Book Review: The Brokenhearted - Amelia Kahaney

Title: The Brokenhearted
Author: Amelia Kahaney
Pub Date: October 8th, 2013
Publisher: HarperTeen
Page Count: 336

A teenage girl is transformed into a reluctant superhero and must balance her old life with the dark secret of who she has become.

Prima ballerina Anthem Fleet is closely guarded by her parents in their penthouse apartment. But when she meets the handsome Gavin at a party on the wrong side of town, she is immediately drawn into his dangerous world. Then, in a tragic accident, Anthem falls to her death. She awakes in an underground lab, with a bionic heart ticking in her chest. As she navigates her new life, she uncovers the sinister truth behind those she trusted the most, and the chilling secret of her family lineage…and her duty to uphold it.

The Dark Knight meets Cinder in this gripping and cinematic story of heartbreak and revenge. From Alloy Entertainment, this inventive new superhero story is sure to captivate any reader.

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

I feel like this author doesn't know the meaning of pacing - or if she does, she definitely didn't apply it. - Nova @ Out of Time

I should've known not to read this one. I've heard... things about it and I know it isn't really the type for me. However, I was at Goodwill and it was two bucks for a hardcover, so why not, right? Anyway, I side with the majority when I say that this book was a waste of my time.

The first and major thing that completely wrecked the book was the pacing. It just didn't make sense. First, the story practically rushes all the "boring" parts and cuts straight to the action in what? Two chapters? While this sounds pretty awesome, it also means that there was no real connection to anything. All I saw was a foolish girl who wanted to have a rebellious moment. Then she does something really stupid and eventually pays for her actions in the end.

Ain't karma a real bitch? That's a spoiler, actually so I'm not going to say any more.

I hated Anthem. She just felt really stupid and annoying. Since she's locked in a really controlling family dynamic, I sort of understood why she acted the way she did but I also didn't excuse her. She was more in love with the idea of "love" than the actual person. She also didn't seem heroic. Jumping into the face of danger without rhyme or reason is not something to be proud of.
I also felt like the author gave her way too much power. Especially since she has more air than brain in that head of hers.

There is instalove. And it hurts. I cringed so many times at Anthem's inner thoughts on how much she loves Gavin. Nothing was real.

There was also no worldbuilding. I was like "what am I reading?" because it felt sort of Steampunk but also almost like a post apocalypic. For a book like this, world building would've actually changed a lot. This book fell so flat and though there are a lot of factors to that, I think some decent descriptions and life in the settings would've helped propped the other stuff up [or at least make it look less unappealing.]

Overall, with all static characters and a plot that didn't really make sense half the time, The Brokenhearted is not something I would recommend. At all. Unless, that is, you like instalove and characters who are more martyr than hero. Then, by all means, go forth and read. The only reason it isn't getting any lower than one star is because it was a pretty quick read.

A quick death [haha all the spoilers.]

Amelia's Goodreads | Twitter | Website

Amelia Kahaney grew up an easily sunburnt child in San Diego, CA and Hilo, HI. At age 12, self-exiled from surf camp due to lack of coordination, Amelia sought refuge in her local library and spent the rest of her summer filling up yellow legal pads with her first attempts at fiction. After graduating from UC Santa Cruz with a degree in English, she lived in Portland, Oregon and Quetzaltenango, Guatemala before landing in New York City with a giant suitcase and high hopes. Nine apartments and a dozen jobs later, she began to study fiction writing at Brooklyn College. Her short stories have appeared in Best American Nonrequired Reading, One Story, Crazyhorse, and other literary magazines. She wrote most of The Brokenhearted in a coffee shop that has since gone out of business, and is currently testing out new locations in which to dream up superpowers for book two. She is still a fan of libraries, and is also partial to bicycles, art cars, fire, hermit crabs, voices harmonizing, flash mobs, hot springs, and voracious readers of all ages. She lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her husband and son.

