It's a good thing the three codas at the end are great. They really helped wrap up the book, but also to infuse the fluffy plotting with a touch more gravity. Overall, I think bigger fans of the genre probably enjoyed this more than I could have. People like me, though, can still enjoy this easy, entertaining read as long as they are willing to accept it for what it is. I read this at the beach on Saturday afternoon. It was a nice fit.

I've been had. By a book.Firstly, I'm that indecisive girl who messes with her ratings every now and then. I've got this at four stars right now, but I don't know if it will stick. I do know, however, that "Gone Girl" is solidly between a three and a four and it all boils down to me not knowing if I liked it, or if I liked it liked it. Part of the problem is that Gillian Flynn has done her job well. You can tell that she set out to not give us characters to like or root for, but to present to us a study of a complex and ultimately deeply damaged couple, Nick and Amy Dunne. For the first quarter of the book, I HATED Nick Dunne. There was little for me to relate or hold on to in the first place, as I've never suffered an unhappy marriage, but on top of that I actively hated Nick. Then, the twists and turns start and I just didn't know who to hate anymore. The first quarter of the book is also slow. Yes, you have the big mystery present from the onset, but it doesn't actually start feeling like a mystery until way too far into the book. I was curious because I wanted to know what happened, but for the first 35% of the book, the author wasn't doing an amazing job of stringing that curiosity along.Once the thrills and spills start, I can't say that I ever once saw anything coming. Mostly because at that point, my emotions, mostly hatred and annoyance towards the main characters, were involved. I wasn't trying to guess what came next, I JUST NEEDED TO KNOW. One of the reasons I'm wavering on the rating is because I felt manipulated. Yes, authors do play on the emotions of their readers, but I just feel like the very best ones do so effortlessly. It's the old theater saying that to hear someone say, "that's a great actress" is not a very good compliment at all. You don't want the audience to feel like they are watching an actress; you want them to be lost in a character. I felt manipulated. I saw the strings. There were such big A-HA MISDIRECTION moments that it felt a little cheap in the grand scheme of things. But. Flynn made me care. She made me feel things. She made me want to know how it ended. And at the end, she made me care and feel things all over again. It's hard to rate a book with such unlikable characters. The taste that's left in my mouth is that dislike, but that doesn't mean the author's done a bad job, you know?If you are even remotely curious, I say go for it. If nothing else, reading this book will at least satisfy that curiosity.

"Girlchild" is about Rory Dawn, the self-proclaimed "feebleminded daughter of a feebleminded daughter," and yet the first word I'm filled with when thinking of how to describe this book is "smart."And there is so much more: heartbreaking and honest, fearless and unique, well-written and interesting, unflinching and real. I'll say two things here: 1.) I have a feeling that this book, and more Hassman's style is not for everyone and 2.) the first 1/4 of the book takes patience, mostly due to that style. Rory's tale is told in short vignettes and flashes, often out of chronological order and often through stories that contain small truths in underlying metaphors. It's choppy at first, but the more I pulled at the layers and the deeper I traveled into the story, the more I was hooked. I highly recommend this book to anyone who appreciates language or a turn of phrase. Hassman's writing is intelligent and cutting. She creates an interesting style with Rory, preserving an open, childlike air and yet commenting with so much wit on life at the Calle. There was a particular chapter than ended with a description of how karma caught up to the Hardware Man, and her words there made me audibly, "wow." Any book that elicits a reaction that makes the strangers around you think you are crazy has something to say for itself. If you are the type of reader that needs a meaty plot to be happy, perhaps this isn't the book for you. "Girlchild" is propelled forward by the characters, and you could almost say that very little "happens" comparatively. Characters, writing and style are key here, and they are all done well.I'd be lying if I said that every little chapter or flash story felt essential. There were a handful of times when I felt the drag of a particular chapter, but those moments were few, far between, and very outweighed by all that was good.Overall, one of the best novels I've read all year. I know I'm pretty tenderhearted, but this did a good job breaking my heart. I'll miss Rory Dawn, now that I'm done reading, and really, I don't think there is a better compliment to a writer.

