ARC: 'Shattered Blue' by Lauren Bird Horowitz

Book details

Genre: YA Fantasy
Series: The Light Trilogy, #1

Publisher: Skyskape

ISBN: 9781503949973

Release Date: 15 September 2015

Synopsis

For Noa and Callum, being together is dangerous, even deadly. From the start, sixteen-year-old Noa senses that the mysterious transfer student to her Monterey boarding school is different. Callum unnerves and intrigues her, and even as she struggles through family tragedy, she’s irresistibly drawn to him. Soon they are bound by his deepest secret: Callum is Fae, banished from another world after a loss hauntingly similar to her own.

But in Noa’s world, Callum needs a special human energy, Light, to survive; his body steals it through touch—or a kiss. And Callum’s not the only Fae on the hunt. When Callum is taken, Noa must decide: Will she sacrifice everything to save him? Even if it means learning their love may not be what she thought?

[From Goodreads]

Review

I received an advance reading copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This has in no way influenced my opinion on the novel or its author.

The first few pages of this book were like finding the rabbit hole that leads to Wonderland – tremendously exciting. I was so blinded by anticipation of what I might find at the end that I didn’t stop to check that my expectations were realistic. I dove straight in.

Then, just like falling through the White Rabbit’s massive dark hole, it began a downwards spiral. Not in a good way. The fall was long and boring – until big things, like chairs and tables, started randomly springing up and knocking the wind out of me as I tumbled through the air with nothing to cling to. And suddenly – BAM – I hit the bottom of the rabbit hole.

But I realised it wasn't Wonderland. Instead, I was sitting in a dark cave with piles of broken climaxes and snapped plot twists lying all over the place. And there was a funny smell in the air. Like rot and instalove.

I can understand why so many people love this novel as much as they do. Horowitz is a lovely writer, and her talent for world-building is exceptional – I really enjoyed the way she painted a vision of Aurora, the Fae world, without ever actually having her characters take the reader there. The way she developed Colour Fae and Clear Fae was intriguing, and such a creative twist on the faery legend. I was also mesmerized for the whole of Part One, drinking in Noa’s beautiful poetry and wanting to linger in her mind forever.

But when Callum entered the scene, things seemed to fall apart.

The first issue I had was that Noa seemed to fall in love with Callum mere seconds after meeting him. They literally had that horrid clichéd moment where their eyes meet and they fall into some love-trance. Not only that, but as soon as Noa enters Callum’s presence, she immediately becomes a damsel in distress. For somebody who showed such potential as a strong, fierce superhero at the beginning of her story, she really let me down.

This wouldn’t have put me off so much, except that things only got worse as the story progressed. Significantly less plotting seemed to go into the second half of the book, and then suddenly the author tore up her entire story at the end as if even she didn’t like the explanations she’d come up with in the middle. Everything was hastily torn apart and thrown back together in a single, clumsy final chapter, only to be destroyed once again in the epilogue. I had to read the last two chapters three times before anything made sense.

I would recommend giving Shattered Blue a chance, because there really are some charming aspects to it. But if you get itchy in the presence of love triangles, shaky plot twists, instalove and weak heroines, beware. 

Rating: 3/5

Recommended to: Readers of Wings by Aprilynne Pike, and lovers of badass fairies.

The Last Word

Spoiler Alert.

I don’t hate love triangles. After reading The Infernal Devices by Cassandra Clare, I’ve made my peace with them, because sometimes it can actually add to the overall feeling of tension and excitement in a novel.

But love triangles between brothers?

That is so not okay. Firstly, if you picked the older one first but later decide you have feelings for the younger one, tough luck. I don’t care how desperately in love you are with both of them – you stick by the older one and don't even touch the younger brother, because you will cause some massive family feud (especially if there are already some massive unsolved issues regarding unrequited love in that family), which could potentially result in the end of your world, if you’re Noa.

I don’t even want to know who she’s going to end up with. I can’t deal with that amount of stress in my life right now.

‘Under Different Stars’ by Amy A. Bartol

Book details

Genre: YA Fiction/Fantasy

Format: Audible book

Producer: Brilliance Audio

View on Goodreads.

Synopsis

 Kricket Hollowell is normally not one to wish upon stars; she believes they’re rarely in her favor. Well versed at dodging caseworkers from Chicago’s foster care system, the past few years on her own have made Kricket an expert at the art of survival and blending in. With her 18th birthday fast approaching, she dreams of the day when she can stop running and find what her heart needs most: a home. 

Trey Allairis hates Earth and doubts that anyone from his world can thrive here. What he’s learning of Kricket and her existence away from her true home only confirms his theory. But, when he and Kricket lie together under the stars of Ethar, counting them all may be easier than letting her go. 

Kyon Ensin’s secrets number the stars; he knows more about Kricket's gifts than anyone and plans to possess her because of them. He also knows she’s more valuable than any fire in the night sky. He’ll move the heavens and align them all in order to make her his own. 

