Review: Splintered

 

Title/Author: Splintered by A.G. Howard

Publication Date/Publisher: January 1, 2013/Amulet Books

Series: Splintered #1

Source and Format: Audiobook, borrowed this book from the library

Rating: 1.5 stars

 

From Goodreads:

Alyssa Gardner hears the whispers of bugs and flowers—precisely the affliction that landed her mother in a mental hospital years before. This family curse stretches back to her ancestor Alice Liddell, the real-life inspiration for Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Alyssa might be crazy, but she manages to keep it together. For now.

When her mother’s mental health takes a turn for the worse, Alyssa learns that what she thought was fiction is based in terrifying reality. The real Wonderland is a place far darker and more twisted than Lewis Carroll ever let on. There, Alyssa must pass a series of tests, including draining an ocean of Alice’s tears, waking the slumbering tea party, and subduing a vicious bandersnatch, to fix Alice’s mistakes and save her family. She must also decide whom to trust: Jeb, her gorgeous best friend and secret crush, or the sexy but suspicious Morpheus, her guide through Wonderland, who may have dark motives of his own.

I had to bring back half stars for this one – it wasn’t the hate read I give 1 stars, but neither did it deserve 2 stars. It was just…not good.

I mean…I guess the story is okay in parts. The magic and Wonderland stuff is fine, but anything regarding the characters, dialogue, and/or love triangle did not work for me AT ALL.

The writing leaves so much to be desired. I would have guessed Splintered was self published, honestly, based on the quality of writing. Sometimes it’s the fault of the audiobook narrator, but I really don’t think that was the case here. Sure, Rebecca Gibel’s cockney accent for Morpheus is not great, but he’s also saying ridiculous things so is it really her fault?

The characters are ridiculous. Alyssa is a “skater girl” who can’t do an ollie AND a white girl with dreadlocks. Jeb is basically a walking labret piercing – with bangs AND a ponytail. He’s also super controlling of Alyssa and if for some reason I was friends with a white girl with dreads, the first thing I would tell her (after “change your hair”) is to run away from Jeb as fast as possible. Morpheus has a fedora collection. This is basically a collection of the worst “people” ever and they all deserve each other.

I obviously will not be continuing the series.

ARC Review: Rebound (Boomerang #2)

Title/Author: Rebound by Noelle August

Publication Date/Publisher: February 10, 2015/William Morrow Paperbacks

Series: Boomerang #2

Source and Format:
I received this book for free from the publisher. This in no way affected my opinion of the book, or the content of my review.

Rating: 2 stars

From Goodreads:

Adam Blackwood has it all. At twenty-two, he’s fabulously wealthy, Ryan Gosling-hot and at the top of the heap in the business world. His life is perfect, until a scandal from his past resurfaces and knocks the tech wunderkind down, throwing his company, Boomerang, a hook-up site for millennials, into chaos.

Three years ago, Adam married his high school love—and then lost her in a tragic accident. Now, the heartbreak and guilt he’s tried to bury with work and women begins to take over his life.

Alison Quick, the twenty-one-year-old daughter of a business tycoon—and the very ex-girlfriend of Boomerang’s former intern, Ethan—has a problem of her own. She’s got one chance to prove to her father that she deserves a place in his empire by grabbing control of Boomerang and taking Adam down.

But as Alison moves in on him, armed with a cadre of lawyers and accountants, she discovers there’s much more to Adam and Boomerang than meets the eye. Will earning her father’s approval come at the price of losing her first real love? It appears so, unless Adam can forgive her for wrecking his life and trying to steal his livelihood. But Alison hopes that old adage is right. Maybe love can conquer all.

I was pretty excited for Rebound, but it just didn’t live up to my expectations.

Boomerang was really cute and sexy in the forbidden love story, and Rebound is the exact same story, but at an executive level. Which ramps it up to executive level problems that could easily be solved or even avoided with some entry level communication.

Here’s the thing. Adam is 23 and Alison is 22 but really they’re 35 year olds. It’s the only thing that makes sense – you don’t just get that kind of life experience (even extreeeeemely privileged life experience) when you’re that young. Adam believes his drive and business acumen got him where he is ($$), and has probably never thought that it has anything to do with the fancy education his parents paid for and the opportunities that would present him. I couldn’t get a handle on Alison at all – she appears to still live at home and rely on Daddy to buy her horses…but I don’t remember her ever actually being at the house. She communicates with her father strictly through texts messages if they’re not in the same room or on the same yacht.

