{NIN} Review: COFA & COLS

City of Fallen Angels + City of Lost Souls = She should've stopped at City of Glass.

No disrespect to the fabulous Cassandra Clare.  But seriously, while I was initially excited to continue the TMI saga, I was rather disappointed with the whole Jace-Clary I'll-Love-You-Till-the-End-of-Time-and-to-My-Possible-Detriment-and-Demise.  It's getting kind of annoying.

I loved the first three TMI books.  I love The Infernal Devices series.  But I am just not diggin' COFA and COLS.  I didn't even buy COLS (whereas I have the first 4 books).  That should tell you how much I just didn't care for it after COFA.  And let me tell you, I loathe not completing ownership of a series.

I rate this as "Didn't Suffer Too Terribly" out of sheer nostalgia for the Shadowhunter World.

NinJa Reads: REACTIVATED!

Ja had the idea of reviewing books in 10 words or less as this would allow us not to worry about trying to write clever (or snarky) book reviews.  I thought, "What a great idea!" And then I tried to come up with a 10-word book review.

So did not happen.

The problem is, with 10 words or less, you have to work even harder to sound clever in your reviews because you have to choose the exact words that convey your thoughts to a T...and that is dang hard.  Even though the original purpose is to not have to sound clever, I'm vain and want to be funny.

So anyways, here's my attempt to reactivated NinJa Reads.

Fancy-named geek-chick awarded devilishly awesome internship at Chicago’s upper-crust hotel, only to discover it truly is “devilish”…and she’s an angel-in-training that they are trying to corrupt.

Hmm…is it 32 words, or does the hyphenated words make it only 28 words?  *g* Also, I guess it’s not really a review but a summary.  Drat. Ok, review:

Drags a bit with detailed daily hotel doings and Haven’s angel-self-discovery, but then demon-vs-angel battle POWS into the book.  Credit to the author for no Love-POW with the dude she ends up with.

Bah…see, this is hard.

Well, I've done my part.  Now it's {JA}'s turn!!

{NIN} Review of Saving Francesca

Saving Francesca is Melina Marchetta’s sophomore release. Since I’ve become such an MM Fangirl, I had high expectations to be thoroughly entertained or enraptured one way or another. Unfortunately, I have to say that it was not the case with this book for me. That’s not to say that I didn’t like the book – rather…I just have really high expectations for MM books and it just didn’t grab my attention the way that Looking for Alibrandi and Jellicoe Road did. Though I suppose after JR, everything is just downhill from there. The thing about me and books is that if I really like/love the book, I’ll re-read it right away after I’m done, or at least re-read my favorite parts…which usually results in me re-reading the whole book anyways. But I didn’t really do that with Saving Francesca. Sure, I re-read a few parts but I really didn’t feel like picking it up again after I was done.

Saving Francesca is about another Italian-Australian girl, Francesca Spinelli dealing with the trials and tribulations of being a high school student and how it affects her family and social life. Whereas Josie Alibrandi had a ton of spunk and no filter on whatever came out of her mouth, Francesca has, in an effort to be accepted by her St. Stella peers, learned to “put a lid on it.” Her high-spirited mother Mia, the life force in her family, wants Francesca to break out and be who she is supposed to be and not who her friends want her to be.

At the start of the book, Francesca is starting school at St. Sebastian’s, a formerly all-boys school that just opened their doors to girls. Most of her spirit-repressing St. Stella friends (who aren’t really her friends) go to a different school, so Francesca is separated from them and forced to interact with the 3 other St. Stella girls she used to shun that are also attending St. Sebastian’s.

Mia’s mother unexpectedly falls into a deep depression and suddenly Francesca’s family is lost on what to do with themselves and how to go on living. Adding to that, Francesca is inexplicably attracted to the not-available and stick-in-the-mud Will Trombal.

I have to say, one of my favorite things about YA lit is clean and innocent first love-ish type things. Though, as Ja and I were discussing the other day, YA lit sure has a lot more…explicit happenings between guys and girls these days and it’s no wonder teens are engaging in a lot more…explicit behavior lately. And then we decided that we are prudes but what the heck, we like it clean and innocent (L.J. Smith fire-erupting kissing scenes are good enough for us!). Anyhoo, way off track on the point that I was trying to make – Francesca and Will didn’t seem to have much of a connection to me throughout the book. I didn’t see a progression in their relationship; rather…it seems like it just happened over very few interactions. For me, there was just no squeal-worthy moment that had me shipping for them.

There were a few great scenes in the book: Francesca putting Will in his place at the start of the book, Francesca’s developing friendships with 2 boys who previously irritated her (not including Will), becoming friends with the girls she previously avoided and how they are there for her with a Pride & Prejudice fest (Colin Firth!) to wallow in after she found out Will had a girlfriend, and the ending.

* As a side note, any mention of BBC’s production of Pride and Prejudice is always winnahz in my book!

I enjoyed the ending more than I did the journey through the book (besides some of the great scenes). I still recommend this book because of the underlying message in the book to know who your true friends are regardless of how others perceive them and, more importantly, to value yourself enough to be who you want to be.

JaReview: Looking for Alibrandi

I don’t think I’ve ever met a main character as annoying as Josephine Alibrandi in Melina Marchetta’s Looking for Alibrandi. Okay, well I probably have, but no one comes to mind right now.

Josephine Alibrandi is whiny, prone to theatrics and, in general, an “obnoxious creation.” Though you’ll find later in the book, a lot of your original inklings about her life are colored by her perspective. How she perceives herself, her role at school and her life in general is not necessarily as bad as she paints it. Though it could have been her never-ending “woe is me” attitude that fooled me into thinking there was actually validity to her constant bemoaning.

Not that I didn’t like the book (hehe…I’m so contradictory). While I found Jose really annoying, the relationships she builds within the story was fun to watch unfold. She is the product of an Italian single family home and doesn’t know her father. That is until he appears unexpectedly into her life. I liked the honesty and upfront nature of the beginning of their relationship. Neither of them wants to give any false impressions to the other. Neither of them expects to bond and love like father and daughter.

The fact that their relationship could have been all angst-ridden and melodramatic, but was more playful kept with the light heartedness of the novel. She doesn’t go all clingy and consumed with abandonment issues. Instead, she constantly tries to annoy him with her smart mouth antics, like reciting poetry she knows he hates and making sarcastic comments (“Of course I like pizza, are you going to ask me if I like pasta next?”). Likewise, her father doesn’t let her walk all over him because he’s consumed with guilt. Instead, he listens to her problems without offering unsolicited advice and rides her rescue on several occasions. I enjoyed the slow build up of the relationship and loved their witty banter.

Then there’s Jacob Coote. Despite the terrible last name (cooties?), he is your typical hottie bad boy. He’s got violent tendencies, jealousy issues, a “devil may care” attitude and enough moodiness to give Jonah Griggs a run for his money. But he’s also deeply protective of Jose. They’re interactions are hilarious. Spoiler alert: there’s a scene much like when Logan Echolls rescues Veronica Mars from the evil clutches of JTT. Totally squeal worthy. Despite the Logan Echolls likeness, Jacob doesn’t seem…evolved enough to take on the lead man role. It was almost as if he’s an early model of Jonah Griggs (Jellicoe Road was written after this book).

But ultimately, the book is about growing up and finding herself, not so much a romantic love story. It covered some deep issues and did have bittersweet moments, though, it didn’t leave me feeling emotional eviscerated like other books I’ve read. Even if Jose is quite possibly the most annoying bint in the literary world, Looking for Alibrandi was a pretty good read.

~J~