Review: HOPELESS (Hopeless, #1) by Colleen Hoover

Title: Hopeless Series: Hopeless (Book 1) Author: Colleen Hoover

My Rating: ★☆☆☆☆ (1/5 STARS)

Part of my "Huge Review Binge 2k15" (aka trying to catch up on reviews I haven't done in the past two years)

Date read: 6/24/14

Date reviewed: 8/6/15

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Goodreads Summary:

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My Review:

This book made me really, really angry. I've tried to see the good in it, but I just can't. I'm sorry. I don't get why this book has a 4.40 average rating on Goodreads and why so many people are swooning over how "romantic" it apparently is. This book is not romantic. It glorifies stalking and abuse.

It tries to deal with the subject of sexual trauma, which is commendable, but it does a poor job. And it's totally hypocritical considering the love interest (who of course "saves" the protagonist from her horrible traumatic past) is abusive and a stalker.

I try to be respectful in my reviews, but in this case it's hard for me not to lose my temper. I'll try to be civil, but … really, I don't have much sympathy for books that try to convince me that stalkerish, abusive assholes make good significant others.

I don't really know how to go about reviewing this another way, so here is a walkthrough of this book and what bothered me about it. Warning: there will be many spoilers.

• So, our main character is 17-year-old Sky––and from the get-go, she is a sexist, slut-shaming jerk. She starts out by explaining that she lets lots of boys crawl through her window at night and make out with her. By page 10 she is already slut-shaming:

Umm no, I believe the definition of "slut" is "misogynistic bullshit used to shame women for engaging in sexual acts, while men are not held to the same bullshit standards."

• Sky continues with this dumb sexism just a few pages later:

"… Contrary to popular belief, I am not a slut. I've never had sex with any of the boys I've made out with …"

*headsmack* Well okay, then.

• This sexism and girl-on-girl hate skyrockets when Sky (who was previously homeschooled) starts going to public school. She describes other girls at school as "giggling girls … that are scanitly, yet expensively clad" and goes to great lengths to tell the reader she is ~not like the other gurlz~ because … wait for it … she reads!

• She also, of course, describes herself as having "flat brown hair" and being plainer than the other girls. She describes one girl as being a "tall, voluptuous and sun-kissed blonde" who is "everything I wish I were" … but then instantly goes on to insult the girl's intelligence and make cheap dumb blonde jokes about her. 'Kay.

• She hates all the other girls at school (because other girls are so dumb and petty all the frickin' time, am I right?!) and makes friends with a ~sassy gay boy~ named Breckin (idk what's with the names in this book, man) because … wait for it … she sees him reading a book!

"… Not a textbook," she narrates. "It's an actual book-book. Something I thought was lost on this generation of internet fiends." Ah yes. Sky is literally the only goddam person in the whole world who reads. Everyone else just uses the INTERNET (eewww technology is bad!!!¡¡!)

• Even though Sky was homeschooled until this point, everyone at her new public school apparently knows who she is and she already has a reputation of being a "slut"––because the whole world and everyone's lives revolve around her, apparently. On the first day of school, everyone is already whispering "slut" and "whore" in her presence.

And also … people freaking fill her locker with money with a note that says "Sorry your locker didn't come with a pole, slut." …… First of all, WHAT? Who would do that????? Secondly, damn … I should've convinced everyone in my high school I was a stripper because apparently it gets you literal piles of money in your locker!

• Sky soon meets this scary guy named Holder in a grocery store parking lot. By "meets" I mean he comes marching up to her and demands to know what her name is and keeps insisting he knows her. When she gets creeped out and tries to escape into her car, heholds onto the door so she can't close it. He won't leave her alone until she shows him an ID, and then he finally apologizes and walks away. As he walks away he"smashes his fist into the hood of a car."

Alright, so this guy is the villain or something, right? … NOPE. This here is the love interest.

• If you think that's bad, it only gets worse. Holder is just another Edward Cullen. Another Christian Grey. He shows so many glaring warning signs of stalking and abuse that it makes my stomach hurt. Just a few examples:

1. Sky describes him as "scary, but beautiful." Um, yeah I think the "scary" part should probably take priority.

2. Sky runs every day, and Holder starts stalking her on her running route.

3. "He reaches out and I flinch before I realize he's just handing me his bottle of water."

Hey, here's a bit of advice: if a boy makes you flinch for ANY reason (particularly if you know he is violent and you're afraid of what he might do to you), stay away from him! He is literal garbage!

4. After seeing her ID (which she only showed to him because he wouldn't leave her the hell alone), he memorized her name, address, birthday, and height. He then confesses that after their first (creepy as hell) encounter, he went home and immediately tried to stalk her on Facebook (he even uses the word "stalk"). Sky says this is "flattering." … oy vey.

5. Someone tells Sky that Holder went to juvie because he beat the shit out of a gay kid in a hate crime. Apparently this does not stop her from being attracted to him. When she asks him about it, he says, "I beat his ass to within an inch of his life, and if the bastard was standing in front of me right now, I'd do it again." … And guess what? She is still attracted to him.

6. After they haven't known each other for that long, he picks up her phone when she gets a text message and starts reading all her texts. They're all from her best friend (named Six … but don't worry, her real name is Seven), who's halfway around the world and sends Sky nice texts every day to make her feel happy. Holder is worried these texts will "inflate Sky's ego" so he sends her a text saying she's not pretty so that she won't get too full of herself … WHATTA NICE GUY, right?!

7. He demands where Sky got a bracelet from: "He leans forward a few inches and lowers his voice when he speaks. 'Who gave you the damn bracelet, Sky?' … The same warning signs that flashed in my head when I first met him are flashing again."

8. She knows Holder for two days, and he already angrily confronts her about another boy she's been making out with.

9. Alright so big spoilers: Towards the end, it turns out Sky was sexually abused by her father as a child. She and Holder go to confront him, and he shoots himself in front of them (but calls the police first, which conveniently saves Holder and Sky for being accountable for any reason). They go to a hotel, wash all the blood off their bodies, and then … have sex. Uh, o … kay.