The “forbidden romance” is too forbidden and takes way to long to get going. If Alison and Adam are apart, they’re thinking about each other. If they’re together, they’re thinking about each other while flirting. JUST ACT LIKE THE 35 YEAR OLDS YOU ARE! So far in my life, I’ve never told someone to “put their tongue back in my mouth”, so I can only imagine that’s going to be a future like…like in 6 or so years when I am the same secret age as these two?

I’m probably done with this series. I imagine subsequent books will be more of this exact same story and I’ve already read it at least twice.

ARC Review: The Last Time We Say Goodbye

 

Title/Author: The Last Time We Say Goodbye by Cynthia Hand

Publication Date/Publisher: February 10, 2015/Harper Teen

Series: No

Source and Format: I received this book for free from the publisher via Edelweiss. This in no way affected my opinion of the book, or the content of my review.

Rating: 2 stars

 

From Goodreads:

There’s death all around us.
We just don’t pay attention.
Until we do.

The last time Lex was happy, it was before. When she had a family that was whole. A boyfriend she loved. Friends who didn’t look at her like she might break down at any moment.

Now she’s just the girl whose brother killed himself. And it feels like that’s all she’ll ever be.

As Lex starts to put her life back together, she tries to block out what happened the night Tyler died. But there’s a secret she hasn’t told anyone-a text Tyler sent, that could have changed everything.

Lex’s brother is gone. But Lex is about to discover that a ghost doesn’t have to be real to keep you from moving on.

 

When a book makes me cry, or even just tear up a little like The Last Time We Say Goodbye did, my heart screams FIVE STARS!! So even though I trudged my way through this one, and kind of disliked it the entire 400 pages (WHY IS THIS 400 PAGES) the last 5% made me a little emotional and started confusing me about how I felt. Also, the last 5% thing is right there in the summary which would have made me even more mad the whole time I was reading it if I knew/remembered that.

It wasn’t the teen suicide or aftermath or teen suicide that bothered me. It wasn’t even all the math that bothered me. I think it’s that The Last Time We Say Goodbye feels pointless until practically the last page. There’s a lot happening, but it doesn’t really matter – you could completely get rid of two semi-prominent characters and the book wouldn’t change, except to be blessedly shorter.

There are a lot of religious-y things happening here, and then all of a sudden reversed – a lot of Alexis/Lexie/Lex bemoaning God for doing this to her and her family and why God why – until she announces she doesn’t even believe in God and drops it. It wasn’t like there was a crisis of faith or anything that should have made her switch up like that.

And the ghost thing…Is he a ghost? Was Alexis/Lexie/Lex just imagining it? I thought this was going to be a ghostier story, but it’s really not. It’s a maybe ghost sometimes showing up (smelling of Brut) saying “hey give this letter to my ex-girlfriend” or “hey give this picture to Dad” and that’s it. And God talks to the mom on the way home from Graceland? Are you confused, and not intrigued, by these elements? Then this might not be the book for you.

ARC Review: I’ll Meet You There

 

Title/Author: I’ll Meet You There by Heather Demetrios

Publication Date/Publisher: February 3, 2015/Henry Holt & Co.

Series: No

Source and Format:
I received this book for free from the publisher via Netgalley. This in no way affected my opinion of the book, or the content of my review.

Rating: 4 stars

 

From Goodreads:

If seventeen-year-old Skylar Evans were a typical Creek View girl, her future would involve a double-wide trailer, a baby on her hip, and the graveyard shift at Taco Bell. But after graduation, the only thing standing between straightedge Skylar and art school are three minimum-wage months of summer. Skylar can taste the freedom—that is, until her mother loses her job and everything starts coming apart. Torn between her dreams and the people she loves, Skylar realizes everything she’s ever worked for is on the line.

Nineteen-year-old Josh Mitchell had a different ticket out of Creek View: the Marines. But after his leg is blown off in Afghanistan, he returns home, a shell of the cocksure boy he used to be. What brings Skylar and Josh together is working at the Paradise—a quirky motel off California’s dusty Highway 99. Despite their differences, their shared isolation turns into an unexpected friendship and soon, something deeper.

Do I even read what books are about because I WAS NOT EXPECTING THAT.

I finally read…well, finished…a book by Heather Demetrios and I am not disappointed! Exquisite Captive was a miss for me and I’ve owned Something Real for what seems like my whole life but still haven’t read it.

I really felt for Skylar and her tough life – she becomes the sole provider for her family after her mom is fired from Taco Bell and can’t find another job in their tiny town. Like, Bakersfield is their big city, is how tiny Creek View is. Bakersfield may be the 9th largest city in California, but it’s wikipedia page boasts that it has “5 multi-screen movie theaters” as if that’s an accomplishment, so.