When everything in their world can be broken, will Kricket rely upon love to save her under different stars?

Review

When I first downloaded Under Different Stars, it was with the intention of having something barely entertaining to do on the long drive down to the beach. Basically, I wanted a book that would keep my mind off the horribly gross eight-hour car trip, and maybe have the added bonus of putting me to sleep.

Was I entertained? Definitely. Did I go to sleep at all in the 9 hours it took to finish the book? Maybe once.

I can’t really figure out why I enjoyed Bartol’s novel. Maybe it was because it exceeded my pretty limited expectations? Maybe because the storyline at its core was cute and original? Or maybe (probably) because it involved three of my favourite things: a strong protagonist, super hot unearthly beings and new insults that other non-readers won’t understand.

The characters and storyline in Under Different Stars are definitely among its most appealing qualities. Although I sometimes found Kricket mildly annoying, I did admire her as a protagonist: she’s intellectual, independent and turns out to be invaluable to her male counterparts. A part of me did reason that the writer shouldn’t have felt the need to make her stunningly attractive to every single male character in the novel on top of all her other qualities (making her pretty much perfect), but that’s probably just me being argumentative. It also turned out that her beauty played a rather large role in the storyline towards the end of the novel (think Helen of Troy on steroids).

Oh, and of course there’s Trey – the brooding, calculating hero who could easily join the ranks of Jace, Damon and Patch. They should actually form a club or something where they discuss weaponry and complain about how difficult it is to admit their love for stunningly attractive, infuriatingly stubborn heroines. On second thought, that might not be such a good idea due to the fact that Damon and Trey, both among the buff unearthly type with dark hair, call their love interests “Kitten”. Cringe.

In any case, Bartol’s delicate writing style and good plotting helped me to overlook some of her more clichéd and predictable moments. The story itself is lovely – lighthearted at some points, but involving the perfect touches of drama, action, romance and tension to make up a relatively good YA novel.

Rating: 3 stars

Recommended to: Fans of JLA’s The Lux series.

The Last Word

I just have to mention the romantic aspect of Under Different Stars in this section, because although it didn’t make me dislike the story significantly, I’m noticing the same issue pop up in several other YA stories.

To both authors and readers of YA: a hero does not have to be buff and tall in order for him to be attractive. A heroine does not have to look like a Barbie in order for her to be beautiful. Also, funnily enough, sullenness, grumpiness, gruffness and even outright rudeness shouldn’t be surefire signs that a guy’s madly in love with you. If anything, they should be warning signs that you shouldn’t enter a relationship with somebody whose emotional state makes you feel uneasy.

'Looking for Alaska' by John Green

Book details

Genre: YA fiction

Publisher: Harper Collins

ISBN: 9780007424832

View on Goodreads.

Synopsis

“In the dark beside me, she smelled of sweat and sunshine and vanilla, and on that thin-mooned night I could see little more than her silhouette, but even in the dark, I could see her eyes – fierce emeralds. And not just beautiful, but hot too.”

Alaska Young. Gorgeous, clever, funny, sexy, screwed up – and utterly fascinating. Miles Halter could not be more in love with her. But when tragedy strikes, Miles discovers the value and the pain of living and loving unconditionally.

Nothing will ever be the same.

Review

I found this novel problematic, and it took me a while to figure it out, but I think I’ve finally got it. I just didn’t have that magical FWUSH moment when my mind was suddenly just overcome by the story and I was trapped in Miles’s world. I felt detached the whole time, and that was due to the part of me that just kept repeating, “Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope,” because there were so many things that I just couldn’t look past in favor of enjoying the storyline.

And forgive me for this, because after reading a couple of other reviews, it seems like the majority of people loved it. So maybe it is just me, but I really feel that I need to draw attention to a few major issues.

Okay, so let me just get out there and say that, to me, it felt like John Green had made up a list of all the things he needed in order to write a bestselling novel, and then systematically checked off the necessities. Nerdy protagonist with an endearing habit? Check. Stunningly beautiful, yet horribly damaged, tragic heroine? Check. Arrogant and amusing sidekick? Check. Alcohol abuse? Check. Plot twist regarding said heroine’s tragic mishap? Check. Obviously he wouldn’t do that intentionally (I hope), but there seemed to be significantly less thought given to the way in which the story unfolded, the life decisions his characters made, or what he was ultimately encouraging his teen readers to do.

Like, hey, you wanna be the real life equivalent of Alaska? (Although, WHY?) Sure, you’re smart and conventionally pretty, but you’ll need a dangerous drinking habit and dark mood swings if you wanna attract innocent, yet also attractive, nerds like Miles.

