Since I had read all six books prior, I felt like I HAD TO read this seventh installment. that said i can't really wish my time back because I KNEW what I was getting into.
The title offers the first clue as to how things were going to proceed. While that should suffice, I have to throw out there how this felt like a step back for the series. The first book was all kinds of terrible (there's the poor girl girl on pedestal type to the rock star rich boy alpha type; lot's of weeping from the first, then lots of growling from the second.) And from that first book, the rest slowly (very, very slowly) progressed got a little more original. "A little" I say because each installment had a variation on the same theme but with growth of the incremental sort. sure, Breeze 2 had poor girl-rich boy combo and the the rest did sort of follow suit, but at least each book , (I felt) some my issues on alpha type plus the so-the-drama girl combo were being addressed. Because at least I thought with each girl, a little more depth was added; at least with each guy, there were hints of him being not just the Alpha-growly type ("hints" I say because they each were that too.)
In this one: we revert to Book 1. Yes, it comes with a couple of Dear Me's, from the too-perfect but girl who just doesn't see the same... all of which having him act mine mine mine over her. Ach. Gag me.
3.5/5
While there's twice as much kick ass, there's also a little more on the romance; it's the second that has me questioning: is this a good thing? Does all the lurv take away from what makes her a great lead and this story an engaging one? Honestly? I hesitate to say... it does a little. For in that moment of declarations made, apologies exchanged, and truths revealed, my eyes did roll... but only then; otherwise, this was mostly good.
So, to the good (of which there's plenty.) It's finally made clear the roles they each possess. Who's good? Who's bad? And what being either entailed. If nothing and no one was straight cut just good or just bad in Fortune's Pawn, that's not the case here. Like I said, she finally sees them all as they are. However, it's what she does about what she knows that proves just how kick ass she could be: See Devi dive off stuff, avoid death then cause time and time again. Also, see Devi lay things out as she faced off with whomever. (It's to this end that we witness how even when backed into a corner, she'd still have something cooking- even if it was just her taking as many of them down with her..) 'Twas all very never give up of her.
On the progression of events- things went from awesome to awesome to the not-so awesome then back again; it's in the slump here where love declarations and heart felt what-it's came out. When all along, I was waiting for someone's scales to pop through, or someone's armour to malfunction; basically me waiting on the dying or near-dying moments. And in the mean time, the way things pan out in the love department have it clear: I was wrong; he is no Barrons (even though I wish he were.)
Set that aside, lot's of things do take place, plenty enough that us missing out on a Barrons type is made acceptable. Aliens, more aliens, murder, mind reading, crazy queen then crazier king-types abound. So that if One was interesting, then this was crazy.
Fortune's Pawn: three parts kick ass and one part swoon.
The prospect of a new series to love has got me all excited because what's there to love? The very kickass/ballsy Devi? The mysterious dude figure who's unknown factors had me thinking Barrons? (Yes! I have indeed invoked the name of Barrons!) Or even the world... it's a sci fi read with adventure up the whazoo; and all of it's been so cleverly laid out that each reveal, each piece anf player had me wanting just a little bit more.
Devi knows her mind, what she can do, what she wants, and what she doesn't want. Her ambition lands her on a 'cursed' ship, manned by a bird-thing, a lizard-thing, pretty woman, the happy family, and a cook. All is not as it seems because if it's not one thing then there's another that had her spidey senses all a-tingle.
I enjoyed her; not once did she sit back and wait for things to happen; she'd stir things up, poke her nose where it didn't belong... and was ever-ready for the ripples that were bound to follow. She's no trouble maker exacty, but simply aware of things and people and rules around her... it's that awareness that lead her into the most interesting of situations.
The rest of them: they are all cloaked in mystery. Some of them I had pegged; in no way were they just what they claimed to be... and with each reveal made, there I'd be all excited again. Questions on who's the captain, what's he up to? Or who's the cook? Or who THEY all were really! Then come to find out- there are no simple labels here; what she'd come to expect as well as what she knew, didn't apply to The Captain and his Fool or his people as the trader wasn't just a trader, neither was the cook just a cook, and for that matter, neither was the kid! So, that enemies become maybe-enemies; and allies weren't just that. It's all murky here--- and with her the new girl, clearing it up was, let's just, say: interesting.
a three point five (maybe even a four) (i cannot decide!)
