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Bookit Review: Epic Fail

Posted on by sokorra

Title: Epic Fail
Author: Claire LaZebnik
Publication Date: August 2, 2011. (Kindle version)
Grade: B-

Claire  LaZebnik has a series of novels that take the general plots of Jane Austen novels and makes modern versions of them.  In the case of Epic Fail she took Pride and Prejudice.  And in a sense, failed herself.

Now the book itself wasn’t horrible.  Let’s start with that.  It was a nice novel for the pre-teen set who like a little romance with their stories.  It doesn’t have overdone love scenes and for the most part is PG.  The only scene where it might be higher is where they discuss a possible sexual assault on a minor character.  I wouldn’t dissuade anyone from reading Epic Fail.  I just wouldn’t be “Oh, you definitely should!” should anyone ask me.

This year I’ve been reading alot of Jane Austen adaptions and variations.  Some are good, most seem to fail the mark in some way, and this one is no different.  Derek and Elise, the modern versions of Darcy and Elizabeth, don’t really feel like they have any connection to their 19th century counterparts.  Some of the structure of the original novel can be seen, but for the most part, I would say this was more an inspired by then a true modernization.   The characters seem to fill the slots but don’t really have much of the rest of it.  I do however like that this book took Kitty Bennet/Kitty Benton and gave her a personality.

So I’m going to give it a B-.  It’s a nice rainy day read, easy to digest and nothing that will make you want to throw the book out the window.  However, it’s not Jane Austen really.

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Bookit Review: Ella’s Twisted Senior Year

Posted on by sokorra

Title: Ella’s Twisted Senior Year
Author: Amy Sparling
Published May 31, 2016 (Kindle Unlimited Edition)
Grade: C

I was a bit disappointed in this novel, to be honest.  While it wasn’t a horrible read, and seems good for younger readers who like romance (no sex scenes, and it is about 16 year olds), It didn’t really stand up to my expectations.

Given the title, I thought the focus would be on Ella.  Ella at the start of the book has just lost her home and pretty much all of her belongings (bar those on her person,in her car, and a few things they find in the rubble) due to a tornado.  I expected a good portion of the book to be her dealing with her emotions about that, about how that effects her schooling and her plans.  However, while it is somewhat touched, most of the story goes to two other plot points.  You also expect the main plot to be Ethan and Ella realising their feelings for one another and their changing relationship, but that is more B plot (C plot being the Tornado).  No, the main plot seems to be Ella’s fight with Ethan’s ex-girlfriend who has become a cyber bully due to Ethan breaking up with her right before prom.

Way too much of this story revolves around two girls fighting over a guy.  And the end when the one girl aplogisizes seems out of the blue, and I don’t like the premise that alot of teenage girls crack under the pressure of not having a prom date and become bullies.

 

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Bookit Review: Someone Like You

Posted on by sokorra

Title: Someone Like You
Author: Barbara Bretton
Published: August 2, 2014 (Kindle Unlimited Edition)
Grade: B-

This is the second novel in Bretton’s Idle Point series, and as far as I can find out the last book.  The location seems to be the largest thing in common these two novels have, with a few minor characters that seem to come along for the ride.

In this novel, we have two sisters.  Cat and Joely are the daughters of two musicians who made a mark on musical histroy before their own relationship seemed to implode and their father Mark seemed to walk out on them.  With their mother more interested in finding their father, it ended up being Cat (along with their grandmother) who did most of the raising of Joely.  This has naturally left both girls with some issues.

Like the first book, I think some of the resolutions to the problems the two sisters face comes rather suddenly, but unlike the first book, it doesn’t seem as bad.  The story flows well for the majority of the story, and you want to see everything resolve happily.

I do give points to this novel for having the two love interest staying the course when problems arise.  The whole story of Mark’s life after he left was a little weird, but I enjoyed the story enough to just suspend my disbelief.

I feel as if this should have been a little longer, maybe a few chapters, to allow for the ending to be developed more, but thats just as a reader. This was much better then the first novel in the series and gives me hope that I’ll enjoy the second series I got from KU written by this author.

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Bookit Review: At Last

Posted on by sokorra

Title: At Last
Author: Barbara Bretton
Published: March 21, 2013  (Kindle Version)
Grade: C

I got this book because it had a second book in its series available on Kindle Unlimited, and this one was being offered for a time free (At the time of this writing, I believe it is still being offered free on Kindle if you are interested).  So I can’t say I really bought it, but I also didn’t get it through Kindle Unlimited as I did the next book.

