Review: Broken by A.E. Rought

Title: Broken 
Author: A.E. Rought 
Genre: Young Adult Paranormal
Release Date: January 8, 2013
Publisher: Strange Chemistry
Format: eARC
Pages: 384
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Links: Goodreads | Amazon | Bookdepository
Read from January 6 to 14, 2013
My rating: 

Summary: A string of suspicious deaths near a small Michigan town ends with a fall that claims the life of Emma Gentry's boyfriend, Daniel. Emma is broken, a hollow shell mechanically moving through her days. She and Daniel had been made for each other, complete only when they were together. Now she restlessly wanders the town in the late Fall gloom, haunting the cemetery and its white-marbled tombs, feeling Daniel everywhere, his spectre in the moonlight and the fog. When she encounters newcomer Alex Franks, only son of a renowned widowed surgeon, she's intrigued despite herself. He's an enigma, melting into shadows, preferring to keep to himself. But he is as drawn to her as she is to him. He is strangely... familiar. From the way he knows how to open her locker when it sticks, to the nickname she shared only with Daniel, even his hazel eyes with brown flecks are just like Daniel's. The closer they become, though, the more something inside her screams there's something very wrong with Alex Franks. And when Emma stumbles across a grotesque and terrifying menagerie of mangled but living animals within the walls of the Franks' estate, creatures she surely knows must have died from their injuries, she knows.

Hurting is better than forgetting.

As I haven't really been a fan of paranormal books, I started Broken with little to no expectation. After the first few pages, I was hooked. The prose was very delicate and wonderful to read; it sounded poetic. I loved the way the author described things in beautiful metaphors, as it really got the message, tone, and feelings across, embedded within those words. I was deeply impressed, but it didn't take long for things to go the other way around. In this case, I think it's best to quote Markus Zusak of The Book Thief: "Like most misery, it started with apparent happiness." And I don't mean the character's, I mean mine.

Things started to get bad after Emma, forever pining after her dead boyfriend Daniel, meets the new boy Alex. Then the teen girl instinct kicks in and she gets obsessed with him, saying how he makes her feel and how she shouldn't feel that way, asking questions along the lines of why-does-he-make-me-feel-this way and what-does-he-mean-by-saying-that-or-looking-at-me-like-that, which I can't really stand. This continues for pretty much the rest of the story. What's worse, Emma is obsessed with some of the sentences Alex says, and would repeat it again and again and again. I know the function of those sentences and Emma's need to repeat it, but really, the tireless repetition is a little uncalled for. It's like the writer doesn't trust the reader to be smart enough to pick up on the foreshadows, and it's a bit trying too hard to keep the whole story unified. It's too much for me, and after a few times it really started to bother me.

The plot is predictable. So predictable that I felt like it was pointless to read this book at all. There are more parts I disliked than parts I liked. And even though I really did enjoyed it in the beginning, I lost patience with it after a while and had to force myself to finish it. I mean, of course, the romance has to be so sappy that the boy is willing to do anything to be with the girl, and say something like "[My heart] doesn't beat for me. It's for you" even if they've known each other for two weeks. And of course, the boy has to be so messed up that the girl thinks it's attractive. And of course, the boy has to remind the girl of the dead boyfriend and echo his exact words and make her heart confused. And of course, the girl has to be so confused that she keeps a distance but pines for him anyway, 'cause apparently she can't live without him. These are only some examples of the worst cliches ever. Yawn.

In some ways, Broken is so bad that it reminds me of Twilight. Although Broken has better writing (only in the beginning), they're both made of uninteresting characters I don't care about, plots I don't like, romance that makes no sense and I have to roll my eyes at; overall books I can't stand. I think they're on the same level of bad paranormal romance. So readers of Twilight might enjoy this better than I did.

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This review is also posted on Goodreads.
I received a digital copy from NetGalley and the publisher for review.

Review: Summer of the Mariposas by Guadalupe Garcia McCall

 

Title: Summer of the Mariposas
Author: Guadalupe Garcia McCall
Genre: Middle Grade Fantasy
Release Date: October 1, 2012
Publisher: Lee & Low Books
Format: eARC
Pages: 352
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Links: Goodreads | Amazon | Bookdepository
Read from October 12 to 17, 2012
My rating:

Summary: When Odilia and her four sisters find a dead body in the swimming hole, they embark on a hero's journey to return the dead man to his family in Mexico. But returning home to Texas turns into an odyssey that would rival Homer's original tale. With the supernatural aid of ghostly La Llorona via a magical earring, Odilia and her little sisters travel a road of tribulation to their long-lost grandmother's house. Along the way, they must outsmart a witch and her Evil Trinity: a wily warlock, a coven of vicious half-human barn owls, and a bloodthirsty livestock-hunting chupacabras. Can these fantastic trials prepare Odilia and her sisters for what happens when they face their final test, returning home to the real world, where goddesses and ghosts can no longer help them? Summer of the Mariposas is not just a magical Mexican American retelling of The Odyssey, it is a celebration of sisterhood and maternal love.

We hiked through the sparse woods, making our way carefully down the beaten path we had created that summer, the summer of the mariposas. 

