Merry Wanderer of the Night:
aight

Today is "mini"-review day. (My version of mini, anyway: P) I'm combining these two books, not because the books themselves have anything in common, but because neither of them ended up being the book that I thought they would be, neither were books that I liked (too disappointing), and both had elements to them that seriously pissed me off.

The Snowball Effect by Holly Nicole Hoxter had a lot of potential. There was a lot to the story that I liked. I actually really loved reading about where the title came from, kind of the idea that you can't dwell on the past, can't try to go back to what it was, because your perception of the past is always changing and because you are always changing, you aren't going to be effected in the same way again.

But overall, this book was one big disappointment after another. Lainey has an awesome boyfriend who loves her and wants to start talking about marriage and starting a family, but she isn't ready for that. Which is fine. But instead of really talking to him about it, explaining how she feels, she pretty much ignores him, sorta maybe hooks up with a new guy and never actually breaks things off with old boyfriend. Not cool. If you are unhappy in a relationship, work it out or break it off. Don't start a new one without finishing off the old.

But what made me madder than anything else was the way that Lainey and her estranged older sister, Valerie treat her younger brother, five year old Colin who has an unspecified mental illness. Lainey's mom committed suicide after her husband's death leaving Lainey and Valerie to care for Colin, a boy she had taken in as a foster child and decided to adopt. I get that the sisters are pretty young (Lainey is 18, Valerie a few years older), especially to now be responsible for a 5 year old with mental health problems BUT that does not excuse the way they treated him, or the way the mom treated him. They are very harsh, often yelling and screaming at him for things he can't really control. And it's just did NOT sit well with me. I have a hard time enjoying a book when I am so angry about the treatment of a character. I know it wasn't the focal point of the story — Lainey's growth as a person is, but it was handled so abominably that I just couldn't really enjoy the book.

I never really connected with this one. It felt gimmicky and forced. There were things added that felt like drama-increasers, things that didn't really have a point or purpose other than to (blatantly) push the plot a certain direction, or give Lainey something else to dwell on. And, pretty much every character was super annoying, whether I liked them or not. I wouldn't want to ever meet any of these guys in real life. It was an overall fine book, just one that didn't really work for me.

Future Imperfect by K. Ryer Breese however was worse. Much much worse. I don't think I have a single positive thing to say about this book, so I shall try to make my review brief.

Every single character in this book was trashy, crazy and strung out throughout most of the book. The only semi normal character is Ade's best friend Paige, but she isn't given a lot of face time and she is an enabler. I couldn't connect with anything or anyone in this book and I didn't care about any of them. Not a single character evoked any emotion within me other than disgust.

The supernatural elements were almost believable, until Ade's new 'girlfriend' shows up. Ade can see the future when he gives himself a concussion, and that glimpse of the future becomes a high for him, so he does increasingly dangerous and stupid things to maintain it. I'm honestly surprised he isn't dead. His friends just tsk-tsk at him and his mom has decided he's pretty much the freaking Messiah. And then? AND THEN?! When the girl he's been seeing in visions for years shows up, the girl he knows he is meant to be with, things just get weirder. Turns out she can see the past. But you'll never guess what she has to do to gain her high... Gag.

The writing was decent, nothing amazing, but not terrible but the dialogue was awkward. It was a creepy book, and not in that — *shudder* hide under the covers with a flashlight creepy, but that — nasty old man who stares at you with his hands in his pocket until you rush around the corner kind of creepy. (vomit in the mouth).

Most books, even ones I didn't particularly care for, I can see the appeal or recognize that there are people who will enjoy it. But this one? This is one that I would not recommend to anyone. So if I were you, I'd just give this one a pass.

Pearl by Jo Knowles is a hard book for me to review, because honestly, I didn't feel much while reading it, and there's just... not much to it. It's not a bad book, but it's not really a good one either.

Pearl (aka Bean) and Henry are best friends (well, only friends, really). They've always lived near each other, both understand and love each other (and is it going to be love too?!?!) and they both have mommy/daddy issues. Henry's mom hasn't left the house in years and is still stuck on the fact that her husband walked out on her and Bean's mom is often drunk or ranting to her best friend about her dad, whom Bean and her mom live with, because Dad has never been part of the picture.

