Flying Kick-a-pow!

I probably would have enjoyed this more if I knew more about Marxism, which I don't know a whole lot about. So ... a lot of this was confusing for me. But otherwise, it had some cool ideas in it and I found it interesting.

Touch is a very short novella of only 72 pages––but despite its brevity, it's a lot to absorb. I had to read it twice in order to properly understand its contents.The story is about a Palestinian girl, the youngest of ten children. The book goes through events in her day-to-day life, skipping back and forth throughout time, and even repeating certain points in the girl's significant memories.During my first reading, I was pretty confused for most of the story. It's challenging to figure out the order of events. However, once I grasped the story as a whole, it was easier to go back and re-read the novella and understand which events happened when. It isn't entirely clear, but it's possible to at least get the gist of it.Probably the strongest aspect of the narrative was its imitation of memory. It makes sense that, mimicking the way the human mind works, the story skips around in time and returns to the events that are most important to the protagonist. Although it's confusing, I do understand the author's intentions and I think she does a good job with the structure of the story over all.The writing is also very poetic and very sensory. Different "sections" of the book focus on different senses with which the girl experiences the world, which is an interesting stylistic choice.Over all, I thought this book was beautifully written and structured in a unique and intriguing way. However, I did find it a bit confusing and I had some issues connecting to the characters. So ultimately, I guess it gave me mixed feelings.

This sounds like something I might hate. Buuuut a lot of people are saying it's super great, so I'm curious. I may give it a shot.

This isn't going to be a terribly in-depth review, because I think I might just review the series as a whole once I finish reading them all. I have a huge omnibus on all of them, so yeah. (It was free for Kindle for a while, but I think it may be gone now ... AHHH.)Anyway, like all the Sherlock Holmes I've read, I enjoyed this one a lot. It didn't stick with me quite as much as the one before it (The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes), but it was still enjoyable. And we got to meet some awesome new characters. Like the wonderful Mycroft Holmes:Oh and of course MORIARTTYYYYYYYYY!!!!Ah hem, yeah if you can't tell I'm a big fan of the BBC show ... ANYWAY. Oh and the ending of this one. UGHH THE ENDING. SO MANY FEELS. But yeah, it was really good. I plan on reading [b:The Hound of the Baskervilles|8921|The Hound of the Baskervilles (Sherlock Holmes, #5)|Arthur Conan Doyle|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1355929358s/8921.jpg|3311984] next, so yay!

I think this premise could possibly be executed well, but due to negative reviews I've read I think I'm going to stay away from this. I think that "reverse discrimination" books might seem like they have good intentions, but often they just get offensive instead. And from what I've read, apparently that's what happens with this book. It doesn't sound like it truly conveys an understanding of LGBTQ issues, plus I've read that it doesn't even take bisexuals or transexuals into account, which is a big problem. So yeah ... no.

I had been meaning to read this book for years. I think the first time I heard of it was when the movie came out (which I still need to see), and everyone was raving about it, etc. And I soon found out that it was based on this graphic novel (or, from what I've heard, Marjane Satrapi prefers the term "comic book"). So, since I tend to always read the book before seeing the movie, I intended to read this. In fact, I'm pretty sure it was one of the very first books I added to my "to-read" list here on Goodreads when I first joined ... and that was like, more than five years ago. In case you don't already know, Persepolis is an autobiographical comic book chronicling the childhood of the author, Marjane "Marji" Satrapi, as she grows up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. The story focuses on when Marji is six to fourteen years old, during which she experiences the Revolution, the overthrow of the Shah, and the beginning of the war with Iraq. I don't even really know where to start. All I can say is, HOLY HELL this book is amazing. It's less than 200 pages long and drawn in simple comic strips, and yet it's packed with so much story and so much emotion. First of all, Marji is easy to fall in love with. She's not perfect by any means, and has a lot of misunderstandings about the world, and the author is unflinching in her portrayal of her childhood self. But of course, Marji's flaws are what make her a compelling character and it's easy to sympathize with her. Secondly, loved the illustrations. They are very simplistic, and apparently for some people that takes away from the serious parts of the story. Personally, though, I thought the simple style added a lot to it. Since it's from a child's point of view, I think the illustration style makes a lot of sense. Even in the most horrific scenarios, Marji still sees through a child's innocent eyes, so it makes sense that she'd depict horrible things in a more innocent way––and it's just as effective, if not more. There are a lot of striking illustrations that really stuck with me. I also love that Satrapi makes the historical context of the story accessible without it becoming too complicated or falling into too much of an info dump. She doesn't leave the reader in the dark and drops an explanation here and there, and they're not too detailed, but they're easy enough to understand. And that's important in understanding some events in the story, and also just learning about the Islamic Revolution in general.What I think I love most, though, is the balance of humor and tragedy in the book. With such dark subject matter, it would be easy to become focused on the negative rather than the positive. But Satrapi masterfully balances both the dark and the light side of her story. One moment I would be laughing out loud and the next I would be in tears. Over all, I found it to be a very touching and powerful story with a lot of heart. It's one of the only books I've ever immediately re-read after reading it the first time. I hope to read the sequel soon!