Shortly after this whole disturbing incident, Holder demands that Sky goes on birth control. (*Christian Grey flashbacks*) Seriously: "'I want you on it,' he says decisively. 'Make an appointment this week.'"

When Sky (rightfully) tells him that's invasive and rude, he responds with, "… I plan on making love to you, Sky. A lot. … In order for me to continue to make love to you, I would very much appreciate it if you would make alternative contraceptive arrangements so that we don't find ourselves in a pregnancy-induced marriage with an expiration date on it."

…. WHAT. First of all, that's a shitty thing to say to your girlfriend under any circumstances––but especially to your girlfriend who has very recently recalled a repressed memory of sexual trauma and confronted her abuser (who blew his brains out in front of her, I might add). But heaven forbid Holder gets blue balls!

• Sky is also abusive towards Holder. Don't get me wrong, Holder is a huge asshole. He's emotionally abusive, controlling, and manipulative, plus he clearly has issues controlling his anger. But Sky also physically abuses him at least one time that I made note of:

"I want to hurt him like I'm hurting. I want him to feel what his words just did to me. I slap him again and he allows it. When he still doesn't react, I push against his chest. I push him and shove him over and over––trying to give him back every ounce of pain he's just immersed into my soul. I ball my fists up and hit him in the chest and when that doesn't work, I start screaming and hitting him and trying to get out of his arms because they're wrapped around me now."

*Very long silence* So uh … please someone explain to me how this book is a romance? Because all I'm seeing is a very clear depiction of a toxic, abusive relationship. And they are both responsible.

A couple more very minor things:

• Sky's mother is weird about her using technology and the Internet, but it's like Sky lives under a rock or something. She doesn't know what "lol" means, what an e-reader is, what Netflix is, or how to send an email. … Yet at one point she describes a situation as "like a scene from a dramatic Lifetime movie." Huh. Not much consistency there.

• Sky always says she wants to "lick Holder's dimples." … Hmm. I didn't know that was … a thing??

The final word:

If you didn't want to read my whole long rant, well, here's the summary: This book is essentially Fifty Shades of Grey all over again (without all the whips and chains, and the characters are younger).

The love interest is a stalker, he's terrifying, and he abuses the protagonist.

The protagonist constantly slut-shames and insults other girls. She abuses her love interest.

In the end, the book promotes the toxic message that if you are a survivor of sexual abuse, apparently you just need some hot guy to "fix" you (by having sex with you).

So … yeah. It made me mad. The end.

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You can also read this review on Goodreads.

Review: THE CASUAL VACANCY by J.K. Rowling

Title: The Casual Vacancy Author: J.K. Rowling

My Rating: ★★★☆☆ (3/5 STARS)

Part of my "Huge Review Binge 2k15" (aka trying to catch up on reviews I haven't done in the past two years)

Date read: December 19th, 2013 Date reviewed: July 18th, 2015

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Goodreads Summary:

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My Review:

Honestly, it's been a while since I read this and I hardly remember what it was about. Looking over the summary and some other reviews, I can kind of remember––but it just didn't stick well in my mind.

I was nervous about this book, going into it. I knew that of course it would be different from Harry Potter and that it was aimed at adults, but I tried to approach it with an open mind.

However, even not considering who the author is … this just wasn't a great book, in my opinion. If it had been published by someone else, I imagine it probably wouldn't have gotten the same level of attention. There was not much to separate it from other adult contemporaries I've read.

I felt like I was forcing myself through a lot of this book. I tried to give it a fair chance and I kept going even through the boring patches, but I just found myself waiting and waiting for it to end. There were a few characters and plotlines that interested me, but over all there were too many characters and I didn't connect with a majority of them.

The final word: Sorry this review is so short, but I just don't have very much to say about this book. It's not terrible, I just didn't find it particularly memorable. I think it has some important messages and some interesting characters, but for the most part I found it forgettable.

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You can also read this review on Goodreads.

Review: ANNA DRESSED IN BLOOD (Anna, #1) by Kendare Blake

Title: Anna Dressed in Blood Series: Anna (Book 1) Author: Kendare Blake

My Rating: ★★★☆☆ (3/5 STARS)

Part of my "Huge Review Binge 2k15" (aka trying to catch up on reviews I haven't done in the past two years)

Date read: December 17th, 2013

Date reviewed: July 17th, 2015

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Goodreads Summary:

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My Review:

My thoughts:

There was so much buzz about this book when it first came out, and it quickly went on my to-read list. It sounded really cool to me, and I love a good scary ghost story! Well … this book was not terrible, but it wasn't great either. While I don't recall being too annoyed or outraged at it, I wasn't wowed by it, either.

At least it was scary. Not the scariest thing I've ever read, but it was definitely creepy. There's lots of blood. People getting cut in half. You know. Fun stuff.

But there were a bunch of things that just didn't work for me.

• The biggest problem I had was with the romance. Honestly I did not really understand the attraction between Cas and Anna at all. I guess … they're both good-looking? But otherwise it was typical insta-love. They go from being enemies to being ~madly in love~ with each other without much development. I guess Cas feels bad for Anna or whatever but like … she literally cuts people in half and I guess he's okay with that ??? Also he always calls her "my Anna" which is weird and creepy and possessive.

• Cas is really conceited. Conceited characters can be fun and amusing so it's not necessarily a bad thing, but mostly I just found Cas annoying. He won't shut up about how attractive he is. He literally describes himself as "damn easy on the eyes." All right, kid. Calm down.

• Everyone in this book was weirdly chill about everything … ? At the beginning a bunch of the characters see another character get ripped in half. Ripped in half! You know, guts spilling everywhere, fountains of blood. Pretty traumatizing, right? Yet, they all talk about this dude getting cut in half like it's just some mildly unpleasant thing that happened. There's not much of a reaction––you know, shock, grieving, PTSD … nope. There's a part where they're casually talking about it and the victim's ex-girlfriend just "cringes through the gory bits," and that's the strongest reaction we get. Huh.

