This book caused a lot of strong emotions to happen all at once inside me. Most of them were angry feelings. I did not like this book at all. Not one This book caused a lot of strong emotions to happen all at once inside me. Most of them were angry feelings. I did not like this book at all. Not one bit. Which was such a disappointment because I loved her other book, Rooms. The idea behind this one is a good one, but I don’t like the messages being sent in this book at all.
Little Miss Perfect goes to school dressed like a tramp for Valentine’s Day. It’s the Friday before VD and she has the most studly boyfriend ever. Her and her stuck up BFF’s roll into the school parking lot a little late, cut a classmate off causing said classmate to be late for class, and go strolling into school like they own the place. Because in most senses, they do. They’re the “it girls” of Thomas Jefferson High.
They get all their flowers an valentines. Flirt with the creepy teacher. Sneak out during class and smoke cigarettes. Then they go to the “big party” that night where of course, they’re gonna dress like dirty street-whores, drink their faces off, smoke some pot and then bang their boyfriends.
Instead they help to humiliate a girl in front of everyone at the party. They leave amid the laughter and encouragement of their peers. Because being a rude, selfish twat is all the rage these days. FUCK I hate high school.
When they leave, they get into a car accident where they’re killed. Or are they?
Little Miss Perfect keeps reliving the day. Over and over and over again. No one else seems aware of what is happening to her. She can do things exactly the same or drastically different and none of it seems to matter…except it does. The outcome of that fateful night is different. Can she figure out the secret code? Can she figure out what to do in order to save them all?
DUNDUNDUN.
Oh my god. I hate this book. She never learns anything. There’s no growth. There’s not an ounce of regret for her behavior. There’s an attitude of “well, we’re all assholes in high school so it’s ok”. Well, guess what? Not all of us are. Some of us are the victims of the ones who were. Some of us are the ones plagued with self-doubt and low self-esteem from deeply rooted memories of being humilated and tortured on a regular basis by our classmates. And not all of us have what it takes to rise above it. Some of us don’t make it out alive.
This book bothered me on so many levels. I could go on about this for a while, but I won’t. I’ll just say that anything that justifies shitty human behavior is complete garbage. It is not difficult to be kind. It is not difficult to live and let live. It kills me that people can so actively go out of their way to make other people’s lives miserable.
I am not saying that I never had a go at anyone else, or that I didn’t laugh at someone else’s misfortune. But these girls go out of their way to make sure that certain people suffer and that is a big fucking problem with me. And nothing these girls could have done would have excused or made up for it with me. Hence the 1 star rating....more
Do you want to read a book where literally nothing happens? Do you enjoy stories where you’rOriginal review:
What a snooze fest.
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Updated Review:
Do you want to read a book where literally nothing happens? Do you enjoy stories where you’re led to believe there’s some big discovery about to happen only to find that no, it’s actually fucking pointless? If you answered yes to either of these questions, then boy do I have the book for you.
Here’s yet another Overdrive audiobook I snagged while waiting for more credits. Life with the World’s Busiest 18-Month Old leaves little time for “actual” reading but offers ample opportunities for audiobooks! And I have been burning through them at the speed of light!
Anyway, I did a very brief scan of the description of this one before deciding that it sounded interesting. A stripper, a psychologist and the potential for things to get dirty. The potential lied. This was boring, under developed and exaggerated.
We’ve got a stripper with a bad case of stage fright. But that’s not all folks! (Cue the sappy music) She’s trying to get her child back from Evil Baby Daddy. Oh, you thought that was it? Nope. Not even close. She’s also being threatened by her Russian Mafia boss! Yup. I think this author wanted to see how many clichés could be jammed into one character.
We’ve got a doctor who is so apathetic it’s kind of terrifying. His patients’ lives mean nothing to him. And while I can see where this is important- separating their lives from your own as their doctor- I still think it’s important for a doctor to want to help his patient out of genuine concern for their well-being. I don’t know exactly what I’m getting at here, other than to say that his indifference to everyone else’s life was reason enough for me to NEVER want to go see a psychologist.
The writing was decent. I particularly liked the formatting. The psychologist teaches a class at a local college at night and you get his lectures which relate to something that is about to occur between him and his patient. He uses the phrase “The good psychologist” quite often while lecturing indicating the do’s and don’ts of doctor/patient relations.
