Weekly Review

YA Book Review: Divergent by Veronica Roth – 4 out of 5

Posted on November 19, 2013 by Ashley Lauren

Divergent by Veronica Roth

Divergent

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Yeah, okay, it’s good.

Let’s be honest. I picked up this book for two distinct reasons:

1) It’s super hyped and it will soon be a movie
2) It’s set in Chicago, where I now live.

That’s it, the only reasons. I had no idea going into it what it would be. I fully expected it to be far over-hyped, for it to be silly YA, for it to feel like a copy of other books, etc.

But you know what? I liked it. I found myself eating it up. When I had to put it down because life intervened I found myself sucked back in. I found myself thinking about the characters when I wasn’t reading.

To me, this book is a hybrid of The Giver and Ender’s Game. Surprised I didn’t say The Hunger Games? Really, it’s nothing of the sort. It just came out around the same time, is a trilogy, and unfortunately has a similar cover. I totally judged this book by the cover for a long time and had I continued to do so I would have missed out on a really enjoyable read.

Is Roth the best writer in the world? No. But I loved the character she made from Tris. Tris is effin’ scary, guys. I’ve heard some people complain about this book because they couldn’t connect with Tris as a character. Well, I certainly hope not. Tris is a straight-up B*A* with some serious anger issues. She’s still a person and can love and all that crap but when it comes down to it, she’ll do what she needs to do and won’t even care. It was downright ballsy for that to be the character Roth created and I like it. I guess in that respect it is a little like Katniss. I just hope when I get to read the rest of this series Tris stays true to herself.

Anyway, I love the kind of book that gets me absorbed and keeps the pages turning. This book will do that to you. Just let yourself get soaked up in it and you’ll find yourself loving it.

Categories: Pick Ups, Weekly Review, Young Adult | Tags: , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Book Review: Tell the Wolves I’m Home – 4 out of 5

Posted on November 16, 2013 by Ashley Lauren

Tell the Wolves I’m Home by Carol Rifka Brunt

wolves

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

My writing doesn’t tend to have a lot of “plot.” I always find my stories to be much more character driven, with dialogue and thoughts progressing everything much more than outside occurrences.

This is how I feel this book is driven. It’s from the perspective of a young girl named June. The premise is simple: June’s beloved uncle, Finn, has died and we watch as June copes with this tragedy.

It sounds like it’s going to be simple but it’s not. Not even close. June has a lot going on in her life – dealing with Finn’s death just being one of them. Her relationship with her sister, her parents, her uncle’s boyfriend, and most, importantly, herself make this story a whirlwind. Just when you think she’s coming to grip with one area some other character will knock it all to pieces.

Perhaps the part that I found the most fascinating was the way the characters understood and reacted to AIDS. I’m from a generation where I grew up without a lot of those initial misconceptions of the disease. I’ve never thought I could get AIDS from someone just by touching them or kissing them. I’ve never thought of it as only a “gay” disease. This book takes place in a time when AIDS was just beginning to be known. I think it does such an incredible job of understanding the hurt and devastation that misunderstanding AIDS and homosexuality caused on so many lives.

Overall, I enjoyed the book. At times it was hard to read and I also felt it to be a bit long for the events. Still, it’s a book that will stay with me in a very good way.

Categories: Pick Ups, Weekly Review | Tags: , , , , , , | Leave a comment

YA Book Review: If I Stay by Gayle Forman – 4/5 stars

Posted on November 3, 2013 by Ashley Lauren

If I Stay by Gayle Forman

ifistay

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Let’s keep this short and sweet.

There are times when I read a YA book and I am overly aware of my own age. (For the record, I am 25 years old and married. I’m old). If I Stay made me feel that way. As I’m thumbing the pages, turning quite quickly, I might add, I felt hyper aware of how perfect her family was, how I knew what he ending was going to be, how it all just felt so obvious.

That doesn’t mean I didn’t cry. I was totes tearing up on the Metra (ahh, the life of a commuter – crying on the train).

What I mean is that this really is a great book, it’s a fantastic book if you’re 16. It feels a little funny when you’re older because you start identifying with the mother more than the child (whoops).

I don’t think her life had to be perfect for this accident to be so traumatic. I don’t think each part, in that respect, had to be so obvious. This is why I rated it as I did – but really, it’s a fast read that, depending on the person could really move you. Me? I might forget it. That doesn’t mean I didn’t like it, it just means it wasn’t for me.

