Kimberly Reviews the Fated Sky

Title: The Fated Sky

Author: Henrietta Branford

Why I Read It: Book Club Book

Rating: 1 Star

When her father and brothers are killed in battle, Ran, a young Viking woman, has no one to protect her. And as she travels with her unloving mother and a cruel stranger to take part in a winter sacrifice, Ran's safety and future are uncertain. Now sixteen-year-old Ran must learn to fend for herself -- and discover that she has the ability to control her own destiny. Henrietta Branford, Guardian award-winning author of Fire, Bed, and Bone, brilliantly recreates the mysticism and the harsh realities of the Viking world in this tale of strength, romance, and thwarted fates.

So... Apparently this style of book is NOT for me.

When we chose this book for July's read, I was interested. Vikings! That will be cool, right? I always enjoy a good historical romance too.

It was not what I expected at ALL.

I think the author was trying for a particular style... I really don't know. All I know is that I did not care for any of the characters in the slightest. Each death was just words on the page. I felt no emotional connection whatsoever to the story or the characters. I think that the author was trying to reflect a harsh world and the way people living in that time would have reacted. I think. As it is, they felt far too passive aggressive.

We're meeting today to discuss the book, I'm interested to hear what the others thought of it.

Unfortunately, this was not an enjoyable read. But you might like it! There are several 5 star reviews on goodreads.  (There are also a lot of 1 star ratings). Some readers even think it was very historically accurate. (I'm not too sure about that...)

Share some of your favorite historical fiction novels in the comments! 

Julia's Romance Roundup - Thus far 2013

As you all are probably aware, I am an avid reader of romance. I usually get into a nice groove and read a ton in a row. Sometimes I feel like I inundate you guys with romance reviews, so occasionally I try to review a ton of them at one time in mini-paragraph format. So as I sit and sway to the seventies-esque sounds of "Get Lucky", I will regale you with my woes and wins. Let's start with the woes and work up to the wins.

Secret Fire by Johanna Lindsey 
Published: 1987 by Avon
Rating: 1 start

I went on a little back-track into back lists of some of my favorite authors when I first started reading romance. Some turned out good, one turned out awful. That was this book. I finished it, but only because I wanted to see how she would try to redeem characters I thought irredeemable. It was a like a wreck that you know you shouldn't slow down for, but end up slowing down to look anyway.

My review on GR captures my full, just finished feminist rage, and the first sentence sums it up pretty well. "This book is the most frustrating, rapetastic, victim blaming schlock I have had the pleasure of reading" 



Let's move on to something marginally better, shall we? Earlier this year I had a SWATH of 2-star romance reads. They were all best classified as "meh". Here is one.  

Jake by R.C. Ryan
Published: February 2013 by Forever 
Series: Wyoming Sky #3
Rating: 2 stars

Mostly I read historical romance, and most of that set in England, but I have always had a soft spot for westerns. This was my first contemporary western, and it was just okay for me. It was pretty predictable and continued for about 100 pages after the climax, but that may have been due to it being the last in a series and having a lot of story to wrap up. Since I didn't read the others, I was just bored. Saying that makes me a bit unsure if I could recommend this (also due to my inexperience in this particular genre), but it was something I did finish because the plot was a little bit entertaining in a secret mystery sort of way. In a completely unrelated note, I have a question for anyone in other parts of the English speaking world (aka not Ohio): Are jeans really called denims? 

The others of my two star reads were honestly so 'meh' for me I was reading the summary trying to remember what they were about, and if I have to do that I might as well move on to the more awesome three and four star reads!* 

Assassin's Gambit by Amy Raby
Published: April 2013 by Signet
Series: Hearts and Thrones #1
Rating: 3 Stars

Assassin's Gambit was a pleasant surprise. I stumbled on a review somewhere that didn't really like it. I find two and three star reviews on Goodreads the most useful because when people give me a critical analysis of what didn't work for them, I can decide if it would work for me. Well, I saw it at the library and decided to give it a go. And honestly, this book was a sweet Fantasy-spy romantic suspense type of book. I really enjoyed it and devoured it! I look forward to the next in the series. A few things about the heroine bothered me a bit and the romance sometimes took a backseat to the overall plot, but it was entertaining. And the way that sex plays into the society of this world, or at least into this spy organization amused the hell out of me.