Literally nothing really happens. It was a neat little insight into phycology but that was about all it had going for it. I didn’t like anyone in the book nor could I relate. The narration was not great either which did not help me enjoy it. ...more
When I first saw the previews for The Shape of Water I remember thinking that it not only looked different, but it looked weird. Weird is my thing. I When I first saw the previews for The Shape of Water I remember thinking that it not only looked different, but it looked weird. Weird is my thing. I love weird. I embrace it. Well, when the book showed up on my GR Newsfeed I about shat myself out of pure excitement. Not only is it a book, but it is written by Guillermo del Toro himself. We all know the man can make movies, but a writer too? Surely this was going to be a perfect storm of creative genius that I would fall hopelessly in love with.
WRONG.
It’s 1962 and Elisa Esposita works as a janitor for a research center. She was orphaned as a child and has horribly scarring across her throat where her vocal chords were removed as a child. She’s been mute her whole life. And she loves wearing fancy shoes. Seems legit. Because as a janitor wearing glittery pumps makes all the sense in the world. Right? Right.
Anyway, one night she stumbles across something she wasn’t supposed to. Or rather, she goes willingly into a room she has been expressly forbidden from entering. What does she find? The company is hoarding a man-beast. It is some sort of reptile meets human who radiates colors and farts rainbows or something. Who the fuck actually knows? Either way, Elisa and her ruby slippers get this things motors running. And they eat eggs together and he/it watches her dance the tango by herself in her glittery pumps.
Of course it’s the beauty meeting the beast and falling hopelessly in love. Because no one could ever love Elisa. She’s mute. She’s a janitor. But you know something? EVERYONE fucking loves Elisa. Not only does she have glittery shoes, but she is of the Bejeweled Vagaina Variety. Everyone who meets her, walks by her, hears mention of her name is immeidiately smitten and must do everything in their power to bend over backwards for her.
FUCK ME.
As if this wasn’t enough, del Toro decides the story needs more. We need to have an obsessed ex-military type who wants to exterminate this mythical creature he doesn’t understand. We have closet homosexuals being mistreated. We have the Civil Rights Movement. We have the Russians coming. I mean it literally never ends. I am not saying that those things shouldn’t be written about. I am not even remotely trying to be insensitive to any of those issues. What I AM saying is that authors try to cram waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much shit into one book. And some of them do it with a grace that makes it almost unnoticable…Others, like del Toro, lack such grace and throw elements in with seemingly no rhyme or reason. It makes my head hurt.
There were so many things that were beautiful about this book. It had such potential but instead was bogged down with useless storylines and political elements that didn’t belong. Some of the writing in here was straight poetry. I was intrigued but found myself losing more and more intersest as the story continued. It was such a disappointment. I went into this so enthusiastically and had the rug pulled out from under my feet.
I’d like to thank Kelly for joining me on what was supposed to be a fun adventure. I wish we could say it was worth the wait, but it proved to be a shit show. Without Kelly, I may have lost my mind....more
Let’s talk about the book that inspired my first review in months.
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The introduction was by far the best part of the whole book….and you can readLet’s talk about the book that inspired my first review in months.
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The introduction was by far the best part of the whole book….and you can read all about that on the back cover of the book. It starts with a suicide in a book store. Joey, a BookFrog(which is an annoying term for someone who is probably homeless who hangs out in the bookstore all day most days during the week) hangs himself right before the book store closes. Lydia, our MC with a bejeweled vagina, is of course the special snowflake who finds him.
Lydia. Let’s talk about her. She witnessed the murder of her friend and her friend’s parents when she was a child and was the sole survivor of the even more poorly named “Hammerman”. I mean seriously, does this author have a creative bone in his body? A fucking bookfrog? WTF is that? And gee, can you take a guess as to the weapon of choice of the dreaded Hammerman? Give me a break. Fucking lame. Right off the bat. Anyway, she’s obviously very traumatized. Her father whisks her away to the mountains where they can live in peace away from the chaos of the city and she cannot be pursued by the media.
Fast forward however many years to when this new tragic event happens. Lydia once again finds herself center of attention. Joey loved her. And OFFUCKINGCOURSE he coordinated his suicide to ensure SHE would find him, bequeathed her his belongings and left her super-secret coded messages in books that only she would be smart enough to figure out because plot. And let’s just presume she cares enough to put forth the effort to decode these ridiculous messages and follow a woman she doesn’t know into a sketchy-ass apartment.
