Mini Reseñas (feat. Nothing Tastes as Good)
May 01, 2017Yay, a new month! So a new post with old reviews I should have posted a while ago.
Legend - Marie Lu
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Genre: YA, Dystopian, Science Fiction, Romance
Blurb: Los Angeles, California, Republic of America
He is Day, The boy who walks in the light.
She is June, the girl who seeks her brother's killer.
On the run and undercover, they meet by chance.
Irresistably drawn together, neither knows the other's past.
But Day murdered June's brother
And she has sworn to avenge his death...
Yeah, it's true. It's your typical dystopian novel. What bothers me is that this is compared to The Hunger Games. This is more like Divergent than The Hunger Games and yet I'm reluctant to give it that label.
The two protagonists are June and Day. I wasn't so fond about the names but was happy to find out that 'Day' was only an alias.
I was grateful for the obvious POV transitions. In the edition I had, Day's POV was in bold font. However, I felt that June and Day were a bit too similar. They were both very cocky in very similar ways.
The romance... -_- Should I even comment on it? I should probably let it go since this book is kinda old.
Content: Slight language, violence, kissing
Mother Tongue -Julie Mayhew
Blurb: Darya Ivanova is looking forward to September. She has looked after her little sister, Nika, since she was a baby. Now Nika is starting school. Maybe Darya can find a job with her own tidy desk. Perhaps even a boyfriend. But when an unimaginable tragedy strikes, Darya's life plans are fractured. Stalled. She is afraid. What if she never knows real love? What if she never finds somewhere she belongs?
If only she could get to Moscow. There, Darya could escape. There, she could become someone else...
Intermission: This took me 8+ days to read this, the heck? Also, I thought it would be Historical Fiction. It is not.
This book read like a typical school novel. It was interesting but I was not that emotionally invested in it. We have our main character, Darya Ivanova, who has a younger sister Nika. Ever since her mother became sick, the responsibility rested on Darya's shoulders.
She had her manipulative moments like when she had sex with Dmitriy when her English teacher Jonathan rejected her >
I liked the writing style so it was unfortunate that the first 30 pages bored me.
Content: Drinking, innuendo, smoking, a sexual scene
Nothing Tastes as Good - Claire Hennessy
Genre: YA, Irish, Contemporary, Mental Health
Blurb: Don't call her guardian angel. Annabel is dead - but she hasn't completely gone away. Annabel immediately understands why her first assignment as a ghostly helper is to her old classmate: Julia is fat. And being fat makes you unhappy. Simple, right?
As Annabel shadows Julia's life in the pressured final year of school, Julia gradually lets Annabel's voice in, guiding her thoughts towards her body, food and control.
But nothing is as simple as it first seems. Spending time in Julia's head seems to be having its own effect on Annabel... And she knows that once the voices take hold, it's hard to ignore them.
At first Annabel really annoyed me with her constant remarks regarding Julia's weight. Later on I realised why she was so spiteful: Annabel was anorexic before she died (not really much of a spoiler, to be honest).
I was also pleasantly surprised to find that it was set in Ireland! I went into it thinking it would be UKYA, but my eyes were opened when I saw the Irish references!
There is a school newspaper run by Julia, Gavin and other students in the school. It was refreshing because it wasn't something that I usually see in real life or in Irish books.
Content: Drinking, swearing, innuendo, eating disorders
NOTE: My full reviews of these books are available on Goodreads.
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So guys, that's it for today! I'm heading to church soon. Have a nice day everyone!
7 comments
I read the Legend series last year. The romance kind of annoyed me too because it felt so forced? Like I think June and Day could have been really good bests but instead they have to go and start kissing each other. And also they both seemed really young to me? I kind of judged them, although I had my first (and so far last, ha) boyfriend when I was 15. But I also judge my past self for the lapse of judgement, so. The last book sounds really interesting. I haven't read hardly any YA books set in ireland, except for one Cathy Cassidy one, and does that even count?
ReplyDeleteSo true! They could've had an awesome friendship!
DeleteYeah, 15 is young. But when I was twelve, two of my friends (12-13) had boyfriends.
And you had a bf? Whoa... but I shouldn't probe too much xD
Cathy Cassidy? I dunno. I never read a book of hers that was set in Ireland. Mainly Scotland and England. Which one was it?
And there are barely any YA books set in Ireland, anyway *shrugs*
I really loved the end of the Legend series, but The Young Elites was not up my alley. Anyway, Nothing Tastes as Good sounds really interesting, especially because it has a school newspaper (my favourite thing, I'm so obsessed) Also, I'm not sure if I've said this before, but I really like your reviewing style, Grace! It's quite appealing.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I kinda thought you would be into Nothing Tastes as Good :D
DeleteThank you! I'm quite self conscious about my writing (story writing and others) so I'm always glad to receive compliments and constructive criticism!
Nothing Tastes as Good sounds like it has an interesting premise, even though I don't know whether or not this is the kind of book I'm interested in. I'll have to check out the Goodreads pages for some more insights. I don't know either of the other books, so I'm afraid I can't say much. Thanks for your thoughts, Grace!
ReplyDeleteI haven't finished the Legend series, but I gave the first book 3 stars too haha. I wasn't super impressed? It did feel a bit same-old-same-old with how dystopians generally go. 😂
ReplyDeleteYeah, I'm not so fond of the dystopian trend. Glad it's over xD
DeleteKeep it all clean, man. Well, if you really wanna curse, use minor swear words. And I mean the minorest of minor ones.
"Or what?" you ask in indignation.
"Or else."