I rated this book a three stars, but I can easily see how this might be a favorite with a younger reader. It is an ideal middle-grade book, one with a lot of heart and honesty and a beautiful concept. Aislinn is a great character, a 12-year old faced with her father's worsening alcoholism, caring for her four young siblings, losing her best friend and her first real crush. A's narrative voice is enjoyable and suitably young, yet perceptive. I felt for her and related to her and was really hoping for her until the last page.The story is a little climatically slow, so it's good that interest in A and her well being pull you along. I kept reading because I cared for Aislinn, but not because one specific plot point had any real pull. And then, there is the idea of the Dreamsleeves. I'll admit that I find it absolutely adorable. What a great idea, to be brave enough to put your dreams on your sleeve. I wish that this concept were featured more heavily in the book, or perhaps with more gravitas. The BIG dream was only worn for a second, though that may have been the point. It only takes a second of bravery, sort of thing. I don't know. I just would've loved to see the Dreamsleeves taken further. That was my only gripe, though. This was a sweet, easy read I would give my friends a thumbs up about if they picked it up. I would only actively recommend to younger readers.

There is no false advertising here: "Rape Girl" is exactly what you would expected it to be And while saying that this book is about rape would be stating the obvious, it is about rape and very little else. Valerie is our main character, yes, but everything we learn about her is in relation to the rape.What we get is a window; a brief snapshot of this moment in 16-year-old Valerie's life with very minimal help from the past or future. It provides a very focused look at the reactions and emotions following the incident, making it an interesting study, and one that hits close to home for me personally. The book moves relatively quickly, though it did take me a few chapters in the beginning before I was able to sink my teeth into it. I wish there'd been a bit more character development. Everyone in the novel is defined by Valerie and the Rape and where they stood after it. There are reactions, but it didn't feel like there were personalities. This is the same for Val. I felt for her, but I don't feel after reading this book like I knew her, apart from this one life-changing moment. The book felt simple and stripped down. There wasn't a lot of fancy writing or a lot of drama or many serious! talks! It felt like a naturally evolving tragedy, not a forced or over-wrought one, which I appreciated. As I said, this subject hits close to home for me and there were many times the emotions were so true to life. When Val was discussing feeling "less raped" than others in her support group, I'll admit that the sentiment made me tear. Overall, a short and simply written novel. There was room for improvement, but it was genuine and I believe that many people who have had similar experiences, or have loved ones who have, will easily fall into Valerie's story. ARC provided by NetGalley

