Where She Went by Gayle Forman (If I Stay #2) ★★★★★ It's been three years since Mia walked out of Adam's life. And three years he's spent wondering why. When their paths cross again in New York City, Adam and Mia are brought back together for one life-changing night. Adam finally has the opportunity to ask Mia the questions that have been haunting him. But will a few hours in this magical city be enough to lay their past to rest, for good - or can you really have a second chance at first love? I wouldn't have thought a book about a rock star with a broken heart would affect me almost as much as a book about a girl whose entire family dies in a car crash. And yet, that's what I'm going to tell you about Where She Went. Although If I Stay is more tragic in the literal sense of the word, Where She Went is just as heartbreaking. Normally, Adam's lovesick, can't-let-go type of character would get on my nerves, but not this time. Although I occasionally wanted to tell him to snap out of it, I also understood why he couldn't. Forman managed to capture human emotion more than anything else in this book. I was happy to see that music remained central to the plot, but that not everything was described in terms of music. In If I Stay, the overload of musical metaphors had almost taken away from the book, but Where She Went had a better balance. I also loved the lyrics from Adam's songs before every chapter, which were as heartbreaking as everything else. Forman did an amazing job with Adam's character. I was surprised to find myself relating to him so much, having never been through such heartbreak myself. I expected him to seem overly dramatic and pathetic, but the opposite was true; Forman's prose relayed the realness of all of Adam's emotions. The best part of his character was his depth; he wasn't just lovesick, he was living a life he didn't fully want or control. It's very rare that I care about the outcome of a romance novel so much. The ending of Where She Went gets a little too fairy tale, happily-ever-after, but I'm perfectly content with it. I'd hate to discredit a well-written happy ending, and Forman really did well with it. Although the ending was kind of predictable, it felt like the perfect conclusion to Mia and Adam's stories. I highly recommend this series, especially to romance fans. Where She Went was an incredibly satisfying read and has left me eager to read more of Forman's novels.
0 Comments
How to Love by Katie Cotugno ★★★★☆ Before: Reena Montero has loved Sawyer LeGrande for as long as she can remember: as natural as breathing, as endless as time. But he's never seemed to notice that Reena even exists until one day, impossibly, he does. Reena and Sawyer fall in messy, complicated love. But then Sawyer disappears from their humid Florida town without a word, leaving a devastated - and pregnant - Reena behind. After: Almost three years have passed, and there's a new love in Reena's life: her daughter, Hannah. Reena's gotten used to being without Sawyer, and she's finally getting the hang of this strange, unexpected life. But just as swiftly and suddenly as he disappeared, Sawyer turns up again. Reena doesn't want anything to do with him, though she'd be lying if she said Sawyer's being back wasn't stirring something in her. After everything that's happened, can Reena really let herself love Sawyer LeGrande again? I started How to Love expecting an episode of MTV's Teen Mom in novel form. I was pleasantly surprised to find it wasn't like that at all. Cotugno tackled the topic of teen pregnancy and motherhood with grace and good storytelling - but the love story just didn't work for me. If you find Sawyer LeGrande charming or pitiful, you probably loved the romance. I concede that it was very well written, but I wasn't charmed by Sawyer. I was hoping Reena would shut the door in his face; even if he'd changed, he was a pretty bad boyfriend before he disappeared. So of course I was disappointed by the absolutely predictable ending. Even now, I haven't totally decided how I feel about Sawyer. Saying the love story fell flat but I still loved the book sounds kind of strange when the book's called How to Love. It's one of the main reasons I liked this book so much, though; the love story is central, but the story is about so much more. How to Love is a book about love, obviously, but also about grief, second chances, and family. The tensions between Reena and her family, the ways she had to adapt to her new life, that's where How to Love found its magic. I adored the relationships between all the characters, I'm just a little disappointed with how some of them turned out. How to Love is an excellent read. I personally didn't find Sawyer all that alluring, and the ending disappointed me, but it's sure to delight others. Even with a romance that didn't quite do it for me, this layered, thoughtful, and well-written book earns four stars. Entwined by Heather Dixon ★★★★☆ Just when Azalea should feel that everything is before her — beautiful gowns, dashing suitors, balls filled with dancing — it's taken away. All of it. And Azalea is trapped. The Keeper understands. He's trapped, too, held for centuries