Due to a lot of drama and some unprofessional behavior of the author and her agent, I most likely will never touch this book.Granted, I probably wouldn't have anyway because the plot doesn't interest me. Sounds pretty sexist and boring. So yeah. No thank you.

UPDATE (8/28/13): I got my signed copy in the mail today! :D It has my design on the cover and my name in the acknowledgements and GAHHH IT'S SO EXCITING.

Hello, lovely Goodreadians! I should be doing homework, but I'm going to review this novella instead. It hopefully shouldn't be too long, since ... well, it's a novella and therefore it isn't a very long book.This is one of those little ebook novella-thingies that authors write between books in a series so that they can pay for their vacation homes or whatever. In this case, it's a part of the Unearthly trilogy by Cynthia Hand, and takes place between the second and third books.The story is about Clara and Angela going off to Italy for the summer to get their minds off of all the stressful angel stuff, the recent death of Clara's mother, etc. Of course, it's not that easy. And soon Clara finds out that Angela is romantically involved with a mysterious angel named Phen. What I liked most about this novella is that we get to see from Angela's point of view. She's one of my favorite characters from the series, and it was interesting to experience her narration. We get to find out some new things about her, too (like that her first kiss was with Christian ... WHAAAT).In general, it was also just interesting to see the characters in a new setting and temporarily away from the main plot of the series. After reading the third book, I can say that it's not absolutely necessary to read this one in between the second and third books. However, the third book does reference it a few times, and it might help to read this just so you get a better idea of what the characters are talking about. But, it's not 100% needed.The one thing that bothered me about this novella was the slut shaming.EXHIBIT A:She looks thoughtful. "I thought you had a boyfriend, though. In Italy, I mean. Didn't you?"Like she doesn't already know that this is a subject I don't talk about. But I'm a decent actress when the situation calls for it. I grew up in a theater, after all. So it's not too hard to play the slut card.EXHIBIT B:He told me that she'd invited him inside and boldly tried to seduce him, and I tried to act like the image of this jewel-bedecked Italian broad running her slutty hands all over him didn't bother me.But other than that, I found it to be a quick and fun read.

Actual rating: 3.5 StarsOh wow, I read this exactly a month ago, so I guess it's about time I got around to reviewing it. On top of that, I read the whole thing in like two sittings so now my memory of it is a bit foggy. It kind of went by in a blur. So when I try to remember it my brain is kind of like:Uhhh, so what happened in this book?Oh yeah. So, Lena has escaped into the Wilds to hang out with other rebel people. Alex has supposedly died. Although Lena has now gotten away from the cure, there's still a matter of freeing everyone else from it. So, she and her new friends set out to do that. On top of that, Lena starts to fall in love with someone new ...Over all, I enjoyed this book, although I did have some mixed feelings about certain aspects of it. I really liked Delirium and I was honestly a bit nervous about there being a sequel. I loved the ending of the first book and I thought it could have been very powerful as a standalone. But ... you know, everything has to be a series. So, oh well.Thus, I went into this book not really knowing what to expect. And so, I guess you could say that this book exceeded my expectations. But I didn't really have any concrete expectations to begin with.I did think that the plot of this one was better. While I enjoyed the first book and thought the writing and characters were good, it was a little lacking in the plot department. There wasn't a whole lot of action except in a few key places. I thought that Pandemonium was more exciting and action-packed, and kept me glued to the page. The new characters were also likable. I was kind of ticked off that Alex was kind of replaced by Julian in a way ... I mean, just that it was kind of like, "Oh, your old love interest is gone? Here's a convenient new one!" I just knew this was going to happen. But, I did still like Julian and I thought the romance between him and Lena was developed nicely. I also liked that there was a gay couple in this book ... although I would've liked to have seen more of them so they didn't feel so much like "token" characters. At least the topic was addressed, because I spent a while being like, "Wait ... what do they do about gay people?" Since there's the whole thing where they keep boys and girls separate to prevent them from falling in love. And I was like:So, at least that was kind of acknowledged. I guess the only major thing that bothered me was the time shifts. There was this constant switching between "then" and "now." With all the flashbacks/flash-forwards, it got kind of confusing. It took me a while to figure out the gist of what was going on; it was a bit hard to get used to. Ultimately, it wasn't too bad, but I wasn't sure why it was necessary and I found it annoying sometimes.UGGHHH and the ending.Alex is still alive ... OF COURSE. I knew this was going to happen from the first page. It was just so predictable. But still, that doesn't stop it from being any less aggravating. I'm not sure how to feel about it. I mean, I'm happy he's still alive of course. But this also means that a typical love-triangle is going to ensue. And Lena is obviously going to end up with Alex because that's how these love triangle things always play out. The girl always goes with the first guy ... like ALWAYS.So yeah, if you didn't read the spoiler and you plan on reading this book ... Let's just say that it has a cliffhanger/shock ending (that isn't really all that shocking). And I don't think I like where this is headed.However, I plan to read the third book because ... well, I do want to know what happens. ;)