The final word:

I was hoping to really like this book, but I found it disappointing. While it was at least pretty scary and violent, I didn't connect with the characters and the romance weirded me out. It just wasn't my cup o' tea.

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You can also read this review on Goodreads.

Review: THE HOUSE OF HADES  (The Heroes of Olympus, #4) by Rick Riordan

Title: The House of Hades Series: The Heroes of Olympus (Book 4) Author: Rick Riordan

My Rating: ★★★★★ (5/5 STARS) Part of my “Huge Review Binge 2k15” (aka trying to catch up on reviews I haven’t done in the past two years)

Date read: December 16th, 2013 Date reviewed: July 16th, 2015

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Goodreads Summary:

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My Review:

*WARNING* Probably contains spoilers for the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series and the other Heroes of Olympus books. And for this book. Sorry, not sorry. (So it's been a super long time since I read this. Additionally, since then I've also read the 5th book in the series, and the two kind of get mixed up in my head. But I will try not to get them confused.) Ah yes, don't you love it when your author literally ends a book by dumping your favorite characters straight into hell? Well, that's exactly what Rick Riordan did in Mark of Athena, the precedent to The House of Hades. This fourth installment in the series finds Annabeth and Percy trapped in Tartarus and trying to escape. Meanwhile, the other demigods are trying to fight through Gaea's forces and seal the doors of death. Well, having now finished this whole series I can say this is one of the strongest of them. I think part of my enjoyment is that it focuses more on characters from the original Percy Jackson series––mainly Percy, Annabeth, and Nico. My sweet babies. <3 There are a lot of Percabeth feels in this book. Goodness gracious, so many. I know I've gushed about this in reviews of the previous books but, they're just such a great couple. I love that they need each other without being completely dependent on one another. They have their own distinct personalities and histories, they're both kickass in their unique ways … and they're just perfect. I love them. And in this book, we really get to see how strong their bond is and how much they've grown. And Nico––Nicoooo! *Mild spoilers* So, I'm sure pretty much everyone knows what the big bombshell about Nico is in this book (and if I recall correctly, the information was leaked before the book even came out) but … yeah, so. Nico is gay! And that's so awesome! Not only because there was finally some LBGT representation in this series, but also, I felt like it made a lot of sense. I don't know if Riordan knew this from the beginning, but regardless, it really works. And I love it. And I love Nico. As for the other characters/demigods, I like them too––well, for the most part. I looove Leo. A lot. Hazel and Frank are both cool, too. I have to say I'm not a huge fan of Piper or Jason and they're both kinda Mary-Sue-ish, but … you know, they're fine. Still, I felt like there was good character development in this book and we get to know all the characters more. I liked Riordan's portrayal of Tartarus and all the obstacles Percy and Annabeth have to face. It's definitely intense and scary, but still with that whacky Riordan flair. And over all, it's a very exciting story. Like all of Riordan's other books, there's a lot going on and it never slows down. For a book that was a huge brick, it didn't feel very long because it all went by so quickly. The Final Word: Love this series, love the book, love the author. Good stuff.

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Review: WINGER (Winger, #1) by Andrew Smith

Title: Winger Series: Winger (Book 1) Author: Andrew Smith

My Rating: ★★★★★ (5/5 STARS)

Part of my "Huge Review Binge 2k15" (aka trying to catch up on reviews I haven't done in the past two years)

Date read: December 1st, 2013

Date reviewed: July 11th, 2015

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Goodreads Summary:

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My Review: 

This book is like a punch in the face. In a good way.

It's bold, it's brave, it's hilarious, and then it crushes your soul into a million pieces. I still remember the feeling of finishing this book and how shell-shocked I felt. At first I wasn't sure how to feel about it (especially how it ended) but after a few days, I realized what an impact it had on me.

Before this book, I'd also read two of Smith's other books: The Marbury Lens and Stick (after reading this, I've also readGrasshopper Jungle and The Alex Crow). I've enjoyed all of his books that I've read, but I think this one is definitely one of my favorites. He tends to write really "WTF" bizarre/surreal books, so I liked to see how Winger did something different by tackling the everyday. (But of course, don't get me wrong, I love his weird-as-hell books, also.)

What I liked:

• The protagonist, Ryan Dean, is super great. I loved him. He's hilarious, he's believable, and his narration is fantastic.

• The other characters are also wonderful. Especially Joey. <3

• The humor. Andrew Smith has both the power to scare the absolute shit out of me and to make me laugh out loud. This book does more of the latter. There are so many hilarious situations in this book, as well as really funny narration as mentioned above.

Related: I also loved all the little comic strips! They were very cute and added another fun element to the story.

What I didn't like:

• Look, I swear like a sailor but I thought the language in this book was a little overdone. According to my Kindle, there are precisely 100 F-bombs in this book. So … a bit much. But I'm really nit-picking here.

What I'm unsure about:

• Ah, that ending. The huge bombshell that seems to kind of "make or break" the book for a lot of people. Yeah … it's been a long time since I read this and I'm still torn on how to feel about how it ends. It's definitely shocking and powerful, but there seems to be a lot of disagreement over whether it's "necessary" since … well, it just happens out of nowhere and then the book ends abruptly. I guess I understand that in real life, tragedies happen out of the blue and you don't see them coming. Although in the case of this book, it felt a little disconnected from the rest of the story to me. But knowing there's a sequel, I'm hoping to see more of the aftermath and how the characters are affected.

The final word:

I really loved this book. Believable and lovable characters, great humor, and over all a fun story (but with a very shocking ending). Although I'd enjoyed the other two Andrew Smith books I'd read prior to this one, I feel like Winger really solidified him as one of my favorite authors. 

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You can also read this review on Goodreads. 