I gave this book two stars because I neither hated it enough to give it less, nor liked it enough to give it more. So what happened here? Oh, I merely tolerated it. Being given two stars is just as bad as one in terms of mental health if you use my rating system. It's not bad, but it doesn't stir anything within me except for never-ending, terminal, utter boredom. The kind that can drive me crazy, kill me, make me fall asleep within 3 minutes, and make me so bored that I want to cry because there's nothing else to do, and because I blame my chronic cannot-not-finish-books disease that's slowly killing me and damaging my happiness. With that said, I assume you now understand the way I feel about this book. 

I don't want to say anything much, simply because I don't really care enough about this book to want to talk about it. As a student of literature, I am fascinated by the idea of reading Homer's the Iliad and the Odessey one day. So when I saw that this book claims to be a retelling of the latter, I was deceived into wanting to read it. But honestly, it did not feel like it, it was not a retelling if you ask me. It annoyed me and bored me and annoyed me and bored me endlessly. The five girls took turns irritating me rather than made me like them. The journey wasn't fun. It dragged on and on and on and on. It could've ended much earlier than when it does. All I wanted to say is that if Homer's the Odessey were remotely anything like this, I'd stay far far away and never look back. 

The moment I finished this book I let out a big heavy sigh and almost cried. It would be tears of happiness. Not because the book made me happy, but because I was happy I got it over and done with. It's still a wonder to me, 2 days later, how I brought myself to finish it. I was tolerating it for so long, putting it down and not wanting to pick it up. It asked so much from me and I didn't even want to spend any more time reading it. It's true that I didn't hate it, but it bored me so much that I wanted to die. And that's worse. Now I can move on with my life. Finishing it felt like an accomplishment in its own right, and that's about the only good thing that came out of reading this book. It's just not for me.

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This review is also posted on Goodreads.
I received a digital copy from NetGalley and the publisher for review.

Review: Confessions of an Angry Girl by Louise Rozett

Title: Confessions of an Angry Girl
Author: Louise Rozett
Series: Confessions #1
Genre: Teen, Young Adult Contemporary
Release Date: August 28, 2012
Publisher: HarlequinTeen
Pages: 272
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Links: Goodreads | Amazon | Bookdepository
Read from August 14 to 17, 2012
My Rating:

Summary: Freshman Rose Zarelli has rage issues. First of all, her father lost his job, took work as a contractor in Iraq...and never came home. Second, she likes the wrong guy and his super-intense, scary cheerleader girlfriend is now her nemesis. Third, her fashionista best friend, Tracy, is suddenly infinitely cooler than she is—and talking about losing her virginity. (What?!) Rose is ahead when it comes to studying for the PSAT, but she’s so far behind socially that she might as well be moving backward. She needs Tracy’s help choosing the right clothes, she likes all the wrong extracurricular activities, and she can’t even make a decision about which photo of her father to put on the memorial website she’s making (and hiding from her adolescent-shrink mother). With her brother away at college and her mother always locked in her office with her messed-up teen patients, Rose struggles to get through each day without inflicting bodily harm on anyone.

This is a story about a girl with a stellar vocabulary who is four years away from college and a year and a half away from a driver's license. About a girl trapped in a hostile universe where the virginity clock is ticking down--relentlessly--with zero consideration for her extenuating traumatic, lifealtering circumstances.

Let me start off by saying that this book is not for me. From the start, I knew that I wasn't going to like it much. Throughout the book, the story failed again and again to interest me. It's just incredibly boring This is one of those books that I won't want to pick up again once I lay it down. 

Which is, to be honest, quite unexpected. I know Rose has lost her father in the war in Iraq. And I tend to love books whose main character's father is dead, which I can totally relate to. But most of the time I was annoyed by Rose. Her character isn't all that believable to me. She is supposed to be angry as described in the blurb. But no, she feels pretty normal to me. Just any other normal teenager who's pessimistic and sarcastic and annoying. Rage issues? Please, what an overstatement. It's just a way to make Rose sound more interesting, I guess, but it's so deceiving. She does have angry outbursts but only no more than 3 times, and they are nowhere near rage issues. She claims to be very smart, but I really couldn't see how. 

The other characters in the book are also just as, if not more, annoying. There are your typical mean girl  named Regina (but is nowhere near epic as Mean Girls' Regina George), the best friend who can only talk about "doing it" without protection with her boyfriend, and the crush--oh, the unattainable crush who's with someone else but plays with Rose's heart anyway and then quits by saying he's not for her. Hmm. I'm not sure which one of them I want to punch first. 

Frankly, I feel like this book is maybe for the teen age group. It really didn't do it for me. There are a lot of things that I really don't like in the book that feel immature and childish. Girl drama, crush drama, best friend drama. None of that really interests me. And in the end, I could say that the plot really goes nowhere. No character development, that's for sure. I couldn't feel the climax, if there is one. The story just goes on and on, and then abruptly stops. Seriously. I emphasize, abruptly. And then? Oh, there'll be book two! Haha, well, too bad I'm not impressed enough to want to stick around when it comes out. This is a very forgettable read for me. 

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This review is also posted on Goodreads.
I received a digital copy from NetGalley and the publisher for review.

Review: Rape Girl by Alina Klein

Title: Rape Girl
Author: Alina Klein
Genre: Young Adult Contemporary
Release Date: August 15, 2012 by namelos
Format: eBook
Pages: 126
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Links: Goodreads | Amazon | Bookdepostory
Read on August 11, 2012
My Rating: 

Summary: Valerie always wanted to be the smart girl. The pretty girl. The popular girl. But not the rape girl. That’s who she is now. Rape Girl. Because everyone seems to think they know the truth about what happened with Adam that day, and they don’t think Valerie’s telling it. Before, she had a best friend, a crush, and a close-knit family. After, she has a court case, a support group, and a house full of strangers. The real truth is, nothing will ever be the same. Rape Girl is the compelling story of a survivor who does the right thing and suffers for it. It is also the story of a young woman’s struggle to find the strength to fight back.

