HA! This was so cute and hilarious. I enjoyed this way more than I thought I would. But with the solid artwork (IT'S SO PRETTY), the dialogue causing HA! This was so cute and hilarious. I enjoyed this way more than I thought I would. But with the solid artwork (IT'S SO PRETTY), the dialogue causing me to LOL multiple times and the story being just plain FUN, how could I not?
Things I loved:
- Loved that the camp sign had HARD CORE LADY TYPES nailed over "Ladies." - Also, FRIENDSHIP TO THE MAX! Heck yeah, positive female friendships!
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- The Lumberjanes pledge! "Then there's a line about god or whatever." I DIED.
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- Unexpected puns. LOLOLOLOLOL. Pungeon Master Badge. Can this be a thing? Let's make it a thing.
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- The clever and hilarious way gender is challenged. Loved it!
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Basically, I'm definitely reading the next one! ...more
Full disclosure: I read to page 200, skimmed to from there to page 327, then read till the end. If you dislike it when reviewers don't finish books beFull disclosure: I read to page 200, skimmed to from there to page 327, then read till the end. If you dislike it when reviewers don't finish books before embarking on a review, then I'm about to really upset you.
In a World Just Right had a really cool premise: a teen who can create worlds with his mind! Heck, yeah! Sci-Fi! Count me in on this road trip into Awesomeville! Then I realized that he created a world specifically to be with a girl that he couldn't be with in the real world and my enthusiasm admittedly dipped a little as my stalker meter started to go off on my dashboard. Then I kept reading and reading and found out that Jonathan didn't give two shits about anything else besides said girl and was completely obsessed in a not-so-adorable fashion. That's when I stopped reading.
I won't bore you and make this a super long review, because I could go on and on here, but here are the biggest things you need to know about why I couldn't finish In a World Just Right:
The Ultimate Stalker:
Jonathan has a really sad background. His parents, aunt and little sister all died in a plane crash years ago and he survived. After the accident, he mostly stayed to himself, not actively getting involved in school or interacting with anyone his age more than it was required of him. But he also discovered that after the accident, he could make worlds out of thin air. And because he is a teenaged boy, who is in love with a girl he's never spoken with, he creates an entire world that is dedicated to full filling this need. He aptly calls it Kylie-Sims-Is-My-Girlfriend.
I don't think I've ever encountered this level of stalking in any other character. I mean, he has Edward Cullen beat because HE CREATED A WORLD for her. That alone gives me pause, but since I knew this before I read the book, I can't really complain, can I? And yet, here I am shamelessly doing it anyway. He FOLLOWS HER AROUND in that world. He MAKES SURE HIS SCHOOL SCHEDULE IS THE SAME AS HERS. The world is set up TO ENSURE THAT SHE WILL ALWAYS LOVE HIM AND NEVER BREAK UP WITH HIM. Even when Fake Kylie has feelings of dislike or of needing space, she can't do that because that's not how that world works.
This guy literally stalks her in no less than 3 different worlds. Read the book and you'll know what I mean. It was written to be romantic, I'm sure. But I connected with none of the characters so it registered to me as Creepy As All Get Out.
Oh Hey, It's My Dead Sister, But Whateves ALL I CARE ABOUT IS KYLIE:
I know you're probably thinking, "WUUUUUUUT?" and that would be an appropriate response to that. Much more appropriate than Jonathan's response, I can assure you. Let me back-peddle a bit. So there was a point where I was getting a little bored with In A World Just Right and struggled to find reasons to continue. Usually when I find myself in this situation, I try to push myself to at least 50% before giving up. But out of the blue, the book starts getting interesting when Jonathan's dead sister shows up out of nowhere and is able to visit all the worlds he's created. A normal person might stop and think, "hey wait a second... how is my sister alive? I thought she was killed in the plane crash?! I should probably find out because this seems rather important!" Instead, do you know what Jonathan's top priority is? KYLIE. He spares exactly 2 seconds to think about his sister and then it's back to saving Kylie from some devastation he's created by mixing up his worlds.