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Our lovely bejeweled vagina MC gets hit on by nearly every man she encounters. But rest assured, folks, she is NOT anything special. She’s just Lydia.
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You’re a special fucking snowflake, Lydia. And you and your magical brain power and ridiculous decision-making skills will surely figure this whole absurd mystery out.
There were SO many things in this book that made no sense. Someone who literally watched her childhood friend get beat to death with a hammer as a child is NOT going to follow a complete stranger to the other shady side of town and enter the apartment of someone else she knew in passing. It does not make sense. Then you have the detective that investigated the murders, who sees Lydia’s picture in the paper, send her a post card informing her to come visit him if she wants answers to some things from said investigation. When she shows up he’s a complete dick to her and acts all put-out by the fact that she’s trudging up the past. WTF?! Lydia’s boyfriend is so underdeveloped and cast aside I am not even sure why he’s in there to begin with. Oh, and can we talk about how there’s a woman who works in the bookstore named PLATH? Right, because that’s a super common name. Come the fuck on with this garbage.
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I will also say this, though I will caution you not to open the spoiler unless you're completely sure that you aren't going to read it. (view spoiler)[ I was infuriated that a MOTHER could know that her husband slaughtered a family, including one of her son's best friends, and do nothing about it. What could he have done to you? He would certainly have been in prison for the rest of his life. I don't care how scared you are. HE IS A MURDERER. HE KILLED A CHILD. And then to pick one son over the other because you CHOSE to stay with a man you knew to be a murderer?? FUCK you. And fuck this author for creating such a terrible character and storyline. Absolute garbage. (hide spoiler)]
I have found myself wondering on occasion how certain books ever leave an editor’s desk. This is one of those instances. Editors: Stop babying your clients and start thinking critically. Your audience deserves better!
My initial reaction: I am having a very hard time making up my mind about this book. [image]
Let me sit and think on this one a bit.
Review after having sMy initial reaction: I am having a very hard time making up my mind about this book. [image]
Let me sit and think on this one a bit.
Review after having sat and thought a bit:
Gather ‘round, friends! Find yourself a comfy seat and take your pants off.
That’s right. It’s time to review a pantsless-platoon buddy read of epic proportions. I started this book in fucking OCTOBER, people. Do you know when I finished it? Fucking January. I know I am a slow mutant reader, but come on….I’ve read Stephen King’s It in less time and that’s almost double the volume. So what was it? To be honest, I don’t quite know. I’m hoping by writing this review, I’ll be able to put my finner on it. (view spoiler)[Being a mom, finger is now finner. (hide spoiler)]
The opening sequence in this story is one of the best I’ve ever read. I was immediately drawn in by the story. I mean, who wouldn’t be? A naked man, strapped to a steering wheel of a vehicle, with a mysterious tattoo on his shoulder, who had also been strangled and was already dead (view spoiler)[ Not to be confused with Still-Dead Stan (hide spoiler)] goes flying off the side of a cliff into a lake that is known for its unforgiving current. And our MC’s father selflessly goes diving in head first to try to save him, not knowing the man is already dead. But the image of that already-dead man will haunt Mr. Mackenson in ways he never knew possible.
In the quiet town of Zephryr, this happening is ALL THE NEWS. No, really. The townspeople just didn’t know what to think. After months of searching, this already- dead man seems to have come from nowhere. No family. No next of kin. No one searching for this missing, already-dead man. Baffling. Stumped. Defeated. Mr. Mackenson can’t sleep at night, tortured by dreams that seem to be trying to give him clues.
Cory Mackenson, our MC, has a vivid imagination and an ability to spin a story. It’s what his friends all look to him for. They expect him to paint the picture in their minds and fill in the blanks of all their adventures. And being young boys, they have lots of adventures. There are some that are fun and filled with the innocence of youth, some that are tragic, some that are so bizarre it makes you want to bash your face off a wall repeatedly. Mayhap that’s where the term “off the wall” comes from? *stops to ponder this*
There’s friendship. There’s imagination. There’s a ridiculous evil monkey that’s possessed of Satan. There’s a red-headed booger-picker. There’s southern voodoo magic. There’s creatures from the black lagoon depths of the Black Lake. There’s apparently a real life fucking dinosaur that took this story from the fun boyhood adventure to the realms of AREYOUFUCKINGSERIOUSWITHTHISSHIT?!. Which completely took me out of the story.
