This book reads like a True Blood fanfiction, complete with sassy diner waitress, token gay Black best frieDNF @ 40%.
True Blood, but make it edg[ier]!
This book reads like a True Blood fanfiction, complete with sassy diner waitress, token gay Black best friend, ancient and all-powerful love interest, and a whole mess of demigods, vampires, witches, and ... werewolves? Didn't get far enough to figure that one out. Here, the waitress is also a stripper who deals drugs, there's insta-love, ancient Sumerian (why?) and a shadowy government (?) organization hunting witches/demigods (again, why?) and it's a mess.
We're dropped into the MC running naked through the woods to escape assault while high out of her mind on drugs, then she immediately has sex with a tree. Ten pages into the book, there are three explicit sex scenes, yet 40% of the way into the book there's no plot to be found. It reads like wish-fulfillment fic, including the immortality and magical home renovation.
I don't typically read paranormal romance but was intrigued by the description. It didn't deliver. Apparently, this is a rewrite and re-release of a series the author wrote nearly a decade ago. She should have kept re-writing - her writing has potential but this story needs a lot more work.
Thanks to the author and NetGalley for the eARC. ...more
DNF'd around page 60... 80? Somewhere around there.
Despite the glowing reviews, I just couldn't get into this book. I'm probably showing my age here,DNF'd around page 60... 80? Somewhere around there.
Despite the glowing reviews, I just couldn't get into this book. I'm probably showing my age here, but I couldn't stand the angst and melodrama of the protagonist, and the Chosen One trope was as heavy-handed as the preachiness of the environmentalist message (and I'm huge on sustainability). While there were things I liked about the book - Clara's casual bi/pan rep, the seasonal magic system - I didn't connect with Clara and from what I read, the story setup seemed to be going in a predictable and formulaic direction.
Maybe that's not the case, but I didn't care enough to commit any more time to find out. ...more
Thank you to Goodreads and the author for providing me with a free Kindle copy of the book via giveaway!
DNF @ 2 chapters.
I don't think this book is fThank you to Goodreads and the author for providing me with a free Kindle copy of the book via giveaway!
DNF @ 2 chapters.
I don't think this book is for me. I gave it a try, but I just couldn't get into it. It reads like a second draft - the glaring errors maybe scrubbed from the first draft, but the writing still riddled with typos, spelling errors, and poor grammar. 'Alter' instead of 'altar', missing commas and capitalization, plentiful sentence fragments beginning with 'and' - this book could really use a professional copy editor before being released into the wild. I'm too exacting of a reader and I found the errors too distracting to continue.
Generally, I found the narrator to be overly dramatic, and his voice did not sound like that of a sixteen year-old boy. He sounded like a middle-aged man trying to sound like a sixteen year-old boy. Just in the two chapters I read, there were a lot of info dumps - "I look like this, my friend X looks like this, the town is in proximity to Y and Z" - and teenage boys saying things like "I just had the darnedest idea" apparently without a hint of irony. Their apartment is three blocks from campus, but evidently they need a car for the commute (and evidently this school is okay with underage students living in off-campus apartments without RAs or any sort of supervision). His friend is a ladies' man, but one glib shutdown from a new student renders him speechless. Many things just didn't seem to be well thought-out or tidied up via editing.
It's a shame - Phillips is not untalented, and there is potential here. I would be curious to find out what happens with the murdered student and the urban legend about the mysterious plague; however, the book needs a lot of polish before it can shine. ...more
I got a copy of an ARC from... somewhere. Then it's sat on my shelf for the past six years, and I finally decided to give it a try. I got DNF at 35%.
I got a copy of an ARC from... somewhere. Then it's sat on my shelf for the past six years, and I finally decided to give it a try. I got through the first part and a bit of the second, and am finally admitting defeat.
I'm bummed because I love strong lady characters and historical dramas, and the historical drama part of this book is fairly solid. O'Reilly is clearly well-versed in Elizabethan history and has done her homework. Her writing is transportive and immersive.
It's the story that suffers. Aemilia falls madly in love with Shakespeare after they insult each other at a party once; then they proceed to hump like rabbits for a hundred pages while he makes fun of her poetry. The insta-love and lack of meaningful interactions renders their relationship shallow; I couldn't buy into it.
I almost completely gave up on the book when (view spoiler)[Aemilia was raped by Wriothesley, and then Will witnesses it and insults Aemilia for being unfaithful. How gross to use rape as a breakup plot device (hide spoiler)]. This entire 'plot', if you can call it that, was handled terribly - were we supposed to be rooting for their relationship still, after that, or believe in this 'epic love'?
