Three Sides of a Heart: A Short Story Anthology

From one fantastic cute anthology about love to...well, this. This isn't the worst anthology I've ever read but it's one of the dullest. Most of the stories don't even follow the basic premise and the whole thing is super disappointing. I'm going to do what I've done in the past and go through each short story in turn, only expect a lot less detail for most because I don't actually a) remember what happens or b) like most of them.

Riddles in Mathematics, 2.5/5-One of the better ones, not that that's saying much. It's written in a very dull and kind of hard to follow way. It's also one of the ones that follows the love triangle premise the closest, although yeah, it still doesn't really count as a love triangle. Basically there is a girl, her brother and a girl who is their best friend. Girl fancies best friend girl but thinks she is dating her brother. You can probably guess what happens.

Dread South, 3.5/5-Not. A. Love. Triangle. This was such a weird story to follow the first one but also it was pretty great so I can't fault it too much. It takes place in an alternate timeline where zombies exist after the American Civil War. Black women are trained as warrior servants to protect rich white people, and the main girl gets bought one by her rich fiance. She then falls in love with her servant protector. Bit of a weird context but enjoyable on the whole.

Omega Ship, 2.5/5-Kind of a cool idea? So it's the end of the world and humans are evacuating the earth. However, the ship breaks and only three people manage to escape-one girl and two boys. The girl is overcome by the idea of having to have babies forever and has to choose which boy to have a baby with first. The problem with this is that it could have used more time to explore the emotions of the characters and the themes it was trying to consider. I could totally see this working as a full-length novel or YA series. As it stands, it's a bit weak.

La Revancha del Tango, 1.5/5-I have pretty much no memory of this apart from skim-reading it. A girl dances? Someone gets jealous? Somehow the person she is dancing with symbolises who she is going to be with for the rest of her life. One of the weaker ones.

Cass, An and Dra, 1.5/5-Told sooooo badly. Again, this could have been a cool idea. I'm not entirely sure what the point of the whole 'Cassandra' thing is beyond a reference to Cassandra the fortune teller. Basically Cass (none of the characters have gender in this) is dating An but then is tempted by Dra-or at least, I think that's what this was trying to convey. Cass can see the future and see how each decision they make will result in different options, so each time they have to actively choose An. Obviously the names spell out 'Cassandra' so I was expecting some kind of split personality thing but nope. I don't care enough to try and sort out what this clumsy mess was trying to say I'm afraid.

Lessons for Beginners, 3.5/5-A actual love triangle! The main girl gives kissing lessons to people at school. She gets employed by an old childhood friend and her new boyfriend to try and improve his kissing. The two girls have insane chemistry but aren't sure where it's going to lead. I don't remember just how good this was but it was cute and far more interesting than most of the other stories.

Triangle Solo, 1.5/5-Erm, so this was needlessly sci-fi. It just kind of dropped the sci-fi in there as well, like shoving ham into a vegetarian sandwich. Effectively this is two guys fighting over a girl they used to know who went away for ages and came back hot. I barely skim-read this one.

Vim and Vigor, 4/5-By far the best story in this. There is a love triangle in this but it's not actually part of the story really, just the set-up. These girls were best friends and massively into a fandom when one of them died in an accident. They then stopped speaking to each other and drifted apart, but this story is about them learning to cope with their grief and re-establishing their friendship. A sweet story and a breath of fresh air to the anthology.

Work in Progress, ?/5-I don't even remember this one.

Hurdles, 3.5/5-Another solid one rooted in reality. A girl is set to become a star athlete and has a lovely boyfriend. Her ex boyfriend has just come out of prison for drug use/other bad things. She is trying to decide whether or not to run away with her ex or stay with her new boyfriend and go for an athletic scholarship (or something similar). The only thing holding this story back is you never find out what she chooses. Very disappointing considering one option would be extremely bad for her.

The Historian, The Garrison, and the Cantakerous Catwoman, 3/5-Apart from giving me serious Buffy ripoff vibes, this story was pretty cool. The main character is a girl who helps a superhero-type figure fight demons by basically being his researcher. He then meets another superhero-type girl who he falls in love with. This story is all about the main character's jealousy and feelings of betrayal at this.