Anyway. Skylar. She really had me feeling sorry for her until she started flip-flopping on whether or not she would take the full-ride scholarship that would get her out of her one horse town. All she’s ever wanted is to leave, but with her mom’s situation and Josh’s return, she starts thinking about giving it all up. The mom thing is understandable to a point, but it’s not like Skylar’s mom ever took care of Skylar! And why would you stay for a guy who also wants to get the hell out of dodge – he could move closer to where you are (which isn’t even THAT far away)!

Sometimes it’s frustrating to read about 18 year olds making life decisions as someone who is verrrrry close to 30. It’s so easy to see the solution from this point in my life, but I can at least kind of remember how dire and impossible everything seemed. And I know this review seems pretty complain-y for 4 stars, but I read I’ll Meet You There about a month ago and didn’t take the greatest notes (oops). Contemporary lovers and especially fans of Something Like Normal are sure to count this one among their favorites of the year.

ARC Review: Playlist for the Dead

 

Title/Author: Playlist for the Dead by Michelle Falkoff

Publication Date/Publisher: January 27, 2015/Harper Teen

Series: No

Source and Format: I received this book for free from the publisher via Edelweiss. This in no way affected my opinion of the book, or the content of my review.

Rating: 3 Stars

 

From Goodreads:

A teenage boy tries to understand his best friend’s suicide by listening to the playlist of songs he left behind in this smart, voice-driven debut novel.

Here’s what Sam knows: There was a party. There was a fight. The next morning, his best friend, Hayden, was dead. And all he left Sam was a playlist of songs, and a suicide note: For Sam—listen and you’ll understand.

As he listens to song after song, Sam tries to face up to what happened the night Hayden killed himself. But it’s only by taking out his earbuds and opening his eyes to the people around him that he will finally be able to piece together his best friend’s story. And maybe have a chance to change his own.

There’s absent parents, grieving teens, a supernatural tangent, a first love, bullying, pretty good nerdiness, glaring factual errors – everything one might need in YA. And I do mean EVERYTHING. Playlist for the Dead had soooo much crammed into one book that it wound up being only pretty good for me. I mean, you don’t need to have every character go through everything to make them fully formed.

The playlist as a whole is a mess, but some of the music is actually pretty good, or at least interesting. The songs tie in to the story well, but if you don’t look at the song at the start of the chapter the name of it might never be mentioned and that was a little confusing sometimes.

The most important lesson Sam learns is that people aren’t just one thing. It takes him a long time to realize this – that even your best friend (who you know better than anyone) might still not have shown you every side of himself. Sam is quick to judge and make assumptions about people, which is kind of annoying, but also true to the nerdiness of his character – if people only see him as a nerd or whatever, then it doesn’t matter if he makes assumptions about the characters that are gay or weird in different ways than he is.

 

The Perks of Being a Wallflower and The Spectacular Now. I’m way more familiar with Perks, and I think the music and loss is the reason for this comparison. I read The Spectacular Now in 2013 and don’t really remember much about it. Re-reading my review, I can’t draw any comparisons. There is some light teen drinking in Playlist for the Dead, but nothing close to the amount taking place in The Spectacular Now.

Audio Review: The Lightning Thief

 

Title/Author: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan (read by Jesse Bernstein)

Publication Date/Publisher: January 28, 2005/Miramax Books

Series: Percy Jackson and the Olympians #1

Source and Format: Borrowed from library – eaudiobook.

Rating: 2 stars

From Goodreads:

Twelve-year-old Percy Jackson is about to be kicked out of boarding school . . . again. No matter how hard he tries, he can’t seem to stay out of trouble. But can he really be expected to stand by and watch while a bully picks on his scrawny best friend? Or not defend himself against his pre-algebra teacher when she turns into a monster and tries to kill him? Of course, no one believes Percy about the monster incident; he’s not even sure he believes himself.
Until the Minotaur chases him to summer camp.

Suddenly, mythical creatures seem to be walking straight out of the pages of Percy’s Greek mythology textbook and into his life. The gods of Mount Olympus, he’s coming to realize, are very much alive in the twenty-first century. And worse, he’s angered a few of them: Zeus’s master lightning bolt has been stolen, and Percy is the prime suspect.

Now Percy has just ten days to find and return Zeus’s stolen property, and bring peace to a warring Mount Olympus. On a daring road trip from their summer camp in New York to the gates of the Underworld in Los Angeles, Percy and his friends-one a satyr and the other the demigod daughter of Athena-will face a host of enemies determined to stop them.

To succeed on his quest, Percy will have to do more than catch the true thief: he must come to terms with the father who abandoned him; solve the riddle of the Oracle, which warns him of failure and betrayal by a friend; and unravel a treachery more powerful than the gods themselves.