Well, now... for a while there I thought this sequel wasn't going to hit the same high notes that the first did. I was wrong, it only took one or two chapters before I got into the flow of things to recall why I was so engrossed by the first book as much as I was.
For those expecting happily-ever-after's in this, this isn't exactly just that. Recall the frustration felt over a friendship unraveling; then, recall the giddy feel over Cricket and Zach, and the shifting in their paths: from him as that one other familiar thing tied to her past, to him being her something else. I gnashed my teeth for her over the first, then sighed (and sighed some more) over the second.
Yet, this sequel one is more than Cricket falling in love or even her clinging to memories of 'when it was good' as she had in Blue; Red has her opening herself to more than one hard truth: that what's good doesn't always stay so; that what's bad can shift and even be set aside; and that what she needs doesn't necessarily aline with what she wants (or vice versa). But more it's her outgrowing certain high school fancies and drama's and just growing up with it becoming clearer to her that things (the good or the bad, as well as what she wants and what she needs) aren't set in stone.
There's growing here -and I loved that- not just by her, as they ALL allow things and issues to shift around- either allowing something else/new to happen or getting back some what used to be. It's to this end that I'm torn: this sequel starts with an ending of sorts; it's this ending that opens multiple possibilities to her- her, questioning the authenticity of what she and Zach had; her and another and that tentative reconnection (that wasn't exactly a reconnection); her and her goals and setting after the same; the culmination of all said with her then her ending up in roughly the same spot she'd found herself at the beginning of Blue, only here she's more bruised by certain developments yet still tentatively open to other things.
Which brings me back to where I'm torn--- despite all the sad and sadder going on for her, things went on. Sad is not the end of the world for her... because along with the said, came the new: EXCEPT there's this too perfect way things unfold. The depressing is eventually (always) balanced out by some new thing, some new development that has Cricket proving time and again that she is a good girl, (here, prone to mistakes,) but a good girl nonetheless. It's not supposed to be a negative but I kept coming back to how too perfect, too 'right' it felt.
Now set aside my nitpicking, and I will say: I enjoyed this story. Mainly because she grows up- they all do. And it's them experiencing first hand, that their roles are not set; that things and people can and do shift about... and it's in that aspect where there's truth.
Thank you, NG!
I've read most (perhaps, all) of Roberts' trilogies (though my GR shelves fail to indicate the same) and it's been my experience that where the first couple usually have the sad tragic past (woman on the run, or woman to discover self, or some variation of the same;) and where the final couple have even more a tragic romantic history, it's usually the second pair that offer up most of the laughs given a scenario of friends turning into something more or the two seeing what's so obvious to all else.
This set up worked when I read Three Sister's, Ardmore, Chesapeak, Born In, Key of, and most recently those Wedding books. In reading all those, it has never failed that I'd fall in love the most with the middle couple (I have reread Ardmore's Shane how many times now? and James in Chesapeake... I swoon a little each time I recall him and the girl he grew up with. Swooning right now, in fact.)
Yet it's not the case here: it's slow going; slower than I've come to expect from NR! There's a lot of back story; Her past trilogies kept the back story just that; but here backdrop became more and more integral to the events that were unfolding. It's heavy on the paranormal which I do not have a problem with - at least not normally. Only here, NR going back time again to where it all started would pull me back from the enjoyment of why I was reading this--- where's the chemistry? where's the connection? where's the pairing off that would make me
laugh then sigh? All that's given eventually, but in the meantime we have all the 'We are Three; Witches are We' that's a throwback to TV's Charmed. And just like that series, it was cute and fascinating at first, but the longer it went the more I felt like saying, 'Way to beat a dead horse.. deader, folks!'
I wanted to love this. (I truly wanted to love this!) Because it's normally the middle couple with the lighthearted (not so serious at first but much more serious later) pair that have me loving them as individuals as well as cheering for them becoming a 'them.' Except here. And there were moments for sure... but moments don't make up for a whole lot of nothing really going on.
