Evermore and Blue Moon by Alyson Noel

Disclaimer: I get all my books from the library.

I love that I get to say exactly what I think.

Today I'm reviewing Evermore and Blue Moon, by Alyson Noel. I will review them individually but in the same post, so you can decide if it's worth reading Evermore.

First off, I enjoyed Evermore. The main character, Ever, is psychic. She can see auras. That's cool. Damen, the new kid in school, falls hard for her, even while everyone else is in love with him.

But Ever is dealing with her own problems, mainly being that her whole family died in a car accident a year ago. Emotionally, she's not stable.

Then it turns out that Damen has powers of his own. And he has a very jealous ex-wife who is out to get Ever.

I liked that Ever was a virgin. I didn't like that a central point of the book was about when she would finally lose the label.

I didn't like the weird names. What's up with that? The last book I read by Noel had names like Zoe, Echo. This one has Ever, Stacia, Hazel. Yeah, I know some people put weird names on their kids. But not everyone. And not sixteen years ago.

Ever did not seem like a girl in love to me. That was hard to get into. It's like she just kind of went with it.

And finally, the immortals seem too much like Meyers' vampires for my taste. Drive fast cars, don't eat, move very quickly. But at least the skin doesn't sparkle.

On it's own, I would give this book a B.

But here's the problem. You can't consider it on it's own, because it's a series. A trilogy, I believe. And Blue Moon totally let me down.

The action was fine. Drama was excellent. Blue Moon was as much a page turner as Evermore. I could almost ignore that the whole premise to this book was that Ever and Damen have finally decided to have sex. You know, because the world revolves around it.

But the characters were completely unbelievable. Damen, Ever's powerful love, loses his powers because someone (Ramon) takes away his 'immortal juice.' Without it, he goes back to being a normal person.

Well, his normal person was completely despicable, mean, hateful, horny, and terrible. Which begs the question. Which one is the real Damen? Is the immortal juice happy juice? Why am I interested in him as a character if his personality isn't real?

Even that I could buy into. But I couldn't buy into the ending. Ever chooses not to be with him. Again. (She did the same thing at the end of book one.) Which again leads me to feel she doesn't really love him. I know she had a hard choice in front of her, but I also know what it is to really love someone, especially someone you plan on spending forever with. You don't look back.

Anyway. The bigger issue was that, with Damen's life on the line, Ramon, the same guy who Ever knows is evil, offers save his life. A girl who has never betrayed Ever, always helped her, never lied, tells Ever not to do it. (This girl has magical powers too. Ever's seen her use them.) Ever doesn't listen to her. She listens to Ramon, the evil guy who's been taking Damen's happy juice. And of course, there are dire consequences, which leads to the third book.

Except I won't be reading it. Ever's an idiot. I don't really care anymore what happens to her. Well, I care enough to ask someone. That's why I'm giving this book a D.


A = Buy this book NOW
B = Buy this when you can
C = Check it out from the library
D = Don't bother reading it
F = Burn it

The School for Dangerous Girls by Eliot Schrefer

Disclaimer: I get all my books from the library.

Today's book is The School for Dangerous Girls by Eliot Schrefer.

First off, I really liked this book. It is a dark thriller, about juvenile delinquents who are sent to a school that's supposed to reform them. Only the school has a dark element to it. It appears that some of the teachers don't care about the girls with bad tendencies. In fact, they kind of enjoy throwing the girls at each other.

What I really liked about this book was how the author humanized the girls. Many of them have done illegal things and are slightly nutso. Yet we get to see how they are also just girls, with feelings and fears and people they care about.

There is some swearing in the book and some references to sexual activities. But the book doesn't revolve around it or glorify sex, like that's the only important thing in life (like some books I've read).

A very good read. Definitely YA, probably for teenage girls.

This book gets a B.

A = Buy this book NOW
B = Buy this when you can
C = Check it out from the library
D = Don't bother reading it
F = Burn it

Absolute Brightness by James Lacesne

Disclaimer: I get all my books from the library.

Today's book is Absolute Brightness by James Lacesne.

I hate to be critical of this book because I think it had an absolutely important message: that of not judging others, of being compassionate, of learning how to love.

But the book was a rambler. I honestly read the first 100 pages, skipped the middle 300, and read the last 30. I wanted to get into the story. I skimmed enough to figure it out: Leonard, the weird and gay cousin, comes to stay with the broken family. Leonard's outlook on life is unusually positive, and he helps those around him see the good things about themselves and their lives. However, because of his obvious gayness, he is murdered by a fellow classmate.

Exactly how all this happened, I don't know. Like I said, I skimmed. Maybe I have a short attention span. I WANTED to read this book. But I didn't have the patience. Maybe you'll have better luck. Give it a shot and see what you think.

This book gets a C.

A = Buy this book NOW
B = Buy this when you can
C = Check it out from the library
D = Don't bother reading it
F = Burn it

Saving Zoe by Alyson Noel

Disclaimer: I get all my books from the library.

