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katiexmm's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
sirensaria's review
2.0
Warning! There will probably be some slight spoilers in this review. You HAVE been warned!
I couldn’t decide for most of the book if I liked it or found it annoying. I ended up thinking it was mediocre and at the very least passable. There were parts of the book that were pretty decent, but for the most part I found it boring. This was supposed to be a book about a ghost. I found that most of the book was about ghost stories or legends of Rose Bud Academy.
The story follows main character Lissa as she goes to Rose Bud Academy. She is going to Rose Bud Academy because she pretty much got caught partying too hard. She partied hard to forget the fact that her best friend, Chloe, had died. Lissa meets some of the other students, makes som friends, but tries to keep everyone an arms’ reach away because she is only there to learn how to play the piano better and pretty much redeem herself. The fact that she KEEPS bringing up the fact that she’s only there for the piano just irks me. The first couple times were normal, but Lissa is CONSTANTLY bringing it up to the point where it seems she’s trying to shove it down someone’s throat. And then after all the times she tells herself that she’s only there for the piano, then she decides to get a boyfriend anyway.
The “romance”, if I can even call it that, is laughable. It’s all insta-lust and no emotion at all. Frankly, it’s a hot-boy lusting relationship. Lissa and Tyler hardly know each other, and the relationship has no development at all. It’s like they meet, the think each other is hot, and now they’re dating. Ta-da! It just felt too forced.
I found the ghost stories and the legends in the book weren’t even a little creepy. In all honesty, some of them were down right hysterical. The legend about the vials of blood being taken from the old headmaster was not just unrealistic, but laughable. I’m not entirely sure how that was supposed to be terrifying, scary, or even creepy. In all honesty, I found it to be rather weird. The ghosts in the book were also not creepy. There was no real build up to the ghosts. It was a couple noises, and then WHAM! Ghost sighting in the mirror.
Through most of the book I felt like what was going on wasn’t real. Like it wasn’t something that would normally happen in real life. For example, the thefts. They were downplayed so horribly by the school staff, and it didn’t seem like that was what would happen in an actual school setting. Seriously, considering that one of the thefts was a violin worth $10k. A theft like that would have been reported to the police and there would have been a huge investigation. I could sort of understand the fact that the necklace was kind of pushed to the side, but the fact that hardly anything was done with the violin was ridiculous. And also, if the school had serious doubt about whether a student had stolen it or not, the would have looked in every student’s room. The whole theft part of the story felt fake.
Another part that felt unrealistic was when Karl disappeared. There would have been a massive man-hunt for a missing person. The fact that school just continued like nothing happened wasn’t just unrealistic, but plain stupid. I found this part of the story almost insulting, like the fact that Karl was missing, and there had been a suicide note found, and there was very little done. That is NOT how that would have been handled in real life. Considering the fact that Karl’s parents were there, it wasn’t like someone wasn’t concerned about him missing.
I found that a lot of the “big” events in the book were downplayed so the author could use the “drama” created by the downplay. The thefts, the missing student, if something similar would have happened at a real boarding school, there would have been massive police involvement. The fact that there was little to any police involvement was just ridiculous.
The characters were rather plain and not very interesting. They were very stereotypical and frankly, I could find more characterization in a cardboard cut out. Lissa was annoying and the normal kid who lost a friend and then started acting out and drinking to “make the pain go away”. It could be the fact that it has been way overdone that made me so annoyed, but Lissa just drove me nuts. She wasn’t logical, and it didn’t seem like she had a whole lot of emotion. I felt absolutely no connection to her. Granted, she is the type of person I really don’t like in real life, so that didn’t help her any.
None of the other characters were interesting either. Hell, I can’t even remember most of the characters. I only remembered Lissa from reading other reviews, and Karl because he went missing. I also couldn’t remember Karl’s name until I read a review. So yeah… No real memorable characters.
The more I write this review, the less I find good with the book and the more I find wrong with it. I think giving it two stars was way too much, but whatever… Don’t feel like changing the number of stars given right now. I feel awkward because there were so many good reviews for the book, and maybe I’m being a bit harsh, but whatever. There were just too many things that annoyed me about the book that I just couldn’t stand.
In all, I found a lot of things lacking in the book. Little development, not really any atmosphere, and pretty much no scare. It started out as a quick read, and I really had to force myself to finish it. When I have to force myself to finish a book, it’s not going to end well.
I couldn’t decide for most of the book if I liked it or found it annoying. I ended up thinking it was mediocre and at the very least passable. There were parts of the book that were pretty decent, but for the most part I found it boring. This was supposed to be a book about a ghost. I found that most of the book was about ghost stories or legends of Rose Bud Academy.