Review: THE BOY A THOUSAND YEARS WIDE by David Spon-Smith

Title: The Boy a Thousand Years Wide Author: David Spon-Smith My Rating: ★★☆☆☆ (2/5 STARS)

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My Review:

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book!

I got this book from NetGalley a while ago––and while the description was super vague, I was intrigued by the unique title and creepy cover art.

I typically don't read reviews of a book before I finish reading it. But for some reason, I made the mistake of doing that with this book … and what I saw wasn't exactly promising: only 19 ratings (9 of which are 1-star) and a lot of people saying they couldn't finish it.

Despite these warning signs, however, I continued reading. I really considered giving up halfway through, but I pushed forward.

In the end, I found this book … okay. I'm really not sure what to make of it. It's not so much that I disliked it––more that it disappointed me. I feel like if it had gone through several more drafts, it could have been awesome. There is something interesting in the story and its world that could have been explored a lot more. Unfortunately, while the ideas had potential, the execution leaves a lot to be desired.

Some Notes:

• The world in this book is not very fleshed out. It's futuristic, I guess (what with the "powergrids" and chrome skyscrapers)––but most of the story involves the characters wandering around in the wilderness, so the setting doesn't feel very consistent.

• The main plot involves all this stuff with angels and demons, which is not explained clearly and I gave up trying to understand it after a while. I do like the idea of crossing angel mythology and dystopia, but it's been done better before (for example, Angelfall by Susan Ee).

• At times the setting/characters felt a little similar to The Hunger Games. For the most part this wasn't a problem, but there were some moments that I couldn't help but notice parallels. For example: "She's dressed City with heavy, bright make-up and purple hair heaped on top of her head." Hmmmm. The evil guy, Lazarus, also seems a bit like Caesar from The Hunger Games.

• Also, Lazarus has a "pet" woman whom he literally keeps on a leash, which is … nauseating. I mean, I get that he's evil. But still. Gross.

• This book is written in dialect/slang, which I know drives a lot of readers crazy. Personally, I don't mind it that much. One of my favorite series in the world (Chaos Walking by Patrick Ness) is written in a similar style. But the dialect in this book is inconsistent and not very logical or inventive. The only main consistencies were writing "I says" instead of "I say" and constantly saying "ain't."

• All the characters in this book sound the same. They all speak in the same dialect and there is no variation at all. It doesn't help that they all seem to share the same bad-tempered personality, also. I had a lot of difficulty trying to tell the characters apart. By the end of the book, I still couldn't really tell the difference between Trent and Milton especially. I could keep track of who Baxter was because he was the main character, and I could keep track of who Lilly was because she was the only girl (for most of the book, anyway) but all the other characters blurred together.

• Building off of that, the characters don't have much depth or development. Of all of them, Lilly is the only one who is given some semblance of a compelling backstory––but even that isn't explored to its full potential.

• The romance in this book is … strange. Basically, Baxter spends the entire book looking for his girlfriend, Mary. (And we don't get much information about her besides that she's Baxter's girlfriend.) About halfway through the book, out of nowhere, Lilly starts acting all weird and jealous whenever Baxter mentions Mary. And then there's some implication that Baxter also likes Lilly but he's like "oh no I can't cheat on Mary!" Buuuut then he and Lilly kiss twice. (I think … ? It was kind of unclear.) This all seems to come out of nowhere. And the weird part is that they don't really talk about it, and just kind of act like it never happened. One of the times they kiss is in front of their other friends (once again––at least I think that's what happened but it was weirdly described so I can't be sure) and like … nobody reacts or says anything? And then no one ever brings it up again? Uhh … ?

• The writing is extremely repetitive. Many words/phrases/descriptions are repeated excessively. The word "says" is used 1,413 times (usually in the context of "I says"). In a similar vein, the word "shouts" is used 307 times.

Baxter repeatedly refers to his "twin" which is this weird other personality he has or … something. It's kind of explained but I guess I won't spoil it.

Also––as I mentioned, Baxter is searching for his girlfriend, Mary. And … he never shuts up about her. It feels like every other sentence is something along the lines of, "I have to find Mary. I have to save Mary. Mary is in danger. Mary could be dead by now." Goodness gracious, we get it. Mary only appears very briefly in the book, but she is mentioned by name 263 times. For a character who hardly has any physical presence in the story, I find that quite excessive.

• There are a ton of typos, grammar mistakes, and formatting errors. I realize this was an ARC and that some of these mistakes will be fixed in the final copy. But even for an ARC, this was bad. There are missing spaces between words, and other places where there are huge gaps between words. There are glaring spelling errors such as "forhead" (instead of "forehead"), Bortherhood (instead of "Brotherhood"), "baldes" (instead of "blades), "he'e" (instead of "he's"), and instances of "to" and "too" getting mixed up.

Also, all of the dialogue is punctuated incorrectly. Since the book is written in dialect, it could be that this is some kind of stylistic choice––but I found it distracting and difficult to read.

I understand if there are a couple of mistakes here and there, but there were far more mistakes in this book than I've found in the majority of ARCs I've read.

• All of that said, I did find this book strangely addicting. About halfway through I found myself actually wanting to keep reading and find out what happened. There are exciting parts, and some glimmers of interesting ideas. It just didn't feel fully developed or realized to me.

The Final Word:

In the end, this book left me scratching my head. I did find it relatively exciting, and it had some interesting ideas in it, but ultimately it fell short in execution of those ideas. 

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Review: WORLD AFTER (Penryn & the End of Days, #2) by Susan Ee

Title: World After Series: Penryn & the End of Days (Book 2) Author: Susan Ee My Rating: ★★★★☆ (4/5 STARS)

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My Review:

WARNING: There will probably be spoilers for the first book (Angelfall) in this review.

I read the first book of this series about three years ago. I had my doubts about it, since it looked like some typical dystopian/paranormal romance, but a lot of reviewers were saying it had far exceeded their expectations, so I gave it a try.

