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3.55 AVERAGE
3.55 AVERAGE
I read this for the first time in September 2015, when I was just getting into reviewing and the online bookish community. Then, I gave it 5 stars. I gave a lot of things 5 stars, if we're being honest.
This is my first reread, and now I'm bumping my rating down to 4.5 stars. I still love it, but I noticed smaller details that I wasn't on board with.
» Snippets of unrealistic dialogue. This mostly came from Josie, but occasionally from Reid too.
» Reid refused to let Josie walk away from training when she was frustrated/upset. I get that there was a serious time crunch, but sometimes he was a bit over the top.
» Josie's mom was way too detached. I know she had secret burdens and all that, but Josie really could've benefitted from motherly help/advice.
Now that that's out of the way, here are some reasons you should read this book / things I liked about it.
» Josie was a totally introverted nerd, which I could 100% relate to.
» It's a quick read. I got through this is in a day and it's the perfect follow-up for a soul-crushing read. (*cough* ACOWAR *cough*)
» It's a fun story. The powers in this book involve creating things with your mind, and even if it would be daunting in reality, it's cool in fiction.
» Nerdy references. I didn't get most of them because they were related to fandoms I'm not a part of, but I recognized where they were from. Shh, that makes sense. But anyway, if you like Marvel and/or Star Wars, you and Josie will get along very well.
Even though rereading has brought a few issues to my attention, I still enjoyed it. I can't wait for the sequel to come out in July!! 😄
This is my first reread, and now I'm bumping my rating down to 4.5 stars. I still love it, but I noticed smaller details that I wasn't on board with.
» Snippets of unrealistic dialogue. This mostly came from Josie, but occasionally from Reid too.
» Reid refused to let Josie walk away from training when she was frustrated/upset. I get that there was a serious time crunch, but sometimes he was a bit over the top.
» Josie's mom was way too detached. I know she had secret burdens and all that, but Josie really could've benefitted from motherly help/advice.
Now that that's out of the way, here are some reasons you should read this book / things I liked about it.
» Josie was a totally introverted nerd, which I could 100% relate to.
» It's a quick read. I got through this is in a day and it's the perfect follow-up for a soul-crushing read. (*cough* ACOWAR *cough*)
» It's a fun story. The powers in this book involve creating things with your mind, and even if it would be daunting in reality, it's cool in fiction.
» Nerdy references. I didn't get most of them because they were related to fandoms I'm not a part of, but I recognized where they were from. Shh, that makes sense. But anyway, if you like Marvel and/or Star Wars, you and Josie will get along very well.
Even though rereading has brought a few issues to my attention, I still enjoyed it. I can't wait for the sequel to come out in July!! 😄
The Good, the Bad and Everything In Between
To give you a clue as to my age, when I hear the name Josie, I think of that old song *sings* Josie’s on a vacation far away….*looks around* Ahem. Anyway, YA isn’t usually my cuppa tea, but the blurb and the cover caught my attention and after the smexy books I’ve read recently, this was a good change of pace for me.
I enjoyed the split POV - though admittedly I was more a fan of Reid’s POV than Josie’s and the concept behind this book. Josie is an Oculi, a person who can change reality at will, which is a very cool idea. The angst was built-in with a mystery as to what happened to her brother, and Reid’s place in it.
While worldbuilding is a tricky thing, I would have liked more showing vs telling - it kept me at a distance from the story. The romance is mild, in keeping with the YA.
The Bottom Line
Yes, I may or may not have eye rolled at some of the OTT emo, but overall I think there’s potential with this series. I would recommend it for fans of YA - you may connect with it more than I did. That said, yes I would read the next one in this series.
**ARC provided by publisher via netgalley in exchange for an honest review**
To give you a clue as to my age, when I hear the name Josie, I think of that old song *sings* Josie’s on a vacation far away….*looks around* Ahem. Anyway, YA isn’t usually my cuppa tea, but the blurb and the cover caught my attention and after the smexy books I’ve read recently, this was a good change of pace for me.
