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3.75 AVERAGE
3.75 AVERAGE
Okay, so I really wanted to be delighted with the entirety of this book. The beginning was jaunty and fun, but the drama level rather suddenly escalated beyond my personal threshold of what’s enjoyable for light fiction. I appreciate a healthy level of drama and plot twists, but when it starts to encroach on soap opera, drama-for-the-sake-of-drama territory, I get weirdly anxious and restless and feel the urge to just step away. I did like the book overall, and thought the premise was interesting, but there came a point in the last quarter or so that I really had to force myself to push through to the end. I’m undecided about whether I’ll read the next installment or not.
I love books with royal romances and this book delivered just that - but at the same time, the book primarily focused on the feelings of these four girls. There's nothing wrong with that, I did watch the first season of Gossip Girl, but I could have used a bit more political drama as so many exciting and interesting things happen at court! Intrigues and scandals and drama and stuff that only Daphne provided in small amounts. I know that she's supposed to be a "villain" of some kind, but I sympathized with her the most and I understood why she acted the way she did.
Some of the scenes with Beatrice and her dad brought forth the tears - that was definitely something that made this book better. Also, the ending didn't really tie up a lot of loose strings, and it just... ended... instead of continuing (of course...) - but strangely, I don't mind? For some reason it fits the book...
I wouldn't recommend this book as a first choice ("The Thousandth Floor" is much better!), but it is definitely a book worth reading at some point.
Some of the scenes with Beatrice and her dad brought forth the tears - that was definitely something that made this book better. Also, the ending didn't really tie up a lot of loose strings, and it just... ended... instead of continuing (of course...) - but strangely, I don't mind? For some reason it fits the book...
I wouldn't recommend this book as a first choice ("The Thousandth Floor" is much better!), but it is definitely a book worth reading at some point.
A CM recommendation. Interesting concept America never became a democracy, but rather a monarchy. First half of the book I was pulled in and could not put it down. I was curious as to how the author was going to address some not so pretty parts of our history. They are only subtly addressed. I was also anticipating the bad things that were going to happen. Last quarter of the book was a bit frustrating but I kept reading because I wanted to know the resolution. Well, guess what? No resolution, you must continue to book two… Even though I am frustrated, I feel invested and want to know what is going to happen. Maybe I should jump to the last book of the series.
“Sam had long ago resolved that if she couldn't be beautiful, she should at the very least be interesting.”
This was not enjoyable then I thought it will be.
I feel like it had a great plotline and all but everything was just very dry.
I was honestly surprise that we got so many characters POV that we are following other then Beatrice.
But I guess it made sense that each character's life is very intertwine with each other.
I do love the different POV but I felt like each character romance line is very similar to each other.
Everyone likes someone they are not with, its forbidden and all that. It was not interesting.
The dialogue, narration was all running in circles just so we could continue the drama.
I do like Nina and Jeff and Beatrice and Conor.
If only there was a little bit more humour and banter in midst of all the drama that is going on.
“Real love comes from creating a family together, from facing life together -- with all its messes and surprises and joys.”
This was not enjoyable then I thought it will be.
I feel like it had a great plotline and all but everything was just very dry.
I was honestly surprise that we got so many characters POV that we are following other then Beatrice.
But I guess it made sense that each character's life is very intertwine with each other.
I do love the different POV but I felt like each character romance line is very similar to each other.
Everyone likes someone they are not with, its forbidden and all that. It was not interesting.
The dialogue, narration was all running in circles just so we could continue the drama.
I do like Nina and Jeff and Beatrice and Conor.
If only there was a little bit more humour and banter in midst of all the drama that is going on.
“Real love comes from creating a family together, from facing life together -- with all its messes and surprises and joys.”
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This definitely has a crazy rich Asians feel to it, but it is distinctly different. Everyone is in a love triangle, which is actually more like a love pyramid. A few things could be improved upon: the hinting at sex always disturbs me in novels that appeal to high schoolers, especially when there are under age characters. There was a lot of hinting at sex which actually did not turn out to be sex. So on one hand, it’s nice that the author did not make everyone totally sleezey, but at the same time, she leaves you with the impression of sex many times (for example, the author says a character caught another character in bed with another girl, but later we discover there was no sex). Lastly, daphne’s character had an editing flaw; we initially hear that she never drank alcohol because of the damage it could do to her image, and then later in the book we read a flashback how she does two things totally against her initial stance on drinking 1. She habitually put sparkling water in a margarita cup at parties (if she was so conscious about not appearing to drink, why would she parade around with a margarita cup?) 2. We find out she did get drunk before.
I did think of one other editing flaw, and I could be wrong: I swear Bea mentioned her parents were as young as she was in that moment of narration (so, 22ish) when she was born, so her parents should be 42ish. Later we hear the king is 50 or 55? Somewhere around that. I didn’t take time to go research, and I could just have taken my impressions and miscalculated.
I did think of one other editing flaw, and I could be wrong: I swear Bea mentioned her parents were as young as she was in that moment of narration (so, 22ish) when she was born, so her parents should be 42ish. Later we hear the king is 50 or 55? Somewhere around that. I didn’t take time to go research, and I could just have taken my impressions and miscalculated.
Interesting concept. A little underdeveloped though, pretty slow and way to many POVs. Hopefully book two picks up the pace a little bit because this series has the potential to be really fun.
I read this book slowly because I didn’t want it to end. It’s the perfect YA book in my opinion. I LOVED IT and can’t wait for the rest of the series! And I know this will become a movie.
Wow, I fell in love with this world and the drama of this world. From only a few chapters in all I could think about was how soon the sequel would come out and when this will be made into a movie. Couldn’t stop reading.