**On Hold**
Just not getting into this one at the moment. Have barely made it past 10% in a month. It's not that I don't like it, I've read so little at the moment I'm not sure if I do or don't. It may just be that kindle format is working for me, I have purchased a hardback and will try to pick it up again at some point in the future.
Original post: sunsetxcocktail.booklikes.com/post/1283063/post
Review:
I snagged a copy of this book when it was a 'Read it Now' on Netgalley.
I'm always on the lookout for lesbian themed YA romances, its not something I see a lot. So I downloaded this title as soon as I saw it whilst browsing Netgalley.
Unfortunately, this was a bit of a blah book for me. The romance was mildly sweet, it managed a fairly decent emotional impact in certain points, however, I did find the ending to the novel a bit ridiculous. Also, I didn't like the main character very much.
Audrey, the heroine, comes from a low income family with an older brother, and a younger brother, her dad is a bit of a jerk, but he works, and her mom is suffering from what is described in the novel as bi polar. She can spend days at a time in bed and can't seem to bring herself to do anything. Audrey appears to be the responsible one of the family. The older brother has left school and keeps looking for work but doesn't seem to be able to hold a job for long.
Audrey is a very studios girl, determined to get a scholarship to a good college. She has strong ethics which I did admire, the other heroine of the story, Scarlett, a popular, wealthy girl asks Audrey to do her homework - she'll even pay her - but Audrey flat out refuses. However, it becomes fairly obvious Audrey has a crush on Scarlett. Audrey doesn't seem to deny her sexuality, though her dad is a jerk to her about it. Particularly when she finally does get together with Scarlett to help her with essays - help not do it for her - Dad grills her about whether or not they are dating.
Its up and down with the drama. Scarlett and Audrey find themselves thrown together. Scarlett however, has a girlfriend. Audrey is gutted. Audrey does have a very supportive best friend who listens and offers great advice. Audrey and Scarlett spent the bulk of the novel dealing with their feelings for each other. Thrown in with other drama, such as Audrey's family situation - they are poor and it has some limits that Audrey can't do a lot of things with friends and stuff simply because she can't afford it. Whilst sad, it did get very irritating with Audrey's constant references. She was trying to rise above it and do the best she could with what she had, but it still had an 'oh poor me' feel to it.
I just couldn't connect to Audrey as a character. She was kind of blunt and came across at some points as bitchy and controlling. She wants to be a good student so she thinks her brothers should as well as better education will help the older brother get a better job. She may be right, but isn't up to him to decide that without her going on at him? The little brother is struggling in school so she makes it her mission to help him. Admirable enough, but again, she doesn't listen to what he's trying to tell her when he doesn't get the work.
The relationship with Scarlett was fairly moving as they figured the other one out, and got to know each other better.
But then there was a side plot about a mysterious new neighbour who comes into Audrey's neighbourhood, who she tries to get to know but the neighbour is never around and becomes weird. There was another side plot about Scarlett and Audrey being in a restaurant when they over hear a loud public fight between a guy who finds out his best friend has been sleeping with his wife. Audrey meets the guy who was cheated on in a park and they form a sort of friendship and he becomes an adult outside of school and family she tends to ask for advice on stuff. Nothing untoward went on, it just seemed a little odd.
The plot with the new weird neighbour hit a stupid conclusion that was ridiculous. At least in my opinion. Overall, the whole thing was kind of meh. It was okay, and the writing certainly showed promise. I would probably read something by the author again, but this particular book didn't work for me.
Original post: sunsetxcocktail.booklikes.com/post/1281397/review-carefully-descending-everywhere
Review:
I received a copy from Edelweiss.
This book pretty much had me at two besties who binge watch old X Files reruns. As I am a massive X Files addict. And still binge-watch the series myself. The in-depth X Files references that are a huge bulk of the plot are worth five stars alone.
However, there are many other reasons for why this is one the best books I have read this year. The basic theme of the novel is there is no such thing as "normal" when you are 17/18 and just starting out in life. Its a journey of self discovery for two very different characters who in spite of being best friends and sharing a love of sci-fi stuff, realise they need to find their own paths in life.
Told in first person, first from Rory's point of view. He's the weird fat kid, lives with a difficult home life - alcoholic mom, and mom's stream of unsteady boyfriends. He's also gay and seems to be afraid to tell anyone. He's also at the start of the novel in a relationship which his much older boss, a divorced father of two who runs the small town's book shop/coffee shop. They sneak around a lot for obvious reasons. Rory's best friend is Lula, who shares his obsessive love of the X Files, they watch and talk about the episodes, their thoughts on plots, conspiracy theories and chat and stuff on the fan forums. The novel is set several years in the past, just before the second X Files movie comes out.
Rory has a delightfully snarky tone, he's enigmatic and charming (even though he doesn't seem to think so) and he's very worried about being caught with his boss, Andy. He wants more out of the relationship, but he doesn't seem to be getting it. He's afraid of telling Lula, even though she tells him everything. He also randomly starts being friendly with the school quarterback, Seth. Who convinces him with his stocky build he'd be great for the team. Which for some reason Lula seems to think is absurd. She comes off in Rory's view points as kind of judgemental.
