REVIEW: Madly by Amy Alward

A royal mess.

Samantha Kemi comes from a long line of old-school alchemists, which has fallen on hard times.

When thoroughly modern Princess Evelyn is poisoned by a positively ancient love potion, a hunt is called to find an antidote.

Winning this hunt will revive Sam’s family’s reputation. And soon Sam is traveling the world for the rarest ingredients, venturing deep into magical forests and frozen tundras, facing death at every turn.

Sam’s greatest threat? Zain Aster, her foremost opponent on the hunt. Rumor has it he was the intended recipient of the princess’s love potion. With that smile, it’s not hard to see why…

Falling for Zain is a terrible idea. So why can’t Sam get him out of her mind? Is this magic at work?

This book was laden with tropes and clichés, and not all of them good. Amy Alward, because of her job, knows exactly what a proper young adult book needs. She had an interesting premise, a plot that moves, characters with drive and goals, and a nicely built world. That being said, the story was in no way riveting. I enjoyed it, but I enjoy a lot of books that don’t necessarily receive/deserve high ratings.

The book started with a great trope: modern fairytale. I don’t think I’ve read any stories that are clearly a fairytale such as this, but set in a super digital age. It was an interesting mix that hooked me from the beginning. However, the story was Ella Enchanted but less riveting and entertaining. The characters had wants but no real developed pasts. Sam is destined to be a great alchemist (the only thing I loved from her was reading her alchemical knowledge when she listed qualities off for different ingredients), and Zain is destined to take over ZoroCorp. Neither of them thinks that’s what they want, but they know it’s what they’ll do in the end. Boring. Bad cliché. And don’t get me wrong, I love when families are happy and whole, but it’s like nothing bad has ever happened in Nova and everyone has such an easy life. None of the characters had the depth of a hard life or lost parents. The characters were all flat.

The plot, in turn, was flat. Even when Kirsty takes someone close to Sam into the Wilds, I felt nothing. I was just, “thank you, finally we have some tragic action”. I mean, the plot was good and there. The big plot moments happened, and the hero fell in love with a boy supposedly in love with another. Such a bad cliché.

The whole book just fell short because of rotten clichés, and pacing of all things. The book wasn’t super short, but everything felt so rushed. It was all the exciting plot humps you’d expect out of a trilogy, but rolled into one book. It was such a rushed pace, and nothing bad happened! A few scrapes and bruises, but nothing dire. Nobody died, and that’s a problem for me, because nothing heightened the adventure for me. The stakes weren’t raised enough. Emilia ended up fizzing out as a threat. Evelyn fizzed out too, and she never did any real harm. Everything was so vanilla and boring. I enjoyed the book, but I don’t need to read the rest of the series because as far as I can see, the series is done. She did her thing and got the guy. Hooray, but I don’t feel any need whatsoever to continue reading. Sure, some books are still missing, but I’m utterly unconcerned.

Bad pacing and even worse clichés have turned this play on a modernized fairytale into a womp-zone. Amy Alward’s Madly is a cheesy, easy read with zero depth, and that’s disappointing. Also, I still have no idea how Zain didn’t get the love potion. I read Princess Evelyn’s chapters, and I don’t understand how she mixed them up. Is she just dumb or what? And when there’s a fundamental error like that, we’ve got a problem for sure.

XOXO Tia

REVIEW: 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? And does she even want to move on if it means leaving Simon Snow behind?

            I am livid and I want to vomit all at the same time. Fangirl is simply too perfect for this world and I am unworthy. Is the year 2016 or 3016? I don’t know if I, or the world, was quite ready for this book, but there is one this I know for certain. Rainbow Rowell be killing it! If this isn’t the new classic, then I don’t know what is. I know I wasn’t the biggest die-hard fan of Eleanor and Park, but Fangirl is still so much better. Not only is it one of the few books in YA dealing with the beginning of college despite the fact that there be turbulent waters there and the kids are all still teens, but Fangirl is also relatable and honest.

            It took a while for me to finally get around to reading this one, but I am so glad I did get to it because this book is absolutely one of my new favorites. I want to reread the book right now, and that’s saying a lot because I’m not the biggest rereader (I know, throw rotten produce at me). Rowell always seems to get her characters to perfection level. It’s amazing really, how incredible the characters are in Rowell’s books. She makes them and their problems completely relatable and honest and true.

            The protagonist is Cath, and she’s not the typical YA strong, independent, and sassy girl who fights off corrupt organizations and saves the world. No. She’s a girl in love with writing, and more so in love with writing fan fiction. I too am one of those girls, and I know there are countless more out there in the same shoes. She’s real, and it’s easy to see how all her personality traits tie back to her family and her upbringing. I think that’s the most extraordinary thing about Fangirl, that I know the exact moment that made Cath into the girl she is and exactly why she (and even her sister Wren) tick the way she does. And it was all show, not tell.