"Hey, look. It's that girl. That rape girl, right?" 

After Adam's raped Valerie and her mother's told the police, Valerie is labeled the "rape girl" and a liar. Her friends turn their backs on her because they either really don't believe her, or they just want to still be on Adam's side, the popular people side. Valerie is torn. She's the victim, but people treat her as if she's the guilty one. She's separated from class and can't show her face in public, while the rapist still lives his life normally as if nothing's happened. What's more, Valerie is blamed for making up a story that will keep Adam from his becoming a missionary. This is ridiculous.

While I was drawn to the heavy subject matter of this book at first, I regret to say I didn't like it. I didn't feel connected to Valerie at all. This is probably because the author didn't allow us readers to get to know her that well within the limited 126 pages. Yes, this novel is very short, and that's the problem for me. There's hardly any tension to feel at all. And although this is a young adult contemporary, I feel like Valerie's voice isn't strong enough. It sounds like a teen voice, as in a 13-year-old teen complaining about life or something like that. I could hardly feel anything from her words. If anything, I think she's only telling a story without showing us how she feels. It's hard to like a character when she doesn't really allow us to feel her emotions, in my opinion.

I won't argue that it sucks. Being raped and still getting treated like the wrong one. And having to go through all those tests, rape kits, interrogations, and everyone's whispers and stares are no fun. Your life changes even if you're the victim. I know, it sucks, it's terrible, it's infuriating, and it definitely isn't fair. But I have to say that the book doesn't portray it that well and is well-developed enough for me to like it. This isn't the best story about a rape victim either. In the end, it still remains unclear whether or not Valerie can put it behind her and move on. But honestly, I don't care about her enough to want to find out.


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This review is also posted on Goodreads.
I received a digital copy from NetGalley and the publisher for review.

Review: Starring Me by Krista McGee

 

Title: Starring Me 
Author: Krista McGee 
Genre: Teen / Young Adult
Releaste Date: July 10, 2012
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Format: eBook
Pages: 320
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Links: Goodreads | Amazon | Bookdepository
Read from June 28 - 30, 2012 

My rating: 

Summary: Kara McKormick is told she’s auditioning to star in a new teen variety show. But it’s what she isn’t told that could change her life. The feisty New Yorker moves to sunny Orlando to participate in a month-long audition, where she’ll live with nine other contestants and an eccentric housemother. Kara knows that the show already has a big-time celebrity lined up for the co-host, but she doesn’t know who it is. Chad Beacon quickly rose to fame after winning America’s Next Star, but he doesn’t want his entire career to be about singing. There is so much more he wants to do—like act. The new variety show sounds like the perfect next step for him, but his parents want him to have a co-star who shares his faith since they’ll be spending so much time together. Acting is high on Kara’s priority list. But a relationship with God? Not so much. In fact, she’s tried to stay away from anything religious. But God is after Kara’s heart and He’s put people in her life who are showing her there’s far more to Christianity than rules and judgment. And just when it seems that Kara’s going to have to give up her acting dream, God reveals that she may have a starring role after all—in a story so big only He could write it.

This book isn't really what I expected it to be. Of course, I wasn't expecting anything religious. My first impression was that this is a story of a girl who's chasing her dream. This kind of stories always gets me. It fascinates and inspires me to see people fight so hard to get to where they want to be and become who they are. I thought that was what this book would be about. But no, it's far from it, actually. I don't know why I didn't see it coming, seeing now that this book is in the "religious" category in my book catalog. Maybe I did know it and already forgot that I knew. All the more reason to be careful with choosing books from now on. 

As I'm not a big fan of religion-based books, this one didn't leave that much of an impression. But don't get me wrong. It's not bad. The story is kind of fun, and it remains light throughout the whole book. Too light, in fact. I have to say that I find it a little disappointing. There isn't much conflict going on here, nor surprising twists and turns. There's also very little excitement. This is a very forgettable book for me. 

I find the characters in this book so very incredibly flat, even the main characters. Kara, who's a sweet girl, good at heart, and an aspiring actress, remains that way till the end. And so does Chad, perfect boy. Eternally good. The evil characters remain evil. While I can see how a normal girl can be attracted to a pop star, Chad's attraction to Kara doesn't feel believable to me. It's accurate to say that I'm not very impressed with the characters. 

The only thing that changes in this book is Kara's belief in God. She starts out as a non-believer, but people she hangs out with (Addy and Flora) are Christians, so they try to influence her. Is "brainwashing" too harsh? Maybe. But it really did feel that way for me. There's no reason for you to shove your belief in people's faces and try to convince them to share the same belief. It was irritating for me. Despite the brainwashing and God talk, Kara still remains skeptical for some time. She asks all the questions atheists ask, and that's good, because it seems believable. I was happy that she doesn't jump into it right away and convert, at least not then. But of course, something happens and then she changes her mind in an instant. I guess her change of faith is to be expected, since this is a christian book, but the manner in which it is done is so sudden and in no way believable.

