DNF: The Silent Corner

Review:

Not for me. Don't like the main character, plot is choppy and irritating enough to DNF at 6%, not interested in anymore. 

Original post: sunsetxcocktail.booklikes.com/post/1762397/dnf-the-silent-corner

Review: A Charm and a Curse

Review:

I received a copy from Netgalley.

 

This for me was a case of interesting premise but boring execution. I can’t say it was a bad book, but this reader was just meh about the whole thing really.

 

Carnivals/Circuses with hints of a magic are a recent favourite of mine. So the premise of this book caught my attention right away.  Teenager Emma has gone to the carnival with her friend. Emma across as likeable from the tone of the writing. She’s more fascinated by the artwork murals she spots than making out with cute boys like her friend Juliet.

 

A strange encounter for Emma when a weird boy gives her a coin. She and Juliet find themselves trying the fortune teller – The Boy in The Box. Emma soon finds herself alone.  And shortly later hanging out with the Boy in the Box. And going on the Ferris wheel with him, drinking a bottle wine provided by the boy, kissing the weird boy and falling off said Ferris wheel.

 

When she wakes up Emma finds herself unable to feel anything and is shocked to discover she has been cursed. The Boy in the Box, Sidney, tricked her into taking his curse which can only be taken away with a kiss. She can try and get someone else to drink the mysterious wine and kiss them and shove them off the Ferris wheel.

 

Naturally, Emma is completely freaked and completely furious. (Who wouldn’t be?) Her reaction to the sudden change in her life is well written and completely believable as she realises her whole life is changed. She can’t go home, she has to stay with the Carnival while she is under the curse. The curse is a little more complex than first it seems but like anyone in this situation, there’s only so much information you can take in.

 

The Carnival people turn out to be pretty awesome (with a few exceptions of course) but most of the supporting cast were fantastic. The other acts who were around Emma’s age start to become real friends and help her deal with the situation. There are a few people who are absolute assholes and creepy (who turn out to be the baddies of the story).

 

None of this was too bad. It was really unique and interesting and kept me wanting to know what was going to happen. I like Emma as a character and I loved the supporting characters. What really spoiled this book for me was the romance.

 

Dual narrated the novel is from the point of view of Emma and Benjamin, one of the carnival workers who strikes a friendship with Emma which quickly becomes something more. Initially when we’re introduced to Benjamin it appears he’s working with the carnival along with his cousin both are hoping to save enough money to leave and start their own lives. But as soon as Emma comes into the picture he’s fascinated. Ben’s mother Audrey who also works at the carnival is livid about the idea of him hanging out with Emma who is now trying to get used to her new role as The Girl in the Box. Though the reasons for Audrey’s unnatural dislike and distrust of Emma become clearer later in the novel it just seems weird.

 

Of course being teenagers who are in insta-love they completely ignore the warnings about the two of them being together. The curse is a little more complex than Emma first realises and things are happening at the carnival, accidents are occurring that haven’t happened before and Emma is getting the blame. There’s a mystery to solve as to why all going back to the origins of how the curse came into being in the first place.

 

The novel is well written and the plot is interesting enough to want to know what’s going on but the romance between Ben and Emma is just so eye rolling it spoiled the whole book for me really. Even when they finally figure out what’s going on and what to do about it.

 

Good idea, but in the end just not for me.

 

Thank you to Netgalley and Entangled Publishing LLC for approving my request to view the title.

Original post: sunsetxcocktail.booklikes.com/post/1762164/review-a-charm-and-a-curse

Review: Keeper

Review:

I received a copy from Netgalley.

 

First time I’ve ever been approved by anything from Flux...and sad to say I really didn’t like the book. The cover caught my eye on this one and it sounds like the kind of cheesy  kind of YA paranormal romance I usually really like (even if the plot is rather silly).

 

The premise of this one was interesting enough, study mad Lainey is attending some sort of convention with her pop culture obsessed best friend, she has a strange encounter with seeing someone -  a woman in what looks to her like a costume - starts feeling sick and dizzy, and decides to bail. Also, an encounter with a cute guy she just brushes off. 

 

Her parents are deceased so she lives with her uncle Gareth and his odd new agey wife. Heading home Lainey has another encounter with the strange woman, who calls herself Josephine...and seems to be drawn into her memories.

 

The idea was fairly interesting. Lainey was a reasonably likeable main character, there was nothing particularly off about her. She’s fairly smart, quite logical. The writing itself isn’t bad. The story picks up and starts taking shape with chapters from Josephine’s point of view several centuries ago. 

 

Josephine is last in a line of very powerful witches tasked with protecting an ancient Grimoire the bad guy really wants to get his hand on and isn’t afraid to kill or do whatever he has to do make sure he gets it. Josephine is having none of it. Lainey through some bizarre connection is watching all this unfold...and finds her own life getting stranger and stranger. The cute guy she had a brief encounter shows up again, Ty, and she finds herself getting to know him quite well. 

