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Saturday, February 8, 2014

Book Review: My Ex From Hell - Tellulah Darling

with 1 comment
Title: My Ex From Hell
Author: Tellulah Darling
Pub Date: April 1st, 2013
Publisher: Te Da Media
Page Count: 272

Sixteen-year-old Sophie Bloom wishes she’d been taught the following:
a) Bad boy’s presence (TrOuBlE) + teen girl’s brain (DraMa) = TrAuMa (Highly unstable and very volatile.)
b) The Genus Greekulum Godissimus is notable for three traits: 1) awesome abilities, 2) grudges, and 3) hook-ups, break-ups, and in-fighting that puts cable to shame.

Prior to the Halloween dance, Sophie figures her worst problems involve adolescent theatrics, bitchy teen yoga girls, and being on probation at her boarding school for mouthy behaviour. Then she meets bad boy Kai and gets the kiss that rocks her world.

Literally.

This breath stealing lip lock reawakens Sophie’s true identity: Persephone, Goddess of Spring. She’s key to saving humanity in the war between the Underworld and Olympus, target numero uno of Hades and Zeus, and totally screwed.

Plus there’s also the little issue that Sophie’s last memory as Persephone was just before someone tried to murder her.

Big picture: master her powers, get her memories back, defeat Persephone’s would be assassin, and save the world. Also, sneak into the Underworld to retrieve stolen property, battle the minions of Hades and Zeus, outwit psycho nymphs, slay a dragon, rescue a classmate, keep from getting her butt expelled from the one place designed to keep her safe …

… and stop kissing Kai, Prince of the Underworld.

My Ex From Hell is a YA romantic comedy/Greek mythology smackdown. Love meets comedy with a whole lot of sass in book one of this teen fantasy romance series. Compared to Kai and Sophie, Romeo and Juliet had it easy.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15749326-my-ex-from-hell

Buy Links

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository | Chapters Indigo


My Thoughts

A great blend of fun and serious. This was the perfect comfort book to read as it made me laugh, swoon and anticipate Sophie Bloom's next move. - Nova @ Out of Time

I dove into this novel expecting something that had a little of a "Percy Jackson" feel. I'm not going to compare the two; that really isn't the point. However, I was very happy with My Ex From Hell and liked it way more than I thought I was originally going to.
Can I just gush about the prose? Gosh, it was so much fun to read! It's one of those writing styles that can be taken different ways. Sophie has a very fragmented and sarcastic way of narrating the story and it's just so chock-filled with personality. I wasn't sure I'd like it because it wasn't as information giving as it should've been and lightened the severity of some situations. But actually, I was so entertained with the entire novel and that made quite the difference considering even though it wasn't as "action-y" as I wanted it to be or as I expected.
Sophie was everything I wanted and more in a MC. She's a girl after my own heart! I was a little iffy with her brains at first, but I ended up sympathizing with her and how she was just trying to be a normal teen doing things normal teens do. I can't say her predicament wasn't interesting and unique but the way she dealt with it was very funny and relatable.

Kai is the ultimate bad boy. That meaning he's typical and beguiling. I'm not sure how I feel about him and his "leather jacket" yet. Only because it seems very cookie cutter for me. I don't know if he's good or bad at this point and am getting a "Darkling" feeling from him. I expect major progression for him in Book Two (good or bad) to change my mind. At this point "Teen-Brained Nova" is very swept away by his description and his aura, but I'm not getting too much from him yet. He's still the mystery guy.

I had issues with the plot. It was very "teenage fiction-like" and I wanted to see more action and mythology. Persephone (a goddess) is reincarnated into a human form of Sophie. And there's this plot to overthrow everything that involves her at the center. Sound awesome? Very little development happens with that plot. Most of it is banter between characters and funny moments which is entertaining, but didn't do anything to get the story going.
I was also a little confused at the middle because of all the memory spells going around. Who's who? Who actually exists? What character is this? Because it's Greek mythology, so many characters were named but not actually there. It got really messed up really quickly for me. There were just so many things to keep track of that it spun my head and I had to read the entire section again so I could get caught up. 
I guessed about half the storyline and wanted more twists. Ooh! And there are cliches that I rolled my eyes at. I had issues with the mean girl without a personality or defense. She just seemed so unnecessary, but I found a "sorta" turnaround for her at the ending that I'm assuming continues in Book 2 that changes everything.

This was a little vacation for me after reading serious upon serious. I enjoyed reading it so much but at the same time, would've liked a better balance between fun and thrilling.


Author Info

Tellulah's Facebook | Goodreads | Twitter | Website |

Tellulah Darling
noun

Sassy girls. Swoony boys. What could go wrong?

1. YA romantic comedy author because her first kiss sucked and she's compensating.
2. Alter ego of former screenwriter.
3. Sassy minx.

Writes about: where love meets comedy. Awkwardness ensues.

Tellulah Darling is a firm believer that some of the best stories happen when love meets comedy. Which is why she has so much fun writing young adult romantic comedy novels. Her tales span contemporary, teen fantasy romance, and YA Greek mythology, and range from stand alone books to series. For Tellulah, teen romance is the most passionate, intense, and awkward there is – a comedy goldmine. Plus smart, mouthy, teen girls rock

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1 comment:

  1. AnonymousFebruary 8, 2014 at 9:56 PM

    ooh I love when a book's writing style mirrors the character's personality because it always adds a fun twist to the book. I'm usually not a very big fan of mythology, so I'd probably feel the same way about the plot overall. great review!

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