 

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Song Review: All About That Bass - Meghan Trainor

Title: All About That Bass
Artist: Meghan Trainor
Album: Title
Release Date: September 9th, 2014
Record Label: Epic Records
iTunes

"All About That Bass"
 

CHORUS
Because you know
I'm all about that bass
'Bout that bass, no treble
I'm all about that bass
'Bout that bass, no treble
I'm all about that bass
'Bout that bass, no treble
I'm all about that bass
'Bout that bass

Yeah, it's pretty clear, I ain't no size two
But I can shake it, shake it
Like I'm supposed to do
'Cause I got that boom boom that all the boys chase
And all the right junk in all the right places

I see the magazine workin' that Photoshop
We know that shit ain't real
C'mon now, make it stop
If you got beauty, beauty, just raise 'em up
'Cause every inch of you is perfect
From the bottom to the top

Yeah, my mama she told me don't worry about your size
She says, "Boys like a little more booty to hold at night."
You know I won't be no stick figure silicone Barbie doll
So if that's what you're into then go ahead and move along

CHORUS

I'm bringing booty back
Go ahead and tell them skinny bitches that
No I'm just playing. I know you think you're fat
But I'm here to tell ya
Every inch of you is perfect from the bottom to the top

Yeah my mama she told me don't worry about your size
She says, "Boys like a little more booty to hold at night."
You know I won't be no stick figure silicone Barbie doll
So if that's what you're into then go ahead and move along

CHORUS 3x

First thought: um... okay?

To those people who are like "she's so popular," the only reason she got so many views is because at one point, the All About That Bass commercial was played EVERYWHERE. I feel like they literally payed YouTube a crapload of money just to advertise this song. And to be honest, it isn't even good. It's pretty painful. (I listened to the song when it had 1million views.)

I really disliked this song. I've heard all the things about how it's offensive to skinny people and um... okay? I don't really have an opinion to that. I don't think what she did was right, but after being made fun of for having double digit size, I can't bring myself to care as much as some people. (However, it's true, two wrongs don't make a right. Trainor should realize that making fun of a set of people doesn't empower another.)

But aside from that, this was terrible. It's got a horrible tune. I can't stand it because it's just so ick. It's like half rap (blech) and then the chorus is so strange. Trainor's voice changes and not for the better.
Maybe it's opinion, but I cannot stand to listen to this song, meaning or not. It's just not something that I consider "music."

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Book Review: Salt - Danielle Ellison

Title: Salt
Author: Danielle Ellison
Pub Date: January 7th, 2014
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Page Count: 266

Penelope is a witch, part of a secret society protecting humans from demon attacks. But when she was a child, a demon killed her parents—and stole her magic. Since then, she’s been pretending to be something she’s not, using her sister’s magic to hide her own loss, to prevent being sent away.

When she’s finally given the chance to join the elite demon-hunting force, Penelope thinks that will finally change. With her sister’s help, she can squeeze through the tests and get access to the information she needs to find "her" demon. To take back what was stolen.

Then she meets Carter. He’s cute, smart, and she can borrow his magic, too. He knows her secret—but he also has one of his own.

Suddenly, Penelope’s impossible quest becomes far more complicated. Because Carter’s not telling her everything, and it’s starting to seem like the demons have their own agenda…and they’re far too interested in her.

Buy Links

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Chapters Indigo

My Thoughts

 I was initially excited to read a book that was thrilling, full of magic and well... fantastic.

This book let me down oh-so far. It was pretty much opposite to what I wanted. Instead of a strong character, I got...Penelope. I wanted an original plot and I got  jumbled amount of cliches in pretty packaging. And instead of getting "magic" I got the witches' version of school with a few demon attacks here and there. Pretty much a letdown.

I was endlessly tired of Penelope making dumb decisions, going "oops! I'm an idiot" and ultimately, having someone save her in the end. It was an unnecessary plot of Pen biting off way more than she can chew and yet, not learning the next time she did it. 

It didn't help that I had trouble believing she could do things for herself in some situations. For example: in one, she had to beat a girl (with muscle) in a fist-fight and the way I imagine Pen, she don't have any muscles. She got lucky with that fight and ended up "winning" but then that kind of situation happened again. Surely, there's a law against having so much serendipity, right? (Probably not, or Bella Swan would already be dead... lulz.)