Waiting, 1.5/5-I only vaguely remember this story but I definitely know I was not happy with the love triangle resolution. I'm pretty sure the main character ended up picking the worst possible option and treating a perfectly nice guy like crap in the process. This story was clearly going for 'pick passion over companionship' and while I understand that to an extent, they shouldn't have made the other option so appealing. Instead it just seems like she had learned nothing and was making the same bad mistakes all over again.

Vega, ?/5-Erm...this was probably a story in this anthology?

A Hundred Thousand Threads, ?/5-I skipped it sorry.

Before She Was Bloody, ?/5-I also skipped this one. I tried, I really did.

Unus, Duo, Tres, 3.5/5-This was really well-written and quite a cool concept of a story buuuut...polyamory is a thing guys. I don't want to say too much but this is about undead vampire lovers and what happens when they both fall for another human and yeah, polyamory should have been the resolution.

Okay, so as you can probably tell this was a very long anthology and my memory of many of the stories is pretty hazy. I read it only a month ago and even from reading the story descriptions from other reviews, there are some I just can't remember anything about. Overall though I would say it's not worth picking up this anthology. Even the good stories didn't really blow my mind massively, and there are so many that it really drags near the end. It's such a shame because this could be a great premise for a bunch of interesting short stories but that just doesn't happen.

Overall Score:

Meet Cute: A Short Story Anthology

Every now and then, I love to pick up a short story collection. My usual weakness is horror...actually, I've only ever read horror anthologies before. I had heard intriguing things about Meet Cute though from the reviewers I watch on Youtube and since February is the month of love, I decided to give it a try.

Is it cheesy to say I fell in love?

I am a little shocked honestly to tell you the truth. I was not expecting to like this collection as much as I did but here we are. The overarching theme is that this is a collection of stories about two people meeting in adorable ways and (usually) forming a romantic relationship. They are almost all contemporary with only one or two having some kind of fantastical element thrown in. They are also hella gay which I am all for. No male/male romances sadly but the lesbian representation is fantastic. As this is an anthology, I'm going to break down each story with a rating and then do an overall average at the end.

Siege Etiquette, 2.5/5-Sadly one of the weakest ones starts this anthology off. A guy and a girl get stuck in a bathroom together at a party. I didn't really feel any chemistry between them and the cheating aspect unfortunately negated any potential cuteness for me.

Print Shop, 4.5/5-Yesss, getting in early with the cute lesbians. One girl starts working at a print shop and goes above and beyond to help out a girl she likes. A very cute story that I definitely wanted more of. I found the romance a little one-sided maybe but that really is a minor complaint.

Hourglass, 3/5-This is an okay story but it barely meets the criteria. It's not really a romance, it's more a story about friendship. A girl is about to graduate/have prom and she falls out with her best friend. It ended way too abruptly and I would have liked it a lot more if it continued after the end.

Click, 3/5-This was maybe the poorest story in terms of actual writing. I didn't mind the plot (two people get paired up by a futuristic dating app) but I found my interest waning which made it hard to follow. Sadly the couple weren't compelling.

The Intern, 3/5-Again, this romance wasn't very believable for me. An intern gets to show the cute rockstar around and they fall in love. Had some hidden depth and wasn't badly written but still meh.

Somewhere That's Green, 3.5/5-I AM SO TORN. Lesbians! Little Shop of Horrors! Trans people! All great elements. But I really didn't like half the pairing in this story and I felt like she wasn't a very appealing character. The idea was okay but it still made me a little uncomfortable. Ah well.

The Way We Love Here, 2.5/5-Okay no, this was the worst written story. This is one of the ones with fantasy elements but I found it so hard to follow (by which I mean, it didn't make me care enough to get past the clumsy description). Not terrible but a weak link.

Oomph, 5/5-Omg yes. My absolute favourite by a mile. Two girls meet in an airport and aaaaah. I've never read anything by this author but I desperately want to now. This was literally perfect and I won't hear a bad word against it.

The Dictionary of You and Me, 3/5-Eh. The guy in this was so unappealing to me. Basically the girl works in a library and the guy won't return a dictionary so they've been chatting on the phone for four months. It was painfully obvious he was going to turn out to be the cute guy from school and I didn't buy it.

The Unlikely Likelihood of Falling in Love, 5/5-SO GOOD. My second favourite story. A girl who is super into statistics sees a cute guy on a train and then does a project calculating how to see him again. Another couple I would love to read more about and the ending was so satisfying.