My expecatations might have been a little high going into this.  I love reading second chance romances.  The main characters, Gracie Taylor and Noah Chase, were engaged as high school sweethearts, but Gracie got some news (and a secret) that made her break it off and run out of town.  Years later she returns to her hometown for her father’s wedding and runs into Noah.

The prologue takes place when Gracie leaves town, and the first chapter brings us to six year old Gracie.  Half the book is setting the scene really, telling us about their relationship up to that point.  How things were with their familes and those who they went to school with (some become important down the road).  I found this hard to get into, because I wanted to go straight to them solving their problems.

I feel that the backstory could have been shortened, or perhaps interspaced with chapters of current day.  The current day storyline seemed to be very short and resolved quicker then you would expect.

The author doesn’t seem like a bad writer.  It feels almost like she just wanted to get this story out of her head, and had more of the romance in high school then when they reunite years down the road.  Which is why I continued on to the second book in this series, and am reading another series by her.

This book is good for those who love long backstories, teen romance, or just want a fluffy romance to read.  It does have sex-scenes, but not quite as much as most romances seem to have these days.

 

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Bookit Review: In Twenty Years

Posted on by sokorra

Title: In Twenty Years: A Novel
Author: Allison Winn Scotch
Publication Date:  July 1, 2016 (Kindle Unlimited Copy)
Grade:  C

I found this book enjoyable yet…non climatic.  It tells the story of the reunion of five friends who were best friends back in college, but have since drifted away due to a variety of reasons.  They are reuniting due to a request from the sixth member of their group, who passed away 13 years ago.  She had set it up that on her fortieth birthday they would all return to the house they had lived in as college students and read letters they had written themselves back when they were graduating.

Most of this book is pointing out all the problems they all have.  It doesn’t really solve many of them, and often left me thinking half the story wasn’t told.  I feel like this was the start, and the author needs to write a sequel where some of the problems get addressed and at least on the way to solved.

I also have to admit I had a problem of remembering this is Penn College, not Penn State.  Penn College/UPenn is based in Philly and is private while Penn State is the public university supported by the State.

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Bookit Review: The Broken Hearts’ Society of Suite 17C

Posted on by sokorra

Title: The Broken Hearts’ Society of Suite 17C
Author: LeighAnn Kopans
Publication Date: May 22, 2015  (Kindle Unlimited Copy)
Grade: B

 

This was an enjoyable book, although it had some odd pacing, and it starts off slow then skips over time during the last two-thirds of the book.  The book takes place over the course of Freshmen year for three students who happen to start their year on a sour note.

Rion is your ‘tough girl’ for this particular story.  She comes from a broken home, her father died in a car accident and her mother dealt with her grief with a bottle and is in prison for a DUI.  Rion herself spent time in a group home where she met her ex-boyfriend, who happened to frame her for distributing pot (It was really him).  She ends up meeting a artist-tattoo guy and struggling with letting herself be open to that and trusting someone again.

Then there is Arielle, a Lesbian jew who comes to this particular school to be with her girlfriend – only said Girlfriend decides she is not ready to be out at school and breaks it off with her.  However she meets Lauren, who has always considered herself straight but feels something for Arielle and decides to explore that.

The final main character is Amy, a girl who was raised Southern Baptist and has to learn where she stands in her own relationship with god, as well as how to deal with her long time boyfriend deciding college is for seeing other people.  She meets Matt, a fellow Christian who helps her try to find her way.

This story deals with a lot of clichés, but I enjoyed finding the diversity of secondary characters, the fact that it included  non-hetrosexual couple, and that it had a Christian character who wasn’t painted badly.It was also nice to see a book where the three girls form a healthy friendship, there isn’t any love triangles, and underlying issues are dealt with.

The issues this book has aren’t many.  I felt like there was maybe too many social issues hit upon in a single book. It seemed to titter on the line between it being naturally addressed and it being a bit preachy on a subject.

I will however recommend this book.

