Review: Wendy Darling

Review:

I received a copy from Netgalley.

 

I’ve not read a Peter Pan retelling before and my knowledge of the original is limited to the Disney movie version. So I figured I would give this one a chance. It started off fairly boring to be honest. Beautifully written, but very dull. Wendy was kind of bland and uninteresting, Michael the five year old was cute, and John the other brother was a complete ass. Wendy is a 16 year old girl who’s supposed to be getting ready for a profitable match for her family, but she’s secretly in love with the bookseller’s son, Booth. Who adores her. Wendy is torn because her society status will not accept a lady of her standing to be with the bookseller’s son. Even though he’s sweet, charming and really does truly seem to care for her.

 

Wendy is crushed when her father confirms her fears, and hints if she doesn’t cut off her feelings for Booth, then she may be shipped off to boarding school. Her brothers don’t help much, and John is dick when he finds a love note Booth has written Wendy. But next thing you know, the enigmatic Peter Pan has appeared and charmed them all with tales of Neverland, flying and the promise of thrills and adventure and that he can have them all escape for the night and be home before their parents even realise that the children are gone.

 

So off they go on an exciting adventure. Wendy is kind of nervous, but goes along with the flow. It’s all meandering along nicely, there’s a great sense of wonder as Wendy and her brothers experience the thrills and nerves of flying and arriving in Neverland. There’s a captivating sense of beauty in actually arriving in the magic of Neverland, the beautiful seas, the beautiful but disturbingly deadly mermaids. The sense of adventure and no rules and grownups around to tell anyone what do.

 

Wendy though, appears to be struggling greatly with the sense of keeping to the manners she has been brought up with. However, arriving on Pan Island with Peter and meeting the Lost Boys – it’s clear being a well-mannered girl is something of a problem. These boys haven’t seen a girl in years and Wendy is something of an anomaly. She’s treated with suspicion and the boys are constantly poking and prodding her.  Until Peter tells them to leave her alone and show her some respect.

 

As dull as she is, though you have to give it to Wendy Darling – she must have the patience of a saint to put up with the appalling manners of the Lost Boys. They are just not used to having a girl around. And the only other female form – is Tink, the last fairy. Who hates Wendy. I almost find myself sympathising with Tink a lot – what is it about Wendy that’s so special, there’s nothing particularly remarkable about her at all (other than her manners and endless patience) it’s really hard to fathom out what it is that Peter sees in her.

 

Wendy shows remarkable tolerance and tries to befriend Tink in spite of Tink’s nastiness and threats and acts of violence against her. The boys come to enjoy her company and Wendy tries to get into the swing of things – eating with them and sitting with them, climbing around the trees and walking the dangerous rope bridges. Peter Pan himself is sassy and eloquent, just has a presence that commands attention and holds your intrigue and respect. He’s full of great stories and all the Lost Boys want his special attention and favour. He makes everyone feel welcome and part of the fun.

 

As soon as the Darling siblings arrive and have been welcomed, Peter tells a story of daring deeds with the notorious Captain Hook and decides they need a raid to steal booze from the pirates to have a proper welcome feast for Wendy and her brothers. John’s smarts get him made a General in the Lost Boys and have a big part in the raid. Wendy is terribly worried for him. John dismisses her and is very cruel to her.

 

For the most part, the novel up to this point has been fairly bland, as I mentioned very well written, though I failed to see why it was marketed for a YA audience, and thought I could easily see reading this to group of younger children – it’s fun, kids would get a kick out of the excitement of the Lost Boys and the thrill of adventure and those looking for romance would enjoy the budding thrill between Peter and Wendy.

 

Once the pirate raid happens, things quickly took a much darker turn than I anticipated.  It goes very wrong very quickly and ends in terrible violence. It’s not all fun and games anymore and there are some serious issues with Peter’s greed when everything starts falling apart. Wendy is naturally very worried and shocked about what happens. Though Peter’s so charming he can talk his way round pretty much anything. And starts heating up the romance angle again. Which pretty much makes Wendy swoony.

 

Though thanks to Wendy’s latest encounter with Tink, she starts to realise there are very important things she’s forgetting. This is when things get darker still. Neverland is looking so fun anymore. At least not to Wendy as she starts to remember their parents and their lives in London. And also begins to be concerned about whether or not they will ever get home.