Meh. I’ll follow up that very articulate statement with this: I did not like this book, but it isn’t bad enough to be marked as a one star. I save one stars for the very worst of evils, and this didn’t inspire that much dislike. This book didn’t inspire much of anything, really. I went into the book with no prejudices against Alyson Noel, as I’ve never read the Immortals series. To those of you who cringe at her name, though, I can say: LOL. I GET IT. Because really, it came to a point where if one more character "gazed" at another, I was going to drop kick a kitten. Holy shit she likes the word gaze.In “Fated,” Noel introduces us to Daire Santos. Used to a life with her jet-setting-make-up-artist-single mom, Daire’s 16th birthday brings about a change that means finally settling down with her absentee grandmother- the only person who has the answers to what’s happening to her. And the answer is, Daire is a Soul Seeker. I’d tell you what that is, but after 300+ pages I’m not really sure. They have powers? and stuff? And can travel through the worlds of the dead and the living. Yeeeeeeah. That’s my final answer. This is usually the point in the review where I highlight what was good about the book. The only answer I have for that is: the premise. It was interesting enough to get me to read, so hooray for potential, Noel. You’ve got a mean back of the book blurb. Now that that’s out of the way, here are my big problems with “Fated:”- Noel’s writing style and/or Daire’s narrative: Noel’s style is incredibly clunky. She infuses each bit of the story with so many descriptions it’s incredible the amount of text I was able to jump over. I’m not one to balk at description, Jane Eyre is one of my favorite books of all time, but again Noel’s writing is clunky. She uses three words where one would’ve been enough. Examples:“His wings fluttering, spreading, lifting him high into flight.” “Its clear thermal waters eliciting a fine misty heat that swirls and dances and skims along the surface.”“My need like a fever raging within- relieved only by the feel of his hands cupping my face, his lips meeting mine- merging and melding - tasting and teasing- the kiss so bewitching it causes a spark of images to blaze through my mind.”“Visions of a flower budding, blooming, falling from its stem, only to rise up and bud once again- fading into one of a crowd of dazzling souls that shine brighter than day, butting against souls turned so dark they blend with the night.” It only takes a few pages of this before I wanted to tell the author to STFU. It's bad news when you think your narrator talks too much.- I'm glad you've always known... The characters weren't anything special. The main problem was that there was very little plot, which translated to very little character development. We didn't learn anything about the characters. They didn't change. They didn't grow. Even the love interest never took off. See, he's literally the boy of her dreams. She pretty much fell in love with him before she ever met him.This sucks for the reader because we don't know him or love him yet. We have to take the author's word for their chemistry and deep, deep love, because we never get a whiff of it. These two barely talk. - What plot? Perhaps the above mentioned rambled style of narrative would not have grated quite as much if there were a meatier plot in between it. I usually make little notes if I know I’m going to write a review for a book. My first one for “Fated” was “34% in and we still don’t know shit.” The beginning of this book starts with a series of unlikely events, which is fine. I mean, I went into this book knowing that it was fantasy. The problem is that Daire talks about the unlikeliness of it so much that as a reader, I started to agree with her. Imagine that. The book’s main character swaying me against the book. I’m sure I missed a lot of stuff during my frantic attempt to just finish, but while the author was giving us three words to describe flying or kissing, the big plot points were glazed over. Don’t let the bad guy get into the Lowerworld or else... chaos... and havoc wreaking... and stuff. - Slow, slow, FAST. So many parts of this book are dragged on and on. The author tries to cleverly disguise this ambling pace by Paloma’s, the grandma's, unwillingness to reveal everything at once. There are lots of “I’ll tell you laters” and “she didn’t answer my questions” and “you’ll know when the time is rights” and unfortunately, nothing comes soon enough. There is no payoff. Oh, what maybe in book two or three or seventy-eight? No thank you.During points that could've been great, we are quickly brushed away. A vision quest, which sounds amazing, consists of pages of sitting around doing nothing and then BAM, animals and people and being pecked at and DONE. Just like that. It all makes about as much sense as I've presented. I’m not at all happy that I spent some of my monthly book allowance on this. I am proud of myself for finishing. Here, me. Have a cookie. *eats cookie*

3.5/5 starsI picked up this book after a long day of work, sat on the couch with a big t-shirt on and read through the entire thing in a couple of hours. The biggest compliment I can give this book is that it's that kind of book. Even though this book doesn't feature an action packed plot, McBride gets the pacing right. It runs almost perfectly smoothly. I did have to trudge a little through the first chapter. Even though the big action, the death of the main character's boyfriend, comes then, you are still too new to the characters and setting to feel it in any kind of way. I made myself push forward into the story, but it wasn't long before McBride carried me throughout the rest of the book. Protagonist Maggie really helps sell the story. She deals with her many emotions in a relateable way. I felt what she felt most of the time, though she handled herself in a much classier way than I probably would've. That helped me root for her too. The other surrounding characters were a little but under developed. I followed along fine during the story, but after I close this book, it feels like they could all smear together in my memory. I had a love/hate relationship with the flash backs in the book. They were absolutely necessary in this book, to tell the story completely, but there was no clear distinction between what was happening present time and what was a flashback. Most of the time it was easy to figure out, but sometimes I had to do a little back peddling and double check. That's never a good thing to have a reader do. You lose them in the flow of your story. I can't say that any one moment was particularly surprising. Even though you see it a mile away, though, you turn each page thinking, "please don't let it be that. Not that. Not that." I read a lot of this book with my heart in my throat. I'm sort of a sap that way. Overall, a pleasant reading experience. I would check out other books written by McBride. ETA: This book gets additional points for sticking with you. A few days after reading I was still thinking about and feeling for Maggie. And now, a month after reading, and while re-reading this review, I really can say that McBride was able to hook me emotionally. ARC provided by NetGalley