 

A fair amount of action, not too much focus on the inevitable romance. There’s a battle between good and evil, and an ordinary girl thrown in who discovers she may be the key to everything. I didn’t find there was much emotional depth (at least not for my taste) but there’s enough mystery and enough questions to keep the reader interested and wanting to know what’s going on. 

 

What really spoiled this book for me was the romance angle, Ty, who was flat and boring as hell and completely uninteresting. Though of course with twisty REASONS for his actions. The other thing that drove me up the wall was Maggie, Lainey’s best friend. Maggie was constantly spurting out pop culture references - comic books, TV shows - ALL. THE. TIME. It was fucking annoying. And every time something happens she comes out with her signature phrase “Holy crapkittens!” Which pissed me off to no end. Every time she said it - which was a lot - I wanted to slap her silly and tell her to shut the fuck up. 

 

Though to be fair, Maggie did stick by Lainey’s side throughout the whole thing, when Lainey discovers secrets about herself and her family that her Uncle had hidden from her, was on hand to listen and be there. (She must really be a good friend - she’s the one who’s magic/paranormal/superhero obsessed and her best friend is the one who gets the superpowers? And she’s not even a little bit put out or jealous?) Just such a shame she had such an irritating personality. Combined with her and Ty who were a major part of the story it really let it down for me. 

 

The revelations were kind of silly and eye rolling as the novel got to the end. It’s left quite open but it doesn’t look like there’s a sequel. There could be. I’m not sure I will be rushing out to get it if it does come.

 

It was okay, the novel had it’s moments and a fun concept, but in the end just not to my taste I guess.

 

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

Original post: sunsetxcocktail.booklikes.com/post/1675314/review-keeper

Review: The Astonishing Color of After

Review:

I received a copy from Netgalley.

 

Another case of really good book but I’m not all that sure I really liked the main character much. The novel is about dealing with deep depression, and grief after the suicide of a parent and learning about said parent’s cultural heritage. 

 

One thing I really loved about the book was the look into Taiwanese culture, something I know nothing about. Main character Leigh is half white on her dad’s side and Taiwanese on her mother’s side. She’s never known her mother’s parents who live in Taiwan, when her mother left to marry her father it caused a big split in the family.

 

Leigh has a huge crush on her best friend Axel, over time her feelings for him have developed and she’s super jealous of Axel’s girlfriend. (This was really annoying. There weren’t many females Leigh’s age mentioned in the novel other than Leigh’s one other friend Caro and anyone girl who wasn’t Caro Leigh doesn’t seem to like, from what I remember, it got annoying fast.)

 

Leigh is an artist, she loves drawing and sees the world and her emotions in color. She and Axel have a thing where something is happening and Axel will ask her “what color?” and she will respond with whatever shade she sees at that particular moment. I don’t think it was synesthesia just her way of looking at the world. Initially this came across as kind of pretentious. I very nearly DNFed this book several times at the beginning. It felt very long winded and over written, and maybe there was something about it I just wasn’t getting. 

 

The description for the book hinted and magical realism which is one of my favorite things, so I stuck it out to see where it would come in. 

 

Leigh’s world changes, starting with a defining moment with Axel to the sudden shock of her mother’s suicide. She’s completely numb and devastated. Her emotions are all over the place and it’s completely understandable. While I could empathize with Leigh and could understand the massive trauma and shock such a horrific thing can do to a person, as a character I found her flat and hard to connect with. 

 

She finds herself heading to Taiwan to meet grandparents from her mother’s side she never knew while her dad throws himself into his work for the summer. The grandparents don’t speak much English and Leigh doesn’t speak much Mandarin though she is learning. There’s a lot of foreign language spoken in the book which sometimes can be very jarring when you don’t speak the other language (or can be for me which sounds terrible and very white privilege, I know) though in this book it just fit in the narrative and was really interesting to learn some new words and phrases. 

 

Leigh has an experience before heading to Taiwan where she thinks she sees her mother in the body of a red bird and becomes convinced she has to find the bird and the bird has now turned up in Taiwan with her. There is a cultural legend revolving around the reasons why.

 

A young lady called Feng, a friend of the grandparents shows up to help with the cultural differences and language barriers. Leigh learns about Spirit Week and some of the festivals taking place at the time she is visiting. While thanks to her mom’s influences Leigh is fairly well versed Taiwanese cooking, but there’s a whole host more to learn when she’s there. The descriptions of the food sound absolutely divine.

 

The narrative is in a then and now format - what happened with Axel and Caro before and what’s happening in the present. This also ties in the magical realism aspect when Leigh starts accessing her memories of her mom and not just her memories. There’s a really fascinating element where she can see her mom’s past memories as well. Leigh learns some things she never knew about, and has to come to terms with some things she did but couldn’t really bring herself to accept. 

 

There’s a wonderful family dynamic as hard as it can be for one family, when she meets her friend Caro, Caro’s family is so different and vibrant from Leigh’s own more sombre one. The difference is kind of heart breaking but interesting at the same time. 

