Tris & Izzie

Jul 09, 2011 Donna {Book Passion for Life} rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: arc, for-review, e-galley, ya-paranormal-romance

Posted on: http://bookpassionforlife.blogspot.com

***Spoilers***

When I found out this book was up for review on NetGalley, I immediately snapped it up because I’ve always been a massive fan of the story ‘Tristan and Isolde’.....however, I can honestly say I’m definitely not a fan of this book.

Izzie is a witch, a young witch who doesn’t really understand or know how to us her powers. She’s happily dating Mark, the captain of the Basketball team but when new boy Tristan starts school, she can’t he...more

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Jul 25, 2012 Jude rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: e-galley

*Using the Melody of Friday by Rebecca Black*
Its Tris and Izzie, Gotta get down with Izzie. Gotta make your mind up, which boy will you taaaaake? Well, the one that's mentioned in the cover you stupid.
I'm not trying hate here, but I am going to be honest. Here I go:

Reading Tris and Izzie was like listening to Rebecca Black's Friday, I was constantly stopping and asking myself, seriously? this is for real? I mean, seriously?? There were scenes that I guess were meant to be scary and to get my hea...more

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Jul 10, 2012 Amy (Turn the Page) rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: kindle-library

If I dislike a book that much, a review can easily turn into a rant which isn’t helpful for anyone, or particularly fair to the author, so I’m going to try to exactly explain why I disliked Tris and Izzie. I have to be honest and say the main reason is simply that I found it to be very poorly written.

The narration was child-like, disjointed and repetitive, I think at one point the word ‘magic’ was used around seven times within two short paragraphs. There are several battle scenes but there was...more If I dislike a book that much, a review can easily turn into a rant which isn’t helpful for anyone, or particularly fair to the author, so I’m going to try to exactly explain why I disliked Tris and Izzie. I have to be honest and say the main reason is simply that I found it to be very poorly written.

The narration was child-like, disjointed and repetitive, I think at one point the word ‘magic’ was used around seven times within two short paragraphs. There are several battle scenes but there was no sense of build up or tension and the action wasn’t well written. I never felt any fear for the characters, mainly because I didn’t connect with any of them, but also because any danger they found themselves in was brief and too easily resolved.

Another issue was that the main protagonist was vapid and plain unlikable. The story is narrated from Izzie’s point of view and I honestly felt like I was reading some naive, vindictive child’s thoughts. Mel, a guy at school, annoys Izzie (she doesn’t like his jokes but other than that it doesn’t appear that he’s ever really spoken to her), so she is resolved to get her boyfriend (the most popular guy in school) to ‘exile’ him. No one will speak to him or be friends with him, without their permission. She also thinks her best friend, Branna, needs a boyfriend, and so, disregarding the fact that a love potion can never be reversed, she decides she to slip one to her friend and the new guy, effectively taking away any romantic choice from Branna for the rest of her life.

There’s nothing wrong at all with having a unlikeable lead character, if you have a quality piece of writing that can pull it off and that just isn’t the case here. Izzie’s character was less interfering by the end of the story, though I can’t say she matures in any way, rather she is more preoccupied with Tristan, and the scenes between them get sappier and more overblown as the book progresses.

Overall, there was little, to no, character development at all as far as I could see. I can’t really tell you anything about Tristan other than he has really blonde, almost white, hair, he’s supposedly a warrior (though we see very little evidence of this, nor do we learn anything about his powers), he speaks like a Victorian gentleman and is besotted with Izzie from the first moment he sees her. I didn’t get a feel for any of the characters whatsoever and so didn’t care what happened to them. None of them were realistic in any way. Some really bizarre things happen in this book but nobody bats an eyelid.

The dialogue was stilted and just plain awkward to read, particularly Tristan’s (few) lines. The plot was all over the place and was ridiculous in places (the story of how her parents met comes to mind, among other things), while making little sense in others.

(view spoiler)

To be honest, I’m unimpressed – which is a real shame as I was looking forward to this one and was so excited to see it on NetGalley. But it just reads like (bad) fanfiction. Other than the names and the elements of magic, I don’t know that you could really call this a retelling of the story of Tristan and Isolde. Young readers will probably be able to look past most of these issues for a quick, easy read, (though the age of the characters and the emphasis on ‘true love’ makes me think it is intended for older teenagers), but I think anyone over 12 will be probably be disappointed.

The cover, however, is absolutely gorgeous.(less)

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Jan 04, 2012 Krystle rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Be warned. This review will be long and full of raging.

This book made me so angry; I don’t even know where to start. I haven’t been this angry over a book since like forever. I guess I’ll take it in parts: writing, characters, and the romance. I must state here first that I’ve never read the original tale this is based off of but I’m quite sure it’s nothing like this retelling is.

WRITING

My gosh, what the heck happened? I read one of Mette Ivie Harrison’s books before, The Princess and the Hound,...more

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Jul 14, 2011 ☆Jessie☆ (Ageless Pages Reviews) rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: supernatural-fiction, young-adult-fiction, netgalley-arc, reviewed, mythic-fiction, to-have-and-to-hate, standalone, 2011-reviews, 2011-reads, coverlove, arc, great-potential-awful-execution, utterly-underwhelming, what-is-this-nonsense, looks-can-be-deceiving, you-call-it-love-i-call-it-hormones, bring-on-the-cliche-parade, and-no-stars-for-gretchen-wieners

Read This Review & More Like It On My Blog!

The cover is by far the most appealing aspect of the mess that is Tris & Izzie.

Simply and best put: the cover is the best part of the complicated mess that is this novel. I'd heard of a few other novels by this author I have wanted to read (mostly Mira, Mirror ) so when I saw this on netgalley -- with that gorgeous cover -- I couldn't wait to read it. Sadly I was disappointed and frustrated by this retelling of the classic Tristan and Isolde le...more

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Jul 06, 2011 Ellen Isabella rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: e-book, 2011, netgalley, love-the-cover, fairytale-and-retelling, arc

The idea of the story is really interesting. I see that people are curious about how the story is going to be as a modern retelling of the Tristan and Isolde legend. It’s about Izzie who lives normally with her mother since her dad has died. She has a good life, a loving mother, a popular boyfriend and a best friend that she can share every secret with. Then suddenly her life turns upside down after she met Tristan. She falls in love with Tris, then she finds out the truth about her magical abil...more The idea of the story is really interesting. I see that people are curious about how the story is going to be as a modern retelling of the Tristan and Isolde legend. It’s about Izzie who lives normally with her mother since her dad has died. She has a good life, a loving mother, a popular boyfriend and a best friend that she can share every secret with. Then suddenly her life turns upside down after she met Tristan. She falls in love with Tris, then she finds out the truth about her magical ability and some facts she never knew before.

I wanted to like the whole story but I couldn’t. I found some significant turn-offs in it. There are some parts that make the story quite disturbing. For example, I think the process of Tris and Izzie fall for each other is too fast. Even if they use love potion, there should be logic about it – the more when it is proved to be not a love potion. It’s like no explanation of how things are going on, they just happen and then DONE, PERIOD!!!

As well with Mark and Branna, who happened to be Izzie’s boyfriend and best friend. I think it is just strange that in the beginning Mark shows a lot of love and affection to Izzie then the next day he can just go on with Branna without any doubt. Like nothing has ever happened. Well, it’s not impossible but then it seems like the chapter is forced to be finished soon so the story can go on to the next phase.

While some moments are like skipped to be told, some are like prolonged. I noticed how Izzie kills the giant so easily but then the process takes too long time and causes too much disaster. The long part doesn’t even tell in detail about how Izzie finally manages to use her magic. Instead, there are some less important details being told.

Another strange part of the story is during the fight with the magical creature. I wonder how come at the thrilling and critical moment, the characters still fight against each other, do stupid things and even there is a slight romance in it, kissing while fighting? Oh, I don’t get it.

There’s also some new ideas pop up out of nowhere, like taken for granted or forced to fit in. For example, about the idea that Branna may also have magical power is concluded just because that she believes in magic so easily. Also at the ending, there are some unexpected new ideas.

The characters in the story seem to be immature, despite their age. Izzie acts as what she wants without thinking more. She is also insensitive, labile and doubtful. Branna’s role seems to be dubious, sometimes she acts like a good friend, the other times she becomes a back-stabber. Mark changes so quickly, from loving to hostile, he even punches the girl he used to love. Tristan is emotional, has a different way of thinking and romantic in a strange way. One thing in common, they all never know what to do about many things, even about their own abilities.

To be honest, I never knew the Tristan and Isolde legend. But before reading this book, I tried to browse a bit about it so to have an idea of how it is. Although there are many versions of the legend, the main theme is about romantic love and tragedy. I didn’t find this book having so much relevance with the legend. Somehow the bias goes too far and it’s like a brand new story already with just some similar names of the characters. Those names don’t even follow the characterizations of the legend.

Overall, still I think the book is quite fun and easy to read. It has a really nice cover which I adore so much. The writing style can be considered as attractive, too. It’s not boring at all that can keep the readers to continue reading. If only Harrison could stick more with the original version of the legend and write a more developed story line with good logic, maybe this book could be a potential bestseller since it has a compelling plot already
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Aug 19, 2011 Hope rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I requested this book from NetGalley for a review; I was intrigued by its title and I thought that it would be something I would like to read. It took me several days to read this book, I usually read it during my lunch hour. However I could not read more than couple of chapters at a time. I did not enjoy this book, I kept reading, hoping that it would get better but it did not, it got worse.

There were so many things wrong with this book that I do not know where to start this review. Let’s Star...more I requested this book from NetGalley for a review; I was intrigued by its title and I thought that it would be something I would like to read. It took me several days to read this book, I usually read it during my lunch hour. However I could not read more than couple of chapters at a time. I did not enjoy this book, I kept reading, hoping that it would get better but it did not, it got worse.

There were so many things wrong with this book that I do not know where to start this review. Let’s Start with Izzie and her friend Brenna. Izzie tries to give Brenna love potion without her knowledge, and even knowing what the consequences are. Love potion makes you fall with another person for the rest of your life, even when that person is dead you are still in love with them, no chance of moving on. She did not even know which guy her friend like, but rather Izzie took it onto herself to find her a boyfriend by giving him love potion. Make the story short Izzie ends up giving the potion to the new guy in school, Tristan, and she herself ends up drinking it. So now for almost half the book Izzie is complaining and saying “I couldn’t be in love with someone I didn’t want to be in love with for the rest of life. That wasn’t fair.” But not once did she think of this when she was going to give potion to Brenna. This was just too much for me, I rolled my eyes so much while reading this book that I thought I was getting dizzy.

Than we have the magic, by the time I finished reading this book I was so fed up with the word “magic” or “magical”. Than we have sentences like this used throughout the book “Than he came for you and your magic...”, Izzie speaks like her magic is a separate identity from her. The magical system was never explained or well defined in this book. It is not very clear how the magic works and makes no sense. Izzie discovers that she has magic as well and that she is very powerful, powerful enough to defeat The Serpent. All of sudden Izzie can use magic and she knows how to use it, she has no guidance or someone to show her how to use. Not even much time goes by between the time she learns she is “magical” and the time she learns how to use it. you see whew I am going with this – everything was so plot convenient that there was no effort of Izzie’s part to defeat this Serpent, who is very powerful.

Now the relationship between Izzie and Tristan – it was annoying, actually Izzie was very annoying and whiny. First she was denying her “love” for Tristan and then all of sudden she realised that she can be with Tristan, she just did not want to see what was staring her in the face (this was the result from the scene in cafeteria between Mark, Brenna, Mel and Izzie, which I still do not know what to think of). What’s up with her slapping Mark and then later on she slaps Tristan – let me tell you both times she did not have a good reason to slap them. I did not like Izzie and Tristan together, there was no attraction or chemistry between them Izzie only talks about love but there was no feelings involved.

Overall this was not a good red for me. It lacked everything, magical system was undeveloped and there was no premises as how it worked. Relationships and friendship were all over the place, there was lack of attraction between Izzie and Tristan. All the story-lines in book were very plot convenient, there was no anticipation build up and it was all over the place. Plus it is a very poor retelling of Tristan and Isolde, there is no similarities other than the main character names. I give this book 1/5 STARS, and I think I am being generous. I feel bad giving bad reviews because I want the books to be good and awesome reads, I guess I can not like all the books I read. (less)

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Jul 22, 2011 Trista Siegel rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: netgalley

I have to honestly say, I went into this one after I heard some good and bad reviews and I have to agree with most bad reviews.

Usually with the characters I can connect with them and sympathize with them but Izzie is definitely not my kind of character. She is stuck up and she is so full of herself. The first thing that made me hate her was when her friend asked her if she thought she was the queen of the world and she answered with maybe and that she was the queen of the school. Who talks like...more

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Aug 16, 2011 Heather (BookStacksOnDeck) rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: kindle

So, I do like YA books, but I just didn't like this one so much. Izzie "has magic" & the author, Mette Ivie Harrison, keeps describing her abilities this way. The word "magic" is literally used about five times in the same paragraph sometimes. Izzie is a pretty shallow & unlikable character with a jock boyfriend and is proud she's dating the most popular boy in school.

Izzie's mom is a witch that makes potions. She notices her best friend is crushing on a guy, but won't tell her who it is...more

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Aug 28, 2011 Celeste rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: beauty-is-in-the-eye-of-the-cover, in-possession-of, epic-fails

WARNING: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS EXTREMELY COARSE LANGUAGE, BUT REALLY, IN COMPARISON TO THE WRITING IN THIS BOOK, IT'S NOT SO BAD. IN ANY CASE, VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED FOR BOTH THIS REVIEW - DUE TO TO SAID STRONG LANGUAGE, AND THE BOOK - DUE TO DISMAL WRITING TECHNIQUES.

PLEASE REMEMBER: YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED - ON BOTH ACCOUNTS.

***SIGH***

***SIGH again***

***another SIGH***

I would cry a trillion tears if I actually gave a shit about this book.

Can I just say: WHAT A FUCKING DISAPPOINTMENT!?!?! W...more

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Dec 22, 2011 Rebecca Rogers marked it as did-not-finish · review of another edition Recommends it for: Ages 14 or younger

Shelves: arc, for-review, magic, witches-wizards, fantasy

**ARC Courtesy of Netgalley

The only redeeming portion of this book is its cover, unfortunately.

As I read the first fifty pages (forty-eight, to be exact), I couldn’t help but notice that something was missing and completely off. I had to really think about this, and I’ve come to the conclusion there were a few things that might’ve made me lose my interest:

1. The voice. The entire time I read this, I felt like Izzie was in middle school. She didn’t have that standout YA voice like a lot of books...more

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Aug 18, 2011 Cindy rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I have to say this story definitely peeked my interest to find more stories about Tristan and Isolde. This story is about Izzie who is in love with Mark who is an amazing guy by the way. Izzie has a best friend Branna who really wants to be in love or is she? Izzie's mom is a witch, so she decides to concoct a love potion from the Internet which goes completely wrong, so she steals some of her moms. Tristan a new guy at school who is very handsome,and has his eye on Izzie. Izzie however tries to...more

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Aug 26, 2011 Infinite Playlist rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: form-ebook, form-arc, genre-ya, genre-paranormal

Did not finish

I was excited about this book. Look at the cover, it’s beautiful and romantic. The story is supposed to be a retelling of the German folk tale Tristan and Isolde which I’ve heard of but I didn’t actually know the storyline. I was very interested in it though because I am German.
So you can guess how happy I was when this popped up pre-release-date on Netgalley. Unfortunately I had to put it down after 9 chapters (which equals 75 pages which equals about 30% of the book). I have two...more Did not finish

I was excited about this book. Look at the cover, it’s beautiful and romantic. The story is supposed to be a retelling of the German folk tale Tristan and Isolde which I’ve heard of but I didn’t actually know the storyline. I was very interested in it though because I am German.
So you can guess how happy I was when this popped up pre-release-date on Netgalley. Unfortunately I had to put it down after 9 chapters (which equals 75 pages which equals about 30% of the book). I have two big problems that forced me to spend my precious reading time on worthier books.

Reason number one is the main character Izzie. She’s supposed to be 16 but she acts like a 12 year old. Izzie annoyed me to no end. She is selfish, arrogant, stupid, childish and has a very limited horizon. Examples? Here you go:
Her best friend Branna tells her about this guy Mel who supposedly uses magic. Izzie doesn’t like that (because her mom is a witch and told her to always keep magic a secret), so she decides that her boyfriend Mark (the most popular guy in school) will exclude Mel from their clique. Mark has that power, if he doesn’t talk to Mel, soon no one will.
Next Izzie tries to find a boyfriend for her friend Branna (who is very tall and athletic and yearns for a boyfriend and the love experience). Izzie decides that a love potion will work best. She tells Branna about it but the girl refuses the offer, she wants a boy to fall for her because of her, not because of a potion. Izzie doesn’t care. She prepares a potion anyway and tries to get Branna to drink it. Then we meet Tristan who is the new guy at Izzie’s school (and he talks really weird, I have no idea why). Izzie dislikes him right away (why?) but decides that he would make a good boyfriend for Branna. What? Exactly.

The other problem I had with the book was the magical aspect. I don’t mind magic in books, not at all but first of all I didn’t expect it here. I thought part of the retelling would be to get rid of any irrational explanation. I could’ve gone with the whole magic storyline if it hadn’t felt so… ridiculous. Izzies mom is a witch but Izzie doesn’t have any magic in her (or so she thinks), later a two-headed dog arrives, trying to kill Izzie… and that’s where I stopped.

If you want to buy this to put it on your shelf where it can look pretty, go ahead! If you’re looking for a sweet/romantic/fun retelling of Tristan and Isolde, look somewhere else.(less)

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Jul 05, 2011 Mlpmom (Book Reviewer) rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: arc-book-read, e-galley

3.5 Stars

What first caught my eye with this book was the cover, it is gorgeous and then the title as well, I mean come on, who doesn't love the story about Tristan and Isolde?
When I first read the description of the book I thought this was going to be a little more like a love story than anything else. And while it did have a sweet romance feel to it it was more than that. I think I would call it more of a magical adventure with slight romance thrown in than anything else.
It is a fun creative st...more

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May 26, 2013 Blake rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I really, really loved the cover for this book. It's what initially made me check it out on Goodreads and why I was so excited when I found a copy at BEA. However, the cover is probably the only thing I liked about this book.

I'm not too familiar with the legend the book is based on, but I did read a little bit about it before I started the book. I was only able to find a few similarities (but I guess that's the point when you are trying to make the book your own), and the overall story didn't ap...more

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Apr 24, 2013 Lindsay (The Violet Hour) rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: arc-review, kindlereads, dnf-wallbangers

This, along with ALL the reviews posted on my Goodreads account, was originally posted on my blog, The Violet Hour.

I was drawn to this cover. It is gorgeous! I had very high hopes for this book, and did my best not to read any reviews prior to starting this book. I don't think reading them would have made a bit of difference...

Izzie and her boyfriend are the top dogs at their high school. They have the “power to exile“ someone because they don't like them. I found this whole mentality...very chi...more This, along with ALL the reviews posted on my Goodreads account, was originally posted on my blog, The Violet Hour.

I was drawn to this cover. It is gorgeous! I had very high hopes for this book, and did my best not to read any reviews prior to starting this book. I don't think reading them would have made a bit of difference...

Izzie and her boyfriend are the top dogs at their high school. They have the “power to exile“ someone because they don't like them. I found this whole mentality...very childish and annoying. Maybe I've been out of school for too long, but I nor my friends EVER acted like this. Izzie paraded around doing good deeds, like taking up for someone in trouble, but really it was just to further her own gain. She really thought nothing of anyone else's wants or needs.

“But who cared about choice when you could have happiness instead? I could hardly wait!“

Only it wasn't herself that she was thinking this about. When it came down to it, that statement wasn't 'fair' for Izzy personally.

The final straw for me was when Izzie has a proverbial bomb dropped on her. She turns into a huge brat. Yes, a bigger brat than before. She flips out on Tristan for not being completely truthful, when she had tried to trick him at the beginning of the story! AAH! She devised a plan out of selfish motive disguised as 'love' for her friend, without said friends' permission or insight. Tristan kept things from her because he knew she wouldn't believe him if he came right out and said it, even if it was to protect her. I mentally gagged at Tristan's descriptions of Izzie and her 'honor'. Are you kidding, pal?

I just could not get into this story. I'm all for 'retellings' of stories, but this one did not work for me. I was so in love with the cover, under it's spell, if you will. The writing was repetitive, and the story got to be ridiculous. I'm sorry to say that I couldn't finish it. It has been a long time since that's happened, but I just couldn't continue. I will say that it has inspired me to read the actual Tristan and Isolde, as my knowledge came from the movie (with James Franco), which I loved. So, I guess that's the one positive thing that came from trying to read this book. I am saddened to say that this beautiful cover will not be gracing my bookshelves. It was a hot mess.
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Jan 12, 2013 Annika rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Ok, this was kind of cute, but I felt this was too sudden, and I was disappointed overall. Izzie takes the love potion, and Bang! She and Tristan are in love, not that this is a bad thing, but I felt it happened too fast. like, suddenly "I burn for you Tristan" and "I would die for you" And then her boyfriend, Mark, is totally in love with Izzie and then once he finds out that Izzie doesn't really feel that way anymore and her best friend Branna does, its like he says to heck with her and he is...more

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Nov 17, 2012 Literary rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Mandy's Review:

Cover

I find this cover to be romantic and sweet and I love it. The colors are beautiful. The body language of the two characters are very intimate, but not so much to be vulgar. Spectacular job!

Plot

Izzie's been dating Mark for a couple years. Over that time, she's noticed her best friend, Branna, has been getting more sullen and less inclined to talk things over with Izzie. Izzie finally gets her to open and reveal that she's in love with someone, but Branna's not saying who that...more

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Nov 15, 2012 Grace rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: ya, romance, myths-fairy-tales-retold, dnf

I must say that this book deserves its rating on here and that I was drawn in (despite that) because of the pretty cover and the potential. But no, it's horrible.

Apparently the story is set in modern-day high school, but Izzie and her mom are from a land of magic, although Izzie cannot work magic. Izzie currently dates Mark, jock hotshot at school. She's happy until Tris comes along and she imbibes a love potion she got from her mom's stash created for her friend and Tris.

WTH. I mean, seriously...more I must say that this book deserves its rating on here and that I was drawn in (despite that) because of the pretty cover and the potential. But no, it's horrible.

Apparently the story is set in modern-day high school, but Izzie and her mom are from a land of magic, although Izzie cannot work magic. Izzie currently dates Mark, jock hotshot at school. She's happy until Tris comes along and she imbibes a love potion she got from her mom's stash created for her friend and Tris.

WTH. I mean, seriously, WTH. All Izzie has on her mind is who likes whom and this annoying guy at school (not Tris) who may or may not have access to real magic, which he brought to everyone's attention by having a bottle that keeps on pouring wine. Big whoop. I think I saw an episode of that kind of bottle on some Canadian reality comedy series (can't even remember the name). So she gets all involved and in his face and tries to break his bottle, even though she doesn't even know for sure if it's real magic, but he's annoying, so that bottle's gotta go!! Besides breaking his bottle and hopefully inducing him to tears, she also wants to try to get her boyfriend Mark to X him out of high school life because apparently the last person to get X'd by Mark had to transfer high schools. WHAT? Yes, 'tis so.

Then she gets this fool idea in her head that her friend might be unhappy (well the previous reason her friend was unhappy was over the faux wizard situation -- kind of a ridiculous thing to be unhappy about but whatever) and lonely because she's with Mark and her friend? Horror of horrors, has NOBODY, poor lonely, tall and athletic soul who no one will ever find attractive. The audience is also left wondering if maybe the friend likes Mark. But before this is ever out in the open, some new dude, Tris appears, and Mark likes him because apparently he's athletic and will contribute to the school's prestige. Izzie, on the other hand, hates him immediately and taunts him with transferring from a rich school (unfortunately finding out that he's an orphan or something -- can't even remember anymore).

Even though she supposedly HATES his guts, she wants to set her friend up with him. That's fine, right? Matchmaking is okay. But Izzie knows that her friend likes someone -- someone she's not able to be with, and so Izzie gets this (another one) FOOL idea to make a love potion and make her friend and Tris drink it. Of course, Izzie is no magician so she gets some from her mom's stash, even though her mom warned her against using it because her mom is all sad now because they drank the potion and Izzie's dad is dead, so she's all alone. And this was done when her mom and dad were absolutely CERTAIN they wanted to be together forever. But Izzie goes on to mix the potion into some soda and hands it to Tris to drink. Then she tries to offer it to her friend, who is grossed out (naturally) drinking out of the same container that someone she's not familiar with drank (plus Tris had already said that the soda tasted off -- would YOU drink it then???). But then Mark is thirsty and tries to get the drink, but Izzie, not wanting Mark and Tris to end up together, grabs the drink away and .... what? What could she have done? Poured it out on the ground? Sniff at the drink and say, oh it does smell kind of off. NO, she grabs it and DRINKS THE WHOLE THING DOWN. Yes, this is our heroine, in whose story we are supposed to invest our time and energy.

Mark is understandably a bit miffed, since he was thirsty and his weird girlfriend just chugged the whole thing down. But he asks if she's okay, and since he's, you know, a normal guy, and goes away when Izzie tells him to go away. Then Tris steps in and says something like, "Your boyfriend doesn't understand you, to go away when you tell him to go away. He should have stayed because that's what you REALLY want." But it wasn't! It wasn't what she really wanted! Because after she drank the potion, she was grossed out by Mark!

At this point, I'm laughing and laughing. And I haven't even gotten to the point where they go see some game and she leaves to get something and some two-headed dog chases her. She's not even fazed by the fact that it has two heads but more that it's chasing her...what? Like you wouldn't stop and stare or do a double-back to make sure you weren't seeing things? Anyway, by the time Tris somehow hears her screaming above the stadium packed with screaming fans and comes to rescue her by chopping off one of the heads with a sword that she (and I and apparently any of the security guards) didn't notice he was carrying...I had already lost interest. Although it might be worth it to me to finish this book at some point to laugh over it.

This is the second (or maybe third) of this author's books I've attempted to read. They're all really incredibly poorly written. Unfortunately I do think people still read them because they have engaging covers and they're based on interesting stories. But it's as though the author...actually I don't know what's going on with the author. Basically she must have started the story as a prank at a party and started writing the story on a napkin "once upon a time, a young girl in high school didn't have magic although her mom did, and she was dating someone although she was bound in her heart to someone else by a love potion that she brewed for someone else entirely" and asked various other drunk people to finish the story. And then an equally drunk publisher agreed.

Sorry that this review is so ungrammatical but I am simply foaming at the mouth. This book was crap. I mean it would have to be BETTER in order to be crap. I can't believe a published author wrote this. I can't believe anyone published this. I can't believe they got a designer to make that beautiful cover to deceive everyone on here who read the book.(less)

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Oct 26, 2012 Once Upon rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Tris & Izzie is a story of a girl who has always been around magic but was told she would never have it because it’s skipped her generation. Or so she thought. She has a friend who she considers a best friend but things start going downhill once a new boy comes into to town and captures Izzie’s interest. Izzie already has a boyfriend. They have a steady relationship and she’s in love, but when something terrible happens she’s magically attracted to this new boy and wants nothing to do with h...more Tris & Izzie is a story of a girl who has always been around magic but was told she would never have it because it’s skipped her generation. Or so she thought. She has a friend who she considers a best friend but things start going downhill once a new boy comes into to town and captures Izzie’s interest. Izzie already has a boyfriend. They have a steady relationship and she’s in love, but when something terrible happens she’s magically attracted to this new boy and wants nothing to do with her boyfriend. Izzie begins to question her existence and but doesn’t have time to do so because she needs to save her school but with years of no training, how will she succeed?

I will begin with this; I am not familiar with the story of “Tristan and Isolde”. Therefore, I can only base my review on this book alone and can’t make a comparison. However, this story captured my interest from the beginning because of the characters. I loved how well they were written and the story line was a bit of a twist. Instead of a love triangle it was a love quadruple! It was interesting to see how the author would play that little scenario out and she did a great job. The sense of undying love, devotion and a little bit of magic can make for a great story, and this was it.

The plot was a little harder to get into, it seemed a little generic. Like I said I’ve never read “Tristan and Isolde” but this story did not have the WOW factor I thought it would have. Yes, there’s magic and yes, there’s romance but what else? There are no twists, with the exception of the love quadruple; it was inevitable that action part would happen otherwise the story wouldn’t have been a story. Don’t get me wrong it’s a good story; I just thought it lacked a little more WOW factor.

The writing of the story was crisp, clean and easy to read. It allowed me to breeze my way throughout the entire book in a day and that’s something I can’t say about a lot of these books. Overall, it’s a good story and I recommend it. Remember this is only my opinion. You may think it’s the best book around, so don’t get discouraged by my review and give it a shot! You never know you might like it!(less)

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Jul 18, 2012 Krissy P (Kris) rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: arc, ya-paranormal

Mediocre YA Paranormal Filled with Unlikable Characters, (This is from my original review on Amazon)

Tris and Izzie is a loose interpretation of the Tristan and Isolde tale that is mediocre at best with unlikeable-angst filled teenagers and is set as a 21st Century High School drama that unfortunately falls flat.

WARNING-REVIEW CONTAINS SOME SPOILERS:

The main character, Izzie, who narrates the story, is so unlikeable, annoying and self-absorbed. She is the daughter of a witch and is herself a wit...more Mediocre YA Paranormal Filled with Unlikable Characters, (This is from my original review on Amazon)

Tris and Izzie is a loose interpretation of the Tristan and Isolde tale that is mediocre at best with unlikeable-angst filled teenagers and is set as a 21st Century High School drama that unfortunately falls flat.

WARNING-REVIEW CONTAINS SOME SPOILERS:

The main character, Izzie, who narrates the story, is so unlikeable, annoying and self-absorbed. She is the daughter of a witch and is herself a witch with a capital "B." She treats her boyfriend, Mark, like crap and he falls all over her like an attention starved puppy. He is an absolute tool and you will see what I mean when you read this. He changes his feelings of undying love from one girl to the next in a matter of hours. Next, we have Branna. She is so angry, nasty and quite possibly the worst friend you will ever want. She literally acts like she has a permanent burning ember sticking out of her rear-end. I don't know if she has multiple personality psychological problems or if it's just her natural horrible every day personality. Boy does she ever set up her "so called best friend." I have not seen best friends like each other this much since the movie "Heathers." Izzie keeps badgering Branna into telling her who she is secretly in love with. It's obvious to the reader who it is, although not to the dimwitted Izzie, so she decides to take matters into her own hands. Lastly, there's Tristan and to be honest, he's not that bad. Why this guy wants Izzie, I'll never understand. Yes, there was the so called love philtre that was meant for Branna they both consumed, Izzie by accident or shear stupidity since she knew what she was drinking to begin with, but she is so horrible to him, yet attracted to him (oh please) at the same time and he just eats her shit with a smile. Finally, she realizes her true feelings for him.

THE WORST PART (MAJOR SPOILER-STOP READING IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW:

Mark, who less than a few hours ago was madly, deeply in love with Izzie, punches her in the face because Branna is gravely injured, not Izzie's fault at all by the way, but Mark is too angry to be rational. Izzie is not even angry about this and as Mark tries to deck her again, Tristan jumps in to stop him and she in turn jumps on the guy trying to protect her, screaming at him not to hurt Mark - really Izzie??? Are you effin serious???

In closing, the story reads like bad fan fiction. It was not well executed and the characters were awful. Unfortunately, I just wished one of the magical creatures trying to track down Izzie would have just decimated the entire town and put me out of my misery. Sadly, this was a few hours of my life wasted that I will never get back. Really the only nice thing I can say about this book is the cover is beautiful. But as the saying goes, "never judge a book by its cover." (less)

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May 08, 2012 Kelly Ha rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

im sorry for all those who actually enjoyed this book but this..im gunna have a lot of hate on this review so....yeah....
If i could rate a negative star, I would..this book is probably one of the most dumbest book i have ever read. why? because the author portrays teenages VERY poorly. "exile"? a best friend who interrogates her best friend for loving her boyfriend? and...who gets love potions from the internet? I am not attracted to tristan at all, and mark seems like a...a...okay pg languange...more

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Feb 24, 2012 Meg - A Bookish Affair rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012, fiction, ya-children, paranormal

This book is a retelling of the Wagner opera Tristan and Isolde with a paranormal twist. It definitely sounded like an interesting premise but the execution was not great. I really do love retelling of classic stories but I like when the story blends into whatever is the new time period is. With this story, it just seems like it was plopped into modern times with no real adaptation. The names have been modernized a little bit but not much, which sort of takes you out of the world of the book.

The...more

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Feb 17, 2012 Sunhee rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: no-terminados, novela-corta

Nunca había leído la versión original de Tristán y Isolda, así que este libro era totalmente nuevo para mí. La portada es hermosísima y el resumen parecía estar bien.

Cuando empecé a leerlo, no pude evitar darme cuenta de cómo la historia se contradecía continuamente. Primero Izzie, la protagonista, dice que todo eso de la magia se tiene que mantener en secreto. Pero a la primera de cambio, cuando ella y su mejor amiga Brenna oyen que hay un estudiante que dice que tiene una botella mágica, inme...more Nunca había leído la versión original de Tristán y Isolda, así que este libro era totalmente nuevo para mí. La portada es hermosísima y el resumen parecía estar bien.

Cuando empecé a leerlo, no pude evitar darme cuenta de cómo la historia se contradecía continuamente. Primero Izzie, la protagonista, dice que todo eso de la magia se tiene que mantener en secreto. Pero a la primera de cambio, cuando ella y su mejor amiga Brenna oyen que hay un estudiante que dice que tiene una botella mágica, inmediatamente le “saltan encima” para preguntarle qué es, prácticamente atacándole. Eso no es ser secreto en absoluto.

Lo mismo pasa con Tristán. Izzie y Brenna están de acuerdo en que tiene una gran personalidad y que no puede vivir sin ser el centro de atención en todas las ocasiones. Aún así, más tarde, cuando Izzie le dice que no se interese más por ella, él no dice nada más. No lucha por conseguir lo que quiere. Y más adelante, con Brenna. Izzie dice que es muy tímida con los chicos. Pero en un partido ella empieza a hablar con Tristán, flirteando con él.

Durante todo el libro quise simpatizar con Izzie. Pero no importa cómo me la mire, me parece muy superficial, mimada y arrogante. En cuanto a Tristán, su presentación no fue la mejor del mundo. No entiendo por qué querría saber cada detalle de la relación de Izzie con su novio y su mejor amiga. Podría haber sido mejor si el autor le hubiera dado algún motivo, porque parece demasiado forzado. Además de que parecía que tuviese una extraña fijación con el sudor… raro.

Con eso dicho, hubieron un par de cosas que me dejaron pasmada. En un partido, Izzie encuentra un perro demoníaco con dos cabezas. Pero ella no piensa “¿Qué es este perro de dos cabezas “mágico”? ¿Qué está haciendo aquí?”, no; se pregunta a sí misma por qué no había visto antes que el perro no era dócil. Lo que es más, cuando Tristán va a rescatarla y mata al perro con una espada, Izzie no piensa “¿Qué hace él con una espada?”, sino “¿Por qué no le vi traer una espada”. No sé, simplemente no tenía sentido en absoluto.

La idea de Tris & Izzie es muy buena, pero la historia se contradice repetidamente y es casi absurdo.(less)

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Jan 02, 2012 Shannon rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I saw this book on netGalley and it was the cover that drew me in and then the synopsis is really good as well, so I had high hopes for this book. However, sadly this book most definitely did not live up to my expectations. When I got to page 4 and I read this line: "Mark told me that if I really disliked him he would 'exile' him, which meant that no one would speak to him without Mark's permission.", it was a total *headdesk* moment! That is the moment when I started to get a bad feeling about...more I saw this book on netGalley and it was the cover that drew me in and then the synopsis is really good as well, so I had high hopes for this book. However, sadly this book most definitely did not live up to my expectations. When I got to page 4 and I read this line: "Mark told me that if I really disliked him he would 'exile' him, which meant that no one would speak to him without Mark's permission.", it was a total *headdesk* moment! That is the moment when I started to get a bad feeling about this book but I kept reading hoping that it was a fluke.

Reason #1: The characters in her book are just downright annoying, absolutely none of them had any redeeming qualities about them. Izzie, to put it simply she's a moron, a hypocrite, and someone who thinks that she knows it all. Branna, I think I actually hated her more than I did Izzie. These girls claim to be best friends but they have no consideration for each other at all. Izzie decides that since Branna doesn't have a boyfriend that she is going to use one of her mom's love potions even though Branna said that she didn't want one. Then Branna decides to break her promise, of keeping the secret that Izzie's mom can do magic, because she "loves" Mark (who is Izzie's boyfriend) and wants to prove to him that Izzie has lied to him while she hasn't. Mark, is a freaking douche bag and very flaky, end of story! Tristan, isn't even a main character. Mark gets more time in the book than he does even though it's his name is in the title.

Reason #2: The plot is a problem as well. The first part of the story you spend reading about the immature characters living their life as high schoolers and then all of the sudden a two-headed dog tries to kill Izzie. This is also when she finds out that there is a giant serpent trying to kill her and she has to kill it to free the place where she was born from his evil dictatorship. The magic just felt so out of place in the book and wasn't very well executed either.

Reason #3: I just didn't care. I didn't care if Izzie got killed by the serpent or if she killed the serpent. I didn't care who ended up with who. If for someone reason all of her characters mysteriously died, I would have been fine with that as well. The only reason that I finished the book was because it would have annoyed me to not have.

I wouldn't even check this book out from the library. The plot had the potential but it was just a flop(less)

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Dec 27, 2011 Chelsea rated it 1 of 5 stars

It's so lovely and atmospheric! Between this and the description, I was prepared for a lot of romance and teen angst and magic--all good things. What I got was frustration.

Backing up a bit, let me summarize briefly: Izzie has been with Mark for over a year, and the two are quite happy together. But Izzie's friend Branna is the proverbial eternal bridesmaid-- nice, but less attractive, shy and socially awkward. Izzie decides to help Branna out by stealing a love potion from Izzie's mother (who is...more It's so lovely and atmospheric! Between this and the description, I was prepared for a lot of romance and teen angst and magic--all good things. What I got was frustration.

Backing up a bit, let me summarize briefly: Izzie has been with Mark for over a year, and the two are quite happy together. But Izzie's friend Branna is the proverbial eternal bridesmaid-- nice, but less attractive, shy and socially awkward. Izzie decides to help Branna out by stealing a love potion from Izzie's mother (who is a witch) and attempting to make Branna fall in love with the new kid at school, Tristan. The plan backfires and Izzie ends up in love with Tristan instead.

Positive Comments:

The premise has potential. Even when you add in the contrived love potion conflict, this story could still work. I imagined that it would be a lot like "marriage of convenience" plots in historical romance, or perhaps "fated mates" in paranormal. Two people who initially don't like each other are forced to be together, and over time genuine love develops. Unfortunately that's not the case in this book. It seems like wasted potential.

I liked the secondary characters--namely Mark and Branna. I felt for Mark, who did nothing wrong except date the wrong girl. Plus, at one point he straight up punches Izzie in the head. I'm not condoning abuse here--in the context of the plot, she really deserved it.

Critical Comments:

I hated Izzie. She's selfish, reckless, manipulative, and worst of all stupid. Her love potion scheme was perhaps the most thoughtless (albeit good intentioned) plan one could possibly invent to help a friend. Much like Jane Austen's Emma, Izzie thinks she knows what's best for everyone, but her attempts to manipulate only make things worse. The real kicker for me was the fact that she drinks the love potion voluntarily. She knows what it is, and that Tristan already drank his half, and whoever drinks the other half will be stuck with him. She gulps down the second half anyway, just to stop Mark or anyone else from drinking it. She could have walked away, or dropped the bottle "accidentally", but no, she drinks it. And then whines about it's apparent effects. Effects that, incidentally, can only be erased by death.

The magic in this universe only barely makes sense. If I've pieced it together correctly, there are witches who use potions, sorcerers who have power over the elements, and alchemists who have power over metals. And also, big scary monsters to battle. It sounds more like the plot to a video game than a paranormal romance novel.

By the time we get to the final boss battle, where Tris and Izzie face off against Gurmun the snake of doooom, I was really hoping one of them would die. That would solve everyone's problems. Instead we get the most shoe-horned in loophole ever, allowing our "heroes" to save the day.

To be fair, Tristan isn't a bad character. He's severely underdeveloped, but I didn't hate him. However, the romance is extremely thin and not in the least bit believable. There's no build up of emotions, no connection through dialogue or shared experiences, and no affection. The entire relationship is a handful of passionate kisses. This problem was made worse by Izzie's bipolar attitude toward Tristan--one moment she's making out with him, the next she's slapping him across the face.

Rating:

This is not a book I would recommend. At times it approached so-bad-it's-good levels, where it became unintentionally funny. But other than for purposes of poking fun at the silly plot and stupid characters, don't waste your time. 1.5 stars. (less)

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Dec 27, 2011 Christina (Reading Thru The Night) rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011, disappointing, paranormal, retelling-of-sorts, serious-about-series, ya-love

The Short of It

Magic in the world causes strife.

The Long of It

Ever read that epic “Tristan and Isolde” by Wolfram von Eschenback? I have to admit, I didn’t, but it’s their story that caught my attention. I watched the movie Tristan and Isolde ages ago (although I can’t remember what it was about. At. All.) I cannot, therefore, honestly tell you how similar this story is to the original.(1)

So it begins with Izzie and Mark and they are THE cutest couple. Or at least in Izzie’s opinion. Life couldn...more

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Nov 24, 2011 Claire (YA Bookie Monster) rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I hate writing bad reviews, I really do. Luckily it doesn't happen very often, but sometimes it just has to. I really thought that I was going to like this book; the cover is gorgeous and the synopsis sounded interesting, but Tris and Izzie just didn't work for me. Also, please note that this review will probably contain spoilers, I can't really tell you what I disliked without giving away a few spoilers.

I liked all the characters well enough in the very beginning, they were okay. But as I got f...more I hate writing bad reviews, I really do. Luckily it doesn't happen very often, but sometimes it just has to. I really thought that I was going to like this book; the cover is gorgeous and the synopsis sounded interesting, but Tris and Izzie just didn't work for me. Also, please note that this review will probably contain spoilers, I can't really tell you what I disliked without giving away a few spoilers.

I liked all the characters well enough in the very beginning, they were okay. But as I got further into the book, my opinions of the characters started to decrease. I felt like Izzie was kind of shallow, that all she wanted was to date the most popular boy in school. I also felt like she was sort of clueless and naive, she thought that her relationship with Mark was going to last forever. When she made the love potion for her best friend, I felt like (although the book made it out seem like Izzie was doing it because she cared about her best friend's happiness) she didn't have the right motives. She claimed that she wanted her best friend to be as happy and in love with a boy a she was with Mark, but it came across like Izzie just pitied her and didn't think that her friend could get a guy on her own, one that would want her for her.

Although I didn't think that Izzie treated her best friend, Branna, the right way, it's not like Branna did anything to gain my sympathies. To be quite honest (and please excuse my language, I usually try to keep things on my blog PG, but sometimes certain words are necessary), I thought that Branna was a total bitch. She was in love with Izzie's boyfriend Mark, but instead of wishing happiness for her best friend despite being in love with her boyfriend, Branna was making moves on Mark and waiting for him to realize that he didn't want Izzie, but that he wanted her. Um...really? What kind of best friend are you? The worst thing about it was that she got her happy ending, even though she in no way deserved it.

Speaking of Mark, yeah, I didn't really like him either. After being with in a relationship with Izzie and being sooo in love with her, it didn't take him long to get over her and end up with Branna as soon as everything went down with Tris and Izzie. There was one part when Mark thought that Branna was dead and he blamed it all on Izzie and actually went to the point of hitting her. Not okay. At this point, he also screamed at Izzie that he had just found Branna (who he apparently loves now...) and that Izzie had taken her away from him. Wait, what? You were super in love with Izzie like a week ago and now you're so crazily in love with Branna? Mark was pretty much a jerk in my opinion. I didn't really feel like he had any redeeming quaities.

And lastly Tristan. He was just kind of blah to me. Nothing very interesting about him, nothing that really stuck out to me. I like to be able to fall in love with the hot boy as the main character does, but that just didn't happen in this book. I feel pretty indifferent towards Tristan. He was much better than Mark and I think that his feeling for Izzie were somewhat genuine, but apart from that, nothing. He was kind of boring.

Another thing that I didn't like about this Tris and Izzie was the love story, which was pretty much the main point of the book. It just felt false and unrealistic. Because of the whole love potion aspect, there was no development, no lead up to Tris and Izzie falling in love. It just happened and that was that. Nothing interesting, nothing that made your heart melt.

This book was also seriously lacking in plot. The premise was really interesting and I think that so many good things could have been done with it, but it just wasn't well executed. It was hoakey and the characters did nothing to help the already lacking plot. Although the story and the characters were not great, Mette Ivie Harrison's writing was good! It was easy to read and smooth, but was unfortunately was overshadowed by the not-so-great elements of this book.

All in all, Tris and Izzie is not a book that I would recommend. I didn't hate it, but I disliked it. One of the few good things about this book was the writing, but it just wasn't enough to save this book from its hollow plot and bad cast of characters.(less)

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Nov 23, 2011 Barbara rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: ncbla

I agree with the many reviewers who have described how lovely the book cover is. It certainly is compelling, and led me to expect two lovers so influenced by a potion that they cannot help but be attracted to each other despite their loyalty to others. The whole idea of being unable to help oneself because of a love charm or potion is intriguing since it compromises one's values, and seemed an idea worth exploring. Sadly, the book itself does not live up to the cover or to the classic story of T...more

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Nov 13, 2011 Peggy (Pawing Through Books) rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Review posted to Pawing Through Books on 10/24/11

Honestly, I'm not sure where to start with this review. I requested this book without really knowing too much about it, but I thought it sounded like it would be an interesting read. As I was reading it, I found that though it was an easy read, I struggled to stay interested.
I felt like the author tried to cram too much into the book and that more time could have been spent on making the book more detailed. Yes, it might have made the book longer...more

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