Although I pretty much lost any hope in the book after that, I read on into the second part to see where the story would go. Not very far, as it turns out. Aemilia is married and broke, her son is a little hellion, and there's a bunch of mundane drama. I knew it was over once I realized that there is nothing I could think of that could possibly happen in the remaining 250+ pages that would make me want to stick with this book. Plague? Witches? A tearful reunion at Shakespeare's bedside? Pass. ...more
The lovely cover of this volume caught my eye at my local library and I picked it up to flip through. Ultimately, I found it not for me - perhaps if IThe lovely cover of this volume caught my eye at my local library and I picked it up to flip through. Ultimately, I found it not for me - perhaps if I'd been looking for spell 'recipes' and purchases the book to refer to later, it would have come in useful, but as I was simply after some reading material and the book was on loan from the library, I didn't feel the need to finish it.
The book really is beautifully designed. The illustrations are just lovely and the pages are nice and thick. The illustrator and designer did a wonderful job here. However, the content left a lot to be desired. I could see this being a good reference for new practitioners seeking spells who were able to find historical and background information elsewhere. I found some of the spells to be rather hokey - lots of "so mote it be" and "Blessed be!" and such that made the practice feel overly romanticized instead of practical as the title claims. Also, I believe the craft and one's practice to be a deeply personal and individualized thing, so repeating spells found in a mass-published book felt to me disingenuous. It's too bad, because I was really hoping for a fun, informative volume on witchcraft....more
DNF at... chapter four? I cared so little about this book that I didn't even notice when I dropped off. And it's rare for me not to finish a book. CouDNF at... chapter four? I cared so little about this book that I didn't even notice when I dropped off. And it's rare for me not to finish a book. Could it be said that I just... didn't give a fuck?
*cue groans from everyone who's already made the same joke about this joke of a book*
So I normally don't really read self-help books. I've been known to glance at an article or blog post or two, but I don't generally bother devoting my time to the self-help genre. I prefer to read for entertainment, not the betterment of one's self; so sue me. But the bright orange cover and sticker shouting "Hot New Title!" caught my eye from my library's shelf of popular books so I picked it up on a whim to see if I might learn a thing or two.
Spoiler: I did not learn a thing or two. While I appreciated Manson's anti-self-help voice/approach/brand/schtick and lack of sentimentality, I was repeatedly distracted by his uncanny ability to say absolutely nothing of value in paragraph after paragraph. I'm willing to bet he was one of those students who was easily able to pad an essay with a ton of superfluous nonsense, because this book is full of it. If Manson's editor had bothered to break out their sharp red pen, this book could have been half the length and still managed to get its point across. Probably. I don't actually know if the book did manage to get its point across because I didn't finish it.
I dropped out before the really problematic stuff (based on other reviews) but I could already tell that this frat boy and I would not agree on our worldviews based on his smug and casual assertions that "some Halloween costumes just aren't that offensive" and that speakers shouldn't be banned from universities just because some snowflakes got triggered. (I'm paraphrasing.) There's nothing cutting-edge about those coming from a place of enormous privilege telling those who don't share that privilege what they should and shouldn't be offended by. It was at that point that I decided I didn't really want to take life advice from another straight white middle-class man.
Manson isn't saying anything groundbreaking. He's just saying it in a catchy, irreverent way that's funny to some, and that helps him stand out. I appreciate what he's trying to do, but someone should have probably stopped him at some point and told him to ask himself if the world really needs another straight white dude telling everyone how to live their lives. ...more
The 'date I finished this book' field is a lie. I did not finish this book. I gave up on this book; life is too damn short to read bad literature. If The 'date I finished this book' field is a lie. I did not finish this book. I gave up on this book; life is too damn short to read bad literature. If I'm being entirely fair, I only picked up this book because I won an advance copy of The Destiny of Violet & Luke and thought it might be a good idea for me to read the first book in the series, well, first. Rookie mistake.
I don't understand how this book has so many 5-star reviews. I don't understand how Jessica Sorensen is a New York Times best-selling author. At the risk of sounding like a literary snob (actually I really don't care if I sound like a literary snob; get me a higher soapbox!) I don't think any of the people raving about this book/series have ever read a good book in their lives. It's the only explanation that makes any sense to me, because I could tell that this book was trash from the start.
Immediately I could tell that the book was poorly edited and hardly proofread. In the 60-odd pages I managed to get through before ragequitting, I found numerous grammatical errors and inconsistencies. In the first few pages, Callie's mom sends Callie into a party to find her older brother because he has a plane to catch in eight hours; a couple of pages later Callie's mom laments that Callie won't be staying at home for the summer because she won't be able to spend time with her brother. But... didn't he just fly out somewhere? And why is Callie's mother picking up a 24 year-old from a party anyway? Doesn't he know how to drive, or know that cabs exist? But of course picking him up is just a convenient plot device to get Callie to run into Kayden and get the ball rolling on the whole 'romantic premise' of the book.
The reason I put 'romantic' and 'premise' in scare quotes is the crux of my issue with the book. The plot is thinly strung together with coincidences (hence the title, I suppose... what did I expect?!) and weak connections with poor reasoning and explanations. If you don't think about it too hard, I suppose a less discerning reader could let the sad excuse for a plot slide if they were really here for the romance, such as it was. Which brings me to my other major issue with the book. The 'romance'.
Obviously, both Callie and Kayden are deeply damaged individuals who keep their issues hidden and push the world away; Callie is terrified of men and Kayden uses his 'slutty' girlfriend for emotionless sex because he's terrified of letting himself feel. Except, of course, he has feelings for Callie because she's ~special~ and ~fragile~ in some sort of Victorian ~pale and interesting~ and it's okay that he treats other women like shit because he just needs the love of a good woman and Callie needs affection to blossom like a beautiful flower in the sun... no, fuck that. That's not how trauma works. That's not how healing works. The message this book is sending, that you can repress deep trauma for years until someone equally as damaged comes along and you'll see through each other's hard shells and fix each other through ~healing sex~, is irresponsible and damaging. Sure, it's possible that someone very special might come along, see you for the diamond in the rough that you are and help you heal - but it's extremely unlikely, and waiting around for that while refusing to deal with your past, repressing your trauma and letting your life pass you by is dangerous. Sorensen might have sent a stronger, more realistic message by having her protagonists have courage, admit and accept their pasts, try therapy, and build a strong support network within which they could come to terms with the abuse they'd faced in a healthy manner instead of relying on just one equally damaged individual. Of course, then that wouldn't provide the same level of cheap, emotionally-wrought drama and weak thrills on which Sorensen depends for her popularity.
The virgin/whore dichotomy in this book is equally gross, pitting pure, fragile Callie against Daisy, who I guess deserves to be shamed and treated like garbage because she wears low-cut shirts, owns her sexuality and is kind of mean. The abusers are one-dimensional cardboard cutouts, standing to serve only as Disney villain plot devices before fading into the ether so our star-crossed lovers can fall into each other's arms. There's probably a lot of drama and underage drinking, I don't know, I couldn't get far enough into the book and only flipped through it after giving up. I also don't think that Sorensen has ever attended a college class or even looked at a course schedule because she has her characters attending 'pre-Calculus' and 'Biology', when Toto, we're not supposed to be in high school anymore.
I guess this is an entertaining read for those Cathies who want their Heathcliff to play football and sweep them off their feet with their muscular, scarred arms; if you're looking for a book to insert yourself into if you fantasize about ~fixing~ some tall, dark and damaged guy while also being ~fixed~ in return, this is probably a good read for you. It wasn't for me. ...more
DNF at page 410. The fact that it's taken me over two years to read half of this book should say something - a lot of something. I've put it down for DNF at page 410. The fact that it's taken me over two years to read half of this book should say something - a lot of something. I've put it down for nearly a year and couldn't bring myself to pick it up again, and most recently I only made it through about 200 pages before giving up, probably for good.
I'm so disappointed, in Tartt and myself. I had such high hopes for this book - I loved The Secret History and I think Tartt is a wonderful, talented writer. However, I just could not get into The Goldfinch, no matter how I tried, forcing myself to continue reading despite knowing that I didn't care about Theo or how he arrived at that cold hotel room in Amsterdam. Perhaps if the book was tighter, better edited, faster paced, perhaps if Theo had been more of an active presence in his own story instead of allowing whoever he was closest at the time to carry him along like a tide, perhaps if Tartt had been less enamored with the look of her words on the page... perhaps, perhaps, perhaps.
I wanted so badly to love this book, and when it became clear that that wasn't going to happen, to at least be able to finish it so I'd know how it ended. Very rarely do I not finish a book! But I am trying a new approach where I only allow things that bring me joy into my life. This book does not bring me joy. It doesn't even bring me strong interest. So it's time to cut my losses and move on to a work that's a little more my speed. Sorry, Donna, it's me, but it's also you. ...more
Goodreads tells me I last put this book down in 2013. In the ensuing 7 years, I periodically entertained thoughts of returning to finish itDNF at 45%.
