False Advertising at its Best: Vesper by Jeff Sampson

Just the facts:

Overall: 1 Star

Addiction Level: I ignored the hubby and puppies until I finished the book. (It only took one sitting.)

Believe-ability: Some aspects were real; others were not.

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Emily Webb is a geek. And she’s happy that way. Content hiding under hoodies and curling up to watch old horror flicks, she’s never been the kind of girl who sneaks out for midnight parties. And she’s definitely not the kind of girl who starts fights or flirts with other girls’ boyfriends. Until one night Emily finds herself doing exactly that . . . the same night one of her classmates—also named Emily—is found mysteriously murdered.

The thing is, Emily doesn’t know why she’s doing any of this. By day, she’s the same old boring Emily, but by night, she turns into a thrill seeker. With every nightfall, Emily gets wilder until it’s no longer just her personality that changes. Her body can do things it never could before: Emily is now strong, fast, and utterly fearless. And soon Emily realizes that she’s not just coming out of her shell . . . there’s something much bigger going on. Is she bewitched by the soul of the other, murdered Emily? Or is Emily Webb becoming something else entirely—something not human?

As Emily hunts for answers, she finds out that she’s not the only one this is happening to—some of her classmates are changing as well. Who is turning these teens into monsters—and how many people will they kill to get what they want? (Synopsis taken from Goodreads).

            What would you think this story is about if you read the above synopsis and compared it to the cover of the book? Obviously something paranormal. Maybe some sort of spiritual battle. You probably wouldn’t think about werewolves. At all. But, then you would be stuck in the same boat as me, staring at the book with a dumbfounded look as you realized that is exactly what it’s about.

            If reading about werewolves doesn’t turn your smile into a frown then perhaps Emily’s character would. Quiet, geeky, keeps to herself-Emily almost instantly turns into trashy, slut-tastic, jump any male around-Emily overnight. Apparently, this is her alter ego. Right. I don’t know if this is a by-product of a male author writing from a teenage girl’s perspective (surely it’s not, right?), but it really irks me. Here’s a girl who seems pretty smart and level headed, but her alter ego is a tramp?! Of all the ways to go in a story like this, Sampson had to go there.

            The one thing that could have redeemed this story also aided in its downfall. The story is a written account of what had happened to Emily, including transcripts throughout of a verbal interview being held in the present tense. It works as an attention grabber leading you to believe there is more to Emily’s story than her discovering she’s a werewolf, but by the end there are illogical sequences thrown in. You can’t end a story by adding random connections and abilities. I realize the purpose it to create suspense and make me want to find out what happens next, but it just left me shaking my head in disapproval.

            A very superficial story at best, I’d pass unless you have some sort of hysterical love affair with anything werewolf related.

A Passionate and Disappointing Read: Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

Overall Rating: 1 star

Addiction Level:  I forced myself to finish.

Believe-ability:  My childhood imaginary world was more real.

Dystopia Factor:  The world has been turned upside down and all hope is lost. 

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            I loved the concept of this book.  I wanted to read about a girl who could not touch others, whose touch could kill others, and I did.  However, it was not what I expected. 
 

            Firstly I must admit that I am addicted to reading stories about kick-ass heroines.  (Katniss and Tris rule!)  Mafi did a good job of showing how Juliette was brow-beaten and isolated for her curse/gift.  She was ostracized by society and disowned by her family.  The story starts off with Juliette imprisoned for eight to nine months; she has lost all hope.  The setting was clearly established.  I was hoping as the book progressed that Juliette would gain self-confidence.  Instead I found her whiny and annoying.  I continued to have hope that she would change in book two as the first two chapters were included in my copy.  Wrong!  Instead she perpetuated a negative self-image of herself.  This time the judgment was all a result of her own isolation.

            As romance is typical of the YA genre, I do not mind a little romance.  However, it has to be believable.  In The Hunger Games Katniss and Peeta knew each other from childhood.  Maybe they even liked one another.  Maybe in a different time they would have eventually started a romance.  However, circumstances threw them together.  In the end their relationship and love for one another was believable.  *SPOILER ALERT*  In Shatter Me Juliette and Adam have also known each other from childhood and never talked.  It is unfathomable to me that Adam would go on a crusade to find Juliette after she has been taken away after she killed a child.  However, there is still good in this world, so it is feasible.  What is not feasible is their immediate love for one another and their proclamations that they have loved each other forever.  

            Lastly the thing that made this book difficult to read was the format it was written in.  I understand authors have artistic license.  I get it, and I do that in my poetry.  However, as an English major and English teacher, I believe in the importance of complete sentences.  Mafi used punctuation lightly.  To express Juliette’s anxiety she would repeat phrases or words in a sentence.  To show Juliette’s conflict she crossed out thoughts.  It is a useful tactic, but it was used too often.  As an artist I appreciate figurative language.  Mafi went overboard, and the comparisons were odd.  Juliette described Adam’s lips as two soft pillows.  That does not show desire, and she desired him.  Lastly Mafi does not follow the numbers rule.  Never start a sentence with a number in number format, and spell out one – nine.  Ah!

            Mafi can write.  While she may want fans to love Juliette and Adam, I hated them.  As I was reading I was very frustrated with this book.  In fact I dragged my family into the story.  On the other hand I liked James and Kenji.  She successfully captured their characters in very few words.  I wanted to see more of them.  I even enjoyed the short snippet of Warner’s log.  Had it only been $.99 I would have purchased it.

Two Hours I'll Never Have Back- Nightlight: A Parody by The Harvard Lampoon

Just the facts:

Overall: 2 Stars

Addiction Level: Uh…

Believe-ability: Um…

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   Well, I’m pretty sure that I don’t need to give a synopsis of Nightlight, just stating that it is a parody of Twilight should be enough.

   So…I kind of had high hopes for this book. I saw it at the local library (yay for libraries!) and thought, “Hey, this looks like it could be hilarious”. It was a short book, about 150 pages, and took me a few hours to read. I had never read a parody before, but Nightlight fell short of what I expected. Yes, it was funny and a few parts made me laugh out loud. However, I couldn’t wait to be finished because it felt like the author(s) saturated the text with sarcasm. No sentence was complete without poking some amount of fun at Twilight. The funny thing about humor is when you start using too much, the humor disappears. It’s like the guy at a party who loves to tell jokes. You laugh at the first couple, but at the end of the night you’re looking for escape routes so you don’t have to hear any more. I guess if you’re in to that you can go ahead and read Nightlight, but if not I’d just pass it up all together. I think I’ll definitely be sticking to my usual literary suspects: some young adult, dystopias, and historical fiction.