The Circus is in Town...And I Thoroughly Enjoyed it

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern was a breath of fresh air. For once, I was not hit over the head with romance, but was led into a beautifully crafted world with multiple layers of plot. However, the layers are the novel's strength and it's weakness. Some times it works well, with the reader speeding through the chapter to find out what is going on. Other time, the layers can get confusing, since there are a lot of characters that get talked about and the novel spans many years. I had to slow down from time to time and go back in order to get a sense of the characters and what was really going on. 

The magic aspect was really cool, but it was never fully explained. I got the sense that I was supposed to just accept that the magic was not explainable, but that's not me. I need to know the rules of the game, or else I am going to walk away from the novel dissatisfied. And, in a way, I did walk away unsatisfied. I loved the book, overall, but I was left scratching my head at certain aspects of the story.

This Novel was not a Match for Me

I, honestly, don't know what I expected. I go into every popular young adult novel hoping, PRAYING, that this one will be different. That this one will break against the mold and I can finally, in good conscience, recommend it to someone. 

Today is not that day. 

To start, Matched is boring. Honestly, all you need to read is the beginning and the end. Everything in between is just useless drivel. I'm glad I had it as an audio book, since I could be doing something else while I got through the filler. My sister, who read the physical novel, did not have this luxury. Sorry, Liz. 

The reason the novel is so boring is that the plot is not strong enough to carry a novel this size. The only real conflict going on is between Cassia, the main character, and the two people she is matched with. That's it. And, let me tell you, I could care less about a girl's struggle between two different guys. Is that because I am a 20 year old college student who the novel is not made for? No, because I asked Lizzie, my 14 year old sister what she thought of the book, and she said the same thing: it was kind of boring. 

The only thing this book has going for it is the progression of realization about how corrupt the government is. Cassia starts off fully trusting the government and all of it's rules, but you can see, as the novel goes on, that this naivete begins to disappear. I loved this. However, the plot was still too focused on the love triangle and not focused enough on questioning, and perhaps eventually overthrowing, the government. This aspect was seen only as a side piece or as a way to further the relationship between Cassia and one of her matches, which was annoying. 

This novel is just another stereotypical copy out of it's genre. I mean, I've read a ton of YA novels in my time, and there is nothing different about this book. You're better off re-reading a dystopian novel that you like than reading Matched.

I'll "Confess": This Novel is Only Okay

So I know that Goodreads has this as the number one romantic novel of the year but...I don't know. I don't feel it. I just can't take a book seriously when the guy you're supposed to like says some emotionally abusive shit like "I'm the only one that deserves you". 

If any man ever said that to me, I would kick his ass. And dump him immediately. 

That was the major turn off for me because, otherwise, this book has a lot going for it. It hits on a lot of real life situations, like physical abuse and drug addictions. But, once I got to the characters, all I could focus on were their flaws. Owen comes out of the gate as an asshole, since he says so many rude things about his ex-girlfriend. Trey and Lydia? They're just assholes that stay assholes throughout the entire novel. And Auburn? She's not terrible, but she's not great either. A lot of the time she just lets situations happen because she's scared and never does anything to stand up for herself. Until the end, of course. 

Also, the relationships are weird. Owen and Auburn meet and literally are obsessed with each other to the point that the first couple of chapters is them being with each other all day long. I kept waiting for them to go their separate ways so that they could reflect on their feelings, but either Auburn or Owen would find reasons to continue hanging out longer. It was like I was waiting on a friend who met a guy at a party; she might tell me "10 more minutes" but we all know that this could go on for another hour. 

So, overall, this novel is only okay. It has a really solid plot, but the characters are just so problematic that it hinders the readability of the novel. If you can overlook that, then you'll love the story. If you're like me and can't, I recommend just skipping this one.   

"Witches of East End": The Rare Time the Adaptation is Better than the Original

I honestly stumbled on this book by accident, since, if you've been following me, I've been reviewing quite a few books that have been giveaways. However, I am on a Netflix kick right now and, wouldn't you know it? The complete 2 season run of Witches of East End was on there. 

And I got hooked. 

And it ended on a damn cliffhanger.

And it's cancelled. 

So, the next logical thing to do was to start another show on Netflix to fill the void and to see if the books would bring me the same enjoyment as the series did. 

If you can believe it...I actually like the show more than I like the books. Granted, I watched the series first, but still. The book is good, but, like any adaptation, parts of the book are drastically different than that of the series. The plot in the book was interesting, but I just felt like the show did a better job of giving the audience a story to latch on to. 

In addition, the progression of the book was extremely weird. I can't exactly put my finger on it, but it was as if the author was pulling ideas and explanations out of thin air and just having the characters accept it. There was no real foreshadowing or anything. As the reader you were just like "oh okay, that makes sense" and moving along. It happened way too often which is why it was a red flag to me. 

There's also a thing about where these witches come from that throws you off. You initially believe "oh hey, they're witches" because the book is called WITCHES of East End but they touch on the fact that they might, in fact, be something else. They flip flop between the two so much that I wonder how the characters can even be classified as witches. I don't know, there's no good way to describe it without giving things away. All I know is that I was not this conflicted with the show's explanation. 