It’s hard to review older books, especially older books that are well-loved and ESPECIALLY older books that are well-loved that I didn’t also love. I can’t exactly tell what I didn’t like about The Lightning Thief. I think it read a lot younger than I expected for some reason – even though the characters are 12.

Actually, if they’re only 12 – why are they being sent on these hero missions? Shouldn’t they do some training first and do that kind of stuff later?

The story was pretty entertaining, if extremely Harry Potter-y, so I’ll keep listening – though the narrator could be better. Hopefully he picks it up in the volumes to come. I have enough interest in Greek mythology to keep going, and luckily that was the most well-done part of The Lightning Thief – even when I was thinking “this one’s the Snape” and “what a weird Dumbledore”.

ARC Review: Girl Before a Mirror

 

Title/Author: Girl Before a Mirror by Liza Palmer

Publication Date/Publisher: January 27, 2015/ William Morrow Paperbacks

Series: No

Source and Format: I received this book for free from the publisher via Edelweiss. This in no way affected my opinion of the book, or the content of my review.

Rating: 5 stars

 

From Goodreads:

An account executive in a Mad Men world, Anna Wyatt is at a crossroads. Recently divorced, she’s done a lot of emotional housecleaning, including a self-imposed dating sabbatical. But now that she’s turned forty, she’s struggling to figure out what her life needs. Brainstorming to win over an important new client, she discovers a self-help book—Be the Heroine, Find Your Hero—that offers her unexpected insights and leads her to a most unlikely place: a romance writers’ conference. If she can sign the Romance Cover Model of the Year Pageant winner for her campaign—and meet the author who has inspired her to take control of her life—she’ll win the account.

For Anna, taking control means taking chances, including getting to know Sasha, her pretty young colleague on the project, and indulging in a steamy elevator ride with Lincoln Mallory, a dashing financial consultant she meets in the hotel. When the conference ends, Anna and Lincoln must decide if their intense connection is strong enough to survive outside the romantic fantasy they’ve created. Yet Lincoln is only one of Anna’s dilemmas. Now that her campaign is off the ground, others in the office want to steal her success, and her alcoholic brother, Ferdie, is spiraling out of control.

To have the life she wants-to be happy without guilt, to be accepted for herself, to love and to be loved, to just be—she has to put herself first, accept her imperfections, embrace her passions, and finally be the heroine of her own story.

I love this book. I love Liza Palmer. I love RomanceCon.

I find Liza Palmer’s books to make me emotional in the weirdest ways. Like, who am I that I’m crying because someone won Mr. RomanceCon? In the breakroom at work. During the busiest lunch time.

I feel like I’m on my way to BEING Anna Wyatt. I have a few more years until 40, but I see the signs now. Distancing myself from everyone and the shame and self-sabotage. It’s there. It’s brewing. By 40, who knows how potent it could be. So I love that I have her and The Brubaker to help me nip it in the bud now.

The dialogue is witty and smart and the characters are terrific and I loved every reference and I so wish RomanceCon was a real thing. (I tried to google but the results are very different than what I want them to be).

ARC Review: The Sweetheart

 

Title/Author: The Sweetheart by Angelina Mirabella

Publication Date/Publisher: January 20, 2015/Simon & Schuster

Series: No

Source and Format: I received this book for free from the publisher via Edelweiss. This in no way affected my opinion of the book, or the content of my review.

Rating: 5 stars

 

From Goodreads:

It’s 1953 and seventeen-year-old Leonie Putzkammer is cartoonishly tall and curvaceous, destined to spend the rest of her life waiting tables and living with her widowed father, Franz, in their Philadelphia row house. Until the day legendary wrestling promoter Salvatore Costantini walks into the local diner and offers her the chance of a lifetime.

Leonie sets off for Florida to train at Joe Pospisil’s School for Lady Grappling. There, she transforms into Gorgeous Gwen Davies, tag-team partner of legendary Screaming Mimi Hollander, and begins a romance with the soon-to-be Junior Heavyweight Champion Spider McGee. But when life as Gorgeous Gwen leaves her wanting, she orchestrates a move that will catapult her from heel to hero: she becomes The Sweetheart, a choice that attracts the fans she desires but complicates all of her relationships with Franz, Joe, Spider, Mimi (who becomes her fiercest competitor), and even with herself.

WOW. And I mean WOW like HOLY MOLY and also like WOMEN OF WRESTLING, something I was very into during it’s initial run in 2000-2001. It was on on like Sunday afternoons and it was amazing. According to it’s wikipedia page, it’s made a comeback in recent years!