And I was pleasantly surprised! Angelfall turned out to be a dark and atmospheric book, full of intriguing world-building, disturbing and vivid imagery, a lot of action and excitement, a likable and fairly well-developed romance, and a cool heroine.

I waited eagerly for the sequel to come out, especially since the first book ended on a bit of a cliffhanger. I pre-ordered the e-book and attacked it the moment it magically appeared on my Kindle.

And, well ... I liked it. Don't get me wrong, it's a good book. It just didn't pack the same punch as the first book, in my opinion. In the end, I had very mixed feelings about it. It's now been more than a year since I read it (I'm sorry, this review is EXTREMELY delayed due to me being busy with college and also being a lazy shit), so my memory is a little cloudy. But from what I remember, here are my thoughts.

What I liked:

• Action! Excitement! –– If anything, this book is a page-turner. Like the first book, it has a lot of violence and action. There were definitely a lot of sequences that had me on the edge of my seat.

• Family dynamics –– Penryn's mother and her sister, Paige, were mostly absent throughout Angelfall, so I liked that they played more of a role in the sequel. We get to experience more of their relationships with each other (which is all very complicated, what with the mother suffering from some kind of mental illness and Paige being a ... cannibalistic demon thing ... ?)

• The humor –– Something I appreciated about the first book was the dark humor, which is still present in this one. (For example, Penryn carries around a sword hidden in a giant teddy bear named Pooky Bear––maybe a little a bit ridiculous and unreasonable, but the idea is still amusing.)

• The romance doesn't overwhelm the story –– Well, I have mixed feelings about this. I think there could have been a bit more romance, but I'm also glad it didn't take over the story. It could've gone down the route that a lot of YA series take––where the protagonist gets together with the love interest and then it's just a ton of making out and drama and love triangles and whatnot. Fortunately that's not the case here. There's still that hint of romance, but without distracting too much from the actual conflict.

What didn't work for me:

• The pacing –– This book is 320 pages which is not that short, but when I remember it I feel like it was much shorter. I think it's just that it took a while to really get into the heart of the story. As I said, it had exciting parts, but it didn't feel as fast-paced as the first book was. It just felt like a lot of build-up rather than having its own strong, central plot. The end seemed to be moving towards a more significant conflict, but then it was cut off abruptly.

• WHERE THE HELL WAS RAFFE? –– Raffe was one of my favorite parts of the first book, so I was pretty disappointed that he didn't show up until more than halfway through this one. And when he did show up, the reunion between him and Penryn was ... anti-climatic. I mean, he thought she was dead and then when they met up again it was just kind of like:

Penryn: hi I'm not dead

Raffe: coolbeans

Like seriously, that's it???? The scene where he thought she was dying/dead in the first book was so heart-wrenching, and then the whole thing where he returned her (supposedly dead) body to her mother even though it could've gotten him killed ... it was just AGGGH MY HEART. ALL THE FEELINGS.

So ... I expected something a little more emotional, I guess.

Additionally, I feel like one of the strongest things about Angelfall was the dynamic between Raffe and Penryn––their "witty banter," the development of their relationship, etc. And since they were separated for most of the sequel, that aspect was mostly absent. But now that they've been reunited, maybe the third book will be better.

The final word:

I had super high expectations for this book, and I have to say they weren't quite met. But that said, it was still enjoyable and exciting, and I still have hope for the third one. 

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Review: IRENE IDDESLEIGH by Amanda McKittrick Ros

Title: Irene Iddesleigh Author: Amanda McKittrick Ros My rating: 1/5 STARS

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Time for a history lesson, kids!

There once was a woman named Anna Margaret Ross.

She dreamed of being an author, and had written a manuscript that she thought was really great. Unfortunately no publisher would print it, so she had it printed at her own expense (under the pen name Amanda McKittrick Ros).

This book was called Irene Iddesleigh. It is not very well-known, but some critics consider it one of the worst books ever written. Allegedly, J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis would have contests where they would read it out loud to each other and see who could go the longest without laughing.

Because I love to torture myself, I thought I would give this book a try. The ebook is free on Amazon, so I figured, "Why not? May as well just read it for the lulz."

And well ... what can I say? Yes, this book is terrible. But after a few pages, it's not even amusingly terrible. It's just flat-out bad.

I would attempt to explain what this book is about, but honestly I have no idea. If you manage to slog through the horrendous writing and actually find a story hiding in it, I am very impressed. For me, it was completely impenetrable. Just to give you an idea of what I mean:

Pretty much every other sentence is like this (yes, that is all one sentence).

Then there is the dialogue:

Essentially this book is just a pile of word vomit. If there is a plot, it is impossible to follow. None of the characters have any depth or personality. And as evidenced above, the writing is just painful. Mostly I found this book extremely boring and not all that amusing. There were some moments that were slightly funny, but it was not "The Room" of books as I had hoped it might be. It's just ... not good, and I would not recommend wasting your time on it.

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You can also read this review on Goodreads.

Oops.

I just realized I'd been posting totally non-book related things on this blog for like three days because I was using xkit and I thought I was posting to my main blog. *headdesk* That was really dumb of me. But I have deleted all the irrelevant posts. Sorry about that.

Also, I'm sorry I've been so bad at posting reviews lately. I was caught up in school work (and was also just being lazy) so I hadn't written any reviews in a super long time. But I've written a couple more which I will post on here––and in the next few weeks, I plan to post a lot more. :)

FANGIRL by Rainbow Rowell

4/5 Stars

Goodreads Summary:

Cath is a Simon Snow fan. Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan... But for Cath, being a fan is her life—and she’s really good at it. She and her twin sister, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series when they were just kids; it’s what got them through their mother leaving. Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fan fiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere. Cath’s sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can’t let go. She doesn’t want to. Now that they’re going to college, Wren has told Cath she doesn’t want to be roommates. Cath is on her own, completely outside of her comfort zone. She’s got a surly roommate with a charming, always-around boyfriend, a fiction-writing professor who thinks fan fiction is the end of the civilized world, a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words... And she can’t stop worrying about her dad, who’s loving and fragile and has never really been alone. For Cath, the question is: Can she do this? Can she make it without Wren holding her hand? Is she ready to start living her own life? Writing her own stories? And does she even want to move on if it means leaving Simon Snow behind?

