Tag Archives: 2-stars

Review: Kiersten White – And I Darken

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And I Darken
Kierstan White

Lada has been ruthless from the day she was born. Destined to be a boy, but born a weakling girl, Lada knows that the only way up in the world is to be hard and cruel. When she and her brother are sent off as hostages, Lada sees it as both exile and freedom.

25324111I wanted to like this novel, I really did. But instead it reminded me of Ruined, without the magic. Or maybe Red Queen, which also has that whole creeping up on the throne thing. Have I lost my touch, and I only love fantasy novels again? I don’t think so…

Apparently this is based on the Ottoman empire and Vlad the Impaler, but I didn’t realise that until later. The Ottoman empire sounded familiar, but if you’ve been reading my blog for a while, I’m certain you would remember that I’m not all that great at history or geography.

I finished this novel with a sense of having slogged through a hard read. I then complained to my partner that it felt like I had wasted my time. It’s not badly written, but the story and characters lack a spark that would have made the novel better. For that reason, I’m giving it a rather miserable 2 stars. Spend your reading time elsewhere.

2star

Penguin Random House | 28 June 2016 | AU $19.99 | Paperback

Review: Valerie Davisson – Forest Park

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Forest Park
Valerie Davisson

Logan loves her new job, and can’t wait to learn more from pioneers in the area. Little does she know that a Vietnamese family will take her heart, and that she will be lost in a mystery while losing her faith in men once again.

28230074What sold the first novel to me was missing in this novel. While there were interlocking storylines, it didn’t ‘have the mystery of the first novel. It also lapsed back into too descriptive prose – the one line that has stuck with me is that Logan wears Burt’s Bees Cranberry flavour.

It had potential with everything, yet failed to deliver. Logan, where is your head? Why can’t you just talk to people? The passive-aggressive ignoring is not doing you any favours. What kind of woman are you anyway? And honestly, you didn’t do any mystery solving this time.

As for the last novel (sorry to keep comparing them), the title of this novel means very little. Much of the action appears to take place in Logan’s head and bedroom, rather than in the park the novel is named for. In fact, the park doesn’t seem to play a big role until somewhere near the end, and it seems like an afterthought.

I was really excited for this novel, and then turned out very disappointed. I’m tempted to give only 2 stars, but it wasn’t that badly written compared to some stuff I have read recently. Perhaps if you REALLY think you might like it, or have already been invested in Logan by Shattered, give it a read.

3star

Review: Michael Gerard Bauer – The Pain, My Mother, Sir Tiffy, Cyber Boy & Me

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The Pain, My Mother, Sir Tiffy, Cyber Boy & Me
Michael Gerard Bauer

Maggie has three realistic goals for the year. Unfortunately, her past seems to be halting any sort of progression – she’s going to need to step outside what she thinks, and think about other people too.

28931578This novel takes both its name and its conversational writing style In the ‘tradition’ of Me and Earl and the Dying Girl. Now, if you’ll remember my review, I didn’t particularly like that novel, I preferred The Haters. Instead of sex and penis jokes, this novel is filled with puns. If you love puns, you might love the way the novel is written. For me, I could have done with less humour and more substance.

Although the different chapters purport to reveal and hide things in equal measure to how Maggie’s life goes positive to negative, I found the progression of the novel slow and the storyline typical. There are better novels out there that will give teenage readers more to bite into.

I have faith from other reviews that this author’s other offerings are better – maybe I will pick up The Running Man in my spare time if it crosses my path. I’m not going to seek it out though, enough teenage fiction for me.

No outlasting love for me here. Maggie is a self-absorbed brat that although her character develops throughout the novel, for me she never became more likeable. For that, I’m going to give it 3 stars. The main reason I read it was so that I could leave it for my niece to read and I didn’t have to bring it home with me! BCID – 352–14075986.

3star

 

Review: Jessica Warman – the last good day of the year

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the last good day of the year
Jessica Warman

Turtle is taken on New Years Eve, and her sister Sam watches a man take her and is able to describe him accurately for the police to pick him up, and charge him with murder. Years later, she moves back and other things begin to fall into place.

20613800If this novel had been billed as an expose of what it looks like when a family is ripped apart by a disappearance, then maybe I could have gotten into it. Even then, it was too caught up in what Sam felt for anything else to really come through. I never want to be in that position.

The twists and turns that could have added up so that the reader could get their own idea of the story? Yeah, I didn’t see why they were relevant until the end, and then I wasn’t interested. I was just grateful it was over. The front cover is lovely and creepy and subtle, but the storytelling and plot simply didn’t live up to it.

