Book Review: Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire

The new Abby Abernathy is a good girl. She doesn’t drink or swear, and she has the appropriate percentage of cardigans in her wardrobe. Abby believes she has enough distance between her and the darkness of her past, but when she arrives at college with her best friend America, her path to a new beginning is quickly challenged by Eastern University’s Walking One-Night Stand.

Travis Maddox, lean, cut, and covered in tattoos, is exactly what Abby needs—and wants—to avoid. He spends his nights winning money in a floating fight ring, and his days as the charming college co-ed. Intrigued by Abby’s resistance to his charms, Travis tricks her into his daily life with a simple bet. If he loses, he must remain abstinent for a month. If Abby loses, she must live in Travis’ apartment for the same amount of time. Either way, Travis has no idea that he has met his match.

I got maybe two chapters into this book before I had to stop reading it.  This reminded me of a badly written Mary Sue fanfic, and I’ve read my share of those so I didn’t feel the need to add another to the list.  I’ve read other reviews of this book – in fact, that’s where I first heard of it was through the reviews on Goodreads – and by some miracle it has a 4.23 rating on that site.  One of the groups I’m a member of on that site has it listed as their book of the month for January, and I made the huge mistake of spending an entire $2.99 on the ebook version of it.  I honestly think I overpaid for it.

I know the characters are beloved to some, but I never got the chance to fall in love with or learn to hate them or have any sort of connection with them at all.  I believe this book was self-published, and I truly feel it could have benefited from a thorough and involved editing.

This book certainly was a disaster, but certainly not a beautiful one.

Color Score: Red (for an explanation of my rating system, click here).

Book Review: Delirium by Lauren Oliver

Before scientists found the cure, people thought love was a good thing. They didn’t understand that once love — the deliria — blooms in your blood, there is no escaping its hold. Things are different now. Scientists are able to eradicate love, and the government demands that all citizens receive the cure upon turning eighteen. Lena Holoway has always looked forward to the day when she’ll be cured. A life without love is a life without pain: safe, measured, predictable, and happy.

But with ninety-five days left until her treatment, Lena does the unthinkable: She falls in love.

If you were to take out all the similes and metaphors in this book, it would be about twenty pages.  Every single thing in it was compared to something else, and quite often, two or three something elses.  I have nothing against similes or metaphors, don’t get me wrong, but too much of anything is bad.

I really truly wanted to like this book so much more than I actually did.  Don’t get me wrong, it’s not a bad book.  Despite the flowery purple prose, the characters are believable, the plot is interesting, and the world building is unique and in depth.  I just honestly feel as if those overt comparisons got in the way of the author actually telling the story.

I’m going to insert a spoiler here, so if you haven’t read it, I wouldn’t read this next paragraph.

So, sure it never specifically says that Alex dies, but come on.  Really?  I know this isn’t strictly a Romance (with a capital R) book, but who kills off their hero?  The only thing tempting me to read Pandemonium is to find out for certain if Alex is dead.  But, I can just as easily do that by reading spoilers online, and not have to bother forcing myself to get through that book, too.

I checked out another of Ms. Oliver’s books from the library, Before I Fall, and I’m going to give it a shot, but if it’s anything like this one, I won’t be finishing it.

Color Score: Yellow  (for an explanation of my rating system, click here.)

Book Review: Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi

Aria is a teenager in the enclosed city of Reverie. Like all Dwellers, she spends her time with friends in virtual environments, called Realms, accessed through an eyepiece called a Smarteye. Aria enjoys the Realms and the easy life in Reverie. When she is forced out of the pod for a crime she did not commit, she believes her death is imminent. The outside world is known as The Death Shop, with danger in every direction.

As an Outsider, Perry has always known hunger, vicious predators, and violent energy storms from the swirling electrified atmosphere called the Aether. A bit of an outcast even among his hunting tribe, Perry withstands these daily tests with his exceptional abilities, as he is gifted with powerful senses that enable him to scent danger, food and even human emotions.

