2 stars -- I don't like it
Pretty Dead is, unsurprisingly, a vampire story. But it doesn't do anything to add to the topic.
The main character, Charlotte, is a vampire--and has been for 100 years (a common age for vampires). She was turned when she was 16. She's going to school to see what's it like for other people who look her age. She's fabulously rich (due to her long life), and she hates the vampire who turned her.
It's all very much, "Been there, done that."
The only possibly unique turn to the story is that it details not only the century Charlotte has lived as a vampire (and her possibly incestuous life before turning), but also her transition from vampire back to mortal.
I say possibly unique, because--though I have by no means read all vampire fiction--I haven't come across it before. But I can't imagine that it hasn't been done before.
While the writing of the story is beautiful, and it's pleasant to read, the story itself lacks much substance, and I was left thinking, "What?" many times.
Charlotte's "best friend" (in quotes because vampires are too sad and lonely to have real best friends), Emily, commits suicide. Charlotte attempts to comfort Emily's boyfriend, Jared. This quickly turns into more than comfort--as one would typically expect in a romance novel, but not so much in a YA novel. (The reason this was a "What?" moment for me is that the whole first half of the novel talks about how Jared and Emily were perfect, perfect, perfect for each other, and Jared was so distraught over her suicide that he nearly commits suicide. Yet, it only takes him a few days before he's sketching Charlotte naked...)
Anyway, the story ends by Jared nearly being turned into a vampire by William, Charlotte's creator; discovering that Emily is a vampire (and a bitchy one at that) and not truly dead; and nearly getting blown up--saved only by Charlotte, who has managed to regain supernatural mind-reading powers now that she's mortal.
Jared leaves.
And then comes back to mortal, suddenly poor Charlotte because they have found that ever-elusive "true love." (By the way why because she's suddenly mortal, does Charlotte suddenly become poor? Did she have to get rid of all of antique and expensive stuff?? She owned a mansion outright, and surely selling it would have gotten her a could million dollars to tide her over...)
Also, the cover is very cheap-looking, and I was embarrassed to read the book anywhere but at home. It doesn't relate to the interior or title at all, and I hope when the book is put in softcover (or, heaven forbid, reprinted), they choose something a little less tacky.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Monday, January 4, 2010
Front and Center by Catherine Gilbert Murdock
4 stars -- I liked it
I seem to be catching up on my series this weekend!
Front and Center is the third book in the Dairy Queen series (Dairy Queen and The Off Season being the first two books), and I liked it just as well as I liked the first two books.
D.J., our main character, is a sports-loving girl who comes from a very athletic family. In the first book, the author focuses on D.J.'s relationship with Brian, a fellow jock from a rival school. It also shows D.J.'s family and how much she gives up (basketball) for her father.
In book two, D.J. joins her school's all-boys football team, and she's great at it. Of course, tension arises when she has to play against Brian and his team, and in the end, their relationship ends.
This book follows D.J. back into basketball, into a new relationship with a likable character, and into her dilemma regarding college.
I think what I like about these stories is that D.J. is just so darn believable. She's not academically smart, and she's not cocky. She's very shy and while, as the reader of her internal dialogue, we can see how intelligent she is (and sometimes isn't), we also get how hard it is for her to communicate what she wants to others.
I also had to cheer her on regarding her relationship with Brian. She obviously still has strong feelings for Brian, but when he treats her wrongly, she lets him know it. And she desperately tries to stick to her ultimatum throughout. Just because she wants to talk to him doesn't mean she lets herself.
I don't know much about sports, so I can't critique the rightness or wrongness of how she is when she plays, but it feels right to me. And D.J.'s brutal honesty (about herself mostly) rings true for how most females feel about themselves, if only expressed more simply/bluntly.
I really like the Dairy Queen books, and I'm not even a sports fan. :)
I seem to be catching up on my series this weekend!
Front and Center is the third book in the Dairy Queen series (Dairy Queen and The Off Season being the first two books), and I liked it just as well as I liked the first two books.
D.J., our main character, is a sports-loving girl who comes from a very athletic family. In the first book, the author focuses on D.J.'s relationship with Brian, a fellow jock from a rival school. It also shows D.J.'s family and how much she gives up (basketball) for her father.