Mayhap my issue with this story is that I loved it so much that these little asides became too much and took me out of it, hence dwindling my affection. I LOVE the things I love. To some, that statement may seem redundant and unnecessary, but to those of you who know me, you are definitely smelling what I’m stepping in here. I don’t like anything that may challenge my love. And for some reason, this author just continued to call my reasons to love this book into question. WHY?!
Mayhap it was the formatting. Had this been written as a collection of short stories, I for one think it would have been 86.3% better.
It was not the writing. No, not that. The writing was some of the best I’ve read in a long time.
It wasn’t the characters. I found them to be believable and in most cases, likeable. Having grown up in a small town the people felt accurate to me.
*shrugs*
I think it was a handful of this and a handful of that. It wasn’t any one thing I guess is what I’m trying to say. It was the seemingly endless digressions- this author could give Stephen King a run for his money in that department! It was the improbability of certain things- there being an actual fucking dinosaur, there being a father who would willingly leave his young son with a nude man(regardless of the nude man’s mental capacity), there being a fucking zombie dog who was prayed back to life and then (view spoiler)[being sent off into the clearing at the end of the path with the ghost of a dead kid. (hide spoiler)]
I mean, come on. Walk the line here, buddy. Help me out a little. Have some fucking direction.
Aha!
Here it is. My moment of clarity. I think I have finally put my finner on it. This story didn’t have any direction. The author didn’t seem to have a fucking clue what story he was trying to tell. It’s like someone who wants his/ first tattoo putting all his ideas into one. That’s what it read like. “I want to write a murder mystery set in a small town, with a random naked guy who seems insane but is actually brilliant and has one of the best dialogues out there but really serves very little purpose. And I want there to be a monkey who is possessed of the devil that throws his shit on church-goers. Oh! How cool would it be to have a fucking triceratops terrorizing the town? Better make sure to throw in a creepy 100+ year voodoo lady. Best not to forget a shoot-out…Hmm what else can we throw in here?”
It just got more and more ridiculous the more he added in there. What started out so wonderfully quickly turned outrageous and goddamnit did it break my fucking heart. It broke my heart because I fell in love from the start and I wanted that love and passion to continue throughout the book’s entirety.
There were moments of greatness that, for me, outweighed a lot of the things that upset me so much. But I’ve finally come to a decision and am rating this 3 stars, but really a 2.5. There is nothing I hate more than being misled. It feels almost like a betrayal.
I would like to thank my buddies, even if they left me in the dust. You guys make every buddy read worth it and doing it without pants is just an added bonus. I say thankya....more
You there? Ok. I’m about to have a Veronica Roth rant and I figured you’d enjoy it.
I am so disappointed. More than most fans wereKELLY!!! I need you.
You there? Ok. I’m about to have a Veronica Roth rant and I figured you’d enjoy it.
I am so disappointed. More than most fans were with Allegiant. Personally, I loved Allegiant, but hey to each their own. This book, however, is a different story altogether. When I read Carve the Mark I loved it! I could not get enough of Cyra and Akos. Two star-crossed lovers if ever there were.
The world was a little much. I am not going to lie. I was overwhelmed with the vastness of the intergalactic world Roth created. There was just too much of it. The language she tried to throw in there was inconsistent and unnecessary, but the characters and their interactions made Carve the Mark all that it was to me.
The first few chapters of the Fates Divide pick up where Carve the Mark ended. Typically, this is great. Not this time. Roth decided to kill off the villain in the opening chapters leaving me wondering what all the development was for. Why spend all this time building a great villain just to have him killed uneventfully in the opening pages? Because plot.
We move on to a new argument that is mundane and seemingly pointless but of course leads to a war. Because everyone in the galaxy wanted said villain dead but as soon as he’s killed everyone gets all up in arms over a.) who did it and b.) how it was done. WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK. Who gives a shit? He’s dead. Be happy. Celebrate.
Then we get a bombshell. And I can’t sugarcoat it, Roth definitely pulled the carpet out from under my feet with this one. It was a doozy! Instead of it bringing our two lovers closer together it, OF COURSE, drives them apart. Akos leaves without a word to Cyra. They’re both filled with self-loathing and each have their own secret missions. Where they could have just spoken with one another like responsible adults, they act like immature assholes and go their separate ways.
YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND MY FRUSTRATION HERE.