The Pirate Next Door by Jennifer Ashley
Published: 2012 by Ms. Ashley, originally out in 2003
Series: Regency Pirates #1
Rating: 3 stars

Remember how I mentioned a soft spot of cowboys? Well I have a soft spot for pirates, too. This was a delight to read. A mysterious neighbor moves into a townhouse in London and the widow next door hears some shit going down. She rushes over to help and finds out he is a pirate and is sucked into his crazy world. 

The characters are dynamic and the story engrossing. I'd recommend this one as well :) Who doesn't dream of the moment when a reformed pirate moves in next door? Disney, if you are listening sign me up for that Pirates of the Caribbean reboot!

Defiant by Pamela Clare
Published: July 2012 by Berkley Sensation
Series: MacKinnon's Rangers #3
Rating: 4 stars

Oh, this book. I read it as part of the Smart Bitches, Trashy Books RITA Reader Challenge. This challenge tries to get reviews from the readers to cover every book nominated for a RITA (romantic times version of the Oscar I guess). I looked through the historical romance category and chose this for the fact that it was NOT set in England, but in America during the French and Indian War (which to my embarrassment I had to wrack my brain to remember who came out on top in that war (the English/colonies)). Anyway, I wrote a nice big full length review over there if you are interested in checking it out. But I will also quote the final paragraph. 

Overall, Defiant is historically (as far as I can tell) accurate, well written, gripping, and page turning in the beginning. It slows down in the latter half, but I was still crazy enough involved with it to put off my day and keep reading. Despite some flaws, I highly enjoyed Defiant. It was a refreshing look into a different part of history with an engaging plot and interesting characters. I would recommend it for someone looking for something new in the historical genre."

Any Duchess Will Do by Tessa Dare
Published: May 2013 by Avon
Series: Spindle Cove #4
Rating: 4 Stars

This was another book that I read without reading the other books in the series, and it didn't matter at all (I love that). This book was hilariously, bark laughter funny. It reminded me of the earlier Bridgerton books by Julia Quinn, which says a lot about it's lightness content -- great book if you like Bridgerton!

The poignant parts are poignant, the funny parts are funny, and the sexytimes are hot. What more can you ask for? I would highly recommend this to the lovers of the historical romance genre. It is worth your time even if you have not read the first three, and it wont ruin the first three for you either (I hate it when that happens!)



*A Note about my star ratings in this post. I am going by the way I rank on Goodreads, not so much what it says in our sidebar. Most of the books I read and rate are three stars. To me that means they were good, enjoyable in the moment but not super memorable or amazing. Four stars are a big deal because the resonated in some way. Five stars for me are like life changed moments of amazing. Out of the 500ish ratings I have, only about five are 5 stars. When I write full reviews here, I usually round up a bit to match more of what we have in the side bar. So if these seem strict that is why :)

Jana Reviews "Halo" by Alexandra Adornetto

Title and Author: Halo, by Alexandra Adornetto

Publishing Info: August 31, 2010, by Feiwel and Friends

How I Got This Book: Birthday present.

Why I read this book: The cover sucked me in, and the story sounded like something I’d enjoy.

Stars: 1

I had high hopes for this book. The cover is one of the prettiest I’ve seen in a long time (Really. Who could say no to that cover?), and the story sounded like something I’d love to read. I like stories with angels and romance. This book just didn’t do it for me, though, and parts of it really annoyed me. Here’s the summary from the back of the book.

 “Three angels – Gabriel, the warrior; Ivy, the healer; and Bethany, the youngest and most human – are sent by Heaven to bring good to a world falling under the influence of darkness. They must work hard to conceal their luminous glow, superhuman powers, and, most dangerous of all, their wings, all the while avoiding all human attachments.


Then Bethany meets Xavier Woods, and neither of them is able to resist the attraction between them. Gabriel and Ivy do everything in their power to intervene, but the bond between Xavier and Bethany seems too strong.
The angel’s mission is urgent, and dark forces are threatening. Will love ruin Bethany or save her?”

I was expecting these amazingly perfect angels coming down from Heaven to save a deteriorating world. I thought it would be full of action, excitement, forbidden love, and suspense. Was it? Not really. The story didn’t even really pick up until about page 370. This is a 500-page book. Let me list off some of my main complaints that made this book so hard to finish.  I must warn you, this might be the harshest of all my reviews. I feel really bad about it… but I just can’t go without saying this!