So it took me like a month to read this book and now it's taken me like a month to get around to reviewing it. Basically, it's a lot to digest ... and I'm trying to figure out a way to review this properly. But ... GAH IT'S SO MUCH.This was my first time reading Dickens. It took me 20 years of my life but I finally got around to it. It's not like I didn't ever want to read Dickens, but I just hadn't gotten around to it. Of course, now that I have a Kindle I've found it's a lot easier to get myself to read classic books. Maybe it's just me, but have you noticed that it's like impossible to find a readable hard copy of a classic book? It's like, either the print is so microscopic it gives me a headache just to look at it and/or half the page is taken up by footnotes from scholarly people which I find super distracting. But now I can get classic books for free and also adjust the size of the writing and everything, so that's awesome. Of course, this isn't an ad for Kindle so I'm going to shut up now.The point is, I'm glad I finally got around to experiencing Dickens because it was a great first experience. It did take me a while to get through the whole thing, but ultimately I loved it.I think what's most brilliant about this book is the characters. Yes, there are a ton of them and at times it's confusing to keep them all straight. But for the most part, they're all unique individuals with carefully thought-out backstories, and it's their interactions and relationships with each other that make the story truly memorable.There are just so many awesome characters in here. Ms. Havisham is so twisted and manipulative, and yet one can't help but feel bad for her after what she's been through. Joe and Herbert are both so sweet and such loyal friends. (Speaking of which, I kind of ship Pip with Herbert ... Is that weird?) Estella is so cold and messed-up and whatnot, and Pip's obsession with her is just agonizing and at the same time it's unfortunately quite realistic. (I mean, I've seen guys go through similar obsessions with girls who obviously were just going to trample on their hearts ... It's just sad. And it goes both ways; that is, I've seen girls go through similar obsessions as well.)And the plot is very good for the most part, too. There's a lot of little plotlines that all kind of merge together; a lot of details from earlier in the story become more important later in the story, etc. There are times when it was slow-going, but it always kept me interested.I think what interested me most was the relationship between Ms. Havisham and Estella. It's just so deliciously twisted, how Ms. Havisham raises Estella to have no feelings and everything. This little passage of dialogue between Ms. Havisham and Pip really spoke to me: "But as [Estella] grew, and promised to be very beautiful, I gradually did worse, and with my praises, and with my jewels, and with my teachings, and with this figure of myself always before her, a warning to back and point my lessons, I stole her heart away, and put ice in its place.""Better," I could not help saying, "to have left her a natural heart, even to be bruised or broken."AGGHH it's just so good. And I feel like that captures a lot of what the story is about ... That we all have to go through struggles, and pain, and things don't always turn out the way we want them to, but it's better to go through all that and become a better person from it than to just feel nothing at all. So, yes. Brilliant!I also loved the writing. The descriptions are very vivid and it was easy for me to picture everything and to imagine that I was there in the story. There was also a lot of fantastic humor in it. For example, I loved this part when Pip lied to his sister about what Ms. Havisham's house was like:"We played with flags," I said. (I beg to observe that I think of myself with amazement, when I recall the lies I told on this occasion.)"Flags!" echoed my sister."Yes," said I. "Estella waved a blue flag, and I waved a red one, and Miss Havisham waved one sprinkled all over with little gold stars, out at the coach-window. And then we all waved our swords and hurrahed."Ah haha. I love it.I think the only downfall to the writing was that, when the story was originally published, it was published in pieces in a newspaper or a literary journal or something of that sort. And Dickens got paid by the word, and it's fairly obvious at points that he's squeezing as many words as possible into the book as he can. For example:Don't go home. When at last I dozed, in sheer exhaustion of mind and body, it became a vast shadowy verb which I had to conjugate. Imperative mood, present tense: Do not thou go home, let him not go home, let us not go home, do not ye or you go home, let not them go home. Then potentially: I may not and I cannot go home; and I might not, could not, would not, and should not go home ...JESUS CHRIST, DICKENS. But at least he kind of pokes fun at himself for doing this, sometimes:This is written of, I am sensible, as if it had lasted a year. It lasted about five days.Haha.Well, I think you get the idea. I think this is a damn good story with awesome characters and excellent (although sometimes needlessly wordy) writing. I thoroughly enjoyed it and I look forward to reading more of Dickens's work.

