Friday, September 2, 2011

Recap 8/27 to 9/2

In case you missed anything, here's a recap of what was posted Saturday, August 27th through Friday, September 2nd. 

+ DNF review of Tris & Izzie by Mette Ivie Harrison 
+ Giveaway winner announced


Reviews


Entwined by Heather Dixon

(Click on the links to go to my reviews)

News & Upcoming Events

I lost power earlier this week and I've been totally behind on commenting, emailing, and doing other blog-related things. So if you're waiting for me to get back to you, I haven't forgotten you!

Also, if you've left a comment this week then I'm pretty sure I've replied by this point. I won't be able to send out the email alerts this week for the comment replies.

I made an announcement yesterday about two events I will be participating in throughout September.

I participated in Tera Lynn Childs' Sweet Venom 2 title scavenger hunt. Click on the link to play along and enter to win prizes!

The winner of the River of Time giveaway is Gina from My Precious! Didn't win? Don't worry! I have another RoT giveaway up my sleeve for next week (yep, I'm that obsessed!).

Features


No More Waiting!



Review Comparison: Entwined by Heather Dixon

What's Your Status?

A meme created by Zakiya from Butterfly Feet Walking on Life where we recap our reading week. Feel free to visit her site and link up your own What's Your Status Posts. Here's how my week went:

Finished

 


(Click on the link to go to Goodreads)

Reviews to come. I'm kinda meh on Miss Peregrine's, but I am head over heels in love with Kevin Hearne's Iron Druid series! They're not YA (there's sex, but it's not graphic), but gosh do I love them. Atticus has the best "voice" and Oberon! Ah, I love that dog.

Currently Reading



Did Not Finish


Tris & Izzie by Mette Ivie Harrison
Received: ARC from publisher, via NetGalley
Page 10 of 272

Did I give this book a fair shake? Well, I only read ten pages, so you be the judge.  If you have any interest in reading this book then I'd suggest taking my thoughts with a big grain of salt. This isn't a review, it's just my person reaction to what (little) I read.

However, I couldn't bear the thought of reading a single page more.

My biggest problem was the main character, Izzie. Izzie narrates the story and, gosh, she's a real piece of work. She blithely talks about having her super popular boyfriend "exile" a student she doesn't like. This exile business basically means that once her boyfriend (through Izzie's direction) tells all of the students that a person is exiled, then all of the students blindly follow his directive and completely ignore the exiled student and make their life miserable. To the point that the student transfers to a different school. They've done this multiple times already, and Izzie is super pleased with herself about it.

Seriously? I'm supposed to root for this chick? I'm about ready to call in the Greek Furies to go exact some comeuppance because this girl totally needs her butt handed to her. Now, ok, I guess this is supposed to be a "modernized" version of exiles that took places in castles and stuff, but exile works in castle settings. It just sounds petty and appalling in a modern high school setting (could you just imagine coming home from school and happily telling your mom you initiated an "exile" that led to some poor kid fleeing the school?? Oh, I'm sure mom would be so proud!). 

And that's pretty much how I'd sum up Izzie: Petty and appalling. Oh, and totally insane. Here's another example: 

Her best friend notifies Izzie that a boy in school is bragging about having a magic bottle. Izzie's mom is a real live witch, but magic needs to be kept on the down low, so Izzie is kinda peeved that this guy is going around blabbing about magic. Ooook, why Izzie felt this was her DUTY to deal with is a bit of a stretch (who would believe him? It's not like anyone else in this world apparently knows magic really exists), but what really bothered me was the way she went about everything. 

She doesn't act like a responsible--or sane--person. She flies off the handle, but she acts like a mean girl who just found out some "loser" had dared to wear the same outfit she had on. Only apparently this is a situation that could be LIFE OR DEATH for Izzie's mother (why? Who knows, it just IS!) 

So she approaches this guy and accuses him of using magic. She's not really clear on anything though. It's like a drive-by barf of crazy talk that may make some sort of sense in her head, but doesn't make any sense outside of her head. She then grabs this poor guy's bottle and smashes it. 

Now, ok, maybe the guy could be a threat with his magic bottle, I guess. Though I don't see how. I mean, would YOU think, "Gee, that random paramedic lady might be a witch" if all you had to go on was a completely unrelated guy and his supposedly magic bottle of booze? Remember Izzie's world, to all outside appearances, is OUR world. It struck me as totally crazy for her to go nuts like that and smash this guy's bottle. I mean, dude, you just don't go around smashing people's bottles like that. She came across like an insane three year old.

Between her totally obnoxious personality and her insanity, Izzie bugged the heck out of me. She doesn't act like a normal human at all. Her responses were flat out bizarre. Have I mentioned disliking other characters in the past? Forget it. I'd take ANY of those other characters I've hated over Izzie any day.

The writing was also grating and seemed extremely simplistic with painful dialog. I read the first few pages of one of the author's other books and the writing there seemed fine so I'm not sure what was up with it in this book. It's like all the richness and detail was blown on the cover and there wasn't any leftover for the story.

Miss anything last week? Click here to read a Recap

16 comments:

  1. Lilie at Lilie's Book Blog read it. She made it all the way through, but she didn't like Izzie at all. This story obviously doesn't take much from the original at all. She didn't really recommend it though she didn't come right out and say that. I took it off my to buy list. Disappointing because I love the story. I don't blame you for not wasting your time if you don't like the main character unless that was the point. And I think in this instance, I wouldn't care.