That said, I am much excited for Book Three. All those glimpses into their past make Fin and Branna a much more believable pair. Because at least with them there's a starting point; which brings me to my biggest issue: Connor and Meara coming together felt like a foregone conclusion yet neither was aware of the fact. It's like spares pairing up in romantic comedies which is all well and good for the side kicks, but Meara and Connor aren't the sidekicks in this one!
‘The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender’ is a title most apt. This is more than the winged girl- the story extends to everyone and everything that contributes to her making and yes, that covers their sorrow, as well. It’s sweet then not sweet, terrifying and then terrifyingly real. It’ll also make you cry. It did me.
Her odd family portrait begins with who her grandmother is and why she is that way. It’s a past filled with labels of the pretty one, smart one, then quiet one, then later the strange one;. After an escape of sorts to a new world, we have heart break after heart break after heart break. Then it’s her mother’s story- one that was not sweet, but could have been. A lot of the wanting and not getting becomes clearer here for all of them (Jack, Viviane, Gabe… and much later Ava and Henry.) Finally we have Ava and her own sorrow, one built up first on Emilienne’s and then later upon Viviane’s.
So beyond the girl, we have family. How one story touches on the other; where the latter elaborates on the ‘what could have been’s’ of the first. There’s an echoing of the sentiment from one generation to the next: that feeling of being limited by circumstance coupled with that need or want for something else (more.) Things broaden in scope, beyond their common experience t include all other’s they touch on: the community comes to play a bigger role in the goings on. A murmur here, an expectation there… even the moments of fear and lust and even love… on who’s feeling it, but more importantly, why. Take Jack and John and how without them Viviane wouldn’t be as she was and consequently neither would Ava. Or Emilienne’s with her bread and all that opened to them.
This is more than just the girl. I loved it.
Hmph…. Played was… cute? I just looked over what I had to say regarding Hooked; and lo, no surprises here, but this sequel has me feeling roughly the same way. UNDERWHELMED. Sam is the good kid who just takes and takes and takes the crap that’s unloaded on him; in other words, the male version of Fred. Thank the gods, that Ryan’s little sister isn’t a copy of her brother. She tries to do the right thing but finds herself time again doing the wrong thing; in a word: MISGUIDED.
Then take some convoluted plotting later and we have a romance. The same is cute and sweet, but before it got there: the both of them took turns trying my patience and being a pain in my ass, what with their respective issues: He is still the guy the girl didn’t choose; she is the little sister feeling overlooked. Boo. Friggin. Hoo.
That said, a couple of funnies in this one worked for me, including but not limited to: some kid and a failed Botox experiment; them each pushing the others’ buttons, rescue(s) failed or otherwise, plus brushes with death, physical injury, assault, and arrest (though not necessarily in that order). Things got crazy and funny because of it! (except I don’t think that’s the effect PLAYED was going for.)
Like I said, cute... but underwhelming.
Thank you, NG!
The blurb says “funny and heartfelt.” Was I reading a different story? Because this felt too simple too short; there’s very little the lead has to figure out here. And if there was anything to be dealt with, it’s done easily enough.
To start we have Alek, very critical of the way his family is; in much the same way he felt them treating him. So… it’s a young story and he, a young lead. The same is never more obvious in how he sees his parents; and how he feels himself treated by them and his “too perfect” older brother. Essentially, there’s skewed perspective on all their parts; that over critical tendency that he complained of in his parents; well, he could be the very same. There’s a lot of “It’s not fair-ing” all around.
As to the romance, this is no Sedaris book (and I don’t care what the blurb says). There’s a lack of depth here - given the almost too simple resolution on his questions of “what if” and then later of “what now.” He is a blank slate when it comes to everything it seems; yet he draws Ethan in nonetheless because there’s a “Rightness” to how he could be. He’s molded and allowed to learn but a lot of that was superficial (which was fun and cute) but … again: depth, where’d you go?
Past that though and we see as more than the kid learning about himself and where he was going; because there were one or two teachable moments of Alek acting like the stand up guy he obviously was.
So, this was not as funny or heartfelt as I was expecting especially, with moments that felt forced, contrived even. Then there were those more rare moments that were genuinely funny. I just wish this had more of… everything it promised.
