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

 

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

Hexed (Iron Druid 2) by Kevin Hearne

(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

The Mauritius Command (Aubrey/Maturin #4) by Patrick O'Brian
Princess Ben by Catherine Gilbert Murdock 
(Click on the link to go to Goodreads)

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. 

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