Today's book is Saving Zoe by Alyson Noel.

I'm not going to say much about this book because I was so disappointed by it. It had a great premise and started out so emotionally strong: The protagonist (Echo)'s older sister, Zoe, was brutally murdered a year ago. Echo receives Zoe's diary and gets to know her sister, who she totally idolizes, in a way she never imagined.

Sounds good, right?

Don't hold your breath. This book got great reviews from people who said it made laugh and cry. Not me. First of all, Zoe is so not who I would want to admire. She gets drunk, smokes pot, sleeps around, sneaks out, does horrible in school, and lies to everyone. And the book is really about her, not Echo. Sure, I get the point. That Echo has to discover who she is without Zoe and come to be okay with herself. But the book never once makes it out that maybe Echo, with her good grades and 'boring' boyfriend, might be the better sister.

Oh, and Echo totally dumps her 'boring' boyfriend to go out with the cool bad boy who smokes. Because of her sister. Give me a less used cliche.

I still plan on reading the Immortals series. I sure hope it's better.

I was so disappointed I wanted to burn the book. So this book gets a big fat F.

A = Buy this book NOW
B = Buy this when you can
C = Check it out from the library
D = Don't bother reading it
F = Burn it

Short Girls by Bich Minh Nguyen

Disclaimer: I get all my books from the library.

Today's book is Short Girls by Bich Minh Nguyen.

This book was kind of an anomaly for me. As I read it, I could tell that it was a work of literary art. It bridges chasms of cultural depth between the American and Vietnamese culture. It has a huge moral undertone. It has a plot.

And yet, it didn't really hold my attention. There was a lot of description. Flashbacks interspersed with the current day. And I just wanted to know what was happening. This book is well written, and I skipped ahead quite a bit because I wasn't putting it down until I knew the whole story. But it couldn't keep me.

Written about two sisters who aren't very close to each other, they find themselves pulling together when one sister realizes her husband is cheating on her. While she comes to terms with this unfortunate circumstance, her other sister recognizes herself as the homewrecker, since she is having an affair with a married man. She breaks it off (and there I think the book makes a huge social commentary) and the two sisters learn to live independently, not identifying themselves by their men (another social commentary).

You might love this book. It has some good things to it. It could end up being a classic.

I will give it a good solid C.

A = Buy this book NOW
B = Buy this when you can
C = Check it out from the library
D = Don't bother reading it
F = Burn it

The Possibilities of Sainthood by Donna Freitas

Disclaimer: I check my books out from the library.

Today's victim is The Possibilities of Sainthood, by Donna Frietas. It's an adolescent book. The theme is slightly mature for middle grade, but reads just a bit juvenile for young adult. For this reason, I didn't think I would enjoy it. Too...easy, simplistic.

I was pleasantly surprised. No riveting suspense, but a typical teenage girl hoping for first love. The main character, Antonia, is an Italian-American Catholic, and the cultural influences in this novel were perhaps the most delightful. It was a joy to learn about the Catholic denomination and the Italian traditions. There was enough of a paranormal element to the book to make me wish there were a sequel.

On the downside, I didn't feel like the paranormal element got developed enough. That one aspect kept me turning the pages to see what more would happen, but it was only mentioned in passing. A lot could have been done with it.

A nice slice-of-life romantic novel. An enjoyable read. If you have teenagers, you'll want this one. Warning: There is a lot of talk about sexuality. But it's not done in a bad way.

I'm giving the book a B.



A = Buy this book NOW
B = Buy this when you can
C = Check it out from the library
D = Don't bother reading it
F = Burn it

Veil of Lies by Jeri Westerson

Disclaimer: I check my books out from the library.

I'm hard to impress and dislike almost everything I read. If I do like it, I will praise it from here to the high heavens.

Think you've got something I'll enjoy? By all means, recommend it to me!

Today's book victim is Veil of Lies, by Jeri Westerson.

First I have to say that Westerson did her (his?) research, and that impressed me. The novel is based in medieval times, the 1300s, and it's fascinating. It's a murder mystery patterned after a Sherlock Holmes character, but obviously set very early on.

The law was different back then, and the book gives a very accurate portrayal. It maintains a single point of view, that of Crispin Guest, the once-knighted-now-destitute personal investigator. Westerson doesn't sugar coat the prejudices of the time, or the double standard.

But while interesting, the book wasn't a page turner for me. It took me a week to finish it, and I finished it because I wanted to review it, not because I was desperate to know the ending. In truth, I could have put it down and never returned to it without ever missing it.

Perhaps it is because the characters did not draw me in. They are well written, well developed, and likable, for the most part. But I never felt a deep yearning or emotional attachment to them. Really, I'm not sure what kept me detached from the story.

Overall, though, it was a good book. And your reaction may be very different from mine. This is the first book of a series, and possibly the next book could be what hooks me. Because of that, I'm giving the book a C+.

A = Buy this book NOW
B = Buy this when you can
C = Check it out from the library
D = Don't bother reading it
F = Burn it