Anyway. My love for tough broads and full skirts was fully realized in The Sweetheart. I love the story and the setting and the characters, but there is so much action! I was hoping for a more in depth look into the research and what was based on real events in the acknowledgements, but I am definitely signing on to be one of Gwen Davies’ Gorgeous Girls.

It’s hard to remember that Gwen was a young girl the entire time – all the training and traveling really made it seem like there was a lot of time going by – really, she was only like 19 by the end of it. Imagine, at 17 and in 1953 (!!), leaving your father and responsibilities behind to become a female wrestler. Gwen makes some not great career and life choices, but she never seems childish about it – possibly because the story is being told by an older acquaintance trying to hunt Gwen Davies down to have her come to an awards gala.

This other nameless woman decides she needs to retrace her steps and might as well start at the beginning – and thus we have The Sweetheart. It’s a bit of a sly move and makes the hints about where Gorgeous Gwen Davies is a little confusing.

“This, sweet girl, is what happens when you ignore your feelings. They didn’t disappear; they were only tucked away, compounding interest.”

ARC Review: When

 

Title/Author: When by Victoria Laurie

Publication Date/Publisher: January 13, 2015/Disney-Hyperion

Series: No

Source and Format: I received this book for free from the publisher via Netgalley. This in no way affected my opinion of the book, or the content of my review.

Rating: 2 stars

From Goodreads:

Maddie Fynn is a shy high school junior, cursed with an eerie intuitive ability: she sees a series of unique digits hovering above the foreheads of each person she encounters. Her earliest memories are marked by these numbers, but it takes her father’s premature death for Maddie and her family to realize that these mysterious digits are actually death dates, and just like birthdays, everyone has one.

Forced by her alcoholic mother to use her ability to make extra money, Maddie identifies the quickly approaching death date of one client’s young son, but because her ability only allows her to see the when and not the how, she’s unable to offer any more insight. When the boy goes missing on that exact date, law enforcement turns to Maddie.

Soon, Maddie is entangled in a homicide investigation, and more young people disappear and are later found murdered. A suspect for the investigation, a target for the murderer, and attracting the attentions of a mysterious young admirer who may be connected to it all, Maddie’s whole existence is about to be turned upside down. Can she right things before it’s too late?

 

An interesting concept that completely misses the mark in execution.

I may have to go back to partial stars in 2015, because When does not deserve two full stars, but it wasn’t the hate read that I reserve 1 star for, either. When is just so over the top unbelievable that Maddie being about to see everyone’s death date on their forehead is the most normal part.

The weirdest issue I have with When is the wonky dialogue that reads like it’s straight out of amateur erotica: that overly stiff, formal talk that 50 year old men write for purring co-eds BUT mixed with that golly gee-willickers wholesomeness that is not exactly the norm for teens today. I feel like When should be targeted for a younger audience (there is no actual content that makes it read like amateur erotica, there’s barely even a love interest).

I didn’t like how quickly and nicely everything was wrapped up. At the climax of the story, almost everyone has a complete personality change and then every single problem everyone has ever had is solved and there’s a ghost dad and…it’s all just a little too neatly done for me.

ARC Review: Alex as Well

Title/Author: Alex as Well by Alyssa Brugman

Publication Date/Publisher: January 20, 2015/ Henry Holt & Co (BYR)

Series: No

Source and Format: I received this book for free from the publisher via Netgalley. This in no way affected my opinion of the book, or the content of my review.

Rating: 3 stars

 

From Goodreads:

Alex is ready for things to change, in a big way. Everyone seems to think she’s a boy, but for Alex the whole boy/girl thing isn’t as simple as either/or, and when she decides girl is closer to the truth, no one knows how to react, least of all her parents. Undeterred, Alex begins to create a new identity for herself: ditching one school, enrolling in another, and throwing out most of her clothes. But the other Alex—the boy Alex—has a lot to say about that.　Heartbreaking and droll in equal measures, Alex As Well is a brilliantly told story of exploring gender and sexuality, navigating friendships, and finding a place to belong.

Alex as Well started out very strong for me, and kind of lost steam a bit along the way. It was still a good, compelling, and IMPORTANT read – but I wish it had focused more on Alex’s self-discovery than her fights with her mom.

The mom fights were interesting, because after the fights there’s a short chapter that’s from the mom’s mommy-blog about how she deals with Alex – including comments. The comments were my favorite part, because they are so spot on: the fangirl enabler, the all about me derailer, and the actual sane person everyone jumps on for not agreeing with everything the blogger writes.

I love that Alex as Well brings an intersex teen to the YA table. I can’t speak to the accuracy of all the details, but I mostly feel like it was well done and it’s going to be invaluable in the right person’s hands.