Goodreads tells me I last put this book down in 2013. In the ensuing 7 years, I periodically entertained thoughts of returning to finish it sometime, but it's been 7 years, fam. I put it down and didn't pick it up again for a reason, and I considered getting back to it due to being a completionist, not because I enjoyed it, because I definitely didn't enjoy it.
Granted, it's been 7 years since I last peeped those pages, so my memories of the book are more like vague emotions than concrete thoughts, but that's good enough. I do remember quite clearly that everyone in this book is insufferable, and not in the entertaining way but in the frustrating way that, if they were your friend, you'd be at the point of either staging an intervention or throwing in the towel because you'd had enough of their narcissistic crap. The cardinal rule of writing hateful characters is being able to convince your readers to still care about what happens to those characters! Otherwise... why continue to read? Freedom failed to make me give a chicken fried fuck about any of those terrors and their self-absorbed nonsense, and I just wasn't having any fun with it.
If I'm understanding the 'point' of Freedom correctly, Franzen is meant to turn a mirror on America's self-absorption and ugliness and shine a light on humanity's fatal flaws (or am I not literary enough?) by creating these insufferable characters as commentary on societal failure. But if your self-aggrandizing about societal failure is in turn insufferable to read, does that just further prove your point or does it mean you've failed in your mission? It's a catch-22. Write a book about terrible people doing terrible things that is terrible to read, everything is terrible, I give up. ...more
I'm so torn on this book. There's something curious and disquieting about it, a compulsion that urged me to return to it after I set iDNF at page 144.
I'm so torn on this book. There's something curious and disquieting about it, a compulsion that urged me to return to it after I set it down even though I was not enjoying reading it while I was reading it. The premise of Quinn's world intrigued me, but the actions (or rather, inaction) of the characters ultimately left me unfulfilled.
Another reviewer described the writing as "MFA-y" which to me is very apt. Zumas is clearly a talented writer, but this debut struck me as showboating, an all-too-self-aware linguistic campaign of 'look what I can do!' that was meant to impress but instead irritated. Quinn's inner voice - referring to her parents as Mert and Fod, calling young hipster fans 'sparks', having a child say "I will do you a mischief" - felt overwrought with quirk.
Ultimately, Zumas's literary cartwheels and Quinn's lethargic crawl through her life led me to abandon this book. I am curious as to how it ends, but I can't bring myself to actually find out....more
Honestly just going to have to add this book to my (very short) didn't-finish shelf. I love Harkness's Oxford and her descriptive writing, but I can'tHonestly just going to have to add this book to my (very short) didn't-finish shelf. I love Harkness's Oxford and her descriptive writing, but I can't get past the chemistry-free 'romance' and Diana's Mary-Sue-ness. Unfortunate, because it seemed like the plot might actually go somewhere interesting. Maybe I'll give it another try sometime when the world has run out of other books. Maybe....more
DNF at page, like, 50. I'm not normally a smut reader (although I'm not a prude, either) but I have a weakness for vampires and I received a copy of tDNF at page, like, 50. I'm not normally a smut reader (although I'm not a prude, either) but I have a weakness for vampires and I received a copy of the book from the publisher so I thought I'd give it a try. It's... not good.
The protagonist Vivian/Dria/whatever her name happens to be is supposedly an ancient, powerful vampire, but she's vain, sex-crazed, and not terribly intelligent. The author repeatedly tells us how old and powerful she is, but her actions speak very differently. The smut is awkwardly placed - Vivian and her husband bang shortly after she finds a dead body in one of the rooms of her hotel. I'd be a little too preoccupied with a murder on my property to want to smang but what do I know.
The most off-putting thing was Vivian spying on her guests through hidden cameras and controlling them with her ~mystical vampire powers~. I guess it's supposed to be sexy but I found it creepy and invasive. Consent is a thing, and it's a thing that was never even mentioned as Vivian manipulated her guests into feelings and actions. Even a well-placed line about them signing a disclaimer/consent form prior to arrival would have allayed the ickiness, but it was overlooked, just like many other details. With better editing, the book might have had potential but as it stands it's a bit of a mess. ...more
I'm just going to chalk this one up as a lost cause.
I really don't understand the love for this book. (This isn't a dig at those who liked it. I honesI'm just going to chalk this one up as a lost cause.
I really don't understand the love for this book. (This isn't a dig at those who liked it. I honestly simply do not comprehend its popularity.) Reading it was like trudging through quicksand, except I never got sucked in, continuing to slog painfully, laboriously over the surface. I don't even really know why I didn't like it, except possibly that I just couldn't find anything in it to like.