If I had to choose between reading the books and watching the show, I recommend just bypassing the novel and going headfirst into the show. The novel just fell flat for me compared to the live adaptation, which drew me in and had me invest in characters (which is why I'm still upset that it got cancelled). However, if you finished the show and still need a witch fix, you should check out this novel. 

This Book is Seriously "Toxic"

*I won this through Goodread's First Read Giveaway*

I should have known to stay away from erotic novels. They're not exactly my cup of tea to begin with, but, what the hell, I thought. Let's delve into this genre. 

Ughhhhhh.

Honestly, it could have been good, but there were entirely too many flaws. Like, for instance, the main two characters are the two must frustrating characters I have ever read in my life. They constantly jump to conclusions and fight and claim that they can't live without the other one blah blah blah. I get enough of this bs in YA novels, I don't want them in my adult novels too. 

The rest of the characters (which there a LOT of) are about as useful as a cardboard cutout. They literally only tell the main character, Phoebe, what she wants to hear and, when they actually tell her useful information, Phoebe blatantly ignores it. 

So...what's the point of these people then? 

The sex scenes were pretty descriptive, but I wouldn't have minded them if they were more realistic. Like they were just going at it the whole time and didn't do anything that would represent a real relationship. Once in a while, Phoebe and Jeremy would have a cute and touching moment but those were few and far between. And then they were getting in their epic fights so it was hard for me to actual WANT them to be together. Friends with benefits? Okay. Boyfriend and Girlfriend? Hell no. 

From a nitpicky standpoint, the paragraph structure was extremely rough. It honestly was mostly single line paragraphs with such unnecessary information that I wondered why the hell it was included in the first place. Like, I do NOT need to read the conversation between Jeremy and the waiter ("What would you like to drink today?" "A coke" "Do you want to see the specials?"). *Not exact quotes but you get the gist. It's annoying.

Overall, the book is only okay. I'm not going to read it again, but if this seems like your thing, more power to you.

A "Steel Heart" was Not Enough to Make Me Love this Novel

*I won this book through Goodreads' First Reads Giveaway*

I'm sensing a pattern here with assassin books. People 1) like writing/reading about killers and 2) there are usually some flaws when it comes to the execution (pun intended). In this case, the writing spoiled the novel for me because, overall, the story was pretty good. While obvious at times, I enjoyed the drama and suspense that came along with it. EVERYTHING else? Not so much. 

First off, there were entirely too many paragraph breaks and jumping around. The paragraph breaks annoyed me because I thought that we were moving to another point in time, since that's usually what happens, but we'd actually pick up like 5 seconds later. That was a little ridiculous to me. The jumping around was rough too because, while it was interesting to see things happening from multiple POVs, it was extremely abrupt. I would find myself having to recover from the writing whiplash by just putting the book down. 

In addition, the plot moved either way too fast or way too slow. The beginning was slow for me, just because we had to set up everything. However, when the plot picked up, I was surprised to find myself wishing for the buildup that was in the beginning. People were figuring things out too quickly and relationships were developing so fast that it seemed completely unbelievable. This, then, hurt the story because, I was not believing nor invested in a word of it. When you lose that authenticity, then the reader loses interest. Had Jones slowed down a bit and built upon the events he already had in the novel, then he could have made the plot stronger. 

Overall, I have to give Jones credit for self-publishing a book. That is courageous in itself and I respect him for putting out something he believed in. Hopefully my feedback will help him to improve his future books and I wish him luck in all of his endeavors.

"Hostile Takeover" Doesn't Follow "The Intern's Handbook"

*I won this book through Goodreads' First Reads Giveaway*

John Lago, the main character, states early on in the novel that this sequel is going to better than the original. 

Ehhhhh....I don't know about that one. 

It's not bad by any means, but I found myself liking the original more. First of all, it's not written in the same way. The last book was written as if Lago himself wrote it, whereas this one is not. In fact, it jumps from present day to past and back and forth. Does this get a bit confusing and abrupt sometimes? Yes. But once you get going it's not so bad. 

Second of all, there's a lot happening in this novel. While the synopsis on the back does touch on parts of the novel, it sure as hell does not do it justice. I walked in thinking the book was going to go one way and came out feeling as if I was unprepared going in.*UPDATE: the Goodreads synopsis is A LOT BETTER than the one on the back of my book. I only just now realized that the two are different 

Oh man, and Alice? She is intolerable in this book. I couldn't stand her, even when Kuhn wanted me to like her. She wasn't so bad in the first novel, but I was ready to take her out myself after this one. 

In addition to everything above, this book has its own designated prologue, but, in my opinion, the prologue should have spanned the first 100 pages of the novel. Everything happened so quickly and seemed so forced in those pages that it seemed the only purpose for these scenes were to set you up for the second half, which was much more paced and thought out. A lot of the time I found myself not thinking about the timing and the logistics because I just wanted to get through the scene. If I thought about it too much, I would find hundreds of flaws...and that's no fun, now is it?

Now, don't get me wrong, I did enjoy the book. After those first 100 pages, I was thoroughly enthralled in the drama of the novel. I also love John Lago as a character, which is probably why I could power through the eh parts, since he is such an interesting character. It's a decent sequel, overall, since you get to dive more into Lago's life, but I still liked the original a little bit better.