 

[spoiler]

Peter’s pushing the romance angle in a way that started off as quite – well – romantic, but when Wendy can’t go through with taking things to another level he gets very jealous and very very angry.  He acts like a spoiled brat – he’s pushy, cruel and actually threatening. It’s shocking and disturbing by this point. Wendy wants to home. John won’t listen – he’s crueller than ever. Michael’s quite agreeable to go with Wendy. Wendy wants her family together. She’s torn.

[/spoiler]

 

By the end of the novel, Wendy shows incredible strength as she fights to get herself and Michael to safety, away from Peter who’s shown a much more frightening side than she ever realised. It’s life or death to escape and Wendy realises she will do whatever it takes to get home. John for now seems like a lost cause, but her priority becomes getting Michael away from the Lost Boys and safe. The last twenty percent or so is absolutely gripping and quite scary.

 

And left at one brilliant cliff-hanger. I really can not wait for the next book.

 

Thank you to Netgalley and SparksPress for approving my request to view this title.

Original post: sunsetxcocktail.booklikes.com/post/1314160/review-wendy-darling

Review: Compulsion

Review:

I love a good southern gothic mystery complete with magic and romance, and the premise of this book got my attention right away when I was browsing on Amazon. I bought it immediately, (though must admit it’s been on my shelf for over a year) and finally got around to reading it when I needed something set in Southern USA for a reading challenge.

 

As it turned out, I absolutely loved this book. Captured my attention right from the start, with its characters and unique plot. Though I did get a bit confused every now and then as to what the connections where between the three families and how everyone tied together. Steeped in history, magic and intrigue the plot was fantastic.

 

MC, Barrie has a unique ability of being able to find things and not being able to rest until things are found, which leads her to being dragged into a plot by her cousin to help find the cousin’s lost family fortune. There’s all kinds of reasons why this is a very very bad idea, according to handsome neighbour and new boyfriend Eight (who has his own unique ability and twisty turny history with the cousin’s family) but Barrie’s compulsion to find things always seems to win. There’s a ton of drama, swoony swoony romance. And some brilliant family history going back to Civil War days.

 

An absolutely beautifully written paranormal angle as well, involving some breath taking description, though some tough and uncomfortable history to swallow.

 

Completely captivating and brilliant book.

Original post: sunsetxcocktail.booklikes.com/post/1314139/review-compulsion

Review: Dream a Little Dream

Review:

I must have bought this one before I read the first Ruby Red book by the same author, which was probably a good thing. I didn’t like Ruby Red at all, I most likely wouldn’t have picked something up by the same author. But the UK cover of this book is shiny and silver and very pretty and has been on my shelf for a while so I figured what the hell. I’d give it a shot and if I hated it, I hated it and would then know that this author is really not to my taste.

 

As it turned out I was pleasantly surprised by how much I really enjoyed this book. I read the first 50 pages or so, I liked the premise. The characters were okay, though the tone of the novel seemed to be pretty young, not quite towards the older end of YA, the main character is only 15, though some of the themes hinted at seemed to be a little mature for middle grade. It tell the story of Liv and her younger sister Mia who are moving to London with their mother, who’s job requires her to move around a lot, except now she’s taken a prestigious new job which means a little more stability. Dad has been out of the picture for several years now.  So Liv, Mia and their au pair, Lottie, are off to London. Only when they arrive things are not as they seem, they’re moving somewhere different, and Mom has been seeing someone, a wealthy man Earnest, who has two teenage children a little older than Liv.

 

Liv and Mia are not thrilled about this. On top of that they are now starting a new school, a very posh one. Complete with its own Gossip Girl type blog of school scandals, romances and secrets by someone anonymous who calls themselves Secret. Liv and Mia love mysteries, so they’re intrigued to find out who’s behind the blog. Which is only really a side plot. The main plot involves Liv discovering she can walk through dreams. She meets four handsome boys in her dream doing some weird sort of ritual thing. Dismissing it as a weird dream, Liv is stunned when she finds all these boys go to her new school and one of them is Earnest’s son and going to become her step brother.

 

I was a little worried that this was going to be very Raven Boy like, one girl becomes involved with four handsome boys who each have something different and remarkable about them. Thankfully, it was nothing like that. It was fun, as Liv continues to find herself going through different dreams and getting to know these boys. There’s very little world building explaining how Liv can walk through different dreams, but I found that it was one of those rare cases where the book is so well written, the characters and the plot itself is so much fun and so enjoyable, that lack of world building doesn’t really matter.

