I wanted this book to be more historical than romance.
Liked: I did like that it started off with the action.
Disliked: Marianne, the main character, seems to be a basic girl character. The story felt average too. It may not be as basic as I am making it seem the scene on the cover really does happen from what I have read online. I’m just not here for a woman getting treated like trash and not having anything distinguishable to her personality. -YAWN, yes I really did think yawn (a couple of times) while reading the first two chapters from this book.
I noticed a couple of tropes in the book that if you have read romance for a while you will recognize.
Trope: describing men lips as sensual.
Trope: Random guy(s) that that are aggressively obsessed with the heroine, probably will be villain later.
Trope: There cannot be another woman in the general vicinity without there being unreasonable jealousy of the main character.
Failed
I Need To Be Appeased On a positive note reading this did make me think about what I need to get back into the romance genre. I actually want the main character to be a anti-heroine just so I can avoid the plain as bread girl character. I don’t want a plain guy character either. And lastly just as important I need to be able to feel the romance between the characters.
One thing I like is that it feels different from other horror novels I have read. It might not be as creative as I think it is but it is interesting.There are only 22 ratings on goodread for this book. That is another thing I enjoy there is not a lot of attention on this book. So I don’t have expectations on this book because I have not heard about it over and over again. I like it. It starts off with the action right away which is definitely a plus.
Not Going Into Books Left To Read Shelf
I got this for my cousin but realized after I got it home that it is vintage. I don’t want them to tear this book up so I will get them a new copy later.
I already read this and was getting this for my cousin but I thought about it. They are probably too young to really appreciate this. So I will hold onto this until they get older.
I already read this and got it for my cousins to read. I forgot though that I gave them my copy of the book the day before so I am keeping this copy.
For My Cousin(s)
I also got Monster House based on the movie which I could not find the cover for.
So I got a craving for a teen romance from reading Ever After High, Monster High, and visual medias. It just got into my head to read a ya novel even after all my talk recently. It is best in these situations to just let myself sample a couple until I realize the state of my relationship with ya. So I sampled a bunch of ya novels.
I Need To Be Engaged…
It had me a bit with the thing on being a quiet girl. It just did not go further to catch me. I want ya so bad to go that extra mile to catch me as a teen. Even if it did not catch me as a teen I want it to engage me. This story started going the average teen territory which is where it lost me. Discontinue
I think I sampled a bit of this when I was in high school and found it boring. I need to trust past me more. I read one chapter from a sample and was done. It was boring as far as I read. discontinue
I find the family dynamic to be basic. I like the idea of the frog prince fairy tale. I want to like the relationship between the main character and the guy but I feel that I am trying to like it more than I actually like it. I am not engaged. discontinue
I picked this book up because it has a romance in it and I have always kept looking at this book then putting it down. I decided to finally read it. This book is so average. Coming from a person who is trying to look for something different (or can be good that it having all these things I don’t usually like not be a problem). I think I was barking up the wrong tree with this one. Popular mean girl- check. cliques that kind of make no sense- check. It was just so average. Discontinue
Please be good…
I like that it shows the relationship between a brother and sister is important. In trying to pump up romantic relationship other relationships get put to the side. I like also that the story is about a different race teen. continue
This had some funny moments towards the end of the preview. It seemed to have promise in terms of the character versus a lot of other ya books I have read recently.
I need to step away from ya completely and not come back because I am starting to get into that stage where I am going to say mean things about the category. What gets me about ya is that it has the makings to be great but falls into tropes and stereotypes. I continued still for some reason.
My biggest complaint that is going to run a theme throughout this review is the lack of nuances in this book. My one of many complaints about ya (and just most other categories/genres) is the lack of distinction going on.
-Of course the main character main guy is stereotypically hot and has a dark secret
-Of course the lead girl is a part of the nerd crowd who is hot but no one ever approaches her because she is so unattainable and only a nerd by association to her friend -who turns out to be a jerk who feels entitled to her +yeah, for standing up against friend zoning -minus for how the friend zoning was handled
-the perpetuation that you are not living your life unless you are partying and doing what all the cool kids is doing, is something I sincerely don’t like
-To sum this up there is not anything really creative or distinct.
I did have a weird interest in this story but I have to ask myself what will I gain from this.
Like: I think that this book is unique in that it has a main character who does not speak for most of the book. Reading this made me think about how I have not read that many books that deal with disabled or characters who go outside the norm. The main character is not disabled but it made me think about reading a book with a deaf person.
Didn’t Like: I did not like that this book even though it has a different premise than most books reads like an average ya book. Yeah, it is different in that she does not speak and how that affects her interactions with people. But it still is about focusing mainly on her relationship with the said guy character.
I wanted to see more of how being silent manifested in her as a person. I want to state first that not everyone has the same experience as me and this is just my feeling on the text. My feelings come from me being a person who does not talk a lot. When I was young I did not start really talking until I was six years old. I am more of an introvert so I spend large amounts of time not talking. My not talking manifested in me daydreaming and thinking a lot. I thought how cool that would be as a reader to see that. I thought it would be interesting to see a person who does not talk and how active their imagination and mind is. I don’t own the experience of someone who does not talk but I want to see more of her as a person beyond cliché ya stuff. I don’t have to see her be me. I just don’t want to see her in relation to Clay. I want to see her personality. I want to see her as a person.
I talked to my brother and he gave a valid point on my the author may have made the character this way. The point is that the character is made this way to be able for everyone to relate to her. I think that is the problem with a lot of books in genres that even go beyond ya. Authors want to hit every reader instead of forcing readers to go beyond their comfort zone in the type of characters and their experiences that they read. When I say I want distinction or nuance this is what I am talking about. Why does it still feel like I am reading an average ya novel even though the main character has different experiences than the average teen? I really want something that challenges the status quo of how we address high school. I thought about recently after watching Twisted why do they make it seem like if you are not drinking, smoking, or rebelling you are not living your high school life to the fullest. Why is the nerdy teen seen as this person who has no life? These are the things that keep me from being able to get back into ya. These are the things that I think about when people say that ya is talking about important things.