1. The writing. Oh dear. Talk about purple prose. There was more flowery writing in this book than actual dialogue! And it did nothing for the plot. Things are described multiple ways and then compared to something else countless numbers of times: "That was the effect he had on me--an explosion of happiness in my chest, scattering like little beads and making my whole body shiver and tingle." Or… “Xavier's eyes are turquoise and almond shaped, like twin pools of clear blue ocean.” Every time Xavier’s eyes were mentioned, they were turquoise. The author could come up with nothing else to describe them. Yes, we get it. And his hair was always nutmeg. ALWAYS. Hey, did you know Xavier’s hair color is nutmeg? Oh, by the way… Xavier has nutmeg hair. And he’s hot. Really hot. If you forget, that’s ok. You’ll be told again really soon. At least 3-4 times a chapter, in fact.

Pages were devoted to descriptions of interiors, or places, or outfits, or feelings, or people that didn’t contribute to the plot at all. I'd read some long, overdone description of some nameless character, and then they are never mentioned again! So why should I care about them? I was getting so tired of it. An Amazon reviewer said it best when she mentioned that the plot takes a back seat to the overwritten details and descriptions. Did I mention Xavier’s really hot?

2. Bethany’s “brother” is Gabriel, the archangel. Her sister is a seraph.  Why are such powerful angels sent to a sleepy little town called Venus Cove, where nothing bad is happening? I would think they’d be sent to a war zone or a place with extreme poverty, but no. They get sent to a place where more volunteers are needed to serve at the local soup kitchens. There was no possible way to write in any exciting encounters against evil.

Bethany would offend all actual angels, in my opinion. She’s petty, childish, shallow, and complains about her job in Heaven. Gabriel and Ivy walk around acting very superior and stuck-up—much different than I would expect messengers from God to act. AND… these angels are so dumb! The villain of the story is painfully described to a tee and fits perfectly into the category of “evil”. Every reader in the world knew he was bad before the angels did. A 3-year-old would get it.  It wasn’t until he started doing awful things that the light bulb turned on and they were like, “Oh, I think he’s bad.” Duh! Luckily this is not what real angels are like, because we’d be in trouble if they were.

3. Don’t fall into the plot holes. In the book, angels are described as having no family and not being able to understand human emotions. So why are Gabriel and Ivy referred to as Bethany’s siblings? Gabriel says love is forbidden. He also says that angels don’t feel the way humans do. So… the fact that Bethany is so in love with Xavier makes me question the entire premise of the book.

4. The love between Xavier and Bethany is more obsessive than that of Edward and Bella. I know, right? Is that even possible? Must be because he’s so hot. I did mention that, right? Bethany is willing to turn her back on Heaven for him! That seems really unhealthy, considering it took only a week or two for this crazy, never-ending, undying love to develop. There was no build-up to the love story. They saw each other, he ran into her on purpose a few times, he tells her he likes her, and BOOM. A full-on love explosion happens, and they both go nuts. I didn’t believe it at all, and it really sounded like some little girl’s daydream. And oh my, protectiveness! Xavier actually force-fed a protein bar (airplane noises and all) to Bethany when she wasn’t hungry when he thought she should be.  He compared her to glass and would not let her carry her books. I wanted to gag.

5. Halo is a Twilight knock-off. Vampires have been changed to angels, and the girl is now the supernatural one instead of the guy. The two meet in high school, she fights her feelings for him because the two of them shouldn’t be, then the whirlwind romance happens, she tells him her dark secret after hardly knowing him at all, he is taken in to her family as a trusted ally, the angels are the hottest breed of life known to man, etc. Instead of sparkling, the angels glow. Xavier saves Bethany from a gang of guys who want sex from her. Bethany even takes the train in to the city (Port Circe) to search for prom dresses, but found nothing she liked. Can we just call it Port Angeles, call Bethany Bella, and move on?

6. It was SO preachy! A religion can be written without being preached. This book is laced with mini-sermons and lectures, and should have been marketed as a Christian romance. Readers deserve to know if they’re about to be preached to for the entire book. I have nothing against Christian fiction; I just don’t read it (not because I’m not a Christian, but because there are so many different variations of Christianity and I frequently find things that rub me the wrong way, or teachings I don’t believe in). I understand this is fiction, but I was downright offended by some of the things she said about angels, God, etc. I have a hard time with authors taking liberties with spiritual/gospel-related subject matter. Commercialized Christianity. Not digging it. I hear the Devil himself is referred to as “Big Daddy” in book 2? Oh my. Gag me with a spoon.

