Review: The Here and Now

Title: The Here and Now
Author: Ann Brashares
Genre: ya, sci-fi, romance
Published: 8 April 2014
Pages: 242
Rating: 3 / 10
Challenges: NetGalley Reading Challenge
Full Disclosure: I received a copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Synopsis:

Follow the rules. Remember what happened. Never fall in love.

This is the story of seventeen-year-old Prenna James, who immigrated to New York when she was twelve. Except Prenna didn’t come from a different country. She came from a different time—a future where a mosquito-borne illness has mutated into a pandemic, killing millions and leaving the world in ruins.

Prenna and the others who escaped to the present day must follow a strict set of rules: never reveal where they’re from, never interfere with history, and never, ever be intimate with anyone outside their community. Prenna does as she’s told, believing she can help prevent the plague that will one day ravage the earth.

But everything changes when Prenna falls for Ethan Jarves.

From Ann Brashares, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series, The Here and Now is thrilling, exhilarating, haunting, and heartbreaking—and a must-read novel of the year. (from GoodReads)

My Review: This is a really difficult review to write. I actually finished the book over a month ago, but I kept putting off writing the review because I really, really didn't like it. I was so excited when I was approved for Anne Brashare's new book on NetGalley! I loved the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series, so I expected to enjoy this story as well. Here's the thing, though: Prenna is really boring and dumb. Reading everything through her eyes was incredibly frustrating, because I wanted to shake her and point out all the clues that she was missing. I was also not a big fan of the romance. Ethan is a "nice guy," and while Prenna swooned over him from day one, I found him seriously suspect. By the end of the book, I felt as though I had read a story about Ethan's journey rather than Prenna's. Is it possible for a male character to be both a Mary Sue AND a Manic Pixie Dream Girl? The only thing I really enjoyed was the paradoxical implications inherent in time travel, and I really didn't feel like that was explored enough.

That said, I'm positive this book would be a big hit with my students. Between the pseudo-science, the dystopian future, and the romance it pretty much hits every YA trope on the BINGO card. The ending also leaves the story up to serialization, but I think it works better as a stand-alone.

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Only With You Blog Tour, Review, and Giveaway!

Welcome to the Casual Dread stop of the Only With You Blog Tour!
This is my first book blog tour, and I'm very excited that it was for a book I really enjoyed! Please read my review below and enter the awesome giveaway! You can find the rest of the tour stops here.

Title: Only With You
Author: Cecilia Gray
Genre: YA, Jane Austen-paralit, romance
Published: May 2014
Pages: 130
Rating: 9 / 10
Challenges: N/A

Synopsis: "Dive into the fabulous, fun lives of six Academy girls as their friendships are tested, torn and ultimately triumph…

Emma has it all – looks, money, and luck. It’s not like she keeps it all to herself – she’s totally committed to helping those less fortunate. AKA, everyone. She invites her heartbroken friend to help with a weekend charity event with an eye to matchmake, but when that friend turns her eye toward the guy Emma wants for herself, how will she choose between friendship and her own feelings?

* * *

The last thing that the girls at the elite Jane Austen Academy need is hot guys to flirt with. But over the summer the school has been sold, and like it or not, the guys are coming. And it’s about to turn the Academy—and the lives of its students—totally upside down…

The Jane Austen Academy series are modern retellings of Jane Austen classics set at a beachside California boarding school."

AUTHOR BIO:

Cecilia Gray lives in the San Francisco Bay Area where she reads, writes and breaks for food. She also pens her biographies in the third person. Like this. As if to trick you into thinking someone else wrote it because she is important. Alas, this is not the case.

She’s rather enamored of being contacted by readers and hopes you’ll oblige.

Author Links:
Homepage
GoodReads
Facebook
Twitter

My Review: This was the Jane Austen Academy story I was looking forward to more than any other. Emma is my favorite Austen heroine. I love her because she's flawed, and also because she reminds me of myself. I, too, have played matchmaker for my friends - one couple even got married on my birthday! - and I've also put my foot in my mouth more times than I can count. I may not be as rich nor as perfect as Austen's Miss Woodhouse, but I admire her earnestness and lively spirit. Thankfully, Cecilia Gray's Emma is just as lively (and as flawed, even if she doesn't want to admit it). This novella is a quick, breezy read that kept me entertained and eager to see what would happen next. Or rather, to see how it would play out - the happily-ever-after-with-the-guy-of-her-dreams is a foregone conclusion, but getting there is a lot of fun. Emma invites steadfast Anne, male BFF Knight, and playboy/actor Josh to her parents' house for a weekend. The goal: hookup Anne and Josh, both of whom are nursing broken hearts. The reality turns out to be a bit more complicated, as Anne's ex, Rick, also shows up. The kids spend time volunteering at an animal shelter (complete with a vet named Frank Churchill!) and Emma learns a thing or two about love - namely, that she can (and does!) feel it.

