My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
From the cover:
"Elizabeth Lavenza hasn't had a proper meal in weeks. Her thin arms are covered with bruises from her "caregiver," and she is on the verge of being thrown into the streets . . . until she is brought to the home of Victor Frankenstein, an unsmiling, solitary boy who has everything--except a friend.
Victor is her escape from misery. Elizabeth does everything she can to make herself indispensable--and it works. She is taken in by the Frankenstein family and rewarded with a warm bed, delicious food, and dresses of the finest silk. Soon she and Victor are inseparable.
But her new life comes at a price. As the years pass, Elizabeth's survival depends on managing Victor's dangerous temper and entertaining his every whim, no matter how depraved. Behind her blue eyes and sweet smile lies the calculating heart of a girl determined to stay alive no matter the cost . . . as the world she knows is consumed by darkness."
Full disclosure, I've never read Frankenstein. **GASP** I know, what kind of English major/librarian am I? That being said, if you were contemplating reading this book and wondered if maybe you needed to have read Frankenstein to appreciate it, I am happy to report that is not a prerequisite. Although come on guys, let's get real...we should read the original.
Anyway, let's get to my thoughts on the book. It started off a little slow for me. It took me a few chapters to get into it, but once I did I was into it. Don't fret if you start reading and can't decide if this book is for you...it grows on you, I promise. The last quarter or so of the book was especially excellent--I gasped multiple times, and I think at one point I said, "oh, holy shit!" out loud, further convincing my husband that I am crazy. Oooh, it was excellent. Protip? This book comes out just in time to make the perfect spooky October read...grab yourself a copy and enjoy!
Tuesday, September 18, 2018
Tuesday, September 11, 2018
People Kill People - Ellen Hopkins
My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
From the cover:
"People kill people. Guns just make it easier.
A gun is sold in the classifieds after killing a spouse, bought by a teenager for needed protection. But which was it? Each has the incentive to pick up a gun, to fire it. Was it Rand or Cami, married teenagers with a young son? Was it Silas or Ashlyn, members of a white supremacist youth organization? Daniel, who fears retaliation because of his race, who possessively clings to Grace, the love of his life? Or Noelle, who lost everything after a devastating accident, and has sunk quietly into depression?
One tense week brings all six people into close contact in a town wrought with political and personal tensions. Someone will fire. And someone will die. But who?"
From the cover:
"People kill people. Guns just make it easier.
A gun is sold in the classifieds after killing a spouse, bought by a teenager for needed protection. But which was it? Each has the incentive to pick up a gun, to fire it. Was it Rand or Cami, married teenagers with a young son? Was it Silas or Ashlyn, members of a white supremacist youth organization? Daniel, who fears retaliation because of his race, who possessively clings to Grace, the love of his life? Or Noelle, who lost everything after a devastating accident, and has sunk quietly into depression?
One tense week brings all six people into close contact in a town wrought with political and personal tensions. Someone will fire. And someone will die. But who?"
First of all, that cover.
Second, so much of this book gave me chills. Talking about humans and their capacity for violence, for instance:
"Like a god
I am nothing
without you...
but I am relentless
I know you can hear me
and sooner or later
you'll heed my call"
And taking that one step further:
"See, I've got this theory
Given the right circumstances
any person could kill someone
Even you."
This is not a happy book. I wouldn't even say any of the characters are particularly likable. The reader is taken inside each character's mind, privy to their darkest thoughts, and oof...those thoughts are dark indeed. But that's the point. Hopkins has given us people at their lowest, people who given the right circumstances could be capable of anything, even pulling a trigger and ending a life. If you read this and don't come away with a sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach, well...I don't know how to feel about that. There have been a number of books written in recent years about gun violence, and while I did find the verse in this particular one a little clunky at times, one thing it did really, really well...well enough that at times it was difficult to continue reading...is make you feel.
"See, the absolute truth
is
people
kill
people.
A
gun
just
makes
it
easier.
Even a child can do it."
Think about that. And tell me it doesn't give you chills.
Saturday, September 1, 2018
Changers Book 4: Forever - T Cooper and Allison Glock-Cooper
My rating: ⭐⭐
From the cover:
"When we left Kim Cruz in Changers Book 3, she'd just come out to her best friend. In Changers Book 4: Forever, Kim discovers that this is only one small part of understanding who she is and where she belongs. Soon enough, she changes again, into the body and social status of her dreams. What she does with her newfound power will come to haunt her. In this final installment of the provocative Changers series, our hero learns what it means to be the person everybody loves without actually being known at all; what it's like to be given the benefit of the doubt when you don't deserve it; and how easily opportunity comes when you look the part. Changers Book 4 explores what it means to find yourself--even as your self keeps changing--and how in the end we become the person whose story we want to finish."