Still, thank you, net galley!
i enjoyed this, in much the same way i did those carson books with the girl with the magical gem in her belly, (whose title as usual elludes me.) it's got the same feel: a little bit of magic that's barely explored; a girl who wants to be more than what others want/need her to be; and even better, a girl who does something about it; and two, (yes, you read that right- two!) interesting fellows of the opposite sex figuring greatly in the complications in this one.
vastly entertaining. i enjoyed the questions and suspicions that the story allowed because i had a lot of them, especially on who was who and what their roles were going to be. i had my doubts: would this be another princess tale, one who doesn't want to be just that? or even another tale with multiple POV's, each proving there's just something irresistible about her?! this proved to be neither just those things; thus, my enjoyment of almost every single moment in this, especially those of the not-naming ones because they all kept me guessing, then feeling certain, then backtracking, then shaking my head for doing so, then guessing anew.
the questions on who would turn out to be who aside, the whole poor little rich girl isn't just what she is. we begin her tale with her and her being determined NOT TO BE what's expected. it's a little predictable in that aspect but became less and less so with each chapter that passed. there's more to her than what she didn't want, and there's more to her world than to where she'd headed; and that though much may her desire be for a simple life was, the same's essentially impossible here. because while she fancied herself a pawn, there were others just like her in this story, only more aware of the specifics than she was.
also, it made me cry! i wasn't expecting to; her moment of clarity at the heels of such terrible things produced in me so many FEELS that it left me surprised; because despite the poor little rich girl start, despite the love triangle so obviously coming, despite the not-knowing of who was who was who (really, one of the best aspects of how this story was told) i didn't expect to be as affected as i was in that moment. the last chapters here rival those in my recent Winner's Curse read. The feels in both come from out of nowhere SO now i'm hooked, waiting on the next book.
thank you, net galley!
PAINTED FACES, an unconventional love story? Maybe. That he sees beyond her insecurities where she sees her beyond his physical make their pairing a special one.
But beyond them being the odd balls that they are, some of it could get pretty typical: sad trauma carried over from his past, dictating who he’s become converging with insecurities she’s failed to let go covered by witty banter on her part. I’d encountered both before. Yet despite that, their combination makes for an interesting as leads like him are rare, unique even (I can’t quit say the same thing for her.)
There’s the added bonus of them being funny, mainly her then her with him; it’s that that makes PAINTED more than their respective baggage.
Not bad.
Side Effects May Vary. About love and life and forgiveness BUT it takes long while before it got to any of those things because mostly it’s him being used and her using him then the both of them being aware of it. Did I enjoy it? Not by a long shot. Was it different? Most definitely. Do I appreciate what made it different? This begs the question: what sets this story apart? IS it that it does not paint a pretty picture? Lots of stories do so, except here it’s neither sad nor just the emotional because of her having been sick; if anything that’s just a side note here. It goes way beyond her being sick and the consequences of that. Here, the ugly comes from what they are all capable of. It is not her being sick but her being herself: mean, manipulative girl, with glimpses of kind but mostly the first two. It’s not sad because he loves her but because he allows himself to be used by her time and time again.
Liking her is impossible here; there’s no “next to” about it. She is mean and aware of her actions; she is likewise aware of how others see her yet nothing, least of all them, prevent her from doing what she was doing. Liking him is almost as difficult as liking her, but more- I pitied him, and not in the “I want to take him under my wing” way. I truly felt sorry for the kid; yet at the same time, he frustrated me! I was frustrated by his willingness to be used… ‘Til he wasn’t anymore, except by that point I was FORCING myself to get through this. Eventually they both changed their tune, too late though because it had been drummed into me what was wrong with her, what was wrong him, then what was wrong them together.
Redemption comes slowly here; in the mean time sympathizing with her, an impossible feat and pitying him, coming a bit too easily. This story is far from the love story its tags proclaims it to be; more it’s him used and her using and the both being aware of both as well as being unable to do and be otherwise. Then things shift when too much of it’s done; but by that point I was almost desperate for a something else – either a comeuppance or a head out of sand moment for the either of them. Then to tack on the blame game… well, this is me disliking where the story was going even more. When it started, I thought I knew where it was going; I was wrong, where she took the story: I quite disliked. She says “I am the way I am because of you…”Gah! I just hate that!