Two things about this book in comparison to other books:1.) If you finished City of Bones and thought, "wow. I wish that has a lot less incest," well, this is the book for you. The dialogue isn't as snappy as what you find in "City of Bones," and perhaps the characters aren't as well defined, but yeah, no incest. 2.) I read this book immediately after Fifty Shades of Grey, which I hated with the fiery passion of a thousand pits of hell. (I almost put this book down because almost two of the first names I read in this book were Anna and LaGray. ::shudder::) What "Fifty Shades" supporters like to say is that it is a mindless, entertaining read. It wasn't to me, because it took a lot of effort to look past so many of the faults of the book. THIS book, "Sweet Evil," is a mindless, entertaining read. It's a sit down and read it in one sitting book. You move through it with ease, and at the end, you know you haven't read the best book of all your life, but you realize that you were solidly entertained for how ever many hours it took.This book was mainly driven by plot for me. The characters weren't bad, but they were typical. It was the bones of your basic girl and boy changing each others life YA with the skin of a very interesting take on angel and demon lore. Anna, at first, comes off as a little too good to be true, but the author does a good job of eventually balancing this with the pull of her dark side, producing a heroine you can root for. She doesn't really get a chance to strut her bad-ass stuff in this book, but it felt like the pieces are all in place for Anna to really come into her own in any following books. Kaiden is your basic brooding, seductive, kind-of-a-jerk bad boy of a love interest. With an English accent to boot! What sets him just a little apart from every other YA love interests is the reason WHY he is how he is and how it all plays into the story at large. The little details of this world, like the character's badges and abilities and work, keep you entangled in the story, even with a few "twists" you see coming and a simple writing style. I usually don't pay lots of attention to what tense or voice books are written in, but I noticed multiple times through this one that the past tense was doing it a disservice. It felt weird at times, though that's about as articulate as I can be on the subject. Overall, you don't have to invest much time or effort into this story, making the overall payoff worth it.

I'm not marking this with a read date, because I really don't want it to count toward my 2012 total. Essentially, that's how I feel about this book. It should count for nothing. I picked it up because of the hype and after ONE PAGE, I knew this was going to be way worse than anything I expected. And then, I started writing chapter recaps to take away the pain. You can find those starting here.My main problems with this book:1.) The writing is terrible. The style, the word choice, the descriptions. It's all bad, in such a way that it's distracting from the "plot" which is a word I use lightly. There were multiple times when I was reading and I had to stop and just stare at the book because of the terrible word choice. For instance, James is fond of saying Ana looks up "from beneath her lashes." Oh, really? That is such a ridiculous thing to say because everyone's eyes are beneath their lashes. "I flush scarlet." How about in the future you just tell us if you flush any color that isn't red? Red is normal. You should be worried when you start flushing orange or green. "I gasp and swallow at the same time." Everyone. Try that right now. Please, try to gasp and swallow right right now and tell me how that goes for you. 2.) Ana is a terrible narrator. She's a horrible friend, she has extreme self esteem and self worth issues, and she's oblivious to everything going on around her.3.) The repetition. E.L. James beats you over the head with certain phrases, certain character quirks, and some point after they start having sex, each scene just bleeds into the other with more and more of the same. 4.) They share a mother fucking tooth brush and I take great issue with this. The dialogue is so stuffy, especially between Ana and her supposed best friends. Some of the stuff that is meant to be erotic or sexy is not. I go back to the toothbrush sharing but would also add to that list: sleeping in virginity blood, any reference to feeling like a child while near any sexual activity, the mother-freaking tampon, and of course stalking. Some of the behavior of the main characters is just shameful, which I could accept as part of the story, but not how people tout it. Don't talk to me about Grey being any sort of romantic hero at all, is what I'm saying. I think if I had read this book before the hype, I might have given it 2 stars. The fact that people consider this great really, really made me hate it. I'm crazy that way, I guess. Here's a list of things E.L. James should never say again:- floor the pedal to the metal. (which she only said once but quickly became my favorite non-favorite thing ever.)- fuck the paperwork- mercurial- stop biting that lip- inner goddess- medulla oblongata- subconscious- gentle victorious samba- murmur- whisper- dryly- impassive- gray- steel And that is of course just the worse of all the very bad offenders.The "best" parts of the book came in the form of emails, meaning that our main character weren't even actually together, which tells you a lot. I'm very sad that I first read "shouty capitals" in this book, because it's a good term. Oh, I suppose there should've been some sort of "plot" summary here. Ahem:Girl with very bad self esteem meets boy with serious mommy issues. They decide they really like each other, though we don't know why because girl spends most of every page stuttering and blushing. Boy is hot and rich, though, so there is that. Boy wants one thing. Girls wants another. They go back and forth and back and forth and back and forth on the status of their relationship. Oh, and they have sex. So, if that appeals to you, go for it. I'm pretty sure I'll not be picking up the other two or anything ever written by E.L. James.

