Genie Wishes by Elisabeth Dahl {Review}

Publisher: Amulet Books

Publish Date: April 2, 2013
Source: ALA for honest review
Pages: 288
Series: No

Rating: Miss

This sweet, funny novel follows fifth-grader Genie Kunkle through a tumultuous year. From the first day of school, Genie knows there will be good, bad, and in-between. The good? She’s in homeroom with her best friend, Sarah. The bad? Sarah’s friend from camp, Blair, is a new student at their school, and is itching to take Genie’s place as Sarah’s BFF. The in-between? Genie is excited to be elected to write her class’s blog, where she’s tasked with tracking the wishes and dreams of her class. But expressing her opinion in public can be scary—especially when her opinion might make the rest of her class upset.
I may have liked Genie Wishes when I was Genie's age, but I just couldn't get into it. That being said, I didn't particularly dislike it, I just couldn't connect with the characters or their problems.

First of all, I found the writing style to be a little distant. It felt more like a documentation of events from a neutral third-party than a young girl's personal journey and growth through her fifth grade year. When I read I story I want to feel like I'm right there with the characters, like their hurt and happiness is mine as well, and I just didn't feel that for Genie despite the fact that I've been through the difficult friend change process myself many times.

There were a lot of characters. So many, in fact, that I had some trouble keeping them all apart. Now, a large cast of characters can work if you flesh them out well enough, but I barely got a feel for Genie let alone the rest of her class.

I think I'm probably getting old because I can't remember any of these puberty things happening when I was ten. Do guys really go around snapping girls' bras? This never happened in my class, at any point in time, but do have any of you experienced it? Also, is it really that completely obvious when a girl starts wearing a bra? Maybe I just didn't notice these things, but I'd like to think all the boys in my class didn't immediately notice I was now a proud member of the Bra Wearing Club on the first day. Feel free to correct me down in the comments, though, guys :]

One thing I did appreciate about Genie Wishes was the way it eased into things. Nothing happened all at once. Instead of some big fight with her best friend, Genie just started drifting apart from her. I slowly noticed some change in Genie as she went through the year.

On the other side of that coin, though, is the lack of a clear plot structure. Everything just kind of blended together for me. I couldn't identify a beginning, a middle, and an end. Things were randomly introduced to the story and then never really end up having a purpose or resolution, such as the stray dog, Lulu, and Genie's dad starting to date.

The Nutshell: I recommend Genie Wishes for younger readers who are looking for a story about a girl going through a normal year of school dealing with similar things they might be dealing with. Personally, I couldn't connect with the story or get into the writing style, but that doesn't mean someone else might not enjoy it!

Doomed by Tracy Deebs {Review}

Publisher: Walker Childrens

Publish Date: January 8, 2013

Source: ALA for honest review

Goodreads

Pages: 480

Series: No

Rating: Miss

Beat the game. Save the world.
Pandora's just your average teen, glued to her cell and laptop, surfing Facebook and e-mailing with her friends, until the day her long-lost father sends her a link to a mysterious site featuring twelve photos of her as a child. Unable to contain her curiosity, Pandora enters the site, where she is prompted to play her favorite virtual reality game, Zero Day. This unleashes a global computer virus that plunges the whole world into a panic: suddenly, there is no Internet. No cell phones. No utilities, traffic lights, hospitals, law enforcement. Pandora teams up with handsome stepbrothers Eli and Theo to enter the virtual world of Zero Day. Simultaneously, she continues to follow the photographs from her childhood in an attempt to beat the game and track down her father, her one key to saving the world as we know it. 

I was sorely disappointed by Doomed. I was expecting more of the video game aspect, more of a bad-ass main girl (I mean, look at the cover!), more stuff getting done, and just more in general.

So let's start with the story.

Maybe I wasn't thinking about the whole “global virus” thing enough, but I really wasn't expecting the government (and running from it) to be such a big aspect of the story. The synopsis lead me to believe the main storyline would be the game and the mystery surrounding it, but it ended up taking a backseat to the survival/on-the-run-from-the-government aspect.

