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Originally posted at The Wandering Fangirl.
I feel really strange writing this review with Nicki Minaj on, because The Disenchantments celebrates the girl rockers of the 80s and on that paved the way for the likes of the titular fictional band, but anything to get those writing juices flowing, am I right? Moving on!
The Disenchantments begins as the three girls in the band -- Bev, Meg and Alexa -- and their friend and faithful roadie Colby, our narrator, stand on the precipice that will lead into that huge plunge into adulthood. Colby and Bev are best friends, and have been planning to skip college for a year and see Europe instead -- until Bev changes her mind, tells Colby she's going to college after all, and leaves him in the lurch. It doesn't help that Colby's madly in love with Bev and always has been.
Thus begins a rather charming novel about what it means to suddenly not know what you're facing in life, what it's like when the steadiest thing in your life suddenly isn't there anymore, and how to face it all without giving up. Narrated by Colby, it's easy to get caught up in in the girls and their not-so-great music, in the way he sees each and every one of them. There's an almost nostalgic feel to the book, for those of us who've moved on past that point of no return. That moment when you realized you were going to have to be an adult and there was no turning back.
All of that is caught up in the strangeness and delight that makes up a road trip; all the strange people you meet, the shady motels, the gorgeous landscapes, and how close you get to the others you're spending hours in a car (or VW Minibus, in this case) with. It's tangled up in how painful and wonderful love can be, what it's like to grow apart from your closest friends. What it's like to move on and still have some sort of hope for your future.
The Disenchantments struck a surprisingly close to home for me, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I'd recommend it for someone looking light YA that has a thread of deeper emotion to it.
Also, I may or may not have sunglasses suspiciously similar in shape and color to the ones on the girl on the cover.
I feel really strange writing this review with Nicki Minaj on, because The Disenchantments celebrates the girl rockers of the 80s and on that paved the way for the likes of the titular fictional band, but anything to get those writing juices flowing, am I right? Moving on!
The Disenchantments begins as the three girls in the band -- Bev, Meg and Alexa -- and their friend and faithful roadie Colby, our narrator, stand on the precipice that will lead into that huge plunge into adulthood. Colby and Bev are best friends, and have been planning to skip college for a year and see Europe instead -- until Bev changes her mind, tells Colby she's going to college after all, and leaves him in the lurch. It doesn't help that Colby's madly in love with Bev and always has been.
Thus begins a rather charming novel about what it means to suddenly not know what you're facing in life, what it's like when the steadiest thing in your life suddenly isn't there anymore, and how to face it all without giving up. Narrated by Colby, it's easy to get caught up in in the girls and their not-so-great music, in the way he sees each and every one of them. There's an almost nostalgic feel to the book, for those of us who've moved on past that point of no return. That moment when you realized you were going to have to be an adult and there was no turning back.
All of that is caught up in the strangeness and delight that makes up a road trip; all the strange people you meet, the shady motels, the gorgeous landscapes, and how close you get to the others you're spending hours in a car (or VW Minibus, in this case) with. It's tangled up in how painful and wonderful love can be, what it's like to grow apart from your closest friends. What it's like to move on and still have some sort of hope for your future.
The Disenchantments struck a surprisingly close to home for me, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I'd recommend it for someone looking light YA that has a thread of deeper emotion to it.
Also, I may or may not have sunglasses suspiciously similar in shape and color to the ones on the girl on the cover.
On to Mockingjay to complete my re-read!
Randomly, a friend and I each bought one of the Capitol Colours by China Glaze nail polishes last night, and I got Stone Cold. My friend got Harvest Moon. They are sooooo pretty.
Randomly, a friend and I each bought one of the Capitol Colours by China Glaze nail polishes last night, and I got Stone Cold. My friend got Harvest Moon. They are sooooo pretty.
Originally posted at The Wandering Fangirl.
The thing about a novel like this, a novel that declares everything it entails in the title...you have to live up to that name. You have to create a first moment of connection without sinking to the dreaded paranormal romance ~Instaluv~ trap. You have to create true chemistry between the leads. You have to make things believable, because if you're going to tell me that two characters are going to fall in love on a flight to London, then I want to believe in it so wholeheartedly that I can't argue against it.
Sadly, this novel doesn't exactly get there. I can see the connections between Hadley and Oliver, and why they'd be drawn to each other. The problem is, it felt like there wasn't enough time for love to happen. In trying to make the novel seem much more than just a simple romance novel, Hadley's entire reason for the trip, her father's wedding to a new woman, dominates the novel, not the romance. I found myself caring less and less as time went on, because 70% of what I was reading was about Hadley and her father's relationship. I didn't care what happened with Oliver by the end of the novel, and instead had way more questions than answers. When separating Hadley's growth and her relationship with her father from the romance, it was actually a pretty insightful and touching novel. When separating Hadley and Oliver from the family stuff...it fell flat.
This could have been a really fantastic contemporary romance novel -- and there's no shame in that, absolutely none -- but it got bogged down in content that turned it into an entirely different book. I wanted epic romance, dammit.
The thing about a novel like this, a novel that declares everything it entails in the title...you have to live up to that name. You have to create a first moment of connection without sinking to the dreaded paranormal romance ~Instaluv~ trap. You have to create true chemistry between the leads. You have to make things believable, because if you're going to tell me that two characters are going to fall in love on a flight to London, then I want to believe in it so wholeheartedly that I can't argue against it.