In book two, D.J. joins her school's all-boys football team, and she's great at it. Of course, tension arises when she has to play against Brian and his team, and in the end, their relationship ends.
This book follows D.J. back into basketball, into a new relationship with a likable character, and into her dilemma regarding college.
I think what I like about these stories is that D.J. is just so darn believable. She's not academically smart, and she's not cocky. She's very shy and while, as the reader of her internal dialogue, we can see how intelligent she is (and sometimes isn't), we also get how hard it is for her to communicate what she wants to others.
I also had to cheer her on regarding her relationship with Brian. She obviously still has strong feelings for Brian, but when he treats her wrongly, she lets him know it. And she desperately tries to stick to her ultimatum throughout. Just because she wants to talk to him doesn't mean she lets herself.
I don't know much about sports, so I can't critique the rightness or wrongness of how she is when she plays, but it feels right to me. And D.J.'s brutal honesty (about herself mostly) rings true for how most females feel about themselves, if only expressed more simply/bluntly.
I really like the Dairy Queen books, and I'm not even a sports fan. :)
Deadly Little Lies by Laurie Faria Stolarz
3 stars -- It's okay.
Deadly Little Lies is the sequel to Deadly Little Secrets. I rated Deadly Little Secrets 4 stars on Amazon, but this book really only garners 3 from me. I don't remember Deadly Little Secrets very well, so I can't tell you what would make the difference between the 3 and 4 stars; I just know I didn't like this one as well.
Deadly Little Lies, a Touch Novel, still follows the story of Camelia and her attraction to Ben, a boy with extraordinary powers. The last novel finished with him leaving her, but now he's come back.
I think part of the problem I had with this book is that the characters are far too "Twilighty." Replace Ben's name with "Edward" and Camelia's with "Bella," and you could have scenes right out of Twilight. All about her aching for him to touch her, and he unwilling to make contact. Lips trembling with the desire as he reaches toward her wrist, only to pull back without even brushing her skin. And of course, there's the whole stalker issue with him showing up outside her house, crawling in her window, coming to her work uninvited.
It wasn't just Twilight, however, that this copied from. While I know the premise of the series is about Camelia being in danger and Ben saving her, I feel like a lot more could have been done with this book without making it such a repeat of the first.
Camelia has just recently (4 months previously) been abducted and saved, and yet, when the terrorizing notes, intimidating pictures, and threatening phone calls start pouring in, Camelia doesn't go to any real authority for help. In fact, she even lies about it to her dad once, glossing over the details. And while there is always an excuse--her mom hearing bad news about her suicidal aunt, her dad being too busy to hear her quiet voice, a friend's trouble always coming up--when it's your life in danger and you've just been traumatized, it's more believable for me to think you would get help ASAP.
On the other hand, it was nice to have a main character that did pay attention to her friends' troubles (unlike a recent book I've read).
I just don't think that this book added much to the series. We got rid of a character who didn't have to be brought in, added a love triangle that we know isn't going anywhere, and made Camelia go through another traumatizing attack (which, let's face it, if every book is about her getting traumatized, Camelia will probably end up being very untrustful of others and pretty messed up).
Hopefully the next book moves us forward and gets us back on track, because the first book was pretty good.
Deadly Little Lies is the sequel to Deadly Little Secrets. I rated Deadly Little Secrets 4 stars on Amazon, but this book really only garners 3 from me. I don't remember Deadly Little Secrets very well, so I can't tell you what would make the difference between the 3 and 4 stars; I just know I didn't like this one as well.
Deadly Little Lies, a Touch Novel, still follows the story of Camelia and her attraction to Ben, a boy with extraordinary powers. The last novel finished with him leaving her, but now he's come back.
I think part of the problem I had with this book is that the characters are far too "Twilighty." Replace Ben's name with "Edward" and Camelia's with "Bella," and you could have scenes right out of Twilight. All about her aching for him to touch her, and he unwilling to make contact. Lips trembling with the desire as he reaches toward her wrist, only to pull back without even brushing her skin. And of course, there's the whole stalker issue with him showing up outside her house, crawling in her window, coming to her work uninvited.
