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3.11 AVERAGE
3.11 AVERAGE
I got Carrier of the Mark in a giveaway and I have been itching to read it a long time! I started reading it right off the bat. It was a whole new perspective involving the 4 elements fire, water, earth and air. There was a few tines where I felt like the book was going too fast and was a little unrealistic in the romance department. I was hoping the love between Megan and Adam would have more problems and not all I love you and we will be together forever. The only major problem I saw was when Megan realized her love for Adam could bring the fifth element, the most dangerous uncontrollable one of them all. Not only does Leigh Fallon give you a romance but she also incorporates the feelings of a normal teen moving to a new place once again and having to make new friends. I was really surprised how the beginning even started off with no paranormal what so ever but slowly some evidence leads up to the magic. So if you like romance paranormal and a quick read I suggest Carrier of the Mark.
*MY THOUGHTS*
Let me start by saying I was a little disappointed in this book.... It was like EVERY element of Twilight was featured here. So much so, I remember thinking that Bella and Edward must have packed up and moved to Ireland while I was reading the book. Lucky for the book, I did enjoy Twilight. I just don't think the book had enough of its own voice.
One thing I did like about it was the cover. Wow, it is absolutely BEAUTIFUL! And once you read it and you find out why it looks that way..... Psssh you'll be just as hooked as I was.
I also liked the mythology that was featured in the story. I learned so much about the Irish culture that I had never even heard of. I absolutely love books like that. I can enjoy reading them but also learn about different cultures and places as I read.
Which brings me to my next point. I felt as if I were swept away to Ireland as I was reading this. It was a very readable book, but the thing that put me off was the fact that I thought I might have been reading a book I thoroughly enjoyed before or if it was her actual writing. I am looking forward to the next installment of the trilogy to see if it was her writing or the thought that I may have heard the story before.
Let me start by saying I was a little disappointed in this book.... It was like EVERY element of Twilight was featured here. So much so, I remember thinking that Bella and Edward must have packed up and moved to Ireland while I was reading the book. Lucky for the book, I did enjoy Twilight. I just don't think the book had enough of its own voice.
One thing I did like about it was the cover. Wow, it is absolutely BEAUTIFUL! And once you read it and you find out why it looks that way..... Psssh you'll be just as hooked as I was.
I also liked the mythology that was featured in the story. I learned so much about the Irish culture that I had never even heard of. I absolutely love books like that. I can enjoy reading them but also learn about different cultures and places as I read.
Which brings me to my next point. I felt as if I were swept away to Ireland as I was reading this. It was a very readable book, but the thing that put me off was the fact that I thought I might have been reading a book I thoroughly enjoyed before or if it was her actual writing. I am looking forward to the next installment of the trilogy to see if it was her writing or the thought that I may have heard the story before.
Let's just say it was very similar to twilight without the vampirestuff.. hadn't I read twilight (don't judge me I was 15..) I probably would have liked it more. The kissing parts were quite gross, I mean licking someone's hand.. I don't know.. doesn't sound very appealing.
but it's not bad, and had I been 15 I would have liked it very much. (the book not the licking..)
but it's not bad, and had I been 15 I would have liked it very much. (the book not the licking..)
This review is from my blog, Starting the Next Chapter.
Carrier of the Mark was a surprise for me in many ways. At first, I found it to be formulaic in its story line and was concerned as to whether or not I was going to enjoy it. Its setting (Ireland) proved to be a more pleasant surprise that I greatly enjoyed. However, as I got further and further into this story, I began to realize that even though its plot progression is all too familiar, it was still an enjoyable read that captured my interest and kept it. Fallon's style of prose is nothing to sneeze at and her characters are (for the most part) personable and interesting. It definitely surpassed my expectations and kept me happily absorbed in the story.
The idea behind Carrier of the Mark is an interesting one. I was very happy to see references to one of Ireland's goddesses and knew at that point that I was in the hands of an author with interests similar to my own. The background of the magic-users in this book is also something that I found to be intriguing. I was a little confused at times by the discussions of genetics in relation to the passing down of the gifts, but it is definitely an interesting concept that I hope to understand more of as the series continues. As for those that have inherited these gifts, I can only say that I was a little more let down. Both the number of siblings involved and their interaction with the protagonist, Megan, was especially familiar to me, but not in a pleasing way. Don't get me wrong, these characters are a nice mix of personable and abrasive, but the dynamic felt a little old. Fortunately, the characteristics of their talents and the element of danger that surrounded them was more than enough to redeem them for me. I just hope that things continue to improve into the next book.