Cyra and Akos were wonderful and Roth fucking ruined them in this sequel. I just don’t fucking understand what she was going for here. “Ah, I’m all wounded and broken and misunderstood”. Give me a break!!!! They had great chemistry and their relationship was a beautiful thing and what I wanted here was to see them together, holding hands in public and rubbing their love in the faces of EVERYONE. Instead we get a pointless war. We get characters with no meaning. We get POV’s that we don’t need that serve to add confusion to an already muddled storyline. I kept waiting and waiting for this to get better. It never did. I can’t even begin to tell you how angry I am. (Maybe as angry as Kelly was when she got to Allegiant?) I just felt like she dropped the ball big time here.
Now, I am not saying I won’t ever pick up another book written by Roth, but MY GOD WOMAN, you’re better than this!!! This “world” was way too much and not enough at the same time. Figure it the fuck out and start again.
Behind Her Eyes is told through the eyes of Louise and Adele. Along with that narrative approach is the “Then” and “Now” veNice try, Jan Sarah.
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Behind Her Eyes is told through the eyes of Louise and Adele. Along with that narrative approach is the “Then” and “Now” versions from Adele’s POV. Everyone was talking about the ending of this book and it was selected as our Group Read for July. I was excited to see what all the hype was about.
Louise has been having a tough time as of late. Her husband had an affair and left her for another woman. She drinks too much, smokes too much, is lazy and for the most part leads a very uneventful life with her son. She has night terrors which don’t help her self-esteem or her drinking and smoking habits. But she goes out on a whim and meets a man at a bar. A breath of fresh air for Louise. He’s funny, smart, good looking and seems interested in her. They flirt most of the night and share a half-drunk kiss.
Then she finds out that the man at the bar is married. What could be worse?
Well, this man is also her new boss. Can you say awkward?!
She immediately decides to confront it head on and tells him that they need to just forget it and move on. After all, nothing really happened.
Then one day after walking her son to school, she literally runs into her boss’ stunningly beautiful wife, Adele. Adele has no idea who this woman is and invites her for coffee at the very least after such a catastrophic meeting. Louise, knowing exactly who Adele is tries to back out.
To make matters worse, Louise likes Adele. A bizarre friendship develops all while Louise is sleeping with Adele’s husband.
I know you all think I’m spoiling the shit out of this book, but honestly this is within the first few chapters. It’s barely the tip of the iceberg of crazy that is this book. I had most of it figured out but not the very last little bit. I was underwhelmed after reading all the rave reviews. Honestly, I was fairly indifferent toward the book on the whole. The characters were all heavily flawed and annoying. I think it’s a case of it’s not you, it’s me. ...more
I read a really great review for Allegedly and thought it sounded awesome. Sometimes when this happens we too think that the book is awesome. OtheUgh.
I read a really great review for Allegedly and thought it sounded awesome. Sometimes when this happens we too think that the book is awesome. Other times we are let down and remember that our tastes are different; that what others look for in a book might not be the same thing we are looking for in a book. What I can say is that I enjoyed Deanna’s review more than I did the actual book.
I had to set the bad grammar aside in this book because it was told from the first person point of view. The grammatical errors were done intentionally to showcase the lack of education of our narrator. So who is our narrator? Why is her grammar so bad? What story does she have to tell us?
Mary B. Addison.
When Mary was only 9 years old she was convicted of killing a baby. The baby was in the care of her mother and the details of the death are hazy and confused. When Mary is accused, she doesn’t speak. She refuses to answer questions or talk at all to detectives. All they have is the testimony of Mary’s mother and the evidence. While the evidence indicates there may be more to the story than meets the eye, Mary’s refusal to speak leaves them with no choice.
The story is told in parts. We get Mary’s firsthand experience in the world of juvenile detention facilities. She refers to her first six years in the facility as “baby jail”. She was released to a halfway house of sorts for children who have committed crimes. The girls in this house are violent and cruel. While the house is meant to be a means of rehabilitating these girls, the “wardens” within it are worse than the criminals. They are aware of the goings-on and yet refuse to intervene. They do nothing to help aide these girls in their attempts to better themselves- merely mocking and demeaning the girls at every turn.
Mary is far from innocent. She is allowed out to work at a nearby hospital where she tends to the elderly. She sneaks off with her boyfriend, Ted, who is 2 years her elder and also housed at a detention facility for criminal youth. And Mary is pregnant with Ted’s baby.
