Only With You

Only with You by Lauren Layne
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

This book was not for me. Technically I DNF'd it; in reality I skimmed through about the latter 75% of it.

I found the characters, especially Sophie (the main character), a study in contradiction - and not in a good way. She knows she's given the wrong impression to someone, but given many chances to fix said impression, she does nothing. This translated as a predictable, frustrating plot device. No thank you.

This book felt like it was trying to be the literary version of a "Gentleman Prefer Blondes" remake. Sophie was very Marilyn Monroe - ditzy blonde who's dumb like a fox. Again, no thanks.

All around, it just wasn't enjoyable for me. I think it would entertain true romance fans - but for those of us who need some substance and depth to our main characters, it is best avoided.

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Landline

Landline by Rainbow Rowell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Two words that sum up this book are magical realism - magical because it's Rainbow Rowell, and realism because it's a picture of real life.

I love this author; for me, Rainbow Rowell can do no wrong. I loved Fangirl and I loved Eleanor and Park. I've only started Attachments but already like that one too. But this one? Not so much.

All the elements were classic Rowell: amazing character development, fabulous side characters, good pacing, lots of interesting introspection. I could go on and on. Instead, let me tell you what I didn't like.

Georgie and Neal are hitting a wall in their marriage. Every couple hits a wall at some point or another, usually around the 10-15 year mark. In this case, the roles are reversed somewhat. While it's usually the husband's career that costs the couple their marriage, this time it's the wife. Georgie's about to hit it big, but it's going to cost her Christmas with her family. Throw in the idea that she can talk to her husband 15 years in the past, while he was still her boyfriend, and it turns into a light-hearted look at true love.

Except that evaluating a marriage is anything but light-hearted. For Georgie, the reality is that it's going to cost much more - her marriage, because she has been slowly choosing her career (and her best friend) over her marriage from the beginning. I didn't like Georgie very much. She put up with a lot of demeaning nonsense from her best friend and writing partner. She compensated for neglecting her husband and daughters by simply feeling guilty about it. She loves her family but continues to choose her career over them again and again. So when push came to shove, she got a big wake-up call. Hello Georgie, this is what happens when you don't pay attention to the most important relationships in your life. Here you are thinking your husband may have left you - exactly what did you think would happen? Did you think feeling guilty about it would make it all better?

I loved Neal. He was patient and kind and although droll, always honest. He was sweet and endearing and had that dry wit, always funny. And what a lover - he loved Georgie and their daughters with that strong, faithful kind of love that keeps a marriage strong. I hated seeing him having to deal with this woman whose life and career were running her instead of the other way around. This was a man who decided the thing he loved the most was staying home with his young daughters. He liked to cook and do laundry and take kids to school; taking care of these things was the way he took care of the family. He didn't begrudge Georgie her dreams, or even begrudge coming in second place to them. He was solid, and most important - he loved her. His life screamed how much he loved her.

I liked Seth; at least he was true to himself. He didn't pretend to be something he wasn't and there was no pretense there. And the extraneous family members were entertaining, as were Georgie and Neal's daughters. Rowell can write people that are really, really likable.

I loved the ending of this book. The emotional journey that Georgie has been on is echoed in the events that take place - and honestly, she gets what she deserves in every sense.

My main problem with this book is simply that it is light-hearted in its approach to a very serious situation. Rainbow Rowell is an amazing writer and she did it all right. I loved this book. The only thing I didn't like about it was . . . the book.

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Carrier

Carrier by Anne Tibbets
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a strong book, very strong. And not because the characters are strong - which they are - but because it carries a strong message.

Carrier is a dystopian story about Naya, a sex slave who is released from confinement and has to then deal with the real world. She's been on "the Line" for nine years; essentially a government-sanctioned brothel. The women are prisoners kept in cells. The food is terrible but the medical care is relatively good. And they have 10 "appointments" per day, seven days per week. She was sold into this life when she was 13.

Naya is strong; she's shut down her emotions in order to cope with her imprisonment. As the story unfolds, we watch her get in touch with those emotions she held at bay for so long. We watch her flounder in the real world, trying to find solutions to the challenges she faces. We watch her struggle to trust people who want to help her. We see her emerge as a person. She is never a victim; rather, she continually tries to face her situation realistically and her naivete lends a sense of realism. She garners our admiration, not our pity.

The other characters are relatively well-developed but not overly so. We are given enough of them to want more, and as this is the first book in a series, it is to be expected that the secondary characters will change and grow.

