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Between the Lines by Tammara Webber
3.0
After reading Easy, I went for BTL because it had high ratings and I figured I would like it about as much. I didn’t, but it was still pretty good.
There is a Pride and Prejudice remake in the works (gag, right? Webber seems to agree with me/us) and aspiring actor Emma is cast as Lizbeth Bennet opposite superstar Reid Alexander’s Will Darcy. Her dad and stepmother have sort of propelled Emma down the fame path all her life and she isn’t sure what she really wants, just that it isn’t this. But she goes along with it, getting caught up in the drama of the teens and twenty-somethings who make up the cast. Naturally Reid has always had his pick of girls and he decides he wants to bag Emma. Meanwhile, the quiet, brooding guy playing Bill Collins may or may not like Emma, who definitely likes him but thinks he likes someone else so she goes along with Reid because she’s innocent and he’s pretty and flattering, and . . .
Yes, it’s been done, but it isn’t a bad book. It’s definitely not as powerful as Easy but there are some emotionally profound moments which I enjoyed. Webber has a way of describing the emotional impact of a look, a touch, an event, that makes me nod my head, all yes, that is totally what it’s like, preach it, sister! And some lines made my heart do a little twisty thing, like when Emma’s talking about her father near the end:
“The thought of leaving him next fall stings, though I’ve been coming and going for years. But it’s good. The sting tells me I’ll miss him and the way he looks at me now—like he hasn’t seen me in years, like he can’t get enough now that I’m here.”
But the characterization was lacking. I liked Emma’s best friend, Emily. Graham was intriguing. But Emma just didn’t click with me, and from all the reviews I’m starting to think I may be the only one in the world who doesn’t find Reid intriguing.
We shall see where the next book in the series, Where You Are, takes me.
There is a Pride and Prejudice remake in the works (gag, right? Webber seems to agree with me/us) and aspiring actor Emma is cast as Lizbeth Bennet opposite superstar Reid Alexander’s Will Darcy. Her dad and stepmother have sort of propelled Emma down the fame path all her life and she isn’t sure what she really wants, just that it isn’t this. But she goes along with it, getting caught up in the drama of the teens and twenty-somethings who make up the cast. Naturally Reid has always had his pick of girls and he decides he wants to bag Emma. Meanwhile, the quiet, brooding guy playing Bill Collins may or may not like Emma, who definitely likes him but thinks he likes someone else so she goes along with Reid because she’s innocent and he’s pretty and flattering, and . . .
Yes, it’s been done, but it isn’t a bad book. It’s definitely not as powerful as Easy but there are some emotionally profound moments which I enjoyed. Webber has a way of describing the emotional impact of a look, a touch, an event, that makes me nod my head, all yes, that is totally what it’s like, preach it, sister! And some lines made my heart do a little twisty thing, like when Emma’s talking about her father near the end:
“The thought of leaving him next fall stings, though I’ve been coming and going for years. But it’s good. The sting tells me I’ll miss him and the way he looks at me now—like he hasn’t seen me in years, like he can’t get enough now that I’m here.”
But the characterization was lacking. I liked Emma’s best friend, Emily. Graham was intriguing. But Emma just didn’t click with me, and from all the reviews I’m starting to think I may be the only one in the world who doesn’t find Reid intriguing.
We shall see where the next book in the series, Where You Are, takes me.
Opal by Jennifer L. Armentrout
3.0
3.5 stars
Someone needs to let Jennifer Armentrout know she has a whole bunch of copies of Opal out in the world that are missing the last few hundred pages because there is NO WAY that was the ending and I have to wait until next July to find out what happens next. Because that would be just cruel, and she doesn’t seem like that sort of person. Look how nice she looks on her author page! That is not the face of a sadist.
I feel like I’ve been waiting for Opal forever, but in actuality it’s only been about a month. And it’s hard to write a review of this book because I want to fangirl out about it forever and I can’t do that, because spoilers. So here is just a short list of what I liked.
- There is more Dee in this one than in Onyx. After the events of the last installment, her relationship with Katy has been irrevocably changed, and her personality seems to have been as well. The Dee in Opal is a harder, pricklier Dee than in the previous two books, and of course that is understandable. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t hard to watch. Even when she’s being outright bitchy, I want to hug her and tell her it will get easier.