If I remember right, fantasies about their fathers are what initially really bonded Henry and Bean. They use to imagine what their fathers must really be like, what life would be like if they hadn't left, and they created these elaborate justifications for why such a good man would walk away from his family. But they are solid friends, always there for each other and willing to offer whatever support and love is necessary. And after Bean's grandfather dies, she needs a lot of support, especially when secrets start spilling out of the woodwork.

Honestly, this is not a novel I can imagine recommending to very many people. There's nothing overtly wrong with the book, but there isn't a whole lot going right either. The characters are a bit flat, the story line becomes predictable in it's SHOCKness and the secrets that start to come out after the death of Grandfather Gus feel barely better than a gimmick.

The way the story is told, most of the real meat of the story is so wrapped up in secrets that you can't really talk about anything without some serious spoilers. And sometimes, that works amazingly well for a story. But other times, like here, it makes things too muddy and unbelievable, leaving the reader scratching their heads saying, really? You had to do that too? And while some of the character reaction to the new information is incredibly believable and realistic, some of it is not. I had a hard time believing a lot of what was going on in the story, but more than anything else, I just didn't care.

And that, more than anything else says a lot about this book. Nothing made me care, nothing affected me emotionally, or really captivated me. It's (thankfully) a really short book, so it didn't take long at all, but the book fell short for me on a number of levels. I can see where some people might like this one a lot more than I did, and I hope that those people find it. But for anyone new to Contemporary, or not sure if it's really the right genre for you, I'd recommend either giving this one a pass altogether, or setting it on the back burner until you have more Contemporary under your belt.

*Disclaimer: I received this book through Banned Book Tours.

The Beginning of After by Jennifer Castle was a book that I should have loved. It's Contemporary, it's about loss and grief and a girl trying to come to terms with that, and it should be full of emotion and emotional conflict.

And that right there is why I think I'm conflicted. I should have loved this one. It should have been full of emotion. But, at least for me, it wasn't. And I didn't. That's not to say I didn't like it. I did. There was nothing... wrong with the book, but it just didn't connect for me.

For some reason, I've always been drawn to this type of book. Books where the main character is forced to deal with a lot, often more than they should logically or emotionally be able to handle, and then we watch as they struggle through it and grow even stronger because of it. I could go on and on about the books I've read with this theme. They are mostly contemporary, but I've found that pretty much all of my favorite fantasy novels contain this same theme. It's such a powerful theme for me to read about.

I just didn't really... feel it with this book. None of the emotions really felt genuine to me. Laurel just lost her parents and her younger brother in a car accident. If I were to lose even one family member, I would be devastated. I remember what it was like when my grandpa died. I was a mess & I cried. All the time. If I come across a picture of him unexpectedly, my eyes STILL smart a bit. I can't imagine how much worse it would be if I were to lose everyone at once.

Initially, the emotions were there for me. Laurel was devastated. She blames herself, plays the what-if game over and over and over and she blocks a lot of it out — withdrawing from the pain mentally & forcing it away so she doesn't break down. But then she goes back to school, and OMG what if this boy likes me?! Wait... WHAT?! I'm really sorry... But I've been a teenage girl. I was a teenage girl about 4 years ago. And I don't know one single person, girl or boy, teenage or otherwise who would actually care that a random boy they kinda thought was cute might want to ask them to prom. Me personally, I might have thought about it, for about two seconds, but I would not have obsessed over it.

There were times when the pain Laurel was feeling was almost an afterthought. It's really hard for me to say here that her grief and emotion didn't seem genuine, because everyone really does grieve differently. But I just didn't buy it. It just didn't seem... real to me.

I am also going to admit right now that this has got to be the worst inclusion of a love-triangle into a story EVER. I don't particularly like love-triangles, especially since it's almost always really clear who they will end up with, & the added love interest just feels like drama to be dramatic. But here, where the novel is supposed to be about learning to get back into your life, and deal with your grief? To play the love-triangle card? Please stop...

I also do have to admit that I am not an animal person... Laurel is. So there is a lot of animal talk in this book, and that is something that I just don't really connect with, so I lost that connection with Laurel too. Mentions of pets and things are fine but the amount of time spent in this story with animals was, I am sure, for Laurel very healing. And I'm sure that many animal lovers out there will feel that too. For me, I was just kind of bored with all the animal stuff. But that one's on me, not so much the author or characters.