If you enjoy books with magic at their centers and are looking for a quick, fun read, I would recommend Carrier of the Mark. It is an enchanting story and has enough romance to make a paranormal romance fan happy. I can see a lot of potential for this series and will definitely stick with it. Though the exactly date of the next installment (Dawn of the Knights) hasn't been released yet, I will be looking forward to reading the follow-up to this magical tale.
Carrier of the Mark was a surprise for me in many ways. At first, I found it to be formulaic in its story line and was concerned as to whether or not I was going to enjoy it. Its setting (Ireland) proved to be a more pleasant surprise that I greatly enjoyed. However, as I got further and further into this story, I began to realize that even though its plot progression is all too familiar, it was still an enjoyable read that captured my interest and kept it. Fallon's style of prose is nothing to sneeze at and her characters are (for the most part) personable and interesting. It definitely surpassed my expectations and kept me happily absorbed in the story.
The idea behind Carrier of the Mark is an interesting one. I was very happy to see references to one of Ireland's goddesses and knew at that point that I was in the hands of an author with interests similar to my own. The background of the magic-users in this book is also something that I found to be intriguing. I was a little confused at times by the discussions of genetics in relation to the passing down of the gifts, but it is definitely an interesting concept that I hope to understand more of as the series continues. As for those that have inherited these gifts, I can only say that I was a little more let down. Both the number of siblings involved and their interaction with the protagonist, Megan, was especially familiar to me, but not in a pleasing way. Don't get me wrong, these characters are a nice mix of personable and abrasive, but the dynamic felt a little old. Fortunately, the characteristics of their talents and the element of danger that surrounded them was more than enough to redeem them for me. I just hope that things continue to improve into the next book.
If you enjoy books with magic at their centers and are looking for a quick, fun read, I would recommend Carrier of the Mark. It is an enchanting story and has enough romance to make a paranormal romance fan happy. I can see a lot of potential for this series and will definitely stick with it. Though the exactly date of the next installment (Dawn of the Knights) hasn't been released yet, I will be looking forward to reading the follow-up to this magical tale.
Meh... there were a LOT of similarities to Twilight in this book. In fact, I can only think of 2 differences: 1)It was set in Ireland and 2)No one is a vampire. Essentially the story was the same, girl moves to a place where she doesn't know anybody. Mom isn't around. Falls for unattainable boy who is trying to stay away from her. An incident brings them together and from then on they are inseparable. Their relationship is unorthodox and the powers that be are concerned about the hybrid babies they will make.
It was a quick read, and I thought there would have been more substance to it.
It was a quick read, and I thought there would have been more substance to it.
When I first saw this book I was so enchanted by the cover.
I was like “WOW look at that cover!!”
I thought the cover was just gorgeous and I told myself I had to get my hands on that book.
When I clutched the book in my hands, the feeling of excitement overwhelmed me.
Almost immediately after I got it, I started to read…
My reaction started like this.
Then this.
Then finally..
Alas! Book covers and synopsis could be very deceiving.
This book reminds me of a book very close to my heart.
Unfortunately, that is not a good thing.
This book would have to be the most disappointing book I have read.
The cover masked the unsightliness of this book.
THIS BOOK WAS JUST LIKE
WITHOUT VAMPIRES!
Twilight may not be the best book out there but it’s my first YA book so whatever happens I would still love Twilight and would always dislike books that would come close or imitate its story.
Sad to say, The Carrier of the Mark was one of those books.
I wouldn’t mind the similarity if it were just little things but as I was reading the book majority of it was a Twilightish.
It was infuriating.
All my excitement went down the drain.
Let me give you a few examples of what I meant about it being Twilightish:
1. Megan’s first day at a new school and already the first person to talk to her knew her name.
Why?
Because it was a small town?
(Forks anyone?)