The story is slow at first, and this is primarily because Naya is trying to figure out what to do with herself. How does she solve the problems with which she's faced? But even with the pace slowing, the world building that happens is substantial. The story doesn't lag - it's more like a change of focus. The background becomes clearer for a bit, and then we focus back in on the main character.

The plot was a standard dystopian-bad-government-wants-to-take-over-the-world-at-everyone's-expense sort of thing. It would have been just another in the long line of YA publishing today, except this isn't YA. It's NA and that's important. Naya is 22 years old and those around her are also her age and older. These are not teenagers and in many ways that makes this a much more believable story. The story here is relevant today and addresses several things, the sex-slave trade being the most prominent. We see poverty, people trapped in horrible situations with no choices or opportunities to get out. There are desperate people doing desperate things. There is a general disdain for life; add to that all the emotional fallout that these situations entail and the book could be one big sinkhole of despair.

But it's not. There is action and hope throughout. It may not be a completely original plot, but the setting is definitely original. There is virtually no romance, which is also refreshing because of the main character's situation. Her relationships grow slowly.

This is a great book with extremely difficult themes. It's not hard to read, but it's hard to look at; the idea that this happens today is a good reminder that we are never as advanced a society as we think we are.

It will be interesting to see where the author takes this series. If the first book is any indication, it will be remarkable.



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(Once) Again

(Once) Again by Theresa Paolo
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

After reading (Never) Again, I almost gave up on this author. Fortunately, I was pleasantly surprised with this sequel. In fact, I'm kind of astonished that the same author wrote this particular book.

As with most NA contemporaries, this second book in the Again series picks up with a secondary character from the first book. Josh, the main character, has been wounded in a school shooting at his university and is home recovering roughly 3 weeks after the incident. His home health aide turns out to be a girlfriend from high school that he never got over. And the story goes from there.

This book had a great backdrop with the school shooting and main character's PTSD. Also notable was an attack/near rape incident. But these two things were just the backdrop for the romance; they were a canvas on which to paint the interaction between the characters.

The character development here was great. Josh has made a lot of mistakes which he begins to see more and more clearly, in light of the near-death experience he's just had. His slow but steady willingness to change is refreshing. The way he goes overboard is endearing. Once we get to know his character, we see him progress - but not unrealistically. It makes for a much more believable story.

Sometimes with a story like this one, the plot can really slow down and drag if the characters get together too quickly. Not so in this case. The bit of drama towards the end helped move things along without over-complicating things. It didn't feel like too much.

The cheese factor in this story is huge. There's a lot of Josh "lifting her chin with a finger" and "running a finger down her face, trailing her jaw." Ok once or twice - but every time they have a serious moment? It was a bit much.

Overall, this was about standard as NA contemporaries go. It is a dramatic (dramatic!) improvement to the series. If the author continues at this pace, the next books will be amazing. We'll see.

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ACID

Acid by Emma Pass
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

There seem to be some impressive dystopians both set in and are written by authors in the UK these days. This is definitely one.

ACID, (Agency for Crime Investigation and Defense) refers to a controlling regime that has taken over Britain in the near future. The country is now called the Independent Republic of Britain and is completely closed off from the rest of the world. There is a resistance group struggling to gather evidence to peacefully end the regime, a splinter group of anarchists who just want to blow things up, and a horrible dictator/leader/military head determined to take over. And although we don't know much about the planet at large, we don't need to know. We only are told that it is not controlled like the IRB. That said, the world building here is substantial. The society is well-defined and the general description of the place was easy to visualize. The writing here was vivid with detail; it was easy to feel the freezing cold of the Orkney Islands and smell the moldy books of an abandoned library.

The character development was equally well done. Jenna Strong is a formidable character but not without her weaknesses. So often in these sorts of stories the heroine is undefeated, occasionally scared but always capable and triumphing. Not so with Jenna Strong. She is caught fleeing, beaten up, drugged, cursed by friends she comes to love, shot. When she gets out of a tough spot it is usually because someone helped her out, not generally on her own volition. There were also moments when she lost her memory and immediately reached out to the bad people who caused it - because what else would she do? Some might say this was her not thinking for herself. But it was realistic and lent an edgy vibe to the story. She was brave, but bravery is often as stupid as it is clever. She was also reasonably intelligent and made mistakes that mere humans make.

The pacing in this book was fabulous. It moved along and the action really didn't stop. Just about the time there seemed to be a lull, things picked right up again and the shooting and sneaking around began. The tension was always strung tight. There were surprises and things in general were not predictable.

