Book Review: Forbidden to Love (The Erosians #1) by Debbie Davies & D.A. Willis

The blurb as seen on Goodreads:
Release Date: March 14,2013
Publisher: Createspace
370 Pages

The Gods Made Me. They Own Me. They Rule Me.

Well, they like to think they do.

Almost a year ago I was rejected and banished by Eros the God of Love. Now I've been forced by Eros to live a life of slavery in the mortal world completely forbidden to love anyone but him - unless I want pain, heartbreak and torture to feature heavily in my future.

My hatred for Eros is almost as strong as my desire to escape this life of loneliness, which is looking very unlikely. Until I see him, the auraless mortal, who steals my breath and burns my heart. Now I have to find a way to be with him even if that means losing everything I have and starting a war to end all worlds. Lucky for me this guys willing to kill to give me a life.

I may be forbidden to love but I'm determined to live.

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So this book was kind of like Young Hercules meets Days of Our Lives. Acacia is a goddess who has been sent to live in the mortal world because Eros, the Greek God of love and the person she was made for, does not want her. She lives with two other Goddesses, both also rejected by Eros. Here she attends high school and basically plays matchmaker, setting up people with their perfect partners based on their aura colors.  Then one day, she meets Josh – the boy with no aura, the boy she can’t seem to forget.

Let me start of by saying, I love love love Greek mythology. Anything to do with Gods/Goddesses, I’m a sucker for. So of course, this book seemed perfect for me. But alas, it fell flat. I did not like Acacia. I could not understand her at all. Her head was a jumbled mess and she went from one way of thinking to a completely opposite one then back in the span of one paragraph. Yes I should be with Josh, Eros be damned! But wait, Josh could get hurt and I love him too much for that. I should stay away. But who is Eros to tell me what to do? GAH!

Now I will admit that the three girls are in a sucky situation. All being created for Eros, then rejected and forced to still only love him. That sucks. But there are other things to do then spend countless chapters complaining about it. You’re pissed, we get it. You belong to Eros, we get it. You’re unhappy, WE GET IT. Move forward with plot!

Then there was Josh, who I loved instantly…then fell out of love with as the book progressed. He started off as this strong willed, quick-witted guy but quickly turned into the ‘I can’t live without you being in my life every second’ guy. Enough with the instalove people.

And don’t even get me started on Luca. WTF was that? Why was it there? What point did it serve? If the author was setting something up for upcoming books, there needs to be more information. Their instalove made absolutely no sense and seemed to serve no other purpose than just to have the obligatory love triangle that plague YA books lately.

The writing was very uncohesive (is that a word?) and sometimes just a rambling mess, also predictable. Backstory was thrown in at awkward places and then constantly repeated throughout the book. Along with the massive info dumping, there were way too many questions that went unanswered. If you want us to care about these characters, you need to set a better scene with them. How do they support themselves? Do they just have endless amounts of money? Were they made the ages they are now? Do they have to relocate often because of the not aging? HOW DO THEY LIVE? It’s one thing to leave some mystery for the sequels, but at some point, you have to explain things to your audience if you want them to care. 

Disappointing read for me and I’m not sure if I will continue the series.

I received an e-copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Book Review: The Summer I Became A Nerd by Leah Rae Miller

The blurb as seen on Goodreads:
Release Date: May 7, 2013
Publisher: Entangled Teen
267 Pages

On the outside, seventeen-year-old Madelyne Summers looks like your typical blond cheerleader—perky, popular, and dating the star quarterback. But inside, Maddie spends more time agonizing over what will happen in the next issue of her favorite comic book than planning pep rallies with her squad. That she’s a nerd hiding in a popular girl's body isn’t just unknown, it's anti-known. And she needs to keep it that way.

Summer is the only time Maddie lets her real self out to play, but when she slips up and the adorkable guy behind the local comic shop’s counter uncovers her secret, she’s busted. Before she can shake a pom-pom, Maddie’s whisked into Logan’s world of comic conventions, live-action role-playing, and first-person-shooter video games. And she loves it. But the more she denies who she really is, the deeper her lies become…and the more she risks losing Logan forever.

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Source 

Maddie has a problem. For years, she’s been living a double life. On the outside she’s your typical popular cheerleader who’s dating the football star. On the inside, she’s Sheldon Cooper (if you don’t know who that is, I don’t think we can be friends). 

Because of a traumatic costume experience when she was younger, Maddie has felt the need to hide her nerdiness from the outside world. No one knows that she has anime marathons on the weekends with her father, or that she’s counting down the days until the final issue of her favorite comic series. But when her beloved comic fails to come in the mail, Maddie is forced to do what she’s always feared: walk into the local comic book store where people can see her. It is here we Logan, son of the owners of the store and the person holding the last copy of the prized comic book Maddie so desperately needs. A friendship is forged, one that seems to be leading elsewhere, but it is kept secret because Maddies fears what people will think when they learn that not only is she crushing on a nerd, but she’s actually one herself. 