Towards the end things just started to feel a little too convenient. Oh, this is an obstacle? Let's just take it out in a matter of a few paragraphs. I mean, yeah, it's fiction so there's going to be some coincidences, but some of them were just a bit too easy for me.

And then there's the characters.

Pandora was just so...whiny. Okay, okay, it's the end of the world and you unleashed it and your dad created it. I get it. I'd freak out too, but I hope I wouldn't continue to freak out. Over and over and over again. And there was the continuous “what's the point of any of this” when it was made quite obvious from the start. Play the game, save the world. So what does she do? Throw tantrums about how she doesn't want to play the game and how she hates her father. I know, I'm sounding a little heartless, but she really grated on my nerves.

And Theo and Eli were just kind of bleh. They have complete opposite personalities and yet I kept getting them confused. It probably didn't help that Pandora kept giving them the same kind of attention. And gosh, were they pissy about it. Whenever one of them so much as looked at her for too long the other would get all huffy and storm off. Now, you know I'm not a love triangle hater, but I really, really did not like this one. Plus, both boys felt a little shallow. I mean, they have backstories that seem to explain why they act the way they do, but they just didn't do it for me.

It felt like nothing was ever happening. Part of this is probably because I wanted to see more of the game aspect and it just wasn't happening. There was a lot of sitting around and a lot of driving and a lot of running and a lot of charged looks, and yet, I felt bored most of the time. I just couldn't get sucked into the story enough to care about the characters and story in more than a passive way. Even at the end I just thought to myself “oh, well that's nice.”

The Nutshell: Doomed just didn't work for me at all. Part of it is on me since I was expecting something different, but I also couldn't get into the story and characters. If you like stories about being on the run from the government and end of days craziness with a green undertone (or overtone, depending on how you wish to look at it) then you'll probably enjoy Doomed, but if you're in it for the video game aspect you should lower your expectations or skip it altogether.

Envy by Gregg Olsen {Review}

Publisher: Splinter

Publish Date: August 23, 2011

Source: Publisher for honest review
Goodreads

Crime lives -- and dies -- in the deceptively picture-perfect town of Port Gamble (a.k.a "Empty Coffin"), Washington. Evil lurks and strange things happen -- and 15-year-olds Hayley and Taylor Ryan secretly use their wits and their telepathic "twin sense" to uncover the truth about the town's victims and culprits.

Envy, sadly, didn’t captivate me.

Envy takes third-person omniscient to the extreme. The book followed so many characters that I had trouble remembering them all and keeping their names straight. I understand what Olsen was trying to do in getting all the side-stories to come together in the end to provide a clear picture, but it just didn’t do that for me. I got bored and distracted by all the side-stories constantly wondering when I was actually going to find out anything about Katelyn’s death.

The mystery wasn’t all that captivating in and of itself either. First of all, I found almost everything unconvincing since they ruled the girl’s death an accident due to espresso machine. Maybe I know nothing and some people really do make coffee in their bedrooms or bathrooms, but it just seemed completely absurd to me. Another thing that didn’t really work for me was The Accident. It was constantly being built up and built up and then it just seemed to amount to very little.

Another thing that bothered me was the fact that it’s classified as YA but despite the fact that it has quite a few teenaged characters it often felt more Adult. Characters were often talking about the sex lives of the adults in town and their secret behind-closed-doors lives. It didn’t really work for me.

The Nutshell: My opinions are my own, so someone else might not have the same issues as I did, but I still have to say that I won’t be recommending Envy.

Pages: 285

Series: Empty Coffin #1

Rating: Miss

The Invitation by Diane Hoh {Review}

Publisher: Scholastic Children's

Publish Date: August 20, 1993

Source: Netgalley for honest review

Goodreads

Five not-so-popular teens are invited to an annual party given by snooty Cass. Ushered into the mansion, they are soon part of a human scavenger hunt in which they are tied, bound, and hidden. Further victimization includes being heated in a sauna, cooled in a freezer, and nearly asphyxiated by a car's running motor.

When I came across The Invitation on Netgalley I had no idea it was so old (1993) or that it was a part of a series sort of like Fear Street by R.L. Stine (anyone else remember those?). It just sounded like a good, scary story that might get my heart racing. I’m said to say it didn’t do that for me at all. Really, the only thing I got out of it was a feeling of nostalgia since I spent almost an entire year reading R.L. Stine and similar books/authors.

First of all, the characters were all pretty annoying. Most of them could only think about themselves and wonder why nobody was trying to save them. I couldn’t help thinking “I understand that there’s no way out, but do you really have to sit there and have a pity party?” I honestly wouldn’t have been so annoyed if they were just sitting there freaking out but instead it was mostly “why haven’t my friends come to save me yet? Doesn’t anybody love me?”

Then there was the story itself. It was built up and up and up and when I finally figured out the mystery I couldn’t help thinking “really? That’s it?”

The Nutshell: Needless to say, The Invitation wasn’t a favorite of mine. If you’re looking for a quick, simple mystery then this might please you, but if you want something deeper, you’ll probably want to look elsewhere.

 Pages: 169

Series: Point Horror

Rating: Miss

Dark Parties by Sarah Grant {Review}

Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Publish Date: August 3, 2011

Source: Library
Goodreads

Sixteen-year-old Neva has been trapped since birth. She was born and raised under the Protectosphere, in an isolated nation ruled by dear, lies, and xenophobia. A shield "protects" them from the outside world, but also locks the citizens inside. But there's nothing left on the outside, ever since the world collapsed from violent warfare. Or so the government says...
Neva and her best friend Sanna believe the government is lying and stage a "dark party" to recruit members for their underground rebellion. But as Neva begins to uncover the truth, she realizes she must question everything she's ever known, including the people she loves the most.

Dark Parties was a little strange. I found the pacing to be a little odd along with the flow of the story. Things just felt a little jumbled which made the reading experience a bit uncomfortable, but not terrible.

Some other things that added to the strangeness:

-- The romantic relationship

-- All the sex/sex talk

-- Neva’s constant volley between trust and hate

Okay, let me just touch on those first two on the list. First, the relationship. WHAT IN THE WORLD WAS THAT?! I can tell you what it wasn’t. It certainly wasn’t a healthy relationship. It was lust, plain and simple. The only thing Neva actually knows about him as a person is that he likes to make masks as art. The only other things she knows is that she knows is that she likes the way he kisses and he’s her best friend’s boyfriend. I’m seriously not exaggerating about this. Long story short? The relationship did not work for me even the tiniest bit. In fact, I was literally scoffing at them at the end of the story.

Thing two: What is with all the sex?! I know being a teenager means your hormones are all out of whack, but seriously. The first couple pages are all sexy times. It actually made me a bit uncomfortable. I kind of understand where Grant was going with it for the story, but I feel like it could’ve been toned down or done differently.

Now for the good. I think Grant did a fantastic job of writing a standalone (you can correct me if I’m wrong about that) dystopian. She gave the entire story body from side character personality (save for Braydon) to the back story of the world. I appreciated that she actually gave a back story for why the world was a dystopian. That often just gets swept under the rug when it comes to standalones. The story itself was good as well. There was a conflict, the main character reached her end goal and there were losses along the way. I just simply couldn’t get past all the little weirdnesses. Yep, that’s going to be a word now.

The Nutshell: Dark Parties has a good dystopian story complete with a past that doesn’t get ignored. However, due to the weird romantic relationship along with some other minor things I ended up not really enjoying it. I can’t say this is a book I would recommend, but that doesn’t mean others won’t like it.

 Pages: 320

Series: No

Rating: Miss

Eve by Anna Carey {Review}

Publisher: HarperTeen

Publish Date: October 4, 2011

Source: Contest/Own
Goodreads

Sixteen years after a deadly virus wiped out most of Earth's population, the world is a perilous place. Eighteen-year-old Eve has never been beyond the heavily guarded perimeter of her school, where she and two hundred other orphaned girls have been promised a future as the teachers and artists of the New America. But the night before graduation, Eve learns the shocking truth about her school's real purpose -- and the horrifying fate that awaits her.
Fleeing the only home she's ever known, Eve sets off on a long, treacherous journey, searching for a place she can survive. Along the way she encounters Arden, her former rival from school, and Caleb, a rough, rebellious boy living in the wild. Separated from men her whole lie, Eve has been taught to fear them, but Caleb slowly wins her trust...and he heart. He promises to protect her, but when soldiers begin hunting them, Eve must choose between true love and her life.