There was the question as to why the main character was so important. This seems to crop up on a regular basis with these sorts of stories - what made her so special that the highest person in the government wanted her dead? Or for the rebels to want her alive? This question wasn't clearly answered here; the reason given was pretty weak.

The resolution of the book could also been seen as somewhat anti-climatic: the rebel group wants to bring the regime to justice by trying them for crimes against humanity. Not your general "shoot them all and the good guys win" sort of thing, but again, this makes the story a bit different. It still got the job done and it was a refreshing change from the standard YA dystopian.

The audiobook is narrated by Fiona Hardingham and she was incredible. One of the better narrators out there, she distinguished each character and read with engrossing emotion.

This book deserves a wide audience and a lot of success. So many stories like it are badly done, so it's nice to encounter one that rises to the top and delivers.





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The Revealed

The Revealed by Jessica Hickam
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Sometimes a book aims high and hits the middle. That is this book. In the great race of dystopians, The Revealed is hanging with the pack - not in front, and not lagging behind. It's set a nice pace right in the middle.

The premise here is good: X-Men meets Chasing Liberty. It's a good setup for a potentially fantastic story. The writing is not outstanding but certainly readable. The pacing is good and there aren't any lags. There's a great bad guy and an engaging plot. So what is it with this book that makes it just ok?

The main character is inconsistent, immature, and generally annoying. She is being kept safe in a secure compound - so why does she keep getting out so easily? There's a boy who betrayed her back in high school that she suddenly trusts. And trusts again after he gives her reason not to trust him. She herself garners the trust of some people in authority and when she breaks that trust, they give her a slap on the hand and tell her "people's lives are at stake."

There is no weight here, no serious tone, no depth to the action. None of these characters are taking their situations seriously. They're just talking about taking their situation seriously. So why should we care if they all get blown up or shot or generally just killed?

Cue love triangle. Enter cute boy while main character is pining away for other boy she can't trust or figure out. Give readers cause to shoot themselves.

This book is a good story told relatively well. The characters, for the most part, are likable (save the main character). There is a plot twist that isn't readily visible, although it becomes apparent. This book just has so much going for it -

And yet it's just not enough to push it into "great" territory. And that's a shame, because it really could be amazing. This is the beginning of a series and it has great potential to get better and better. Hopefully it will as the main character grows up and gets over herself. It's worth continuing.

But overall? Sadly, it's unremarkable. Hopefully it will gain a large following and distinguish itself. More likely it will hang right there in the middle with all the other dystopian hopefuls. This series has great potential, but it remains to be seen as to whether this author will pull off a hit.

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Before He Was Famous

Before He Was Famous by Becky Wicks
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

With all due respect to an author and what it takes to write a story - what a mess! This book should be near the bottom of your new-adult-to-be-read list.

This story began as cute, sweet, your general romance. It had such potential! But things began to go downhill as soon as I started reading slang I didn't understand. The book is set in Colorado and New York and these characters are American. So what's with all the British slang? And as soon as the British stage manager is introduced, he starts talking in a rhyming slang that is common to Aussies, not Brits. So to further confuse things, it's not just British slang that makes an American stop and have to figure it out - it's Aussie rhyming slang that makes no sense at all to an American. None of this would be an issue if the author had simply changed the setting of the book to the UK. But for American characters set in America? No.

Things continued on a downward slope as the book gratuitously drops current celebrity names and songs interspersed with fictional ones. If the author had simply chosen one or the other - preferably the fictional ones - it would have been fine. But to intersperse them made no sense, and using current names and songs will quickly date the book.

The main characters were well-developed, although they tended to make stupid decisions which clearly were intended to simply build tension in the plot and push it along. The stock secondary characters were sadly underdeveloped. The backdrop of a new celebrity gaining his footing was well done and would have easily been enough conflict in the plot. But the addition of a sub-plot with one main character getting death threats was just unnecessary.

This book feels as if the writer read a book about how to write a book and then wrote a book. Some of the elements are right, even good. But others are lacking. Add to that some questionable editing and this novel becomes forgettable before it even ends.

This book is a tragedy really, because with some tweaks it might be average or even really good. In its current state it is a nominally passable story in desperate need of major changes. It has a lot of potential, but it's just not there. This author needs to make some serious changes in her books if she aspires to any degree of success in the publishing industry. There is a reason self-published books often fail, and this is a prime example of one. What a shame.



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