They come together reluctantly, for Aria must depend on Perry, whom she considers a barbarian, to help her get back to Reverie, while Perry needs Aria to help unravel the mystery of his beloved nephew’s abduction by the Dwellers. Together they embark on a journey challenged as much by their prejudices as by encounters with cannibals and wolves. But to their surprise, Aria and Perry forge an unlikely love – one that will forever change the fate of all who live UNDER THE NEVER SKY.

I almost stopped reading this book about three chapters in.  I didn’t feel as if I connected to the characters, the plot was a bit slow moving at first, and the writing style felt choppy.  I have to say, I’m extremely glad I stuck it out.  I really ended up loving this book.

The main character, Aria, starts off almost naive and childish, but she quickly grows up and develops into a character I fell in love with.  Due to circumstances in the book, she’s forced to undergo obstacles – both mental and physical – but her reactions and feelings are very realistic and understandable, especially considering what you learn of her upbringing.  Her development as a character felt natural to me, and it truly made me come to care for her. The other main character and love interest, Perry, is one of those heroes that at first seems prickly and gruff, but you come to learn his heart as he and Aria interact with each other and with their respective family members throughout the book.  The romance that emerges between them is one of the sweetest, most realistic ones I’ve read about in a while – and I’ve been reading the Romance genre for way longer than I care to admit.  ;)

I’m not sure if it was just my perception, or if Ms. Rossi intended it to be this way, but I get the feeling that the style of writing actually improved as the book goes along.  The later chapters, to me, felt like they flowed more and while I definitely wouldn’t say they were full of purple prose, there were parts that were almost poetic.

If I had to choose something wrong with the book, it would be that it ended too soon!  I can’t wait to find out what happens in the next installment of this series, which doesn’t come out until sometime in 2013.  I can assure you, I’ll be waiting in line to pick it up.

Color Score: Indigo (for an explanation of my rating system, click here.)

Book Review: Divergent by Veronica Roth

In Beatrice Prior’s dystopian Chicago, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is—she can’t have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.
During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles to determine who her friends really are—and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes infuriating boy fits into the life she’s chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she’s kept hidden from everyone because she’s been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers a growing conflict that threatens to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves… or it might destroy her.

Debut author Veronica Roth bursts onto the literary scene with the first book in the Divergent series—dystopian thrillers filled with electrifying decisions, heartbreaking betrayals, stunning consequences, and unexpected romance.

I know I’m so late jumping on the Divergent bandwagon, but better late than never, right?  :)

I expected to really like this book, and it certainly lived up to my expectations.  I won’t waste time making the obvious Hunger Games comparisons – if you’ve read the book you already know what they are – but I will say that despite the similarities I felt like this book was different enough to keep me from feeling like I was reading a complete copy.  Tris is definitely one of the better developed characters I’ve read about in quite a while.  I felt for her during all the indecision and pain she went through, and I felt like I could almost relate to her, despite never having been in that situation.

Four gets a lot of love as a love interest, and I have to say it’s deserved.  He’s certainly a good man, and again, I really feel like I went on a journey with him throughout the book.  I also have to give Ms. Roth props for not caving to the triangle cliche that seems to overpower so many other YA books out now.  I love romance in my books, but I can only take so many Team SoandSo before I want to strangle something.  One of the characters I wish I had gotten to know better was Tris’s mother.  Just in case you haven’t read the book, I won’t give too much away, but I would have loved to have seen more interaction between Mrs. Prior and Tris.

I feel like the world-building was where most of the Hunger Games similarities came in, so I do feel like a bit more could have been done to change that up, but overall I did really like the writing style and settings in this book.

I can’t wait for Insurgent – I have a feeling it’s going to be even better than this one!

Color Score: Blue (for an explanation of my rating system, click here.)

Book Review: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

After the grisly murder of his entire family, a toddler wanders into a graveyard where the ghosts and other supernatural residents agree to raise him as one of their own.