It wasn't just Twilight, however, that this copied from. While I know the premise of the series is about Camelia being in danger and Ben saving her, I feel like a lot more could have been done with this book without making it such a repeat of the first.
Camelia has just recently (4 months previously) been abducted and saved, and yet, when the terrorizing notes, intimidating pictures, and threatening phone calls start pouring in, Camelia doesn't go to any real authority for help. In fact, she even lies about it to her dad once, glossing over the details. And while there is always an excuse--her mom hearing bad news about her suicidal aunt, her dad being too busy to hear her quiet voice, a friend's trouble always coming up--when it's your life in danger and you've just been traumatized, it's more believable for me to think you would get help ASAP.
On the other hand, it was nice to have a main character that did pay attention to her friends' troubles (unlike a recent book I've read).
I just don't think that this book added much to the series. We got rid of a character who didn't have to be brought in, added a love triangle that we know isn't going anywhere, and made Camelia go through another traumatizing attack (which, let's face it, if every book is about her getting traumatized, Camelia will probably end up being very untrustful of others and pretty messed up).
Hopefully the next book moves us forward and gets us back on track, because the first book was pretty good.
Bunker 10 by J. A. Henderson
4.5 stars -- I like it a lot.
On the back flap of this book, J. A. Henderson says, "Bunker 10 is a dark, adult novel in which the heroes (and some of the villians) just happen to be kids."
I'm not sure that I would agree about Bunker 10 being an adult novel, but it certainly is fun to read as an adult. In his own words, the book is about "Kids trapped in an escape-proof complex that is going to self-destruct and is filled with homicidal maniacs, terrorist infiltrators, and a deadly infection..."
The author does fabulous work at leading the readers on. All of his explanations are plausible, and I, at least, was never quite sure which story to believe.
And while the list of things going on in the book sounds like a lot to pack into 272 pages, Henderson does it well. Nothing was out of place, and nothing felt like it was just too much for the story. Everything was woven together extremely well.
The only complaint that I have is that there were, perhaps, too many central characters with very common names (Simon, Dave, Jimmy) and common characteristics. It was easy for me to mix them up at the beginning of the story, especially since there were usually always four or five people conversing at once.
I also found the characters hard to like for the middle part of the story, because the reader is told that they are modeled after dictators (Hitler, Pol Pot, Stalin), and I just didn't want to feel sympathy for a child who would later grow up to be Hitler.
Overall, I really liked this book. There's genius children, army compounds, time-traveling soldiers, genetic mutations...
It's just a really fun and absorbing read! I never knew where the story would end or how it would get there. In a market short of great books for teen boys, this is one that crosses the gender barrier and does it well.
On the back flap of this book, J. A. Henderson says, "Bunker 10 is a dark, adult novel in which the heroes (and some of the villians) just happen to be kids."
I'm not sure that I would agree about Bunker 10 being an adult novel, but it certainly is fun to read as an adult. In his own words, the book is about "Kids trapped in an escape-proof complex that is going to self-destruct and is filled with homicidal maniacs, terrorist infiltrators, and a deadly infection..."
The author does fabulous work at leading the readers on. All of his explanations are plausible, and I, at least, was never quite sure which story to believe.
And while the list of things going on in the book sounds like a lot to pack into 272 pages, Henderson does it well. Nothing was out of place, and nothing felt like it was just too much for the story. Everything was woven together extremely well.
The only complaint that I have is that there were, perhaps, too many central characters with very common names (Simon, Dave, Jimmy) and common characteristics. It was easy for me to mix them up at the beginning of the story, especially since there were usually always four or five people conversing at once.
I also found the characters hard to like for the middle part of the story, because the reader is told that they are modeled after dictators (Hitler, Pol Pot, Stalin), and I just didn't want to feel sympathy for a child who would later grow up to be Hitler.
Overall, I really liked this book. There's genius children, army compounds, time-traveling soldiers, genetic mutations...
It's just a really fun and absorbing read! I never knew where the story would end or how it would get there. In a market short of great books for teen boys, this is one that crosses the gender barrier and does it well.
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