 

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Bookit Review: The House by the Lake

Posted on by sokorra

Title: The House By the Lake
Author: Ella Carey
Publication Date:  March 29, 2016  (Kindle Unlimited Copy)
Grade:  B

The House by the Lake by Ella Carey is interesting…but feels like someone accidentally combined two files and published it without looking.  There are two stories within.  The main story is of Anna, the granddaughter of Max Albrecht who fled Germany after the war and never talks about that period of his life. However, as a paper about an old apartment in paris (which, is actually a real thing outside of the book) being found, unopened since the owner fled Paris when Germany took the city, Max decides he needs to find some items of his past.  Anna, at first, reluctantly agrees but gets caught up in the romance of the Prussian countryside and tries to not only find the ring that Max sent her for, but find a way to help rebuild the Schloss her grandfather used to live in.

That story is interesting, and I feel like it could have been expanded, and been a novel on its own.

Story two is of Isabelle, the great love of Max’s life.  It is not so interesting, as it is basically just telling about how she met Max, that she loves him, and that she basically sits around Paris waiting for him to contact her.  I kind of wanted to skip over Isabelle’s story and get on with Anna’s story.  Especially since we don’t really find out anything useful.  At the end of the story, after Isabelle’s story ends, Anna puts all the pieces together and we find out what really happened.  It happens rather quick, and I think if we had focused on Anna’s story of discovery, the pieces could have been paced better and it wouldn’t have seems so rushed.

However, I did enjoy the novel.  If you enjoy historical romances, stories about discovering one’s past, or books based around Germany, I think you might enjoy this for a light read.

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Bookit Review: Memory of Us

Posted on by sokorra

Title: The Memory of Us
Author: Camille Di Maio
Publication Date: May 31st, 2016  (Kindle Unlimited copy)
Grade: A-

The Memory of Us is the debut novel from Camille Di Maio, and is quite a good one in my opinon.  The story is of Julianne Westcott, a woman growing up in Pre-war Liverpool.  Julianne falls in love with Kyle, a gardner who she meets while visiting her brother in the hospital. Kyle falls in love in return, which changes his life as he was intending to become a priest.

However the two of them have obsticles to face, from her family, the war, and her guilt over taking him away from the church.   The story is told only from her point of view, so we are limited in what we know about the motivations of those around her, or how they react to some of her choices when she decides to cut off contact with her family.

The book kept me interested through out, which I sometimes find trouble with with some of the books I’ve been getting through the KU subscription.  While it has its issues like any other book (I wish we had seen other point of views, more about her brother, and a longer epilogue) they are minor and I believe anyone who enjoys historical romances (or romance novels in general) will enjoy this book.

I am certianly putting Di Maio on my list of authors to look for in the future.

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Bookit Review: Eligible

Posted on by sokorra

Title: Eligible  (The Austin Project #4)
Author:  Curtis Sittenfeld
Published: April 19, 2016.  (Ebook available through Kindle Unlimited)
Grade: B-

I finally got back to my reading (I’m 10 books behind now in my planned timeline) so I have a few book reviews to do.  The first one on the list is another Pride & Prejudice related book.  This is a modern adapatation, Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld (Goodreads).

I was a bit mixed on what grade to give this one.  I did enjoy as it started out, although the idea of the reality show aspect was a bit odd.  In this novel, Charles Bingley becomes Chip, a ER doctor who decides to take part in a reality matchmaking show (ala The Bachelor) after being convinced by his sister Caroline.  Darcy, also a Doctor, convinces him to come work in Columbus Ohio with him.

Jane & Lizzie are somewhat styled as the more adult of the sisters like in the original material, although Jane is trying for a baby via IVF and Lizzie has a ongoing affair with Jasper (who is the George Wickam of this story).

On one hand I was happy to see Kitty and Mary, often forgotten or made into cousins/pets in other modern variation, developed into characters with a firmer personality.  I think the writer was a bit harsh with Mary though.  Lydia as well was developed and I actually like the way they changed her, although she still has that callous way of dealing with her sisters.  Kitty has her own personality and isn’t just seen as Lydia’s partner in crime.

There are some awkward changes though.  Darcy’s and Lizzie’s relationship is a little less romantic then it tends to be in other adaptations.  And the end, while happy for everyone, seems almost sudden, like there is some missing steps inbetween the rest of the book.

That being said, if you enjoy P&P variations or adaptations, this is worth a try.  I’m going to give it a B-.  While the ending is a little odd with the characters, this book does a good job in developing minor characters.  It does emphaisis some characteristics in the antagonists of Caroline and Wickham that I’m not sure are necessary, but it works within the story.

I am considering reading some of the other books in the Austen Project.  As far as I know there are four books total, all modern retellings of Austen’s books.