I also had major issues with the story, as I already mentioned. Penelope is a witch. Her parents were killed while she was young and she's seeking them out. She also doesn't know what her origin is. This sounds like every book I've ever read... (exaggeration, but still.) She is a witch with no magic (and obviously, being MC) has extraordinary circumstances. And then there's this exam thing that took up half the story, but wasn't important enough to be dominant in the synopsis. And then there's this scene where Male Lead: Carter asks her to be his fake girlfriend; Yeah, I've never heard that one before! Real original. Plus, there wasn't any followup on that situation.

The only thing I actually do like about this story was Carter. He's cliche to the max in the beginning, but I grew to love him anyway. He had to drag Pen's butt out of every situation and told her how stupid she was without actually "telling" her. He was also charming as a character, even though he was completely shallow; as all the other characters are.

The other characters? Can we just call "supporting characters" without the s? I didn't know the difference between them at all. It was the Penelope show the whole way through and I didn't care about anyone except for Carter. I had names of supporting characters that were never developed; never introduced in a way where I could connect with them and ugh, I just didn't care.Even her sister and Grandmother were transparent and pissed me off. Either they weren't there or they made me mad; that's how the characters worked for me.

The whole "witch" idea didn't make sense to me. For me, they were more like Shadowhunters, lol. Fighting demons? And Pen couldn't even fight one without Carter holding her hand. If they were witches, they surely didn't demonstrate that.

The whole book wasn't demonstrated. It was Pen's inner monologue the whole way through. Monologue that (again), annoyed me. I didn't get a feel of anything. I just got filler scene upon filler scene and important scenes that felt like a couple of sentences

Pen, take my advice. Just go be a mundane human. All of us are and we're perfectly happy. I could do without your whining attitude when you can't get it and superiority when you think you're all that just cos you turn a demon into salt. Yeah. You aren't that special.

Author Info

Danielle's Facebook | Goodreads | Twitter | Website |

Danielle Ellison is from a small town in West Virginia. She spent her childhood pretending to fly and talking to imaginary friends. When she grew up, she finally flew away (in an airplane) and started traveling the world. She hasn’t stopped yet, but someday she may decide to settle in one place. Her real life friends would definitely like that; they would probably also like if she stopped talking to her characters out loud.

SALT comes out in January 2014, and then it's sequel. In October 2014, FOLLOW ME THROUGH DARKNESS (book one of the BOUNDLESS Trilogy) comes out. She's got a busy few years!

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Review: Wake - Lisa McMann

Title: Wake
Author: Lisa McMann
Pub Date: March 4th, 2008
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Page Count: 225

For seventeen-year-old Janie, getting sucked into other people's dreams is getting old. Especially the falling dreams, the naked-but-nobody-notices dreams, and the sex-crazed dreams. Janie's seen enough fantasy booty to last her a lifetime.
She can't tell anybody about what she does they'd never believe her, or worse, they'd think she's a freak. So Janie lives on the fringe, cursed with an ability she doesn't want and can’t control.
Then she falls into a gruesome nightmare, one that chills her to the bone. For the first time, Janie is more than a witness to someone else's twisted psyche. She is a participant.

When I write a review, I usually take a lot of notes. The only time I don't take notes is when I'm to deeply involved in the story or there is nothing to note. For this book, it's the latter.

What I wanted: A kickass girl who can see and manipulate people's dreams while trying to figure out the origin of her ability.

What I got: A mopey teenager who has the ability to see into people's dreams paired with an agent who's investigating a drug bust. Barely a plot.

This book has so many good reviews and I was anticipating something epic, kick-butt and something that would stick in my brain. What I got instead was this (admittedly) interesting writing style but a flat plot that leaves me trying to remember important details in the actual book. I have a great memory, I think, which is why it's bad that I don't remember much from the book.

The most important (and interesting -good and bad) thing about this book is really the way it's written. It kind of reminds me of a bunch of home movies. You know, with the date on the corner of each clip? This book was told in jumpy bits and time held significance to the story. I didn't actually pay as much attention as I should have and that was why it was such an unappealing book for me. It was also written like a screenplay with "Janie does this and Janie says that." When you've got a third-person and present tense writing style, I think it'll tend to sound very dry.