I read Rebel Heart several weeks ago by now, and I still can't decide how I feel about it. Let's just say, I had a lot of mixed feelings about it. While I enjoyed it, there were several things in it that infuriated me. And over all, I thought it was kind of a disappointing follow-up to Blood Red Road.I was in love with the first book. It was like someone had taken [b:The Knife of Never Letting Go|2118745|The Knife of Never Letting Go (Chaos Walking, #1)|Patrick Ness|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1277071696s/2118745.jpg|2124180] and [b:The House of the Scorpion|13376|The House of the Scorpion|Nancy Farmer|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347695758s/13376.jpg|868252] and combined them into one crazy story. Not to mention, it had a kickass female lead and an awesome love interest. I thought it was really exciting and well-developed. When I got to the end, I was kind of surprised to find out that there was going to be a sequel. I thought Moira Young could have possibly just tied it up at the end somehow. But, of course I was still going to read the sequel.Going into book two, I wasn't sure what to expect. I didn't really know where Young was going to pick up the plot or what was supposed to happen in this one. So, I was excited, but I was a little bit skeptical. When a series really starts out with a bang, sometimes it's difficult to follow up. And I feel like that was kind of an issue here.But I'll get to my problems with it later. I'll start with what I did like.A lot of things I liked about the first book were still present in the sequel.First of all, it's a very atmospheric series. The world Moira Young creates is very intriguing and easy to picture. It was easy for me to get lost in the story and imagine myself there along with the characters.Secondly, I like the writing style (for the most part). There are times when it gets a little annoying. And it does remind me a lot of Patrick Ness's style in the Chaos Walking series which makes me wonder if that's somehow intentional ... But it's still an interesting style and gives the book an extra something.I like that the plot moves fast. It just keeps running and doesn't slow down. Even if there were things in the book that bothered me, at least I was never bored with it. There's always something going on and Young keeps the readers guessing about what will happen next. So, I appreciate that.I also liked the addition and/or development of certain characters. I had hoped that Lugh would become a more prevalent character in this book, and he was. He was not really in much of the first book, so I was glad to see more of him in this book, and I thought his relationship with Maev was sweet. Although, honestly, I thought he was kind of being a jerk for most of the book. But I found him to be an intriguing character, anyway. I also really liked Molly and Jack's history with her; at first it weirded me out a little, but it was also really sad and I thought it felt believable. So, I found their relationship to be a compelling aspect of the story. However, as I've mentioned a few times by now, there were some major things in this book that bothered me. SPOILERS AHEAD.I still loved Jack, but the whole thing with him supposedly "betraying" everyone was kind of clichéd and predictable. I mean, it was pretty clear from the start that it was going to turn out he hadn't really turned evil. Like, he had no reason to do that at all. And yet most of the characters gave up on him pretty much right away. They were just like, "Well, even though Jack has no reason at all to betray us, we've all instantly lost faith in him. He's evil now. Too bad, I guess." So when it turned out that it was all a misunderstanding and everything it was like, HMM YOU DON'T SAY.But probably the biggest thing was that I had some big problems with Saba in this book. I loved her in the first book and thought she was a super cool heroine. In Rebel Heart, I lost quite a bit of respect for her. Sure, she was still pretty kickass and tough and all, but she made some pretty damn stupid decisions.MAJOR SPOILER: So, there's this part where she sees Jack kidnap Emmi. And at that point, she goes totally nuts and runs off on her own and jumps off a cliff Bella Swan style. I mean, she's going after Nero, but still. It's a bit dramatic. She then runs into the villain, DeMalo. They end up spending some time together and he shows her this trippy place where they hallucinate about flying over daisy fields or something. And then ... they have sex. So yeah. For some reason Saba decides not to go save her kidnapped sister, but to be a whiney brat and run away, jump off a cliff, and have sex with the villain for virtually no reason. (I mean, I kind of get the feeling there's some weird kind of mind-control type thing going on, or some other thing that Saba can't control. But, it was still really weird.) And I mean like, why would you ever sleep with someone whose name like literally means "Of Evil"? (Not very subtle, Moira Young.)So yeah, that one thing really threw me off.I also didn't like the way Saba treated Tommo. Poor dude. I wish Saba had just been honest with him rather than being manipulative and seriously using his feelings for her against him at one point. It just seemed super bitchy of her. Basically, I thought Saba was awesome in the first book, but in this book she did a lot of things that really got on my nerves.Anyway ... I did like the ending. The last scene between Jack and Saba was really cute and I still think they're a great couple.In conclusion ... I liked this book. I just didn't like it as much as I liked the first book. It was exciting and fast-paced, and the world and the characters are interesting. I was disappointed in Saba by the end, though. However, I still plan on reading the third book and finding out what happens.

