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Elevetha 's Reviews > Mind Games
Mind Games (Mind Games, #1)
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Elevetha 's review
bookshelves: 2013, character-hate, gorgeous-covers, failure-to-launch, cover-fraud, head-meet-your-new-friend-the-desk, not-what-i-wanted-at-all, once-is-enough, life-is-too-short, pathetically-wanting-dialogue, start-the-fire, shaving-cream, images-involved-in-review, plot-bunnies, mind-numbingly-boring, neverending-regret, nothing-special-here, slogging, oh-hell-no
Dec 08, 2012
bookshelves: 2013, character-hate, gorgeous-covers, failure-to-launch, cover-fraud, head-meet-your-new-friend-the-desk, not-what-i-wanted-at-all, once-is-enough, life-is-too-short, pathetically-wanting-dialogue, start-the-fire, shaving-cream, images-involved-in-review, plot-bunnies, mind-numbingly-boring, neverending-regret, nothing-special-here, slogging, oh-hell-no
1.5 stars.
You know what I told this book?
For your reading pleasure, I am going to have many examples of awful awful (oh so awful) writing for you.
Example A^: (The (Repeat And Then Repeat Again In) Parenthesis)
Also, snippets of "Why this reads like a 13 year old girl's diary". You have been warned.
(Okay, so someone posted a comment about her explanation to why in Fia's POV everything is repeated 3 times; she's killed three people. I gotta say that that makes a whole lot more sense than I had previously thought. However, the flaw that I can see in that is that she doesn't kill person number 3 till later in the book and she's already been repeating things...So my quotes stand as is. Just thought I should add that.)
Quotes!!! - As much as I would love to type out every single (single single single) time something annoyed me in the writing, I'll just type up the ones I had enough paper to mark.
GRAY EYES, SHERLOCK.
As far north as... What?
Your poor little head. It must hurt to be you.
Getting the idea? Well, I don't think you've seen enough.
For hating the number three, she sure repeats a word three times a lot(a lot a lot a lot). You'll see see see.
*twitch*
Good Lord! We know! And what does that have to do with anything anyways?
You feel attracted to stun guns?
I'd like to put the entire freaking chapter from 112-123, but I really don't feel like it. Though it is a prime example of how Fia is TSTL and how James is, and I don't say this lightly, a man-whore and how she doesn't use commas and sentences never end and she repeats things over and over and over, which is rather rather rather annoying to read.
What are you doing?! GAH!
You want to know what's wrong? THAT SENTENCE.
Are you sure?
James=man-whore.
Annie=protective and smart older sister
Fia=idiot who actually wants this guy
Oh, Fia.
While the sentiment here is probably the best one Fia expresses the entire book, the writing is so bad.
Random observation*is random*
What the hell is up with the tapping?
First off, what is the purpose of all the parenthesis? It's not like we can't read Fia's thoughts without them. Secondly, finally remember you bludgeoning her to death, do ya, Fia? Good to know you're not a heartless witch.
Classic Fia. She's not in danger. No life threatening situation. She's walking in the park. Just taking a walk and decides to steal a random person's phone.
Here's the rub: Fia can't read minds. She can't feel other people's emotions. So, Fia, stop being a self-centered arrogant prissy little you-know-what and get past yourself.
I'm sorry, what was that, James? You use her? Can you repeat that in front of Annie so she can, I don't know, kill you? That'd be great.
Because God forbid Fia do something actually right. That would be absurd.
Yeah, wouldn't want to think about your blind sister that you left all alone.
What, I ask you, would possess someone to write a sentence like that? Oh, maybe if you were writing the POV of an insane person.
Okay.
Why are you so homicidal? Oh, and maybe you should have considered the fact that James runs around with every girl he can get his hands on. He's not gonna change for you, no matter how much you repeat things in your head.
Smartest thing you've ever thought. I'm so frelling proud of you.