- Daemon and Katy are together, but they still argue. Normal couples—especially teenagers—are going to argue between all the cuddling and sexy times. That is the way the world works. Daemon and Katy are romantic with each other, they have fun and do laid-back things between all their planning to save the world, but they still fight. However, the fights have reached a more mature level where they actually discuss the issues and their feelings and come to a mutually agreeable solution. I just think this is the best, especially when compared to all the unequal relationships going down in popular series these days.
In fact, they are both just so got-dam reasonable overall. She doesn’t completely freak out when he doesn’t say “I love you” back because she understands everything he’s gone through makes that difficult. They respect and value each other’s opinions and feelings. No one plays mind games with anyone else. I don’t know if it’s all the near-death experiences or some kind of alien superpower, but they are actually Young Adults and it’s pretty awesome.
- The sexual tension is still realistic and through the roof. Despite all the unintentional cockblocking on the part of the other characters, Katy and Daemon manage to do... couple-y things, which Armentrout writes about realistically (we are dealing with older teens, after all) and with just the right amount of details to keep it classy and make me fan myself all at once. And, unsurprisingly, we see that Daemon is talented in this area:
PHWOAR.
- The ending. I have a love/hate relationship with this ending. I expected aspects of it but was also completely thrown by one element because I genuinely thought Daemon’s and Katy’s roles would be reversed in that scenario. I did this:
And then this:
And as angry as I was at first, I understand now. I do. The book’s heavy focus on Katy and Daemon’s relationship rather than on action was necessary; we need to know they can withstand anything that comes in the next two books, and after seeing how they interact with each other and with those around them, I believe they can.
Despite everything I loved about it, Opal felt like more of an in-betweener than its own book in the series, almost entirely meant as a vehicle to transition between one major event and the next. I felt like Obsidian and Onyx had more capability to stand on their own story-wise, whereas Opal really needs that next installment. There was no real “holy crap, I need mooooore!” moment for me until the end. So I docked it a half a star.
If the Mayans were right and the world ends before I get to finish this series...
Someone needs to let Jennifer Armentrout know she has a whole bunch of copies of Opal out in the world that are missing the last few hundred pages because there is NO WAY that was the ending and I have to wait until next July to find out what happens next. Because that would be just cruel, and she doesn’t seem like that sort of person. Look how nice she looks on her author page! That is not the face of a sadist.
I feel like I’ve been waiting for Opal forever, but in actuality it’s only been about a month. And it’s hard to write a review of this book because I want to fangirl out about it forever and I can’t do that, because spoilers. So here is just a short list of what I liked.
- There is more Dee in this one than in Onyx. After the events of the last installment, her relationship with Katy has been irrevocably changed, and her personality seems to have been as well. The Dee in Opal is a harder, pricklier Dee than in the previous two books, and of course that is understandable. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t hard to watch. Even when she’s being outright bitchy, I want to hug her and tell her it will get easier.
- Daemon and Katy are together, but they still argue. Normal couples—especially teenagers—are going to argue between all the cuddling and sexy times. That is the way the world works. Daemon and Katy are romantic with each other, they have fun and do laid-back things between all their planning to save the world, but they still fight. However, the fights have reached a more mature level where they actually discuss the issues and their feelings and come to a mutually agreeable solution. I just think this is the best, especially when compared to all the unequal relationships going down in popular series these days.
In fact, they are both just so got-dam reasonable overall. She doesn’t completely freak out when he doesn’t say “I love you” back because she understands everything he’s gone through makes that difficult. They respect and value each other’s opinions and feelings. No one plays mind games with anyone else. I don’t know if it’s all the near-death experiences or some kind of alien superpower, but they are actually Young Adults and it’s pretty awesome.