2. First day of school Adam was staring intently at Megan.
Megan stared back.
Megan couldn’t get him out of her head.
*BOOOM!*
They were in love!
(I knew someone who had the same feeling towards each other.
What was their name again?
Oh right, it was Edward and Bella!)
3. Adam and his siblings, his sister and his brother. Their names start with an A and an R.
Now Edward has siblings too right?
What were their names again?
Rosalie and Alice?
I heard A was close with Meghan and R has a bit of an issue with what they are.
You think I was talking about Rosalie and Alice right?
NOTTT!
I was talking about Adam’s siblings.
Was it a coincidence?
4. Adam has special powers.
Cool.
Megan being super duper attracted to Adam didn’t care.
Adam saying he tried to stay away but he couldn’t do it much longer.
(I would know that line anywhere.
Gosh Edward, why do you have to let someone else borrow your line!!
Adam can’t you find your own pickup line?)
5. The Tracker.
Yep. Megan was being followed by a Tracker.
Wait a minute, wasn’t Bella being followed by James?
And what was James called?
That’s right, a TRACKER!
6. If Megan and Adam get kids, it would be an abomination.
Really now?
Didn’t they think that way too with Renesemee?
There’s actually more but I don’t really have the time to list them all.
If I did, I probably would be copying the book and pasting it here.
Well, the book was not entirely bad.
I did love the thing about them being Elementals.
(But I already read a book about that which was more original by the way. No Twilight stuff.)
Carrier of the Mark had potential.
If this book didn’t remind me so much of Twilight I would have liked it.
The author’s writing style was okay.
The setting was perfect.
The myth about the Marked being able to wield and control the elements was okay with me too.
I didn’t like the kissing stuff though.
It was a little too much for me.
I am so sorry.
This may seem like a hate review but its not.
I am just really disappointed because I didn’t think it would be Twilightish.
I guess the moral lesson here is not to expect too much on the cover.
I really wanted to like this book.
Sorry.
It’s a 2.5 for me.
I was like “WOW look at that cover!!”
I thought the cover was just gorgeous and I told myself I had to get my hands on that book.
When I clutched the book in my hands, the feeling of excitement overwhelmed me.
Almost immediately after I got it, I started to read…
My reaction started like this.
Then this.
Then finally..
Alas! Book covers and synopsis could be very deceiving.
This book reminds me of a book very close to my heart.
Unfortunately, that is not a good thing.
This book would have to be the most disappointing book I have read.
The cover masked the unsightliness of this book.
THIS BOOK WAS JUST LIKE
WITHOUT VAMPIRES!
Twilight may not be the best book out there but it’s my first YA book so whatever happens I would still love Twilight and would always dislike books that would come close or imitate its story.
Sad to say, The Carrier of the Mark was one of those books.
I wouldn’t mind the similarity if it were just little things but as I was reading the book majority of it was a Twilightish.
It was infuriating.
All my excitement went down the drain.
Let me give you a few examples of what I meant about it being Twilightish:
1. Megan’s first day at a new school and already the first person to talk to her knew her name.
Why?
Because it was a small town?
(Forks anyone?)
2. First day of school Adam was staring intently at Megan.
Megan stared back.
Megan couldn’t get him out of her head.
*BOOOM!*
They were in love!
(I knew someone who had the same feeling towards each other.
What was their name again?
Oh right, it was Edward and Bella!)
3. Adam and his siblings, his sister and his brother. Their names start with an A and an R.
Now Edward has siblings too right?
What were their names again?
Rosalie and Alice?
I heard A was close with Meghan and R has a bit of an issue with what they are.
You think I was talking about Rosalie and Alice right?
NOTTT!
I was talking about Adam’s siblings.
Was it a coincidence?
4. Adam has special powers.
Cool.
Megan being super duper attracted to Adam didn’t care.
Adam saying he tried to stay away but he couldn’t do it much longer.
(I would know that line anywhere.
Gosh Edward, why do you have to let someone else borrow your line!!
Adam can’t you find your own pickup line?)
5. The Tracker.
Yep. Megan was being followed by a Tracker.
Wait a minute, wasn’t Bella being followed by James?
And what was James called?