Putting out a sequel five years after the first book came out is pretty risky. And honestly, I was a bit skeptical. I mean sure, I was excited, because I get excited for everything Neal Shusterman writes. But still ... I'd spent several years with Unwind lodged in my brain; even though I read it when it first came out about five years ago, so many of its details are still crystal-clear in my mind. It's such a memorable and brilliant book, and I'd basically put it up on a pedestal. Therefore, I had really high expectations for this book and I was nervous that they wouldn't be met.But they were. Oh, they were ...Now, did I love UnWholly as much as Unwind? That's hard to say. While of course they have their similarities, I think they're very different books. Also, I have more of a sentimental attachment to Unwind and that probably affects my judgment a bit. I think I still love Unwind more. But don't get me wrong, its sequel is amazing as well.As far as picking up where the first book left off, Shusterman does a brilliant job. I was afraid I would have forgotten some of the important details of Unwind (I probably should have re-read it first, but oh well), but I can't think of a time in UnWholly when I felt too lost for any reason. Shusterman does reference back to the first book a lot, but without info-dumping and only when it's important/relevant to the story. I found that a lot of the time, he would mention a pretty small detail from the first book and I would still remember it. So, it could be that the details of the first book were just so memorable, but I also think Shusterman did a great job reminding the readers of what had happened in book one. Secondly, the characters were handled so well in this book. First of all, it was great to see our heroes from Unwind again––Connor, Risa, and Lev. All three of them have matured and changed a lot and have become legends in the world they live in, yet they still are the same people and they seem like real kids. They all have to deal with the mess left behind after the events of Unwind, and I could really feel their struggle. My hearts went out to them ... poor babies. But on top of that, Shusterman adds a very compelling new group of characters––including Cam, Miracolina, Starkey, and Nelson. Man, I don't even know how Shusterman manages to have so many characters and yet make them all so distinct from each other and make them all so interesting. This is something that also impressed me in his Skinjacker series (which is also incredible). It seems like when he writes a series, with each book he piles on more and more new characters, and somehow he manages to keep it all from spinning out of control. That is an impressive feat, my friends. Every one of the new characters was compelling, served an important role in the story, and gave the reader something new to think about.The idea of Cam was just freaking brilliant. I mean, a person made entirely out of Unwind parts? *Shudders* It's super creepy, but at the same time I feel like that's something that would actually happen (if the events in this story really occurred, I mean). It's really interesting to see how Cam has to adjust to having so many different Unwind's thoughts and memories, and how even though he has the mind of several different people, he still struggles to become his own individual person. And Miracolina ... GAHHH I LOVE HER. Of the new characters, she was probably my favorite. Her backstory is incredible and thought out so well. Her relationship with her parents is so twisted and heart-breaking. I loved seeing her change throughout the story. Basically she was super badass and awesome. And her relationship with Lev is so adorable."So," says Lev, as casually as he can, "you wanna dance?" "Do you believe in the end of the world?" she responds.Lev shrugs. "I don't know. Why?" "Because the day after that is when I'll dance with you."AWWW MY BABIES.Anyway.Then there were characters like Starkey and Nelson, who were just terrible people. And yet, I couldn't really bring myself to hate them just because they were such good characters. And that's the thing I love about Neal Shusterman's characters ... Even the really despicable ones (another good example being Mary from the Skinjacker books) almost don't really feel like "villains" just because Shusterman has thought out their stories so well and makes the reader understand why they've become the way they are.In addition, Shusterman gives us a lot more to think about in UnWholly. While of course the first book was thought-provoking, he adds a lot of elements into the sequel that give the reader more to consider. I think that, in this book, he does a brilliant job showing how both sides of the conflict can be manipulative––both those who are for Unwinding and those who are against it. Not only that, but I love how he mixes real-life news articles into the book that show how the concept of the story isn't all that unbelievable. While I don't think Unwinding could ever actually happen (just because it's scientifically impossible), I could see it maybe happening if it really were an option. As Shusterman demonstrates, society does have this overwhelming hatred towards teenagers, and in the media they are often portrayed as "feral" and inhuman. So, it's pretty scary stuff.And of course, the plot was amazing. Even with so many characters and so much going on, Shusterman handles it fantastically. The plot is fast-paced and never stops moving, but it doesn't get confusing either. I spent most of the book pretty much like this:So yeah, it was super exciting.Over all, this book was just the bee's knees. It's compelling, it's moving, it's heart-wrenching, it's brilliantly paced ... and altogether it was a very strong sequel. I'm excited to see what's in store for the characters in book three.