Overall, the way I feel about this is that if you read a lot of this style book already, it's probably not going to be anything that really stands out to you. It's a good book, but at least for me, there was nothing particularly remarkable about it. I do think, that if you don't read a lot of books dealing with this level of grief and emotional trauma, I can easily see this being a book that might really move you. So, if you don't normally read books like this, give it a shot. It might be the book that sparks a desire to read more like it.

Songbird by Angela Fristoe is a book that I am very conflicted about. With a beginning like this book has, it should have been Amazing! So why, now that I'm finished do I feel a little more meh? Let me 'xplain.

Songbird begins when Dani is 6 years old and she watches her alcoholic father shoot her 16 year old brother, Jace, in the park. Jace is her hero, her savior in a violent, abusive home. The first four pages of this book, FOUR PAGES, made me cry. Do you know what it takes to make someone cry within the first four pages?! Amazing skill, that's what.

By page five, I'm completely invested in this story, completely invested in Dani and completely hurting and rooting for her. But then... I sort of detached from the story. By the description of the book, I expected the story to focus on Dani coming to terms with the death of her brother, the imprisonment of her father and a mother turned alcoholic, and all the baggage that accompanies this. I also expected music to play a huge role in Dani's life, considering that the title of the book is Songbird.

But, this is not what I got. Dani spent years bouncing between foster homes before finally setting in with her current 'parents'. Here, in this new home, she finally has a sense of stability, she has a best friend she trusts completely, who she knows will never do anything to hurt her and will always protect her (much like long-dead Jace) and she is finally feeling okay. Dani is still insecure, which is natural. Everyone she's ever truly loved has either been taken from her, or chosen to leave her behind. She's worried that her foster parents won't want a relationship after she turns 18 and she's terrified that if she tells Reece, (the best friend) that she has loved him, been in love with him forever that it will change things and she will lose him as a friend.

With all that emotional pain, all that drama, do you know what the primary focus of the story was? Reece. Yup. Reece. I've made no secret of the fact that books that revolve almost completely around the romance are not really my thing. I don't read many, and when I do, I have to be in a very specific mood. So I was quite disappointed to realize with all that potential, all those possibilities, Fristoe decided to make Dani's biggest problem her friendship and potential relationship with Reece. And, I thought that Dani handled it horribly! Admittedly, Reece could have done much better as well, but I thought Dani was incredibly selfish throughout a vast majority of the novel. You'll know exactly what I mean when you read the book.

Another thing that really bothered me about this book was the addition of the threatening phone calls Dani begins to receive. (Not a real spoiler — it mentions this in the synopsis). The whole thing felt really contrived, really unlikely and simply a plot twist to further the Dani/Reece drama. The moment felt very 'Jump the Shark ' (Wikipedia knows!) and I kind of rolled my eyes a bit. Definitely a WTF moment.

I was also disappointed at the lack of music in the story. The title and synopsis make it sound like music plays a huge part in Dani's life. We are told it's important to her, but we are never really shown that. There were a few references to the notebooks Dani carried with her to include her song lyrics in and how important they were to her, as well as 2, maybe 3 instances where we read these lyrics and that's about it. No more mention of music, even though it's supposed to be something that defines her.

However, even with these things that disappointed me, my overall feelings about this book are positive. I genuinely enjoyed reading the book and learning about Dani. Interspersed throughout the story are a series of flashbacks, giving us more insight into Dani's past. We see what happens with her father before his capture by police, how her mother slips farther and farther into her addiction to cope with what life she has left, what happens in the foster home where she met Colin (which would add way to much to a review to get into.; p) and so much more. We learn so much about Dani and her relationships with others and how they formed through these flashbacks, and other than that amazingly powerful opening chapter, they were the highlight of the book for me.

The times when we were able to learn more about Dani and how she is learning to deal with the terrible hand life has dealt to her were the highlights of the story for me, and the reason why I say that overall, even with several things that I found to be bothersome, this is definitely a book I'm glad I read and it is one that I would recommend to others, although I would want to discuss it with them first.

*Disclaimer: Book received for a fair and honest review through the Teen Book Scene tours.

A Season of Eden by Jennifer Laurens is not my normal read. While contemporary has long been my favorite genre, I don'r really read a lot of romantic fiction. A love story alongside my plot is nice, but I don't generally read books where the main plot revolves around a love story. But, I had really been in the mood for a nice YA Contemporary Romance, and I had won a copy of Laurens Overprotected. I read it, and it was exactly what I had wanted in a book at the time. Absolutely perfect. So, when I was given the opportunity to read Eden, I took it.

