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3.71 AVERAGE
3.71 AVERAGE
Yes, it was kind of predictable (the boots! Oy!), but I also loved the strong main character, the love for wildlife, and the karma curse. It’s a fun YA read!
adventurous
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
As always, another wonderful work from Marissa Meyer.
I can't say I was a big fan of Prudence as a character, she's kind of annoying at the beginning, and her need to do everything herself gets old really fast. It seemed like she'd get some good character development, but by the end of the book she was still the same over achiever, she just cares about wildlife now. However, I did love Quint as a character and finding out more of his back story and who he is as a person kept me reading.
I loved seeing Pru fall for Quint and vice versa, it was truly an opposites attract story. I did think there were a couple too many plot points going on throughout the book, and although it's mainly advertised for Pru's ability to dish out instant karma to those around her, that entire thing feels like it takes a back seat to the story itself. It might have even worked better if it wasn't a plot point at all because sometimes it felt like her power was forgotten and then suddenly gets brought up again. When she loses it at the end it didn't really feel like much of a loss.
I can't say I was a big fan of Prudence as a character, she's kind of annoying at the beginning, and her need to do everything herself gets old really fast. It seemed like she'd get some good character development, but by the end of the book she was still the same over achiever, she just cares about wildlife now. However, I did love Quint as a character and finding out more of his back story and who he is as a person kept me reading.
I loved seeing Pru fall for Quint and vice versa, it was truly an opposites attract story. I did think there were a couple too many plot points going on throughout the book, and although it's mainly advertised for Pru's ability to dish out instant karma to those around her, that entire thing feels like it takes a back seat to the story itself. It might have even worked better if it wasn't a plot point at all because sometimes it felt like her power was forgotten and then suddenly gets brought up again. When she loses it at the end it didn't really feel like much of a loss.
hopeful
informative
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
slow-paced
adventurous
emotional
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Marissa Meyer never disappoints
I was so wary of reading this book because I saw people didn’t like it when it came out but those people were wrong, sorry!
I loved Pru so much. Yes, she was unlikeable in the beginning but that was the point and her character development was beautiful and great! The themes of justice, assumptions, finances, and environmentalism was done really nicely. They were intervened so seamlessly that no theme was overshadowed or done poorly.
Quint was amazing. As much as I love romances where the guy has secretly been into her the whole time while she’s loathed him, I liked that they both equally loathed & judged each other and they BOTH needed convincing that the other wasn’t so bad after all. Made the romance & slow burn so so much better. Plus, the romance served Pru’s character arc so well.
I loved all the background characters. They all stuck out to me. I also loved that everyone wasn’t paired off in the end, like I thought was gonna happen with Ari and Jude’s respective crushes. Felt realistic and natural.
Overall, I had such a good time. I squealed, I laughed, I gasped, and I even teared up!
I was so wary of reading this book because I saw people didn’t like it when it came out but those people were wrong, sorry!
I loved Pru so much. Yes, she was unlikeable in the beginning but that was the point and her character development was beautiful and great! The themes of justice, assumptions, finances, and environmentalism was done really nicely. They were intervened so seamlessly that no theme was overshadowed or done poorly.
Quint was amazing. As much as I love romances where the guy has secretly been into her the whole time while she’s loathed him, I liked that they both equally loathed & judged each other and they BOTH needed convincing that the other wasn’t so bad after all. Made the romance & slow burn so so much better. Plus, the romance served Pru’s character arc so well.
I loved all the background characters. They all stuck out to me. I also loved that everyone wasn’t paired off in the end, like I thought was gonna happen with Ari and Jude’s respective crushes. Felt realistic and natural.
Overall, I had such a good time. I squealed, I laughed, I gasped, and I even teared up!
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
3,5 ⭐️
Things are not going well on the bookish front for me in the last couple of weeks. I haven't enjoyed the last three ARCs I've received. I wanted to like this book so much. I like Marissa Meyer. I enjoyed her lunar chronicles a lot. I haven't read her most recent Wires and Nerves vol. 1, but I did purchase it for my classroom and I heard good things about it. This book, however, is a mess.