No one likes to be second-best. We all have that one person who constantly does better at whatever we're trying to do. There's always that one kid who wins all the awards, who always succeeds at everything while the rest of us are left to feel like no one notices us. This is the sentiment that drives a group of kids to form "The Shadow Club," a club of kids who feel "second-best" to someone else. It starts off as something innocent, an outlet for them all to share their feelings. But quickly, the Shadow Club starts to go too far ... The members start playing practical jokes on their rivals. And when unplanned and dangerous pranks start happening and no one in the Shadow Club admits to them, they become convinced that someone knows their secret and is trying to frame them.If you know me, you know that I love Neal Shusterman. I worship the ground he walks on. He has written some of the best YA books out there (in my opinion), including [b:Unwind|764347|Unwind (Unwind, #1)|Neal Shusterman|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1297677706s/764347.jpg|750423], [b:Bruiser|1931915|Bruiser|Neal Shusterman|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1318261800s/1931915.jpg|1934354], and the [b:Skinjacker Trilogy: Everlost; Everwild; Everfound|11508183|Skinjacker Trilogy Everlost; Everwild; Everfound (Skinjacker, #1-3)|Neal Shusterman|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1317324120s/11508183.jpg|16444003]. His books always have intriguing and unique premises, and he always fleshes out his ideas very well.That said, I felt a bit underwhelmed by The Shadow Club. Maybe it was too middle-grade for my taste, and also it's about ten years old. So, I can definitely say that Neal Shusterman's writing has improved over time. But anyway, I liked it but I couldn't help but compare it to his more recent books and it just wasn't as good.I do like the premise. It's definitely something a lot of people can relate to. I mean, I really relate to it. For example, I'm a writer ... and I've always had that kind of feeling like I'm "good but not good enough" and that as hard as I try there are always people my age who are better than me and succeed way more than I do ... and it's a very discouraging feeling. So, I understood where the characters' feelings of rejection were coming from and I sympathized with them to an extent.Unfortunately, my sympathy with them ended about there. A lot of the characters' actions in this book just came off as mean-spirited to me and it made it hard for me to like them. Not only that, but most of them were kind of cardboard-cutout characters with not much personality. It was like "second-most popular girl," "second-smartest girl," "second-best basketball player" or whatever, and all of these characters were pretty clichéd and I could barely even keep track of who was who because they were all pretty bland. And over all, the book just felt really short and underdeveloped. I mean, it was a simple plot and I guess there wasn't much to it. But it seemed a bit rushed and ultimately I didn't feel like I could really hold on to any of it. In conclusion, the book had a good premise––simple but easy to relate to. However, it fell flat for me in terms of pacing and character development.However, don't see this review as a judgment of Neal Shusterman's work as a whole. Really, his more recent books are genius and you should all go read them.

So yeah, I'm not going to read this. I admit, part of me feels a little weird and almost sad at the thought of there being a House of Night book out in the world that I'm not reading ... Haha wait, who am I kidding? I'm glad I decided not to put myself through the torture anymore. I mean, I had my fun snarking about the first 8.25 books (I finally just gave up about a fourth of the way through the 9th book). But I mean, 10 books? Come on. And there's supposed to be, what, 15 total? Oy vey. Eh, yeah right. The Casts wouldn't stop even if a Stop sign hit them in the face. ... Because I mean, these books are still bestsellers. So, whatever.So yeah, I was still curious to find out what happens in book number five hundred ten. I looked it up on Wikipedia.Honestly, I couldn't even get through the first two paragraphs of plot summary without getting a headache. Thus, I've come to realize that I'm not even curious what happens in these books anymore. Not even for the lulz. It's just ... not funny. It's not funny anymore. Joke's over, right?Oh yeah, also apparently two cats die at the very beginning of this book. WHAT. I thought the Casts were horrible enough, and now they're killing innocent kitties in their books ... THAT IS NOT COOL. All right. Okay. Whatever.