When Lula catches him with Andy and gives him a piece of her mind for not trusting her enough with the truth, things rapidly fall apart. Lula disappears and Rory starts to fall apart without her. No one knows if she has run away or been kidnapped. But as Rory struggles to understand what happened with Lula and why she ran off and won't answer his emails or anything, he does start to realise that he can have his own life without needing to run everything by her. He learns there's plenty of stuff she has never told him either.
The second half off the novel tells the story from Lula's view point. Which I was quite pleased about. As interesting as Rory's point of view was, when the novel turned to Lula's unexpected disappearance I kept thinking it would be nice to see it from Lula's point of view, or at least get some chapters from her explaining why she did what she did.
Initially I liked Lula's brassiness, her tone of voice (sci-fi and Lord of the Rings obsessions which I totally understand) but in the second half of the novel I absolutely fell in love with her. Lula had plenty of reason it turns out, to run away. She has her own drama at home. She lives with her somewhat strict grandparents, raised by them as her mother left when she was very young and had has no idea who her father is. She has a backpack of stuff left by her mother, some books and stuff she reads over and over. All she knows about her mother is mom wanted to be an actress and left for New York. Lula seems to have no idea what she wants to do with her life. She's never dated, though she thinks she might be interested in Rory, and pretty much freaks when she catches him with Andy. Its not the fact Rory's gay, its that Andy is so much older. And he didn't trust her enough to tell her about him. At some point she thought he might like her. Her thoughts on the subject are disjointed. She does some pretty stupid things when she finds out.
All which coalesce into her running away. Lula wants to find some sort of direction in her life but has no idea how. Her struggles as she finds her answers, are deeply moving. And Lula is a much more likeable character when the story is told from her point of view and things are explained. When Lula comes home, there are massive consequences for her actions. The friendship with Rory takes an unexpected turn.
Lula is forced to deal with her mistakes. All the while still trying to figure out among other things, her sexuality. She just doesn't know. Is she straight, gay or bisexual? She finally comes to the conclusion that it doesn't matter if she doesn't know right now. She's 18, she's got her whole life ahead of her.
There are some wonderful side characters who help her figure this out. A cool teacher, her mother's husband Walter, (Lula's mom turns out to be kind of a bitch but at least there is some sort of closure there, the man she marries though was a brilliant character) and Seth the quarterback who started off being Rory's friend turns up again and turns out to be pretty awesome and nothing like the jock quarterback you wouldm expect in a YA novel.
While nothing turned out the way you would maybe expect it to, even though things between Rory and Lula have their ups and down, they always manage to reconnect over their love of the X Files. This was something that was really fun and nice to see they still had something in common.
I need a sequel set in modern day times where Lula and Rory run into each other and connect again over the new upcoming X Files revival series.
It was an emotional roller coaster with deeply fleshed out characters a brilliant storyline. I loved this one from start to finish.
Thank you to Edelweiss and Three Rooms Press for approving my request to view the title.
Original post: sunsetxcocktail.booklikes.com/post/1281388/review-weird-girl-and-what-s-his-name
I'm prepped for Halloween and my wait for the Great Pumpkin
Original post: sunsetxcocktail.booklikes.com/post/1280096/post
In spite of the fact I thought th first book in this series is one of the stupidest dystopias I gave ever read and swore blind in my review I had no interest in reading the sequel, I broke. I bought the sequel. It looks like The Jewel series is I may hate it, but I still HAVE to know what happens series.
Original post: sunsetxcocktail.booklikes.com/post/1279465/reading-progress-update-i-ve-read-7
At the end of the first month of my second round of Story Sprites challenge I have completed 8 squares.
Male MC - Ink and Bone by Rachel Caine - 5 Stars
Multiple Fantasy Creatures - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Illustrated edition) JK Rowling - 5 stars
A Classic Novel - The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson 3.5 stars
A Book with a Mountain - The Shining by Stephen King (reread) 5 stars
A Halloween Read - Daughters unto Devils by Amy Lukavics - 4 Stars
Photograph for a Cover- The Moon and More by Sarah Dessen - 4 Stars
Flames on Cover - The Secret Fire by CJ Daughtery - 5 Stars
Quiltbag Author - Fans of the Impossible Life by Kate Scelsa
Not a bad start :)
Currently Reading a bunch of books to cover more stars.
Gender Bender/Cross Dress - currently reading both Scarlet by AC Gaughen and Under a Painted Sky by Stacey Lee. Nearly finished Scarlet but I don't really like it that much whereas I like Under a Painted Sky a lot.
Set in Southern USA - Currently reading both Compulsion by Martina Boone and Miss Mayhem by Rachel Hawkins for this square.
Character Death - using The Stand by Stephen King for this one as this book has some truly epic character deaths in it. Initially this was going to be my book for Bram Stoker Award Winner it was on the Goodreads Bram Stoker Winners list but when I checked the Bram Stoker Award website it wasn't listed, so don't rely on Goodreads lists of award winners for facts!