 

The dialogue was witty and bantery and delightful. It’s not all smooth sailing fun as Liv finds out there is a fairly serious side when she gets to know the boys a little more and finds out there’s a ritual involving releasing some sort of demon that makes wishes come true – for a price. One of the boy’s previous girlfriend has been involved and something really bad has happened. They need Liv to help complete the ritual.

 

Liv might not have been the brightest blub in the box, but I did find I really liked her as a main character. She had a strong, believable voice and a good personality. She gets a romance of her own (which turned out differently than I thought it would and was actually quite pleased about – there were some reading between the lines hints of something possibly happening between Liv and the stepbrother to be, but thankfully, it didn’t appear to go down that road.)

 

It had a few dark and dramatic moments towards the end, and most interestingly, the identity of Secret who writes the school gossip blog, was never revealed. Hints were dropped of possibilities (I have my suspicions) but I have a feeling this question won’t be answered until the end of the trilogy.

 

Different, and a lot of fun, I really enjoyed this book and can’t wait for the next one.

Original post: sunsetxcocktail.booklikes.com/post/1314134/review-dream-a-little-dream

Review: Sanctuary Bay

I received an invite to view this title from the Publisher through Netgalley.

 

I was quite excited when I got the initial email with an invite to view the title. It was one on my wish list so I jumped at the chance. Unfortunately, as it turned out, I did not like this book one little bit. 

 

Started off with quite an intriguing premise. A little girl is hidden by her parents and its clear that something very bad is going to happen. She's told what to do when she escapes - find a lady with children or a kid tell them her name is Sarah Mercer and ask for help. They stress the point quite dramatically to tell that her name is Sarah Mercer. It’s never actually made clear (at least not to my recollection) whether that is actually the girl’s real name.

 

Hop to many years later and Sarah Mercer is a mixed race foster kid who has received a scholarship to some exclusive all immersion private school called Sanctuary Bay on its own private island. The novel starts with Sarah taking the ferry to the new school wondering where the scholarship has come from. She’s not a great student or anything. She’s a victim of an underfunded social care system and has been shipped from one foster home to another.

 

It’s clear right off she’s got an attitude problem. Understandable given her circumstances, we also learn right off she’s mixed race and never knows what box to check when she’s filling out forms – black or white. This becomes something of an issue for her. Every character that is introduced is described as race, hair colour, what they look like. I’m all for diversity in books, I really do think its very important to have different characters from all kinds of background and ethnicities. It’s a great way to learn about other cultures and people. I don’t need it thrown in my face every time a new person comes onto the scene. Nate – white, brown hair, really good looking, Mr Diaz, Hispanic, curly brown hair. Elaine – white, blonde, very thin. I’m paraphrasing but it’s more or less like that. A lot. It got very tiring very fast.

 

Sarah’s attitude and the fact that she’s on scholarship and some of the kids she’s now going to school with are extremely rich kids gets very grating as well. I get that she’s tough, but go with the flow already! She’s been given a wonderful opportunity, the kids she meets are annoying, but they appear to be friendly and don’t seem to look down on her because of her background (which I think is where a lot of the attitude problems comes from) At least at some point Sarah does seem to realise this and decides to make the most of the opportunity she has. She’s also got a perfect memory. She can recall absolutely everything she reads or studies. This has caused some problems with teachers in the past who think she has been cheating. She also has problems zoning out when something sparks a memory. Usually something bad. When she remembers that memory down to very last little detail, she’s lost in the moment completely. All adding to the tough girl attitude. She’s snarky and defensive.

 

The first thing she learns about Sanctuary Bay is it’s a total immersion school system, no contact with parents or the mainland. There’s also a crumbled ruin on the island that used to be a mental institution. There are rumours abound that the doctors performed extremely dangerous and illegal experiments and stuff on the patients. It was also a Nazi POW camp for a time during World War 2. There may be ghosts around. It’s almost like everything horrible that could have happened in terms of POW and badly managed institutions has happened at some point in this island’s history. Now it has turned into an uber posh boarding school.