    Heather

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  2. Hopping through. I made it 50 pages into Tris. I should have given up at 10. But it was SO BAD that I was curious to see how much worse it could get. I hate trashing books, but I had nothing good to say about it.

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  3. Wow, Izzie sounds terrible! I have this on NetGalley but I haven't read one positive thing about it - it's a shame, coz the cover is so pretty! I know, should judge and all that, but I do so want to like books with pretty covers.

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  4. Oh, it's too bad that you didn't like Tris and Izzie. I was really looking forward to it. I think I'm going to try it out anyway, though. I'll see if I can get any further than you. I'm looking forward to your thoughts on Princess Ben. I just posted my review of it on Pica Reads.

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  5. Oops, made a typo on the url. The correct one is here.

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  6. I have read so many low rated reviews for Tris & Izzie. I will be definitely avoiding it with an obnoxious main character.

    Princess Ben looks good. I hope you are enjoying it and have a fantastic weekend :)

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  7. Wow, for only reading 10 pages, you had a lot to say. I think I will definitely be skipping out on that one.

    And YAY for The Iron Druid series! *happy dance* Isn't Atticus made of WIN!

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  8. "I mean, dude, you just don't go around smashing people's bottles like that." LOLLLLLLLL! I always enjoy reading your DNF reviews - you make it clear exactly why you didn't finish it :D

    Tris and Izzie, frankly, sounds terrible. You're not the only blogger to have thought so, and I definitely won't be picking this one up, despite the pretty cover. Izzie sounds SO aggravating.

    I'm interested to know - have you read the original story of Tristan & Isolde?

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  9. Heather, I love all things Arthurian including the original story, so I was super disappointed with T&I.

    Alison, I can't even imagine making it fifty pages! I hate trashing books too, but Izzie just rubbed me so wrong. It's a shame, too, because the few pages I read from this author's other books seemed much better.

    Belle, The cover is so pretty! At least we got something good out of it :P

    Pica, I'm curious to see what you think of Tris and Izzie. I hope you like it more than I did. I am SO glad you reviewed Princess Ben today! I've been considering a DNF but now I won't.

    Nic, I'm not enjoying Princess Ben very much, but thanks to Pica I'm not worried about it. She said part one is kind of slow and the MC isn't super likable there but then it gets much, much better in parts 2-4.

    Missie, Haha, I could say even more! Though I'm not sure how coherent it would be :P Atticus is SO FREAKING AWESOME! I owe you BIG time! I'm so torn on the third book now. I want to read it NOW (and I have it), but I want to save it because otherwise I have to wait all the way until April for the next book. Argh indecision!

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  10. Danya, :D I'm glad you like my DNF reviews! I've read the original, or at least some versions. I love Arthurian stories. I'm forever reading retellings :)

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  11. Oh! I thought I was the only one who didn't finis Tris and Izzie!! I so didn't like it! For me Tristan and Isolde were this tragic, amazing story about love gone wrong, but Tris and Izzie was more of a 'worst witch' story for me, but not quite as charming!!!

    Anyway... How are you liking Princess Ben?Better than Wisdom's Kiss?

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  12. Aww, I was looking forward to reading Tris and Izzie! Thank you for the honest DNF review. I do want to read Kevin Hearne's books though, and I still have the biggest crush on the cover guy. *_*

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  13. Haha. Almost everybody I know hates Izzie and Tris and couldn't finish it. I have this on NetGalley too. I'm so scared to read it now. Yipes!

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  14. I've seen a LOT of bad reviews of Tris and Izzie, which makes me so sad because I love the original story and the gorgeous cover. It sounds like I would be ready to punch Izzie in the face -- I HATE girls like that. Ugh. And ALL of that happened in the first 10 pages? Yikes! I think this DNF was the last lid in its coffin -- I'll be passing on this book. Thanks so much for your honesty, and sparing me the pain!

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  15. I've been waiting with baited breath to see what the reason was for your DNF on Tris & Izzie.

    Well, that sucks. Izzie sound like a total pshycho beeoch. How sad. But, that being said, I'm curious as to why she is behaving in this irrational manner.

    Most people disliked Bridget in Here Lies Bridget, but I ended up sympathizing with her in the end. Hmmm, I still may give this one a try, just to see at least where the story line goes.

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  16. Alex, Haha nooooo from what I've been seeing you're definitely not the only one who didn't finish. I liked Princess Ben. I liked it much better than Wisdom's Kiss, but not nearly as much as I was hoping. It took me a long time to get into it.

    Dazzling Mage, You may still like it! I have seen a lot of negative reviews, but I've also seen a bunch of positive reviews. Oh my gosh, the cover guy on Kevin Hearnes books is so gorgeous! And he's a perfect representation of the character.

    Need Tea, Oh. My. Gosh. You have to try to read it. I so want to read your review! I can't imagine you'll have nice things to say about it.

    Casey, I know! The original story and the cover are so good! I was very disappointed.

    Gina, Haha, yeah it does suck. Your description of total psycho beeoch sounds spot on. I'd be very interested in your thoughts on T&I if you do decide to read it.

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