This month's book: Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl.
So settle yourselves in, grab your beverage of choice and feel free to voice your opinion. Remember that I'm all about positivity, so we're going over what we loved and then what we wish was different.
Things I Loved:
1. The setting. Set in the south, the setting actually became a character all its own. I found it charming and well-done, if not a little slow-paced at times (see #1 below).
2. The MC, Ethan Waite. Told from a male POV, this YA novel gave a different side to a heavily populated female genre. He was likable. He didn't do stupid things. He wasn't a complete geekazoid. He wasn't mean, rude, brash, or in your face. He was average. Likable. Willing to take risks. I really liked him. (Sheesh, should I use "like" some more? Word choice, Elana, word choice.)
3. The secondary characters. The caretaker. The girlfriend. The best friend. The aunts. They were all well-rounded, well-done, and not cliche. Since I'm a pretty character-driven reader, I enjoyed this.
What I Wish Were Different:
1. The length. Holy loooooong, my friends. I devoured the first 250 - 300 pages, and then I was ready for the climax. The problem? It didn't come for another 250 pages. I mean, I like characters, but I like things to happen to them even more.
2. Which brings me to the climax. I was a tiny bit disappointed. Because it didn't really end. And I'd read 557 pages and it didn't really end!
So yeah. That annoys me a little bit, but then I have to remember that I'm more of a stand-alone reader/writer and I want my books to be complete stories all by themselves. But this wasn't that story. It's painfully obvious that there's another book (or four).
Overall Rating: 3.5 stars
Have you read Beautiful Creatures? What did you think? If you haven't, I would recommend it as a standard YA paranormal novel.
This month's book: The Dark Divine by Bree Despain. First, I'm going to open the discussion on the book. Anyone is welcome to comment on what I said or add their feelings about the book, sort of like we're all sitting around my lavish living room with mugs of steaming liquid while a snowstorm rages outside. Okay? Okay.
Also, I don't think there's too many spoilers if you haven't read it, so you can safely scan my review.
I'm all about exuding positivity, so I'm going to name what I liked first and then say a few things I wish were slightly different. Not bad, mind you. Not that I disliked. Just wish were different.
What I liked:
1. The cover. Too bad it has absolutely nothing to do with the words inside. But it intrigued me from the day I saw it, and I would've bought the book based on the cover alone.
2. The MC. She mostly stayed with her character. There was only one time she went gallivanting off doing things I didn't feel like were in her character. Overall, she was well-portrayed.
3. The MC's family. She had a "whole" family, with a mom and a dad and siblings. And that's pretty rare in YA these days. I enjoyed both her mom and dad, and the realism in their relationship. I liked the older brother a lot.
What I wish were slightly different:
1. The romance. Since I'm a character-driven reader, I like my characters to be believable and do realistic things. And the whole time I was being set up for the bad guy to be the male love interest. And he was too bad. He'd done unspeakable things. To her family. To her. To others.
And then...the girl is declaring her undying love for him. It didn't feel real to me. It felt rushed and convenient, with little reasoning.
2. The villain. I wasn't sure who it was -- except for the love interest. And then it turned out to be--get this--this other guy in the book! Um, no. I couldn't go there. The story didn't unfold in a way to lead me to that. And it just made me...unsettled.
3. I'll admit that I almost quit reading this book about 75 pages from the end. Here's why: The MC puts away this book that will tell her all the answers and says she doesn't want to know.
Well, if she doesn't, why should I?? I closed the book, a little peeved, and refused to pick it up again for 24 hours. Then I got over my petty fight with myself and finished it. But seriously? If the MC doesn't care about solving the mystery, why should the reader?
But overall, I would give The Dark Divine 3.5 stars out of 5. I did read it fairly fast, I was intrigued by the mystery surrounding the bad guy, and I loved the background of the MC.
If you've read this book, what did you think? If you haven't, you should, my "dislikes" notwithstanding.
This month's book: Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl.