{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!!

JaReview: Anna and the French Kiss

After reading The Lost Hero back in October, I went on YA-hiatus and started reading romnovs again. Yes, you read it correctly. I read trashy romance novels. So sue me. It started with Nora Roberts, actually it started with J.D. Robb. Then she started to scare me (I’m really chickenshit when it comes to scary books). So I started Nora Roberts (same author, different pen name, different genres). Then she started to scare me, so I moved on to regular romnovs.

Let me point out, I rarely read the historical ones. Its rot with your quintessential damsel in distress, who’s annoying dialogue consists of “but I simply can’t” or “I shan’t” or “I’ll be the laughing stock of the ton”. Who bloody cares? They end up doing it anyway. Well not it it. Well, okay, that too. But I was talking more of whatever lame crisis the author fabricates to befall the damsel, which creates her distress, thus leading to her needing to be saved by the aloof, yet secretively caring hero.

Ugh.

When I considered researching English nobility rankings (is a Duke higher than a Count?), I decided enough was enough. I needed get back into YA because apparently these romnovs were rotting my brain.

Then along comes Stephanie Perkins with her freshman novel, Anna and the French Kiss. Le sigh.

Anna’s father has been catapulted into fame and fortune and decides his daughter needs some culture. And what better way to culturize her (yes, quite like yogurt) than to send her to a chic boarding school in Paris. Of course her father doesn't even bother to think about how she’d feel about it, rich and famous father knows best after all. And so, Anna finds herself alone in a foreign country.

Well as alone as one can be in a boarding school where all your classmates speak English anyway.

Enter Etienne St. Clair, resident hot boy, an American with an English accent to boot. And everyone knows us American girls love boys with accents. Especially English ones. Especially ones that say wanker, tosser, and right git. Oh wait…sorry, I was thinking of Draco Malfoy*.

Not unlike the hottie, bad boy blondie, St. Clair is charismatic, charming and, most importantly, devastatingly good looking. (Yeah I know I’m shallow.) Anna is immediately smitten with him, despite the fact that she tries not to be. So really it sounds like this book is going to be one of those annoying Love-Pow books right? Well Perkins proves to the masses that you can indeed have love/lust at first sight but still create a swoon worthy relationship that isn’t reduced to the Bellard variety*.

The story follows Anna’s progression from feelings of isolation and loneliness to slowly adjusting in a foreign country and school. I’m sure the distraction of the St. Clair form help ease the situation. We all know nothing can distract a girl and make her life exciting like a good ole crush. Even if he’s supposed to just be your best friend and already has a girlfriend.

One of the things I loved most about St. Clair was his faults. He was shorter than Anna (which is usually a no-no in writing relationships). He bit his nails. And he was deathly afraid of heights. St. Clair was flawed and yet so completely perfect.

Anna and St. Clair form a bond slightly reminiscent of Macy and Wes*, so you actually understand why they feel the way they do. This relationship isn’t some unexplicable, otherworldly romance. Its two people, who support, defend and understand each other. And of course they do it all with some major sparkage factor. I’m talking “fry your bones to a crisp” sparkles. It’s the little interactions here and there that just hook you. And before you realize it, you’ve been at the bookstore for three hours and your boy, who’s already read four different comics, wants to go home.

My only complaint - well, okay I have three. The first is that the story went a little too teenage drama mama for me near the end. But it’s forgivable because I dislike the too tidy happy endings. The second complaint is that I desperately wanted a French pastry after reading it. And the third, I have to wait nearly seven months for her next book.

Anna and the French Kiss will take you back in time to sitting in the movie theater next to your first crush. Where his arm brushes yours and all you feel is sparkles.

I digs. So much.

*Draco Malfoy - Yeah, I loves Draco. My perception of him might be slightly irrational and noncanon, but I dont particularly care. Like other Dramione shippers, I don't let silly little things, like the epilogue, his wimpy canon nature and her subsequent marriage to Ron, deter me.

*Bellard variety – Relationships like those of Bella and Edward in which the couple becomes annoyingly co-dependent on each other, prone to bouts of weepiness when separated from their most beloved. And their constant whining and pathetic cow eyes make you sort of want to punch them in the head.

*Macy and Wes - characters from Sarah Dessen's The Truth About Forever. Their fabulously swoon-worthy and perfect love story trounces Bellard any day. Seriously. Bring it.

Picks (and Rejects) of 2010

Amist the holiday madness, I haven't had much time, or inclination, to read. However I thought I'd countdown my Top Fives of 2010. Originally I thought of doing a top ten, but that list quickly became a tribute to all things Dessen and Marchetta. There weren’t as many totally fan-tastic standouts like there was in 2009, but with the help of new authors (like Dessen) there was considerably less “Never Again!” books. Though now that I think about it, perhaps my standards for Awesome-rankings have been raised because the calibre of writing I've been reading. Hm....

Ooh! And Nin culls out a bunch of Never Again books so I dont waste my time reading them.

In no particular order, because I just can’t decide which was my favorite of 2010, the Faves…

1. The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan – I finished the Percy Jackson series well before this blog was started so I never got to gush about how totally awesome it was. And Riordan’s sequel series does not disappoint. I know I’ll be a spoiler if I go on about how fantastic this book was. So I’ll just say it was an awesome adventure with great new kick-butt characters (I’m a Piper-fangirl all the way).
2. Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare – I actually reviewed this book here and obviously I thought it was awesome. I might even like it better than The Mortal Instrument series. Will definitely gives Jace a run for his money. And the English accents are just brilliant.
3. The Truth about Forever by Sarah Dessen – Flat out loved this book. What’s not to love? Swoon-worthy male character. Great build-up to an uber fabulous and rabid fangirl worthy relationship. Interesting dialogue and side characters. And not a whiff of stinky Love-Pow. Sarah Dessen, where have you been all my life???
4. Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta – This book made me a diehard Melina-fangirl. War. Tragedy. Mystery. And of course the best star-crossed couple ever written. Romeo’s got nothing on Jonah Griggs.
5. Book Thief by Mark Zusak – To be honest, this book didn’t quite grip me like Dessen or Marchetta’s books, but mostly because it was way too smart and brutal to swoon over. It was a bit harder to read, because Zusak’s got a totally different style of writing. But the story is like “rip your heart out and stomp on it” good. Totally intense and not for someone looking for an easy, light read. I used to read a lot of World War II stories. But Book Thief was the first one I can remember from the Nazi side, a very different and interesting perspective. And the ending…well you should read it for youself.

And of course a year-end wrap up can’t be complete without the Never Agains. There were quite a few I wanted to put on here, but I narrowed it down (reluctantly) to five.

Again in no particular order, though I did loath them in varying degrees, here are the Top Five Never (Ever) Agains -

1. Torment by Lauren Kate – Really the name just says it all. I could go off about what I did not like in this book, but I already did here. And rehashing boring couples and their mundane, angst-ridden plot lines is bad for my zen.
2. Time of the Witches by Anna Myers – For such a short book, it was insanely slow. The only redeeming quality (but not enough to redeem it out of the Never Again category) was that it was a rather interesting take on the Salem witch trials. But not interesting enough to recommend. Or read again.
3. Immortal by Gillian Shields – I don't remember too much about this book but it was the only one in about eighty books I noted as “Stupid.” Predictable plot with too much of idiot and oblivious girl. But not the endearing kind of obliviousness like Elizabeth Scott’s characters.
4. Gossip Girl by Cecily von Ziegesar – GG is a super popular tv show and it’s got a cult following for the huge book series. So I figured it was probably a good series to start. Boy was I wrong. If you’re interesting in reading about overindulgent, whiny rich kid’s lives, then this is the series for you. But overall I thought it was a bunch of stupid teens with absolutely zero plot. And there was no Veronica Mars voice-overs. How lame is that?
5. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins – If it was a standalone book, then it probably doesn't deserve to be in this category. But honestly, this was an extremely disappointing end to such a promising series. Perhaps I’m biased b/c I’m an ill-fated Gale shipper and I don't think he deserved to go out the way he did. However, the book seemed rushed. Did anyone else think it seemed way too convenient that Katniss would fall unconscious while critical parts of the storyline developed? And her constant emo-ness and poor me attitude grated on my nerves within the first few chapters. Katniss of Mockingjay just didn’t hit that level of awesomeness that she did in Hunger Games. It was almost like she was body snatched and replaced with an inferior model. But I suppose that’s what dating down will do to a girl.

And now that I can practically hear Nin's screams of indignation, she was after all a Peeta shipper. Ick.

Til next year...

JaReview: Torment

Lauren Kate perpetuates her boring display of Love-Pow in this sequel to Fallen. Maybe if I was a tiny bit emotional invested in this couple, Luce and Daniel, I’d find Torment a little more entertaining. But the fact is Luce and Daniel bore me. It’s been two books, spanning 948 pages and I still don't see why Luce is so in love with Daniel. Or even what it was about her that made Daniel willing to fall. Luce says on occasion that Daniel makes her feel “like home,” but seriously, what does that even mean? Where’s the evidence, the basis for this epic relationship beyond a feeling she has deep within her…soul.

This book reminded me of New Moon. In order to keep the delicate damsel safe, the hero is absent most of the book, leaving the damsel wallowing in a pit of heartbreaking angst and despair. At least in this book, Edward, I mean Daniel, doesn't only appear in lame visions, he actually breaks the rules and shows up a couple times. But unlike the brief encounters of Bella and hallucination-Edward, most of what Luce and Daniel do in their precious, forbidden time is argue. She’s whiny and wants to know what’s going on, he’s secretive and remains annoyingly stoic. Then they fight and he flies off, leaving her in torn between annoyance at him and desperate longing (even though we’re still wondering what she sees in him).

In Torment, which really was a perfect title as that’s what I felt whilst reading this, we see brief glimpses of Luce’s past lives. Not enough to paint a cohesive picture or answer any questions, but more to further enforce that sense of – what the heck. These glimpses only seem to draw out the storyline, rather than enhance it. The short sequences of her past are conveniently cut off before we get to any substance. I suspect that it’s done on purpose, you know to promote anticipation. But if there isn’t anything else in the story to build on, it’s just the author toying with you, it becomes redundant and annoying.

Even if I was a Luce and Daniel shipper, which really is just a few carefully rearranged letters away from Dunce, this latest story would definitely tick me off. Assuming that you blindly buy into the fact that Luce and Daniels love just is, no particular reason other than they’re just meant to be, then why would you introduce a love triangle? Their relationship is shaky at best. How are we supposed to believe in this undeniable, defying centuries and past lives, love story, when she runs into the arms of the first decent, normal boy to bat his baby blues at her? Sure she says she feels conflicted but it’s just downright flighty. What happen to that epic love she feels deep down in her bones?

Oh wait. We need a love triangle because one, this book is part of a series and it just won’t do to have them live happily ever after in book one. And two, the mystery of her past isn’t enough to carry the series.

I will concede that Kate introduces interesting side characters. Luce has a new roommate, Shelby, who’s standoffish, rude and bitchy. She’s a lot like Arraine, which was a bit repetitive. And her initial abruptness and coldness towards Luce switches to accepting besty annoyingly fast. Then there’s Miles, a watered down Nephilim, who’s supposed to have weak powers, but is conveniently very helpful in critical parts of the book.

And of course we can’t forget the mysterious Outcast plot. Apparently there’s more baddies out to get Luce and one of them had access to her supposed safe haven. Even though the so-called angels couldn’t tell who the kid was, given the overly obvious descriptions of the perpetrator, the reader should spot it a mile away. It makes me seriously doubt the plausibility of these angels’ powers.

All in all, this sequel to Kate’s Fallen series has turned me off from the entire angel genre. The storyline had potential. But it falls short because of character inconsistencies, convenient plot holes and lots of poetic waxing without reason. Me thinks Sarah Dessen is spoiling me because now I actually require build-up, reason and experience before I root for a couple.

Never Again. Ever.

{NIN} Review: Angel Book Wrap-Up

Vampires, werewolves, and fey are, of late, the "it" creatures of the YA lit world. No surprise that angel-themed books soon followed suite. Tired of the same ol' vampy-shaggy-fairy stories, I decided to try reading angel-themed books.

After reading two books, I realized that angel-themed books are definitely not for me. Why, you ask? Because I have historically loved hot, snarky, tortured, angsty, sarcastic, yet sneakily caring dudes and angels are hardly any of those things. Sure, they're always unbearably beautiful... but that's about it. Angel suitors tend to be calm, have inner peace, overly protective, gentle teasing humor, the perfect gentlemen - in short, flat and boring. As Anne Shirley once said, "I wouldn't want a man who was really wicked. But I think I'd like it if he could be wicked, but wouldn't."

Word up, sister. Even turn-of-the-century prim chicks dug the snarky dudes. And no way, by sheer definition of the word "angel", could an angel love interest possibly encompass any of the characteristics that give compelling guys true personality.

So anyhoo, back to the books that led me to this realization. I really cannot say too much about any of these books so instead will just give a short review of each.

Angel Star by Jennifer Murgia

Outcast girl Teagan with only one friend to her name comes to school one day and hot new kid Garreth shows up out of nowhere with sudden inexplicable interest in her. Illusions are shattered and the truth comes to light - Garreth is Teagan's guardian angel sent to protect her from an evil fallen guardian that is out to rule the mortal world and only Teagan has the power to stop him. Oh, the drama. Oh, and Garreth is madly in love with her after watching over her all these years.

What the heck?

The lack of build up in the story was what bothered me the most. I don't understand the love connection; rather, it just "is" simply because he's been guarding her all these years. I mean, shouldn't there be at least something the guy mentions that he loves about a girl, not, "I've been watching you and now I luuuurve you!" This simply wasn't satisfying enough and just left too many unanswered questions. Mainly, what is so wonderful about Teagan and why should we be rooting for her?

Additionally, there was not much suspense and drama leading up to the epic battle that Teagan and Garreth were anticipating against the evil Hadrian. There just didn't seem to be a very strong and convincing reason on why Teagan was the only one who could save the world - and especially, why we should care.

Never Again

Heavenly by Jennifer Laurens

This book actually started out relatively better for me than Angel Star. We have a somewhat interesting tortured main character Zoe dealing with realistic issues - her family is stressed out over having to take care of a child with autism, and her parents spend so much time on her autistic sister that they don't have time for her or her brother. Her brother is turning into a druggie as a result, and Zoe turns to partying, alcohol, and meaningless hook-ups to deal.

The fantasy part of the story comes when Zoe learns that her sister has a hot guardian angel, Matthias. I'll give the book credit here; it was not instant Love-Pow! Zoe was initially wary of Matthias since he seemed to be stalking her little sister, but she slowly realizes what he is.

So of course you know, she falls in love with him...and he with her. But there was this one really strange part in the book where she thinks in her head that she loves him and then she sees him walking away and suddenly, she just blacks out and falls into deep, dark despair because she thinks he can never love her back. Like, this seriously all took place in her head in the span of like a few seconds.

I did not understand.

And from then on out, it just got weird and boring.

But really, the romance between Zoe and Matthias was uninteresting to me simply because his personality didn't appeal to me.

Never Again & a Half

Halo by Alexandra Adornetto

Halo starts out promising to be different from the previous two books in that it is written from the perspective of a newly descended-from-heaven angel rather than through the eyes of a normal human girl. Bethany Church (talk about obvious naming conventions) and her siblings, Archangel Gabriel and Seraphim Ivy, descend upon Venus Cove with the mission from above to “do good works” and, through example, lead the local populace to do the same.

Bethany is the youngest of the trio and has never set foot on earth, so her mind is ablaze with wonder at the sights, sounds, and different feelings she experiences as an angel in the flesh. While her siblings have descended to Earth many times before and are therefore indifferent to the human experience, Bethany is eager to soak up everything she can about being human.

Bethany enrolls at the local private school where she is immediately befriended by somewhat wild child Molly. Molly shows her the ins-and-outs of the school, and gives her the low-down on the different boys at school. The school captain, (Mr. Requisite Hottie) Xavier Woods, takes notice of Bethany and immediately endeavors to get to know her.

Bethany has been warned against forming attachments to the physical world, and especially with humans, as the locals cannot know who the angels really are. However, in true teen girl fashion, she disobeys the laws and reveals her true nature to Xavier whilst falling head-over-heels in love.

Okay, so that should give you an idea of the direction the book goes.

Downhill.

When I first started the book, I thought, okay, Adornetto is taking the angel angle in a different direction than the other two books. It might be interesting to see how an angel deals with landing on earth and trying to blend with the locals. But seriously, once Bethany indulges in her love for Xavier, all she can focus on is him, him, him. She waxes on and on about how much she misses him when she’s not with him, that he is her life now and heaven isn’t her home anymore because Xavier is her home now. What the bloody hell. The story very quickly disintegrates into annoying teen girl sighs over unrealistically attentive, protective, and kind-hearted teenage boy. Seriously, what teenage boy is really like that? Most boys that age are all about rollin’ with the homies and gettin’ action. And Xavier Woods doesn’t have any of those interests? Yeah, right. Fiction, fiction, fiction.

It was like reading Twilight all over again.

On top of the annoying lovelorn girl drama, supposed issues that came up in the book were resolved way too quickly. I present the following examples:

Gabriel and Ivy discover that Bethany has revealed her true angel nature to Xavier. Gabriel visits the Heavenly Council to determine what to do about Bethany and “the situation” – and they decide to let her be. What? Shouldn’t there be like epic consequences, natural disasters, floods, lighting – something – because she has disobeyed the laws of heaven and gained heavenly wrath? Nope, none at all. Bethany gets to go on her merry way with Xavier. If that’s the case, why bother having the law in the first place?

Another example is when Xavier breaks his leg and can’t take Bethany to the prom. He encourages her to go with a substitute date, where sub forces a kiss on her and the moment is captured on camera and posted on Facebook. Xavier avoids Bethany for the next 3-4 days and when she finally confronts him, he believes that she cheated on him and had given him the heave-ho. Bethany tries to explain what really happened, but it falls on deaf ears. She goes away and falls into a deep, dark depression because she despairs that she has lost him forever (sound familiar?). Oh, but guess what? It gets all nicely resolved 1 page later when Gabriel goes to Xavier’s house to set him straight. What makes Big Brother’s words more believable than Bethany’s?? Stupid boy. And stupid girl immediately takes him back. Dude, I would at least have railed him for being a dumbass and not willing to listen to my reasons. But no, it was, oh I'm so glad you finally believe me! I almost died without you. Blech. Totally gag-worthy.

Okay, so after all this crazy love drama, there is the baddie that comes in and tries to corrupt the town. And then they battle and it ends, but not really, because there is going to be a sequel. And that is just a really bad idea because if I can sum up what should be an epic confrontation with the main baddie in like 1 sentence, that tells you just how unmemorable this book turned out for me.

Halo is seriously like Twilight, New Moon, and Eclipse combined but worse because at least I liked Edward at first. I felt that Adornetto was trying to pack way too much in one book, but it also simultaneously moved excruciatingly slow. Conundrum? Yes, but she managed it.

Never Again

JaReview: Clockwork Angel

Cassandra Clare continues with her fast-paced shadowhunter series in this prequel to the Mortal Instruments. I was digging Clockwork Angel from the get-go. I had forgotten how awesome her witty dialogue and gritty butt kicking scenes are. I’m warning you in advance, there may be spoilers that follow this largely disjointed train of thoughts.

Clockwork Angel centered around Tessa, a girl who comes to London in search of her brother. Upon her arrival, she’s thrust into an unknown world full of demons, vampires, warlocks and, most of all, Shadowhunters.

I quite surprised that liked Tessa. You might initially write her off as the boring damsel in distress but she isn’t. She can hold her own in a verbal sparring matches even if she lacks the physical superiority to keep up the Shadowhunters. And despite her lack of fighting skills, she’s a unique power and brains to go with it that. Plus she not super whiny like Bella and that’s always a plus in my book.

I dug her unwavering loyalty to characters, whether they deserve it or not. I only hope Clare doesn't take her character down the insipid Stupid Girl Path. You know the one where Stupid Girl blindly trusts Truly-Evil-Boy, to which Secretly-Good-Boy (aka Will) has to go and save her. Although that could make for some heroic and swoon-worthy rescue scenes (and possibly loads of gratitude kisses).

If I liked Tessa, then I loved Will Herondale and all his multiple personalities. There was Will the Git (“I once thought I was a ferret…”). And of course Will the Philosopher (“Beauty fades but cooking is eternal”). Though I’m well aware I cut him too much slack. I know he doesn't mean what he says when he says mean things. *g* I blindly believe he's good deep down, even when he says truly horrible and way out-of-line things. Perhaps it’s wrong of me, and most definitely jumping to conclusions, but I believe that in the end, he’ll admit to Tessa his true feelings.

Of course Will would be his snarky self, we don't want him to go all sappy, spineless love-straught on us (like some disappointing, not-to-be-named male leads).

I adored his witty banter and appreciated how he was never really straight with anyone. He’s such a complex individual, there’s obviously some sort of childhood trauma. But I’m such a sucker for the mysterious and emotionally closed off bad boys. Honestly, how can you resist someone who’s both snarky and beautiful?

The synopsis of the book says there’s a love triangle between Tessa, Will and a third Shadowhunter, and Will’s best friend, Jem. But honestly, I really don't think Jem is going to be a true contender for Tessa’s affections. The primary reason, he seems absurdly loyal to Will. They’re parabatai and despite Will’s worse intentions, I think Jem knows him too well to let a girl get between them. I’ll probably be eating my words in the next book, but I really don't see it.

Jem strikes me as picture perfect and too good. It’s true that Tessa gets comfort from him that she obviously won’t get with Will. And Jem is her shoulder to cry on when Will’s being a tosser. But even though he's more emotionally available to Tessa there wasn’t enough of a spark.

Not that Jem is entirely lame. He is snarky enough to be slightly interesting (“but then I think of how I could kill him in his sleep and that makes me feel better.”). I’m sure he’ll find a nice Shadowhunter girl to settle down with. But until then, he needs to stay the hell away from Tessa. Unless it’s contrived to make Will crazy jealous.

On a completely different note, it’s rather hard to believe that someone as cool as Isabelle descended from someone as poncy as Gabriel Lightwood. Gabriel is a fellow Shadowhunter but is constantly at odds with Will. But their interactions were some of my favorite parts in the book. I digs Gabriel if only for the fact that he brings out Will the Git better than anyone else in the book. Their exchanges were legendary.

Cassandra Clare definitely did not disappoint with this prequel to TMI and I’m eager the next installment. Perhaps while I wait another year, I’ll get myself a cat named Church.