Are you for real? How much of an idiotic child can you be? So because you are angry at James for something if you had a brain you knew he'd do and because he isn't worshiping at your feet, you're gonna get yourself into a situation where you almost get raped? All because you don't know how not to be the center of attention. You want to "get back" at James. And you want to feel wanted.(May I suggest listening to Hunter Hayes?) So you get drunk. You encourage him, you don't walk away. Heck, you let him kiss and manhandle you. I'm in no way condoning what he does, but I'm just saying you might want to think every once in a while.
What does that have to do with anything?
Moving on...
Wasn't that the epitome of literary genius? I sure thought so.
I can honestly say I cannot remember the last time I read a book with as horrid writing as this. How does something like this even get published? Oh, and I also found out that this was written in 9 days. It varies between actually whole book written in 9 days and first draft written in 9 days. (I'm kinda guessing they're sorta the same thing for this one.) But, in any case, it shows. And it explains, in part, why this is so crappy.
POV was confusing. It switched back and forth between Fia and Annie but their individual voices weren't very unique. It was hard to keep track of who was talking, except that you could almost always guess if it was Fia, cause she is whiny as hell. And there were flashbacks, many of which which I found to be worthless to the story.
Characters
I'm gonna let the quotes for the TSTL characters speak for themselves. Just know also that Annie, while not as stupid or annoying as Fia, was boring. Her scenes were mostly in flashbacks and, as I already told you, those were worthless.
Also, there's a love triangle. Could I muster up the energy to care less? Probably not.
Plot?
Oh, the potential!! Wasted.
It sounded like it was going to be fantastic. I was hankering for a sibling story and sisters would have worked beautifully. Except it sucked.
But I digress. You say this section is for plot? I say, "What plot?" There is no plot until the last 5 pages.(view spoiler) I read about nothing for 250 pages.
Truly authors delight in torturing their readers.
So there's this institution that finds young woman with these abilities and uses them to run hits on people. That is it. You're told that, you put up with Fia and flashbacks for 225 pages, get yourtwistplot for the next book thrown in and voila! A book!
Oh, and absolutely not a thing is explained. NOTHING.
So you see, I would love (view spoiler) to know what's going on but you could not pay me an exorbitant amount of money to read the next book.
You know what I told this book?
For your reading pleasure, I am going to have many examples of awful awful (oh so awful) writing for you.
Example A^: (The (Repeat And Then Repeat Again In) Parenthesis)
Also, snippets of "Why this reads like a 13 year old girl's diary". You have been warned.
(Okay, so someone posted a comment about her explanation to why in Fia's POV everything is repeated 3 times; she's killed three people. I gotta say that that makes a whole lot more sense than I had previously thought. However, the flaw that I can see in that is that she doesn't kill person number 3 till later in the book and she's already been repeating things...So my quotes stand as is. Just thought I should add that.)
Quotes!!! - As much as I would love to type out every single (single single single) time something annoyed me in the writing, I'll just type up the ones I had enough paper to mark.
I tap my fingers(tap tap tap them) nervously against my jeans.Page 3
He is too-big ears and too-big smile and too-big eyes and (too-big too-big too-big) too real for me to end.Page 4
The instant his eyes meet mine(gray, he has gray eyes, I would have closed his gray eyes forever), I know I have him as far north as I need to go, and after that I will figure it out.Page 5
GRAY EYES, SHERLOCK.
As far north as... What?
He smiles. (His gray eyes, they will haunt me forever with what I would have done-what I still could do-what I still should do-oh, Annie, have you already seen this? Did you know when I left that I'd kill us both?)Page 6
Your poor little head. It must hurt to be you.
Because I'm going against Keane(oh no, oh no, they will kill us both)and I need to know as much as I can to try and fix it.Page 7
Getting the idea? Well, I don't think you've seen enough.
I look over my shoulder to see the men, three(tap tap tap-I hate the number three), thick shoulders, one gun between them based on the way the guy in the middle is walking(that was a mistake, they should all have guns-guess they'll find out), matching ouur pace and getting closer.Page 10
For hating the number three, she sure repeats a word three times a lot(a lot a lot a lot). You'll see see see.