To me, neither is this book inspirational nor interesting, but it's not bad either. It's a little fun, an overall okay read, and that's that.

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This review is also posted on Goodreads.
I received a digital copy from NetGalley and the publisher for review.

Review: Keep Holding On by Susane Colasanti

Title: Keep Holding On
Author: Susane Colasanti 
Genre: Young Adult Contemporary
Release date: May 31, 2012
Publisher: Viking Juvenile
Format: eBook
Pages: 224
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Links: Goodreads | Amazon | Bookdepository
Read  from May 27, 2012 

My rating:  

Summary: Noelle's life is all about survival. Even her best friend doesn't know how much she gets bullied, or the ways her mom neglects her. Noelle's kept so much about her life a secret for so long that when her longtime crush Julian Porter starts paying attention to her, she's terrified. Surely it's safer to stay hidden than to risk the pain of a broken heart. But when the antagonism of her classmates takes a dramatic turn, Noelle realizes it's time to stand up for herself--and for the love that keeps her holding on. 

I read the first of Susane Colasanti's book, When It Happens, in 2008, and I loved that book. That was the first one and I've never read any more of her books after that, but When It Happens gave me the impression that she must be quite a good writer. (Although later on when I tried to re-read the book in 2010, I got so annoyed I just gave up, and I couldn't recall why I loved it in the first place, even though I really did love it in 2008.) Keep Holding On is the second book by this very same author that I've read. I was really excited when my request got approved, hoping I would like it like I did the first novel. But readers, I regret to say that this book didn't impress me. 

Keep Holding On is about Noelle Wexler, a sixteen-year-old ninth grader, who lives a difficult life. Noelle and her mother lives in a rich area, but they're poor. There's rarely anything to eat at home, which results in only scraps of food she brings to school for lunch. She has clothes just enough to wear to school every day, and nothing more. Bullies enjoy bullying her. No one sits with her at lunch. Her one and only best friend isn't always around. Her boyfriend keeps her as his dirty little secret. Her mother neglects her. She's disgusted with her life. The environment around her and the treatment she receives make her believe that she's no good for anyone. And when Julian Porter, her other love interest, shows that he likes her, she pushes him away because she believes that once he gets to know her and her messed up world better, he'll stop liking her and leave anyway. Every day Noelle fights to keep holding on, looking forward to that one day when she leaves this town and can really be who she wants to be. But until then, she has to survive high school first. 

My first reaction was to give this book three stars, but I had a lot more problems with it than with those books I have actually given three stars to, and this book isn't as enjoyable. But maybe that's to be expected because of the heavy themes in this book. (Although I believe that however heavy the themes may be, a book can be a great read providing it's written well. That implies something about this book.) But I thought I'd settle with 3 stars anyway because it touched a very serious and important topic that is bullying. But then... I started thinking about something I like about this book... and none came up. Seriously. Usually I can find something to like in even the most boring book and give them two stars. Keep Holding On is by no means boring, but the fact that it has nothing that I can say I like about it makes it even worse than being boring. But it didn't enrage me like those I've rated one star, and I hate giving one star. I've been sitting here contemplating what to do with this book, and I've changed my decisions at least four times now. (Please forgive my obsession with rating.) And finally I decided to rate it two stars. It wasn't an enjoyable read but I don't hate it enough either. I don't know why I'm telling you this, but I feel like it's important that you know my feelings for this book weren't easy to pin down. 

Noelle gets bullied a lot in school mostly for the fun of the ones doing it. Hurtful words are thrown her way and she even gets physically hurt. However, I felt little sympathy for her. I mean, I did feel sorry for her and don't want her to live like that, but she's not a very likable character for me. I can understand where she's coming from. I've been there, I've felt humiliated by not having as much money to pour down the drain like everyone else, not having clothes as fabulous, not having a house as gigantic, not living a life as perfect.  These things haven't changed. It used to bother me so much when I was young, and it still bothers me a little from time to time, but I don't spend all time thinking (and whining) about it like Noelle.  

Even though my situation probably wasn't as bad as hers, I know where she's coming from. She's poor and humiliated; she's insecure about herself and finds it hard to believe that anyone might be interested in her or even believe compliments. I feel for her, but she's difficult to like, what with her saying how much her life sucks all the time. Apparently she's too proud for free lunch even though she qualifies. Of course, she prefers to have her stomach growling for the whole school to hear rather than to  get free lunch because she'll never "subject herself to that kind of humiliation." Girl, why do you care? Shouldn't your priority be keeping your stomach satisfied to survive? Is this really the right time to be so-- forgive my language--snobbish? She says  her mother isn't a mom, and a part of the reasons is that she doesn't buy Noelle the stuff she needs like tampons and toilet papers. Okay, I understand that it's wrong of her mother to not do that, but really, if she doesn't buy you tampons, buy them yourself! Don't just let your blood stain the chair just because your mother doesn't buy you tampons. It's a lame excuse. And honestly, I don't understand what point the blood scene really tries to make. It just bothers me. 

I felt like this book doesn't come out strong enough. It didn't make my heartache. Sure, it made me upset that bullying is going on, but that's about it. It's hard to feel emotionally invested with a book when you don't like the main character. Especially when the events in the story feel unbelievable. Here's a list: 

*spoiler alert*

1) It doesn't make sense to me why Julian likes Noelle. He says it's because she's different, but in the context in the book "different" kind of implies "not as rich as everyone else". What? 