That’s right, a TRACKER!
6. If Megan and Adam get kids, it would be an abomination.
Really now?
Didn’t they think that way too with Renesemee?
There’s actually more but I don’t really have the time to list them all.
If I did, I probably would be copying the book and pasting it here.
Well, the book was not entirely bad.
I did love the thing about them being Elementals.
(But I already read a book about that which was more original by the way. No Twilight stuff.)
Carrier of the Mark had potential.
If this book didn’t remind me so much of Twilight I would have liked it.
The author’s writing style was okay.
The setting was perfect.
The myth about the Marked being able to wield and control the elements was okay with me too.
I didn’t like the kissing stuff though.
It was a little too much for me.
I am so sorry.
This may seem like a hate review but its not.
I am just really disappointed because I didn’t think it would be Twilightish.
I guess the moral lesson here is not to expect too much on the cover.
I really wanted to like this book.
Sorry.
It’s a 2.5 for me.
I read this book with great expectation. I was purely enticed by the GORGEOUS COVER and the blurb.
I found it hard to love the story since i'm not really a fan of druids, witches and warlocks with a twilight-ish plot. I guess, to each his own. I also found it hard to understand the essence of the "aligning" but reading the explanation for like 3 times, i finally got it. Call me stupid but i just found my interest in it growing farther and farther. Anyway, i still went about reading it and finishing it. The saving grace here i think, is the interaction of the characters. I liked their connections and their powers.
btw, The problem with the main characters' relationship has not yet been resolved but i do hope that in the next installment, it would all work out.
I found it hard to love the story since i'm not really a fan of druids, witches and warlocks with a twilight-ish plot. I guess, to each his own. I also found it hard to understand the essence of the "aligning" but reading the explanation for like 3 times, i finally got it. Call me stupid but i just found my interest in it growing farther and farther. Anyway, i still went about reading it and finishing it. The saving grace here i think, is the interaction of the characters. I liked their connections and their powers.
btw, The problem with the main characters' relationship has not yet been resolved but i do hope that in the next installment, it would all work out.
Beautiful imagery of Ireland, where I have always wanted to go. Love the characters, the story. Can't wait for the next one.
adventurous
emotional
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Read: September 2019
Genre: YA Fantasy/Romance
Length: 352 Pages
Time Read In: 1 Day
Swearing in This Review: So, so much swearing. Buckle up, buttercup.
Spoilers in This Review: Yup. This has kind of turned into a rant review.
It’s taken me so long to get around to this book for the big reason everyone knows, Leigh Fallon has a pretty rough reputation for trash talking people who don’t like her book. For that reason, I refused to give her my money *shrugs*. I don’t support people I know are assholes. I did, however, get the overdrive app. Overdrive is an app that leads you borrow e-books from your library as long as you have your library card number. It is absolutely amazing and I highly recommend it for readers in small areas with limited access to their library or bookstores. While I was perusing the shelves, I spotted this book and decided I had to read it. I’d heard mixed reviews about it for years and now, it has time to have my own opinion.
Now, most of you have seen that one, lonely star up top there so you know what I think about this book. So, let’s discuss why I think this book is trash.
Chapter one also has that age old trope where the parents have to be absolute idiots. Megan comes downstairs and her dad’s on his laptop, but its dead. OH NO. HOW EVER COULD THAT HAVE HAPPENED?! He didn’t plug in the charger. That’s literally it. He was too fucking stupid to plug in the laptop charger. Guys, I get it. If parents were around, it would make all these shenanigans a lot harder for YA protagonists to get into. That doesn’t mean the parents should be full functioning morons. Instead of writing idiot parents, just write normal, hard working ones. It’s not that difficult.
So, Megan’s instabestie, Caitlin, knows her name because “it’s a small town”. So why the fuck didn’t she immediately realize Megan was new the moment she saw her? Yes, hi, hello. I’m from a small town. Like an actual small town. Less than 1300 people. I graduated with a class of 42 people. When there’s a new person, there’s none of this blending in shit. The problem is that people who have never lived in small towns want to write small towns but have no clue how to do it. So, instead, they write like the character is living in their big town and just tell the reader “oh, it’s a small town”. These are not small town people. They don’t behave like small town people. The high schoolers don’t behave like small school high schoolers. Stop. If you don’t actually understand small town culture, don’t write it. It’s annoying.