Categories: Pick Ups, Weekly Review, Young Adult | Tags: , , , | Leave a comment

YA Book Review: Lola and the Boy Next Door – 5/5

Posted on October 30, 2013 by Ashley Lauren

Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

lola

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I don’t know why, but for some reason people on Good Reads aren’t a fan of this novel.  Boggles my mind – I loved this book. It’s exactly what I wanted it to be when I opened the cover. Eccentric protagonist who has an adorable next door neighbor. Cheeeeck!  I am a firm believer that the faster you read a book the more you will like it, especially when it comes to YA.  You need to get absorbed.  I ate this book up in about a day and read until the wee hours of the morning to finish it.  That may be why I enjoyed it as much as I did.

But wait – there’s more! There’s actually depth to the novel, which shouldn’t be miraculous, but when it comes to YA I sometimes get skeptical. I love books where the protagonist is, by far, the most flawed of everyone. Lola is clueless. She’s totally selfish at times, but somehow still endearing. Because it’s written in first person we can forgive her fault since, let’s face it, we forgive our own all the time. Despite what the rest of the world seems to think, I enjoyed Lola so much more than Anna. I guess it’s just a matter of perspective.

Sure, there are some scenes that are silly (the glasses breaking?) and the entire reason why she and Cricket had a falling out was just unreasonable (obviously she would have assumed Calliope was lying. I mean come on.) and the fact that Max turned out to be a prick wasn’t needed (sometimes people have to break up with good people to be where they want. It happens. Don’t cop out and take the easy way out and make him a jerk at the last minute.)

But there are some wonderful parts. I love, love, LOVE that her parents are gay. Gay and adorable and freaking strict as all hell. Perfect. I love how, despite his last three paragraphs of jerkiness, the other boyfriend was actually a good person (despite the band ad craaazy tattoos), etc. And I just like Lola. She’s such a real young adult protagonist. She’s naïve in all the right ways, selfish and ornery and yet still a good person. It’s really an excellent balance between being young and not irritating the crap out of the reader – not an easy feat.

Oh, but one more thing, why in the hell is that boy named CRICKET? (And how was there never, not once, a “Jiminy!”?)

Sorry, this is all over the place. All you need to know is that this is adorable and you should read Stephanie Perkins.

Categories: Pick Ups, Weekly Review, Young Adult | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Shades of Milk and Honey by Mary Robinette Kowal – 3/5

Posted on October 28, 2013 by Ashley Lauren

Shades of Milk and Honey by Mary Robinette Kowal

MilkandHoney

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This novel just wasn’t my bag. I’ve actually had the pleasure of seeing Mary Robinette Kowal speak in Chicago and enjoyed hearing her ideas, so I was excited to pick up this novel. She says it herself – when you hear “Jane Austen with magic” you get pretty interested. Super props to another NaNoWriMo novel. Despite what I think, this book is obviously a success and I love that.

Still, for me this just fell flat. I think the danger in saying it’s like Jane Austen is that then the writing gets compared to one of the greatest writers of all time (in my opinion). That’s a pretty high bar. I felt Kowal can definitely hold her own with style and form but pieces of this novel just didn’t work for me. Some of the scenes felt forced or unimportant and, try as I might, I had such a hard time seeing the magic and the ether and really understanding what the magic was.

Probably, for me, the most frustrating part of this novel was the use of the magic. Everything in this world was 100% normal except for the magic. And what was it used for? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. It was just a way to make things prettier. Whhaaaa – how disappointing. What’s the point of having magic if it doesn’t otherwise change their lives? Sure it enhances and obscures items but it didn’t mean anything. It could make items prettier and more lifelike. Man, I wanted so much more than that. I wanted this ether to matter somehow – I wanted the positives of the beautiful created to have some kind of negative (aside from exhaustion). I liked the idea but I feel like there could be so much more here.

The other piece I found challenging was how closely the storyline mirrored Jane Austen. I knew, of course, that was the intent. I have no problem with the usage of similar plots but this felt so incredibly similar to Pride and Prejudice it made it dull. I knew immediately who the end man would be. Maybe it’s because I have read all of Austen’s completed works and I know them a bit more than the average reader, but I wasn’t able to feel any element of surprise. With this, I found the main character, Jane, to be unbelievable. Why was she so vain, really? “Plain” is not a unique problem to have, or a big one. You would think the rest of the world were supermodels by how worried she is about the length of her nose. It just seemed silly based on how talented she was. If she had a cleft lip or something, then I would have understood, but I felt it was a stretch. It simply didn’t make sense that she was passed up for as long as she was with her only downfall, literally, the only one, being “plainness”.