Okay, the concept of the Graces was pretty cool - kind of a high-fantasy X-Men mutant power that changes and matures along with its bearer, easily identified by heterochromia. (No explanation on the science behind heterochromia and a 'supernatural' power, but I suppose it's not really necessary as the book is more high fantasy than science fiction.) Overall, the built world reads a bit as 'X-Men in the Middle Ages' which is neither a good or bad thing, I think.
However, I disliked almost everything else about the book, especially the characters. Especially the characters. Especially Katsa. I also really disliked Cashore's naming, because Katsa made me think of katsu and then it made me hungry.
Mmm, katsu.
[image]
Po is just a silly name for a guy, and the names of the kingdoms were equally silly and kind of awkward. Too obviously based on English words for geographic directions, twisted around to sound awkward to the English-speaking ear. And the capitol cities named after current kings - so does the city name change every time there is a new king? Sounds like an unsustainable naming dynamic/lazy way for Cashore to avoid thinking of more geographic locations.
But back to the characters.
You guys, Katsa is not a strong feminist role model. She's really not. As misunderstood and maligned as feminism may be in current mainstream media, at its core it's about equality and allowing women to do whatever the hell they want. (Within reason and laws, of course.) In true feminism, the feminine is not inferior. A 'strong female character' doesn't have to be a sword-fighting warrior woman. (George RR Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series actually does a great job of this - portraying the strengths of female characters across the spectrum of femininity and highlighting the idea that a court lady in a gown can be just as powerful as a lady knight in armor, only in a different way. But I digress.) Feminism says 'if you want to be a soldier, that's cool, and if you want to be a nuclear scientist, that's cool too, and if you want to be a stay at home mom and housewife, as long as that's what you really want, it's all good'. Looking down upon marriage and traditional femininity does not make Katsa a feminist, nor does it send a strong feminist message. In fact, it shows Katsa's internalized misogyny and highlights her prejudices. It's not cool.
Can you tell that I feel very strongly about feminism? Because I feel very strongly about feminism.
The fact that Katsa just plain refuses to be in a relationship because it will define her, instead of changing the definition of a relationship to fit her own needs, shows her for what she really is - a scared and stubborn young girl who is damaged and afraid. Only, instead of trying to heal that damage and find a middle ground where she can be happy, she has this attitude of 'marriage is stupid, I WILL LET NO MAN CONTROL ME' and rides off into the sunset with her sword ablaze. (Or something like that - I only know what happens at the end of the book from other reviews.)
[image] [image]
FEMINISM.
Actually I would really like it if Katsa took a page out of Eowyn's book. Eowyn wears dresses and consents to marry a good man who loves her, and she still knows her way around a sword AND she killed the Witch-King. Now there's a feminist role model I can get behind.
Sorry, katsu.
I mean Katsa.
Aside from the whole 'FEMINIST AGENDA' aspect of the book, I found the overall execution to be rather poor. The prose felt stilted and awkward to me, and the way Po said Katsa's name in every third sentence was repetitive and redundant. Has Cashore ever had a conversation? We don't usually remind our conversation partners of their name every ten seconds.
Katsa's propensity towards violence, while understandable, shows her as juvenile and impulsive, seriously lacking in self-control. And don't even get me started on the romance. If I were Po, and I could hear and feel everything going on inside of Katsa's head, I'd be running the other way as fast as I could, not falling in love with her. I literally cannot see one reason why Po is in love with Katsa, and if there's one thing I hate (who am I kidding? there are a lot of things I hate) it's a weak romance. I might have been interested in the plot, but being inside for Katsa's head long enough to see it resolved made me want to run the other way as fast as I can.
Maybe I'll finish it someday. Probably I won't....more
I very, very rarely quit on a book halfway through. I always feel guilty and have to slog through it just so I can feel like I gave it a fair chance. I very, very rarely quit on a book halfway through. I always feel guilty and have to slog through it just so I can feel like I gave it a fair chance. This was one of the few books I couldn't stand to finish. Now, I'm not squeamish, so the gore and sociopathy described in the book didn't bother me at all. What did was the lack of dimension in the characters (Brite seems to think that writing characters who are evil and disturbed will automatically give them some sort of depth - it doesn't) and the lack of... moral, for lack of a better word, throughout the story.
From what I could tell, there was no point to the book except for a teen goth-esque "nyah, nyah, look how dark and twisted I am, look what I can write". And the only prose that's purpler is Anne Rice's. Frankly, the writing was over the top, the characters not only flat but unlikeable (and believe me, likeable and serial killer are not mutually exclusive) and mostly, I was just bored....more