2) A very horrible thing happens later in the book, but after that things seem to get a whole lot better. I didn't buy it. 

2.1) Suddenly the bullies stay away! 

2.2) Suddenly the mother cares! 

On top of all that, I wish I could at least say I liked the writing, but no. It annoyed me to no end. The narration jumps from one thing to another and form these unconnected parts of storytelling; from the present to the past that don't really connect but seems to happen because it's what Noelle randomly thinks about at the moment. It's all tell and no show. I can't describe it but I felt like the writing prevented me from getting into the story. I felt like I didn't know the other characters well enough. And another thing that bothers me is that the story doesn't start off well for me. I have a thing for opening sentences and opening scenes and this one just disappoints me. Yes, the first page was where I started feeling unimpressed. 

I really hate to give any book one lonely star, and I never imagined I'd give it to a book written by Susane Colasanti. I'm sorry. I just didn't like it at all. I won't judge her, though. Maybe this book is just not for me. I'm the minority here 'cause most people on Goodreads think this book is great. But for me... is this book heartbreaking? No. Is it moving? Yeah, a little. I respect that the author wrote this book about bullying, which is also dedicated to Tyler Clementi who was a victim. I respect that she reaches out and wants to help. There are useful resources at the end of the book that tell you where you can get help from. 

Although I didn't like this book, and I didn't like Noelle, I wish her the best. Noelle really has this belief that anywhere is better than where she is and she has her heart set on anywhere but here, and I hope that when she leaves this town one day, she's going to leave all the bad memories behind and that she's leaving it for a better place. No one deserves to be bullied, and no one really has the right to subject anyone else to it. Personally I'd say fight back, but you can do that or you can keep holding on. Don't give up. And like Noelle says, "Eventually, you'll find a real place that feels like home. [...] And you'll be so happy you held on long enough to make it there."


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This review is also posted on Goodreads.

A digital copy of this book was provided by the publisher and NetGalley for review. 

Review: Music from Beyond the Moon by Augusta Trobaugh

Title: Music from Beyond the Moon 
Author: Augusta Trobaugh 
Genre: Historical Fiction
Release date: April 30, 2012
Publisher: Bell Bridge Books
Format: eBook
Pages: 266
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Links: Goodreads | Amazon | Bookdepository
Read from April 28 - May 17, 2012
My rating: 

Summary: She became his soul mate and first love, but can he and she escape a destiny that was decided before they were born? In 1920’s Florida, an abandoned baby boy grows up under a cloud of mystery, adopted by two strong southern women who try to protect him from his family’s secrets and heartaches. But even their best intentions and deepest devotion can’t hide the truth forever or soften the fate that faces both him and the girl he loves. Augusta Trobaugh’s unforgettable novel speaks of loyalty, loss, the difficult choices we make in the name of family, and of courageous hope, each inspired by the fragile and painfully longing music of life, a song that seems to come from beyond the moon.

"That's what love is like—it's mysterious and far away, and we can never even really touch it—never hold it tight at the same time, never let it go. But we can hear it sometimes, honey. Like music. Music from beyond the moon."

The first thing I have to say about this book is that I'm glad I finally got it over with. Had it been a wonderful read? No, not really. Was it more like a sleeping pill? Yes, yes, yes, definitely! After 20 days, an end was put to this misery of mine. Who'd have thought a 266-page book could take me this long to finish? This book is incredibly boring. There, I came right out and said it. Am I being harsh? Maybe. But if I were a reader looking for the next book to read, and thought this book might be it, that's what I'd want to know. There are a lot more better ways to spend your time than with the wrong book, trust me.

Music from Beyond the Moon started off pretty amazingly for a book that could literally bore me to tears. It's 1924 when a baby boy is abandoned by his mother in the backyard (I think) of a house owned by two southern women in a place called Love-Oak in Florida. The women, Fiona and Glory, take him into their home and give him all the love in their world. They give him a name (Victor), love him and raise him like he was their own. But the plot isn't what I'm talking about here. Here is the one thing I liked about this book: the writing. I could see vivid details of what was going on. I could feel the emotions coming out of the characters. I loved that. The author's words are very well chosen and they form these amazing sentences. Oh, her writing is gorgeous! I'm a sucker for good writing, alright.

Here's my favorite:
"Her thoughts are like wild birds flying blindly around a cage they didn't know was there."

I loved the way her words are strung together. It's kind of sad that that's where the compliment has to end. However good the author's way with words may be, I can't like her book if the story isn't well written, and that's definitely the case. I lost interest as soon as 2% of the book was over. That's just about how good the book is to me. That's a little before the part where the author started making the book so off-topic and lose its focus on the story that it was hard for me to try to understand why she did this. That's where enjoyment ended and "tolerance" started.

There are quite a number of  problems I had with this book. The author seemed to have written everything about every one of the character, which is quite over the top. Do I need to know how the lives of everyone were before the book starts? Of course not. Most of those things are totally unnecessary. So many stories about the past of these characters are put in the book that it made me wonder what this book is really about, and whom it is supposed to focus on. I understand that the past needs to be told in order to shape the future, but it really wouldn't be that difficult to cut out the mumbo jumbo and unnecessary sub-plots, would it? That would have made my reading much easier and more comfortable. This book has a problem staying focused on the main plot, and that's very annoying. It leads you off-topic for what seems like 20 pages and that makes it hard to get back on track, and you don't remember anymore what was happening before that. When a book is written in this manner, it usually gets a bye-bye from me.

The message of this book to me is pretty clear. Since Music from Beyond the Moon is a book about love and the tragedy it brings, its makes you see how love can break you and how terrible something as wonderful as love can be. Heartbreaking stories of each character are told one after another: A woman who thought she knew love but didn't; a good girl gone bad loving the wrong guy; a mother who had to go; love between two young people that just can't be; etc. Sometimes I could feel their pain, but most of the time I was annoyed instead. I would've really liked this book if it hadn't been for the way it was written.

So here's the bottom line: I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone.

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This review is also posted on Goodreads.
I received a digital copy from NetGalley and the publisher for review.

Review: The Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Brockmeier

 

Title: The Brief History of the Dead
Author: Kevin Brockmeier
Genre: Contemporary, Fantasy
Release Date: January 25th 2007
Publisher: John Murray Publishers
Pages: 272
Format: Paperback
Literary award: Borders Original Voices Award for Fiction (2006)
Links: Goodreads | Amazon | Bookdepository
Read from December 30, 2011 - January 11, 2012

My rating: 

Summary: From Kevin Brockmeier, one of this generation's most inventive young writers, comes a striking new novel about death, life, and the mysterious place in between. The City is inhabited by those who have departed Earth but are still remembered by the living. They will reside in this afterlife until they are completely forgotten. But the City is shrinking, and the residents clearing out. Some of the holdouts, like Luka Sims, who produces the City’s only newspaper, are wondering what exactly is going on. Others, like Coleman Kinzler, believe it is the beginning of the end. Meanwhile, Laura Byrd is trapped in an Antarctic research station, her supplies are running low, her radio finds only static, and the power is failing. With little choice, Laura sets out across the ice to look for help, but time is running out. Kevin Brockmeier alternates these two storylines to create a lyrical and haunting story about love, loss and the power of memory.

I have to say that The Brief History of the Dead is one of those books that sound promising but let me down because it doesn't live up to my expectation, and it's also boring. Actually I don't really want to review this, but since I haven't reviewed anything in a while, I think it's time I should do something about this laziness.

My brief summary of The Brief History of the Dead, which is a contemporary novel with some fantasy twist that tells a story of two worlds: the world of the living, and the word of the dead, aka "The City", goes like this: ..........................................................................................................

I'm not joking. I really cannot summarize it. There's pretty much nothing in the story. It's just pages and pages of nothingness. It goes nowhere. My feeling about the story in three words: WASTE OF TIME.


First of all, the narrative in the book bored the hell out of me. It's not engaging. The narrative is always switching between the life stories of the dead in The City, the happenings in The City, and the journey of Laura, who is the only person left in the world after the pandemic kills everyone. At first I thought the book was only going to tell me about each and everyone of the people in The City, because for quite some time, that's all it talks about! It goes on and on about how they die, or their memories of the world of the living, and the thumping sound that they hear after they die, and whatnot. And then it says that the city is shrinking. The people in the city begin to disappear for no apparent reason, blah blah blah. And then we're introduced to Laura Byrd the survivor, who is sent by Coca-Cola, the company that she works for, to Antarctica to conduct some research, and therefore trapped in the research station there. She had two colleagues with her, Puckett and Joyce, who, after realizing that their supplies were running low and that they lost contact with the outside world, set out to try to contact Coca-Cola because they felt like they were neglected by the company. Laura waits, but they never return. And then she decides that she has to find them and contact the company.

Her journey in Antarctica is long, I'm sure, but really, does the narrative have to tell us about her every footstep? All I've ever known about her journey is that she's always thinking about someone (it's trying to say that ALL the people who remain in the city are there because they are remembered by Laura, therefore they're not gone), and that she feels cold, and that she sets up her tent to sleep in it but can't sleep because she's too tired, and that she can feel her sweat freeze on her skin, blah blah boring blah. These things recur all the time. Honestly, I don't really want to know, thank you very much.

Now secondly, let's move on to a more interesting topic: the world-building. When I first read the back cover of this book, I was very interested indeed. "Imagine a place between heaven and earth. A city where everyone ends up after they die. This city looks like any other, with trees and houses and newspapers, where people work, drink coffee and fall in love. And here they remain, kept alive by the memories of those left behind on earth." I've always been interested in theories of afterlife, and this book promises one. The Brief History of the Dead has a really unique way of looking at it (or at least for me, as I have never come across anything like this before). In the book, when people die, they go to "the city". The City is neither heaven nor hell, it's just a place for those who are dead but are still remembered by the living. Basically, they will remain there until they are completely forgotten, or in other words, until all the people who know or remember them are dead. Some Christians who are there start losing their faith, when they don't get the heaven that their religion promises. Some keep holding on to it, for they don't know what might happen, where they might go next. Nobody knows since when The City has existed. Sounds interesting, doesn't it?

But I'm not impressed. This world is very sloppily built. In the book, the people in The City do things that they shouldn't have to do, since, you know, they're dead. Some have to go to work, while others have to beg for money on the streets. They are hungry, and they need sleep. They are in relationships with new people they meet there, and they build families consisting of people who are not blood-related. All this doesn't make one bit of sense to me. There are refrigerators and sofas and books and stuff that the living world has, but where do all those stuff come from? Who created them? It just sounds ridiculous and out of nowhere. The world-building isn't believable at all. And since it's a city, and it's also HUGE, since no one has ever been to the end of the road whatsoever, shouldn't there be a government or something? Since people in this afterlife have jobs, having a ruling government sounds reasonable, don't you think? How do all these people manage to live together without some sort of authorities? Doesn't make sense to me.

And lastly, the characters? I don't care about any of them. I think it's all this switching scenes that makes it hard to really feel connected to anyone in particular. Personally I find the characters quite flat. We don't know anything much about them. And there are just too many characters that it's hard to keep track of who's who.

I could have hated this book. So many things I don't like about it, you see. But if there's anything I like at all, it's the writing. I don't know how to explain it exactly, all I can say is that I think it's quite beautiful. The words sound confident and enchanting, but sadly, the writing alone couldn't save the book when the story isn't well-developed enough.


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This review is also posted on Goodreads.

Review: Veronika Decides To Die by Paulo Coelho

Title: Veronika Decides To Die

Author: Paulo Coelho
Series: On the Seventh Day, #2

Genre: Contemporary

Release Date: September 30th, 1999

This edition: 2000
Publisher: Harper Collins

Pages: 208
Format: Paperback

Read from December 19 to 25, 2011

My rating: 

Links: Goodreads | Amazon | Bookdepository 

Summary: Twenty-four-year-old Veronika seems to have everything she could wish for—: youth and beauty, pleny of attractive boyfriends, a fulfilling job, and a loving family. Yet something is lacking in her life. Inside her is a void so deep that nothing could possibly ever fill it. So, on the morning of November 11, 1997, Veronika decides to die. She takes a handful of sleeping pills expecting never to wake up. Naturally Veronika is stunned when she does wake up— at Villete, a local mental hospital, where the staff informs her that she has, in fact, partially succeeded in achieving her goal. While the overdose didn't kill Veronika immediately, the medication has damaged her heart so severely that she has only days to live.

Although previously infuriated by Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist, I decided to give Coelho another chance. While it's right to say that I didn't hate this book as much, it didn't impress me either. It was just plain okay. And it bored me. 

Veronika is a 24-year-old pretty girl. She decides to die because 1) she feels like life has nothing more to offer her. She's tired of the same things happening daily, doing the same things daily, with nothing new in her life, and 2) she realizes that one day she will be old and she doesn't want to be old. That day she overdoses on sleeping pills, expecting to die. Unfortunately, she is sent to Villete, an asylum, in time to be saved. Temporarily. The doctor, Dr Igor, tells her that she only has days to live because the pills somehow managed to damage her heart. 

During her stay at Villete, she gets to know some people in there. She makes some friends and plays the piano and falls in love. Then the thought creeps in, from time to time, despite her trying to push it far away, whether she still wants to live, now that there are new things in her life and life doesn't seem so empty anymore. 

In the first few chapters, Paulo Coelho wrote about himself as Dr Igor's daughter's friend. I'm not sure whether he implies or says it outright that he was also sent to a mental hospital because he wanted to be an artist (or writer I'm not sure) and therefore his parents thought he was mad. That's what I understood. So while this book is about the value of life in the face of imminent death, it also questions the way people judge 'madness'. 

I really did want to like this but sadly Coelho failed me again. The translated text flows well enough, the story sounds promising. The main problem with this book for me is the way Coelho wrote it. I didn't like that he put himself in the story, because it didn't relate to anything in it. It just looks out of place and comes out of nowhere. I also didn't like it because the story was just so boring. I mean, it's nothingness. I didn't care about any of the characters. Veronika decides to die, well, that was interesting. But all that follows is all her interactions with people in Villete and stories of some patients' lives. It bored the hell out of me. And it didn't make me feel like life is so great, either. 

And don't even get me started on THE ENDING. Oh dear Lord. It was terrible. In the end, it's revealed that Dr Igor lied to Veronika when he said she had only days to live. In fact, there was nothing wrong with her heart at all. She was perfectly fine and healthy. He only wanted to know whether life becomes more valuable knowing that death is imminent. It's like the author wanted to force a happy ending (she didn't have to die in 7 days) into a story that's built to end with what it promised: death. The idea that a doctor uses an innocent patient as a guinea pig for his personal experiment in hope to be famous for it one day is SICKENING. He didn't even tell her. She lived her life expecting death. It's just so wrong on so many levels. This is one of the reasons why I didn't like this book. 

All in all, disappointment. Nothingness in the form of 208 pages.


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This review is also posted on Goodreads.

Review: The Next Door Boys by Jolene B. Perry

Title: The Next Door Boys
Author: Jolene B. Perry
Genre: Young Adult Contemporary
Release Date: October 4 2011
Publisher: Cedar Fort, Inc.
Format: eBook
Pages: 272
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Links: Goodreads | Amazon | Bookdepository
Read from November 29 to December 3, 2011

My rating: 

Summary: With her body still recovering from last year's cancer treatments, Leigh Tressman is determined to be independent. Despite the interference from her overprotective brother, physical frustrations, and spiritual dilemmas— not to mention the ever expanding line of young men ready to fall in love with her— Leigh discovers what it actually means to stand on her own and learns that love can be found in unexpected but delightful places.

I was really excited to start it because The Next Door Boys has such pretty cover and I'm that kind of person who judges a book by its cover. And though I've been disappointed by my judgement many times, I haven't yet learned, and that's also the way it is with this book.