There was nothing redeeming about the end of this novel. I struggled to keep reading, and the thriller it should have been was broken for me by the constant jumping around in time. I simply wasn’t invested enough in Sam’s story. It’s a novel, it’s perfectly ok to give me a concrete ending to make sure everything is good. Or bad. Whatever.

Whether you’re looking for a low-key thriller, such as The Leaving or babydoll, or prefer something a bit more gritty like Irene or PainKiller, this novel doesn’t need to come near the top of your list. 2 stars from me.

2star

Bloomsbury | July 2016 | $12.99 | Paperback

Review: Judy Bruce – Voices in the Wind

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Voices in the Wind
Judy Bruce

Megan has returned home for a funeral, and ends up facing more than she bargained for. She’s just finished the Bar exams that mean she’s a full-fledged lawyer. She comes to a practice that is being embezzled and a stage set for death.

25041953This book was such a disappointment. All the exciting things promised in the blurb turned out to be completely predictable. The grand secret? Meh. I wasn’t that convinced that her dad had done anything wrong. It’s hard to cope with children, of any kind!

The progression was soooo slow. Thing one happened. Then there was a bit of uninspiring soul searching. Then thing 2. Oh wait, she needs to run out into the middle of the woods. And then… Oh no, we’ve been distracted by childhood memories. Oh yes, back to the main storyline. Oh wait, we diverged again.

This was a classic example of telling vs showing storytelling. The fight scenes which could have been exciting were like the boring blow by blows (literally) of a boxer’s match. There was no feeling of character, and honestly I couldn’t tell the difference between the different people – I didn’t even remember their names. Megan… And ah, dad? Uncle Bill? No idea on the rest of them, even the ‘blonde hunk’.

I barely finished this novel. Honestly, I can’t see who it might appeal to. It just didn’t take my fancy. The author very nicely asked me to review it, and kindly sent me the first two novels in the series, but I won’t be even attempting the second one in the hopes it gets better.

1star

Review: Lisa Beazley – Keep Me Posted

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Keep Me Posted
Lisa Beazley

Cassie and Sid were the closest sisters ever, right before their lives and marriages got in the way. When they decide to reconnect through letters, their lives may not be the same (or at least, Cassie’s life won’t be).

29152393This should have been called The Slow News Sisters instead of Keep Me Posted. What’s wrong with using a catchy term, even if it is later used in the novel? Not to mention it would have been a heads up for the progress being glacial.

Well, I set out reading this with an expectation and fear that it would all be written in letters of EVERYTHING about the sisters’ lives. Instead, I found myself immersed in the selfish Cassie’s life, and pitying Sid as a long distance relationship only can.

Honestly, I really didn’t feel much for either of the sisters. Cassie was pretty pathetic, and became more so as she went along. Sid is living a life of luxury. Her husband might be cheating on her? Get over it! It happens! Call him out. You can afford it.

The blurb: ‘Cassie’s made a big mistake – one that their relationship, not to mention their marriages, may not survive’. I was most of the way through the novel waiting for this momentous occasion to take place. When it finally happened, I was just like, wow, get over it. People have these issues all the time. It’s not just you Cassie.

Grow up Cassie. Get over yourself. I wanted this outcome from the beginning, but in the end it felt like it had gone completely full circle. Unsatisfying mess.

This novel obviously wasn’t for me. I think I’ll tag it down as ‘Women’s Fiction’ and call it a day. I don’t feel like being charitable today, so it’s only getting 2 stars, even if it could be a 3.

2star

Review: Alexandra Curry – The Courtesan

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The Courtesan
Alexandra Curry

From a treasured life as a loved Courtesan’s daughter, Jinhua takes a step back into the dregs of where courtesans are made – from feet binding to orifice rape. This is her story from misery to misery.

29908433You’d think that since I was up until 1am finishing this book (and doing some other writing) than means I enjoyed it. Honestly, I’m not sure that I did. There were huge time gaps and gaps in Jinhau’s memory that made me fall out of the novel time and time again.

The violence, particularly sexual violence, seemed not to add very much to the story. I would have been far more excited if the rape had lead to death, rather than just another one occurring. By the end, I was basically no longer worried about it – they’d easily get out the other side. Rape just became part of the landscape. Isn’t that a horrible thing to say?

Perhaps it could have meant more to me if I was familiar with the historical period it was set in. I have to say my grasp of China’s politics, in addition to its geography, was very slim on the ground. All countries have a horrific past, and some are still that way (I’m an Australian, and i can tell you that horrible things are still going on). This one was nothing new.

I think it takes courage to write a novel like this one, where it is based on a well known (to the Chinese) folk/fairy tale / legend. That doesn’t mean I loved it. Jinhau just gave me no reason to love her. Her best friend seemed just as weak. What am I to say of weak though? I admired the woman before Jinhau – at least she was sensible enough to put herself out of her misery!