- The sexual tension is still realistic and through the roof. Despite all the unintentional cockblocking on the part of the other characters, Katy and Daemon manage to do... couple-y things, which Armentrout writes about realistically (we are dealing with older teens, after all) and with just the right amount of details to keep it classy and make me fan myself all at once. And, unsurprisingly, we see that Daemon is talented in this area:
“And then there was nothing separating his hands from my skin or his lips and I stopped thinking, wasn’t capable of forming any coherent thought. There was just him and the crazy rush of sensations he pulled forth, drew from me like an artist rendering some kind of masterpiece. Then I wasn’t even me anymore, because my body couldn’t shake that much.”
PHWOAR.
- The ending. I have a love/hate relationship with this ending. I expected aspects of it but was also completely thrown by one element because I genuinely thought Daemon’s and Katy’s roles would be reversed in that scenario. I did this:
And then this:
And as angry as I was at first, I understand now. I do. The book’s heavy focus on Katy and Daemon’s relationship rather than on action was necessary; we need to know they can withstand anything that comes in the next two books, and after seeing how they interact with each other and with those around them, I believe they can.
Despite everything I loved about it, Opal felt like more of an in-betweener than its own book in the series, almost entirely meant as a vehicle to transition between one major event and the next. I felt like Obsidian and Onyx had more capability to stand on their own story-wise, whereas Opal really needs that next installment. There was no real “holy crap, I need mooooore!” moment for me until the end. So I docked it a half a star.
If the Mayans were right and the world ends before I get to finish this series...
Real Live Boyfriends: Yes. Boyfriends, Plural. If My Life Weren't Complicated, I Wouldn't Be Ruby Oliver by E. Lockhart
4.0
Ruby finally won me over, guys. I don’t know if it was the fact Roo finally got a grip and smartened up a bit, or if it was because I was sick and vulnerable, or a combination thereof—but Real Live Boyfriends did it for me.
In this, the final installment of the Ruby Oliver series, Roo thinks she has it all figured out. She is dating Noel, and he is behaving like a Real Live Boyfriend. He doesn’t magically fix everything that’s wrong in Ruby’s life, but they are together and they are happy—and Ruby is back to her old my-man-is-my-universe ways. Then Noel goes to New York for a month and comes back as a pod-robot lobotomy patient. In addition to that, Hutch is in Paris playing baguette air guitar, Gideon is back in town, and Ruby has to get her college applications in order, do Reginald, deal with her insane parents and her grandmother’s death, sort out all her friendship issues, hold down a job, and go to therapy. What’s a girl to do?
Well, if you’re Ruby Oliver you might regress. You might flirt with a whole bunch of other boys instead of making an effort with your Real Live Boyfriend. You might think all is lost. You might really upset me for a hundred pages or so before you finally start to wise up and make me proud, opening yourself up to new people and experiences and making attempts to communicate and be yourself. Yay, Ruby!
This book hit me right in the feels a few times. The moment Ruby finds out what happened to Noel and her subsequent interactions with him had me all sniffly (and not just because I had the flu). Roo’s goal is to go into filmmaking, so parts of the book are actually manuscripts of the film interviews she does of her family and friends on the topics of love, friendship, and popularity. At one point near the end, when Roo is particularly down about Noel, this happens:
Meghan pushed her chocolate cheesecake across the table to me. I hadn’t gotten paid yet for November, so I had only ordered coffee. “Here,” she said.
“Don’t you want it?”
“Sure I want it. I ordered it. But I’m giving it to you.”
“Why?”
Meghan stood up and got me a fork. “Remember what Nora said about love? In your movie?”
“Love is when you have a really amazing piece of cake, and it’s the very last piece, but you let him have it.”
“So it’s really amazing cake,” said Meghan. “And I want you to have it.”
Guys!! Friendship!!!
I’m not sure what it is about Ruby Oliver that’s so endearing. She is neurotic, self-deprecating, immature, boy-crazy, and occasionally very similar to Mia Thermopolis or Georgia Nicolson (sometimes in a way that is less comforting and hilarious and more whoa, does this count as copyright infringement?). Maybe it is the way we are sistahs in panic attacks and compulsive list-making. Or maybe it is the way she is so zany and resilient. Possibly it’s how good she is with goats who are named after serial killers.
Whatever it is, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this series and I thought this was a great ending to it. These books just got bumped onto my Favorite Series shelf. Also—and most importantly—I am in love with Noel.
