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Really wanted to have fun with this, but the modern oh-so-quirky voice was too much for me to handle.
DNF @ 27% on audio. I'm sorry Richard Armitage, but not even you could save this for me.
The thrills of this entire thing rest on the author doing her best to write in a way that deliberately keeps information from the reader in a very awkward, infuriating way. Everything is "but not since the last time" or "ever since it happened", that drives me NUTS. It's one thing to do so sparingly to up the tension at certain moments, but this happens from the beginning and it's about everything. EVERYTHING.
I had to stop when I realized I spent 15 minutes of my commute in this manner about Anna visiting her MOTHER. 3-4 chapters of Him and Her back and forth for the same events from each perspective, but it starts with "she hadn't seen <i>her</i> in months" or "he knew what [Anna] would find behind that door". Spoiler alert: Anna's mother has dementia and her childhood home was a rundown mess because of it. Which you knew if you took two seconds to think about it but it's treated like some secretive, <i>thrilling</i> reveal!
On top of that, it's OBVIOUS that both Jack and Anna (Him and Her of the title) have big secrets relating to the murder victim and maybe the murder itself, but the way things are dropped is just so infuriating. It's like the characters KNOW that they're being written from a first person perspective and thus won't think about any details to obfuscate the narrative on purpose.
The thrills of this entire thing rest on the author doing her best to write in a way that deliberately keeps information from the reader in a very awkward, infuriating way. Everything is "but not since the last time" or "ever since it happened", that drives me NUTS. It's one thing to do so sparingly to up the tension at certain moments, but this happens from the beginning and it's about everything. EVERYTHING.
I had to stop when I realized I spent 15 minutes of my commute in this manner about Anna visiting her MOTHER. 3-4 chapters of Him and Her back and forth for the same events from each perspective, but it starts with "she hadn't seen <i>her</i> in months" or "he knew what [Anna] would find behind that door". Spoiler alert: Anna's mother has dementia and her childhood home was a rundown mess because of it. Which you knew if you took two seconds to think about it but it's treated like some secretive, <i>thrilling</i> reveal!
On top of that, it's OBVIOUS that both Jack and Anna (Him and Her of the title) have big secrets relating to the murder victim and maybe the murder itself, but the way things are dropped is just so infuriating. It's like the characters KNOW that they're being written from a first person perspective and thus won't think about any details to obfuscate the narrative on purpose.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Murder
Moderate: Infidelity, Sexual content
Review also posted at The Wandering Fangirl.
The premise of this is right up my alley: dystopian YA fiction set in a post-apocalyptic zombie future, in a small, religious village with secrets, surrounded by a forest where the zombies live. In a manner of speaking. The ingredients are all there for a great novel, but they just don't come together. The problem is our protagonist, Mary. We start off with Mary already an orphan and her brother turning her back on her as she joins the Sisterhood, the village's religious organization. All Mary does is think about how she wants to leave the village, whine about not loving the boy she's betrothed to, but his brother, and wonder what's beyond the forest when all evidence of an outsider is erased by the Sisterhood. Once I hit a hundred pages I realized nothing had happened. All I had read about was Mary doing dumb things and whining about her life, and not even the promise of answers for all the mysteries of the Sisterhood was enough to keep me going. I really wanted to like this book, too.
The premise of this is right up my alley: dystopian YA fiction set in a post-apocalyptic zombie future, in a small, religious village with secrets, surrounded by a forest where the zombies live. In a manner of speaking. The ingredients are all there for a great novel, but they just don't come together. The problem is our protagonist, Mary. We start off with Mary already an orphan and her brother turning her back on her as she joins the Sisterhood, the village's religious organization. All Mary does is think about how she wants to leave the village, whine about not loving the boy she's betrothed to, but his brother, and wonder what's beyond the forest when all evidence of an outsider is erased by the Sisterhood. Once I hit a hundred pages I realized nothing had happened. All I had read about was Mary doing dumb things and whining about her life, and not even the promise of answers for all the mysteries of the Sisterhood was enough to keep me going. I really wanted to like this book, too.
Ohhhh boy. When the first 50 pages I read turn out to be all angst and inexplicable epic romance, I know a book's not for me. Setting this aside and moving on to other things I have to read.
I so badly wanted to like this too, because shapeshifting dragons.
I so badly wanted to like this too, because shapeshifting dragons.
This book annoyed the shit out of me, and I ended up not even getting a hundred pages in.
There were many things that bothered me, but what ended up killing my interest was the random POV jumping. Some chapters last three pages and focus on the POV of some random person in the court, sometimes POVs change in a single paragraph, or the narrative lets us in on the private thoughts of at least two-three characters in a single section. It made everything feel disconnected for me, and I couldn't keep going.
There were many things that bothered me, but what ended up killing my interest was the random POV jumping. Some chapters last three pages and focus on the POV of some random person in the court, sometimes POVs change in a single paragraph, or the narrative lets us in on the private thoughts of at least two-three characters in a single section. It made everything feel disconnected for me, and I couldn't keep going.
Review also posted at The Wandering Fangirl.
I figured I could use some light, fun reading among all the ghost/dystopian books I've been reading, but I reeeeally picked wrong this time. I don't take my popcorn books as seriously as the others I read, so I give them a lot of leeway. But I got about halfway through How to Host a Killer Party and realized I didn't care about what was going on. It was cute, sure, and Presley Parker is a fun protagonist, but this is a case of the book just not being for me.
I figured I could use some light, fun reading among all the ghost/dystopian books I've been reading, but I reeeeally picked wrong this time. I don't take my popcorn books as seriously as the others I read, so I give them a lot of leeway. But I got about halfway through How to Host a Killer Party and realized I didn't care about what was going on. It was cute, sure, and Presley Parker is a fun protagonist, but this is a case of the book just not being for me.
Review also posted at The Wandering Fangirl.
I have a low tolerance for angst without reason, and The Vast Fields of Ordinary hit that button repeatedly. Dade's crappy job, his parents divorcing, his borderline emotionally and physically abusive, secretive gay relationship and his apathy about life did not speak to me. There were so many things Dade could have done -- don't sit with the homophobic jocks when they accuse you of being gay, don't be an asshole and continue to talk to your sort-of boyfriend, tell the girl who has a crush on you that you don't like her that way instead of just running away like she's got cooties -- that it makes his angst about his life feel manufactured. I couldn't relate to him at all.
I have a low tolerance for angst without reason, and The Vast Fields of Ordinary hit that button repeatedly. Dade's crappy job, his parents divorcing, his borderline emotionally and physically abusive, secretive gay relationship and his apathy about life did not speak to me. There were so many things Dade could have done -- don't sit with the homophobic jocks when they accuse you of being gay, don't be an asshole and continue to talk to your sort-of boyfriend, tell the girl who has a crush on you that you don't like her that way instead of just running away like she's got cooties -- that it makes his angst about his life feel manufactured. I couldn't relate to him at all.
Giving this up for now. It's interesting, but there isn't a good balance between introducing the reader to the world and starting the plot right up, which makes things feel off-kilter from the first few pages. I kept thinking I'd picked up the second book in the series by accident and was missing so much that would have been explained before.
And all the cigar smoking felt so contrived. "Oooh, my female character is so awesome and breaks the mold she loves cigars, do you see what I did there?" I did. And it's lame.
And all the cigar smoking felt so contrived. "Oooh, my female character is so awesome and breaks the mold she loves cigars, do you see what I did there?" I did. And it's lame.
Gave it a hundred pages, but it didn't pick up or hook me. I'm not sure how a book about mermaid siren and her romance with a flying dude can be boring, but Between the Sea and Sky managed it.