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A review by h_rhiannona
Blue Moon by Alyson Noël
2.0
You know that moment when you read the first book in a series, think it's pretty mid, and then read the second book to find out the first book was a fluke and the series is actually the best series of all time?
Yeah, that is not what happened when I read this book. Honestly, it was even worse than the first, and the only reason I gave it 2 stars was because leaving only 1 felt mean. The characters are just one layer of the torture that was this book. Even overlooking the weird dynamic created by Damen being over 600 and Ever being 16, their relationship just doesn't work. There is no chemistry; they barely know each other, and now Damen is a cunt of the highest degree (not the gay slayful kind). While his actions are explained later in the book it leaves such a bad taste in my mouth and it's so annoying, I wish he just died. Don't even get me started on Ever's friends. They were already hot garbage in the first book, but in this book, I would rather commit suicide than sit at their lunch table. Miles was somewhat tolerable in the first book, but with the whole hypnosis situation happening in this book, I hate him just as much as I hate Haven. Do you know how annoying you have to be to make me hate you as much as I hate Haven? Unlike Miles, whose behavior actually has to do with the plot and is explained, Haven is just a bitch in general. She truly deserves to be punched in the face, and I am not going to even explain why because if I did, I think I would explode with rage. Then, in this book, Roman is introduced, and while he was annoying and didn't understand no means no, his worst crime had to be the british accent the author gave him. How am I supposed to take this man as a villain seriously when his dialogue read like teenagers on Twitter making fun of the brits for saying "it's chewsday innit." He didn't even have a compelling villain origin story. However, don't think Ever is getting out of this review unscathed. Normally, you want a main character to be likable, but I guess Alyson decided that it wasn't worth it. I swear through most of the book you just want to take Ever by the shoulders and shake her so hard her brain rattles and trust me her it would rattle because it is the size of a pea. I get she's 16 and let her psychic powers be her reasoning to never use critical thinking skills in class or otherwise, but there is only so much stupidity I can take. For one, Roman is right she does constantly trust total strangers, which is so concerning, but what is even worse is she TRUSTS THE VILLIAN. Riley, her dead 12 year old sister, had more rational thinking skills than Ever does. As for the rest of the characters, such as Ava, Stacia, Honor, Sabine, etc, they all suck but explaining why would take more time than I wish to spend.
The second layer on this shitty cake was the plot. The plot was so dumb that I don't even know how to critique it. I swear half the book was just people calling Ever a "sp*z" and the other half was her being force-fed information in Summerland. This is annoying because to start, ever getting into Summerland is crazy because she's been slacking off when training with Damen. So, what's the point of highlighting her need to train if she is just gifted with the ability to do things when the plot calls for it. That being said, as mentioned before, Ever has no rational thinking skills, so instead of actually thinking about her circumstances and the information that is more often than not gifted to her on a silver plater, she makes stupid decisions. Since she hardly ever has to do her own research and can just "manifest" answers she decides to do things in seconds where if she had to do her own investigtive work, the story would be so much more compelling. Moving away from Ever, the plot is also confusing because it hangs on the idea that Roman was able to poison Damen without him noticing, but Damen is supposed to be this super smart immortal so, how was it that easy? How is the plot supposed to be convincing when somehow only the stupidest character noticed the villain was acting weird as if one of his first actions wasn't sitting with the kids at the ourcast table?
The icing on the top of all this is at the end, Roman tricks Ever, making it so the whole book just feels like filler before the next one. It all just feels like you read the entire book, fighting through every annoying word, not to be rewarded. Sure, Damen was saved, but at what cost? I must be a masochist because I read a whole book just for it to be confirmed that the main couple would definitely break up after the entire series is over because they claim to be soulmates and eternal lovers but don't trust each other enough to not step in dogshit.
Overall, I would not recommend this to anyone. With every word, I could feel my brain slowly dying. I now see why millennials have so many issues cause if this is what they were stuck reading in their teenage years, life must have been hell.
Yeah, that is not what happened when I read this book. Honestly, it was even worse than the first, and the only reason I gave it 2 stars was because leaving only 1 felt mean. The characters are just one layer of the torture that was this book. Even overlooking the weird dynamic created by Damen being over 600 and Ever being 16, their relationship just doesn't work. There is no chemistry; they barely know each other, and now Damen is a cunt of the highest degree (not the gay slayful kind). While his actions are explained later in the book it leaves such a bad taste in my mouth and it's so annoying, I wish he just died. Don't even get me started on Ever's friends. They were already hot garbage in the first book, but in this book, I would rather commit suicide than sit at their lunch table. Miles was somewhat tolerable in the first book, but with the whole hypnosis situation happening in this book, I hate him just as much as I hate Haven. Do you know how annoying you have to be to make me hate you as much as I hate Haven? Unlike Miles, whose behavior actually has to do with the plot and is explained, Haven is just a bitch in general. She truly deserves to be punched in the face, and I am not going to even explain why because if I did, I think I would explode with rage. Then, in this book, Roman is introduced, and while he was annoying and didn't understand no means no, his worst crime had to be the british accent the author gave him. How am I supposed to take this man as a villain seriously when his dialogue read like teenagers on Twitter making fun of the brits for saying "it's chewsday innit." He didn't even have a compelling villain origin story. However, don't think Ever is getting out of this review unscathed. Normally, you want a main character to be likable, but I guess Alyson decided that it wasn't worth it. I swear through most of the book you just want to take Ever by the shoulders and shake her so hard her brain rattles and trust me her it would rattle because it is the size of a pea. I get she's 16 and let her psychic powers be her reasoning to never use critical thinking skills in class or otherwise, but there is only so much stupidity I can take. For one, Roman is right she does constantly trust total strangers, which is so concerning, but what is even worse is she TRUSTS THE VILLIAN. Riley, her dead 12 year old sister, had more rational thinking skills than Ever does. As for the rest of the characters, such as Ava, Stacia, Honor, Sabine, etc, they all suck but explaining why would take more time than I wish to spend.
The second layer on this shitty cake was the plot. The plot was so dumb that I don't even know how to critique it. I swear half the book was just people calling Ever a "sp*z" and the other half was her being force-fed information in Summerland. This is annoying because to start, ever getting into Summerland is crazy because she's been slacking off when training with Damen. So, what's the point of highlighting her need to train if she is just gifted with the ability to do things when the plot calls for it. That being said, as mentioned before, Ever has no rational thinking skills, so instead of actually thinking about her circumstances and the information that is more often than not gifted to her on a silver plater, she makes stupid decisions. Since she hardly ever has to do her own research and can just "manifest" answers she decides to do things in seconds where if she had to do her own investigtive work, the story would be so much more compelling. Moving away from Ever, the plot is also confusing because it hangs on the idea that Roman was able to poison Damen without him noticing, but Damen is supposed to be this super smart immortal so, how was it that easy? How is the plot supposed to be convincing when somehow only the stupidest character noticed the villain was acting weird as if one of his first actions wasn't sitting with the kids at the ourcast table?
The icing on the top of all this is at the end, Roman tricks Ever, making it so the whole book just feels like filler before the next one. It all just feels like you read the entire book, fighting through every annoying word, not to be rewarded. Sure, Damen was saved, but at what cost? I must be a masochist because I read a whole book just for it to be confirmed that the main couple would definitely break up after the entire series is over because they claim to be soulmates and eternal lovers but don't trust each other enough to not step in dogshit.
Overall, I would not recommend this to anyone. With every word, I could feel my brain slowly dying. I now see why millennials have so many issues cause if this is what they were stuck reading in their teenage years, life must have been hell.