Actual rating: 1.5 StarsSixteen-year-old Bixby's life is falling apart: her mother died, her father is distant and barely ever at home, she constantly has to care for her grandma who has Alzheimer's, and recently her older brother, Lincoln, was killed in a car accident. Bixby only finds solace in visiting an imaginary town in her vivid dreams. There, everything is under control and she always has friends. But then, a stranger appears in her dream world––a boy named Jordan, who offers to bring her brother back from the dead. But of course, it will come with a price ...I downloaded this book because it was free for Kindle. And when I started it, I had high hopes. I've always been in love with the concept of dreams––especially lucid dreams, alternate universes in dreams, etc. And I haven't found a lot of good books about this kind of stuff. (And I tried writing one once myself, but it didn't really work out...) Anyway, I found the premise really intriguing, which enough to give the book an extra half-star.Unfortunately, everything else in the book either fell flat for me or majorly pissed me off. While the story started out with an original idea, it soon fell prey to all the clichés that infect YA paranormal romance. Not only that, but often times the plot just felt really rushed and didn't make a lot of logical sense.So, continuing with the story ... Lincoln does in fact come back from the dead. There's some excuse for it like, "Oh there was a third body in the car that no one knew about and we got them mixed up" or ... something. I don't know. And then he just kind of goes back to normal life, so whatever.Predictably, the "price" Jordan wanted Bixby to pay was for her to be "bound" to him.Well, we all know it just goes downhill from there. What follows is a wandering plot in which Bixby travels between the real world and the dream world. In the real world, she mopes around and has a miserable life, and in the dream world Jordan harasses and abuses her and this is supposed to be "romantic." (Oh yeah, also he turns out to be a genie.) So, yup.Anyway, let's look at some of the main problems here:Bixby is a Mary Sue.Bixby is the typical "outcast" Mary Sue. She claims to have absolutely no friends at school because ... uh ... I guess it's because she's too pretty and she reads too much. Other than that there's not really any reason. She also seems to generally consider herself to be a lot better and more pure than all the other girls and makes this quite clear on several occasions. For example! There's this part where Lincoln sets Bixby up on a date with this random sleazy guy named Brent. Lincoln arranges this without telling Bixby and is just like, "I took care of it all: date, dress, everything." (And this seems like a really weird and controlling thing for an older brother to do, but that's not even the point here.)Lincoln informs Bixby that he borrowed the dress from this girl named Celia. To this, Bixby replies: "Celia? You mean slutty Celia? I can see the top of her bra and thong in every outfit she wears!"... Lovely.But that's not all, folks! Later, Lincoln and Bixby get into this argument when Bixby doesn't seem to be enjoying her date with Brent:Lincoln's jaw clenched and bulged. "Bixby, please, why do you have to make things difficult? Why do you think my friends don't like you? Maybe they think you're the bitch."I recoiled from him, my eyes stinging. "Why? Because I don't spend hours focused on my hair and my face and my clothes with the other girls or slut it up with all the guys like they do?"HOW TO BE A SLUT IN THREE EASY STEPS by Bixby1) Accidentally expose your underwear ... or I guess, just wear clothing that is revealing to some degree.2) Actually care about your appearance. Do your hair, put on make-up, and go shopping for nice clothes like the shallow whore you are.3) "Slut it up" with guys, whatever the hell that means. Making out? Having sex? Well, whatever. If you even so much as try to attract a guy's attention, you are automatically impure.I think that's the gist of it.Oh yeah, and did I mention that Jordan's magic somehow makes Bixby gradually turn prettier? That's right! Somehow his magical spells carry over into the real world, and it makes Bixby always appear as if she is wearing make-up on her face. "Makeup wasn't an option seeing as I didn't actually own any but inspecting my face I could see I didn't really need it."Well yes, because if you owned makeup that would make you a slut. But conveniently, you are magically pretty because of your genie boyfriend. "But my cheeks were no more than rosy and my skin was smooth. My hair was still lying as nicely as it had been when I had fixed it. I sadly wondered how much different I was going to end up looking.""Sadly" ... ? Man, if I automatically looked like I was wearing make-up every morning that would be fantastic.Well anyway, I think you get the idea. In conclusion, Bixby is an annoying Mary Sue and she slut-shames like crazy. Moving on!Jordan is a creep.No surprise there. It's bad enough that he magically "binds" Bixby to him and controls her appearance. But he also has been spying on her for years. Yay!"Autumn is my favorite season," I mumbled stupidly."I know it is," he said fervently. "That's why I made it perfect for you. it never rains on Halloween; it's never so cold kids have to cover up their costumes. I make the leaves change color and drop in shifts, lasting for months. That smell you love so much, it's the leaves changing."Uh, okay. So he controls the weather for her. Weird. But it gets creepier ..."How do you know that?" I whispered. "How do you know that about me?"He smiled sweetly and moved his hand from the chair to my hand. "Just observation."Yeah okay ... "just observation." Also known as stalking.Of course, Jordan