As She Fades | Book Review

As She Fades

Written by: Abbi Glines
Number of Pages: 270

Average Rating: 3.70 / 5 stars
My Rating: 2.5 / 5 stars

Published: April 3, 2018
Read in July 2018


Summary According to Goodreads

On the night of her high school graduation, Vale McKinley and her boyfriend Crawford are in a terrible car accident that leaves Crawford in a coma. They were supposed to spend the summer planning for college, for a bright future full of possibility. Together. Instead, Vale spends long days in the hospital, hoping Crawford will awaken.

Slate Allen, a college friend of Vale's brother, has been visiting his dying uncle at the same hospital. When he and Vale meet, she can't deny the flutter of an illicit attraction. She tries to ignore her feelings, but she's not immune to Slate's charm. Slowly, they form a cautious friendship.

Then, Crawford wakes up... with no memory of Vale or their relationship. Heartbroken, Vale opts to leave for college and move on with her life. Except now, she's in Slate's territory, and their story is about to take a very strange turn. 


My Thoughts

I have had some fair success with Abbi Glines in the past, so this one quickly made its way onto my list of anticipated releases. However, I was quite disappointed with this story as it was different than the synopsis leads you to believe. 

This novel is split into two parts, and without spoiling anything, I will say that I hated that she did that. It was almost as if she wanted to write two novellas and finish neither of them. I loved the first part of the story, although it took me a while to get into. Our main character Vale was nothing special, but I was intrigued by Slate (the love interest) and Know (her brother). The second part of this book was just a huge disappointment, and I would rather have seen the first part continued. If I am being completely honest, I skimmed the last half of the second part because my frustration made me too detached from the plot. 

As with all of her novels, this was a basic YA/NA contemporary that was a very quick read. In a contemporary novel, I expect the characters to carry the story - but too many of them were flat for that to happen. As I mentioned earlier Vale was fairly typical - blonde haired, blue eyed, girl everyone wants to be friends with - and I was more interested in her family than I was in her. Everything came easy to her, but she was unnecessarily dramatic. 

Also unnecessary? The excessive slut-shaming. The love interest Slate was a pretty typical "bad boy" player, but showed at least some growth. Ironically, I cared more about how Slate was feeling and what he was going through than I did about Vale. 

Overall, this novel was very disappointing and I regret having pre-ordered it. If the synopsis caught your attention as it did mine, ignore it, because it is very misleading to what actually happens. I don't know if it was just ignorance or deception, but it was very inaccurate. I would recommend this if you don't have any other contemporaries to read this summer - quick read, but not completely worth it. 

My 7in7 Readathon TBR

Hi!

So I'm about nine books behind on my Goodreads challenge for 2018, so I decided that I would participate in this readathon! I adore readathons (as you'd know since I co-host my own monthly) and thought this would be the perfect opportunity to start catching up!

The main purpose of this readathon is to read seven things in seven days. This can include newspapers, magazines, graphic novels, anthologies, or whatever else floats your boat. It is all about reading! 7in7 starts at midnight tomorrow (Monday July 23rd) and runs until Sunday night at midnight for whatever time zone you are in. 

My reading has been all over the place lately, but there are a ton of things I want to get to, so I'm not 100% sure I'll complete all of the challenges, but I will do my best. 


THE CHALLENGES

1. Read seven things

     - Scarlet Angel by S.T. Abby

2. Read a book with yellow on the cover and/or spine

     - Prep School Confidential by Kara Taylor

3. Read something outside of your comfort zone


     - Summer of Salt by Katrina Leno

4. Read a book that starts with your first initial

     - Keep Holding On by Susane Colasanti

5. Read something outside OR read something that takes place outside

     - The Red Pencil by Andrea Davis Pinkney

6. Pick a book based on your favourite food/drink

     - Not a Drop to Drink by Mindy McGinnis

7. Read something that takes place in your home (country or city) or by an author from your home (country or city)

     - The Masked Truth by Kelley Armstrong

The Risk | Book Review

The Risk

Written by: S.T. Abby
Number of Pages: 107 (ebook)

Average Rating: 4.56 / 5 stars
My Rating: 5 / 5 stars

Published: December 1, 2016
Read in July 2018


Summary According to Goodreads

They took too much. Left too little. I had nothing to lose...until him. 