Source

I really enjoyed Maddie. Yes, she drove me nuts with all of her secrecy, but I could understand it to a point. High school is a hard place to navigate and it is much easier when you’re “accepted”. This, however, didn’t stop me from shouting at her to just be herself every two seconds. 

Now Logan…Logan I loved from the moment we meet him.

Source

He knows who he is and what he wants, and he’s not afraid to show it. He’s sweet, kind, loyal, adorable, and I kept wondering where I could find him in real life. Rounding him out were his family and best friend who all just added colors to this world.

The author must be a nerd herself to write some of these scenarios and I reveled in all the nerdilicious glory. There’s comics, LARPing, conventions…and underneath it all, a great story on learning to accept yourself. A light-hearted, great summer read that I would definitely recommend.I certainly couldn't stop smiling after I read it.

Source

I received an e-copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Teaser Tuesday: Reality Ends Here & White Lines

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by MizB over at Should Be Reading!

To participate, all you have to do is:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (Make sure what you share doesn't give too much away! You don't want to ruin the book for others!)

Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can ad the book to their TBR lists if they like your teasers!

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"'It happened again,' said my sister Gracie.
I was deep asleep in that place I love, that place that feels like layers and layers of heavy cotton, and then Gracie's machete voice, cutting through it all, ruining everything."Chapter 1, 1%
Reality Ends Here by Alison Gaylin

"I imagine myself in a busy newsroom wearing a crisp white blouse buttoned up to the neck, my hair cut in a breezy, no-nonsense shag, a pair of tortoiseshell glasses perched on the bridge of my nose. The image makes me  inexplicably sad for some reason, and I close my eyes, sighing loudly."

Chapter Two, ARC Page 18-19

White Lines by Jennifer Banash

What are you reading this week?

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Book Review: Drowning in You (Finding Forever in Us #1) by Rebecca Berto

The blurb as seen on Goodreads:

Release Date: April 5, 2013
Publisher: Self-Published
316 Pages

Secretly crushing

Crushed by a tragedy

Charlee May’s been crushing on Dexter Hollingworth since she was fifteen. Five years later, a horrific skiing disaster at Mason’s Ski Lift Resort leaves her millionaire dad critically injured and her mom dead at the hands of Dexter operating the lifts. Charlee is suddenly the sole caretaker for her little brother while their world falls apart. 

Dexter couldn’t be more different from Charlee. He’s tattooed, avoids exclusive relationships and his Dad has a fair share of illegal dealings. With Dexter’s reputation, almost everyone believes he planned the Mason’s skiing disaster.

And after all these years he’s still crushing on Charlee May, the girl who’s too good for him.

When this cruel twist of fate ties Charlee’s family and Dexter’s reputation together, Charlee and Dexter wonder if their feelings are reciprocated, while Dexter discovers his dad is trying to steal the May’s millionaire fortune. 

But like an addiction, one look, one touch, one taste—they’re hooked no matter the consequences.

Disclaimer: Recommended for mature readers due to sexual content and crude language.

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This review has some spoilers.

I wish I had something witty to say, but the only thing I can think of at the moment is: "New adult? More like 'poo adult.'" If you know me, you know that I'm not big on new adult novels, but something about the cover and blurb on Drowning in You put together made me get onboard. This is where I start screaming, "Abort! Abort!" Drowning in You was bad, so bad that I raged about 68% of the book. Let me tell you why: 

The Plot

What plot? This was the same scene repeated over and over and over again. It was melodramatic and repetitive to the point where I was seconds away from ripping my hair out. It literally went like this: Charlee sees Dexter. Dexter has a diabetic reaction. Dexter almost tells Charlee he loves her. Charlee almost tells Dexter she loves him. One of the changes the subject or leaves and then both of them begin to tell themselves that they can't be with the other. Rinse and repeat.

The Characters

I hated them all. Except Darcy in one scene. The main characters, their friends and even their parents? Hated them. My biggest rages beyond the main characters were Dexter's mom, who is a nurse and tried to clock in after drinking and was pretty adamant that she could work. Dexter was able to convince her not to go in, but still. The lack of care and respect that was shown disgusted me. None of these characters had a single redeeming quality. The main characters acted more like middle schoolers than grown adults.

The Prose

I can't even handle it. I know that the author had editors and betas, but that is not shown in what I read. The phrasing was disjointed, and painfully awkward. I could barely read it without smacking myself in the forehead. This needed a run through by someone who could be brutally honest. There was a lot that could've been done to this book, but it was sorely lacking on structure.