We don’t even get a vague introduction to the love interest. Caitlin literally walks into the class and sits with Megan - because apparently she has no other friends in this class and who doesn’t want to be besties with the new girl? New girls are always the stars of the show! - so that she can go, “omg, Adam’s looking at you” and go all heart eyes. Gross. Just fucking gross. Also, we failed the Bechdel Test SEVEN FUCKING PAGES in. Not even seventeen, guys. SEVEN!
This book is boring. The opening chapter is boring. Chapter one is twenty-one pages long. I looked at that page count and went this is gonna be a looooong book.
The plot is also super easy to predict. Megan and her dad were talking about how he got some random recommendation that he didn’t expect and doesn’t know who gave it and that’s how he got the job. It says, in the notes I took while reading this shit storm - “Making a guess right now. Either someone in Adam’s family or some unseen guardian or some shit knows who Megan is and knows that she’ll be important and got him the job. If that isn’t it, I’ll buy Fallon a cookie”. Well, no cookie for you, Leigh Fallon because several pages of notes later it says “I nailed it on that job thing”. This isn’t a one time thing, either. 90% of this plot I figured out before I got to the halfway mark.
I don’t like Megan. Immediately. I almost DNFed this book at like 8% because I LOATHE this girl. I’ve gone back and read some of the comments about how Adam is possessive and all that and don’t get me wrong, he is. But, Megan… Megan is just fucking gross. Here’s why. Megan has never even talked to this boy and the fact that he doesn’t want to have some long conversation with her immediately hurts her feelings. He just says, “yeah, I know you from school but I’m really busy. Sorry, gotta go” and then Megan’s all “I couldn’t tell my dad, but my feelings were hurt. I can’t believe he didn’t want to talk to me”. Then, she sees him talking to another girl and immediately calls this girl a bitch. BITCH YOU DON’T EVEN KNOW WHO THIS GIRL IS! (It’s his twin sister, btw). She always calls him “My Adam” before they’ve even had a real conversation. Megan is a gross, creepy girl with jealous tendencies for no reason. You know what we call people like Megan nowadays? Stalkers, people. We call them stalkers.
Adding to my dislike of Megan, there’s a scene in chapter three where Megan defends one of their male teachers for staring at a female student’s legs because she was wearing a short skirt and “how could you not look”. No. Gross. Stop. Girls, stand up for other girls. Don’t let your teachers or any other person be a creep, no matter what they’re wearing.
Spending time with Megan and her friends is a literal chore. They’re all so boring. They talk about nothing but boys and romance and they do nothing to move the plot along. The best we get is Megan’s internal monologue about how she’s emotionally damaged from all of her moves and how she’s never had a true friend because of it. But, now, now she’s in the place she truly belongs so these boring, two dimensional people are going to be her besties forever. Gag me.
Fallon tells so much. It feels like most of this books narrative is just a bunch of summaries and trying to move the time along. It’s almost as though, no editor did any work on this after they pulled it off inkpop because they saw an opportunity to cash in on the Twilight craze and didn’t have time to actually go through and work with this plot or characters. Also, if I read the phrase “I couldn’t believe” one more fucking time, I was gonna throw up. And that was at chapter four.
So, this bitch is basically the avatar? Does that make Rian the fire nation prince who will grow as a person and change his ways to help defeat the evils in the world? Fucking no. Fallon couldn’t write that great of a character development if she tried.
The whole Rian drama is stupid. You can’t really defend it. It makes little sense. And it’s resolved in like one chapter. There’s no actual tension and no actual drama. Though, in Rian’s defense, fuck Megan. She’s a dumb, annoying bitch. I liked him better when he hated her for no reason.
The info dumping in this book made me want to scream. Especially the bit where their mentor guy literally explained everything in this really long winded, stupid thing. You know what have been a great place to put all this stupid shit? IN THAT USELESS FUCKING PROLOGUE! Make it so it was Megan hearing a story or reading about it in a book. Anywhere but in the main story. Jesus. The same with Rian, Adam and Aine’s backstory. Rian literally tells Megan everything that happened and honestly, it sounds more interesting than this fucking story. Rian would have made a great main character, learning how to balance his emotions with his powers and learning to understand that he wasn’t the only one that was hurting. Why couldn’t I read about that instead?!