 

Sarah learns the school has its own internet, its own wifi system and each student gets their own cell phone which has all their schedules and is voice controlled. When she’s meeting the other kids and her roommates, one of them offers Sarah her notes for a class they share and pretty much tells the phone - send Sarah these notes. Or it can locate any student or teacher anywhere. It’s got some pretty nifty technology. One of the best schools in the country the kids who attend and graduate can pretty much write their ticket to any future they want.

 

Sounds like a pretty good deal. So why didn’t I like this book? I didn’t like the main character for one thing. As I’ve already mentioned, Sarah’s attitude got on my nerves, she’s almost too perfect, comes in out of the blue and within less than a day everyone, including the teachers, really seem to like her. Along with two of the most popular boys on campus, one being the student body president, who is really popular and handsome. The other is the richest kid in the school, (who happens to be really hot and her roommate’s boyfriend. He’s also an ass, but for some reason even though Sarah tries to say she doesn’t like him, she really does. Blah.)

 

There’s also hints of a secret society, and anyone in this secret society is going to do better than anyone else. Sarah’s two roommates disappear in the middle of the night frequently. So what does Sarah do – what any inquiring mind would do – she sneaks off to follow them. And gets caught up in this secret society nonsense. It’s all fun and games, and something to do with a daft ritual and some sort of drink that may or may not be drugged and alcoholic. It’s all fun and games and silly initiation rituals until things take a drastically dark turn.

 

A student goes missing. Sarah thinks she saw what happened but no one else believes her. At this point, I lost interest and pretty much skimmed to see what happened in the end. In spite of the fact that I didn’t really like any of the characters or the hints of a romance plot, the writing was interesting enough that I still wanted to know what was going on. But by the 60% mark or so, it was convoluted ridiculousness.

 

A big ass conspiracy was revealed that was so unbelievably ludicrous and the whole reveal scene with Sarah confronting the baddie, even finding out the truth about what happened to parents in the novel’s opening scene, was laughable. It seemed to have a somewhat open end as well. It’s left at what could be a cliff hanger or at least open to the point of not knowing what actually happened to the characters who survived the big confrontation scene.  Very disappointed in this novel. Not my taste at all.

 

Thank you to St Martin’s Press for the invite to view the title.

Original post: sunsetxcocktail.booklikes.com/post/1314121/review-sanctuary-bay

Review: My Life Next Door

Review:

I received a copy from Netgalley.

Actual rating 3.5 stars.

For the most part I really liked it, it started out as contemporary summer time fluff that seemed to meander along, and there was a sort of sense that something was going to happen eventually, but nothing seemed to for a long time, then all of a sudden BIG ASS PLOT TWIST. Only thing I didn't really like about the novel was the end and the conclusion of the plot twist. I didn't feel that the culprit suffered enough for what happened at all.

The novel tells the story of Samantha Reed who has a very privileged life, comes from money, has a trust fund and a perfect older sister off to college in the fall, and a mother running for state Senator. Her life is structured and regimented, she's the good smart girl with everything going for her. Unlike their neighbours, the Garrett family, a couple with many many children of all ages. Sam has been told by her very snooty mother since she was a kid and the Garretts moved in - not to associate with the likes of "those Garretts".

However, Sam has a great view of their yard from outside her window, where she finds herself drawn to watching them, particularly the good looking son Jase, who is her age. When Jase catches Sam watching them, they start a tentative friendship which quickly develops into something more. Its cute and fluffy fun as Samantha comes from from her high horse and starts to get to know Jase and his parents and all the different siblings ranging from a handful of very small children to high school aged to adolescent. Of course Sam doesn't tell anyone she knows, her best friend Nan and her twin Tim, about any of it.

Sam's mom is running a new political campaign which takes pretty much all of her time, and her rather creepy campaign manager Clay who tries to be charming but really it comes off as kind of weird and as I said, creepy. Mom is so focused on her political career pretty much everything else takes a back seat and everyone else in the family is pretty much expected to be available as and when required. Sam's older sister Tracy escapes with her boyfriend to rent a summer home and work before college starts. But Tracy seems to get away with so much more than Sam does.

Sam's time is taken up increasingly as she gets to know Jase and the Garrett family and the friendship slowly becomes a very swoony romance. Jase is sweet and decent and very charming. Though as fun as it is, it does get pretty boring very fast. Manic family with cute kids getting in the way all the time. There's a side story line with Sam discovering some unfortunate secrets her best friend has been keeping from her and this puts a major strain on the friendship which has some pretty dramatic explosions at some point.