When this series first came to my attention, I was like uhh, yes, obviously I will be reading these books. The first book did not disappoint...it was fascinating to read a book like this, about someone coming to terms with their changing identity, seeing Drew struggle with social dynamics at school and learn about herself along the way. I've been putting off writing this review though, because while I was impressed with and drawn into the first book, the second and third were not quite as enjoyable, and as much as I wanted to be able to gush about the series, this fourth book...I didn't like it.
Where the strength of book 1 lies is in examining social expectations and dynamics. That was a central point in Drew's story, and if that focus had remained consistent through the last three books this would have been a stronger series. It went off the rails, though, throwing in the drama of the Abiders, kidnapping, murder, etc. This just didn't work for me. There were several separate storylines, each more ridiculous than the last, and none of them were incorporated into the others, which was jarring. Also, whether it be a traditional three-act or something else, I need some kind of structure, and this book didn't have one. Every chapter was up and down, back and forth. Kyle's emotions shift so quickly, and for reasons difficult to understand, that it was exhausting reading about him. One page Audrey hates him, the next she loves him, then she hates him again...honestly, this fourth book reads like a rough draft, like the goal was "get everything on the page, and then we'll go back, edit, and move some stuff around"...except that second part never happened. Not great.
Perhaps I could have tried to look past the rough quality of the writing itself, but the nail in the coffin for me was the very casual inclusion of suicide. Maybe that wasn't the authors' intention, but the way it was thrown in, as though it was an unimportant side story, really bothered me. Kim wakes up as Kyle and, next page, apropos of nothing, he's on a bridge attempting suicide. Now, I suppose to their credit, this chapter does end with the woman who stopped him reminding him, "be mindful...that you don't pick a permanent solution to a temporary problem." That doesn't do much to make up for such offhand use of suicide as a plot device, though, particularly when later they casually throw in during a fit of angst later the thought that he "can't stay. Can't leave. Can't kill [himself]. Can't build an Alien sleeping capsule and seal the door for nine months." Just...no.
I'm sad I didn't love this series. I really wanted to. But ultimately the plot was all over the place, with too many ideas crammed into one series, and while the handling of topics like racism and gender identity were done well, others, like mental health, were treated too lightly. It was too unbalanced for my taste.
From the cover:
"When we left Kim Cruz in Changers Book 3, she'd just come out to her best friend. In Changers Book 4: Forever, Kim discovers that this is only one small part of understanding who she is and where she belongs. Soon enough, she changes again, into the body and social status of her dreams. What she does with her newfound power will come to haunt her. In this final installment of the provocative Changers series, our hero learns what it means to be the person everybody loves without actually being known at all; what it's like to be given the benefit of the doubt when you don't deserve it; and how easily opportunity comes when you look the part. Changers Book 4 explores what it means to find yourself--even as your self keeps changing--and how in the end we become the person whose story we want to finish."
When this series first came to my attention, I was like uhh, yes, obviously I will be reading these books. The first book did not disappoint...it was fascinating to read a book like this, about someone coming to terms with their changing identity, seeing Drew struggle with social dynamics at school and learn about herself along the way. I've been putting off writing this review though, because while I was impressed with and drawn into the first book, the second and third were not quite as enjoyable, and as much as I wanted to be able to gush about the series, this fourth book...I didn't like it.
Where the strength of book 1 lies is in examining social expectations and dynamics. That was a central point in Drew's story, and if that focus had remained consistent through the last three books this would have been a stronger series. It went off the rails, though, throwing in the drama of the Abiders, kidnapping, murder, etc. This just didn't work for me. There were several separate storylines, each more ridiculous than the last, and none of them were incorporated into the others, which was jarring. Also, whether it be a traditional three-act or something else, I need some kind of structure, and this book didn't have one. Every chapter was up and down, back and forth. Kyle's emotions shift so quickly, and for reasons difficult to understand, that it was exhausting reading about him. One page Audrey hates him, the next she loves him, then she hates him again...honestly, this fourth book reads like a rough draft, like the goal was "get everything on the page, and then we'll go back, edit, and move some stuff around"...except that second part never happened. Not great.
Perhaps I could have tried to look past the rough quality of the writing itself, but the nail in the coffin for me was the very casual inclusion of suicide. Maybe that wasn't the authors' intention, but the way it was thrown in, as though it was an unimportant side story, really bothered me. Kim wakes up as Kyle and, next page, apropos of nothing, he's on a bridge attempting suicide. Now, I suppose to their credit, this chapter does end with the woman who stopped him reminding him, "be mindful...that you don't pick a permanent solution to a temporary problem." That doesn't do much to make up for such offhand use of suicide as a plot device, though, particularly when later they casually throw in during a fit of angst later the thought that he "can't stay. Can't leave. Can't kill [himself]. Can't build an Alien sleeping capsule and seal the door for nine months." Just...no.
I'm sad I didn't love this series. I really wanted to. But ultimately the plot was all over the place, with too many ideas crammed into one series, and while the handling of topics like racism and gender identity were done well, others, like mental health, were treated too lightly. It was too unbalanced for my taste.
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