259 Million Miles, 2/5-This one is about two people who want to be selected to go to Mars and as part of the selection process, they get put in a room together for 24 hours. Again, I didn't buy the romance and the ending wasn't satisfying at all.

Something Real, 3.5/5-I didn't like the romance in this one but I loved the premise and world-building. Basically there are departments that deal with different kinds of love (Unrequited, Breakups etc) and the main guy goes to try and find out why his last relationship ended. Managed to not be entirely predictable but that wasn't enough on its own.

Okay, so based entirely on maths, this anthology gets 3.5/5. However, I honestly enjoyed it much more than that applies. None of the stories are truly bad and the good ones are so incredibly good that it makes the whole thing worth reading. A nice surprise and a lovely start to the month of love.

Overall Rating:

.5

The Scorch Trials by James Dashner

SPOILERS FOR THE FIRST & SECOND BOOKS.

At the point of writing this review, I have now finished the original Maze Runner trilogy. I'm trying really hard to not let my opinion of the third book affect my review of this one but yeah, it probably is going to. I also read this book in effectively one day so that may also affect things.

I think the thing with The Maze Runner series is that the plot of the first book is essentially completely separate from the plot of the other two. The Scorch Trials is a very different book from the first in terms of both actual story line and also tone. Instead of a contained story about teenagers trapped in a mysterious place trying to work out why they're there, you now get teenagers being given a quest to reach a location by a certain time to...work out why they're there. It still has elements of the first but one of the reasons this series throws me so much is that it does change plot so dramatically.

Anyway, I still really enjoyed The Scorch Trials despite it now kind of being a sci-fi series about zombies. This book continued with the same issues from the first only ramped up. The plot is even more disjointed and (what really bothers me more) you still don't get given answers in a clear way. You sort of find out why they're in the maze but it's such a stupid reason that it really doesn't help to not have it fully explained. Even worse, Teresa's supposed betrayal isn't given an explanation beyond her going 'well, they told me you'd die if I didn't do these exact things'. She behaves appallingly but then Thomas also hates her so instantaneously that it comes across as bad writing. Her character is completely assassinated in this and I'm not really sure why.

This brings me to the next point which is the bizarrely juvenile language. I know, I know-it's YA. But Thomas and Teresa are allowed to make out which is followed by declarations of...'best friendship'? And then at the end when she betrays him and kisses Aris, she loudly declares that he is her best friend now. It's such a weird thing to censor and it stands out like a sore thumb.

I know this is a largely negative review for a book I said I liked but I think my opinion of the third one is making me look back less favorably now. There are a lot of good elements, they're just outweighed heavily by the bizarre ones. Brenda is another character I don't get and don't particularly enjoy having around. The idea of Aris and there having been another maze all along is fantastic but it isn't executed particularly well. When you eventually meet the girls, nothing is actually explored with them. There are some nice dark elements in this and some of the stuff is really cool. It's just a shame that this series ends so badly with the next one.

Overall Rating:

.5

The Maze Runner by James Dashner

I'm gonna be honest, I hadn't heard great things about The Maze Runner. It seemed to materialise near the tail end of the whole Hunger Games dystopian craze, and while it was popular enough for me to have heard of it and to warrant a movie series, I haven't actually met anyone who has seen or read it. That being said, reviewers I admire have not been kind to this book. I had heard it was dull and badly written. However, I was pleasantly surprised.

This is definitely nowhere near being a bad book. It's not brilliant granted but the writing, characters and plot are all decent enough. After finishing this first one I actually sped through the sequel and while I haven't yet read the third and final one, so far I am interested and immersed in this universe. The thing about The Maze Runner is that its biggest weakness might also be one of its strengths. The plot is pretty unique and weird, so much so that it isn't easy to see where it is going. It was refreshing to read a YA dystopian that doesn't info dump and isn't horribly predictable.