also "falls in love" with Bixby after only having like five conversations with her. "I love you. I have been in love with you for years. There are so many things I can't change and so many things I am sorry about but you have to know. I love you."I could feel my mouth opening and closing, trying to force an appropriate answer out.Jordan shook his head. "You don't have to say anything. We have forever to figure this out."So basically it's like ...Jordan: So like I've been stalking you for your whole life and watching you and controlling the weather for you. Haha surprise.Bixby: ....Jordan: So yeah I'm TOTES IN LOVE WITH YOU.Bixby: Uh ...Jordan: Haha shut up bitch I own you and you don't get a say in the matter. But being a stalker isn't enough. Of course not. He also has to be a controlling, abusive bastard. "I would never hurt you," he said fiercely, unmindful of his fingers digging into my flesh. I was horrified to see a glistening of tears in his eyes. "I can't change what I am, I can't change the world I live in but I will never hurt you again and I will never let anything in this world do so either." Anyone else find that horribly ironic? In fact, the following day Bixby observes that she has "five finger print bruises on each arm." Oh, but Jordan would never hurt her. Never ever.Oh, but it gets worse. When Jordan finds out Bixby went on a date with that Brent guy:"So you figured it was all right to be with someone else? … I would have thought it was clear going on dates and dancing with other men was not acceptable."UMMMMM. I'm sorry, what?Just ... NO! First of all, Bixby makes it pretty clear that she was forced to go on this date and that she has no interest in the guy involved. And even if she was interested, it's really none of Jordan's freaking business. He's a genie that lives in another dimension for chrissakes. And he forced Bixby into a relationship with him. He never asked her if she agreed to being "bound" to him. He just told her there was going to be a price to pay for her brother's life back, and then he was like "TROLOLOLO NOW I OWN YOU." Because I guess that's what love is all about.Well, at least Bixby seems weirded out by this and makes some observation about how Jordan has "serious jealousy issues." But after this whole argument, she goes back to being obsessed with him again: - "I left the restaurant happy and content, dreaming up different ways Jordan and I could make up and he could go back to being the perfect guy I wanted him to be."- "And it hurt to think of him like that because as angry as I was, as much as I no longer trusted him, I was still in love with him."WHYYYY?????!!!!! I just ... don't get it. How could you be in love with a guy who was so creepy and possessive? I don't understand.Well anyway, I think it's about time that I start to wrap this thing up, so here's kind of a run-down of what happens for the last chunk of the book. **SPOILERS BELOW!**So after that whole argument with Jordan, this other nice guy named Kyle/Jimmy (you'll see what I mean in a second) tries to ask Bixby out on a date."Oh, I know," Kyle said cheerfully. "I wanted to talk to you.""Oh," I said, disappointed."I was wondering if you wanted to go to the movies on Friday.""That's not a good idea," I said quickly, a little too quickly."Oh," he said with a fallen face."'Cause I don't think Lincoln would like that," I rushed to amend."I already asked him!" he told me, smile back in place. ..."Right. Well, I still think it's not a good idea right now. I'm … I'm grounded."Jimmy frowned. "Oh. Lincoln didn't mention that when I asked him."Things that are wrong with this:1) For some reason guys need to ask "permission" from Lincoln before asking Bixby out on a date. Uh ...2) Kyle's name spontaneously changes to Jimmy.And then there's the ending in which things get ... weird.So, Bixby's grandma runs out into a lightning storm and Bixby runs after her. The police track them down and say they're going to take Bixby's grandma to a nursing home. They try to arrest Bixby for ... some reason, and she tries to get away. And then she gets arrested for "resisting arrest." Oh, the irony.Bixby then has to talk to some social worker lady who wants to put her in a foster home, and this is what happens:"I'm not going to a foster home.""You are," she said firmly."I'm not. I will run away from whatever home you bring me too." (Yes, that typo is actually in the book.)Sophie sat back and crossed her arms over her chest. After a minute she began sliding all her papers back into her briefcase. "Fine," she said."Fine?" I repeated, relief flooding me."No foster home for you. You can just go straight to juvie too," she said, and with that walked out the door.Uh ... correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure that's not how the law works.Well anyway!So, Bixby suddenly finds herself in juvie, where a bunch of girls immediately attack her and cut off her hair (because you're totally allowed to have scissors in juvie.) Bixby once again whines about how it sucks to be beautiful and how it "only brings her negative attention." Whatever.She then talks to some other girl and lays out her future plans:"I'm going to find my brother and beg his forgiveness and find my grandma and get her out of that nursing home." I squared my shoulders with resolve. "And then I'm going to find Jordan and kill him."Okay well ... that's ... intense. At least it's not what I expected. But anyway! To make a long story short ... I thought this book had potential. The idea behind it was really cool, but unfortunately it didn't live up to my expectations. It ended up being a typical paranormal romance with a Mary Sue protagonist, an abusive asshole love interest, and slut-shaming galore. I don't plan on reading the rest of the series.