So, as the middle child out of four, I can tell you right now that I have never once, in my life refered to my sister as “sis” or my brother as “bro”. Real siblings don’t do this shit. You wanna know what siblings call each other? Our fucking names! Or a nickname. I call my older sister “Gimpy”, because she’s broken every bone in her body. My older brother, I call his name. And, my younger brother, my sister and I call “Idiot”... not really sure how that one started tbh, but he answers to it. Anyway, long story short, this is not an accurate portrayal of how siblings talk to each other.
Alright, so now we get into the Adam part of the story. Where Adam is possessive and creepy. At the thought of not being allowed to date Megan (for the good of the world, mind you. Like, not because his father doesn’t like her but because there’s concern that it could shift the elements out of their natural alignment and LITERALLY END THE WORLD), Adam loses control of his power and has to be coaxed down by his family and Megan. Guys, that’s fucking scary and not in an attractive way. They haven’t been together that long. A month, tops. THIS. IS. A. RED. FLAG. Stop telling young girls this is romantic! Stop telling young boys they should act like this!
I hit chapter eighteen and realized that nothing has happened. I skimmed most of this stuff. It was boring. So. So. So boring. There’s this big end fight scene that lasts about half a page. There isn’t chapters of build up. You don’t slowly see this evil plot coming together. The bag guys just knock Megan out and use some ancient amulet to ward off her powers. Then, they shoot her boyfriend and she finally decides to do something useful. So, see guys? Megan isn’t just some useless girl in love. She’s the most powerful person in this group. She strong, really. This was just a bunch of boring build up to a really boring conclusion. I was reading this on my phone while I walked my dog around our yard and I literally had to stop reading so I could look at my puppy and say “this is so fucking stupid” and then put the book down for another forty-five minutes before I could even read the last chapter.
Guys, I was on inkpop. I read books on that website that were twenty leagues above this hot garbage. Words cannot describe how happy I am that I got this book for free at the library. Do you want to know what the worst part of this is? The idea behind it is kind of cool. This idea that a goddess bestowed the power of the elements onto some humans. The idea that these powers are passed down through the bloodlines and that there’s a group of people that want to steal their powers to instate a “fifth element”. This could have been great. This could have been fun. Honestly, we could have had the story about the siblings learning to control their powers. We could have had Rian’s angsty teen stage, when he almost killed his whole family. We could have had a good, solid story with an interesting an unique plot. Instead we got this Twilight/Avatar mismatched mess of a garbage pile. Just, don’t waste your time, friends. Pick up something else. Anything else. I’m begging you.
Genre: YA Fantasy/Romance
Length: 352 Pages
Time Read In: 1 Day
Swearing in This Review: So, so much swearing. Buckle up, buttercup.
Spoilers in This Review: Yup. This has kind of turned into a rant review.
It’s taken me so long to get around to this book for the big reason everyone knows, Leigh Fallon has a pretty rough reputation for trash talking people who don’t like her book. For that reason, I refused to give her my money *shrugs*. I don’t support people I know are assholes. I did, however, get the overdrive app. Overdrive is an app that leads you borrow e-books from your library as long as you have your library card number. It is absolutely amazing and I highly recommend it for readers in small areas with limited access to their library or bookstores. While I was perusing the shelves, I spotted this book and decided I had to read it. I’d heard mixed reviews about it for years and now, it has time to have my own opinion.
Now, most of you have seen that one, lonely star up top there so you know what I think about this book. So, let’s discuss why I think this book is trash.
