Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Recent Reads: Angels, Haikus, Knights and Manicures

Sorry for the uber-long post. I'm catching up on my Recent Reads posts. I didn't put in much of reviews here, but check out my GoodReads page if you're interested in my thoughts!

Book: Fallen by Lauren Kate
Count: 1
Genre: YA Paranormal
The title should've told me what was up, but the cover was what got me. Beautiful! Luce Price has been medicated through much of her life to regulate her visions of shadows. Finally, a book where the MC is seeing weird things and there's some parental action being taken (even if it is medication). Another fallen angel(s) story, but this one has enough of a twist to make it different.

Book: The Complete History of Why I Hate Her by Jennifer Richard Jacobson
Count: 2
Genre: YA Contemp
The title initially made me chuckle, thinking it was one of those snarky, teenage things. But that's not what it is at all. The book follows Nola on a quest to find herself. Interspersed with the Haiku-speak she shares with her terminally-ill sister, the premise of the story was good, but it felt like there were too many subplots that never really developed into anything and there wasn't enough life to the secondary characters. It was a short read, and I liked the story, but I just wanted more.

Book: Shadow by Jenny Moss
Count: 3
Genre: YA Fantasy (? Not sure what to classify this one as)
A bit of a coming of age story, Shadow is an orphan who's lived with Queen Audrey since it was prophesized the queen would die by her 16th birthday. A bit fairytale-ish, but the telling of the story is not. Told from Shadow's perspective, her pain is felt, as is her joy in the simple things. I was a little thrown by the twist towards the end, the fantasy aspect of it, but overall, it was a good read.

Book: Magic Hands by Jennifer Laurens
Count: 4
Genre: YA Contemp
After reading the book, I looked at the cover and I don't think that is the right image for the story inside. Cort is a popular jock at Pleasant View High School who's so desperate for a job he starts working at the new nail salon in town and gets a whole new perspective on the cattiness of girls and how a little bit of gossip can go a long way. I liked the story of this book, but the writing style was a bit confusing at times. It's written in third person, but there's head jumping with no clear line when we're jumping between Cort and Rachel, the female MC. I got confused a few times and had to go back and reread to make sure I knew who was thinking what.

7 comments:

Elana Johnson said...

Ah! I want to read Fallen? Do you own it? It sounds amazing. I love this review method. Short and helpful. Great job!

Unknown said...

Nice reviews. I second Elana. Short and helpful. Thanks!

Tana said...

I love your honest reviews! Kuddos because it's hard to do. Magic hands looks like one of those racy covers I would have snapped up as a teen, and turn around on the shelf as a mom, lol.

Windy said...

Elana - I emailed you about Fallen.

Nisa - Happy to be of service :D

T Anne - It's hard to be honest sometimes, but you also have to remember that reviews are subjective. As I said about the cover, it doesn't really go with the story -- NOT racy at all. Actually pretty wholesome.

Anonymous said...

Honest reviews are priceless. Thank you. I'm going to have to check out a few of those.

ali cross said...

This was great ~ thanks Windy! I haven't read any of those, and only Fallen was on my list of must-reads.

Kelsey (Dominique) Ridge said...

Thanks for the recommendations.
My To Read list just got a little longer, always exciting.