Don't get me wrong, I appreciate originality, but there's a difference between originality and bad writing. It was quite honestly one of the worst writing styles I've yet encountered. Mind numbing and bland with no similes, barely-there descriptions and characters never having a voice or thoughts makes this to be one of the hardest books I had to get through.

The plot also makes no sense. We've got this girl who enters other people's dreams when they're sleeping in the same room as her. Most dreams are either the falling, sex-crazed or naked people in a public area where no one notices. Before I explain the plot further, I just want to point out that not everybody has such dirty dreams. Half of this book was Janie going into a dream of the sleeping subject having sex with someone else. I don't need to read about that and it did nothing to help the story, plus it got very old and repetitive, very fast.

So. Moving on. We're introduced to a guy named Cabel who is obviously the love interest. I'm not even sure what happened (and I literally finished the book about 2 hours before writing this.) All I know is that the novel ends with Janie becoming a worker for a secret agency. If this info is wrong, my fault.

The plot is so blurry in my mind. It didn't stick and I think I might've skipped halfway or something. I'm that person who doesn't like to DNF so reading this and finishing it was somewhat agonizing. I like books that stick in my head after finishing and this didn't do that. I think it escaped me, to be quite frank because of how simple the plot was.

The characters were also so annoying. Janie, this girl who's been in people's dreams before is just so irritating in the way she acts. She jumps on her emotions and doesn't actually stop to see if what she's doing is right. And besides having her ability, she's completely flat, boring, useless, personality lacking, what other words can I use?

When I hear "ability to go into other people's dreams" I think fantasy, paranormal, supernatural and the theme/mood of the book has a out-of-reality kind of idea. This book was so cut and pasted that if Janie didn't have an ability, there would be no storyline. Period.

I was also left confused in so many parts. What Cabel's job was escapes me. It's told that he works for this top secret "something" and he's investigating a drug bust. He also has to have a cover, fake date a girl and have a rep for being a dealer. It's this false pretense to try to uncover some problem that readers have close to NO insight on.

I really didn't like this book and it did nothing for me. I can't think of anything good about this book besides how easy visualizing was, but that just won't cut it. If I wanted visualizing ops, I'd go read some screenplays.

But please remember: I am the black sheep so you should give it a try! You might think the writing style is interesting and amazing. After all, I'm just another opinion!

Lisa's Goodreads | Twitter | Website |

Lisa McMann lives and writes in the Phoenix area. Her books include the NYT bestselling paranormal WAKE trilogy, CRYER'S CROSS, DEAD TO YOU, and the dystopian fantasy series beginning with THE UNWANTEDS. (Book 2, Unwanteds: ISLAND OF SILENCE, comes out Sept 4, 2012).

You can find more info at Lisa'a website, lisamcmann.com, interact with her on Facebook or Twitter, or ask questions and find answers on her VYou.com page.

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Review: Girl Meets Underworld - Jess Watkins

Title: Girl Meets Underworld
Author: Jess Watkins
Pub Date: February 12, 2013
Publisher: Opis Publishing
Page Count: 224

Having lost her mother and brother, Stella stands on the roof of her building, about to jump. She is stopped by a handsome young man, who jumps first. Somehow, he survives and Stella soon discovers that Conner holds a dark secret and more than a passing connection to her own unhappiness.

But Conner isn’t the only man to take an interest in Stella. Will is dangerous. He has mood swings, a crazy older brother and the ability to heal abnormally quickly. Stella knows what Conner is, but what exactly is Will – and why does he appear to know more about Conner than she does?

 I'd like to think that I'm a good person, at least for the most part. I hate it when I get a request review or when I request a book, get the copy and then have to go "no, there's no way I can sugar coat this." There is no way to say this nicely because the truth can hurt, no matter how it's put out. I'm going to try to maintain the professionalism, though. 

A copy was received in exchange for a 100% HONEST review.

This book, simply and plainly was a complete mess. Though it's written for YA, I felt like the mentality of the main character was quite low at a lot of times and that was why I really couldn't connect with the main character and even the story in general.

