Daisy's Review of The Conspiracy of Us by Maggie Hall

Title/Author: The Conspiracy of Us (The Conspiracy of Us #1) by Maggie Hall
Publisher/Date published: Putnam Juvenile, January 13th 2015
How I got this book: bought it

Goodreads summary: Avery West's newfound family can shut down Prada when they want to shop in peace, and can just as easily order a bombing when they want to start a war. Part of a powerful and dangerous secret society called the Circle, they believe Avery is the key to an ancient prophecy. Some want to use her as a pawn. Some want her dead.

To unravel the mystery putting her life in danger, Avery must follow a trail of clues from the monuments of Paris to the back alleys of Istanbul with two boys who work for the Circle — beautiful, volatile Stellan and mysterious, magnetic Jack. But as the clues expose a stunning conspiracy that might plunge the world into World War 3, she discovers that both boys are hiding secrets of their own. Now she will have to choose not only between freedom and family - but between the boy who might help her save the world, and the one she's falling in love with.

So this was a book I read with my book club, which is awesome, but this book was a HUGE disappointment. I mean, wow, it was one of my most anticipated books of 2015 and it was just... BAD.

I mean, I still gave it 2 stars on Goodreads, but honestly, that's mostly because it's just hilaribad. It was so bad at times that it was hilarious and endlessly entertaining (though not in the way it was meant to be if I might guess) and it was fun to rant aobut it with my book club girls ;)

Where to start? There are just so many cliches/mistakes/just plain weird stuff that will make people cringe:
-PURPLE EYES. I mean, honestly, haven't we moved past this? And also, if purple eyes aren't speshul snowflake enough, she's the only GIRL with purple eyes. I mean. UGH.
-She has multiple boys chasing after her and doesn't know why, cause 'she's not beautiful'. I. Wow. Please show this girl how to work a mirror.
-A very disproportional body on one of the guys, whose feet touch the floor when he's sitting on a barstool. If he's not a giant, this doesn't work.
-Obviously you're not going to be recognized when you're on the run and you wear a big hat. Or start making out. I mean, OBVIOUSLY.
-Also, at one point it's mentioned that there are 12 hours in a day. *headdesk*
-Being soaked through after standing in the rain for all of 5 seconds.

I could seriously go on. And on. Which is what we did when discussing this at book club, but the point is: while these things were cringe-worthy, Maggie Hall did make me keep reading. I just kept hoping this would get better and the writing STYLE isn't the problem, but mostly the plot and the clichés that had been overused before this book came out.
Aside from one pretty steamy scene, I wasn't much rooting for the romance either, but wow, Maggie Hall is very much able to create the sexyness, but I would have liked to swoon for the boy before getting to this part. To be fair: there's not much happening beside maybe a kiss, but it was VERY sexy.

Basically what I'm saying is that this book was a bit of a hot mess, but it did have entertainment value. Just don't expect it to be the YA Da Vinci Code or anything, like it was originally marketed.

My rating: 1,5 stars

Kimberly's Review of 'Nolichuck' by Jackson Keene

Nolichuck

A copy of this book was sent to me by the author for an honest review. I have tried and failed many times to write a proper review for this novel. I'm going to simplify this a bit.

Story:

TJ’s just an ordinary fourteen year old kid with extraordinary problems at home and school: A broken up family from his parents’ bitter divorce, evil bullies almost every afternoon, failing grades, boring classes, snobby girls, mean teachers, cut from basketball tryouts, few friends. Life is rough for TJ Cockrell.

And then that mysterious little green book had to go and throw him into the past. And not just any past, but into the untamed forbidding forests of 1802 eastern Tennessee along with the savage Indians, wild beasts, bloodthirsty robbers, backwoods ruffians, and log cabin living! Yup, it’s definitely not 2011 Knoxville anymore.

And he thought his present life was bad news! But TJ’s adventures are only beginning. Along the way, he fights off killer beasts and bandits and braves, gains a world of confidence in himself, finds his first real love, and meets a fantastic frontier family who really has it together. When he returns to the present, he’s a brand new person––ready to defeat deadly robbers in his own home, beat the bullies at school, win the girl, gain friends, and make great grades. He even gets his family back together again. Sort of. In the end, the little green book is really cool. And TJ can’t wait to go on another action-packed adventure into the perilous past!

What I didn't like:

I feel like this floats between two genre/age groups. TJ thinks like a character from a MG novel would, yet at the same time the violence and language as well as his relationship with his crush are more YA. A novel that bridges the slight gap between MG and YA would be great, but I feel like Nolichuck fell a bit short.