My Review:

Well, this was certainly a book I could relate to––and judging by the book's popularity and widespread praise, I know I'm not the only one. Our protagonist, Cath, is a socially-awkward fan fiction writer who's just starting her first year of college. Her number one obsession is the Simon Snow series, which she has spent years writing fanfiction for. With the release date of the final Simon Snow book coming up, Cath is under pressure to finish her current fanfiction––on top of that, she's dealing with school, her unpredictable party-going twin sister Wren (who attends the same college), her father's recurring mental breakdowns, the lingering pain of her mother's abandonment, her unfriendly roommate Reagan, and Reagan's charming boyfriend Levi.  I could see myself in Cath, and in an internet-dominated age I know a lot of other people do, too. Okay, so I'm not the most hardcore of fangirls. I've never written fanfiction and I've only read occasional snippets of it. But I've been known to spend hours on Tumblr going through certain tags, making gifs, drawing fan art, and writing essay-length comments about books, movies, and TV shows. I have internet friends who I've known and talked to for years, some of whom I've met up with in so-called "real life." I've had people give me weird looks when I mention "fandoms," "shipping," etc. It's like this whole other weird world that I sometimes forget not everyone is a part of.  So, I could understand Cath's obsession. And on top of that, I know what it feels like to be a college student still obsessing over Young Adult books and spending hours talking on the internet about them. I think it's cool that Rainbow Rowell decided to write a story about someone who was really into fandom/fangirling, because it's not a subject I've seen portrayed in a lot of books. I'm not sure what it was about this book, but it really drew me into its world. The pace of it is fairly slow, and not much really "happens"––yet for some reason, it never really failed to hold my attention, and every time I picked it up I was excited to read it. Maybe it was because I related a lot to the subject matter––both the college part and the fandom part. But I think it was also that the characters seemed quite real to me; reading about them, I felt like I was reading about actual human beings.  There were times when I thought Cath's socially anxious personality was a little too overbearing. (For instance, she spends like the first week of college only eating granola bars in her room for meals because she doesn't know where the dining hall is … ?!) But I also related to a lot of the little things she worried about, as someone who also deals with social anxiety.  I'm usually not a huge fan of contemporary romance, but I really liked the romance in this book and thought it was sweet. I think a key factor in my enjoyment of it was that Levi was actually likable. I've read a lot of romance books (particularly in this New Adult genre) where the male love interests are always these macho, over-protective, stalkerish asshole types … So it was refreshing to see a love interest who was much nicer, kind of dorky and awkward in a cute and funny way. Sure, there were a few moments when I wanted to punch him––but I didn't think he did anything really unforgivable, and I liked that he was realistically flawed without him being a douchebag.  And in general, I thought the relationships were done very well––between Cath and Levi, Cath and Wren, Cath and her dad, Cath and Reagan, Levi and Reagan, etc.  Over all I thought this was a very cute and fun book. It didn't amaze me as much as it seems to have done to a lot of other readers, but I did enjoy reading it. There were just a handful of details that bothered me, mostly because I had trouble suspending my disbelief. Be warned, I guess some of this stuff is mildly spoilerish: - As I mentioned before, the whole thing where Cath didn't know where the dining hall was seemed pretty ridiculous to me. I don't know about other colleges, but when I had orientation we were dragged all over campus like a billion times, and like our orientation leaders literally led us into the dining hall and showed us where we get the food and where we put the dishes away, etc. And I would assume most schools would do that … ?  - There was a mention of Reagan having a spare key to their dorm room. Uhhh, what kind of school would allow that?  - Kind of a spoiler, but … At the end of her first semester, Cath doesn't turn in her final short story for a fiction class she's taking. At the beginning of her second semester she meets with her professor, who says she hasn't given Cath a grade yet and is giving her an entire freaking semester to finish the short story. UMMMMM. Especially speaking as a creative writing major myself, this would never happen … ever. Even under the circumstances that this happens in the book, I would say maybe,maybe the professor would give her a week or two to hand in the assignment late. But the thing about being a creative writing student is that usually, you're workshopping your pieces. You're assigned a workshop day and that's the day you hand in your piece, or … well, you're screwed. At least at my school, the professor refuses to read your story and/or evaluate it even if it's turned in a minute late. Maybe I'm just speaking from my own experience, but that seemed really, really unrealistic to me. - There was also a part where Cath turned in fanfiction for a class assignment and then was surprised and outraged when she received an F for plagiarism. I'm sorry but like, how … ? First of all, why would you ever turn in fanfiction for a school assignment? It's just kind of common sense not to do that. And then, why would you be shocked when your professor wasn't cool with that? I don't know, it just made me facepalm. - Kind of on a similar note … So, Simon Snow was obviously a parody of Harry Potter. It's an enormously popular fantasy book series about kids in wizarding school, plus there were a lot of other references that obviously were nods to J.K. Rowling's books. This would have been fine assuming Harry Potter didn't exist in Rainbow Rowell's little alternate universe … but then there was a random mention of Harry Potter in the middle of the book (I think Levi said something about it). I mean, it was such a small thing, but it kind of opens a huge can of worms. If Simon Snow exists in the same universe as Harry Potter, wouldn't J.K. Rowling have sued the shit out of whoever wrote it? Wouldn't there be widespread outcry against it? Wouldn't there be terrifying fandom wars? Maybe if such things had actually been acknowledged it wouldn't have bothered me so much––heck, it could've been really interesting to address that issue. But it just kind of flew by and went ignored.  - As I said, I did like the romance … and I'm not sure how to explain this, but the idea of it kind of annoyed me. I mean basically, Cath is this painfully awkward and introverted nerdy girl who sits alone in her room and writes all the time. And then this attractive and wonderful guy just happens to hang out in her room frequently and fall in love with her. Which is kind of like … yeah, right. Speaking as a painfully awkward and nerdy girl who sits alone in my room writing all the time … I tell ya, it's not a good way to get a boyfriend. I mean, it could also just be that I'm gross and not cute but still. Just the likelihood of that happening seemed doubtful to me. The execution of it was good, but I just felt like it was improbable. Anyway, I liked this book. It was cute and charming and had a good cast of characters. Some things made it hard for me to suspend my disbelief, but over all I thought it was pretty realistic and an enjoyable story. I hope to read more of Rainbow Rowell's books. 