            I’m head over heels in love with this book, and I honestly do not have a single back thing to say about it. Every single character, moment, and action was perfection, and every single word made me begging for more. That’s all there is. Oh, and Levi is the most adorable human being ever. Done.

XOXO Tia

REVIEW: See How They Run by Ally Carter

Some secrets are better left unfound.

For the past three years, Grace Blakely has been desperate to find out the truth about her mother’s murder. She thought it would bring her peace. She thought it would lead her to answers. She thought she could put the past to rest.

But the truth has only made her a target.

And the past?

The only way to put the past to rest is for Grace to kill it once and for all.

On Embassy Row, power can make you a victor or a victim, love can turn you into a fool or a fugitive, and family can lead you forward or bury you deep. Trust is a luxury. Death is a very real threat. And a girl like Grace must be very careful about which secrets she brings to light.

I can honestly say that I did not enjoy See How They Run quite as much as I enjoyed All Fall Down. This isn’t to say that Ally Carter did not do an outstanding job on both of the books, it’s just that the second book in the Embassy Row series is blatantly and obviously a second book in a series. It suffers from the second book womp (and yes, that is what I’m officially calling it).

The reason this book suffered from the second book womp is because of the plot. This is an action series and yet nothing happened until literally a third of the way through the book. As second books go, this one wasn’t terrible, but it was a little slow. Took a third of the book to actually hit a major plot point that hadn’t already been addressed! Grace took the first third of the book to just complain about being alone in the world and how she’s the root of everyone’s problems and yadda yadda, give me your sympathies. Don’t get me wrong, I love Grace. I think she’s a great character, I just wish more had happened in the first third other than hearing about her sorrows over and over.

There were a lot of amends to Grace’s character, though, and that’s one thing I enjoyed reading. She apologized for her flaws and actions, but she still stayed true to her character. But her apologies were not the reason I love Grace. The following quote is why I love her:

“I didn’t mean to say it. Not so quickly. Not like that. But the words have been on a perpetual loop inside my head and now they’re out, tumbling free. I know I should have broken the news gently, eased Jamie off the cliff. But eventually, he had to fall. And I have never been one to fall when I can jump.”

This is the part that completely drives home Grace’s character for me. She’s blunt and broken, and she’ll take down anyone with her that’s in her path of destruction. She knows that anyone who get close to her in a domino and she’s the catalyst. She’s knows this, and bears the weight of such knowledge.

In this book, Jamie comes to Valancia because he’s has been informed that she remembers the night of their mother’s death. Now, while I love the strong relationship between Jamie and Grace, and the fact that Jamie is the one person who knows and accepts Grace through everything, I still kind of wish there was a little tension between them. The only tension we truly saw was between Jamie and Alexei, and I almost wish a little of that had been indirectly directed toward Grace. Does that make me mean?

Honestly, there wasn’t really a reason for Jamie’s character other than to bring the random victim to Valancia, hate on his best friend, and to comfort Grace during her times of need. I hope the third book offers more for Jamie’s character, because he seemed like one of those extra pieces that come with furniture building that you only use if you lose a piece (or if you’re lazy and can’t come up with something better for the plot). Jamie was always in the right place at the right time, and I found it very annoying.

Alexei on the other hand, I did not find annoying. I loved Alexei in this book. He was flirtatious, secretive, and dashing. It was great getting to see more of his character in this book, and I can’t wait for the next book because of his and Grace’s relationship. This isn’t my favorite series by any means because I find the plot a little womp, the twists a little lax, and the characters a little annoying. Nevertheless, I am hooked into the series and I will continue to read the rest of the books to come.

XOXO Tia

THOUGHTS: Resolutions and Other Belated Projects

 

I had the most awful revelation this week that some books simply cannot be finished. I have seen the terrible DF (didn’t finish) tag before on Goodreads and other blogs, but I never thought I would be one of those people. Then I got to thinking: there are tons of books out there (some I may never even get the change to read simply because there is not enough time in my life) and more get published every day. I want to read books I’m passionate about, but I also have a long list of books to-be-read. So I have, with a heavy heart, created my DF Stack.

My first resolution for myself and for Color Me Literary is to embrace the DF stack. It’s not a place where slow books, bad plots, and badly developed character go to die, but rather to lie in wait. I don’t pick up books I don’t want to read, so my DF Stack is going to be for those books that just didn’t work for me or were too slow and sludgy for me to finish. My hope is that in the future I may go back to the list and retry some of the books out. They’re not going there to die, but I do need a stack for books that are just not working for me so that I don’t feel forced to finish the super slow books. I want to put out book reviews weekly, and if I’m hung up on slow book that just isn’t going to happen.