I enjoyed the split POV - though admittedly I was more a fan of Reid’s POV than Josie’s and the concept behind this book. Josie is an Oculi, a person who can change reality at will, which is a very cool idea. The angst was built-in with a mystery as to what happened to her brother, and Reid’s place in it.
While worldbuilding is a tricky thing, I would have liked more showing vs telling - it kept me at a distance from the story. The romance is mild, in keeping with the YA.
The Bottom Line
Yes, I may or may not have eye rolled at some of the OTT emo, but overall I think there’s potential with this series. I would recommend it for fans of YA - you may connect with it more than I did. That said, yes I would read the next one in this series.
**ARC provided by publisher via netgalley in exchange for an honest review**
Worst. Birthday. Ever.
My first boyfriend dumped me—happy birthday, Josie!—my dad is who knows where, I have some weird virus that makes me want to hurl, and now my ex is licking another girl’s tonsils. Oh, and I’m officially the same age as my brother was when he died. Yeah, today is about as fun-filled as the swamps of Dagobah. But then weird things start happening…
Like I make something materialize just by thinking about it.
When hottily-hot badass Reid Wentworth shows up on a motorcycle, everything changes. Like, everything. Who I am. My family. What really happened to my brother. Existence. I am Oculi, and I have the ability to change reality with my thoughts. Now Reid, in all his hotness, is charged with guiding and protecting me as I begin learning how to bend reality. And he’s the only thing standing between me and the secret organization that wants me dead…
Blurb-wise, I was excited because it sounded close to Haruhi Suzumiya series by Tanigawa-sensei. When I started reading, I was excited because the story is action-filled, like, right from start to finish. The writing, though, was regularly putting a dampener on the fun - with cliched lines and over-use of geek references, which feels like the book is trying too hard. Josie is vivacious and fierce, but isn't rendered really well. There was a lot of ambiguity as to how her character was presented - with distinction in the first and second half. The romance element, well, it did not endear me either. Reid is, ugh, boring and honestly, Santos would have made a better match, even with whatever happened at the end.
The world-building was good, and the almost-magic like ability was also well-explained as canon. I just had one doubt - during a fight, why don't they just Push a blindfold onto their opponent's eyes? If the ability works on observation, should making the person temporarily blind halt their abilities? The ending was okay, but mostly the entire book was action-packed and that was the highlight. The fight sequences were well-written, almost able to render it realistically in the mind. A good sci-fi read, but the sequel better be better.
Received an ARC from Entangled Teen via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
My first boyfriend dumped me—happy birthday, Josie!—my dad is who knows where, I have some weird virus that makes me want to hurl, and now my ex is licking another girl’s tonsils. Oh, and I’m officially the same age as my brother was when he died. Yeah, today is about as fun-filled as the swamps of Dagobah. But then weird things start happening…
Like I make something materialize just by thinking about it.
When hottily-hot badass Reid Wentworth shows up on a motorcycle, everything changes. Like, everything. Who I am. My family. What really happened to my brother. Existence. I am Oculi, and I have the ability to change reality with my thoughts. Now Reid, in all his hotness, is charged with guiding and protecting me as I begin learning how to bend reality. And he’s the only thing standing between me and the secret organization that wants me dead…
Blurb-wise, I was excited because it sounded close to Haruhi Suzumiya series by Tanigawa-sensei. When I started reading, I was excited because the story is action-filled, like, right from start to finish. The writing, though, was regularly putting a dampener on the fun - with cliched lines and over-use of geek references, which feels like the book is trying too hard. Josie is vivacious and fierce, but isn't rendered really well. There was a lot of ambiguity as to how her character was presented - with distinction in the first and second half. The romance element, well, it did not endear me either. Reid is, ugh, boring and honestly, Santos would have made a better match, even with whatever happened at the end.
The world-building was good, and the almost-magic like ability was also well-explained as canon. I just had one doubt - during a fight, why don't they just Push a blindfold onto their opponent's eyes? If the ability works on observation, should making the person temporarily blind halt their abilities? The ending was okay, but mostly the entire book was action-packed and that was the highlight. The fight sequences were well-written, almost able to render it realistically in the mind. A good sci-fi read, but the sequel better be better.
Received an ARC from Entangled Teen via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.