Blame game here made it apparent, Side Effects is more than the both of them loving each other the way they knew how; there’s carry over from something else that propels her to be the way she was. The ugly comes out only because of something else; and I just didn’t buy that bit of it.
Thank you, Edelweiss!
Nothing actually happens.
I feel like Wizard’s Promise is essentially the LONGEST. Introduction. Ever. We know who and what’s coming, yet in the mean time there’s a lot of her asking questions that eventually started to feel like, “ARE WE THERE YET?” (She wasn’t asking that, of course! It just felt like she was; thus, me wanting to smack her.)
There’s some mention of the awesome that was Ananna as well as the mist and the magical, yet for the most part we have Hannah. At first it’s her and what she does not have; then it’s allot of her failing to ask the right questions and asking the most annoying question over and over and over. Of course things are not helped when the people around her only respond with non-answers!
There is eventually more interesting moments of her making her world bigger and learning things she’d previously not known, but descriptions of awesome magical fish and how to cook the same failed to satisfy me.
Bottom line: I’d have loved to get more out of this, but I was honestly just bored. Add that the only time I wasn’t bored was somewhere in the last 5%. Things were happening! She was doing stuff! It was good… unless one recalls that all that’s good was compressed in said measly 5%!
Thank you, Net Galley!
The Impossible Knife of Memory is her seeing the truth
…That what she wants may not be what she or her father needs
…That what she wants may not be even what’s good for her for him
… That what she remembers isn’t as bad as she her behavior have them seem; but neither as good given the way she is with her father.
On what she wants versus what he needs OR how things are versus the way thing sought to be: there’s this general feel of “disconnect” between what is and how she acts, especially with regard to the roles they each fulfill in their family. Theirs is non-traditional definitely, but not in the cute quaint sweet way others are. Because she’s all there is for her father, so that while she takes on responsibilities much bigger she should, here she went going on with it --- failing to see why that shouldn’t be the case.
Factor in further what their system has molded her into: this odd combination of old soul- bitter and biting in some respects, BUT also so unaware and even innocent of the other ‘usual’ things. She’s a contradiction… but that contradiction is slowly recognized and then bridged, with her being able to act her age with that reconnection made with childhood bestie as well as with Finn (it’s on account of him that I just have to add: much love for the math jokes!)
It’s not pretty. It’s not meant to be: how she’s there for her father when he should be there for her. And also why that’s the case. The glimpses into his experience are few and far in between but allow clarity into why it’s heartbreaking both for her and him. BECAUSE it’s his past that has changed who he is; the man she recalls is no more… and yet, despite that knowing, there are more than moments pointing to how little is done about it. His shifts are sudden confusing and terrifying but also heart breaking because of the little that’s done given the knowledge that she’s there for him but some times being there isn't all that a body needs need AND YET there are all those other instances when it's clear that it is THE VERY SAME THING that's called for.
At first there was Jordan.
And then there was Parker.
And then Kate.
Then Savannah.
And now, Annie.
The first things that struck me when I heard a new MK book was coming out was… Another Hundred Oaks book?! The second thing was the cover and me wondering over why the sudden departure from the previous books’. Honesty time: I was not the biggest fan of the first three books. Too preachy is what I’d complained of time and time again, but there’s always that one thing or some other thing that’s kept me reading through the series. It was the last one with Savannah that had me more than slightly impressed as it had less to do with a girl and her questions on faith and more on that same girl learning who she was. THIS is more of that. I like the direction in which the series had turned, less the preachy moments and more of her (them) opening themselves to possibilities. Overall the books have become them becoming ‘more’ than what they’d thought themselves capable.
Some background: Annie has lost someone and taken on a task to honor him. As she gets ready to just that she allows us glimpses of why things changed and how things have changed… not just between her and Kyle, but between her and her friends as well as between her and her family. Clearly one thing touches on all the rest here. Right off the bat, I liked that she’s not unsure about what she didn’t want. Sure, sad consequences followed, but that she knew herself enough to answer the way she did, despite the unavoidable reaction, felt real.