One thing I love about Gray's adaptations is seeing how the characters fit into the minor roles in each new book. Josh, ever the playboy, takes on both Mr. Elton and Frank Churchill. Anne makes a much more interesting Harriet Smith than OG Harriet ever did, and Rick is pretty much spot-on as Robert Martin. There are a few characters absent, of course (understandable, given how short the book is). I love Jane Fairfax as a foil to Emma in the original and would've loved to have seen Lucy in that role. That would've paired her with Josh, too, but I get the feeling that's being saved for the Louisa-Benwick-Wentworth triangle in the last book. Another interesting change from the source material is Emma's relationship with her elderly widowed father. Here, Emma's mother is living and Emma constantly tries to live up to her. It bothered me a bit at first (that father/daughter dynamic is central to Emma's characterization, I feel), but it makes a lot of sense. Both Emmas are trying hard to live up to expectations, and I love the idea of modern Emma being a insecure "mean girl" who isn't actually mean.

I received a review copy of Only With You, but you can purchase one at B&N or Amazon. Thanks for stopping by, and don't forget to enter the giveaway below!

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Review: Diverse Energies

Title: Diverse Energies
Editors: Tobias S. Buckell and Joe Monti
Genre: short story, dystopia, sci-fi, romance, YA
Published: 20 November 2013
Pages: 368
Rating: 6 / 10
Challenges: NetGalley, Lucky No. 14

Synopsis: "In a world gone wrong, heroes and villains are not always easy to distinguish and every individual has the ability to contribute something powerful.

In this stunning collection of original and rediscovered stories of tragedy and hope, the stars are a diverse group of students, street kids, good girls, kidnappers, and child laborers pitted against their environments, their governments, differing cultures, and sometimes one another as they seek answers in their dystopian worlds. Take a journey through time from a nuclear nightmare of the past to society’s far future beyond Earth with these eleven stories by masters of speculative fiction. Includes stories by Paolo Bacigalupi, Ursula K. Le Guin, Malinda Lo, Cindy Pon, Daniel H. Wilson, and more." (from GoodReads)

My Review: I'm not usually a fan of short stories, but I requested this one from NetGalley because I like some of the authors mentioned and I love supporting books about diverse characters. The stories are all interesting, but there are definitely some that I enjoyed more than others. My favorites were "Uncertainty Principle" by K. Tempest Bradford (a girl discovers that she's the only person who can detect temporal anomalies), "Gods of the Dimming Light" by Greg van Eekhout (a modernization of Ragnarok - especially cool because I read it the day before Ragnarok was thought to occur!), and "Blue Skies" by Cindy Pon (not your typical kidnapping story). The others weren't bad, but these were the three that I found the most interesting and wish I had gotten more story for.

This collection is great because of the much-needed diversity it features. However, the downside is that so much of it is bleak. The worlds these authors have created are beautiful and fascinating, but also really terrible if I were to actually live in them. I would love to see a collection of stories (or novels) about these characters when they're happy and living normal lives.

Disclaimer: I received an electronic review copy from NetGalley in exchange for my review.

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Review: Mafia Girl

Title: Mafia Girl
Author: Deborah Blumenthal
Genre: YA, romance
Published: 1 March 2014
Pages: 270
Rating: 2 / 10
Challenges: NetGalley Reading Challenge

Synopsis: "'What's in a name? Everything if you have my name.' At her exclusive Manhattan high school, seventeen-year-old Gia is the most hated/loved girl in school. Why? Her father doesn't have a boss. He is the boss--the capo di tutti cappi, boss of all bosses. Not that Gia cares. But life gets complicated when she meets a cop she calls "Officer Hottie" and feels a suprising chemistry. Then Vogue magazine wants to feature Gia in a fashion spread about real-life bad girls. On top of this, she's running for class president. Can Gia step out from under her dad's shadow and show everyone there's more to her than 'Mafia Girl?'" (from GoodReads)

My Review: Full disclosure: I was not able to finish this book. I got about halfway through and just had to put it down. I got frustrated with Gia and her shenanigans. She was neither believable nor likable. I was really excited to read this - I expected a Godfather/Gossip Girl hybrid, not a whiny spoiled brat. The straw that broke the camel's back, however, was the incredibly inappropriate relationship that develops with (and is reciprocated by!) "Officer Hottie." So illegal. I'm all for suspension of disbelief, but when he started texting her back and calling her "Baby," I rolled my eyes and put my Kindle down in disgust. I much preferred the election subplot to the "romance," but I couldn't handle slogging through one for the other.