Eve really fell flat for me. I’d heard so many mixed reviews going in so I was pretty wary, but I tried not to let it color my view while I was reading. Whether they did or they didn’t, the fact is Eve didn’t end up being my favorite. I’ll still read the sequel, but it may take me a lot longer to get to it.

Let’s do this list-style so I’m not writing a lengthy negative review. Thos make me saddy.

Dislikes:

1. Characters: none of them really drew me in and made me care about them, so everything that happened just felt really passive to me.

2. The world: I didn’t dislike it, but again, it didn’t draw me in.

3. Eve: Not only did I not connect with her, but she kind of drove me nuts sometimes. She wasn’t really whiny and she was mindful of others – most of the time. There’s one part where she gets a whole mess of people in trouble and that made me royally pissed off because she was only thinking of herself when she did it.

4. The relationship: It just really wasn’t working for me. It felt a bit rushed, but not because she trusted him too quickly like a lot of other people said. For me, it just felt as if the undying “love” they felt for each other kind of came on a little quick.

The Nutshell: Though I’ll be reading the sequel, Eve was a slow read that never really grabbed my attention and just left me feeling luke-warm.

Pages: 318

Series: Eve #1
Rating: Miss

(Reviewed as a part of Dystopian August which you can find out more about here)

Jenna & Jonah's Fauxmance by Emily Franklin & Brendan Halpin {Review}

Publisher: Walker & Company

Publish Date: February 1, 2011

Source: Library

Goodreads

Fans of romance don't need to look any further than the fauxmance brewing between teen idols Charlie Tracker and Fielding Withers -- known on their hit TV show as Jenna and Jonah, next-door neighbors flush with the excitement of first love. But it's their off-screen relationship that has helped cement their fame, as passionate fans follow their every PDA. They grace the covers of magazines week after week. Their fan club has chapters all over the country. The only problem is their off-screen romance is one big publicity stunt, and Charlie and Fielding can't stand to be in the same room. Still it's a great gig, so even when the cameras stop rolling, the show must go on, and on, and on... Until the pesky paparazzi blow their cover, and Charlie and Fielding must disappear to weather the media storm. It's not until they're far off the grid of the Hollywood circuit that they realize that there's more to each of them than shiny hair and a winning smile.

On the one hand Jenna & Jonah’s Fauxmance was cute and fun, but on the other hand, it kind of infuriated me at times much like our two protagonists did to each other.

The cute and fun:

It was fun watching Charlie and Fielding/Aaron have epic word sparring matches as well as kind-of-sort-of flirt with each other.

I ended up really liking Fielding/Aaron. He became this really well-rounded, multi-dimensional character even if he was weirdly hung up on Charlie. I liked that for a while, like a normal teenage guy, he was showing interest in other girls too. I think I probably would have liked the book a lot more if it had been wholly from his point of view.

The annoying:

I get the whole haters-turned-lovers plotline, but these two were just so cruel to each other sometimes it was hard to read. And then, just when you think there’s hope, that they’ll finally just jump each other and get over the angst, they just rip each other a new one instead. Most of it seemed pretty uncalled for too. Like they’re having this nice moment and then one of them just says something cruel out of the blue. I wanted to reach in the pages and shake some sense into them.

It also felt to me like Charlie didn’t really grow and change at all. She just kept on being a jerk to Aaron and then got what she wanted in the end anyway.

The Nutshell: Jenna & Jonah’s Fauxmance had its cute moments, but I don’t think I’d recommend it overall. I found it infuriating at times and others I was just left scratching my head going “what just happened?” If you like the people-who-hate-each-other-become-lovers thing then you’ll probably actually like this one, but it didn’t really work for me.

Pages: 240

Series: No

Rating: Miss