Self-Publishing: My Expectations vs. The Reality
I think that I have this idealistic expectation of self-publishing because it is toted as this space that is away from the chains of mainstream publishing. Many people make self-publishing seem like this place for people who works are too creative to get into mainstream publishing. The reality that I find myself reading in is of books that are just as unique and creative as published works. It is a travesty that a place that could essentially do anything is just plain as vanilla. I don’t want to say that all self-publishing is not creative but a vast majority that I am seeing is basic.
Respecting Authors: The Line Between My Wants And Authors Accountability, etc.
Do I respect authors? I saw this recently on this video:
The video is about the pressure that George r.r. Martin has to go through to finish his next book.
My opinion on George r.r. Martin with his books has always been for him to take as much time as he needs to write the next book. I came to the series late, when books 1-5 was already out. So I had the luxury of taking my time reading the books, and that I did. The problem now is that the series is currently airing and it is already having things from book 4 and 5 in season 4 ( which annoys me because I am on book 4 and why fast forward to stuff when you know the author is not done with the series/far enough to afford the luxury). He does not have the time ( this is not taking into account if the show will do the same thing it did with the third book) to take as he did with the other books. Now he has to write faster to the pace the show. I am scared personally that the books could possibly not be as good as because of him having to rush. It is so rare to find a book that is at the level that A Song of Ice and Fire is that I am cool with waiting. I will say that, I do not think I have experienced the amount of people telling authors to hurry up and put out the next book as I have with this series.
I think that I respect authors. It is hard to make that distinction between what is being criticism and what is being rude. For me it is extra hard when I know that genres and entire categories can do better. I should not be reading books that are operating at the same level as everyone else or fiction in the past. The lack of creativity and distinction to me is one of the hardest thing to have to read through with fiction. I want so many things and know that so many things could happen but won’t for the same old, same old. What stood out to me in this video the most is the idea that artist don’t owe readers anything. I want to endorse that sentiment because there are many things that happen in certain series such as A Song of Ice and Fire that people don’t agree with that made them stop watching/reading the series. I feel as a reader that authors do have power over their creations and there is a certain point that I want to say we should not question. But as a reader there are so MANY things that are not present in fiction that it bugs me. I can’t let writers and others who put things out into the world off the hook. What bothers me at times is that put my time and energy into these things and people expect me to not comment. Writers and the people who put things out into the world owe me something, not just anything mind you. Writers and the other people who put things out into the world you can take as much time as you want but I still want something. I want you to bring me something that is not basic, generic, or average. I want uniqueness and greatness. I understand that there are may readers that have a sense of entitlement. Now that the line between authors and other professionals are lessening you are more prone to seeing that. I don’t like this ever smaller growing line that separates authors and readers, honestly. I don’t like that so many readers want to be authors now. Now people are being less subjective in reviewing books they are worried more about hurting authors than actually being honest about books. I am not talking about being a jerk towards authors let me get that out-of-the-way. Then now that more authors are present on social media and there is a connection to authors. I don’t want to break the wall between me and my favorite authors. I just want to read their books and rant or rave about them. I don’t want to rush them to finish x book. If I like an author I trust them enough to sit back and enjoy. I don’t want hand wringing and this is my story so shut up. I put my time and effort into your writing. I want space where I can rant about how much I hated something without having to worry about authors feelings. It really bothers me a bit because it is coming to a certain point where it feels like shut up and accept what I give you. The idea that I am supposed to thumbs up everything writers put out without questions makes me think why am I here if my opinion does not matter. I want to the best possible for writers and readers.
This blog sums up my feelings basically if this is too rambly :
I like the different point of views of the characters. I have been wanting an under the sea fantasy/sci-fi novel for a while. I think that this may be the thing that I need.
East of the Sun and West of the Moon (librivox) I listened to this on librivox. I initially thought that this story was just Beauty and the Beast. It is nice to say that it is only similar in one aspect the man/bear curse. As I was listening to it I thought this would make a great retelling. One of the things that I wanted as I was reading this was for the prince to end up with the ugly girl. I seem to want the exact opposite of the way that normal stories want to go. I want more stories now with the evil, ugly, or etc. character finding love.
July Reading Plans
I am not really into reading right now so I probably will not read anything in July.
It had me a bit with the thing on being a quiet girl. It just did not go further to catch me. I want ya so bad to go that extra mile to catch me as a teen. Even if it did not catch me as a teen I want it to engage me. This story started going the average teen territory which is where it lost me. 
I think I sampled a bit of this when I was in high school and found it boring. I need to trust past me more. I read one chapter from a sample and was done. It was boring as far as I read. 
I find the family dynamic to be basic. I like the idea of the frog prince fairy tale. I want to like the relationship between the main character and the guy but I feel that I am trying to like it more than I actually like it. I am not engaged. 
I like that it shows the relationship between a brother and sister is important. In trying to pump up romantic relationship other relationships get put to the side. I like also that the story is about a different race teen. 
This had some funny moments towards the end of the preview. It seemed to have promise in terms of the character versus a lot of other ya books I have read recently.
My biggest complaint that is going to run a theme throughout this review is the lack of nuances in this book. My one of many complaints about ya (and just most other categories/genres) is the lack of distinction going on.
I like the different point of views of the characters. I have been wanting an under the sea fantasy/sci-fi novel for a while. I think that this may be the thing that I need.
themollyweather 