This brings me to my second resolution, which has actually been in affect since before the New Year. Every Wednesday I will post a book review. Even if I haven’t finished a book quite yet, I’ll still do a review. It will just be on a book I’ve already read, just before I started reviewing. I love getting to read a big variety of books and review them here, and I want to continue doing that and really commit. So I am and I have. This post is belated simply because I wanted to prove that I could really stick to my weekly book review post, and I have.

My last resolution is something I hope to be rolling out in the next month or so for Color Me Literary. I am going to start reviewing films and TV shows that have been adapted from young adult fiction (I won’t, however, be reviewing films and shows that became YA books afterwards). I’ve always had a two-episode rule for TV shows where I watch the pilot and two episodes. Usually by the end of those episodes, I’ve got a pretty good idea of whether or not the show will be good in the long run. I’ve watched a lot of TV shows, and I’ve read and written pilots for classes. The two-episode rule has not let me down yet, and it is really was sparked my desire to start up this little project.

The young adult genre has really become a big thing and sparked a lot of adaptations. I really think it’s important to see how these adaptation are going and evolving, so that is why I’ve decided to review films as well as TV shows. I am going to try and be very unbiased when reviewing these, because I understand that doing so is one of the hardest tasks ever. Some films will never live up to their book predecessors, but part of the reason is because they’re going to be different, plain and simple. This being said, I’m not going to give away much more. These reviews will be unbiased and truthful, and that all I hope to ever do.

These three resolutions/projects are really going to change things up for Color Me Literary, and I’m excited to get started. I know my resolution should probably be to get people to actually read my reviews, but I’ve always said that this blog is mainly for me. I always want to get the ball rolling before I invite others into my journey, but maybe 2016 is the year I finally get this blog out there. I know I don’t have as many reviews as a lot of blogs, but I’m just doing what I love to do right now.

XOXO Tia

REVIEW: Paranormalcy by Kiersten White

            Evie’s always thought of herself as a normal teenager, even though she works for the International Paranormal Containment Agency, her ex-boyfriend is a faerie, she’s falling for a shape-shifter, and she’s the only person who can see through paranormals’ glamours. But Evie’s about to realize that she may very well be at the center of a dark faerie prophecy promising destruction to all paranormal creatures. So much for normal.

            While I really enjoyed Paranormalcy by Kiersten White, the book also kind of irked me toward the end. Evie’s character just seemed to wear me down after a while. I thought the book was fun and quirky for sure, but I could only read it in short bursts every couple days. This is not the kind of book I could ever read all through the night without stopping. I would lose all my brain cells and desire to ever read again.

            That being said, I want to mention again that I did enjoy the book, but it’s not one I ever care to read again. Evie is the platinum blond, pink loving, high school obsessed girl, Lend is the mysterious boy, and Reth is the mysterious boy with an ulterior motive. There wasn’t a lot of depth to the story. Sure, Evie was raised to be a supernatural snatcher who always thought she was human until learning otherwise, but her character was so stereotypical. The only way this story deviates from normal teenybopper stories is that Evie wants to be “normal” instead of “special”. Plus, I just can’t take a protagonist very seriously when they are infatuated with the color pink.

            The plot wasn’t awful. I actually enjoyed getting to learn new supernaturals, and seeing them in different ways. However, this book is literally all about Evie getting to a normal life and that’s insanely boring. I want to delve further into the supernatural realms! I read paranormal YA for the paranormal aspect. If I wanted to read a high school story, then I would stick to a contemporary YA. I loved that Evie was strong and independent, but she was so blinded by her need to be normal that she never even bothered to learn everything she could about the supernaturals she dealt with every day.

            My favorite part of the story was honestly the writing. Not what was written necessarily, but just Kiersten White’s writing. I think she did exceptionally well with her pacing of the story and there were a lot of spots where I laughed and even one where I cried. For a debut, White did great. However, it was a debut and there were flaws in the characters, plot and premise that lowered the rating of this book significantly. I will definitely be giving White another chance though, because debuts will always falter in some ways, but I did love her writing style.

XOXO Tia

REVIEW: Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan

            Kami Glass loves someone she’s never met…a boy she’s talked to in her head ever since she was born. She wasn’t silent about her imaginary friend during her childhood, and is thus a bit of an outsider in her sleepy English town of Sorry-in-the-Vale. Still, Kami hasn’t suffered too much from not fitting in. She has a best friend, runs the school newspaper, and is only occasionally caught talking to herself. Her life is in order, just the way she likes it, despite the voice in her head.

            But all that changes when the Lynburns return.