In this, the final installment of the Ruby Oliver series, Roo thinks she has it all figured out. She is dating Noel, and he is behaving like a Real Live Boyfriend. He doesn’t magically fix everything that’s wrong in Ruby’s life, but they are together and they are happy—and Ruby is back to her old my-man-is-my-universe ways. Then Noel goes to New York for a month and comes back as a pod-robot lobotomy patient. In addition to that, Hutch is in Paris playing baguette air guitar, Gideon is back in town, and Ruby has to get her college applications in order, do Reginald, deal with her insane parents and her grandmother’s death, sort out all her friendship issues, hold down a job, and go to therapy. What’s a girl to do?
Well, if you’re Ruby Oliver you might regress. You might flirt with a whole bunch of other boys instead of making an effort with your Real Live Boyfriend. You might think all is lost. You might really upset me for a hundred pages or so before you finally start to wise up and make me proud, opening yourself up to new people and experiences and making attempts to communicate and be yourself. Yay, Ruby!
This book hit me right in the feels a few times. The moment Ruby finds out what happened to Noel and her subsequent interactions with him had me all sniffly (and not just because I had the flu). Roo’s goal is to go into filmmaking, so parts of the book are actually manuscripts of the film interviews she does of her family and friends on the topics of love, friendship, and popularity. At one point near the end, when Roo is particularly down about Noel, this happens:
Meghan pushed her chocolate cheesecake across the table to me. I hadn’t gotten paid yet for November, so I had only ordered coffee. “Here,” she said.
“Don’t you want it?”
“Sure I want it. I ordered it. But I’m giving it to you.”
“Why?”
Meghan stood up and got me a fork. “Remember what Nora said about love? In your movie?”
“Love is when you have a really amazing piece of cake, and it’s the very last piece, but you let him have it.”
“So it’s really amazing cake,” said Meghan. “And I want you to have it.”
Guys!! Friendship!!!
I’m not sure what it is about Ruby Oliver that’s so endearing. She is neurotic, self-deprecating, immature, boy-crazy, and occasionally very similar to Mia Thermopolis or Georgia Nicolson (sometimes in a way that is less comforting and hilarious and more whoa, does this count as copyright infringement?). Maybe it is the way we are sistahs in panic attacks and compulsive list-making. Or maybe it is the way she is so zany and resilient. Possibly it’s how good she is with goats who are named after serial killers.
Whatever it is, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this series and I thought this was a great ending to it. These books just got bumped onto my Favorite Series shelf. Also—and most importantly—I am in love with Noel.
Onyx by Jennifer L. Armentrout
4.0
4.5 stars
I’ve been counting down the days to Opal for almost a month. We’re down to two weeks!
I love this series. I want to have a slumber party with it. We’ll stay up late, braiding each other’s hair and playing Electronic Dream Phone and eating popcorn and a pint of Ben & Jerry’s each, and then when we’re too sick to eat any more we’ll sit in our sleeping bags and talk about the important topics of the day, like which member of One Direction is the cutest (Harry, of course). We’ll try to stay up all night but around 4 a.m. we’ll fall asleep, because I can’t stay up later than that. I’m old.
There’s so much action in this book and it’s difficult for me to write a review without spoilers. Basically, after saving her life in Obsidian Daemon has somehow linked himself to Katy. He’s upped the flirting, even doing it in public, and Kat’s resisting, sure that the only reason he’s into her is because of the weird alien link. Then a new guy, Blake, shows up in one of Kat’s classes and they just have so much in common and he wants to get to know her better... much better... at which point I went, “NO! NO LOVE TRIANGLES! NOOO!”
Fortunately, it wasn’t a love triangle. Unfortunately, the DOD is sniffing around and putting a real damper on things, Blake is More Than He Seems, and shit’s about to get real, yo—right after it hits the fan.