Why couldn’t I love this? Was it the detailed writing that put me off? The graphics of everything that made it difficult for me to get into the story? I don’t know. But I’m reassured to see that some other people didn’t love this novel either. I’m tossing up between 2 and 3 stars – I did at least finish it afterall.

3star

Review: Holly Seddon – try not to breathe

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try not to breathe
Holly Seddon

Alex is a semi-functioning alcoholic uninterested in recovery, and with nothing to live for. When she finds herself researching coma patients for a freelance story, the pathos finally gets to her and she is able to take further steps forward in her life.

This was such a slow novel. I was halfway through and saying to my partner that I wasn’t sure I could face keeping on reading it. I started out being a bit wary of it, because of the changing perspectives.

Ugh. I don’t get the title. Everyone is happily breathing. By the end, I couldn’t have cared less who-dun-it. Those suspects? No, don’t care. Alex’s way of dealing with her alcoholic life? Nothing new there either, another novel I’ve read recently covers the willpower method.

For those people finding themselves captivated, I’m not sure I understand what you have seen in this novel. I haven’t read the original mainstream thriller ‘The Girl on the Train’, which is what this one is favourably compared to. I’m not sure now that I want to read it either. I want one where the danger actually becomes real to the reader and I’m looking over my shoulder in fear!

I’ve read other suspense novels that had more life to them than this one. Haha. Even ones where they actually die! Think Painkiller or Irene to see fantastic examples of this genre instead. With this in mind, I’m giving this one 2-3 stars. It’s fine for reading, it’s just not the astonishing work of fiction that I was promised.

3star

Review: Tara Altebrando – The Leaving

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The Leaving
Tara Altebrando

11 years ago, six children went missing from their school. Now they have returned, with nothing but a few scraps of memory of their time away. Stop there – only five have returned? What happened to Max? Why were they chosen?

26073074I wasn’t won over by the way there were ‘bytes’ of information from the way that Scarlett and Lucas thought. I didn’t like the consciousnesses changing, and I thought Avery was an idiot. A rich, spoilt idiot.

I think that the ‘romance’ in this one was just a distraction from the whole premise of the book. This is apparently a thriller, yet I never felt threatened. In fact, I’m not sure that the kids that returned felt threatened either.

That was one of the most unsatisfactory endings in my whole life. What is this, is it going to be a series? Is it just a discussion of losing your memory?

I’d like to read the science behind this. Brains are fascinating in the way that they forget things and develop false memories. I think it is well documented how dementia patients begin to suffer, and the way memories can be lost in childhood. I could certainly do without some of mine!

I so wanted to like this novel. Look at the pretty cover? Yes yes, it called to me. The blurb? Seemed good. But then it just took my time and I wasn’t even that keen on it. 2 stars from me.

2star

Review: Jesse Andrews – Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

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Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
Jesse Andrews

Greg Gaines hates high school. He has mediocre grades, and a disinterest in hanging out with one group at a time. He prefers to drift on the periphery – right up until the point when his mother tells him he has to re-befriend an ‘old flame’ from his past. It seems to Greg that after this point, his life becomes more complicated than he ever imagined.

12700353I didn’t even realise Earl was black. Call me stupid, but I didn’t even look at the front cover before I started this novel. And then it doesn’t bother me that people would be a different race to me, so I guess I didn’t pick it up for ages.

Greg is constantly self-depreciating, and it’s easy to tell why he doesn’t become friends with people. We really don’t understand why he is even writing the novel if he hates it so much to the end. In fact, I’m not sure I understood any of his motives – ever. I just couldn’t care!

Rachel had some potential there, but as Greg says, it was never really about Rachel when it should have been. Greg manages to be a selfish bastard the whole way. The reader doesn’t even feel like that until it’s pointed out by Greg’s acquaintances. That’s the danger of having an unreliable first person narrator I suppose.

There were some humorous points in this novel, and maybe that’s what made it a good film? Honestly, I have no idea. I don’t generally read novels to laugh, and I expect a rock-solid storyline – not what seemed to me a slap-dash novel of ‘let’s pick things that can be made funny, when they really aren’t’.

I had trouble picking this novel off the shelf to read, after my partner told me that it probably wouldn’t be my style. Lo and behold, it wasn’t really my style. For a major motion picture, I just couldn’t love it. I dawdled between giving it two or three stars, and I’ve decided to settle on two. Just because everyone else seems to love it doesn’t mean that I have to bow to that! I’d go for Jesse Andrews other offering, The Haters.

2star