Having said that, this book does suffer from being a bit of a mess. The same applies to an even greater extent in its sequel but the plot constantly moves forward at a breakneck pace. You get thrown into the world at the start through the standard device of 'newcomer arrives in established place' but this is one of the most frantic and fast-paced examples I have ever seen. Thomas arrives, has no questions answered, girl arrives, immediately goes into coma for most of the book until she's needed and only then does the novel slow down a teensy bit for some world-building and explanation. Even then, all explanations are extremely limited. This doesn't exactly harm the book (it isn't difficult to follow what's going on for example due to a simplistic style) but it is very unusual compared to other books in a similar genre and it is a little relentless as a reader. You read eagerly to find out what's going on but instead of getting bits and pieces until the ending, you instead get bombs dropped on you which are promptly swept to one side to make room for more action. Maybe this is simply a feature of reading a YA book aimed specifically at boys but it was quite distracting at times.

One thing I did really enjoy were the characters. Dashner succeeded in making each boy feel fairly distinct, and you do become attached to all of them. A minor downside of this is that sometimes the author doesn't bother to explain what's happened to certain side characters (for example, Frypan who I really liked) so you are left wondering if they are okay for several pages until they show up in a scene again. Again, this is a flaw the sequel shares perhaps to an even greater extent because the danger is more frequent in that one.

Despite a few niggles, I still really enjoyed this book. It's easy to read, has a plot which is both unique and interesting and it is a far better series than some people give it credit for. I will definitely be finishing the original trilogy and I will probably even pick up the additional books which have been tacked on. I am keen to see where the story ends up.

Overall Rating:

.5

The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn

SPOILERS AHEAD (Technically. You should be able to figure this one out anyway but yeah)

What do I do with this book? On the one hand, A. J. Finn is a very talented writer and I was completely sucked into the world of this book. On the other hand, the plot absolutely sucked. I mean, for a thriller this was bad. Let me tell you, there is nothing more frustrating than when you're reading a thriller and you've figured out the 'twist' because it's insanely obvious and yet the main character remains painfully oblivious. The Woman in the Window is a particularly bad example of this because there are literally only two possibilities and the character completely glosses over one of them.

So, let me introduce you to the main plot. An agoraphobic drunk woman named Anna meets her neighbour's wife, sees her being murdered a few days later and then is told by the police and everyone else that she has never actually met his wife who is now a completely different woman. The main character insists the new woman can't be his wife, even when papers are produced showing she undeniably is. So the other possibility you immediately come to is that the first woman wasn't his wife and was in fact lying while this new woman is his wife.

Not if you're this main character!

Instead she continues on for hundreds of pages wondering who this new woman is instead of focusing on the identity of the victim. It is very frustrating to read and it means that the first intended 'twist' of her realising the first woman was lying and not the second comes off as anticlimatic and very poorly done. This is especially bad when the second major twist also turns out to be fairly guessable, though admittedly not to the extent of the first. Even so, the reveal that Ethan is the evil killer all along falls very flat and is unsatisfying. It is extremely easy to guess that the person Anna has been talking to online is a fake and is fishing for information, to the point where again you wonder why the supposedly smart Anna isn't making these simple connections.

The other major problem of this book can be defined as a distinct lack of originality. The main character reeks of the protagonist from The Girl on the Train, what with them both being alcoholics who witness a murder through a window and have their testimony doubted due to their substance abuse. This is even more obvious when you consider both protagonists jump to the wrong conclusions about the married couple they spy on. The other obvious influence is Rear Window. Anna is obsessed with old black and white movies and does mention Hitchcock several times, and yet she never draws direct parallels between Rear Window and her own situation. I actually enjoyed the constant use of movie quotes at first and thought it was quite a nice character quirk to include in a thriller, but said quotes quickly become overused near the end and the lack of the connection is honestly baffling. A throwaway line about it might have been cheap but at least it would have been something.

You may have noticed that neither of the things I have mentioned are what you could call small problems. By all rights I should hate this book for being a dumb, derivative, forgettable work.

AND YET.

By god this book is well-written. I didn't think much of it at the time beyond it being really compelling and hard to put down but honestly, this author deserves some kudos. They have an obvious plot with obvious twists and somehow I still enjoyed every minute of the characters and writing style. I guessed the first twist astonishingly early on but I still read eagerly, keen to find out what was going to happen. Then I guessed the second and third twists and yet I still read on. I minded a lot but it didn't make me rush through it or roll my eyes every other sentence like some thrillers I've read. Anna may be a bit of an idiot but she is likeable and has some decent depth to her. Also this book is much longer than the average thriller but it didn't feel like it for one second. I really, really hope this author writes more and writes something with a far better plot because he could go so far.