Unfortunately, this book didn't live up to what I had hoped it to be. That's not to say it was a bad book, but it just... didn't quite work for me. Eden is an 18 year old, (hot) senior in high school who develops a crush on her young, handsome, 22 year old music teacher, James, and the feelings are mutual. Eden is used to getting whatever and whoever she wants, although she's an awful lot nicer than the 'mean girls' she's stereotyped as. She wants James and so she goes after him. She's a little uncertain, which is definitely a new feeling for her, and she is very aware of the potential consequences of being caught in a compromising situation with a teacher.

For the most part, the growing interest between these two characters really worked for me. Eden quickly becomes infatuated with James, and she wants to know more about it. So, she gets a little teenage creepy and does a little undercover stalking (like following him home from school, so she can figure out where he lives) and tries to make sure he is aware of her. She offers to help out in class, stops by at lunch, etc. James was a bit of a nerd in high school and doesn't have a lot of experience with women. He's fresh out of college, concerned about his job and still lives with his mom. I totally get that being right out of college is hard, that sometimes you don't have anywhere else to go, other than home. But if I were a student, and I found out my teacher still lived with his or her parents?! It would have seriously undermined any respect I had for them, and I can't imagine it being different for very many teenagers.

The biggest problem I had with this novel is that every single relationship seemed to ring flat and false. Eden pretty much completely drops her group of friends, now that she is spending more time with James, (although in her defense here, they were also pretty harsh after she dumped her boyfriend), her relationship with her dad and his much younger wife is incredibly strained and, well... really non-existent, but worst of all, Eden and James are awkward together. I don't mean that cute awkward where you are trying to learn how to move and interact together, I mean that awkward that makes any of those 'swoon' or 'sigh' moments impossible because you can't stop thinking about the fact that no one talks like that, no one reacts like that, eye roll here, did she really just say that?! etc. It's... awkward and if you want me to believe in or care about a relationship, don't make it painfully awkward.

Going hand in hand with the awkward interactions between Eden and James is their big 'confrontation/conflict' toward the end of the story. I don't want to give spoilers away here, but both of the characters crossed some lines. One of the characters (who should have known better) shifted all the blame to the other character, who accepted this as truth and let it really get to them, let it really hurt them. Because, the relationship is now going to disappear because I couldn't manage to (blablabla spoiler). Now, I'm all for making someone apologize when they are in the wrong. But when both people are clearly in the wrong, or worse, when no one is actually in the wrong but through misunderstandings and what have you people get hurt, one party should not be shifting or shoving the guilt and blame onto the other. That is wrong.

I spent a lot of the novel feeling like their relationship is one sided. And they don't seem to really communicate well. Eden is struggling with the fact that she is more sexually experienced than James, and this makes her feel dirty and unworthy. But, instead of telling him this, trying to talk to him about it, she avoids the subject, and redirects the conversation, and answers just enough of James' question that he stops asking, but doesn't actually give him the information he's looking for. And James doesn't really know what to do with or about Eden. It's a little bit sad, actually...

Even though this book wasn't quite what I had hoped for, and there were certain resolutions that felt forced and out of character (specifically what ends up happening between Eden and her dad) I did enjoy the read. I had a long Twitter conversation about this book with someone who absolutely loved it (read her review here) and while I'm not going to replay that conversation for you, we talked about a lot of things that made me see the characters in a slightly different light, which did ultimately leave me with a more positive feeling about the book in general.

I'll be honest here. While I did enjoy this story, it isn't my favorite, and it's not one that I would recommend to people who aren't normally fans of YA Contemporary Romance. If this is a genre you read and enjoy regularly, then this might be a great book for you. But, if it's not, I think starting somewhere else could be a better option. I am glad I read this book. It gave me an opportunity to get to know someone I hadn't really talked to before, to share and discuss different thoughts and attitudes we noticed within the story and to grow and change. The story wasn't perfect. There were things I would have changed if I could. But I'm not the writer here, and I understand (mostly) why Laurens took her characters where she did. Have you read this one? Please, let me know what you think!

*Disclaimer: I received this book from the author in exchange for a fair review through the Teen Book Scene tour site.