within the walls of the palace. So he extends an invitation. Every night, Azalea and her eleven sisters may step through the enchanted passage in their room to dance in his silver forest, but there is a cost. The Keeper likes to keep things. Azalea may not realize how tangled she is in his web until it is too late. In her reimagining of the Grimm Brothers' The Twelve Dancing Princesses, Dixon introduces a world of magic and romance haunted by evil and loss. The setting, a decrepit old castle with magic - both good and bad - lingering about, is vividly imagined, as is the silver garden tucked away beneath the castle. As the girls dance each night, Keeper sets a centuries-old plan in motion. As a villain, he was delightfully creepy, and I would have liked to see more of him. A good portion of the book occurs away from Keeper, in the girls' daily lives, where they are dealing with their mother's death and struggling to relate to their father. The added subplot of the relationship between the King and his daughters was interesting and sweet, and I was glad it was such a big part of the plot. While protecting her sisters from Keeper and mending her bond with her father, Azalea is also looking for a husband and future king. The romance of the book was very well done. It was about as far from instalove as possible, and it was refreshing to see an author take so much time to develop a relationship. Although Azalea has many suitors, the romance also stays triangle-free and a side note to the main plot. The slow build of the story allowed for more suspense and the amount of subplot the book had, but it's also the reason I didn't rate Entwined higher. The plot dragged just a little too much in some places, while in others it rushed on. If it weren't for Dixon's array of characters, I might have been bored to tears. Luckily, the twelve princesses and various other characters were lively enough to keep me interested. Each of them was fully formed and entertaining. Azalea was complex but relatable, and I liked her a lot as a heroine. Entwine is a masterfully developed story, and if you're willing to take your time with it, is a rewarding read. Fairy-tale lovers will delight in Dixon's beautifully crafted prose. Attachments by Rainbow Rowell ★★★★☆ Beth Fremont and Jennifer Scribner-Snyder know that somebody is monitoring their work e-mail. (Everybody in the newsroom knows. It’s company policy.) But they can’t quite bring themselves to take it seriously. They go on sending each other endless and endlessly hilarious e-mails, discussing every aspect of their personal lives. Meanwhile, Lincoln O’Neill can’t believe this is his job now- reading other people’s e-mail. When he applied to be “internet security officer,” he pictured himself building firewalls and crushing hackers- not writing up a report every time a sports reporter forwards a dirty joke. When Lincoln comes across Beth’s and Jennifer’s messages, he knows he should turn them in. But he can’t help being entertained-and captivated-by their stories. By the time Lincoln realizes he’s falling for Beth, it’s way too late to introduce himself. What would he say … ? Warning! Do not read this book unless you are prepared for heavy doses of adorableness! Attachments is realistic fiction at its finest. Rowell is the master of witty banter, complicated characters, and turning the ordinary into a captivating narrative. She manages to juggle subplots without turning it into a soap opera, and keeping her pacing perfect. The book was a little bit predictable, but I didn’t mind in this instance. A few scenes read like fanfiction (which isn’t necessarily a bad thing), but the rest was literary bliss for a hopeless romantic. City of Glass by Cassandra Clare ★★★★☆ To save her mother’s life, Clary must travel to the City of Glass, the ancestral home of the Shadowhunters - never mind that entering the city without permission is against the Law, and breaking the Law could mean death. To make things worse, she learns that Jace does not want her there, and Simon has been thrown in prison by the Shadowhunters, who are deeply suspicious of a vampire who can withstand sunlight. As Clary uncovers more about her family’s past, she finds an ally in mysterious Shadowhunter Sebastian. With Valentine mustering the full force of his power to destroy all Shadowhunters forever, their only chance to defeat him is to fight alongside the Downworlders. Cassandra Clare has done it again: City of Glass is a near-knockout. Rife with tension and suspense, it kept me interested to the last page. I’m a little disappointed, however, that there weren’t as many good plot twists. I actually felt like a lot of the book was really predictable. I still enjoyed the book thoroughly, and it did keep me flipping pages. I was especially happy that the Downworlders were given a larger part in the story. I was thrilled that we got to see Alicante, and the inner workings of the Clave. I’m still at a loss as to why no one but the villain seems interested in reforming what’s obviously a corrupt and near-useless political institution, but I was glad to learn a little more about Shadowhunter culture. The biggest problem