There were lines that made me laugh:
And there were lines that made me sniffle:
And parts—well, part, honestly—that made me do this:
I’m not really sure what has me so hooked on this PNR series when most others trigger my gag reflex. Maybe it’s because I haven’t read many (read: any) alien romances before. Maybe it’s because this one doesn’t fall into the typical trap most “essentially parentless girl meets weird boy and he pushes her away at first but then they’re sofa king in love” stories seem to, where the guy ends up being the girl’s entire world within twenty pages and he’s always saving her from some mishap or another (I’m looking at you, Bella). Kat and Daemon’s relationship seems more equal to me, and I like that. She has a personality when she’s on her own; she has interests and friends outside Daemon and Dee.
And they make out a lot. And I like that.
Anyway, here’s a picture of Harry Styles wearing cat ears:
I’ve been counting down the days to Opal for almost a month. We’re down to two weeks!
I love this series. I want to have a slumber party with it. We’ll stay up late, braiding each other’s hair and playing Electronic Dream Phone and eating popcorn and a pint of Ben & Jerry’s each, and then when we’re too sick to eat any more we’ll sit in our sleeping bags and talk about the important topics of the day, like which member of One Direction is the cutest (Harry, of course). We’ll try to stay up all night but around 4 a.m. we’ll fall asleep, because I can’t stay up later than that. I’m old.
There’s so much action in this book and it’s difficult for me to write a review without spoilers. Basically, after saving her life in Obsidian Daemon has somehow linked himself to Katy. He’s upped the flirting, even doing it in public, and Kat’s resisting, sure that the only reason he’s into her is because of the weird alien link. Then a new guy, Blake, shows up in one of Kat’s classes and they just have so much in common and he wants to get to know her better... much better... at which point I went, “NO! NO LOVE TRIANGLES! NOOO!”
Fortunately, it wasn’t a love triangle. Unfortunately, the DOD is sniffing around and putting a real damper on things, Blake is More Than He Seems, and shit’s about to get real, yo—right after it hits the fan.
There were lines that made me laugh:
“Meet me in the library at lunch. No one really goes in there. You know, with all those books and stuff.”
And there were lines that made me sniffle:
His throat worked slowly. “Can I . . .?” There was a pause and my heart stuttered. “Can I just hold you? That’s all . . . that’s all I want.”
And parts—well, part, honestly—that made me do this:
I’m not really sure what has me so hooked on this PNR series when most others trigger my gag reflex. Maybe it’s because I haven’t read many (read: any) alien romances before. Maybe it’s because this one doesn’t fall into the typical trap most “essentially parentless girl meets weird boy and he pushes her away at first but then they’re sofa king in love” stories seem to, where the guy ends up being the girl’s entire world within twenty pages and he’s always saving her from some mishap or another (I’m looking at you, Bella). Kat and Daemon’s relationship seems more equal to me, and I like that. She has a personality when she’s on her own; she has interests and friends outside Daemon and Dee.
And they make out a lot. And I like that.
Anyway, here’s a picture of Harry Styles wearing cat ears:
Wait for You by Jennifer L. Armentrout
3.0
2.5 stars
Sometimes I read a book, and when I finish it my only reaction is, “Well. That was a book.”
I really, really love Jennifer Armentrout’s Lux series. Like, more than is probably healthy. I have the first book in her Covenant series sitting on my bookshelf, and I’ve read one of her novels written as J. Lynn and thought that it was pretty good. So when I found out she was putting out Wait for You (and early, no less!), I was all grabby hands and squawking “Mine! Mine!”
It was a quick read and it had some of Armentrout’s trademark witty banter between the MCs and their friends that I so love. But there were parts of the story that I felt could’ve been explored more; for example, what about meeting Avery made Cam want to give up on his years of womanizing? Just that she’s pretty? That can’t be it. There were also quite a few typos, which is not a big deal to me most of the time with indie publications but I have never encountered this many in any of Armentrout’s books, and it only lent to the impression that it was rushed out—not just the story but the whole publishing process. Quick, quick! Get it on the e-shelves! I would’ve been more than willing to wait for the slightly later release date if it meant getting a book with a more polished plot and feel.
While I was reading I kept drawing similarities between this and Easy, and of the two I have to say Easy comes out stronger. The characters—down to the gay male buddies—were more fleshed out. The logic behind how the MCs worked was better explained. The strained parental relationships felt less contrived. The issue of rape and its aftermath was handled in a more powerful way, from victim blaming to healing.