Tap tap tap I need to tap tap tap I need to get out of this car.Page 39
*twitch*
I sit up(it hurts, it hurts, my body hurts) and grab her hand in mine.Page 88
There are no boys here. Not teenagers, anyways. Only men. With weapons. (It hurts, it hurts, my body hurts.)Page 89
Good Lord! We know! And what does that have to do with anything anyways?
I simultaneously want to kiss him and to get as far away from him as possible. He feels wrong, he feels dangerous; my heart speeds up the same way for him that it did for the stun guns.Page 89
You feel attracted to stun guns?
Because I'm too young for you? Because you're an evil manipulative monster and I know it?Page 118
We're touching, touching everywhere and it's wrong it's wrong it's wrong but right right now and I close my eyes and his lips are even better at dulling than the drinks or the music.Page 120
I'd like to put the entire freaking chapter from 112-123, but I really don't feel like it. Though it is a prime example of how Fia is TSTL and how James is, and I don't say this lightly, a man-whore and how she doesn't use commas and sentences never end and she repeats things over and over and over, which is rather rather rather annoying to read.
Some sort of accident.Page 129
Some sort of accident.
Some sort of accident.
What are you doing?! GAH!
It's wrong wrong wrong WRONG WRONG WRONG!Page 131
You want to know what's wrong? THAT SENTENCE.
If Clarice is dead, she can't be there when Annie gets shot.Page 133
That can't happen now.
It won't happen now.
Annie is safe.
Annie is safe. Annie is safe. Annie is safe. Annie is safe. Annie is safe. Annie is safe. Annie is safe. Annie is safe. Annie is safe. Annie is safe. Annie is safe. Annie is safe.
Are you sure?
He flirts shamelessly with everyone. The Readers whisper that he think constantly about sex. Eden says he reeks of lust. I don't want him in the room. I don't want him around my baby sister.Page 148
James=man-whore.
Annie=protective and smart older sister
Fia=idiot who actually wants this guy
Oh, Fia.
Kill them kill them-wait. Annie. If I'm gone, Annie's not safe. What if James is with me? What if he can't tell them that I was taken, that I didn't run? Oh, no, Annie. Annie!Page 156
While the sentiment here is probably the best one Fia expresses the entire book, the writing is so bad.
Cole has a slight limp(I wonder where my knife went; I liked that knife).Page 158
Random observation*is random*
(Can't tap tap tap my hand-I don't want to add another tap but I will;if it saves Annie, I will.)Page 160
What the hell is up with the tapping?
(Control, control, control. Control got Clarice killed.)Page 161
(Control didn't get Clarice killed. I killed Clarice.)
First off, what is the purpose of all the parenthesis? It's not like we can't read Fia's thoughts without them. Secondly, finally remember you bludgeoning her to death, do ya, Fia? Good to know you're not a heartless witch.
I steal a phone out of someone's pocket(I feel like I should have a phone).Page 195
Classic Fia. She's not in danger. No life threatening situation. She's walking in the park. Just taking a walk and decides to steal a random person's phone.
I can see the person he thinks I am when he looks at me-this wonder, this strong and brave and strange girl. He is half in love with the idea of me, and if I stayed....Page 196
Here's the rub: Fia can't read minds. She can't feel other people's emotions. So, Fia, stop being a self-centered arrogant prissy little you-know-what and get past yourself.
Fia: "You use me."Page 198
James: "I-yes. I use you. I need to use you.
I'm sorry, what was that, James? You use her? Can you repeat that in front of Annie so she can, I don't know, kill you? That'd be great.
"Should I call Eden to meet us?" he asks, pulling off his shirt(I love I love I love it when he does this).Page 206
"Emilia,"I say, and he takes my hand(he shouldn't touch my hand) and brings it to his lips.Page 208
I do not move, will not move, not ever. Right, right, right. I will make this feel right.Page 210
Because God forbid Fia do something actually right. That would be absurd.