Another side plot with Nan's twin brother Tim, who at the start of the novel was a waste of space. Tim was a stoner who was pretty much only concerned about having a good time, despite the help Nan and Sam give him trying to get him set with summer jobs and helping him out when he screws up. Tim winds up actually becoming one of the best characters in the book by the end. Through Sam he inevitably winds up becoming friends with Jase and finds out about Sam's relationship but Tim's help and friendship turn out to be pretty awesome when Sam needs someone and Nan isn't there.

Other than best friend dramatics the whole thing was pretty smooth sailing up until about 70% of the book, then there is an absolutely gut wrenching plot twist which dramatically changes the tone of the novel. Something really horrible happens and no one quite knows how to deal with it. The worst thing is Samantha knows what happened. She can't tell anyone because it would have totally dramatic consequences for other people. Its terrible how she's pressured and at one point blackmailed to keep the secret.

Samantha's Mom is one of the worst mothers in YA. Self obsessed and only focused on her career, can't admit when she's made a mistake. And Sam is the dramatic one when she points things out that are hard to hear. There's one incident of Sam sneaking in after curfew, its summer, she's 17, she's never been in trouble and Mom is having a freak out. And its skeevy Clay who makes her see different. More than a few times Clay manages to manipulate the mother into seeing things his way. He talks down to Samantha terribly. Pet names, supposedly charming southern drawl. Its not charming on this character at all. He's an ass.

At least by the end of the novel, everyone knows about Samantha and Jase, and there's just so much more now than their relationship. At least they are smart enough to realise this. Also, the truth regarding the terrible incident comes out. Though I still think something more should have been done. I can understand in a way, why it ended the way it did, but I wasn't impressed. It was too little too late for my taste and no real suffering on the part of the person responsible.

For the most part I did like the novel, it was well written, and entertaining, and did get quite emotional towards the end. The end kind of left this reader a little empty. After all that...it was....that's it?

Thank you to Netgalley and Egmont Publishing/Electric Monkey for approving my request to view the title.

Original post: sunsetxcocktail.booklikes.com/post/1310198/review-my-life-next-door

Review: Underwater

Review:

I received a copy from Netgalley.

The premise of this novel was what caught my attention about it. It tells the story of Morgan Grant, a teen who survived a terrible incident which lead to a dramatic change in her life. As a result Morgan has become agoraphobic, completely unable to leave the apartment she lives in with her mom and younger brother. To make things worse, there's drama involving her absentee dad, a solider with really bad PTSD who has returned from Afghanistan and completely checked out from the family.

Morgan is struggling to move on and has pushed away everyone around her. Morgan knows she needs help and is actually getting help in the form of therapist Brenda who comes to the house and talks through Morgan's problems. Morgan accepts the help and even though she can get grouchy, she does listen to the advice she's given. New boy Evan moves in next door and starts talking to Morgan. At first she's kind of obnoxious, Evan has a normal life, he's nice, he's a surfer, he goes out doors. Morgan used to be on the swim team. and liked outdoors stuff too.

But due to her issues and as the novel progresses the problems with her dad, she just can't get her head around the idea of going outside again. Evan doesn't give up though, he become's Morgan's friend and helps her open her mind to the possibilities that not everyone will hate her because she shut herself off from a world that terrifies her. It's not all smooth sailing, they have their problems.

Morgan has a very supportive mom and an adorable little brother Ben, both of whom she is very close with. Morgan's mom is involved in Morgan's recovery and they both help Ben with school and activities. Even though Mom has her own problems with the Dad and his own falling apart. It's very moving how they all manage to come together.

It takes a lot of work for Morgan to realise that even though something bad happened to her, she's not the only one it happened to. Other people are suffering too. Her character growth is pretty damn incredible throughout the novel and she shows remarkable understanding by the end. Its beautifully written, and very deep and poignant.

Thank you to Netgalley and Pan Macmillan for approving my request to view the title.

 

 

 

 

Original post: sunsetxcocktail.booklikes.com/post/1308210/review-underwater

On Hold for Now

15.12.2015

I got so excited when I was approved for a Netgalley ARC I jumped right in. As much as I love the world building and the writing, I realised I barely remember anything about what happened in the first one. And the second picks up almost immediately after where the first one left off.

