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3.93 AVERAGE
3.93 AVERAGE
A cool concept and the writing flowed, but overall not original enough to keep my attention.
I’ve been on a Meg Cabot binge (I read all 12 Princess diaries books last week) and decided to finally give this a go (note: in the UK this book is called “Love You To Death” which I think is more fun than “Shadowland”).
This was fine. You could clearly see the Buffy inspiration, which makes sense considering it was published around the same time.
Unfortunately though I just didn’t really enjoy it. I found Suze kind of unlikable (and not in a fun way) and the side characters a little one dimensional.
Like, all of this bc a random girl at (that we didn’t even know) got broken up with? It felt a little melodramatic and I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop and more sinister and creepy stuff to happen, but it never did.
It’s all very rushed too. Suze is at the school for one single day and she’s proclaiming “this is MY school!” and gets voted in as class VP. It’s bizarrely paced.
Also there is some dated stuff in here, not least a character casually calling someone a homophobic slur (although he does get called out for it), and Suze “wondering about the sexual orientation” of Jesse bc he has a handkerchief with some lace on it…
Also I know the main romance is meant to be Suze / Jesse but I got zero buzz from them. They literally had 4 conversations (I think she had more conversations with her little step brother). I thought it was WEIRD that he called her “querida” (a term of endearment usually reserved for a loved one) given their limited interactions and I also thought it was odd that Suze kept wondering if Jesse was going to kiss her after knowing each other for like THREE DAYS TOTAL
Idk I feel like this read like a pilot for a tv show, which would be fun. But I’m not sure it’s interesting enough to make me want to read the rest of the series.
I probably would have loved this if I’d read it when I was a teen though!
This was fine. You could clearly see the Buffy inspiration, which makes sense considering it was published around the same time.
Unfortunately though I just didn’t really enjoy it. I found Suze kind of unlikable (and not in a fun way) and the side characters a little one dimensional.
Like, all of this bc a random girl at (that we didn’t even know) got broken up with? It felt a little melodramatic and I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop and more sinister and creepy stuff to happen, but it never did.
It’s all very rushed too. Suze is at the school for one single day and she’s proclaiming “this is MY school!” and gets voted in as class VP. It’s bizarrely paced.
Also there is some dated stuff in here, not least a character casually calling someone a homophobic slur (although he does get called out for it), and Suze “wondering about the sexual orientation” of Jesse bc he has a handkerchief with some lace on it…
Also I know the main romance is meant to be Suze / Jesse but I got zero buzz from them. They literally had 4 conversations (I think she had more conversations with her little step brother). I thought it was WEIRD that he called her “querida” (a term of endearment usually reserved for a loved one) given their limited interactions and I also thought it was odd that Suze kept wondering if Jesse was going to kiss her after knowing each other for like THREE DAYS TOTAL
Idk I feel like this read like a pilot for a tv show, which would be fun. But I’m not sure it’s interesting enough to make me want to read the rest of the series.
I probably would have loved this if I’d read it when I was a teen though!
dark
funny
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I really liked this book! It was a great read that wasn't too serious, which is what I wanted when I picked it up. All of the characters were fleshed out and I could connect to them pretty easily. I think my favorite character was David, AKA Doc. He just seemed so sweet and nice. It was pretty great how he cared about Suze from the beginning.
I was really happy that the author made it so that the two families blended together pretty well with a minimum of problems, too. I've never been in that situation before, so I don't know if that's how it usually works, but I did appreciate the happy ending familywise.
The only thing I didn't like about it was how the author sometimes wrote extremely long sentences with a lot of commas and em dashes. For example, on page 163, there is a sentence that says:
"Not that Gina would have thought I was crazy or anything, but she'd have told someone - you can't keep something like this secret unless it's happening to you - who'd have told someone else, and eventually somewhere along the line, I knew someone would have told my mother."
In my opinion, there are an absurd amount of commas and em dashes crammed into that sentence. There are quite a few others like that scattered throughout the book. It kept drawing me out of the book because I'd have to reread the sentence to make sure I understood it correctly. Other than that, I really enjoyed this book! I highly recommend it to anyone who likes paranormal books.
I was really happy that the author made it so that the two families blended together pretty well with a minimum of problems, too. I've never been in that situation before, so I don't know if that's how it usually works, but I did appreciate the happy ending familywise.
The only thing I didn't like about it was how the author sometimes wrote extremely long sentences with a lot of commas and em dashes. For example, on page 163, there is a sentence that says:
"Not that Gina would have thought I was crazy or anything, but she'd have told someone - you can't keep something like this secret unless it's happening to you - who'd have told someone else, and eventually somewhere along the line, I knew someone would have told my mother."
In my opinion, there are an absurd amount of commas and em dashes crammed into that sentence. There are quite a few others like that scattered throughout the book. It kept drawing me out of the book because I'd have to reread the sentence to make sure I understood it correctly. Other than that, I really enjoyed this book! I highly recommend it to anyone who likes paranormal books.
dark
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
This was one of my FAVORITE series as a tween and tbh, it holds up as an adult (outside of the very early 00s writing style). I still will never understand why Twilight got so much hype and got a movie but THIS NEVER DID! Jesse is a hot ghost cowboy with abs for gods sake, he is basically begging for a movie.
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I am so pleased that this mostly holds up over time!! Bringing back so much nostalgia, and still finding it hilarious!
This book was so easy for me to read. Also, I've determined Meg Cabot cannot possibly write a bad book, even if someone asked her to. Jesse keeps calling Suze querida. She ought to be pleased to know that that means mistress in Spanish. I think Jesse's pretty awesome with his Spanish lingo. I'm glad Heather's gone. She was a witch with a b. I kept getting all of Suze's stepbrothers mixed up. Father Dominic is pretty awesome for a priest. Not that there's anything wrong with priests... Suze likes her leather jacket. I have no problem with that. I myself own three leather jacket, a leather bag, and leather boots.
Ok...I need more! This book did a great job of sucking me in. On to the next one!