I'm his. It's such a relief to be someone's, to not have to be my own(to not have to be Annie's-don't think about Annie, not tonight, especially not tonight).Page 210
Yeah, wouldn't want to think about your blind sister that you left all alone.
And she is wrapped around-wrapped around-wrapped around James, my James, and she is laughing and her hands(not my hands, not my horrible hands) are in his hair and she is whispering in his ear.Page 211
What, I ask you, would possess someone to write a sentence like that?
Love, love, love.Page 211
Love.
Okay.
"Fia" he calls, pulling me away from Eden (soft Eden, untrained Eden, Eden with all her soft parts that I could hurt, hurt, hurt-no, don't think about it, get away from Eden, don't let her feel it).Page 211-212
Why are you so homicidal? Oh, and maybe you should have considered the fact that James runs around with every girl he can get his hands on. He's not gonna change for you, no matter how much you repeat things in your head.
He is smiling and driving, and I wish I were driving. I would drive us off a cliff. No I wouldn't. (Maybe I would. I am so stupid, I am sick with the stupidness of me.Page 212
Smartest thing you've ever thought. I'm so frelling proud of you.
He is beautiful and he thinks I am beautiful and everything about him is slick and predatory-and he wants me.Page 213
He is wrong and I should not encourage him, I should leave right now and find James. This is not safe. (There are too many bodies, several of the tall, broad guys around us are obviously with him. I am outnumbered; it is dark; he thinks I am very young and very helpless and only one of those is true.)
He does not like James. He hates him. I noticed on the beach, but I was distracted by James claiming me. Not claiming me. Using me. Keeping me away from Rafael.
I smile and raise my arms over my head, dance closer to Rafael. He hates James. He is dangerous. I let him put his hands on hips and twist my body against his. Because he is not James.
Are you for real? How much of an idiotic child can you be? So because you are angry at James for something if you had a brain you knew he'd do and because he isn't worshiping at your feet, you're gonna get yourself into a situation where you almost get raped? All because you don't know how not to be the center of attention. You want to "get back" at James. And you want to feel wanted.(May I suggest listening to Hunter Hayes?) So you get drunk. You encourage him, you don't walk away. Heck, you let him kiss and manhandle you. I'm in no way condoning what he does, but I'm just saying you might want to think every once in a while.
"We were just talking about you."Page 227
"I'm sure you were." (Freestanding chair still next to the window, which is not plate glass nor does it have mesh wiring in it to prevent shattering.)
What does that have to do with anything?
Moving on...
Wasn't that the epitome of literary genius? I sure thought so.
I can honestly say I cannot remember the last time I read a book with as horrid writing as this. How does something like this even get published? Oh, and I also found out that this was written in 9 days. It varies between actually whole book written in 9 days and first draft written in 9 days. (I'm kinda guessing they're sorta the same thing for this one.) But, in any case, it shows. And it explains, in part, why this is so crappy.
POV was confusing. It switched back and forth between Fia and Annie but their individual voices weren't very unique. It was hard to keep track of who was talking, except that you could almost always guess if it was Fia, cause she is whiny as hell. And there were flashbacks, many of which which I found to be worthless to the story.
Characters
I'm gonna let the quotes for the TSTL characters speak for themselves. Just know also that Annie, while not as stupid or annoying as Fia, was boring. Her scenes were mostly in flashbacks and, as I already told you, those were worthless.
Also, there's a love triangle. Could I muster up the energy to care less? Probably not.
Plot?
Oh, the potential!! Wasted.
It sounded like it was going to be fantastic. I was hankering for a sibling story and sisters would have worked beautifully. Except it sucked.
But I digress. You say this section is for plot? I say, "What plot?" There is no plot until the last 5 pages.(view spoiler) I read about nothing for 250 pages.
Truly authors delight in torturing their readers.
So there's this institution that finds young woman with these abilities and uses them to run hits on people. That is it. You're told that, you put up with Fia and flashbacks for 225 pages, get your
Oh, and absolutely not a thing is explained. NOTHING.