This was a book I wanted to like. I did not want to finish it and say, “Well. That was a book.” But I met it mostly with indifference. And now I am sad. Please don’t hate me, Ms. Armentrout! I tried, I did!
As for genres, I’m not sure what this book was supposed to be. Is it “new adult” or regular “adult”? I’m just categorizing it as contemporary romance and leaving it at that.
Sometimes I read a book, and when I finish it my only reaction is, “Well. That was a book.”
I really, really love Jennifer Armentrout’s Lux series. Like, more than is probably healthy. I have the first book in her Covenant series sitting on my bookshelf, and I’ve read one of her novels written as J. Lynn and thought that it was pretty good. So when I found out she was putting out Wait for You (and early, no less!), I was all grabby hands and squawking “Mine! Mine!”
It was a quick read and it had some of Armentrout’s trademark witty banter between the MCs and their friends that I so love. But there were parts of the story that I felt could’ve been explored more; for example, what about meeting Avery made Cam want to give up on his years of womanizing? Just that she’s pretty? That can’t be it. There were also quite a few typos, which is not a big deal to me most of the time with indie publications but I have never encountered this many in any of Armentrout’s books, and it only lent to the impression that it was rushed out—not just the story but the whole publishing process. Quick, quick! Get it on the e-shelves! I would’ve been more than willing to wait for the slightly later release date if it meant getting a book with a more polished plot and feel.
While I was reading I kept drawing similarities between this and Easy, and of the two I have to say Easy comes out stronger. The characters—down to the gay male buddies—were more fleshed out. The logic behind how the MCs worked was better explained. The strained parental relationships felt less contrived. The issue of rape and its aftermath was handled in a more powerful way, from victim blaming to healing.
This was a book I wanted to like. I did not want to finish it and say, “Well. That was a book.” But I met it mostly with indifference. And now I am sad. Please don’t hate me, Ms. Armentrout! I tried, I did!
As for genres, I’m not sure what this book was supposed to be. Is it “new adult” or regular “adult”? I’m just categorizing it as contemporary romance and leaving it at that.
Uma Vez by Anna Carey
2.0
2.5 stars
I don’t have very much to say about Once, just as I didn’t have very much to say about Eve. There is a plot twist that I honestly didn’t see coming, except it happens within the first 100 pages and then there’s just a lot of... filler, I guess?... until the next Big Thing happens, which is in the last 50 pages. The stuff in between is largely descriptions of the City of Sand (which is well-done, I must say; I can easily picture a dystopic Vegas being rebuilt by slave labor, the people inside oblivious to the outside world) and, nausteatingly/interestingly, quite a bit about what happened to the graduates after they left the School. There’s also a lot of the Eve/Caleb pairing, which still doesn’t make any sense to me. The insta-love happened in Eve and in Once it is still going strong, with no discernible reason why they’d like each other. (I also still don’t understand how she quickly became so comfortable around men. She’s certainly past all of that now!) There are some revelations about Eve’s past and more is revealed about her mother, but nothing really explosive outside of First 100 and Last 50.
The protagonists seem to be the Achilles heel of this series. Carey does an incredible job describing Eve’s world and her secondary and tertiary characters—Arden, Beatrice, the nice couple from Eve, the dugout boys—are all well-written and sympathetic even if they are being inhumanly dumb. But Eve seems flat to me (though more bearable and interesting in this installment), and Caleb? It was like he was a completely different character from the Caleb in Eve—reckless, practically dancing in front of the palace despite being wanted like Bon Jovi—and I don’t get why.
I’m not sure what it is about this series. For the most part the books strike me as lackluster and sometimes I feel like I am really working to get through them, but then there are moments where I find myself sucked in and wanting more. And they keep ending with cliffhangers that actually leave me interested in what happens next. So yes, I will read Rise. I ate some of my words with Once; maybe I will eat more of them reading the final book in the trilogy.