I had with City of Glass is that a good chunk of the book isn’t really moving the plot forward; it’s deep, heartfelt conversations between Jace and Clary that we’ve already heard a hundred times. I’ll admit, a few of them had me melting, but there were far more than needed and it got to the point that I almost didn’t want to read them. The romantic aspect of the book was also exactly what I expected it to be and tied up in perfect little bows, which was half awesome and half infuriating. In that respect, Clare’s writing reads a little like fanfiction. City of Glass was still a pretty good read, and Clare managed to make the city of Alicante feel as real as New York. I do plan on reading the next book in the series, although City of Glass wraps things up rather nicely. The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin ★★★★☆ Seventeen-year-old Mara cannot remember the accident that took the lives of three of her friends but left her unscathed. After moving from Rhode Island to Florida, finding love, and more deaths, she realizes uncovering something buried in her memory might save her family and her future. I rather liked Mara Dyer. It drew me in right away, and I lost track of time a bit reading it. I can’t really judge Hodkin on how well she portrayed PTSD, but it did add some suspense and intrigue to the novel. That was one thing I really liked, the intrigue. I did not like the romance aspect. It was completely predictable, and while it started off kind of cute, it didn’t stay that way. Later in the book in became the focus, even though there were much bigger things going on. There was definitely chemistry between Mara and her love interest, but at times he seemed really possessive of her, calling her “his girl” before they’d even started dating, followed by “you’re mine”. To Mara’s credit, she doesn’t just take his douchey comments; if she had I probably wouldn’t thrown the book out the window. There were a few little subplots that went nowhere and frustrated me to no end. If they did end up going somewhere, it was chapters later and forgotten about in the meantime; the romance was really the constant. Even Mara’s PTSD seemed to fade into the background, which made no sense at all. Besides the throwaway plots, there were a handful of throwaway characters to match, not to mention the passage of time was a little weird (which may have been to add to Mara, the narrator’s, paranoid, PTSD feelings, but just made me feel discombobulated). So this book wasn’t a favorite, but I’d definitely recommend it to a few of my friends. It kept me interested the whole time and even sent a few chills up my spine; Hodkin did a great job of introducing her more paranormal plot aspects. I was happy with the dark, twisted parts of the plot, which was eerie and paranoid and altogether well-executed. If it hadn’t been so romance-centric, The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer would have been an absolutely amazing book. The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith ★★★☆☆ Today should be one of the worst days of seventeen-year-old Hadley Sullivan’s life. Having missed her flight, she’s stuck at JFK airport and late to her father’s second wedding, which is taking place in London and involves a soon-to-be stepmother Hadley’s never even met. Then she meets the perfect boy in the airport’s cramped waiting area. His name is Oliver, he’s British, and he’s sitting in her row. A long night on the plane passes in the blink of an eye, and Hadley and Oliver lose track of each other in the airport chaos upon arrival. Can fate intervene to bring them together once more? I really liked this book, but it didn’t blow me away. It was sweet, charming, and heartwarming, but it’s probably not a book I’ll be gushing about for weeks. Smith’s writing style is perfect for love stories, and Hadley’s story was told extremely well, but Hadley was really the only well-rounded character in the book. I didn’t really get the vibe that Hadley and Oliver were in love, and if the book summary hadn’t told me so, I probably wouldn’t have thought they were. Still, it was a good book. The banter between Hadley and Oliver was entertaining and adorable. This was a really cute story and an easy read that any lover of romance would devour. Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell ★★★★★ Cath is a Simon Snow fan. Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan … But for Cath, being a fan is her life — and she’s really good at it. She and her twin sister, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series when they were just kids; it’s what got them through their mother leaving. Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fan fiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere. Cath’s sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can’t let go. She doesn’t want to. Now that they’re going to college, Wren has told Cath she doesn’t want to be roommates. Cath is on her own, completely outside of her comfort zone. She’s got a surly roommate with a charming, always-around boyfriend, a fiction-writing professor who thinks fan fiction is the end of the civilized world, a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words … And she can’t stop worrying about her dad, who’s loving and fragile and has never really been alone. For Cath, the question is: Can she do this? Can she make it without Wren holding her hand? Is she ready to start living her own life? Writing her own stories? And does she even want to move on if it means leaving Simon Snow behind? As a bibliophile and huge fangirl myself, this book means a lot to me. Rowell’s capacity for creating characters that live and breathe never ceases to amaze me. I relate to Cath like crazy, and I’m sure that dozens of other fangirls will, too. I was a little worried that Rowell’s depiction of fans - and fanfic writers - would veer too close to the offensive, ill-informed opinions that a lot of people have of it, but it didn’t. She managed to convey Cath’s love for the Simon Snow series and fic without insulting fangirls, and while still having her non-fan characters think it’s weird. Because let’s face it: people think it’s weird. I’m just impossibly happy Rowell doesn’t. The subplots in this book are fantastic. Every single character has a story of their own, but they don’t blot out Cath’s, and it’s awesome. To be honest, this book is a lot less exciting plot-wise than most of the things I read. No apocalypse, no villain, just plain realistic fiction - and Rowell pulls it off beautifully. I’m totally in love with the way she melds Simon’s story (both “canon” and fic) into Cath’s with subtle, well-written parallels. It’s a beautiful thing. If you’re looking for a book with the right balance of romance and plot, this is the book for you. City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare (The Mortal Instruments #2) ★★★★☆ Clary Fray just wishes that her life would go back to normal. But what’s normal when you’re a demon-slaying Shadowhunter, your mother is in a magically induced coma, and you can suddenly see Downworlders like werewolves, vampires, and faeries? But the Shadowhunting world isn’t ready to let her go — especially her handsome, infuriating, newfound brother, Jace. And Clary’s only chance to help her mother is to track down rogue Shadowhunter Valentine, who is probably insane, certainly evil — and also her father. When the second of the Mortal Instruments, the Soul-Sword, is stolen, the terrifying Inquisitor arrives to investigate and zooms right in on Jace. How can Clary stop Valentine if Jace is willing to betray everything he believes in to help their father? I love this series. Clare’s books are so jam-packed with amazing characters. I love Valentine’s character - I mean, I hate him, and would happily hit him over the head with a two by four, but he’s incredibly well written and devious. Clare did a great job portraying the relationship between Valentine and Jace, and between Jace and the Lightwoods. I’m not such a big fan of the relationship between Clary and Simon - bouncing back and forth from boyfriend/girlfriend to just friends. It’s already obvious that Clary and Simon care about each other a lot, and I don’t like the idea of them being on-again off-again. Props to Clare for making me so conflicted about Jace and Clary though. I can’t wait to read the third book in the series. I didn’t like this book as much as I liked City of Bones, but it still managed to totally stomp on my heart, which seems to be Clare’s real talent. The Luxe by Anna Godbersen ★★★★☆ Pretty girls in pretty dresses, partying until dawn. Irresistible boys with mischievous smiles and dangerous intentions. White lies, dark secrets, and scandalous hookups. This is Manhattan, 1899. Beautiful sisters Elizabeth and Diana Holland rule Manhattan’s social scene. Or so it appears. When the girls discover their status among New York City’s elite is far from secure, suddenly everyone—from the backstabbing socialite Penelope Hayes, to the debonair bachelor Henry Schoonmaker, to the spiteful maid Lina Broud—threatens Elizabeth’s and Diana’s golden future. With the fate of the Hollands resting on her shoulders, Elizabeth must choose between family duty and true love. The Luxe is a lush, romantic story rife with scandal and betrayal. The pages are filled with vivid details, from the mansions to the gowns. I loved that it brought the era to life accurately and interestingly, but it sometimes seemed too much. In scenes like Penelope’s party, it fit with the over-the-top atmosphere of the party. Other times, it was more dead weight. The love triangles in The Luxe are knotted up and confusing - more like love octagons, actually. This is where the main conflict of the book is, so it was important that they exist, but it seemed like almost every character in the book was involved in one. Even so, The Luxe was a beautifully detailed and well-written story. Lovers of romance, scandal, and the Victorian age will be delighted. |
Once Upon a Time...As a longtime lover of stories and a believer in the power and magic of books, I've spent my life seeking out the best reads. This blog is dedicated to reviewing the books I read - good, bad, or magnificent - to help other readers find their next favorite books. Currently ReadingKing Zeno
Archives
May 2018
|