7.  The story moved SO slowly. While reading this, I was in the process of painting my living room. I would choose to paint over taking a break to read. Watching paint dry was more entertaining. Now THAT’S saying something.

I guess I should have expected nothing more than I got as soon as I read a quote by Beyoncé on the introductory page of the book. Yes… a lyric from the song, you guessed it! HALO (Baby I can see your halo/you know you're my saving grace.). How creative. To make matters worse, it was paired with a quote from “Romeo and Juliet.” Sorry, but Beyoncé and Shakespeare don’t go together. I’m having a hard time understanding why this book got a deal. I enjoyed the idea, but not the execution. And I feel bad for the graphic designer who had to waste their beautiful design on such a lackluster book. This is the first book in a trilogy, and I have no interest in reading the other two.

And on that note… Xavier. He’s, like, really hot.

So, have any of you read Halo? Did you like it, or did you feel the same way I did?

Jen Reviews "Invincible Summer"

Title: Invincible Summer
Author: Hannah Moskowitz
Published: Simon & Schuster, April 2011
How I Got It: Galley Grab

Summary (from Goodreads):

Noah’s happier than I’ve seen him in months. So I’d be an awful brother to get in the way of that. It’s not like I have some relationship with Melinda. It was just a kiss. Am I going to ruin Noah’s happiness because of a kiss?

Across four sun-kissed, drama-drenched summers at his family’s beach house, Chase is falling in love, falling in lust, and trying to keep his life from falling apart. But some girls are addictive.... 
 

Review:

So.  I feel kind of bad about not liking this book.  It just wasn't my cup of tea.  I know everyone has different likes and dislikes but I truly thought I would enjoy reading Invincible Summer.  Unfortunately, that was not the case.


What I Liked:

The entire story is told from a male's perspective.  Our narrator, Chase, is a teenage boy who we meet the summer he turns sixteen and the reader gets to know him for the next four summers.  So often in young-adult books we're in the head of a teenage girl.  Being inside the male brain for an entire book was refreshing.

The cover.  Yes, it's provocative and I love that it has shock value.  I think the cover will definitely make some people pick the book up (people who might not have picked it up before).  Does it have anything to do with the story?  Well...not really.  Yes, the entire book takes place on the beach.  Other than that it doesn't connect well with the story.

Chase's little brother, Gideon.  I hated how his family treated him though.  He was born deaf but no one in his family ever took the time to learn sign language. If someone in your family was deaf (especially a younger family member) wouldn't you at least attempt to learn how to sign?  But his family members didn't, they made up a few of their own signs which didn't really help.

There are a couple of scenes when Chase is thinking of past summers and how everything is different in the summer.  Magical almost.  I long for the summers of my middle-school and high-school days.  Summertime was special.  Don't get me wrong, I still love the summer but those summers hold some of my best memories.

What I Didn't Like:

Camus.  It may be ignorance on my part but I did not know who Camus was until I read this book.  After reading this book I think I've had enough of him.

Pretty much all of the teenage characters quote Camus.  At the most random times to.  They'll be talking and all of a sudden - BAM! - a profound Camus quote.  Or Chase and his older brother Noah will have a competition to see who can think of the deepest quote (by Camus of course).  Or they're reading a book by Camus.  Really.  Camus overload.  It was a bit much and felt a little pretentious.

The characters.  Other than connecting with Chase about feeling the same way about past summers...I just didn't care about the characters.  There is a tragic event that seemed a little much.  The girl (I think her name was Melinda?) got on my nerves so bad.

This book was just not meant for me.  If you've read Invincible Summer what did you think of it?  

If you haven't read it (or even if you have) what is one of your favorite summer memories?

Another Perspective (people who enjoyed the book):

Books With Bite
Brenna's Bookish Blog

Daisy's review of The Study Train

Title/Author: The Study Train Vol 1: Reunion of the Untouchables by Kurt Frenier
Publisher/Year published: Eloquent Books in 2010
Why I read it: it sounded interesting.
How I got it: the author sent it to me. This will not influence this review in any way.