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Review: Alienated

Title: Alienated
Author: Melissa Landers
Genre: YA, romance, sci-fi
Published: 4 February 2014
Pages: 352
Rating: 5 / 10
Challenges: NetGalley Challenge

Synopsis: "Two years ago, the aliens made contact. Now Cara Sweeney is going to be sharing a bathroom with one of them.

Handpicked to host the first-ever L’eihr exchange student, Cara thinks her future is set. Not only does she get a free ride to her dream college, she’ll have inside information about the mysterious L’eihrs that every journalist would kill for. Cara’s blog following is about to skyrocket.

Still, Cara isn’t sure what to think when she meets Aelyx. Humans and L’eihrs have nearly identical DNA, but cold, infuriatingly brilliant Aelyx couldn’t seem more alien. She’s certain about one thing, though: no human boy is this good-looking.

But when Cara's classmates get swept up by anti-L'eihr paranoia, Midtown High School suddenly isn't safe anymore. Threatening notes appear in Cara's locker, and a police officer has to escort her and Aelyx to class.

Cara finds support in the last person she expected. She realizes that Aelyx isn’t just her only friend; she's fallen hard for him. But Aelyx has been hiding the truth about the purpose of his exchange, and its potentially deadly consequences. Soon Cara will be in for the fight of her life—not just for herself and the boy she loves, but for the future of her planet." (from GoodReads)

My Review: This is a slightly better-written Twilight clone with an alien instead of a vampire. There are some interesting twists, but we know these two crazy teens are going to fall in love despite their differences. I'm also pretty sure I caught the first whiffs of a love triangle that will probably be explored more in the sequel(s).

First, the things I didn't like:
For an alien who supposedly had no concept of human emotion, Aelyx smirks. A LOT. I felt like I needed to start keeping a tally, because it happened constantly.
The idea of falling in love with an alien (I don't care HOW hot he is) is pretty icky to me. It's one of my peeves about the Doctor Who fandom, too, actually. If these aliens want to be neighborly, that's awesome! But (SPOILER) mating with aliens, even if it strengthens their genes (I didn't really get the logic behind this part) seems too far-fetched. I understand that there's a parallel to civil rights, but I guess I'm just not that open-minded.
It's very obviously the first part of a series. That drives me crazy; I wish authors would finish their stories in one book, rather than stretching them out. Especially when said book ends on a bit of a cliffhanger.

The stuff I did like:
There's some pretty cool world-building, but we don't get to see too much of it in this book because we only really interact with Aelyx.
Cara blogs about her experience, which is a pretty fun conceit. I would've liked to read more of her posts about the L'eihr.
Cara's best friend is Latina. Hooray, diversity!

Alienated is also pretty action-packed, especially toward the end. I don't know if I'll read the sequel, but I will definitely recommend it to my Twilight-loving students.

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Review: Suddenly You

Title: Suddenly You
Author: Cecilia Gray
Genre: YA, Jane Austen-paralit, romance
Published: 7 May 2013
Pages: 128
Rating: 7 / 10
Challenges: NetGalley Challenge

Synopsis: "Fanny doesn't want to be at The Jane Austen Academy. She intends to lay low until graduation when she can try out for the Olympic track team. She doesn't need friends or love. She only needs her running.

