Happy Monday, everyone!
I’m starting it off right, rewatching the first Sherlock episode and eating some farmer’s market yogurt and blackberries.
And as it is the first official Monday of 2014, I’ve decided to do something FUN.
BOOK RECS
I’ve been reading a FAIR amount of YA Lit this past week. It’s been a part of my goals for 2014 and, subsequently, the goals I posted last Friday.
Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi
I was hesitant to read this at first, mainly due to the fact that I’d seen excerpts displaying the unique writing style and I worried it was too similar to the Levithan style in Will Grayson, Will Grayson that I wasn’t all that interested in.
However, as the kindle library delivered this one first, it seemed that I had no choice but to go on an adventure with Juliette, Mafi’s storyteller and descriptive main character.
The imagery is beautiful. Mafi has a way of telling emotions and settings in disguise, challenging me to look at my own emotional descriptors and world building tells. Sometimes she gets a little too dramatic, but it’s YA so it’s accepted (and expected.)
At first, I thought that so much of the story is within the mind of the protagonist that it wouldn’t make a good movie, but the action of it all proved me wrong. The stakes were high and mighty, the actions believable and the antagonist is DELICIOUS. I have a feeling we’re going to have some vindication in the next book of the series and I cannot wait. The love interest is perfectly fine, but a little too easy. Not as many stakes as Warner, who is so damaged it’s alluring.
Maybe a little too flowery and sometimes I got really annoyed with Juliette’s waif tendency, but overall much better than I was expecting!
Rate: Totes Read!
But REALLY. I saved the best for last.
Sweet Evil by Wendy Higgins
I picked up this book on a whim as I added purchases to my amazon cart in an after Christmas rage and I have never been so happy at a random purchase in my life. I saw Richa Parande’s post over at City of Books discussing anticipated books of 2014 (also where I learned about Shatter Me) and figured if the third book in the trilogy were coming out soon, I should read the first one. It ended up being a few cents more to buy the book and as I am always one for hard copies I splurged.
Oh. My. Heavens.
The cover makes it seem like it will be any other YA paranormal romance novel and it sort of kind of is but not really because DECEPTION it’s in fact extremely deep. The character’s voice is strong and solid, never wavering throughout the hefty story (never not once does she say ‘Oh my god,’ even in her thoughts. It got to be a little weird until I realized the character WOULD NEVER SAY THAT.) Astoundingly good.
And, unlike Shatter Me, I felt this book actually had some good stuff. It wasn’t all about the romance, which is a strong soapbox for me that we will go into at a different time. Sweet Evil, while containing some stellar romance, is actually about something bigger. It’s a Heart with an actual Story to tell, not just fluff for the masses.
It shows me the type of story I want to tell.
Rate: READ. GO. DO. NOW.
Megh Fitz 