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You can also read this review on Goodreads.

PIVOT POINT by Kasie West

2/5 Stars

Goodreads Summary:

Addison Coleman’s life is one big “What if?” As a Searcher, whenever Addie is faced with a choice, she can look into the future and see both outcomes. It’s the ultimate insurance plan against disaster. Or so she thought. When Addie’s parents ambush her with the news of their divorce, she has to pick who she wants to live with—her father, who is leaving the paranormal compound to live among the “Norms,” or her mother, who is staying in the life Addie has always known. Addie loves her life just as it is, so her answer should be easy. One Search six weeks into the future proves it’s not. In one potential future, Addie is adjusting to life outside the Compound as the new girl in a Norm high school where she meets Trevor, a cute, sensitive artist who understands her. In the other path, Addie is being pursued by the hottest guy in school—but she never wanted to be a quarterback’s girlfriend. When Addie’s father is asked to consult on a murder in the Compound, she’s unwittingly drawn into a dangerous game that threatens everything she holds dear. With love and loss in both lives, it all comes down to which reality she’s willing to live through . . . and who she can’t live without.

My Review:

I heard good things about Pivot Point and thought it sounded really different and interesting, so I bought it a while ago when the Kindle edition was on sale. I'll start off by saying that I thought the concept was awesome. The story is about a girl named Addie who has a supernatural ability to see her future––the problem is that she has to actually live out that future in her mind before returning to the present and deciding what she wants to do. At the beginning, Addie's parents get divorced and her father is going to leave their home––which is located in a secret area where other people with superpowers live. Addie must decide whether she's going to stay with her mother or leave with her father and live with "Normals." She decides to live out both scenarios to decide what she's going to do, so the book is told in two alternating stories––one where she chooses to stay and one where she chooses to leave. I mean, whoa. That's a really cool idea, right? Even though it was a little confusing for the first few chapters and I wasn't sure where it was going, I loved the idea of it and was eager to see where it would go. Unfortunately, there were a lot of things in this book that did not work for me. I thought it had a lot of potential, but it didn't live up to my expectations. What I liked: - As I've said, the concept was awesome. - For the most part, it handled the alternating storylines pretty well. There were times when I was confused about it, but I could usually catch on pretty easily when the chapters switched. - Towards the end, Addie has to face a big dilemma which I thought was pretty clever. I kind of saw it coming, but I thought it was interesting. (view spoiler) What didn't work for me: - Too much of the plot was focused on typical teen drama. I was hoping for something with a bit more action and suspense and whatnot. There was some effort towards the end what with a random drug dealer thrown in (a drug dealer named Poison, who has a car with flames painted on it ... seriously). But that plotline felt forced and pretty last-minute. Really, at its core the story is just about Addie dating two different boys in two different future-scenarios and ... that's it. She hangs out with boys. She goes out with the boys and their friends. She goes to football games. Both boys fall in love with her. She makes out with the boys. That is most of the story in a nutshell. - I didn't care much about either of the love interests. One of them is named Duke Rivers (more like Puke Rivers, am I right?) and is basically a total tool who is super conceited––but he's totally hot I guess. (view spoiler) The other love interest, Trevor, is slightly more interesting. Duke and Trevor are both football players (*snooore*), but Trevor writes comic books––so that makes him a slightly better option. And I mean, there's not really anything wrong with Trevor ... I just never felt that he had much of a personality. - Speaking of which, I didn't feel like anyone in the book had much of a personality. Addie herself is kind of a Mary Sue and I didn't find her narrative voice very strong. She just kind of whines about how hard her life is, while numerous boys fall in love with her. As I've said, neither Duke nor Trevor was particularly compelling either. Duke and Trevor's friends are just kind of cardboard cutouts that hang around and don't do or say much––except Trevor's friends Rowan and Stephanie, but both are only there to be portrayed as those super annoying friends who everyone hates. Addie's best friend Laila is at least a bit more of a prevalent character, but her personality seems to center around her being boy-obsessed. (She even tells Addie her dad is hot at one point ... uhh, eew.) - The whole superpower thing is not explained well. And by that I mean, it's basically not explained at all. So, you're going to tell me there's this secret little isolated town where only people with superpowers live ... and then you're going to tell me how they got these powers and how they all ended up in this one place, right? Well ... apparently not. I can only recall one time in the entire book where Addie attempts to explain it, and her explanation is extremely vague and doesn't tell the reader anything. She just casually mentions that no one really knows why these people have supernatural abilities––they think people are either "just born with them" or maybe they're related to demi-gods. So ... you're saying you could be descended from demi-gods, and you're not going to go into any more detail about that? Not to mention, there's absolutely no explanation as to how all these people with superpowers ended up in one place. This brings up like five billion questions: If it's so top-secret, how did they all find out about it? How did they all get there? Does the government know about them and relocate them there? ... But if that's the case, then why is it so easy for them to leave their little isolated society? (Like literally, kids just leave all the time to go to football games and random stuff like that.) And how would the government find out people had powers in the first place? Because I mean, that's not something you can just ask people. Also, if the powers are something people are just born with, wouldn't that mean people all over the world have powers? And wouldn't a bunch of people decide to use those powers for evil? Wouldn't the planet have been overtaken by evil supervillains at this point? Maybe I'm overanalyzing a little here, but seriously ... it makes no sense. At all. And there's not even any effort to explain it. Not to mention, the superpowers themselves aren't very well-developed or consistent. We're told that each person has their own ability––Addie can do her weird future-telling thing, Laila can erase memories, Duke can change people's moods, etc.––so that's pretty straightforward. But then there are all these weird inconsistencies––like Laila can control cars' "minds" (uhhh?), at one point Laila and Addie both control people's minds, and Addie randomly changes the color of her eyes at one point. ... What?! It's like, either give people one power and stick to that, or explain why they can just develop new abilities out of nowhere. (I would also like to mention that Addie usually refers to her power as Clairvoyance but several times she calls it Divergence ... and says that she is Divergent. Which is a little cringe-worthy. I mean, it's not like Veronica Roth invented the word. But still. Couldn't she have picked something else? Or you know, just stuck with one name for her power?) The final word: I really wanted to like this book because I'm in love with the concept. And I think so much could have been done with it. Like ... man, it would be really cool if there was a story where people randomly develop superpowers and then like, the government is hunting them down and trapping them in isolated societies––like internment camps or something. (Yooo maybe I should write this myself.) But unfortunately, I didn't feel like it lived up to its potential. There could have been a lot more world-building and/or some kind of explanation for ... everything, and there could have been more exploration of the characters and their powers. So ultimately, I was rooting really hard for this book but it just didn't work for me.