But The Academy is in danger. In an effort to save it, Fanny joins forces with the friends she never knew she wanted. Suddenly, Fanny finds herself center stage in the middle of the Academy's biggest love triangle as the lead in the school play...only this track star can't afford to break a leg." (from GoodReads)

My Review: This was my least favorite of the Jane Austen Academy novellas available now, and I'm not sure why. Maybe I read through them too quickly and got burned out? Maybe the enjoyment I got out of Kat's book made it difficult for me to enjoy Fanny (who is honestly my least favorite Austen heroine) and her adventures as much? The romance part of the story itself is pretty similar to Mansfield Park in that Fanny has a crush on someone she views as unattainable (NOT her cousin this time, hooray!) and she spends a lot of time mooning over him and trying to fight off the advances of Josh (as Henry Crawford this time). This book frustrated me because so much of the conflict could've been avoided if Fanny just communicated with people more (her mom, Tran, Josh, Lucy) instead of just letting everything happen to her and then dealing with it. The best part of this book for me was the surprising character development of Josh. He's been the bad guy in four different stories, and it seems like he's finally getting some growth. I'm really looking forward to what happens to him in Emma's story.

This was still a good story, my quibbles aside. It's cute and fun and a really quick read. I'm excited about the last two books in this series and can't wait to read them!

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Review: Backward Compatible

Title: Backward Compatible
Authors: Sarah Daltry and Pete Clark
Genre: YA, romance
Published: 8 December 2013
Pages: 316
Rating: 5 / 10
Challenges: NetGalley Challenge

Synopsis: "A YA Gamer Geek Comedy in the vein of Scott Pilgrim and Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist. Ideal for fans of The Big Bang Theory, The Guild, and all things Joss Whedon.

WARNING: There is no sex in this book. Your Kindle or other device will remain at a pleasant room temperature. At no point will your panties drop. Your significant other will be allowed to snore in peace as you read. You may, however, laugh yourself out of commission.

Not too long ago, in a town that, depending on your current location, is either not super far or actually quite close... (insert Star Wars theme music here...)

It is a time of chaotic hormones.

Two nerdy gents home for winter break have discovered a female gamer at a midnight release.

During the break, the gamer trio manages to reveal the game's secret boss, a hidden enemy with enough power to destroy anything in its path.

Pursued by other gamers who want to be the first to beat this boss, George and Katie race to level up, and, in so doing, restore decency and sexual activity to their personal galaxy..." (from GoodReads)

My Review: Ok, here's the thing. I'm not the target audience for this book. I thought I was (I'm a geek, I'm [relatively] young, I'm a fan of all those things listed in the synopsis, I picked up on almost every single reference in this book, etc), and yet I really didn't relate to the characters in this book. For one thing, they are REALLY immature. When they talked about being in college, I didn't believe them. I teach high schoolers with better socialization skills than these kids. For another thing, they are REALLY mean. And not just to the random mean girls who show up towards the end and harass one of the main characters; George and Lanyon, supposedly the best of friends, spend most of their conversations trading insults. When they game as a group, they gang up on one player in particular (a "hipster douche" who had the temerity to grow a goatee IRL) and constantly attack him verbally and kill him virtually. The two main geeks are pretty one-dimensional: Katie likes to game and has boobs! George also likes to game and he also likes boobs! Neither one of them really has much personality, and they don't really know anything about each other. Katie seemed like she was getting some characterization and growth (she appears borderline-agoraphobic and admits to feeling depressed and anxious about her budding relationship with George), but that is magically dealt with when he - no joke - pulls a Spider-Man-esque stunt and cheers her up. George, for his part, spends a lot of time quoting Shakespeare (along with literally HUNDREDS of pop culture references) and reading books, so of course he's an English major. I felt like these were stock "geek" types rather than being fully fleshed-out people. There was no need for George and Lanyon to constantly allude to Star Wars, Portal, WoW, etc. And some of the allusions didn't make sense! Sephiroth's forehead compared to a bright light? Seriously? And can we please, for the love of all that is holy, drop the "That's what she said!" jokes? There were other minor things that bugged me as I was reading (ripping on The Hobbit sequel, referring to it as The Hobbit 2, sexual harassment during said movie, Katie's vehement anti-girly agenda), but honestly I'm getting more annoyed now as I'm thinking about it.

Which is not to say that it was all bad. There were parts that I liked - the "secret boss" of the video game and what it entails reminded me of Ready Player One, but I really enjoyed the twist in this book. It's also got some humor, although a lot was lost on me because it involved insulting someone's mom or threatening violence or rape. Ultimately, it's a lighthearted romance that just didn't work for me.

Full disclosure: I received an electronic ARC of Backward Compatible from NetGalley.

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Review: We Were Liars

Title: We Were Liars
Author: E. Lockhart
Genre: YA, romance, mystery
Published: 13 May 2014
Pages: 240
Rating: 10 / 10
Challenges: Net Galley Challenge

Synopsis: "A beautiful and distinguished family.
A private island.
A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy.
A group of four friends—the Liars—whose friendship turns destructive.
A revolution. An accident. A secret.
Lies upon lies.
True love.
The truth.