Overall, I am left with very conflicted feelings about this book. I cannot ignore its very painful and crucial flaws but I can't dismiss it as thriller trash either. Is it worth reading? Maybe. Do I regret reading it? Definitely not. This is the first book of 2018 I'm reading as part of my 'new releases, new reviews' schtick and it seems to be carrying on the noble tradition of not being that great. However, there are some really fantastic elements in here and I can't fault it too hard thanks to those. In terms of thrillers, you could do a whole lot worse.

Overall Rating:

.5

This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab

First blog post of 2018! Also first Victoria Schwab book I've ever read! I have heard such high praise for this author and yeah, I completely understand why now. This Savage Song is often described as a retelling of Beauty and the Beast but it's far less derivative than that. It tells the story of a monster named August and a human named Kate and honestly, I wouldn't even class it as a romance what happens between them. Both characters are the offspring of the people in charge of two sides of the city. Kate's dad is like a mob boss who rules out of fear and makes people pay him for protection from monsters while August's 'dad' is a gentler human who controls the other half of the city. As a result, Kate spends all her time trying to prove herself to be as mean as her father, while August is desperate to not be a monster. They meet when August gets sent to her school to pretend to be a human as there is a fear that the truce between the monsters and the humans will break.

First off, this book is really well-written. The writing style is clear, it flows excellently and it is poetic without being over the top or pretentious. The characters are well-developed and the plot is well-paced-in short, I can see why people rave about this author. The world itself is also very compelling and is built up brilliantly. Schwab skillfully avoids doing a huge info dump and while you might be lost for the first few chapters (particularly August's ones), overall you get information precisely when you need it without it intruding on the story.

Her concept of monsters and the different mechanics of each one is another aspect I really liked. The three species of monster are all very unique and I love how they came to be. Something I am hoping for in the sequel is more development of the other species of monsters beyond Sunai, but this is really a very minor flaw.

Overall, this was an excellent book to kick 2018 off with and I am very much looking forward to reading the sequel. If you're looking for a city-based fantasy book that is grounded in reality, I definitely recommend giving this a try. I suspect this author might become one of my new favourites.

Overall Rating:

Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake

This book has left me conflicted because it was awesome but a different kind of awesome than I was expecting. The blurb sounds incredible and based off it, I was expecting a Stardust-esque series of attempted murders between the siblings. In actual fact the attempts to kill each other aren't even allowed to begin until almost the end of the book. Instead what you get is a beautifully-crafted fantasy world with fairly compelling characters and a grand sense of epicness.

Each of the three princesses is focused on in turn and the chapters rotate, which is a mixed blessing. As with any book that chooses this style, you inevitably find one storyline more interesting than the other. However, all three of the princesses are intriguing or likeable enough to keep you wanting to read about them and I liked how each of them developed. I found Arsinoe to be the one who suffers the most-unfortunately the side characters steal the spotlight in her story and she fails to have as distinct a personality as the others. This is something that is fixed near the end of the book/in the sequel though.

I think the strongest aspect of this book is indeed the world and the way the author tells the fantasy story. As I mentioned, there is a sense of an epic story building and this is maintained incredibly well. You are initially fascinated by the world itself, then become emotionally invested due to the characters which is the perfect blend. Without saying too much, the book ends exceptionally and it made me grab the sequel instantly to see what would happen next. It also manages to pull off a twist you don't see coming but makes perfect sense afterwards, and develops the story rather than being just for shock value. Until the ending, I was annoyed this book wasn't a standalone and felt that the plot should be wrapped up by the end of it. I still would have preferred a standalone but that ending alone made me happy there were more.

All in all, I did absolutely adore this book. Am I disappointed it wasn't what I thought? Yes, but only because I was so excited for that imaginary story. Thankfully Three Dark Crowns is a fantastic book in its own right and I am definitely going to read the rest of the series. If you want a well-built fantasy with some dark elements thrown in, this is definitely for you.

Overall Rating:

.5

A Semi-Definitive List of Worst Nightmares by Krystal Sutherland

Oh boy, this was a really tough book to get into. This is the perfect example of the kind of book which irritates me. At the start, every single character is so impossibly quirky that I genuinely almost stopped reading. If you manage to plough through then this is toned down a little bit but these characters are still very much more quirk than personality. Esther is particularly unbearable. She dresses up as a different character each day and I just couldn't find what little personality she had relatable at all. Jonah is better but unfortunately, he is the best it gets.