Sadly, this novel doesn't exactly get there. I can see the connections between Hadley and Oliver, and why they'd be drawn to each other. The problem is, it felt like there wasn't enough time for love to happen. In trying to make the novel seem much more than just a simple romance novel, Hadley's entire reason for the trip, her father's wedding to a new woman, dominates the novel, not the romance. I found myself caring less and less as time went on, because 70% of what I was reading was about Hadley and her father's relationship. I didn't care what happened with Oliver by the end of the novel, and instead had way more questions than answers. When separating Hadley's growth and her relationship with her father from the romance, it was actually a pretty insightful and touching novel. When separating Hadley and Oliver from the family stuff...it fell flat.
This could have been a really fantastic contemporary romance novel -- and there's no shame in that, absolutely none -- but it got bogged down in content that turned it into an entirely different book. I wanted epic romance, dammit.
Originally posted at The Wandering Fangirl.
Possibly the biggest love letter to nerds and 80s pop culture out there to date, Ready Player One following Wade, aka Parzival, as he hunts for a treasure within the virtual reality game he spends most of his time in. Aside from the fun of the virtual reality and pop culture references, what makes this book really resonate is the way Wade grows as he deals with friends, enemies, and the difference between his virtual world and the real one. At times I felt the book dragged on a bit with all the pop culture descriptions and the length of time between the moments the action picked up again, but I always sprang right back when things got interesting again. It's incredibly fun, engaging, and as someone born in the middle of the 80s, it made me feel so awesome to know about 98% of all the pop culture references.
Possibly the biggest love letter to nerds and 80s pop culture out there to date, Ready Player One following Wade, aka Parzival, as he hunts for a treasure within the virtual reality game he spends most of his time in. Aside from the fun of the virtual reality and pop culture references, what makes this book really resonate is the way Wade grows as he deals with friends, enemies, and the difference between his virtual world and the real one. At times I felt the book dragged on a bit with all the pop culture descriptions and the length of time between the moments the action picked up again, but I always sprang right back when things got interesting again. It's incredibly fun, engaging, and as someone born in the middle of the 80s, it made me feel so awesome to know about 98% of all the pop culture references.
Originally posted at The Wandering Fangirl.
With so many rave reviews on Goodreads, I was looking forward to Article 5, but uuugghhhh it fell totally flat for me. It was an easy read, one I did it two short sittings, but I didn't particularly enjoy it. When creating a dystopia like the one in Article 5, you need to at least have some sort of explanation. "The was a war and there's an overly-religious government in place and btw this happened only a few years ago" does not a good dystopia make. On top of that, Ember, our main character, was so hard for me to like. She seemed so naive and stupid, and if she was written that way because she was totally sheltered her whole life, cool. If not, well. Ember's constant questioning of Chase, her former love and rescuer, drove me up a wall. So did their lack of communication, angst and constant second guessing what each other said because they were both so hurt by the other. Too much drama, man.
With so many rave reviews on Goodreads, I was looking forward to Article 5, but uuugghhhh it fell totally flat for me. It was an easy read, one I did it two short sittings, but I didn't particularly enjoy it. When creating a dystopia like the one in Article 5, you need to at least have some sort of explanation. "The was a war and there's an overly-religious government in place and btw this happened only a few years ago" does not a good dystopia make. On top of that, Ember, our main character, was so hard for me to like. She seemed so naive and stupid, and if she was written that way because she was totally sheltered her whole life, cool. If not, well. Ember's constant questioning of Chase, her former love and rescuer, drove me up a wall. So did their lack of communication, angst and constant second guessing what each other said because they were both so hurt by the other. Too much drama, man.
Originally posted at The Wandering Fangirl.
Honestly, I wasn't so blown away by Partials. I love me some post-apocalyptic dystopian YA, and it's even better whencylons human-looking androids are the ones who destroyed the world. RM is a virus that killed most humans, and kills babies days after they're born. The human race is dying off, and Kira, teenage medic and doctor in training, decides she's going to cure it. By kidnapping a Partial, the robots that destroyed humanity. Kira was a strong protagonist, I can't deny that, but it mostly felt like she was off doing what she did because she was incredibly stubborn and couldn't even consider the fact that maybe, I don't know, she was being crazy. It would have helped if all the adults in the novel weren't written as roadblocks for Kira or totally eeeeevil~ conspirators.
Honestly, I wasn't so blown away by Partials. I love me some post-apocalyptic dystopian YA, and it's even better when
Nooooot feeling it. A little too pretentious of a read for me.
Took me half the book to realize I didn't like Quentin or his friends that much.
Originally posted at The Wandering Fangirl.
I loved Delirium, so I was definitely looking forward to Pandemonium, even keeping in mind that sophomore novels can never live up to that wonderful rush of the first novel. Pandemonium tries hard to kick things up a notch, but ultimately it seems to fall a tiny bit short. Only a tiny bit! Lena's story is still engaging, and it's nice to follow her again. The one thing that knocked the fourth star off this review, however, was the new love interest. Why, Lauren Oliver? WHY?
I loved Delirium, so I was definitely looking forward to Pandemonium, even keeping in mind that sophomore novels can never live up to that wonderful rush of the first novel. Pandemonium tries hard to kick things up a notch, but ultimately it seems to fall a tiny bit short. Only a tiny bit! Lena's story is still engaging, and it's nice to follow her again. The one thing that knocked the fourth star off this review, however, was the new love interest