I really wish I had liked it better. At first I gave it 3 stars and then I spent the night thinking about it, and decided that 3 stars was too generous. Therefore, 2 stars. And I feel really weird because most of the readers seemed to have liked this book. At first I decided not to review it, because it didn't really make me feel anything, and I didn't think I had anything worth saying. But then I changed my mind and am now giving it a try.

Leigh Tressman is a cancer survivor. She had to take a year off to be in the hospital because of ovarian cancer, and when she was released from the hospital, she couldn't wait to live independently. She starts college, and moves away from her parents to live in the basement of a house next to where her protective brother, Jaron, lives. That's where our boy next door, Brian, lives too. Leigh has two roommates, Kim and Megan.

The story started off so slowly, and continued to progress really slowly, that I lost my patience a lot of times. I think it's also partly because it's an e-book. I have much less tolerance with e-books unless they are really good. And sadly that's where this book falls short. I don't feel anything about Leigh at all. I know that she's a cancer survivor, that she has a good personality, and that she should make me feel sympathetic and all, but no, I didn't feel any of that. I didn't feel anything at all. And that's also the way it was with every character. I really don't know if it's because of the writing or because of myself that I didn't like this book. I also had no idea how it can be improved to become better. I just didn't feel very connected to it. And then there's Brian. I can't really say that I like this character, because as I said, I didn't feel anything. Brian is a much older guy who's been there and done that. He's divorced and already has a 5-year-old son. He has tattoos and they represent where he has been in his life, and he works at night in a bar to earn extra money. Jaron admires Brian so much and talks about him in a really affectionate way. And at first I thought Jaron was in love with Brian, so it really took me by surprise when Jaron starts dating a girl.

Despite the blank feeling towards every character, I did feel something about the writing. I didn't like it much. The story jumps from scene to scene too often. It's like it stays in the same scene for a couple of pages, and then jumps. It was really frustrating because just as when I got into that scene, it suddenly moved on, and I didn't get to feel anything. This is what I thought the problem was that caused my apathy, it didn't allow me to sink into the story enough to feel. Another thing I didn't like is Leigh's cluelessness about the boys liking her. Someone has to point it out to her, and she would be all no no no. I found it a bit annoying.

I guess that's all I have to say about this book. As I said earlier, I didn't think I have anything worth saying. When you don't feel very connected to the main character(s) or the story, it's hard to find something to say.   However, I'm glad I'm telling you why. I don't feel so guilty about not liking it very much anymore. Still, I wish I could've liked it better.

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This review is also posted on Goodreads.

I received a digital copy from NetGalley and the publisher for review.

Review: New Moon by Stephenie Meyer

Title: New Moon
Author: Stephenie Meyer
Series: Twilight, #2
Genre: Young Adult Paranormal
Release Date: May 1, 2008
Publisher: Little Brown Books for Young Readers
Format: Paperback
Pages: 563
Links: Goodreads | Amazon | Bookdepository

Read from October 4 to 9, 2011

My rating: 

Summary: In New Moon, Stephenie Meyer delivers another irresistible combination of romance and suspense with a supernatural twist. The "star-crossed" lovers theme continues as Bella and Edward find themselves facing new obstacles, including a devastating separation, the mysterious appearance of dangerous wolves roaming the forest in Forks, a terrifying threat of revenge from a female vampire and a deliciously sinister encounter with Italy's reigning royal family of vampires, the Volturi. Passionate, riveting, and full of surprising twists and turns, this vampire love saga is well on its way to literary immortality.

New Moon is a sequel to the famous first novel of the Twilight saga, that is Twilight. Having read Twilight for the first time in 2008, I am ashamed to admit that I was crazy about it for months. But when I read it again, I couldn't see why I'd even liked it in the first place. Now, three years later, freshly freed from final exams, I wandered around aimlessly in the library. Then New Moon caught my eye. Not because it's pretty or anything, but because there are 3 or 4 thick copies of it lined up on a library shelf. I decided, what the hell, and picked it up.

I was struggling so much trying to get it over with this book. Not gonna lie, it was real torture. The story drags on for too long, if you can't tell by the thickness that is over 500 pages, and most of the time the story is just boring. And it also bugged me so much. Here are some things that annoyed me:

1) Bella keeps talking about the hole in her chest throughout the book! What's with that? That phrase really doesn't have to show up every few pages, you know?

Now, with the help of my e-book version of this book, I'm going to show you just what I mean.

Not only the hole in her chest that she so often mentions, but it looks like Bella is specially attracted to holes. There are other no less than 10 mentions of the entrance hole, too, to where the Volturi live. So much for Bella's holes...

2) Bella's not-until-this-that-I-realized-that. All. The. Friggin'. Time. Seriously, Bella, you're incapable of realizing your physical state or what? Or even the environmental changes? The word realize is well too overused in this novel that it bugged me.

3) The idea that a teenage girl finds it hard to keep on living with the depart of her boyfriend. Isn't that disturbing?

I got annoyed so many times by acknowledging Bella's thoughts. The writing style is lacking on so many levels. I think my problem is Stephenie Meyer. I just don't like the way she writes. And although there are so many annoying parts, there are parts that are entertaining enough. So I would say that it's not that bad, but bad enough to be considered one of the books I regret having spent time with, and definitely one of those I have no intention whatsoever to lay my hands on again.

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This review is also posted on Goodreads.