The plot device is as follows: Prudence is able to bestow "instant karma" on those that are behaving badly or being rude. So, that's where I thought we were going. I assumed Prudence (who is SUPER unlikeable) would have a character arc in which she grows as a person, falls in love with the boy who at first irritates her, and realizes that she shouldn't judge people or try to play God and everyone ends up happy and she stops karma-ing people.
But then, at about 35%, the karma situation is pretty much forgotten because Pru starts to volunteer her time at sea animal rescue facility. This is a family-run rescue, with the love interest, Quint working there. At this point, I couldn't follow where the book was going and I had largely stopped caring.
Prudence is a terrible, unlikeable character. She is a goodie-two-shoes who thinks she is both better and smarter than almost everyone. The entire conflict at the start revolves around her rage at receiving on "C" on a group biology project that she is forced to complete with Quint. This isn't a "C" on her permanent transcript, but rather a "C" on a project that is worth 30% of her overall grade. Presumably, since she is such a good student, it wouldn't actually matter that much if she got one "C" to her grade as a whole. She keeps repeating she can't take a "C" but she isn't taking a "C," she's taking whatever she gets when that gets averaged in. She decides she MUST redo the project. Her biology teacher tells her she can't redo it unless Quint agrees to work with her on the redo-- which he declines to do since it sounds like she was a real pain to work with the first time around. Nevertheless, Pru has decided she is redoing the project and will rope Quint into participating by volunteering at the rescue. (The original project was supposed to feature the rescue, but Pru decided to do it all about eco-tourism despite the fact that she was doing a report for a biology class and her partner specifically told her that he was going to write the report about the sea animal rescue. Yes, I was confused, too. It didn't make any sense.) I Also, I don't know what kind of teacher and/or school allows kids to resubmit projects at the end of the summer after the grades have completely closed and you have received your report card. Just explaining this set up makes my head hurt!
Pru starts volunteering and we start to see the shift from enemies to friends start happening between Quint and Pru. Pru was a total jerk to Quint at the start. She didn't bother to get to know him at all during their year of biology partnership and makes a lot of snap judgments about him and his circumstances. It was not endearing. They are obviously going to fall in love if you keep reading. And at this point, I had no idea where the whole "instant karma" thing had gone. The entire focus had shifted to Pru working at the rescue and realizing she was wrong about Quint.
Unfortunately, I didn't care. What's more, I had to stop reading because I literally COULDN'T STAND Pru. She kept making all these waspish little comments about things that revealed that not only was she not very smart, but she was also super judgy. Couldn't imagine that businesses might us practices that were not good for animals or the environment or that ecotourism might actually negatively impact the environment if not done correctly. I feel like kids like Pru aka kids at the top of the academic heap, know about climate change and are socially conscious. This character felt unbelievable and incredibly tone-deaf on the part of the author.It felt like the only one in need of karmic retribution for being a jerk was Prudence for being judgemental and shortsighted.
DNF at 50%.
The plot device is as follows: Prudence is able to bestow "instant karma" on those that are behaving badly or being rude. So, that's where I thought we were going. I assumed Prudence (who is SUPER unlikeable) would have a character arc in which she grows as a person, falls in love with the boy who at first irritates her, and realizes that she shouldn't judge people or try to play God and everyone ends up happy and she stops karma-ing people.
But then, at about 35%, the karma situation is pretty much forgotten because Pru starts to volunteer her time at sea animal rescue facility. This is a family-run rescue, with the love interest, Quint working there. At this point, I couldn't follow where the book was going and I had largely stopped caring.