 

Leigh and her family visit all her mom’s favorite places in Taiwan. Which again is completely absorbing. It’s beautifully described and beautifully written. Though Leigh can be quite a bitch to Feng who’s only trying to be nice and help. Feng has a really unexpected back story and there’s a twist to her character as well.

 

The other focus of the novel is Leigh’s plans for college and her future. She desperately wants to follow art but her dad is pressuring her to find something more practical. Leigh has to figure out whether she wants to do something that’s right or follow her heart to find something in the field that she really loves. 

 

And then there’s her relationship with Axel. (Kind of predictable and bit eye rolling) but did make me smile at the end. 

 

Despite a rocky start, I’m glad I stuck with the novel as it really did get better and by the end I loved it, and it made me quite teary in places. While sad in some respects, there were some uplifting moments. An honest and believable novel, at times hard and unflinchingly difficult in the narrative. But definitely worth a read. And most certainly an author that is going on my auto buy list. I loved this so much by the end I did buy a finished copy.

 

Thank you to Netalley and Hatchette Children’s Books for the review copy. 

Original post: sunsetxcocktail.booklikes.com/post/1666943/review-the-astonishing-color-of-after

Review: The Hazel Wood

Review:

I received a copy from Netgalley.

 

This is one of those strange conflicting books where I loved the premise, I loved the writing, the story but I hated the main character. Frankly, Alice was a giant bitch. (Narrative did reveal REASONS for her behavior but still.)

 

Alice has spent most of her life on the road with her mother, whom she refers to by name, Ella, rather than call her Mom. Bad luck seems to follow them where ever they go. They start settling down, things go wrong and they have to leave. Because of this Alice is never in one place for long so never really makes any friends or forms attachments to people. Which must be difficult but its the life she’s used to so it’s sort of understandable that she’d be cold and standoffish. 

 

She has an attitude right off. She lives under the shadow of her reclusive grandmother whom she’s never met, the author of a book of very dark fairy tales. The fairy tale book seems to have a sort of cult following. There is very little information about the grandmother. At the start of the novel Ella has received a letter telling her that the grandmother Althea, has died and she has inherited her estate, the mysterious Hazel Wood. Which she wants nothing to do with. 

 

The writing is quite dark and lyrical, the abysmal characters give the whole thing a dark murky feel to the story, when Alice starts looking into the grandmother and the book of fairytales, it fits as it turns out the stories are very dark. The book is now out of print and hard to find. Alice makes a connection with a boy at her latest school, Ellery Finch who has an interest in the fairytale book. Ella’s latest boyfriend is a very very rich older man with a daughter Alice’s age, so she and Alice attend a private school for very rich kids. Finch, is one of the wealthiest students there. 

 

Of all the characters in this book, Finch is probably the nicest and was one of my favorites. He offers Alice a tentative friendship and is nothing like the stereotypical rich boy you get at private schools. He’s kind of a nerd and adorable. 

 

Alice’s world is thrown into chaos when she goes home one afternoon to find her mother missing and her mother’s boyfriend in a fury after himself, his daughter and Ella were kidnapped. The two were let go, and he’s naturally furious. More for scared for himself and his daughter than Ella it would appear. The only clue Alice has is something to do with being told to stay AWAY from the Hazel Wood, her grandmother’s mysterious estate.

 

Of course, with a bitchy teenager who is told not to go somewhere - it doesn’t take a genius to figure out what’s going to happen. Alice completely ignores the warning and freaks. She finds herself calling on Finch to help her, since he’s apparently read the fairytale book. He’s got involved with the people looking for the estate. Finch is the only person willing to help. Alice is freaking and she’s really being nasty to him. Yet almost reluctantly seems to resign herself to the fact she needs Finch and the help he is offering. Her nasty attitude during these bits made me constantly want to slap Alice. I really did not like her at all.

 

Though this is where the fairytale darkness seeps into the novel and it seems that reality is mixing in with the world of the mysterious tome written by her grandmother, a strange fairyland called The Hinterland. Is this really happening or is it the influence of the Hinterland?

 

Things get stranger and scarier as Alice and Finch investigate, ignoring all warnings to stay the hell away. Alice can’t do it. The more she digs, the more questions she finds with no answers. Despite the unlikeable characters, there is something very compelling about the darkness of the mystery as it unfolds.

 

I won’t recap much more because there would be some serious spoilers but things get weirder by the minute and finally, things start happening and answers start coming. There were a few twists before the final revelations.

 

Some misgivings, but definitely worth a read. It’s somewhere between a fantasy and a mystery. Vivid and quite dark and sometimes dreary. At the same time it has a way of making you want to know what the hell is going on. It’s definitely very original.  And that book of disturbing fairytales sounds like something this reader would be dying to get their hands on. And according to Goodreads it looks like there will be a sequel (though I can’t imagine where the sequel will go) and the fairytale book from the first book will actually be written. I am certainly very intrigued to go. 

 

Thank you to Netgalley and Penguin Random House UK Children’s for approving my request to view the title. 

 

 

Original post: sunsetxcocktail.booklikes.com/post/1666934/review-the-hazel-wood