Mary decides that the only way for her to keep her baby is to convince her mother to tell the truth about what happened that night when Mary allegedly killed the baby.
The events in this book were frustrating to me as a reader. It seemed to take forever for the author to get to the point and tell us what happened. Instead we get the everyday mundane rituals of the halfway house, underdeveloped side characters and the confusion of what actually occurred that resulted in the death of a baby.
I felt the ending was garbage. After reading almost 400 pages I expected something much better than what I was given. And I didn’t care for a single person in the book. To me, there is no worse feeling than not having a single character to pull for, or stand behind. Mary’s refusal to say outright what happened annoyed me. At the very least let the reader know. It was uneventful and I found myself bored more than once. If you want to read the great review that led to me reading this book you may do so here. The book just didn’t do much for me personally....more
Undivided is the last book of the UnWind series. By the time all was said and done I was completely uninvested in these characters. What started out s
Undivided is the last book of the UnWind series. By the time all was said and done I was completely uninvested in these characters. What started out so strongly ended so poorly.
Our cast of characters have lost sight of who they are. And, like the previous installment, they are indecisive and spread out all over the place. We get an additional 14 side story lines that seemingly came out of nowhere to add plenty of confusion to the storyline.
Lev’s whole storyline just drove me nuts. It was great in the beginning to see someone who was brainwashed into believing that being unwound is a holy experience. But where his story went from there was just….UGH. I can’t even come up with a word that explains it well enough! Lame? Overdone? Desperate? Pathetic? I think, honestly, given where the story goes, Lev should have just been killed off in book 2. I just did not fucking care about anything he had going on past the first book.
Risa and Connor are supposed to be madly in love with one another. We are told this repeatedly throughout the book. But I just didn't feel it. Some authors are WONDERFUL at creating relationships that feel real. You read these couples and know that they belong together. You are reminded of your hormonal teenage years where LOVE was everything and there was nothing in the world that could stop it. This romance was forced and just did NOT work.
All the side characters seemed to be distracting to the whole storyline. I feel like the author meant to use them as a way to tell a broader story, but it just didn't work. They were either underdeveloped, thrown in last minute or so overdone you weren't sure what the REAL storyline was.
The ending of the series did very little for me. I just thought there were aspects that could have been done better, and a LOT of things that could have been left out completely. It felt like things were thrown in as an afterthought and it just did NOT work for me. It makes me sad because as you all know, I just love YA Dystopians. (I also feel bad because my dear friend Ashley recommended these to me and I always hate when I don’t jive with a book a friend recommends.) Overall the series would get a 3 star rating from me. I really enjoyed the first two but the last two were HUGE disappointments.
For months I have been avoiding this book. After seeing everyone on Goodreads farting rainbows over it, I figured it was probably over-hyped. But ther
For months I have been avoiding this book. After seeing everyone on Goodreads farting rainbows over it, I figured it was probably over-hyped. But there are a few known exceptions to the rule of Goodreads Hype. The Lunar Chronicles, for example, is a super fun series AND is hyped beyond belief. So, could it be that there is yet another YA series worthy of the outrageous amount of 4/5 star ratings on GR?
Meh.
There were parts of this book that I enjoyed and parts that made me want to gouge my eyes out with a plastic spoon. I, for one, will not be farting rainbows all over the place for this book. See? It IS possible for me to read a YA Dystopian without gushing. Who knew??
There are Reds and Silvers. Silvers are special. Reds are essentially slaves who are permitted to live as long as they do so to serve Silvers. Reds and Silvers have been at war forever but the Reds have been beaten into submission. Silvers have these crazy talents that very from being able to control water to being able to clone themselves 890 times over again to really trip out your opponent. They force a Red to battle a Silver in the Hunger Games an arena for entertainment.
Our MC Mare is a complete fucking moron who sets women back to the Victorian Era. Oh, and what do you know- she’s of the Bejeweled Vagina Variety so every male character she comes in contact with is instantly sporting a boner for her. But why? She’s so not pretty or talented. She’s so average. OH JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP ALREADY. I am so over this method of “I’m not pretty or smart or talented but everyone is just so into me” writing. Just stop already and find a new way to create a love story. Holy balls!
But what Aveyard DID manage to create was the first love SQUARE I have ever encountered. Because you know… a triangle is just so overdone.
Someone please….just put me out of my misery.