Ten years ago, they took from me. They left me for dead. They should have made sure I stayed dead. 

Now I'm taking from them, one name at a time. I've trained for too long, I've been patient. I can't stop now. 

Revenge is best served cold. 


My Thoughts

"I'm just the typical American woman. Or is it the typical American psycho?"

I downloaded this ebook a few years ago when it was free on Kindle because I loved the idea of having a huge ebook library, but BOY am I glad I gave this a chance because it is on my list of favourite books of 2018. 

I am not usually a big fan of sexy romance, but this one was actually more tame than the cover led me to believe it would be. I will warn that this novel does contain some sexual scenes sand some gory descriptions, but if you are fine with those kinds of things I would recommend checking out this series.

This was such an addicting story, and the dual perspectives added so much more dimension to the plot. I think I loved this so much because it was like an adult version of my favourite series, The Naturals. Our main character Lana is getting revenge on a group of people that tortured her and left her for dead, laying low on the radar of suspects. For the first time since her attack ten years ago, she is starting to develop feelings for a man named Logan, only to discover that he is the lead investigator for the serial murders she is committing. I could not stop turning the pages on this one, and was constantly on the edge of my seat!

Overall, if you are looking for an intense quick read - please consider this one!

Time Bomb | Book Review

Time Bomb

Written by: Joelle Charbonneau
Number of Pages: 352

Average Rating: 3.66 / 5 stars
My Rating: 3 / 5 stars

Published: March 13, 2018
Read in July 2018


Summary According to Goodreads

A congressman's daughter who has to be perfect. A star quarterback with a secret. A guy who's tired of being ignored. A clarinet player who's done trying to fit in. An orphaned rebel who wants to teach someone a lesson. A guy who wants people to see him, not his religion. 

They couldn't be more different, but before the morning's over, they'll all be trapped in a school that's been rocked by a bombing. When they hear that someone inside is the bomber, they'll also be looking to one another for answers. 


My Thoughts

This novel was one of my most anticipated releases of 2018, but I was quite disappointed - maybe I hyped myself up for it too much. In terms of  the plot and characters I would say that this novel rates at more of a two star, but because it was such a quick read I had to bump it up. 

Joelle Charbonneau is most well-known in the YA community for her "Testing" trilogy, but I am one of the few who haven't read those books. I enjoyed her writing style in this novel and found it to read very quickly, however I didn't like the way that she told the story. It felt very flat, and I never felt any rushes of adrenaline or anxiety wondering if any of them weren't going to make it out. While reading this novel I also had a fairly strong idea who the bomber was, and was not at all surprised by the ending. I think that it was because we read from all five of their perspectives that we didn't get that suspicious thrill, and instead I think having a single perspective would have made the reveal more shocking. 

In novels such as this it is so important to have strong, developed, and distinct characters - which this one didn't. I felt disconnected from them all, and was more annoyed by how generic and cliché it all was. Each of these five characters was a walking stereotype, a couple of them were irrelevant to the development of the plot, and none of them displayed any type of complexity.

Overall, I appreciate the author's attempt at writing about a controversial and important subject, but this fell too flat for me. As I said earlier, I was not surprised by the reveal of the bomber, but am still confused as to their motivations. The ending was just a quick info-dump to get it over with, but there were some aspects that don't add up for me.

Books I DNF'd in 2018 | Part One

Books I DNF’d: 2018

We are officially halfway through the year, and looking back on my reading of these past six months I've realized there are quite a few books I've given up on! Today I'm going to share with you what those books were and why I gave up on them, but of course I mean no offence if these are some of your favourites. 


January:

• Wonderland by Stacey Derasmo

     - Read 46 pages 
     - The writing style did not mesh well with me, it felt too forced and too heavy. 
     - The plot wasn’t something I usually read, and although I’d like to branch out more this wasn’t the one for me. It was boring and I couldn’t see where the plot would go. 




February:

• Dead Men Walking by Christopher Berry-Dee

     - Read 40 pages / 5 cases
     - I find true crime novels to be fascinating, but I just didn’t care for the authors commentary that came with the background on the cases. I was interested more in what these people did to land them on death row, and not the authors personal opinions on them. 
     - I am going to hold onto my copy as I do think this is something I will pick up again sometime. 