Spoiler
That goddamn prologue. Does anyone else hate it when a book jump forward in time? They open with this random scene from later in the book - in Fallon’s case, what was supposed to be the big epic battle - and then chapter one, it’s four months earlier. Why? Just, why? It’s fucking annoying. Prologues are cheap cop outs when you can’t find an interesting way to start your story. Jesus, stop using prologues to spice up your beginnings. Just write a good beginning! And I know I can back this information up using this book because the opening to chapter one is weak as fuck. Its literally our MC - Megan - looking at herself in the mirror, annoyed that her new school doesn’t allow her to wear make up. BECAUSE EVERY GIRL NEEDS MAKEUP OR ELSE THEY CAN’T LOOK PRETTY. Fuck you.Chapter one also has that age old trope where the parents have to be absolute idiots. Megan comes downstairs and her dad’s on his laptop, but its dead. OH NO. HOW EVER COULD THAT HAVE HAPPENED?! He didn’t plug in the charger. That’s literally it. He was too fucking stupid to plug in the laptop charger. Guys, I get it. If parents were around, it would make all these shenanigans a lot harder for YA protagonists to get into. That doesn’t mean the parents should be full functioning morons. Instead of writing idiot parents, just write normal, hard working ones. It’s not that difficult.
So, Megan’s instabestie, Caitlin, knows her name because “it’s a small town”. So why the fuck didn’t she immediately realize Megan was new the moment she saw her? Yes, hi, hello. I’m from a small town. Like an actual small town. Less than 1300 people. I graduated with a class of 42 people. When there’s a new person, there’s none of this blending in shit. The problem is that people who have never lived in small towns want to write small towns but have no clue how to do it. So, instead, they write like the character is living in their big town and just tell the reader “oh, it’s a small town”. These are not small town people. They don’t behave like small town people. The high schoolers don’t behave like small school high schoolers. Stop. If you don’t actually understand small town culture, don’t write it. It’s annoying.
We don’t even get a vague introduction to the love interest. Caitlin literally walks into the class and sits with Megan - because apparently she has no other friends in this class and who doesn’t want to be besties with the new girl? New girls are always the stars of the show! - so that she can go, “omg, Adam’s looking at you” and go all heart eyes. Gross. Just fucking gross. Also, we failed the Bechdel Test SEVEN FUCKING PAGES in. Not even seventeen, guys. SEVEN!
This book is boring. The opening chapter is boring. Chapter one is twenty-one pages long. I looked at that page count and went this is gonna be a looooong book.
The plot is also super easy to predict. Megan and her dad were talking about how he got some random recommendation that he didn’t expect and doesn’t know who gave it and that’s how he got the job. It says, in the notes I took while reading this shit storm - “Making a guess right now. Either someone in Adam’s family or some unseen guardian or some shit knows who Megan is and knows that she’ll be important and got him the job. If that isn’t it, I’ll buy Fallon a cookie”. Well, no cookie for you, Leigh Fallon because several pages of notes later it says “I nailed it on that job thing”. This isn’t a one time thing, either. 90% of this plot I figured out before I got to the halfway mark.
I don’t like Megan. Immediately. I almost DNFed this book at like 8% because I LOATHE this girl. I’ve gone back and read some of the comments about how Adam is possessive and all that and don’t get me wrong, he is. But, Megan… Megan is just fucking gross. Here’s why. Megan has never even talked to this boy and the fact that he doesn’t want to have some long conversation with her immediately hurts her feelings. He just says, “yeah, I know you from school but I’m really busy. Sorry, gotta go” and then Megan’s all “I couldn’t tell my dad, but my feelings were hurt. I can’t believe he didn’t want to talk to me”. Then, she sees him talking to another girl and immediately calls this girl a bitch. BITCH YOU DON’T EVEN KNOW WHO THIS GIRL IS! (It’s his twin sister, btw). She always calls him “My Adam” before they’ve even had a real conversation. Megan is a gross, creepy girl with jealous tendencies for no reason. You know what we call people like Megan nowadays? Stalkers, people. We call them stalkers.
Adding to my dislike of Megan, there’s a scene in chapter three where Megan defends one of their male teachers for staring at a female student’s legs because she was wearing a short skirt and “how could you not look”. No. Gross. Stop. Girls, stand up for other girls. Don’t let your teachers or any other person be a creep, no matter what they’re wearing.
Spending time with Megan and her friends is a literal chore. They’re all so boring. They talk about nothing but boys and romance and they do nothing to move the plot along. The best we get is Megan’s internal monologue about how she’s emotionally damaged from all of her moves and how she’s never had a true friend because of it. But, now, now she’s in the place she truly belongs so these boring, two dimensional people are going to be her besties forever. Gag me.