So putting the 2nd one on hold so I can read the first one again. Then will be reading this one.

Original post: sunsetxcocktail.booklikes.com/post/1303993/on-hold-for-now

Story Sprites Round 2 Wrap Up

Story Sprites Round 2

 

Another round of Story Sprites completed. This was a tough one but I did manage to read a book to cover every square. I don’t think I reviewed hardly anything this time round, I just enjoyed reading and rating for the most part. You can see my Goodreads shelf with dates I finished (and a few reviews) here

 

Pink Path

Cross Dress/Gender Bender – Scarlett (Scarlett #1) AC Gaughen  - 2 Stars

Multiple Fantasy Creatures – Menagerie (Menagerie #1) – Rachel Vincent – 5 Stars

Flames on Cover – The Secret Fire (The Alchemist Chronicles #1) C.J. Daugherty – 5 Stars

Character Centred Novel – The Cost of All Things – Maggie Lehrman – 4 Stars

 

Yellow Path

Middle Grade Fantasy Novel- The Copper Gauntlet – (Magisterium #2) Cassandra Clare & Holly Black 3 Stars

Witches or Wizards – Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (Illustrated Edition) J.K. Rowling – 5 Stars

Bram Stoker Award Winner – American Gods – Neil Gaiman – 3 Stars

Set at a Boarding School – Shadow Kissed (Vampire Academy #3) Richelle Mead

 

Green Path

A Character Death – The Stand – Stephen King – 5 Stars

A Classic Novel – The Haunting of Hill House – Shirley Jackson – 3 Stars

A Book with a Mountain – The Shining – Stephen King – 5 Stars

Book with a Fictional Language – The Heart of Betrayal (The Remnant Chronicles #2) Mary E Pearson – 5 Stars

 

Blue Path

Male MC – Ink and Bone (The Great Library #1) – Rachel Caine 5 Stars

Photograph on the Cover – The Moon and More – Sarah Dessen – 4 Stars

A Halloween Read- Daughters unto Devils – Amy Lukavics – 4 Stars

Supernatural Race in Modern Times – Born at Midnight (Shadow Falls #1) C.C. Hunter – 4 Stars

 

Purple Path

POC MC – Scarlett Undercover – Jennifer Latham – 1 Star

QUILTBAG Author – Fans of the Impossible Life – Kate Scelsa – 4 Stars

Set in Southern USA – Miss Mayhem (Rebel Belle #2) Rachel Hawkins – 2 Stars

A Character who is a Musician – Wildflower (Wildflower #1) Alecia Whitaker – 3 Stars

 

 

Favourite Books Read

Ink and Bone – one of the best alternate history books I can remember reading. Brilliant world building, great characters and thoroughly absorbing plot.

Menagerie – possibly one of the most uncomfortable books I have ever read. Very dark but brilliantly written set in a world where all sorts of mythological and fantasy creatures are real but condemned to life as circus attractions.  

Illustrated Harry Potter  – such pretty pretty illustrations, this is one of the best editions of this book  I have (I have 4 others)  The addition of the illustrations really bring another dimension of brilliance to this already brilliant book.

The Secret Fire – I actually reviewed this one – you can read the review here.

Born at Midnight – this tells the story of a girl who is sent to a summer camp she thinks is for wayward teens. It turns out to be full of supernatural creatures everything from vampires to werewolves to shapeshifters to fae. The bulk of the story is the MC discovering these species and dealing with the fact she is one of them but what? No one seems to know. Entertaining and creative.

The Heart of Betrayal – This book has some of the best fantasy world building. More political drama in this one. More great worldbuilding including landscape and language! And speaking the language as the MC negotiates her captivity in enemy territory.

 

Worst Books

Scarlett Undercover (I really wanted to like this one, a Muslin-America heroine with a Veronica Mars like plot. I gave it 1 star for diversity, but I just didn’t like the novel at all.) 

Scarlet (Ac Gaughen) A Robin Hood retelling. All talk and very little action and I found Scarlet in this one just way too brassy, she was trying so hard to be tough as she she had to be it, it was over the top for me. She was so full of attitude it got to be very grating. Plus written in dialect and got very annoying.