            The Lynburn family has owned the spectacular and sinister manor that overlooks Sorry-in-the-Vale for centuries. The mysterious twin sisters who abandoned their ancestral home a generation ago are back, along with their teenage sons, Jared and Ash, one of whom is eerily familiar to Kami. Kami is not one to shy away from the unknown—in fact, she’s determined to find answers for all the questions Sorry-in-the-Vale is suddenly posing. Who is responsible for the bloody deeds in the depths of the woods? What is her own mother hiding? And now that her imaginary friend has become a real boy, does she still love him? Does she hate him? Can she trust him?

There are 99 reasons to love Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan, and most of them revolve around the protagonist, Kami Glass. Not only is Kami a strong, independent girl who don’t need no man, but she’s the knight in shining armor to not one but two damsels in distress. She’s a sass-a-frass of a girl with the wit repertoire of Loki from Supernatural. She’s a badass girl, and her best friends are too.

Angela and her brother, Rusty are the new kids to town. They’re not let in on town secrets, but they’re fine with that. They don’t care for gossip or social interaction. They like naps, and Rusty teaches self-defense. Rusty has taught Angela and Kami to be the badass girls they are today. Holly, on the other hand, is a bit of a natural badass. She drives a motorcycle and all the boys flock to her like bees to honey. Angela and Holly bond over their mutual distaste for boys and their boyish ways. It’s clear that they are absolutely in love with each other!

Along with her two best friends, Kami’s gang includes two damsels in distress. These damsels are none other than Jared and Ash Lynburn of the infamous Lynburns. I mention the gang members because they really make the story interesting. I love the cast of characters in Unspoken. I didn’t know a supernatural, gothic romance would have such a great cast, but it really does! I really didn’t know that it was going to be such a powerful and savvy females novel.

Aside from the characters and roles they had, the plot was amazing as well. There aren’t a lot of stories in YA that I’ve seen that involve imaginary friends. I think that’s probably something more prevalent in middle grade where kids are actually shifting out of having imaginary friends. It was great to get to read something dealing with such a theme. I loved it, and I think Brennan really handled the problems that would arise from finding out your imaginary friend is real quite well.

I’m incredibly excited to sink my fangs into the rest of the Lynburn Legacy. I can’t say that I found too many cons in the first book of the series. I really hated Jared’s mother, but I think that was the point. The one thing that stuck out to me as odd was how much Jared and Kami were one. Now, let me get to the point before you tell me how that’s the point.

Kami is such a strong character and Jared is too. Clearly there was the question throughout the book about where one person ended and the other began. Jared knew everything about Kami, but Kami really never knew a lot about Jared, and it felt obvious how different they were. Yet, Uncle Rob kept mentioning how their bond made them basically the same in a way. It might have just been something Rob had to say to get his way, but it’s odd to think that some of Kami’s personality is there because of Jared. I wonder if that will make Kami’s character read a little differently in the next book, and I don’t really know if I want that but shouldn’t that be the case? Odd.

That’s the only con I have, but it could just be my imagination.

XOXO Tia

REVIEW: Hawksong by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes

            Danica Shardae is an avian shapeshifter, and the golden hawk’s form in which she takes to the sky is as natural to her as the human one that graces her on land. The only thing more familiar to her is war: It has raged between her people and the serpiente for so long, no one can remember how the fighting began. As heir to the avian throne, she’ll do anything in her power to stop this war—even accept Zane Cobriana, the terrifying leader of her kind’s greatest enemy, as her pair bond and make the two royal families one.

            Trust. It is all Zane asks of Danica—and all they ask of their people—but it may be more than she can give.

            Along with Tithe by Holly Black, Hawksong by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes prove to be my all-time favorite books. I don’t reread a lot of books (I find the act silly when there are so many new books that come out every day and plenty more old ones I have yet to read), but I do reread these ones and have many times.

            The thing that draws me back to Hawksong time and time again is partly the characters and partly the premise. Danica is a strong princess not afraid to get her gown a little bloodstained and her crown a little bent. She’s determined to stop the war between her people and her rival, at any cost. This is a characteristic that I absolutely admire. It’s a simple betrothal sort of tale which was really popular back in the early 2000s, but there’s so much more depth because of the premise and the characters.

            At its core, Hawksong is a love story, and getting to see the development of that pure love between the main characters is really what sets this story apart from others in the young adult world. A lot of YA books rely on love of the star-crossed destiny sort, but this book offers up something much more real with a slow burn. Danica never really sees when she falls in love with Zane and neither does the reader. Its just a natural love story set in the middle of a war-ravaged world where two nations have very little trust in the other. But they trust their leaders, and its very interesting to see two nations try to mend after being at war with each other for so long.

            This book is definitely underrated. There are so many great things in this book that really pertain to our world now. We are currently at war with another nation and that has caused much distrust, and I think this book really sheds a lot of real-world lessons that were pertinent in 2004 and still are twelve years later. So yes, it may appear to be a silly love story to some, but it is way more than that. This book will always be one of my favorites and I encourage everyone to read it.

XOXO Tia