We Were Liars is a modern, sophisticated suspense novel from National Book Award finalist and Printz Award honoree E. Lockhart.

Read it.
And if anyone asks you how it ends, just LIE." (from GoodReads)

My Review: I absolutely loved this book, even though the ending was like a punch in the gut. It's beautifully written and the characters are incredible (and incredibly flawed). I loved Cady and her stereotypical blue-blood family and her dysfunctional relationship with her mom and her obsession with fairy tales. Reading about her dealing with love and regret and trying to unravel the mystery of her accident was fascinating and heartbreaking and it ended much too quickly. My Kindle is a mess of highlights and notes, and I can't wait to discuss it with other readers. It's like Gossip Girl, Wuthering Heights, and Momento all rolled into one awesome, emotional YA novel.

Full disclosure: I received an ARC of We Were Liars from NetGalley.

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Reviews: So Into You and When I'm With You

Titles: So Into You and When I'm With You
Author: Cecilia Gray
Genre: YA, Jane Austen-paralit, romance
Published: 2012
Pages: 125 and 129 (respectively)
Ratings: 7 / 10 and 8 / 10 (respectively)
Challenges: Net Galley Challenge

Synopses: So Into You - "Sweet and sensible Ellie hasn't met a problem her mom's yoga mantras can't fix. But when Ellie's parents threaten to pull her from the Academy just as her flirtation with the cutest boy in school heats up, will Ellie be able to keep her cool?" (from GoodReads)

When I'm With You - "Kat is destined to be a star and her big break has arrived at last! As the assistant to a celebrity classmate on the set of a feature film, she's going to show everyone she has what it takes. That is, until she discovers pursuing her dreams may mean forfeiting her heart. Unless she can find a way to have both…" (from GoodReads)

My Review: I decided to review both of these at once, since I binged and read them pretty much back-to-back. (Did I mention how much I'm enjoying this series?) So Into You really surprised me at how much it deviated from the Sense & Sensibility template. Instead of being forced out of her home, Ellie is given a chance to stay at the Academy. Flirtatious Emma stands in for lively Marianne, bad boy Josh Wickham does double-time as Willoughby, and funny man Ed is Ellie's OTP, Edward Ferrars. Lucy also makes an appearance, for added angst, but Colonel Brandon and the rest of the Dashwood/Ferrars clan are absent. Essentially the only part of the original story that appears is the relationship (or lack thereof) between Ellie and Ed. Fortunately, the author doesn't just rely on rehashing Austen plotlines; Ellie's story is enjoyable for its own merits as well. She has to work hard to maintain her place in the Academy, and she does it in the same quiet, determined way that Elinor Dashwood would have. The sororal relationship between Ellie and Emma works well here, and it was nice to see the beginnings of Emma's story (which I can't wait to read!).

I think I enjoyed When I'm With You even more than the first two books in this series. Northanger Abbey is far from my favorite Austen novel, but I really enjoyed this updated version. Kat is still naive, but instead of being enamored with gothic novels, she's in love with acting and being the center of attention. Josh Wickham appears as yet another bad guy (John Thorpe this time), but the only other characters who made the cut were Isabella, Henry, Henry's father (all as fellow actors). Izzy and Josh were perfect as the manipulative Thorpes, and as much as I hated the way they treated Kat, I couldn't help but love (and pity) them. Henry was adorable, and his hats (and the explanation behind them) were a nice touch. I appreciated the changes made to the original plot - Izzy's redemption, Tom Trenton's apparent duplicity - because it seemed more believable (at least, by my understanding of Hollywood). I also enjoyed getting away from the Academy for a bit and letting Kat have her own adventure, free from the other girls. It was great to see her grow as a character and learn from her mistakes. I'm hoping that she will interact more with the others now, because I really enjoyed her as a protagonist and want her story to continue.

Full disclosure: I received electronic copies of these books from NetGalley. Also, I'm not big on the covers (especially that second one).

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Review: Fall For You

Title: Fall For You
Author: Cecilia Gray
Genre: YA, Jane Austen-paralit, romance
Published: 10 February 2012
Pages: 175
Rating: 8 / 10
Challenges: NetGalley Challenge

Synopsis: "To say Lizzie and Dante are polar opposites is the understatement of the century. He’s a snooty Exeter transfer with more money than Google. She’s a driven study-a-holic just barely keeping up with tuition. It’s obvious that Dante thinks he’s way too good for Lizzie. And Lizzie knows Dante is a snob with a gift for pressing her buttons.