Now that we have established just how awful Mare is, let me tell you about the others. There’s GaleKillorn who is Mare’s hometown BFF that’s been obviouslysecretly in love with her since the dawn of time and who has all of 12 lines in the entire book yet we are supposed to feel all gushy about because plot. There’s the asshole prince, Cal who is smitten with our MC after she tries to pickpocket him because plot. There’s his brother, Peeta Maven, who is kind and gentle and works extra hard to win her over even though everyone knows he is NOT the gallant hero his brother is.
The two characters I did like there wasn’t nearly enough of. Julian, Mare’s mentor and friend, who immediately discovers that, shocker, Mare is a Special Fucking SnowFlake. Who saw that coming? And Farley, a take-no-shit female commander of the rebel forces seeking to take down the Capitol the Silvers. She even hates Mare, which totally works for me.
By now you are asking yourself- what DO you like about this book? Anything? Are there any redeemable qualities?
*shrugs*
It’s YA. It’s Dystopian. And there was a really nice twist that even I did not see coming. So, kind of. I will continue the series, even though there are inconsistencies everywhere. I will hope that they get better and that the author remembers what she wrote 3 pages before. I will see how the series does as a whole before casting this book into the abyss.
But honestly, people… it’s a mash-up of every YA Dystopian and Fantasy series I have ever read. It’s not worth farting rainbows for. I am fully prepared for trolls with their pitchforks and torches. So please, come one, come all to cast your stones and She-Who-Read-It-Wrong. I promise to play nice. :D
Unsouled is the third book in the Unwind series. And probably the most forgettable.
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The characters I had grown to love in the first two books alUnsouled is the third book in the Unwind series. And probably the most forgettable.
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The characters I had grown to love in the first two books all come to a halting stop in this edition. The gang is all split up and everyone’s angry and confused. No one knows where they’re going or why they’re doing anything. They can’t make a decision about anything.
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It’s like all of a sudden our once-heroic MC’s just shut down completely. It’s probably the BIGGEST downfall of every YA series ever written. Katniss shuts down in Mockingjay. Bella(grosssssssss) shuts down in pretty much every scenario in every single Twilight book. Tris and Four both have moments in the Divergent series where they shut down in some way. It’s fucking exhausting and stupid and YA writers need to STOP doing this.
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Seriously. Fans do not want wishy-washy indecisive MC’s. We want kick-ass ones who go into every endeavor without thinking or planning. It’s exciting! It’s fun! It’s a fantastic reading experience!
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I just really was let down after having read the first two books. They were so promising. But there were just way too many story lines going and I felt like the author lost his sense of direction somewhere along the way. Or was trying to make too many statements at once. It just left me feeling very unexcited about reading the final installment.
This book really pissed me off…for lots of reasons at various times throughout my encounters with it. I will try my best to be nice, but most likely I
This book really pissed me off…for lots of reasons at various times throughout my encounters with it. I will try my best to be nice, but most likely I will not be.
Let’s start with the title, shall we? The dying girl…really? REALLY? One of the hardest parts about watching my father battle cancer was watching his “friends” disappear. He was no longer Al. He was a cancer patient. He was treated like he had the Plague and anyone seen near him was sure to be next. Do you have ANY idea how offensive this title is to me? Probably not. No one desereves to be referred to in such a manner and having watched someone I love be referred to as such makes me feel all sorts of stabby.,.
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Now, maybe some of you will nod your heads in agreement while others are putting me in the category of Generation ButtHurt. Either way, I don’t care. I feel very strongly that an individual with a terminal illness should be recognized as a human being and NOT by the nature of their disease.
The next thing to irritate me right off the bat was the letter to the readers in the beginning. Now, I did this on audio so I am not completely sure if it is from the author of the book or the narrator who is being portrayed as the author of the book, but either way it’s pretentious as fuck and shouldn’t have been in there. Don’t ever fucking tell a reader how to read your book.
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Now, I was reassured by everyone’s favorite taxidermy-enthusiast, Kelly, that this book was quite funny and that I should continue. I did. And it WAS funny. Parts of it anyway. Any part containing Earl that is. Earl was a fantastic character. He was a tell-it-like-it-is kind of guy but not in the Donald Trump way. He was always there to put our MC in his place. His life and its many difficulties led him to be smarter and much more empathetic than that useless pile of shit, Greg. Earl is the guy that everyone wants to hang out with in real life. He’s Joe Cool and the ONLY redeemable quality of this book.