Fallon tells so much. It feels like most of this books narrative is just a bunch of summaries and trying to move the time along. It’s almost as though, no editor did any work on this after they pulled it off inkpop because they saw an opportunity to cash in on the Twilight craze and didn’t have time to actually go through and work with this plot or characters. Also, if I read the phrase “I couldn’t believe” one more fucking time, I was gonna throw up. And that was at chapter four.
So, this bitch is basically the avatar? Does that make Rian the fire nation prince who will grow as a person and change his ways to help defeat the evils in the world? Fucking no. Fallon couldn’t write that great of a character development if she tried.
The whole Rian drama is stupid. You can’t really defend it. It makes little sense. And it’s resolved in like one chapter. There’s no actual tension and no actual drama. Though, in Rian’s defense, fuck Megan. She’s a dumb, annoying bitch. I liked him better when he hated her for no reason.
The info dumping in this book made me want to scream. Especially the bit where their mentor guy literally explained everything in this really long winded, stupid thing. You know what have been a great place to put all this stupid shit? IN THAT USELESS FUCKING PROLOGUE! Make it so it was Megan hearing a story or reading about it in a book. Anywhere but in the main story. Jesus. The same with Rian, Adam and Aine’s backstory. Rian literally tells Megan everything that happened and honestly, it sounds more interesting than this fucking story. Rian would have made a great main character, learning how to balance his emotions with his powers and learning to understand that he wasn’t the only one that was hurting. Why couldn’t I read about that instead?!
So, as the middle child out of four, I can tell you right now that I have never once, in my life refered to my sister as “sis” or my brother as “bro”. Real siblings don’t do this shit. You wanna know what siblings call each other? Our fucking names! Or a nickname. I call my older sister “Gimpy”, because she’s broken every bone in her body. My older brother, I call his name. And, my younger brother, my sister and I call “Idiot”... not really sure how that one started tbh, but he answers to it. Anyway, long story short, this is not an accurate portrayal of how siblings talk to each other.
Alright, so now we get into the Adam part of the story. Where Adam is possessive and creepy. At the thought of not being allowed to date Megan (for the good of the world, mind you. Like, not because his father doesn’t like her but because there’s concern that it could shift the elements out of their natural alignment and LITERALLY END THE WORLD), Adam loses control of his power and has to be coaxed down by his family and Megan. Guys, that’s fucking scary and not in an attractive way. They haven’t been together that long. A month, tops. THIS. IS. A. RED. FLAG. Stop telling young girls this is romantic! Stop telling young boys they should act like this!
I hit chapter eighteen and realized that nothing has happened. I skimmed most of this stuff. It was boring. So. So. So boring. There’s this big end fight scene that lasts about half a page. There isn’t chapters of build up. You don’t slowly see this evil plot coming together. The bag guys just knock Megan out and use some ancient amulet to ward off her powers. Then, they shoot her boyfriend and she finally decides to do something useful. So, see guys? Megan isn’t just some useless girl in love. She’s the most powerful person in this group. She strong, really. This was just a bunch of boring build up to a really boring conclusion. I was reading this on my phone while I walked my dog around our yard and I literally had to stop reading so I could look at my puppy and say “this is so fucking stupid” and then put the book down for another forty-five minutes before I could even read the last chapter.
Guys, I was on inkpop. I read books on that website that were twenty leagues above this hot garbage. Words cannot describe how happy I am that I got this book for free at the library. Do you want to know what the worst part of this is? The idea behind it is kind of cool. This idea that a goddess bestowed the power of the elements onto some humans. The idea that these powers are passed down through the bloodlines and that there’s a group of people that want to steal their powers to instate a “fifth element”. This could have been great. This could have been fun. Honestly, we could have had the story about the siblings learning to control their powers. We could have had Rian’s angsty teen stage, when he almost killed his whole family. We could have had a good, solid story with an interesting an unique plot. Instead we got this Twilight/Avatar mismatched mess of a garbage pile. Just, don’t waste your time, friends. Pick up something else. Anything else. I’m begging you.