I don’t have very much to say about Once, just as I didn’t have very much to say about Eve. There is a plot twist that I honestly didn’t see coming, except it happens within the first 100 pages and then there’s just a lot of... filler, I guess?... until the next Big Thing happens, which is in the last 50 pages. The stuff in between is largely descriptions of the City of Sand (which is well-done, I must say; I can easily picture a dystopic Vegas being rebuilt by slave labor, the people inside oblivious to the outside world) and, nausteatingly/interestingly, quite a bit about what happened to the graduates after they left the School. There’s also a lot of the Eve/Caleb pairing, which still doesn’t make any sense to me. The insta-love happened in Eve and in Once it is still going strong, with no discernible reason why they’d like each other. (I also still don’t understand how she quickly became so comfortable around men. She’s certainly past all of that now!) There are some revelations about Eve’s past and more is revealed about her mother, but nothing really explosive outside of First 100 and Last 50.
The protagonists seem to be the Achilles heel of this series. Carey does an incredible job describing Eve’s world and her secondary and tertiary characters—Arden, Beatrice, the nice couple from Eve, the dugout boys—are all well-written and sympathetic even if they are being inhumanly dumb. But Eve seems flat to me (though more bearable and interesting in this installment), and Caleb? It was like he was a completely different character from the Caleb in Eve—reckless, practically dancing in front of the palace despite being wanted like Bon Jovi—and I don’t get why.
I’m not sure what it is about this series. For the most part the books strike me as lackluster and sometimes I feel like I am really working to get through them, but then there are moments where I find myself sucked in and wanting more. And they keep ending with cliffhangers that actually leave me interested in what happens next. So yes, I will read Rise. I ate some of my words with Once; maybe I will eat more of them reading the final book in the trilogy.
Rise by Anna Carey
3.0
I have not been a fan of the Eve trilogy, but something about Anna Carey’s writing (and all the cliffhangers) kept making me come back. Rise is the final book in the series and definitely the strongest, though I imagine it will eventually be as forgettable to me as the first installments. I don’t want to spoil the first two books for any potential readers, so let’s just say that the revolution really begins in this one and that Eve must play a very important role in it.
Looking back at my review of Once, it seems my biggest beef with that book was the lack of good characterization. Eve is still a boring character to me; I feel more like I’m reading a third-person narrative about a revolution rather than first-person account of a revolutionary MC who is describing her life-threatening journey through a dystopic America. I still couldn’t connect with her; she is definitely a stronger, more sympathetic character than she was in Eve, but there is just this persistent disconnect between us. Once again, the secondary and tertiary characters were more interesting to me, and it frustrated me that I never knew for sure what happened to Clara, Beatrice, the girls from the Schools, the dugout boys, etc., and that Eve could just be all, “I still don’t know what happened to them, oh well” about it.
Also—and this is really a spoiler, so be careful with the clicking—what is the DEAL with all thebabies in YA lately?? I know I’m getting all Jerry Seinfeld up in this piece, but I just don’t get it. At what point did a surprise pregnancy become a mandatory plot point? Not that it was very surprising; after the airplane hangar scene in Once I could see it coming from a mile away (and I am very ridiculously nearsighted). Nothing I write has a surprise pregnancy in it. Am I doing it wrong?
My final complaint is that, much like Lauren Oliver’s Requiem, Rise seems to subscribe to the “Closure? What Closure?” school of thought. It seems you don’t have to actually write an ending for anything these days; you can just stop writing, kind of like
Looking back at my review of Once, it seems my biggest beef with that book was the lack of good characterization. Eve is still a boring character to me; I feel more like I’m reading a third-person narrative about a revolution rather than first-person account of a revolutionary MC who is describing her life-threatening journey through a dystopic America. I still couldn’t connect with her; she is definitely a stronger, more sympathetic character than she was in Eve, but there is just this persistent disconnect between us. Once again, the secondary and tertiary characters were more interesting to me, and it frustrated me that I never knew for sure what happened to Clara, Beatrice, the girls from the Schools, the dugout boys, etc., and that Eve could just be all, “I still don’t know what happened to them, oh well” about it.
Also—and this is really a spoiler, so be careful with the clicking—what is the DEAL with all the
My final complaint is that, much like Lauren Oliver’s Requiem, Rise seems to subscribe to the “Closure? What Closure?” school of thought. It seems you don’t have to actually write an ending for anything these days; you can just stop writing, kind of like