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Greg is the WORST. I have so much hostility toward this MC. He is awful. Horrible. I know, I know…he’s just a teenager. He doesn’t know what he’s doing… or NOT doing. BULL shit. I don’t buy it. He knows he is a fucking sociopath who has no emotions and thinks it is the absolute best way to go through life. Don’t make friends; don’t date anyone, value girls on the size of their breasts…yes. This is a great way to go coasting through life.
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Yes, Greg. I hate you SO much I was willing to use a gif of someone I hate even more. See what you’ve made me do?!
The worst part of this book is that our MC learns absolutely nothing. There is no redemption. He just continues to be a heartless, soulless, pretentious little fucktard.
Fuck this book. Writing the review made me realize just how much I hated it. Earl gets a star and RACHEL gets a star. HER FUCKING NAME IS RACHEL.
Harrow County was gifted to me by the lovely Kelly and I will be paying it forward. Stay tuned for more details!
Hester was labeled a witch. The townsfolk decided they needed to destroy her. She was beaten, stabbed, burned and then hung. Now, I don’t work for Manitowoc County but it sounds like Steven Avery might have had something to do with it.
Of course, Hester curses the townsfolk. She warns them that 18 years from the date of her murder she would return to wreak havoc on them and their families.
Flash forward 17.9 years.
Emmy wakes up after having nightmares about the vagina tree. The vagina tree in Emmy’s dream immediately reminded me of the movie Teeth. Most self-respecting individuals will most likely not have heard of this movie. Those of you who have or have seen it: HIGH FIVE! [image]
Strange things are happening and Emmy is confused. Her pa and the townsfolk are treating her differently. She goes for a walk and makes a friend; a friend that later saves her life. One could say he has thick skin…but Emmy keeps it locked up in her bag all the time.
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Emmy is on the run from her town. But no one will tell the ignorant little turd what is going on! She meets ghosts and haints and demons oh my!
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There’s even a creepy old man with some popsicles in the basement. [image]
Overall I wasn’t wowed by the story. The “twist” at the end? Meh. Would I continue it? More than likely. Am I preordering the next one? Most likely not. The artwork was bland and boring. I especially hated how the people all looked like that weird snapchat filter.
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Anyway, as I said before: I will be forwarding this book on to a worthy recipient. You must live in the USA because sending things internationally sucks the big one. #SorryNotSorry Let’s keep it going. ...more
Initial Reaction: Did I miss something? I have no fucking clue what this book was even about. Someone please explain.
Full Review: The Little Friend is oInitial Reaction: Did I miss something? I have no fucking clue what this book was even about. Someone please explain.
Full Review: The Little Friend is one of those books that pulls the rug out from under your feet- and not in a good way. At least not for me. I had read The Goldfinch and the Secret History first. I love both of those books as if they are my children. No exaggeration, folks. I get all sorts of ragey at any negative comment about either of those books. I had such high hopes for the Little Friend. It came highly recommended by a dear friend of mine. Not to mention that it’s Donna Tartt.
I had tried on two previous occassions to read this book. The prologue drew me in and then I got stuck. It isn’t the writing- Tartt is one of the most elequoent writers out there. It wasn’t the characters- they all were fleshed out and vivid. I just can’t really put my finger on what I struggled with. But, I found an audible copy of it and thought maybe just listening to it would do the trick. It did to an extent- I was able to finish it.
I just didn’t care about anyhting in the story. I don’t even know what this book was supposed to be about. You’re led to believe that this book is about a murdered boy. Our main character Harriet’s older brother is found hanged from a tree in their famiy’s front yard on Mother’s Day. A house full of people and yet no one sees a thing. Harriett swears she remembers even though she was only an infant at the time it happened. But one thing is for sure, the family is never the same.
So while this is kind of the driving force behind the story, it isn’t at all what the story is about. Sure, Harriett is on a mission to find out who murdered her brother. But that doesn’t mean you’re going to find out. Instead you get a coming-of-age story that reminded me a bit of To Kill a Mockingbird. Only in this story, I didn’t care for the characters, didn’t understand their motives or know why half of them were even there.
I still don’t know if it was me or the book. I couldn’t tell you what this book was about or what the point of it was or what message it was trying to tell me. I honestly feel like I was duped. I was led to believe it was about something it wasn’t. And that was a huge disappointment to me. ...more
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