The story follows main character Lissa as she goes to Rose Bud Academy. She is going to Rose Bud Academy because she pretty much got caught partying too hard. She partied hard to forget the fact that her best friend, Chloe, had died. Lissa meets some of the other students, makes som friends, but tries to keep everyone an arms’ reach away because she is only there to learn how to play the piano better and pretty much redeem herself. The fact that she KEEPS bringing up the fact that she’s only there for the piano just irks me. The first couple times were normal, but Lissa is CONSTANTLY bringing it up to the point where it seems she’s trying to shove it down someone’s throat. And then after all the times she tells herself that she’s only there for the piano, then she decides to get a boyfriend anyway.
The “romance”, if I can even call it that, is laughable. It’s all insta-lust and no emotion at all. Frankly, it’s a hot-boy lusting relationship. Lissa and Tyler hardly know each other, and the relationship has no development at all. It’s like they meet, the think each other is hot, and now they’re dating. Ta-da! It just felt too forced.
I found the ghost stories and the legends in the book weren’t even a little creepy. In all honesty, some of them were down right hysterical. The legend about the vials of blood being taken from the old headmaster was not just unrealistic, but laughable. I’m not entirely sure how that was supposed to be terrifying, scary, or even creepy. In all honesty, I found it to be rather weird. The ghosts in the book were also not creepy. There was no real build up to the ghosts. It was a couple noises, and then WHAM! Ghost sighting in the mirror.
Through most of the book I felt like what was going on wasn’t real. Like it wasn’t something that would normally happen in real life. For example, the thefts. They were downplayed so horribly by the school staff, and it didn’t seem like that was what would happen in an actual school setting. Seriously, considering that one of the thefts was a violin worth $10k. A theft like that would have been reported to the police and there would have been a huge investigation. I could sort of understand the fact that the necklace was kind of pushed to the side, but the fact that hardly anything was done with the violin was ridiculous. And also, if the school had serious doubt about whether a student had stolen it or not, the would have looked in every student’s room. The whole theft part of the story felt fake.
Another part that felt unrealistic was when Karl disappeared. There would have been a massive man-hunt for a missing person. The fact that school just continued like nothing happened wasn’t just unrealistic, but plain stupid. I found this part of the story almost insulting, like the fact that Karl was missing, and there had been a suicide note found, and there was very little done. That is NOT how that would have been handled in real life. Considering the fact that Karl’s parents were there, it wasn’t like someone wasn’t concerned about him missing.
I found that a lot of the “big” events in the book were downplayed so the author could use the “drama” created by the downplay. The thefts, the missing student, if something similar would have happened at a real boarding school, there would have been massive police involvement. The fact that there was little to any police involvement was just ridiculous.
The characters were rather plain and not very interesting. They were very stereotypical and frankly, I could find more characterization in a cardboard cut out. Lissa was annoying and the normal kid who lost a friend and then started acting out and drinking to “make the pain go away”. It could be the fact that it has been way overdone that made me so annoyed, but Lissa just drove me nuts. She wasn’t logical, and it didn’t seem like she had a whole lot of emotion. I felt absolutely no connection to her. Granted, she is the type of person I really don’t like in real life, so that didn’t help her any.
None of the other characters were interesting either. Hell, I can’t even remember most of the characters. I only remembered Lissa from reading other reviews, and Karl because he went missing. I also couldn’t remember Karl’s name until I read a review. So yeah… No real memorable characters.
The more I write this review, the less I find good with the book and the more I find wrong with it. I think giving it two stars was way too much, but whatever… Don’t feel like changing the number of stars given right now. I feel awkward because there were so many good reviews for the book, and maybe I’m being a bit harsh, but whatever. There were just too many things that annoyed me about the book that I just couldn’t stand.
In all, I found a lot of things lacking in the book. Little development, not really any atmosphere, and pretty much no scare. It started out as a quick read, and I really had to force myself to finish it. When I have to force myself to finish a book, it’s not going to end well.
kimily's review
3.0
I received this book free of charge, and am voluntarily reviewing it.
I enjoyed the premise and setting of June's Blood, but don't feel that I got to know any of the characters well enough to feel one way or the other about them. The main character, Lissa, comes across as flaky and whiny, but, as this is the first in a trilogy, I'm assuming she's going to show some growth in later installments. The climax came across as contrived, and the villain's motive was weak, at best. I will read the sequel, because I'm hoping for the characters to be more fleshed out and some loose ends to be tied up.
I enjoyed the premise and setting of June's Blood, but don't feel that I got to know any of the characters well enough to feel one way or the other about them. The main character, Lissa, comes across as flaky and whiny, but, as this is the first in a trilogy, I'm assuming she's going to show some growth in later installments. The climax came across as contrived, and the villain's motive was weak, at best. I will read the sequel, because I'm hoping for the characters to be more fleshed out and some loose ends to be tied up.
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