I legitimately thought this was the biggest fail of the book. The mystery of how Jonathan's sister manages to be alive, is dropped on the reader pretty early and she spends a lot of time with him after the fact "training" him and teaching him new World Maker skills to save Fake Kylie and Real Kylie. But Brooks deliberately keeps the reason for her existence hidden so that the ending can have maximum impact. The problem with this is that I stopped giving a shit once I realized Jonathan didn't give a shit about his sister he'd been crying over earlier in the book. It was this huge elephant on every page with him refusing to plague her with questions that matter. If I found out my sibling was alive, you can bet your ass that I'd need to know WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, WHY and HOW immediately.
And oddly enough, as much as he constantly obsessed over Kylie, he never has sex with her. Now, I'm not one to think every YA novel needs or should have sex in it, but it felt like is was actually missing from the story. I mean, HE CREATED A WORLD AROUND HER LOVING HIM and you expect me to believe they just spent all of their hours of alone time holding hands and kissing? A high school, senior boy, who also created a world of dance clubs and strippers just for himself, has never had sex with his made-up girlfriend? Or thought about it? Or monologued about it?! The girl he's been in love with for years!!
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I don't buy it.
He Can Create Worlds Because Science:
I'm not really a fan of contemporary books that are essentially contemporary books with a sci-fi backdrop. Almost like those fake LifeTouch backgrounds for your school photos where you look at them and wonder, "Is this really necessary?" I understand it would be great for those who aren't really into the genre, but as a veteran, it sucks hard. I need that science, the reason for the existence of the weirdness to make sense. In A World Just Right doesn't tell me anything. All we know is that he can create worlds because of the plane crash and somehow that is supposed to be enough to carry all your questions.
It's a shame because I really feel like this book could have pushed limits and caused readers to ask big questions regarding the human subconscious, perception and reality. But the focus instead was on how Jonathan felt about Kylie and figuring out a way to be with her.
Zzzzz... TL;DR:
A good portion of In A World Just Right involves Jonathan going to school, following Kylie around, going to track practice with Fake Kylie, reading poetry in Creative Writing class with Real Kylie and angst over his family's death. It had a tendency to really drag on and on at certain periods to the point where I wanted to throw myself against my white walls repeatedly like a pinball machine just to shake things up. I started skimming Jonathan's internal monologues about Kylie and was surprised that it practically makes up 50% of the novel. If he isn't with her, he's constantly thinking about her and nothing else. (Oh did I mention he lives with his rich uncle? No? Well, don't worry about him because he doesn't have ANY page time in the entirety of this 400 page doorstopper.) It became tedious to read about the same thing over and over, and I was surprised at how little I missed as I skim read. I stopped to read most of the dialogue between him and his sister and even Kylie.
The Ending or You've Got To Be Kidding Me (Here there be spoilers):
Convoluted is the best way to describe the ending. Click the spoiler tag if you are curious. Be warned, it spoils the ending completely and mercilessly.
(view spoiler)[Turns out that poor Jonathan has been in a coma the entire time and hasn't lived in the real world since the plane crash! So he's basically been living in his mind for a few years. Who would have guessed?! Except, I actually did. It became really obvious, and if Jonathan had paid attention to his conversations with his "sister," he would have pieced it together a lot faster. So he has to decide if he wants to wake up or go back to living in his made up worlds. But time's running out because his uncle, bless his heart, has been taking care of him in the hospital all these years and is ready to pull the plug tomorrow! How will Jonathan be able to create worlds if his body is dead? Fuck yeah, Science!
Of course, he ends up choosing the Real, Real World and closing off his Fake Worlds. And guess what he does? He finds the Real, Real Kylie and follows her off to college. Swoon. Shoot me. The end. (hide spoiler)]
I just could not with this book and then I could, obviously, because I finished it. I was so curious on how it would end and I enjoy punishing myself as my track record has shown. Honestly, the writing wasn't bad at all and if this was a straight up contemporary novel, I probably would have enjoyed it a lot more. I'll probably try out the author's other stuff down the line, but this one was a bust for me.
ARC was received from the publisher for an honest review. My work here is done.
... Love isn't a choice. You fall for the person, not their chromosomes.