Summary from GoodReads:
"Five hundred years ago, Master Magician Mikhail Pilkington III created a magical flying train, the Study Train. His vision: to take average teenagers aboard, show them the world, and turn them into leaders. Ethan is invited on the train, escaping his miserable life in Switzerland, and soon discovers that the train is all but ordinary. It is filled with magic, secrets, people with interesting histories, and much more. Ethan's intrigue and hunger for knowledge and power catches the attention of a hidden, ancient alliance called the Untouchables. Soon, Ethan learns all their mysteries, powers and sorcery. He stands out from the rest of the students and is recognized as the long-awaited leader for the Untouchables. But his dark side - The Dark Fire Inside - grows and becomes much stronger than anyone thought it would. Ethan gets sucked into a web of conflicts and feuds while battling his own inner feelings. Will he go for power, or turn toward good?"

Sounds interesting right? I thought so too. But (yes here it is already) it didn't live up to it.
For me it went wrong almost from the start of it, I didn't believe the picture Frenier painted of Ethan's home life with a mom working two jobs who Ethan claims not to know at all and a dad who refuses him his dinner when he's 3 minutes late. After that it didn't really get any better, the characters seemed to act unnaturally and I still don't really know what kind of person they are. Or even what kind of person Ethan is. One minute he's antisocial, then he's uber-friendly, he's in awe of his headmaster Althulos and the next things he's defying him and going all powerful maniac on us. It's a bit confusing, most of all because he's only 15 years old and completely new to all of it.

Which makes me come to another thing that bothered me: the Study Train is supposed to be a school where they train people to become world leaders, then TELL ME what it is that makes this school so special other than the fact that it's a flying train. Never once in the book does Frenier mention what kind of classes they are taught, where is the magic that I expected them to be studying?

The magic comes for Ethan, though not very gradually. One day Althulos decides to teach him how to fly the train and he masters this instantly. The same goes for other skills he picks up. In one afternoon he acquires at least 10 different magical abilities it takes others ages to learn. Maybe it's just me, but I enjoy it when characters have a hard time or at least some difficulty with stuff like this. It makes them more real and in this book not even the instant mastering is described. Frenier just tells us Ethan's spent an afternoon with someone who teaches him this and POOF! he knows how to do it. I always enjoy it more when you show me what is happening, not when you just tell me it did. This happens most of the time with a lot of things I would have liked explained more extensively.

Ethan goes against Althulos' wishes pretty early on and doesn't really get into any trouble because of this. He does something way out of line and Althulos only shouts at him and that's it. I mean, really? My parents were pretty easy going, but even I would have gotten sent to my room (at least) for that. They're not really big on discipline on the Study Train.
I also didn't really feel Ethan struggled with the good vs evil dilemma, he doesn't even seem that impressed he's supposedly the new long-awaited leader of a group of mostly grown men.

One last issue I had: at some point Frenier mentions people who've been students of the Study Train (it's been around for 500 years generating influential people) and on the list is Alexander the Great. Who lived from 356 to 323 BC (I googled it). Which is way more than 500 years ago. Maybe it's not that big an issue, but it bugged me.

But of course, this is only my opinion. The Crazy Bookworm loved it, you can read her review here.

As for me, I can't in all honesty give this book more than 1 star.

Jess' Review: The Crisis of Islam (Bernard Lewis)

Image from Amazon

Title: The Crisis of Islam: Holy War and Unholy Terror

Author: Bernard Lewis (Web site)

Publisher: Random House, 2004

Notes: I checked this book out of the library.

A brief summary: "After the terrorist attacks of September 11, many Americans yearned to understand why Muslim extremists felt such passionate animosity toward the Western world, particularly the United States." (Quote from Goodreads.) This book aims to explore the historical bases for this animosity.

My thoughts:I read Bernard Lewis' The Crisis of Islam as part of a seasonal challenge at the College Students group on Goodreads. I have never embraced Lewis' approach to the Middle East—or more specifically, the Arab World—or Islam, thinking that he often takes a reductionist point-of-view that serves to reify Westerners' beliefs about Arabs and Muslims. I would not recommend this book to anyone who does not already know some basics about Islam or the Middle East. Lewis confirms American suspicions of the region and the religion instead of breaking down barriers to understanding.

Lewis starts out by stating that former President Bush was involved in a fight against terror, but not Arabs or Muslims, yet Osama bin Laden was in a fight against the United States. While this is true to an extent, it ignores the historical and political realities. Bin Laden utilized religious rhetoric to create an "us" versus "them" dynamic, but ultimately he is concerned with geopolitical issues like invasion and occupation, which one could read in his writings, Messages to the World.