I feel as though all the things I said about Divergent, good and not so good, hold true for Insurgent. The reason this gets a higher rating than Divergent is because of investment. I opened this book deeply interested in the fates of the characters, namely Tris and Four, and in that regard, Veronica Roth did not disappoint. Firstly, sweet Lord, this woman can pace a story. The tension she created was amazing, neatly balanced with moments of humor and reflection. Somethings did become a little repetitive, especially some observations Tris makes about being Divergent or about certain actions she's taken. Then again, this reaction may stem from my wanting to quickly reach the next resolution.In book one, I was unsure of Tris' personality, though I rooted for her as a heroine. It became clear to me in this book, that we've known Tris all along. She is what she appears to be- brave, selfless when it counts and able to recognize her own selfishness, sarcastic, and probably not the kindest person you'll meet, but probably still one of the good ones. I'm a fan of the way that Tris and Four's relationship developed through the book. Again, the author weaved in conflict with just enough good moments. In a series where my biggest issue is with the setting (more on that later), it's impressive that Roth's characters often feel realistic against it; that is, I can follow their developments. I understand Tris' rationale even when I don't agree with her. I understand the friction between Tris and Four, even when I'm yelling at it to stop. And so on. Which leaves me with the world building. There are books that present the world or setting in one shot: here is where we are, now on to the story. In this series, revealing facts about the world we are in has become part of the story, dished out slowly as we read. The problem is, that when you leave the reader in suspense about such an integral part of the story, you have to deliver in a big way. There can be no holes or fluffy logic. Roth's world, the factions, why they were created and what lies beyond the fence, doesn't feel solid. Yet. I'm very curious to see where she's going to lead us, as far as explanations go, and I'm assuming this is all setting up the third book. All I'm saying is that she's built us up this much, I'm expecting a pay off.Fans of the first book will probably find little reason to be disappointed here. I enjoyed reading it.

If you were to take a fairy tale, a Tim Burton movie, a few romance shavings and a scoop of action adventure, you would essentially have a good idea of what's in this book. I found "Puppet Parade" through Goodreads, and knowing nothing more than what I read on this site's blurb, I dove in and never regretted it once. Puppet Parade was not without faults, but it was full of charm. In a story that has such a great action propelled plot, the characters really stood out. Oliver, the puppeteer who has chosen to seclude himself from people. Sophie, the stepchild who has never seen her own face. 10 puppets, each true to the silly names they were given. And if that weren't enough, the towns that populate the magical world Oliver and Sophie stumble upon are aristocrats, magicians, entertainers and more. Alayan presents this wonderful cast of characters, and does a good job taking us along on their journey. They grow, change and ultimately find the things they were looking for. There were two main things that stood out to me as amazing: the title of the book, how as you delve deeper into the story it takes on different meanings, and the moment I realized that there was even more to the story than a puppeteer searching for his runaway creations. The explanation came just as I was questioning the world Sophie and Oliver were wandering in. The low points for me were these: there were a few mistakes throughout the text. They aren't major things, but I caught a few of them and that is always a little disheartening. The very, very end of the book seemed out of place. For the most part, we'd journeyed with this action-filled book, but the end was exposited. It almost felt like an info dump. As much as I appreciated the resolution, I wish it would've been handled a little more deftly. And there is the line I'm ultimately straddling here. It was a wonderful book, but it wasn't the best writing, you know? In a story that could've had so many more rich descriptions, I found that even the descriptions we did get lacked art. As impressed as I was by the characters and concept, there were times I imagined what this could've been in the hands of a more seasoned author. That isn't entirely fair to Zeinab Alayan, however, who produced a very good debut and deserves to have others discover her work. As I briefly mentioned in the beginning, this book really made me think of Tim Burton. Any chance we could get him on the movie version? No? No? No?