Feelings abound in this: Feelings of guilt as well as feelings of anger that come about for varying reasons; they’re all explored then faced. Through all those, her experience came out clear and then clearer to me and as a result she’s likely the most sympathetic of all MK leads I’ve read so far. Her recollections on who she was with Kyle and the changes she’s put herself through. Particularly, it’s her “why” that had me wanting to know more of her. There’s an awareness of the screw up’s made, but a refusal of sorts to take ALL the blame (eventually). It’ is said eventuality that made me like her even more because before coming to that point: she put herself through pain- emotional mental and even the physical.
Things change and things don’t stop. That she breaks over what’s happened but doesn’t stop allows for more and more people to enter her life. First the re-connections: Kelsey and her mother in particular. Later it’s all those new people, particularly Jeremiah. It’s regarding the first that more moments of guilt –except-why-should-I’s on her part happen. And it’s this that made her read young to me (this is not necessarily a bad thing)… because despite all that’s happened, she IS young. It’s this second aspect that’s explored more with Jere in the picture.
While the this whole YA series has been a cross of sports and romance, I was never a big fan of the overly sweet romances that took place… that’s not completely what I felt here. The newness of what she feels for him is complicated by what she still feels for Kyle. So, complicated? You betcha! But as things move forward, the clearer it becomes that Jere’s a totally separate thing from what she was and who she knew. But getting to that point? Well, not all is sweet and not all is easy. I like that. That Jere isn’t the just the new guy, but one with baggage all his own made for them together even more interesting. It’s not just HER in this one after all.
Thanks, E!
At first Of Metal and Wishes had me thinking Beauty and the Beast; only wait a beat and it’s Phantom of the Opera. I enjoyed this despite the female lead not being the most sympathetic at first. She was too ‘woe is me’. 16 year-old Wen is struggling with the changes that have come and the roles she’s been assigned from her mother’s daughter to doctor’s assistant, none of it’s what she had planned for herself.
As she adjusts, more change comes with the Noor, perceived less and treated thus, their presence make her adjustment all the more difficult. In the midst of that, we have a presence, this mythic entity righting the wrongs and easing burdens of those who’d ask (‘twas very ‘dramatic’.) And then to complicate matters for her even further, there’s a weasily skeeze (all right, one or two fellows of that sort) in this one too.
Truth time: it’s not that difficult to piece things together, to see who was who and what they would become for each other; but I enjoyed it all the same. Mainly because it’s fast paced and for another things got pretty interesting in terms of the connections being made. First, there’s her Belle to his Beast, though the start of their tale is conventional, it progressed less so: there’s crash into hello thing that takes places, plus bruised egos, and expectations that were too either high (or low) based on each their preconceptions, but I liked that; I liked them. AND just as a connection starts there, another yet picks up: Who the ghost is is key here BUT it’s who the rest of them are in relation to the same that’s makes all this more than just a girl falling for the guy who’s her total opposite (though that’s there too).
Favorite bits: FIRST, them learning more of each other; the notions they had shifting a little and then shifting some more until being chucked completely, because what they though the other was, isn’t the case at all. SECOND, that they were all really different: her seeing him and his together and their ways being so foreign to her own... it added a touch of something more here.
Also, Book, why'd you end like that?!
Thank you, Edelweiss!
Brave author is brave. There’s depressing then there’s depressing. Mawkish, self-pitying come to mind after reading this because he’s broken and so is she. He’s broken because he’s lost someone and blames himself; she’s broken because some else was broken before her and broke her. When they do finally meet and you’d think ‘Kindred spirit, you get me.’ Wrong.
The two see each other in the worst possible moments of both their lives: it’s in their respective aftermath’s. What’s the problem you ask? The whole reason I enjoyed (a term I use loosely) her first books were despite the leads being in their respective after’s as well, at least there, there was an effort to move beyond; not forgetting the root, but a one step forward then the next then the next nevertheless.
Yet, here it’s the both of them… No, wait it’s not even just the two leads but even the people around them who are all too bogged down in each their respective dramas. Him, on losing someone and her and self-castigating there for versus her, losing someone as well and doing basically the same thing the male MC was; the rest of them too with their using especially as they all USED each other.
But wait, there is a positive here- the ending. And how completely unexpected it went. There’s a feeling of redemption here that made an HEA for the both of them together unlikely. So, like I said, the brave author is brave.