An Early 2012 Breakdown

I've been prolonging this for too long but as I read more and more books which are almost unreadable to me and more and more excellent books I feel like I must share my insight with someone.


So there is a lot of hype about some books which I feel is super unnecessary so let me just list out the ones I have been unable to finish:


-Angelfire by Courtney Allison Moulton
I read this after I read that the author was touring with Cynthia Hand who's Angel series I liked.  Usually I associate one author to another, and this time was I ever so wrong.  I really tried my best and I think I got like 70 or so pages through this book, however, the characters lacked so much depth.  Granted, it is one of those stories where there is tons of ass-kicking and being a Buffy (damn I love her!)-like slayer but even those types of stories should have some character development.  I don't mean the kind where the narrator is conflicted about her supernatural/normal life because that is not enough.  Also, there's parts of the stories which are just plain shallow.  I really don't care that you are going shopping for a birthday dress and you are having an MTV style Sweet 16.  Not relatable at least not to me.  It reminds me of Gossip Girl books of my former middle school days minus all the hilariously witty lines and actual personalities.  NOT A FAN


-Incarnate by Jodi Meadows
I honestly didn't feel that negative about this book, however it was more along the lines of I don't really care.  I'm about 100 pages in and I feel like I keep waiting for something ground-breaking to happen... waiting ...waiting... nothing.  I will finish this, but I feel like I won't be in love waiting for the next one to come out.  While I love the music element, being a musician, none of the characters feel real to me.  They are shell-like.


What I've enjoyed on a superficial kind of level:
Devoured by Amanda Marrone
I haven't read a book by Marrone since Uninvited which didn't impact me that much.  I liked this book because it didn't sugercoat psychic visions like many books do.  It was interesting trying to untangle the past of the main character and see her transformation.  Also, Marrone allowed for the killing of the most unexpected people.  I hate when characters are kept alive for the sole reason of keeping them alive.  No, if there is a psycho killer on the line people should and kind of have to die.  Thanks for keeping it real:)


Clarity by Kim Harrison
I also like how this book keeps it real.  Often in other YA romance books feelings for old loves just kind of dissipate, but in this one, it presents some actual emotional confusion for the character which makes it interesting and engaging to read.  Yes, a character with some residual realistic feelings!  I also like this book because it is mysterious and it keeps you guessing until the end, who is going to kill me.  Also, the jerk character of the love triangle actually has reasoning for being a jerk.  Development and explanations are always a plus.  Anyways, I mostly love this book because it reminds me of the Lily Dale series by Wendi Corsi Staub which had a lovely mysterious tone about the death of the heroine's mother.  This applies to Clarity as well because of the daddy dearest? mystery going on.  Looking forward to the sequel.


Stay by Deb Caletti
Whoa, this is freakishly different from other Caletti novels is what first came into my mind.  It is a present day/flashback type of book and it presents a lot of mystery to what really happened and why is the heroine off somewhere else hiding.  Lots of suspense and kind of realistic (this kind of thing sort of happened to a friend of mine in a not as creepy/extreme way).  I love her books because it shows lots of character development and realism.  I also like the fact that it doesn't keep me on my toes for a sequels.  Nothing is worse than waiting.  Lesson of the story: Obsessiveness doesn't just happen, it can stem from love.  Beautiful.  I went through the love/hate for the "antagonist" just like the heroine did, and it left me with a kind of pang in that heart-like area.  Lovely and much love from me.

Yes- It's Another New Beginning

Oftentimes I start many, many projects.  Examples may include:

• starting to learn Clair de Lune on the piano my freshman year of high school after reading Twilight (dumb, I know); the best part being I had quit piano in 5th grade and had only 3 years of experience; I'm still stuck on page 3:(
 
• writing some rather horrible poetry during my the angsty days
• starting a painting after watching some DIY channel on television
• or perhaps, my most hilarious (and futile) attempt: a notebook full of different stories or more accurately called the notebook full of beginnings

This time, however, I've decided to combine a blog with one of my  longest addictions, which is reading.
So bear with me, I'm new to this whole book review thing... however, I've been writing book reports since... well, since I could write, but from here on out, my book report-like reviews will have a whole lot more shabang (aka personality).
With my history of 1000 books read, rest assured, if a story sucks, I'll be blunt and let you know.
Until the next post!