Moreover, Lewis spends a good portion of his book relating Christianity and Islam before stating that there are, despite these similarities, profound differences. I start first by saying that Christianity is a faith-based religion (not practice-oriented, with the exception of Orthodoxy and Catholicism, to some extent). Islam is both orthodox and orthoprax, meaning that there's emphasis on both "right faith" and "right practice." Judaism tends more toward orthopraxy. Given the elements that Lewis focuses on—religious authorities' perspectives on justice and morality, apostasy, etc.—it would probably have made more sense to compare and contrast Judaism and Islam.

Lewis also spends an enormous amount of time talking about jihad. Jihad is a word that loosely means "struggle," and for religious Arabic speakers, it usually refers to a personal struggle (sinfulness, indulgence—the same sorts of things that plague "us normal Christians"). However, Lewis discounts this, saying that progressive Muslims like to say that jihad means a personal struggle, but that throughout Muslim history it refers to holy war. But what, you might ask, does he think about the Crusades? He argues that while jihad is embedded in early Muslim history, the Crusades are a departure from good Christian society and behavior. I am flummoxed by this conclusion. Additionally, Lewis discusses apostasy; he cites that the penalty for apostasy in Islam is death, which is harsher than any other religion. I cannot be sure that this is in the Qur'an or not, but my guess is that some Muslim leader or scholar once said this. However, these pronouncements need more evidence to be compelling, at least for me. I think that the uneducated reader or one looking to reaffirm his beliefs in the evil of Islam will take this at face value, which is quite unfortunate.

To be fair, Lewis is well-read in the area of Middle East and world history, and employs this knowledge in his argument. He even recognizes the importance of jizyah (a tax installed for recognized non-Muslim communities in Muhammad's time and in the early years of Islam) for the dhimmi (recognized non-Muslim communities).

Rating: 1 star

Daisy's Review of The Magicians

About the book:
Title/Author: The Magicans by Lev Grossman
Publisher/Year Published: the Penguin Group 2009
How I got it: I bought it
Why I read this book: it's about a boy studying to become a magician at a school for magicians, aka: I thought I would love it.

High school senior Quentin Coldwater is just like everyone trying to get into college. When he goes to the house of a Princeton alumni for an interview he gets the scare of his life when upon entering the house he finds the dead body of said alumni. It all gets even a bit more weird when one of the paramedics hands him a package containing the sixth book in the Fillory series, books which Quentin has read over and over again, and because of that he know there only ever were five of them. When he tries to read it, the wind blows it away and following it, he ends up at Brakebills school for magicians.
After this we follow Quentin throughout his carreer at Brakebills, the people he meets and the girl who becomes his friend and later on his lover. Quentin can't forget about Fillory, a world he knows from the books he read about it. They're about the Chatwin children, of which every time Fillory is in trouble 2 or more of them get sent there to fix things and be the kings and queens (2 each) of Fillory. The oldest one, Martin Chatwin, disappears in one of the books and when Quentin and his friends find a way to travel to that world (which does exist after all) they decide to go look for him.

Does Fillory sound familiar at all to any of you? Cause I couldn't stop thinking Narnia, Narnia, NARNIA the whole time I was reading about it. Which was incredibly annoying, cause it seemed like such a rip off of those books (which I loved). They even had two wise rams (the Gods of Fillory) who sent the Chatwin children home when they were no longer needed there. Aslan anyone?
But this was not the only issue I had with the book. Quentin is just not a likeable character. He whines, he's never happy with anything, even though he gets what he wants every time, he's arrogant and just plain lazy and ungrateful. And the author made it seem like this was standard attitude for all of the magic community. I couldn't sympathize with him and I was extremely annoyed by the selfish, stupid things he did. Half the time he's drunk out of his mind, they all are actually. I so wanted to kick his butt and tell him to do something with his life!
The only one I liked was Quentin's girlfriend Alice, who was the only one that showed a caring and mature side.

Probably the only reason I finished this book is because I bought it and I have a hard time not finishing a book and was really waiting for it to get good, which for me didn't happen.
My rating: 1 star

If any of you have read this one and liked it: PLEASE TELL ME! I always feel horrible not liking a book and maybe you can make me see the good sides of it.