Title discussion? I really thought this book was going to be UNDERWORLD... You know, like Death and souls and stuff (Meg Cabot Underworld?) I didn't expect or want it to be that series of crappy movies Underworld (Vamps vs. Lycans Werewolves)

Read the synop. if you haven't becuase that's what I'm going to discuss. This synopsis was what led me to believe that it was going to be some kind of contemporary book, but no, it's a Twilight-styled vampire vs. werewolf thing. There is no mention of the supernatural at ALL in the synop and if there was, quite honestly, I probably would've been turned off. Vampires and werewolves are not my thing, though there have been novels that have pleasantly surprised me. I love paranormal and supernatural, but still...

This book honestly just made me want to DNF or even just tell the author I couldn't review and somehow, I managed to make my way through it. We've got this main character named Stella. Yeah, Stella? Remember what I was saying with Twilight...? How many names rhyme with Bella? I'm not accusing the author of anything, it's just a coincidence. 

  

It started with a girl who was about to suicide and in like 10 pages later, we're introduced to this guy who's a vampire and who's taking her to dinner and acting like a boyfriend. Yeah, I got this that is a Supernatural book, but that doesn't mean you have to go completely bonkers on the pace. It was far too fast to be believable and contributed to the plague that is instalove in the YA society. From there I expected it to get better you know, just a rough start but it didn't.

 We literally have too many ideas in one novel and not enough pages to fill them. I applaud Watkins for her ideas because it isn't easy to have all these ideas and frame them together, but they didn't make sense in a lot of places. The first spot where I saw the warning signs was when Conner takes Stella out and on the way she meets her father who is a) vampy vamp and b) AWOL since she was like 4... And then the whole situation shock is over in 20 pages? If the novel was 500 pages, it would make more sense and because I've got kindle, I was so surprised to see that there were only 200-300 pages!

There was also zero character development in Stella because she was stupid in the beginning and stupid throughout the novel. Okay, just think: You know a guy who has random mood swings, vampires don't like him, he's referred to as a dog and hides away during a full moon... What is he? I bet my readers know, but Stella didn't until the 3rd quarter of the book. And then Will (the wolf) is shocked that she figured it out because he totally didn't make it easy for her.

But while we're on the topic of stupid heroine, let's go to my favorite topic in a book: cliches. This is not the only book with cliches, but it does have an ABUNDANCE of them. I'm going to list a bunch of things and take a drink whenever you involuntarily roll your eyes at.

- Girl has a missing father

- Father is the leader of vampires

- Vampire and werewolves (sworn enemies) fight over a human girl.

- Human girl is missing a parent

- She ignores her friends to spend all her time with the boys

- There's a vengeful ex of the MC's love interest that tries to kill main character.

- Father is getting remarried to a stepmother who hates his human MC child.

- The line "you make me feel less like a monster and more human".

- Evil brother of one of the love interests.

- Father with loving intentions but abusive actions. (The "I promise I'm going to change" thing.)

I'm sorry if I'm coming across as mean because I'm just so frustrated at this 1st draft work. If Jess Watkins needs areas to improve in, I'd definitely say to refine the pace of the novel as well as the events. I cannot tell you how many times I wanted to shoot Stella, Will, Stella's dad or any other character because to me, they were all UNLIKABLE! (Especially Stella's Dad because he was this asshole who hurt Stella physically, tried to tell her what to do despite barely ever being in her life and torturing werewolves in his spare time. I mean, my Dad plays cards in his spare time...)

If this is an "inspired by Twilight" novel, then maybe you should know, but I actually despise Twilight. I'm anti-twilight as well as the "you can like whatever YOU want and I won't judge you" sort. 

I can honestly say that nothing positive came to mind while writing this book except for the fact that I know that it will appeal to other people. I mean the Twilight saga is so successful so I can bet that if Watkins took extra editing time and even some revisions, it could be as popular as Twilight. I just found it messy, too fast and not something that I'd like to read anyway. It isn't even the plot; I don't typically like the V vs. W thing...

Born in Lincoln but raised in Shropshire, Jess Watkins is currently in her final year of university studying a Masters in Chemistry. She has lived in three different countries and owns an unreasonable number of t-shirts. A Whovian, Browncoat and Sherlockian, Jess loves fantasy and sci-fi as well as animals, reading and skiing, and of course writing.

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