Miss Mayhem – Oh Rebel Belle what happened? First book was so so good but the second was all over the shop and a huge let down at the end. I am still interested in the last book, but the second instalment was such a disappointment.

 

Honourable Mentions

American Gods – Neil Gaiman – I had no clue what was going on in this book.  I read it from start to finish, and I couldn’t recap it or tell anyone what it was about for the life of me! Some of it was brilliant, some of it was awful, some of it was confusing as hell. I didn’t know if I loved it or hated it.

Original post: sunsetxcocktail.booklikes.com/post/1302972/story-sprites-round-2-wrap-up

Story Sprites Round 2 Complete

 

Round two done. Full wrap up to come.

Original post: sunsetxcocktail.booklikes.com/post/1302932/story-sprites-round-2-complete

Review: Need

Review:

I received a copy from Netgalley.

After rather liking the author's previous books, The Testing Trilogy, I was quite excited to see a completely different type of book show up in one of those 'Feed your Reader' emails. So jumped at the change for the 'read it now' offer.

This book had a great hook. A mysterious new social media site, an invitation only site offering to fill the needs of the students of a certain high school. It makes a point of the difference between what's a wish and what a need might be. The requests start flying in from an A on a physics grade to concert tickets to a new iPhone. Seems fun enough. But of course, its never as simple as something awesome for apparently nothing. The site, NEED, requires certain things to be done in order for the Need wishes to be met.

And the tasks seem innocent enough, then the stakes start rising and things become pretty twisted pretty fast. It's supposed to raise a point about what people are willing to do for the right reward. The tasks get harder, and people start dying. There are a lot of characters in this book. Chapters from a lot of different view points. Which at first is kind of daunting, why are we seeing random chapters from random people getting involved in the NEED site and posting their requirements?

It does all tie into the plot eventually. The plot is very fast paced and once its started the book is hard to put down. In spite of this, I did found it got rather silly rather fast, particularly towards the end when the truth behind the NEED website is revealed.

I didn't really like any of the characters that much at all. The main character, Kaylee, a self proclaimed drama queen, has all sorts of problems and family drama. Her younger brother is sick with a failing kidney and can be saved by a transplant. No one in her immediate family is a match, and her father has walked out on the family some months before.

[spoiler]

 Kaylee is desperate to help her brother but goes to such extremes - she lies, it would appear she has been badgering the student body at her high school to get tested to see if any of them are potential matches. She posted fake ads on Craigslist promising a cash reward to find her father. She's faked sicknesses to get into the school nurse's office to access medical records.

[/spoiler]

Problem is she's pushed so hard to help and lied so much and been caught no one really feels any sympathy for her. The only friend she has left is her BFF Nate who sends her a NEED invite.

[spoiler]

So what does she ask for? A kidney for her brother.

[/spoiler]

As the plot progresses and things start getting scary, one rather gruesome incident happens at Kaylee's house she begins to realise that NEED is not as great as it seems at all. She thinks she has proof and at least is smart enough at first to try and contact the police. Problem is she has caused so much drama and stress for her mother in the past no one believes her. Which understandably is very frustrating for Kaylee.

She's supposed to come off as selfless and heroic, but she had very little personality other than the must get help for my brother side, and while you can understand why she does it, it doesn't make her appealing as a lead character because she goes so over the top about it. Then whines when people don't want to help her family.

The plot twists and turns and all the seemingly random characters come together as Kaylee tries to prove that NEED is dangerous. All tied into the need request granting and what people are willing to do to get what they want. While it was certainly an interesting premise, it got very convoluted and ridiculous towards the end. Almost all of the characters were shallow and flat. A few redeemed themselves (or tried to) towards the end.

It was okay.

Original post: sunsetxcocktail.booklikes.com/post/1301751/review-need

Review: This is Where it Ends

Review:

I received a copy from Netgalley.

This was something I got from Netgalley with one of those read it now for the first 500 members for a limited time only things. I'm not exactly sure what to make of it. It was certainly very fast paced, once I got past the first 20% I finished the whole thing in pretty much a couple of hours. Couldn't put it down.

Given the subject, I can not even begin to fathom being trapped in such a terrifying situation, and by the end of the novel there was certainly an emotional impact. But something was missing and I can't quite put my fingers on what. I think for me, it was the characters. There were a LOT of characters, lots of different view points and even short interludes of characters on their social media - a blogger and someone's Twitter feed. But something was still missing.