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You can also read this review on Goodreads.

THE FINAL DESCENT (The Monstrumologist, #4) by Rick Yancey

Rating: 4/5 STARS

I've put off reviewing this for a long time––partly because I'm super lazy (as always) but also because … well, I have complicated feelings about this final installment to the series. I wouldn't go so far as to call it "disappointing" because that sounds harsh––and don't get me wrong, I still enjoyed it. It was just so staggeringly different from the first three books that it felt detached from the rest of the series for me. I understand that there was some publishing drama surrounding this book, which I hadn't known about until I opened the book and saw a brief mention of it in Rick Yancey's introduction. Not knowing what he was referring to, I looked it up and found a blog post explaining the situation. Apparently, after the third book had been released, Yancey received a letter from his agent that said something like, "Wow great job with the conclusion to the series, haha." And he was like, "… Uhh, what. There's still another book." And his agent was like, "Oh … awkward." So yeah, Simon & Schuster had randomly canceled his contract after the third book was published. Yancey noted that the same week, they made a multi-book deal with Hilary Duff. Well … nice job, guys. At least they changed their minds, but finding out about it still made me pretty furious. I guess what saddens me most is that the contract was canceled due to poor book sales, which is a shame because it's one of the best YA series I've ever read. Meanwhile, Yancey goes on to write The 5th Wave––which, in my opinion, seemed like something he only wrote to appeal to popular trends. And lo and behold, that book does amazingly and gets a big movie deal before it even hits bookstores. But, I digress. The point is, I don't know whether this drama with the publisher had anything to do with how the book turned out. It just … upsets me. Anyway, moving along: I totally devoured the first three books in the Monstrumologist series. They were terrifying, thrilling, disgusting … Everything I could want in a book. I loved the style, the characters, and the story. I read all three of them in a row in less than a week, which something I hardly ever do when I'm reading a series; usually I wait between books. There was one day when I sat down and read the second half of the second book and then most of the third book and it totaled to about 500 pages' worth of reading in a single day. Even for me, that's pretty impressive. So of course, I eagerly awaited the fourth book, constantly checking for updates for months on end. Waiting for it was agony. It came out a little before my birthday, and then my mom sent it to me as an early birthday present. Of course I was totally pumped to read it and soon had read the whole thing. And … well … Hmm. I don't know how exactly to describe this book or how I felt about it. But before I get to any criticisms, I can start off by saying that it was definitely a good book, and I definitely liked it. First of all, I love Yancey's writing style in this series. It matches the time period of the story without seeming forced. It's full of vivid descriptions and many thought-provoking moments. As with the first three books, the fourth book continues to explore the thin line between monsters and humans. We see Will Henry fall deeper into a dark part of his mind, to the point where he could be considered a monster himself––and that's utterly terrifying, and done very well. The story was thrilling and kept me turning the pages, wondering what on earth was going to happen. Ultimately, though, I just didn't find myself as invested in this final book as I was in the first three. I think part of it was that it was constantly skipping around on the timeline which sometimes made it confusing, and I wasn't always sure what was happening when. Will Henry is also totally losing his mind at many points in the story, which sometimes causes a dramatic change in style––and while that felt appropriate for the situation, it made me feel kind of isolated from the story sometimes. I think what bothered me most was that I didn't feel attached to the characters the same way as I had before. In the first three books, I adored the friendship between Will and Warthrop and found it very compelling. In this book … Will just came off as a total asshole a lot of the time. He was so different from the character he'd been before, and it was a bit jarring. On top of that, I didn't feel like there were as many powerful interactions between him and Warthrop as there had been in the previous books. In fact, there seemed to just be a lot of animosity between them for most of the story and I found that sad. I mean, their relationship had always been confusing and had its ups and downs––and I also understand Will being upset––but still … there were a lot of touching moments between them in the other books and I felt like that was kind of lacking in this one. On top of that, the ending left me really confused––and from reading other reviews, I see I'm not the only one. I was hoping to get a better sense of closure from the end but it was just kind of like, "… Huh?" And it was over. It's been months since I read it at this point, and I'm struggling to even remember exactly what happened; it just didn't stick with me, besides that I remember it being perplexing. The final word: I still love this series. I love the first three books. And I really like this one as well, but just not on the same level as its predecessors. Still, even though this one was not as memorable as the first three books for me, I still thought it was very frightening, dark, and thought-provoking.