I'm in my 20's and female, so some of my issue's with TJ may be unfounded, I can't relate to this teenage boy as well. I still felt like TJ was immature for his age. He DID grow as the novel progressed, I still felt frustrated with him.

I'm being nit picky here, but some of the writing felt... odd. Let me see if I can describe it. It's as if someone were describing him, but he is thinking that himself. It felt like parts of the book were written in first person, and some parts in third.

What I liked:

Time travel. I especially liked that it all took place in Tennessee. So many authors feel the need to make the story more exotic by placing it in a far away country. There is SO much history right here in the US, I enjoyed reading that.

The rules. The way he travels in time, and the rules that apply, are unique and I liked them. I've read so many time travel books, and watched Doctor Who far too much, but you never want to mess with the past. Bad things can happen. In Nolichuck however, it works a bit differently.

Conclusion:

Overall, I wasn't thrilled with this book. The characters frustrated me, the narration was difficult to read... However, there were a few ideas I did like, and I think that if future books in this series expand on those, they will be interesting.

1.5 Stars 

In Which Snickers Tackles Royalty and Children's Books

Title/Author: Eleanor: Crown Jewel of Aquitaine, France, 1136 by Kristiana Gregory Published: November 2002 by Scholastic Inc.
How I Got It: Once upon a time, I owned it, but it disappeared with the passage of time. So I utilized the wonderful library.
Why I Re-read It: I stumbled across it on Goodreads, and had one of those "Oh, YEAH! I remember that book!" moments. I figured I should re-read it since I didn't really remember much, since I first read it as a kid.

The Review

Eleanor: Crown Jewel of Aquitaine feels like a front: a way to teach kids "history", presented in the point-of-view of one of their own. Yes, I realize that's the whole point of the Royal Diaries books, but I expected a little more creativity presented in the story than what I received. It shouldn't FEEL like a front when you read it. I perceived this even as a kid, which is probably why I forgot all about Eleanor until I stumbled across it on Goodreads and was reminded of its existence. Gregory is very careful to remain true to both the diary format and the ADD mindset of a fourteen-year-old girl. As a girl, I read all of the Royal Diaries books, and I honestly don't recall any of them being quite this scatter-brained. It made it hard for me as a reader to remain engaged with the story. I remember what it was like to be a fourteen-year-old; I KNOW how hard it is to stay focused. But really, Gregory, for the sake of the story KEEP IT TOGETHER.

I should have gleaned more of Eleanor's personality than I did, especially considering that it's written in her point-of-view. Eleanor seems to have been deeply religious, or at the very least, unusually pious for a young teen. Other than that, I learned nothing particularly unique about her as a person. She had few wants and worries aside from her father's safety, and was never truly rebellious - sneaking out of the castle from time to time hardly counts as rebellious behavior in my book, as I would've done the same and more. She had opinions and observations about the world around her, but they don't make for a decent read. As a result, I perceived Eleanor to be a generally uninteresting person.

This is odd, considering that in the historical note at the end of the book, it is stated "That she was headstrong and spoiled is undisputed." (p. 161) I didn't get that impression at all. In fact, both the epilogue and the historical note were more entertaining than the actual story. I learned more about Eleanor than I would have otherwise, and lo and behold, she's a fairly interesting historical character. Who would've thunk it? The only time Eleanor displays originality in her actions and thoughts is her rather unorthodox way of meeting her husband-to-be, Louis VII: she marches down to where the prince is camped, only to decide that she'd rather jump in the river instead. One guess on who pulls her out of the river.

This is the only memorable part of the story, folks. Here's the page numbers (p. 124-126) so you can jump right to it thus avoiding all the uninteresting crap.

One could make the argument that "Oh, it's meant for kids and young teens, so it doesn't have to be quite so detailed as other historical fiction novels." To that I say, "Yes it does." I use Marie Antoinette: Princess of Versailles, Austria-France, 1769, another Royal Diaries book, as an example. It remains true to the diary format, and yet manages to be historically accurate AND engages the reader throughout the duration of the story.

It's also a kid's book. Imagine that.

I realize that Marie Antoinette and Eleanor are different people from very different eras. As a result, there's more information to go off of on Marie Antoinette than there is on Eleanor, simply because of the different times they lived in. I get all that; really, I do... but I expected more from Eleanor: Crown Jewel of Aquitaine.

The Rating:
1 and ½ stars.

Eleanor gets 1 and ½ stars because while I didn’t hate it, I wasn’t entertained enough to give it an ok-rating of 2 stars.