So you see, I would love (view spoiler) to know what's going on but you could not pay me an exorbitant amount of money to read the next book.
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Reading Progress
December 8, 2012
– Shelved
April 12, 2013
–
Started Reading
April 12, 2013
– Shelved as:
2013
April 12, 2013
– Shelved as:
character-hate
April 12, 2013
– Shelved as:
gorgeous-covers
April 12, 2013
– Shelved as:
failure-to-launch
April 12, 2013
– Shelved as:
cover-fraud
April 12, 2013
– Shelved as:
head-meet-your-new-friend-the-desk
April 12, 2013
– Shelved as:
not-what-i-wanted-at-all
April 12, 2013
– Shelved as:
once-is-enough
April 12, 2013
– Shelved as:
life-is-too-short
April 12, 2013
– Shelved as:
pathetically-wanting-dialogue
April 12, 2013
– Shelved as:
start-the-fire
April 12, 2013
– Shelved as:
shaving-cream
April 12, 2013
– Shelved as:
images-involved-in-review
April 12, 2013
– Shelved as:
plot-bunnies
April 12, 2013
– Shelved as:
mind-numbingly-boring
April 12, 2013
– Shelved as:
neverending-regret
April 12, 2013
– Shelved as:
nothing-special-here
April 12, 2013
– Shelved as:
slogging
April 12, 2013
–
Finished Reading
January 24, 2014
– Shelved as:
oh-hell-no
Comments Showing 1-22 of 22 (22 new)
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I think Elevetha just posted her opinion... Missing a point and opinion are on two different levels.
Oksana wrote: "I think Elevetha just posted her opinion... Missing a point and opinion are on two different levels."I did just post my opinion, however I didn't pick up on that as by the point they told me Fia had killed three people(I vaguely remember that now) I was so 3598% done.
Ashlynn Marie wrote: "No offense intended here, but I think you're missing the point when it comes to Fia's POV. I think Fia's obsession/compulsion with the number three comes from the fact that she's killed three peopl..."Ashlynn Marie wrote: "No offense intended here, but I think you're missing the point when it comes to Fia's POV. I think Fia's obsession/compulsion with the number three comes from the fact that she's killed three peopl..."
That does make more sense about her obsession with the number three...thanks! Though the flaw that I can see in that is that she doesn't kill person number 3 till later in the book(as far as I can recall...the woman she kills with the chair?) and she's already been repeating things...
Okay, well no pass from me for Fia on Rafael. I'm 15 and even I can recognize a bad situation when I see one.
Yeah, me too.
And thank you so much for being polite about it!
Elevetha wrote: thank you so much for being polite about it!No problem.
Despite the fact that I did like the book quite a bit, I enjoyed your review and opinion just as much. James' slow clap gif had me dying of laughter halfway through, and I loved every bit of your review. I'm always a fan of wit and snark, and your review had both in spades. I look forward to reading more of your comments in the future ;-)
Thank you! That means a lot.(I don't think I've ever been told I had wit and snark. This is most pleasing to me.) Thanks for commenting! And I'm glad you enjoyed the book:)
Your review definitely sums up my opinion on this book and its writing. Although for some reason, I recalled Fia having killed four people. Two at that excursion (or maybe it was just one), Clarice and one of the three guys in the alley. I can't be bothered to check the facts, but 3% into the book, I was already crying with laughter at Fia's description of Adam and his 'grasshopper legs'. And you're absolutely right in regards to this book having no plot at all. Nothing was interesting until the last few pages...definitely will not be picking up the next one!
Fia might have killed four people, I honestly don't recall. The "3 people" theory was posited by Ashlynn Marie (Message 3). Same! And thanks for commenting!:)
Shoujo & YA Banter wrote: "Lol! Dang no one likes this book it seems!!!"I personally really enjoyed it, and it's average rating is nearly 4 stars. It just seems most text reviews have lesser opinions of the book than the silent raters.