There were only two or three characters that particularly had any impact - Tomas and Claire who were both outside the auditorium when the incident happened and Matt, Claire's brother one of the trapped students. My main concern was really for all the people trapped in the auditorium and how awful those who weren't trapped felt being able to do very little to help.

I was not that invested in the people who felt like the main focus, Autumn and Sylvia. Autumn came across as almost selfish through most of it, at least for this reader. Her main focus was dancing, she wanted out of her small town and focused on nothing but her dancing as her ticket of her situation. Understandable, given her sad family history, but I just didn't like her as a character.

Sylvia had a bit more to her, but it was all kind of vague and all over the place. Torn between her feelings for Autumn, her problems with Tyler, and her family drama there was a lot going on for her. Though in such a short space of time and the focus being on the shooting, and survival and with so many other character's POVs added, I can understand why there wasn't a lot of deep character background.

The villain of the piece, Tyler was so flat and eye roll inducing it was almost laughable in a horrible way it was so over dramatic.

One thing I will applaud - diverse characters, and Audrey and Sylvia were in a relationship which was a big part of the plot. Sylvia came from a large Spanish family though she kept breaking into random Spanish and it got very frustrating and jarring to the narrative. I get that its probably very realistic in terms of how you imagine someone in Sylvia's situation would act, but as a reader who speaks no Spanish, even if I can get the gist of what was being said, it was a little annoying especially since there was no translation.

The points of view kept changing to those trapped in the auditorium with the shooter and those outside and how terrified they were for their friends inside. Despite the somewhat flat characters, I did find a lot of the narrative to be very engaging and certainly by the end of the book there was a great deal of heart breaking emotional trauma. I didn't love the book, I think my main issue was too many characters and while I like multi POVs, it was all a bit overwhelming. Though it was certainly an engaging and emotional read.

Original post: sunsetxcocktail.booklikes.com/post/1300694/review-this-is-where-it-ends

Review: Riot of Smoke and Storm

Review:

I received a copy from Netgalley.

Will contain some mild spoilers for the first book. Spoilers will be hidden.

I remember very little about the plot of the first book, other than something to do with Elementals and a very similar plot to the Throne of Glass series but it held its own enough to keep my interest to want to continue this series and read the sequel. Thankfully there's enough information worked into the narrative that it's fairly easy to pick up on what happened in the first to continue with the second book. <spoiler>I have a vague memory of two big death scenes in the first that pushed MC Bree into finally using her powers and something to do with a reveal of a lost princess plot.</spoiler>

The second novel picks up immediately where the first one left off. Bree and her friends are escaping from the mad Egrian king and discover an Underground group of rebels who help them flee the city and start preparing for a war againt the evil Egrin king.

The beginning of this book was a struggle to get through for me. All I could think of again - how similar the plot was to Throne of Glass (mad king, lost princess with a special power) Even Bree's attitude is not dissimilar to that of the brassiness and arrogance of Celaena Sardothian.

Though once past the 30% mark, I pretty much finished it in a few hours yesterday. The second half of the book was much better. While the plot is not the most original, the story telling is enough to make it its own, and the characters did become much more engaging as the plot advanced through Bree's struggles of maintaining her powers, her big secret identity and dealing with bandits and being hunted by the king. The king is in possession of a dangerous magical weapon with potentially devastating consequences as Bree and co race to escape and find passage to the Nereid kingdom across the sea.

Cadan, the prince has fallen foul of his father's wrath and has his own storyline beside the romance with Bree. There was actually very little romance involved until almost right at the end of the novel but by then there was so much other important stuff going on it wasn't the most important thing.

One thing this book definitely has going for it is the extremely unique use of Elementals and how their magic works. Its a huge part of the plot and quite engaging. There's some good character development, and some good world building. A lot of plot advancement.

While I didn't find much of an emotional attachment to any of these characters really, and in spite of the TOG similarities, it is a well written and enjoyable fantasy in its own way. I am looking forward to the final instalment to see how it all wraps up.

Thank you to Netgalley and Patchwork Press for approving my request to view the title.

Original post: sunsetxcocktail.booklikes.com/post/1300144/review-riot-of-smoke-and-storm