I love walking away from a book learning so much more about people
... Love isn't a choice. You fall for the person, not their chromosomes.
I love walking away from a book learning so much more about people and the world around me. It allows me to peep into the others' lives and backgrounds, understand their struggles and fears. I'm very appreciative of authors who set out to bring awareness to topics such as this one: intersex. I've learned a great deal from Kristen's story and I'm left encouraged by the strength she showed. The biggest con for me was the writing style. At times it just felt too simple for my tastes, but that's my quirk, not None of the Above's.
I'd recommend picking this one up, if for nothing other than broadening your understanding of intersex persons and challenging/exploring any pre-existing thoughts of what it truly means to be a woman.
More thoughts to come soon.
ARC was provided by the publisher for an honest review. ...more
My original review for this book consisted of the following statement:
Ugh. So boring.
And for some reason those three words have kinda pissed peeps off My original review for this book consisted of the following statement:
Ugh. So boring.
And for some reason those three words have kinda pissed peeps off and landed me in some hot water elsewhere. But no matter. I feel like enough time has passed for me to give my true feelings.
So here they are:
This book is mediocre. There's nothing special about it. Nothing groundbreaking is contained in its pages. In other words, it's average. And that's what a 2 star rating for me is. I'm one of those reviewers who actually goes by the Goodreads ratings. 2 stars means I liked it, but it wasn't awesome. It also means I can see why others liked it. What it doesn't mean is that the book has no redeemable qualities or that your love for it is misplaced. I also want to point out that I really like Sabaa Tahir and have had the wonderful opportunity to meet her in person. She's truly lovely and I'm happy her novel has done so well. So take several seats if you've come here to troll me. Good day, sir.
So anyway, now that that's out of the way, back to An Ember in the Ashes.
Sometimes the problem with being a book blogger is that I know too much. Publishers love getting bloggers involved in campaigns to help promote their books because it's a fantastic way to generate hype and buzz for a title. Unfortunately for me, this sometimes means books are overhyped BEFORE I even get an ARC, let alone a finished copy. So the expectations I had for An Ember in the Ashes were ridiculously high and probably impossible to meet.
I think my primary issue with An Ember in the Ashes is that it bit off more than it could chew and, therefore, only began to scratch the surface. The halfway developed characters made for uninteresting, multi-POV narration. Even though I listened to the audio version, it only mildly helped the situation. And usually when I run into characters who aren't fleshed out completely, there's the plot to compensate, but not even that worked for me because everything moved at a snail's pace with no clear indication which direction the finish line lay.
Laia's role as a rebel was probably my least favorite aspect of the novel. Not only was she absolutely dreadful at it, but the rebels seemed shocked to find Laia hurt on a number of occasions. Things like this was worthy of an eyebrow raise because Laia was attempting to spy on the most dangerous person in the story, The Commandant, knowing that their previous spies were tortured and killed. So why are Laia's bruises a surprise?
Elias' POV was no better, to be honest. He spent most of his time mulling over his constant mommy issues and romantic feelings for his best friend. So basically, it was a lot of wangst that I could have done without. Also, he pulls a bit of a dick move that momentarily made me saw red. Not to mention Elias' character arc seems to revolve around a Prophecy and I'm just kinda over that in YA right now.
Still, since this is a 2-star review, there are some things that I did like.
- The commandant was a fantastic character. Deliciously evil and sadistic in all the right ways. She seemed to remain the most consistent and interesting throughout the book and I found myself enjoying scenes that she cameoed in.
- Elias' best friend, Helena. Even though I didn't exactly care for the romance, I enjoy the tension it created and that it caused his best friend to have more page time. She was such a badass and I loved her. Also, I started seeing some forms of a love rhombus and oh god please don't.
- The battle near the end was a surprise I did not expect. Tahir ended up killing off a few side characters I didn't realize I actually cared about. The audio narration was especially wonderful during that part.
All in all, it's not terrible, but also not knock-your-socks-off-amazing either. I don't feel invested enough to read the sequel since I found this one to be such a chore to get through in the first place. However, if I start seeing whispers of a Laia and Helena ship starting to form in book two, I might just need to rethink everything I thought I knew. ...more