But things are changing fast this year at the Academy. And when Lizzie’s quest to stop those changes blows up in her face, taking her oldest friendship with it, she has nowhere else to turn but to Dante, with his killer blue eyes, his crazy-sexy smile, and his secrets… Secrets Lizzie can’t seem to leave alone, no matter how hard she tries…" (from GoodReads)

My Review: Disclaimer: I received a copy of this e-book from NetGalley. I hadn't heard of this series before, but as a Jane Austen fan, I knew I had to give it a shot. This is very obviously the first book in a series. The story focuses on Lizzie (Elizabeth Bennett, from Pride & Prejudice, her best friend Ellie (Eleanor Dashwood, from Sense & Sensibility, her new roommate, Anne (Anne Elliot, from Persuasion), and her "nemesis," Emma (Emma Woodhouse, from Emma). The girls all attend a fictional boarding school in California, and the major conflict in this book is that the school is going co-ed for the first time. Anne is having trouble dealing with her parents (mom?) no longer being in charge, and Lizzie, as the editor-in-chief of the school paper, is trying to figure out a way to put a stop to all the changes going on at the Academy. The plot overlaps between P&P and Persuasion, but there are elements of other Austen novels woven in. I loved the modernized characters - Lizzie is a driven, stubborn journalist; Ellie is a laid-back surfer girl; Anne is lovesick and quietly dealing with the loss of her family's wealth; and Emma is bubbly and gossipy. At first I was annoyed by Emma's "personality" (she's my favorite Austen heroine, so I'm rather protective of her), but about halfway through I realized that was Lizzie's characterization, not the author's. It was really nice to see how Lizzie's prejudices about all of the characters evolved throughout the book, not just her opinion of Dante/Darcy. I also found it clever how one character in this book could stand in for multiple Jane Austen characters - Anne is also Jane Bennett, Ellie is a Harriet Smith for Emma, Rick is both Wenthworth and Bingley, etc.

This is a fast, easy read (not surprising, at under 200 pages), but I really enjoyed it. There are lots of plot threads that I'm looking forward to exploring in the rest of the series. I will say that I'm not a fan of the cover (that doofus is NOT Darcy, by any stretch of the imagination), but since it's an e-book I didn't even notice it really until now.

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Review: The Dream Thieves

Title: The Dream Thieves
Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: YA, fantasy, paranormal, romance
Published: 17 September 2013
Pages: 439
Rating: 7 / 10
Challenges: N/A

Synopsis: "Now that the ley lines around Cabeswater have been woken, nothing for Ronan, Gansey, Blue, and Adam will be the same.

Ronan, for one, is falling more and more deeply into his dreams, and his dreams are intruding more and more into waking life.

Meanwhile, some very sinister people are looking for some of the same pieces of the Cabeswater puzzle that Gansey is after..." (from GoodReads)

My Review: Disclaimer: I received an electronic ARC of this book from NetGalley. I was thrilled and surprised when my request was accepted, because this was probably my most-anticipated book of 2013. My YA book club read the first in the series, The Raven Boys, earlier in the year. It was one of the few books that everyone in the group absolutely loved, and we couldn't wait for the sequel. For some reason, I couldn't get into this one. It was one of those books that you can't stop reading once you start, but the minute you put it down you forget about it. It took me SEVEN MONTHS to finish. And it's not bad! It's just a little...drawn out. It probably didn't help that I was reading it on my tiny phone screen. I read the last half of the book on my new Kindle just this past week.

The story itself is pretty interesting, but not a lot happens until the very end. I LOVED that the book focused on Ronan; I enjoyed reading about his life and the discovery of his (familial?) power. I wasn't a fan of Adam, who seemed to have gone a little crazy, but he managed to win me over in the end. Gansey and Blue and their growing relationship took a back seat to the lay line and the Greywaren, but I was okay with that. Noah was adorable and awesome as always. I didn't so much enjoy having minor characters (the Gray Man, Kavinsky) become the focus of some much of the story, but I do want to find out who the Gray Man's benefactor is. I also didn't like the cliffhanger of an ending, but it definitely makes me excited about the next book! I just hope it won't take me half a year to get through it.

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