Once that awful beginning section is over, the book does improve a little. I still struggle to understand what it is trying to say though. So the blurb implies a little magical realism and the story makes it very unclear if this is the case or not for quite some time. This is definitely not a strength. I dislike the way it portrays mental illness and I especially don't like that everyone is Esther's life has their own unique quirky brand of mental illness either. Her mum is a compulsive gambler, her dad is agoraphobic, her brother is afraid of the dark-even her best friend is mute but only to Esther.

There is a distinct lack of people trying to deal with their problems in this book, even after Jonah comes into Esther's life to magically help her fix everything. The characters are extremely damaging to Esther because of their mental health (for example, her mother loses all of their money and her 'best friend' refuses to physically speak around only her but will talk to everyone else) and this is done particularly badly. There isn't really a sympathetic portrayal of those being so awful to Esther, and yet Esther doesn't try to convince them to seek help or anything and just kind of accepts the behaviour as it is. It's the worst of both worlds.

Overall, I did grow to enjoy reading this book but there are so many problems with it that I find it difficult to recommend. It is pretty unique in both story and style, and there is enough to keep you reading if you can get through the unbearable quirkiness being rammed down your throat. It's just a shame that it fails to deliver on so many levels.

Overall Rating:

.5

The Murders of Molly Southbourne by Tade Thompson

I have reluctantly tagged this book as 'horror' due to Goodreads and several reviews on there insisting that this book is scary. It really isn't.

I don't get this book. I heard such rave reviews about it and the premise sounds so interesting and yet the execution is bland and weirdly distant. I get a vague Frankenstein vibe from it which I guess could be a good thing but something isn't quite right about the tone. For starters, the author manages to make a story about a girl constantly spawning murderous clones boring. That in itself is kind of impressive. They also manage to create a novella with very little plot and no real resolution. Combined with a lack of character depth, why is this so popular again?

Okay, so my main issue with this book is that it didn't make me feel anything. The main character is extremely flat and distant, and there's absolutely no emotional reaction from her to anything. Again, maybe this was meant to reflect how traumatic her life is and how it's ruined her? But we start with her as a child and she is just as lifeless then. At no point did I feel like I understood Molly's actions or was worried for her wellbeing. All the potentially interesting things that could stem from this idea remain unremarked upon. What happens if a clone murders her? We never find out. Why is this happening? We kind of find out in the most unsatisfactory way. What the heck does the opening/ending mean? The author decided to just stop so we're definitely not finding that out. It's all so disappointing.

The more I reflect on this book, the more I find to dislike about it. It's not particularly bad or enraging, it's just kind of hollow and ultimately pointless. Even for a novella, there's very little to it. The book equivalent of eating a rice cracker.

Overall Rating:

Lost Boy by Christina Henry

So I had a very good reason to hate this book. This year I attempted NaNoWriMo and my original idea was to write a horror version of Peter Pan. I got about 2,000 words in, decided to check my emails and there was an email from Goodreads about voting for the best books of the year. I see this cover and my heart drops.

There goes my idea.

Thankfully for me, this book is actually not a horror at all, despite Goodreads telling me it is. Also thankfully, it turns out to be one of my favourite books of the year against all odds. Lost Boy is indeed the story of Captain Hook, although that is more of an inevitable conclusion than the actual plot. What it actually is is the story of the very first Lost Boy and what the reality of that is. Jamie is our protagonist and (excluding the prologue which frankly, is pretty badly written) from the first chapter, I was just sucked in by his character. It's hard for me to describe why the writing style works so well because it's actually extraordinarily simple. That's part of the brilliance though-it is unclear how old Jamie is meant to be, but this is undoubtedly the voice of a child. However, it's not irritating or dumbed down in order to portray that.

The plot itself is again simple, but this is a book that is all about atmosphere. It is a lot less dark than I was led to believe but that doesn't mean there isn't a subtle sense of doom embedded in every page. I really enjoyed how the author handled Peter Pan and slowly revealed piece by piece just how messed up their world was. It reminded me a lot of Only Ever Yours in that sense, and it was similarly well done. Though you know Jamie is destined to become Hook, the plot is not obvious in how it will progress and I must admit I didn't see several things coming, though in hindsight they make perfect sense. My one minor niggle is that I didn't like the equation of romantic attraction and adulthood. I liked Sal as a character but it felt a little forced and ultimately, didn't add too much to the story in my eyes. I understand completely what the author was going for and I liked the twist of a lost girl, but the romance felt out of place and I don't think the book would have suffered without it.