• Find You in the Dark by Nathan Ripley

     - Read 35% of the ebook, equating 130 pages
     - I received an e-arc of this to review from NetGalley, and I was really hoping to love it. I couldn’t get into the writing style, or the plot. 
     - It was really just too many things going on at once. There weren’t smooth transitions or a consistent sequence to the perspectives. I was easily confused on where the focus was supposed to be, and wasn’t able to connect to any part of the stories or characters. 





March: 


• My Not So Perfect Life by Sophie Kinsella

     - Read 60 pages while also listening to the audiobook. 
     - I found this story to be insanely boring and flat. I didn’t care about the characters and got confused on who most of them were. Not my type. 







April: 
 
• Room by Emma Donoghue

     - Listened to 55 pages of the audiobook, and couldn’t handle the child narrator
     - I’m very interested in the story, so I’ll likely still watch the movie since I’ve heard good things
     - I really wanted to love this story, but I do also have an ebook copy on my iPad if I ever change my mind 


June:


• Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King

     - I was so excited to read this after loving The Long Walk, and was so disappointed in how bland this one was. I got about 140 pages into it, trying to both read it physically and listen to the audiobook, but I was never interested.
     - It was not suspenseful or thrilling because we read both the detective's perspective, and the killer's (whose identity was revealed very early), and this made it very hard to get through because I was bored almost the entire time.

We Rise, We Resist | Book Review

We Rise, We Resist, We Raise Our Voices

Edited by: Wade Hudson and Cheryl Willis Hudson
Number of Pages: 74

My Rating: 4 / 5 stars

Expected Publication: September 2018
Read in June 2018


Summary According to Goodreads

What do we tell our children when the world seems bleak, and prejudice and racism run rampant? With 96 lavishly designed pages of original art and prose, fifty diverse creators lend voice to young activists. 


My Thoughts

I received an advanced readers copy of this anthology from BEA, but that does not affect my opinion in any way. 

I really enjoyed this collection, it was a very quick read that I picked up while waiting to board my flight home from NYC. There were a lot of writers and creators I hadn't seen or read from before, so I am interested in checking out some more works from a few of them! What I enjoyed the most about this anthology was its diversity in theme and presentation, each entry was unique and I loved getting more exposure into some of the poetry and artwork styles that were included.

Overall, I really enjoyed this anthology and would recommend it to readers of any age! It is short which makes it a very quick read, and bright and colourful in a way that makes you want to keep turning the page. If you are looking for a fun but important coffee table book, I would recommend this one!

The Long Walk | Book Review

The Long Walk

Written by: Richard Bachman

Number of Pages: 416

Average Rating: 4.11 / 5 stars

My Rating: 5 / 5 stars

Published in July 1979

Read in May 2018

Summary According to Goodreads

In the near future, when America has become a police state, one hundred boys are selected to enter an annual contest where the winner will be awarded whatever he wants for the rest of his life.

Among them is sixteen-year-old Ray Garraty, and he knows the rules - keep a steady walking pace of four miles per hour without stopping. Three warnings and you’re out - permanently. 

My Thoughts

“He seemed to have put in as many miles in his brain as he had with his feet."

I loved it! I had been wanting to pick it up for years, and I was in Chapters one day and decided to just give in and pay the full price for it. I started reading it the day that I bought it, and off all of the Stephen King novels I’ve read, I read this one the fastest - I just couldn’t put it down!

At first I couldn’t understand why these boys would willingly sign-up to participate in this walk, but the more you read the clearer the motives become. I interpreted “The Long Walk” to symbolize more than just a hundred boys walking for days, but also how no matter how far you push in life there’s so much more road to travel. It only ends when you decide that it’s over.

It is written in third person narrative surrounding Ray Garraty, but it all felt so genuine and real that you could find a connection to all of the boys. I had some genuine favourites, and it was heartbreaking sometimes because you know that only one boy is coming out of this walk alive. 

I’m not going to say anything about the ending for spoilers sake, but it’s one you have to sit on in order to understand why he wrote it that way. This was such a unique story that I’m still thinking about a week after finishing, and is one that I would recommend to everyone interested in Stephen King’s works. This novel not only makes my favourites of 2018, but makes my favourites of all time!

It also helps that reading this book motivated me to go to the gym more!