Still, I think this novel has some positive parts. I did get through it quite quickly and, unlike Austen, it was pleasantly easy to read. It still has the elements of old language but has the satisfying tendency to have direct conversation and events, rather than implications. The idea of glamour was interesting and her characters are well developed. I think historical fiction fans can really like it but I hesitate to recommend to die-hard Austen fans such as myself.

Categories: Weekly Review | Tags: , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: I’ve Got Your Number by Sophie Kinsella – 5 of 5

Posted on October 23, 2013 by Ashley Lauren


I’ve Got Your Number by Sophie Kinsella

number

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Can’t help it. Love this book.

I read this book over the course of two days, during which time the following happened:

1) I snort-laughed on the rush hour commuter train to work. I also gasp-laughed, guffawed, and tittered.
2) I read this book, at my desk, at work, over my empty lunch container, pretending I was still eating so I could keep reading. (mind you, I love my job and usually happily work through lunch.)
3) On the rush hour train back from work, I laughed maniacally, and loud enough, to make my seat-mate jump.
4) I had hard, set plans to go to the gym tonight. Instead, I sat for two hours and finished the book. Needless to say, I’m still on the couch.

regretnothing

I adored Poppy. She was ridiculous and psychotic and so damn real. Sure, there were a couple parts where I said, no, not possible, but I rolled with it. She was a wonderful protagonist with such a great sense of identity. When you pick up a chick lit book you don’t always anticipate, or even hope for, real character growth and development. But I think Kinsella really nailed it.

There is one part in particular where she really nailed it. I had to go back and re-read. Kinsella had me totally fooled. I mean, don’t get me wrong, you know how it’s going to end when you start it, but the way she got there was just wonderful. Excellent author sleight of hand there.

Adorable.

Categories: Pick Ups, Weekly Review | Tags: , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Book Review: Voyager by Diana Gabaldon

Posted on October 15, 2013 by Ashley Lauren

Voyager by Diana Gabaldon
voyager
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

First – read this: Book Review: Outlander and Dragonfly in Amber

then mix in happy gasps, jumping for joy, high fives all around, and you know how I feel.

Now, onto Drums of Autumn.

Categories: Pick Ups, Weekly Review | Tags: , , , , , | 1 Comment

Book Review: How Not To Write A Novel by Howard Middlemark

Posted on October 14, 2013 by Ashley Lauren

How Not to Write a Novel: 200 Classic Mistakes and How to Avoid Them–A Misstep-by-Misstep Guide by Howard Mittelmark

notwrite
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book, a book about writing, had me laughing aloud on the commuter train. Yup, I was that person going to crazy-town, the kind of person you aren’t sure you want to sit next to (though, I’m starting to realize that can be a good thing for others to think… it can mean a seat all to myself!) Back on subject now – this is a gem of comedy. At one point there is a quiz to help you identify just how stereotypical your characters are and there’s a part about “grandma” and, well, I don’t want to spoil it. Just trust it’s good. Comedy in of itself is a good reason for this book to be part of your life. Add that to the fact that it gives some lovely advice and you have a truly excellent piece of work.

This is a quick read. It’s laid out in a number of quirky little essays that give you a blunder (which, occasionally, made me cringe as I remembered these mistakes being my own) and then tell you just why this is a problem and why you should do to avoid it. Usually the advice was just not to do it. If the solution wasn’t that simple then it gave a couple more examples, all remaining tongue in cheek. It’s a brilliant and easy to read book that is a good reminder of some novel best practices.

Still, this didn’t quite earn top marks just because I hold writing books to a high standard. I want the book to be hard to get through because I’m constantly setting it down to fix something or compose something new. While this book did get me to jot down a couple notes to improve my current work, it didn’t draw me away enough. In fact, to a certain extend, the book was a distraction because it was so darn funny.

What a paradox! It’s a strange thing to downgrade a book for, but there it is. I think all kinds of people, even the casual writer, will benefit from the easy suggestions of the book. More importantly, everyone can value a good chuckle on the train, even my slightly weirded out seat-mate.

Categories: Pick Ups, Weekly Review, Writing | Tags: , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Blog at WordPress.com.