Grace by Elizabeth Scott is my 5th Scott Contemporary (although it is arguable that this is not quite Contemporary) and it has firmly cemented the idea that I (quite atypically) much prefer Scott's lighter Contemporary novels to her darker more... issue-y set. Grace is a good book, don't get me wrong, but that's all it was. Just a way to spend an afternoon, flipping pages, which is, I assume, not what you are supposed to feel when reading a book about a suicide bomber who decides she doesn't want to die.

Grace was an angel — raised from birth, or just after, that she would be blessed to die for the cause, to die in a fight for freedom against tyranny. But when it comes time to actually die, she places her bomb and walks away, knowing that it will go off, but that she will go 'free'. Now she is on the run and she meets up with a man at the train station, running from something himself. They talk, because sitting on a train for hours, there's not really anything else to do and both learn things that will change their lives.

I never really connected with Grace or the man she travels with. I knew that there stories were ones that should have been emotional but I never felt it. And Grace had such a disregard for life that I had a hard time with her. I understand why — When you have known your whole life that you are going to die for the cause and that it is an honor, and that your death is more important if you are able to take other lives with you — life doesn't mean the same thing as it does to most people. But it took her so long to realize that what she had done — setting that bomb and walking away — was wrong, because people still got hurt and people died. She never even thought about it. And then, there is a scene on the train when Grace should have been taken off by soldiers for being one of the rebels, but they sacrifice another, completely innocent woman instead. That's not okay with me — Your life isn't more important than anyone else's and sending innocent people to death so you can live isn't okay with me. I will say that the ending to this book was solid. Grace learns a lot about what it means to be human and it's something that will really make you think.

But, even with that solid ending, while I didn't hate this book, I didn't particularly like it either. I felt like the story was too vague. They spent the whole time talking around things and never really talked about them. If you want to try it — go for it. There are others out there who really connected to it. It's just... not for me.

On a totally different note:

So Much Closer was my first book by Susane Colasanti, and while I didn't love this particular book, I can see why so many people really love Colasanti's writing. I actually loved the way the story was written, but the story itself was a little... off for me.

Brooke has had a huge crush on Scott for years. She just knows that he is the one for her, despite only having had one, maybe two conversations with him. So, when he announces that he's moving with his family to New York City, she decides to follow him and move in with the dad she hasn't spoken to since he walked out on them 6 years ago.

Okay — Seriously?! SERIOUSLY?! Who DOES that?! Who honestly thinks that's a good idea?! I don't care who you are — that's creepy stalker behavior and NOT a good idea. Note to Brooke — also not a good idea to tell him about it... So, poor Brooke has chased this guy to New York only to realize that he barely knows who she is and he already has a girlfriend.

But luckily for Brooke, she has always wanted to live in NYC, so even though she's not with her dream guy, she's living in her dream city. And honestly, I would have liked this book so much better if the romance with Scott had been left completely out of it. Have her decide to move because Scott broke her heart (still kinda pathetic, but way less creepy) or because she has just decided to stop dreaming about living in New York and actually get there. Or, it could have been about her dad. She hasn't spoken to him in 6 years, although he has tried a few times, so maybe it's time to mend that relationship. Instead, it ended up being a convinient plot device, giving her a way to follow Scott. I felt that the story line with her father ended up being a lot of wasted potential. It could have added so much to her growth as a character, so much to the story, but instead, dad was just the facade for an apartment for Brooke to legally sleep in at night.

I had such a hard time believing in, or relating to Brooke's character, but I totally felt her love for the city. The descriptions of New York were phenomenal and just made me want to revisit the city. I spent a weekend there when I was doing an internship in Washington DC and I loved it (although, since it was February, it was really cold). I loved reading while Brooke discovered the city. I also really liked the new friends Brooke makes at school, especially John and Sadie. They brought so much to the story and I just loved reading about them, watching them form a solid friendship.

For the most part, I really enjoyed the book. EXCEPT for Scott. Seriously. If Scott had just been completely erased from the book, I think I would really have enjoyed it. They wouldn't even have to change the title, it could just mean so much closer to her dreams, instead of to some random guy. There is enough other stuff happening in the story that Scott really wouldn't have been missed much. Or, he could have been a totally different character with a much smaller part. Maybe I'll just pretend he isn't real and only remember the awesome New York scenes and the awesome times she has with the new friends she makes.