Shoujo & YA Banter wrote: "Lol! Dang no one likes this book it seems!!!"Everybody has different tastes and I have ran across people that liked it.
Justin wrote: "Shoujo & YA Banter wrote: "Lol! Dang no one likes this book it seems!!!"I personally really enjoyed it, and it's average rating is nearly 4 stars. It just seems most text reviews have lesser opin..."
Yeah, I noticed that.
Elvenarya wrote: "this review... MASTER PIECE !!!!"Thank you!
splendid review, the best i've read in a few months!AMAZING.
I... personally feel that the author made it a point to do the repetitions... I should have been obvious after the 4th (tap, tap, tap) and various forms of repetitions (mentioning a name exactly 3 times, for another example) that she's 1.) losing her mind and 2. has developed some sort of defense mechanism to cope with all the crap she has been through. She's 17 years old so your "this book feels like it was written by a 13 year old" feels less valid when its written in first-person and I would (once again assume) that the author was intentionally trying to portray herself as the character. This becomes more obvious when you see the writing style drastically change when the book is told from Annie's point of view.I can see why you would think the (tap, tap, tap) and repetitions were annoying and, I will agree, repeated too many times, but I still feel that this was the point.
I also agree that the book could have been much better than it is but it has all the elements of a great book and I can generously use my imagination to insert more awesomeness. Just my counter-arguments. Not looking for a "comment war"; just stating my opinions about some things. Have a good one!
Bipasha wrote: "splendid review, the best i've read in a few months!AMAZING."
Glad you liked:) Thanks!
Tera wrote: "I... personally feel that the author made it a point to do the repetitions... I should have been obvious after the 4th (tap, tap, tap) and various forms of repetitions (mentioning a name exactly 3 ..."Thanks for the comment, Tera:) Have an excellent weekend!
I can fully appriciate that you derived something from the writing but, and maybe I need to go state this in my review if I haven't, I understood that it was being done for a reason; I did. There's no way that that wasn't intentional. But, for me, I was so annoyed by it and the writing throughout the entire book, not just Fia's sections, and ticked off by Fia in general that it didn't matter what it meant. I no longer cared. Not only is my review utterly subjective but Mind Games just wasn't my book.
Elevetha wrote: "Tera wrote: "I... personally feel that the author made it a point to do the repetitions... I should have been obvious after the 4th (tap, tap, tap) and various forms of repetitions (mentioning a na..."I don't think you have to do any re-stating ^^ You were simply presenting your opinions and I presented mine. Both, I think, have valid arguments. I hope to read more of your reviews~
This review was better than the book! Congratulations! (Really, 9 days? O_o Well, then... Maybe editing t would have been smart...)
Oh, sweet baby Albert, this is the funniest thing I've read in weeks. Great review! The book sound horrid. Not sure why KW wrote it the way she did...
Great review! The cover is so beautiful, and it sounds like it has potential, but if it's as bad as you say, I'm not going to read it. I can see the point of the repetitions if it's to make the character seem insane, but it seems quite annoying and distracting. Thank you for saving me from the apparent misery of reading this.
Kimberly wrote: "Great review! The cover is so beautiful, and it sounds like it has potential, but if it's as bad as you say, I'm not going to read it. I can see the point of the repetitions if it's to make the cha..."That's what it boiled down to, for me. (I should edit this review...) Apparently, Fia is out of her mind, and that's her character, so that's fine. But I don't ever want to read a book where I'm cringing at nearly every sentence.
THAT COVER. I know. I love it a lot, and the sequel's cover is just as pretty. You're welcome!
Fia is UNHINGED, and we're supposed to pick up on that. Her love for Annie is a blessing and a curse because it is what gives her strength yet keeps her trapped. James is entirely wrong for her, but he makes her feel like it's okay that she's broken. And the whole Rafael thing...yeah...she was f-ing stupid for that one, but I just rolled my eyes and gave her a pass because...well, she's seventeen. What are you going to do? ;-P
Sorry this read was a bust for you.