Speaking of Alaska – I hated her so much that I often felt the need to rip up the book and burn it just so that her toxic presence couldn’t seep out of the pages. She was far too perfect – and by that I mean that John Green had tried to make her as attractive and inoffensive as possible whilst simultaneously creating a female that all teenage boys could feature in their sexual fantasies. You only have to look at the blurb and a couple of quotes: not only is she extremely intelligent (“I may die young,” she said, “but at least I’ll die smart.”) and a feminist (“DO NOT OBJECTIFY WOMEN’S BODIES!” Alaska shouted) and an avid reader (“I’m going to read them all.”), but she’s also “petite (but, God, curvy)”  and consequently “the hottest girl in all of human history.” And then of course there’s the mandatory emotional damage, excessive drinking and smoking habits, and “unpredictability” – her fatal flaws that make her all the more endearing to Miles.

See? On the surface, Alaska is the girl that every boy wants. Her emotional instability is supposed to give her depth, but it just makes her simultaneously pitiful and hopelessly dislikeable. She consistently emotionally blackmails all of her friends into ruining their lives for her mere entertainment, and they continue to follow her like lost puppies in the aftermath of her predictable tragedy.

Ultimately, Green’s highly acclaimed novel is pretty damn ordinary. A decent storyline is buried right at the core if you can overlook all the problematic elements that build up to a horribly dissatisfactory ending in which nothing is resolved at all. Arguably, it had its moments, and was witty and cute at the times I didn’t catch myself cringing. So I’ll be fair in my rating and give it a solid “it didn’t suck that much” three stars.

Rating: 3/5

Recommended to: People who can shut off the little voices in their heads that whine about ethics and stereotypes.

The Last Word

I read Paper Towns before I read Looking for Alaska, but throughout the latter I couldn’t shake the feeling that something felt eerily familiar. Then it hit me. Margo Roth Spiegelman and Quentin Jacobsen are the oil paintings based on the carbon sketches of Alaska Young and Miles Halter. Even their stories are vaguely similar: geeky teenage boy chases after unattainable, unpredictable, hopelessly hot teenage girl until she finally kisses him. Once. And then that’s it for them. (Well, to be fair in Paper Towns the kiss signals the end of their story, and in Looking for Alaska… um… no spoilers.)

Also check this out:

“That didn’t happen, of course. Things never happened the way I imagined them.” – Looking for Alaska

“Nothing ever happens like you imagine it will.” – Paper Towns

It’s like John Green liked the idea so much that it stuck in his head from 2006 until he wrote Paper Towns. That’s pretty cool. Consider it labeled as a mere coincidence (even though I kinda want to use it as proof that he based Paper Towns off the same ideals, characters and basic plot as Looking for Alaska, but that would be a bit too judgmental).

{blog.nathanbransford.com}

'The Rosie Project' by Graeme Simsion

Date finished: 27 March 2015

Series: Don Tillman, no. 1

Rating: 3/5

Goodreads.

I’ve delayed reviewing The Rosie Project a bit because, every time I think about it I have a different overwhelming emotion. Despite my having enjoyed the book, by the end I felt uncomfortable and eager to turn the last few pages to get it over with. A couple of hours after I finished reading through the final pages of Don’s (really anticlimactic) Wife Project questionnaire that was included as a sort of appendix, I had an overwhelming desire to read the next book in the series. But then some little voice in my head jumped out and screamed, “Why? Whywhywhy?!” and I honestly couldn’t give a valid answer.

So I’ve finally come to terms with my feelings. Yes, I really enjoyed reading The Rosie Project. It was humorous and ridiculous and easy to read at most times. But I couldn’t get past a few things that kept jumping out of the pages and sitting in my ears to whine at high pitches until I closed the book and did something to forget about them. And even then they’d find a way into my brain and hop around until I acknowledged them, before they burst into flames and gave me a bit of a headache.

Don Tillman is smart and funny and attractive and he can’t help his feelings for a woman with whom he is totally incompatible, Rosie. And Rosie is artsy and beautiful and impulsive. They’re the perfect match, especially since Don is a geneticist and he’s intent on helping Rosie find her real father through DNA testing that sends them on a journey across the world.

It’s cute. Really, it is. Geneticist who’s totally unaware of the application of Coulomb’s Law in terms of human attraction falls for his polar opposite. But it’s unoriginal, and as much as Simsion tries to write Don’s story in a fresh and humorous way, it’s difficult to shake the underlying feeling that you know exactly what’s going to happen before you’re even twenty pages into the book.

Additionally, Don’s narrative voice sounded distinctly familiar right from the opening sentence, and it didn’t take very long to uncover the character of Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory hiding right below the surface. Maybe Sheldon finally succeeded in cloning himself – we’ll never know. Quite simply, Don is a typical nerd who is not a typical nerd. He’s undoubtedly attractive and horribly smart, but it stunned me that even after doing extensive research on autism, he didn’t pick up on the fact that he himself is obviously autistic on some or other level. Honestly, this little detail goes against Don’s entire analytical and critical personality, and once you begin to question it, his character starts falling apart.

I’ve dwelled quite a bit on the negatives (and there’s still so much more I have to say…) but I’ll stop now to say that The Rosie Project is really a nice read. It’s cute, funny and romantic, and I suppose other people will find it easy to overlook the clichés and fall in love with it. Personally, I think it should’ve been a movie instead.