Prudence is a terrible, unlikeable character. She is a goodie-two-shoes who thinks she is both better and smarter than almost everyone. The entire conflict at the start revolves around her rage at receiving on "C" on a group biology project that she is forced to complete with Quint. This isn't a "C" on her permanent transcript, but rather a "C" on a project that is worth 30% of her overall grade. Presumably, since she is such a good student, it wouldn't actually matter that much if she got one "C" to her grade as a whole. She keeps repeating she can't take a "C" but she isn't taking a "C," she's taking whatever she gets when that gets averaged in. She decides she MUST redo the project. Her biology teacher tells her she can't redo it unless Quint agrees to work with her on the redo-- which he declines to do since it sounds like she was a real pain to work with the first time around. Nevertheless, Pru has decided she is redoing the project and will rope Quint into participating by volunteering at the rescue. (The original project was supposed to feature the rescue, but Pru decided to do it all about eco-tourism despite the fact that she was doing a report for a biology class and her partner specifically told her that he was going to write the report about the sea animal rescue. Yes, I was confused, too. It didn't make any sense.) I Also, I don't know what kind of teacher and/or school allows kids to resubmit projects at the end of the summer after the grades have completely closed and you have received your report card. Just explaining this set up makes my head hurt!
Pru starts volunteering and we start to see the shift from enemies to friends start happening between Quint and Pru. Pru was a total jerk to Quint at the start. She didn't bother to get to know him at all during their year of biology partnership and makes a lot of snap judgments about him and his circumstances. It was not endearing. They are obviously going to fall in love if you keep reading. And at this point, I had no idea where the whole "instant karma" thing had gone. The entire focus had shifted to Pru working at the rescue and realizing she was wrong about Quint.
Unfortunately, I didn't care. What's more, I had to stop reading because I literally COULDN'T STAND Pru. She kept making all these waspish little comments about things that revealed that not only was she not very smart, but she was also super judgy. Couldn't imagine that businesses might us practices that were not good for animals or the environment or that ecotourism might actually negatively impact the environment if not done correctly. I feel like kids like Pru aka kids at the top of the academic heap, know about climate change and are socially conscious. This character felt unbelievable and incredibly tone-deaf on the part of the author.It felt like the only one in need of karmic retribution for being a jerk was Prudence for being judgemental and shortsighted.
DNF at 50%.
It's been a WHILE since I've encountered a book that I physically couldn't finish, so I'm glad to know it can still happen!
Honestly there were lots that I didn't enjoy about this book, but overall, found Pru's behavior borderline abusive. While I enjoy a good "complicated-love-hate-questionable traits" character, there were BARELY any redeeming qualities about Pru. She's barely out of high school and has perfected the KAREN energy and I didn't need it in my life.
That said, I've noticed the disturbing rend of trend of non-POC YA novels featuring female characters who are abrasive, ignoring character's wants and needs, and Karen their way through life is a huge turn off.
Feminism is not being self-involved, narcissistic and overbearing for self success. Nor characters who exhibit these traits is a sign of a strong female character. There's a real difference between being strong-willed, and dominating to the point of steamrolling everyone who cares about out them.
The sad part for me is that I loved the conflict being around environmental justice-- I just disliked Prudence so damn much I couldn't be bothered to find out the resolutions.
This story was NOT for me and that's alright.
Notes on Audio Reader:
Rebecca Solar was probably the only reason I got through the 1/4 of the book I did. She really drew out the scenes and charm, and that was HARD work considering how uncharming Pru was. I look forward to listening to more of her work!
Honestly there were lots that I didn't enjoy about this book, but overall, found Pru's behavior borderline abusive. While I enjoy a good "complicated-love-hate-questionable traits" character, there were BARELY any redeeming qualities about Pru. She's barely out of high school and has perfected the KAREN energy and I didn't need it in my life.
That said, I've noticed the disturbing rend of trend of non-POC YA novels featuring female characters who are abrasive, ignoring character's wants and needs, and Karen their way through life is a huge turn off.
Feminism is not being self-involved, narcissistic and overbearing for self success. Nor characters who exhibit these traits is a sign of a strong female character. There's a real difference between being strong-willed, and dominating to the point of steamrolling everyone who cares about out them.
The sad part for me is that I loved the conflict being around environmental justice-- I just disliked Prudence so damn much I couldn't be bothered to find out the resolutions.
This story was NOT for me and that's alright.
Notes on Audio Reader:
Rebecca Solar was probably the only reason I got through the 1/4 of the book I did. She really drew out the scenes and charm, and that was HARD work considering how uncharming Pru was. I look forward to listening to more of her work!