Character is a Musician - Wildflower by Alicia Whitaker - country singer girl goes from family band to stardom story. Its very simple and the MC is one of the biggest Mary Sue's I've come across, but inspite of that its a a lot of fun and the Nashville fangirl in me is enjoying this one.
Supernatural race in Modern Times - Born at Midnight by CC Hunter - girl goes to summer camp and discovers vampires fairies and shapeshifters and a whole host of other paranormal beings are real. This one is awesome so far.
POC MC - Scarlet Undercover by Jennifer Latham - not really liking this one much so far to be honest. Finding it a little unrealistic and the plot is kinda boring.
Squares to be filled
A middle grade fantasy novel - still pondering on this one. I have a few potential candidates, either Land of Stories by Chris Colfer, The Copper Gauntlet by Cassandra Clare + Holly Black or I may just read another Harry Potter book.
Set at a Boarding School - either going to be a Vampire Academy or a House of Night Book.
Witches or Wizards - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
Bram Stoker Award Winner - American Gods by Neil Gaiman or Duma Key by Stephen King.
Ones I'm struggling to find something for are
Character centred novel - I have a bunch of YA contemporaries I could use for this one but I can't make my mind up right now.
Book with a fictional language - really stumped on this one.
So far my candidates are Heart of Betrayal (Kiss of Deception book 2) by Mary Pearson. I remember the first book in this series had fantastic world building including its own dialects and languages and hopefully this will be continued in the second book.
Other thing that comes to mind is Lord of the Rings but I tried reading this one once in a trilogy bind up version and got up to about half way through the Two Towers and got bored and that took me over a year. Don't really fancy trying it again at the moment. (I doubt watching the movies again will count)
I got about 3 books into the Game of Thrones series. I thought about picking one of them up again. (Dothraki and others)
I also thought about Throne of Glass for the Wyrdmarks (could possibly count as fictional language)
It if gets to the end of December and I haven't got anything covered for this square I will most likely just read Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets again (for Parsletongue)
Original post: sunsetxcocktail.booklikes.com/post/1278706/story-sprites-round-2-update
Review:
I received a copy from Netgalley.
I also purchased a copy when I saw it in my local bookshop (couldn't resist).
It took me a while to warm up to this one. I was sort of hoping for a romance that would eventually turn into a threesome (which I didn't get). What I did get was what turned out to be a moving story about three very different people each with their own struggles finding some comfort in each other and their friendship, until it all spiralled out into a surprisingly dark mess.
I found the method of storytelling rather unique. Three characters, a different point of view for each character, Mira in third person, Jeremy in first and Sebby in second. Sebby's point of view told along the lines of You do this and you do that was the hardest one to get used to. If the entire book had been written this way, I don't think I would have finished it.
I didn't like it much at first, I found the characters hard to get used to, the only one I had any sympathy for or liked in the slightest was Jeremy. Jeremy was a quite boy who was returning to school after a horrible bullying incident that made him miss the end of the previous semester. He's almost painfully shy and wants to get through the rest of school with as little trouble as possible. He has a very caring home life, his two Dads are very supportive and involved and really want to see him succeed and do well, which was lovely to see. He wants to start an Art club. And he meets Mira and Mira's flamboyant friend Sebby.
Mira came across to me at first as flaky and there seemed to be no real reason for why she was missing school and just came off as spoiled lay about. The more of the book I read, the more I began to feel for her as the reasons behind her attitude came to light. Her depression was serious and moving and it almost hurt to read how no one would ever really listen and take her hurting seriously. She did wind up in the hospital a few times, but even when she came back and seemed to resume something of a normal life. her parents just didn't get that the depression wasn't really gone. They want a certain standard of life for her, they don't seem to care what she wants. So Mira loses herself in thrift store shopping and designing clothes and hanging out with Sebby.
Sebby, the openly gay foster kid, was flamboyant, cocky, and a lot of fun. But of course, there's a much deeper and darker side to him that is rarely seen by anyone. He's got layers of personality, the surface ones everyone sees, and his darker struggles that cause some major problems and upset towards the balance of friendship with Mira and Jeremy towards the novel.
The novel tells the story of how Sebby and Mira came together and how they start to bring Jeremy out of his shell. There's a lot of emotions swirling back and forth as the three of them figure out where they stand and get to know each other, lots of drama as they all have their own issues, and a host of entertaining side characters that work their way into the plot as well.
Though towards the end it took a surprisingly dark twist as things particularly for Sebby began to change in a not so good way. Mira's depression gets worse and Jeremy doesn't seem to know what to do only that he can't seem to face the idea of possibly losing the two new brilliant friends he has. Jeremy was the most sensible, stable character. Some of his actions had consequences for other characters, but all done with a trying to do the right thing even though you might not like the results attitude which made the narrative all the more heart wrenching.
The conclusion seemed open ended, if bittersweet. I can't really say it was a happy ending or not. It left me a sort of sad smile and the hope that things would work out for these characters.
So I'm glad I finished the novel rather than DNFing it early on, as it turned out to be a very good read.
Thank you to Pan MacMillan for approving my request to view the title.
Original post: sunsetxcocktail.booklikes.com/post/1278162/review-fans-of-the-impossible-life