Nobody Owens, known to his friends as Bod, is a normal boy. He would be completely normal if he didn’t live in a sprawling graveyard, being raised and educated by ghosts, with a solitary guardian who belongs to neither the world of the living nor of the dead. There are dangers and adventures in the graveyard for a boy. But if Bod leaves the graveyard, then he will come under attack from the man Jack—who has already killed Bod’s family . . .

Beloved master storyteller Neil Gaiman returns with a luminous new novel for the audience that embraced his New York Times bestselling modern classic Coraline. Magical, terrifying, and filled with breathtaking adventures, The Graveyard Book is sure to enthrall readers of all ages.

Neil Gaiman has become, hands down, one of my all-time favorite authors.  Of the books he’s written that I’ve read, there isn’t a single one I didn’t love.  The Graveyard Book is no exception.

His writing style, while slightly different in deference to the intended age group, is as beautiful as always.  He has a way of saying so much with so few and simple words, and his style of world-building is one of the best I’ve ever read.  I always feel as if I’m immersed in his worlds, and one of his best abilities is his talent for creating worlds that are so realistic, despite their obvious fantastical elements.

One of the things I loved most about this book was the way in which the story was delivered.  There is an overarching plot, but each chapter almost feels as if it’s a separate story, and Bod grows up so quickly, but you never feel as if you’re missing anything important in his life.  The resolution feels natural and right, despite its bittersweet qualities.  I don’t want to give too much away, so I’ll leave it at that.

This is the only young adult/children’s book I’ve read of his, but I definitely plan on reading the others now.  I highly recommend this book.

Color Score: Indigo  (for an explanation of my rating system, click here.)

Book Review: Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr

All teenagers have problems, but few of them can match those of Aislinn, who has the power to see faeries. Quite understandably, she wishes that she could share her friends’ obliviousness and tries hard to avoid these invisible intruders. But one faery in particular refuses to leave her alone. Keenan the Summer King is convinced beyond all reasoning that Aislinn is the queen he has been seeking for nine centuries. What’s a 21st-century girl to do when she’s stalked by a suitor nobody else can see? A debut fantasy romance for the ages; superlative summer read.

I’ve always been a huge fan of all things supernatural; vampires, werewolves, fairies, mermaids… You name it, chance are I’ve at some point been enamored of it.  In the recent years, YA literature has taken a couple of different routes where a certain creature happens to figure prominently in most of the popular books.  We all know what happened with vampires, don’t we?

When I saw not just a book but a whole series of books about fairies, I got all excited.  I love fairies in just about any form, and the descriptions I was able to find about this book made it sound right up my alley.  When I went to Books-A-Million and saw that they had the first four books in the series on sale, I figured it was divine providence.

Unfortunately, the book didn’t blow me away as I had hoped it would.  This book was good.  It wasn’t great, it wasn’t awful, it was just good.  The writing was good.  The plot was good.  To be honest, I only finished it a couple of days ago, and I can’t recall much about it.  It’s just one of those books that you don’t hate enough to stop reading, but that once you’re done, you’ll never think of again.

It was disappointing, definitely, and maybe some of my disappointment is my own fault for putting such high hopes into a series and author I was unfamiliar with.  Either way, it just didn’t make a lasting impression on me.  I’m glad I have the other three books, and once the fifth comes out in paperback I’ll buy it (I’m so glad I didn’t spend $18 on it), but chances are they’ll all just become part of my collection.  They do have pretty covers, don’t they?

Color Score: Green  (for an explanation of my rating system, click here.)

Big Book Haul

My husband and I went to the used book store yesterday, and I was able to pick up three books for no money, just by trading in some old paperbacks I’ll never read. I picked up:

    

We then went to the library where I picked out five books.  When we checked out, I discovered quite a lot of the books I’d placed holds on had come in.  I was suddenly in possession of 11 books, which I now have three weeks to get through.  Sheesh. That’s the kind of problem I love to have.  Here are those books:

      

      

    

Can I do it folks?  Can I get all 11 books read in three weeks?  Only time will tell.  :)

(Clicking on the book cover will take you to its Goodreads page.)