It is so refreshing for me to pick up a book like this which I might have otherwise ignored, and find such enjoyment from it. I had never heard of this author but she has done a version of Alice in Wonderland which I will probably have to read now. As I said, this has quickly become one of my favourite books of the year and I would love for more people to read it.

Overall Rating:

.5

Shameless NaNoWriMo Post

They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera

*Mild spoilers ahead*

This book absolutely fascinated me. I had forgotten the blurb by the time I actually got round to reading it so I didn't know it was set in an alternate universe. Once I got over that initial surprise, I enjoyed every second.

The idea behind this book is very simple but extremely well-explored. People get calls from Death-Cast on the day they're going to die, letting them know they have a maximum of 24 hours left. No one ever survives this period and no one dies without getting a call. The book focuses on the two protagonists (Rufus and Mateo) who meet on their last day and decide to spend it together doing various things. However, the author also has occasional chapters about other people which are always brief but very well-written. It is through these cleverly-woven chapters that a lot of the concept is explored and it really is impressive how unobtrusive they are. It is so hard for an author to create a concept like this and fully explore it but at the end of this book, you're not left with many questions.

The two protagonists are a joy to read about. They absolutely came to life for me and knowing the tragedy of the situation, you become very invested in learning about who they are. Maybe some could argue that their romance is forced or rushed but for me, it was paced perfectly and I did believe it. The side characters aren't bad but apart from the three main Plutos, I wasn't that intrigued or invested in them. I didn't get Aimee in particular and Lidia just felt like she got in the way a bit once she was forced into the main story/ However, these are all minor complaints.

Was it perfect? No. But I was absolutely glued to my seat through every word of this novel. The ending I had mixed feelings on. [Highlight to see] Mateo's death was the kind of tragic thing I do enjoy but also it was so crushing to have him die essentially from stupidity. Rufus' was much better done and a good way to end the book, albeit a bit abrupt.

Overall, this is a beautifully-written book and one I am thoroughly impressed with. I enjoyed it much more than History is All You Left Me which is admittedly similar in themes and tone. I cannot recommend you read it enough, as a perfect example of how to create a world and concept if not for the characters and emotion.

Overall Rating:

.5

The One by Kiera Cass

*Spoilers Ahead*

Urgh, why can't I stop? The One is much more of the same, and if you've read my other reviews then you already know how I feel about this series. However, this is the book that tries to ramp up the whole dystopian/drama aspect. Unfortunately it falls really flat.

So yeah, this book has the exact same problem as the last one. America clearly loves Maxon. Why hasn't she picked him yet? Well, in this one it's because she refuses to be the first one to say 'I love you'! Yep, we've reached that level. Aspen doesn't even feature as a love interest really, except to mess everything up because the prince FINALLY finds out he was the one America used to love. Yes, it's executed terribly and leads to drama at the worst possible point.

So that thing with her dad finally paid off kind of. He was a rebel all along which was obvious from the book scene in the second book. He also dies, although the two events are unrelated. Also the fact he was a rebel is never mentioned again and isn't relevant to the plot at all. But hey, dystopian!

My main issue with this book is the attempt at a dramatic ending. Okay, so a bunch of characters get killed off in a rebel attack and then they're NEVER MENTIONED AGAIN. Like, the king and queen are but not America's head maid, not Celeste, not other people who probably died who I can't remember because the book didn't mourn them at all. It was very jarring in a series with such a track record of lovely and nice characters to have them just kind of forget about the dead and return to happy wedding fluff. I was particularly annoyed about Celeste because she was finally developed into an interesting character and then she's just dismissed by the narrative.

On the whole yes, this is a series which has just gotten worse and worse. I can't deny that I've really enjoyed reading it though and I am going to pick up the sequels. They're so quick to read and just easy. I've read far far worse YA that takes itself far more seriously and I'm not going to hate on a series for being fluffy and sweet. Not when the ride has been this fun anyway!

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