The Accuracy

Fail. I know very little about diabetes, but Dexter, one of the main characters supposedly has it. Yeah… Okay. He has several hypo reactions during the course of the novel and though Charlee was around for one of them (and a major one, so major she had to call in an emergency). Afterwards, beyond this bogus fight she starts, no one brings up the fact that he is being extremely careless with his health. He does not carry insulin. He does not carry some form of sugar on him. I don't remember about him even doing a glucose testing. Shouldn't that be a regular occurrence with someone suffering from this illness? Dexter knows his limits and his illness, but he is not proactive and so ignorant that it made me sick. Also--as you can see in my interview with the author, she only did "minor research for the medical knowledge." That frustrates me because this is not something that should be taken lightly, especially when it's a major part of your plot.

The Consistency

What consistency? This book made absolutely no sense!

The Reality

So I get that this is fiction, but it's supposed to be contemporary, so there should be at least a shred of real life in there. Neither of the main characters appear to have a stable job, nor do they attend university. So how do they afford to live? By mooching off of their parents? I think Charlee is a swim instructor, but it's not really expanded on enough for the reader to know how she's getting by and taking care of her younger brother and her father's hospital bills.

This book was a mess and not even a hot one. I apologize. After writing this, I realize it is more of a rant, but there was a lot of material in this book that was handled incorrectly and the story was not done justice. I'm glad I did not purchase this novel, because I definitely would've asked for a refund. I don't recommend this book.

I received an e-copy of this novel from the author and Xpresso Book Tours for my honest opinion and review.

ARC Review: Transparent by Natalie Whipple

The blurb as seen on Goodreads:

Release Date: May 21, 2013
Publisher: HarperTeen
368 Pages

Plenty of teenagers feel invisible. Fiona McClean actually is.

An invisible girl is a priceless weapon. Fiona’s own father has been forcing her to do his dirty work for years—everything from spying on people to stealing cars to breaking into bank vaults.

After sixteen years, Fiona’s had enough. She and her mother flee to a small town, and for the first time in her life, Fiona feels like a normal life is within reach. But Fiona’s father isn’t giving up that easily.

Of course, he should know better than anyone: never underestimate an invisible girl.

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Transparent was honestly not a book that immediately drew my attention. I decided to read it because getting insight into the mafia is always interesting, and I'm a fan of the X-Men movies. After reading this, those are the very last two comparisons I would make toward this novel. There isn't mind-blowing action like that which occurs in X-men, or what we stereotypically believe the mafia is like.

This is the story of a girl named … Holy crap. I forgot her name. Emma? No… Katie?

Two minutes later…

It's Fiona, I looked it up. I don't know how I forgot. My stepmom used to have a dog named Fiona. It was the ugliest thing ever and spit everywhere. How could I forget? We called her Fifi, which is one of book Fiona's nicknames… Hah. But all of this is beside the point. The point is Fiona (the main character of Transparent, not my dog) is invisible. But don't worry. She wears clothes and glasses so you can see her. Or something. Fiona's dad wants to use her to steal money and kill people, so to protect her, Fiona and her mother sneak away in the night. They hide in this tiny town and try to live normally, but there are a lot of obstacles they must overcome to truly be free.

For some reason, as I read, I could not get onboard with the fact that our main character is invisible. Something about the way she speaks made me forget, until she reminded me--which she does… A lot. The world-building and the lack of clarity annoyed me. She's invisible and wears clothes to be seen, but to hide, she doesn't take off her clothes? Alrighty then… The book is also extremely repetitive. There was so much that could've been done with the story, but everything interesting was forgone and instead it was a pretty typical teen romance, with a few atypical details.

The writing was pretty awkward. When I first started the novel, I really enjoyed it! Something about it kept pulling me in and pushing me to keep reading. The unique ideas that Whipple puts together seemed to really work for awhile. But as the novel progressed, the book really went downhill. I just wanted to finish the book and get on with a new book, something I would enjoy. 

The characters were overall pretty unlikable, the main character, especially. Fiona constantly berates her mother, who has been abused, and manipulated by the man she loved for years. There's a line and Fiona crosses it a lot. She's extremely selfish to the point where I just wanted to smack her for her behavior. There's a difference between being cruel and being angry. What makes it worse is by the end, it felt like we'd gotten nowhere. Fiona's character development was seriously lacking. She was the same character by the end that she was in the beginning. Her judgmental attitude never waned. Plus, the way she bounced from one interest to the next made me extremely uncomfortable. (And the fact that they are brothers… Whut.)

I know a lot of people liked it, but I just didn't see the attraction. Even the ending wasn't satisfying, but very abrupt. It felt unfinished. Transparent didn't win me over liked I'd hoped it would.

I received an e-copy of this novel from the publisher for my honest opinion and review via Edelweiss.