Claire Stevens's Blog, page 6

With Malice by Eileen Cook

This ...  I don't ...  What?

This was the story of ">Meredith Kercher and Amanda Knox, wasn't it?

It was virtually identical, right down to the picturesque Italian mountainside town, the toxic friendship, the creepy boyfriend.

Don't get me wrong, it was a pretty good story, moved a bit too slowly at times, but still a decent read.  But ... this story has already been told.  By, like, millions of tabloids over the last decade.  I'm not entirely sure it needed to be novelized.

3 stars

Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan

I started off this book wondering about the title - are these Asians crazy-rich or crazy and rich?

Turns out, both.

This was a pretty good story about a Chinese-American girl, Rachel Chu, living in New York whose live-in boyfriend has somehow managed to conceal the fact that he is a multi-billionaire for two whole years.  (This is in total juxtaposition to literally every other billionaire-boyfriend book out there, where the BB is weird and controlling and very flaunty of his wealth, so Nicholas was actually quite a sympathetic character in this respect).

Then Nicholas invites Rachel back to Singapore for a friend's wedding.  They fly first class and he *still* doesn't tell her he's a gazillionaire (he explains away the first class tickets by saying he got them with air miles.  I know next to nothing about air miles, but I do know that New York to Singapore first class would take a number of air miles so high that a high enough number hasn't been invented yet).

Then they arrive in Singapore, and he still doesn't tell her.

Then they go to see his grandma in her 64  acre estate and only then does this PhD-educated college professor start to realise that her boyfriend might be a bit rich.

So far, so ridiculous.

in fact, the rest of the book is pretty ridiculous too.

But it's ridiculous in a fun, silly way.  This book doesn't take itself seriously at all and if you like reading stories about how intensely rich people spend their money, how much designer shit costs, and how rich people have problems too (hey, having to cram all your thousands of designer dresses into a three-bedroom flat is PRACTICALLY THE SAME as being homeless) then this is the book for you.

Spoiler Alert: you will learn literally nothing about Chinese (that is normal Chinese) culture in this book, but you will learn an awful lot about a bunch of clothing designers.

I had great fun reading this book and although it could probably have been shortened by about a hundred pages and not really lost any plot I really enjoyed it.  The only real issue I had with this book really was that I read it on a Kindle and the author has loads and loads of footnotes positioned at the end of a chapter, so it made it really difficult to flick back and forward to see what the meanings of some of the language and cultural references meant.  Not really the book's fault, but something to be aware of.

I read roughly one book like this a year and it satisfies my Kardashian Kwotient for the next twelve months.  I'm pretty glad that my Rich Trash book for 2018 was this one.

4 stars

Luna by Julie Anne Peters

Regan's brother Liam can't stand the person he is during the day. Like the moon from whom Liam has chosen his female name, his true self, Luna, only reveals herself at night. In the secrecy of his basement bedroom Liam transforms himself into the beautiful girl he longs to be, with help from his sister's clothes and makeup. Now, everything is about to change: Luna is preparing to emerge from her cocoon. But are Liam's family and friends ready to welcome Luna into their lives?

This was quite a short book but it told a really interesting story about a girl's relationship with her transgender sister.

Regan's older sister, Luna, can only come out at night.  Because by day, she's trapped in the body of Liam, a boy constantly under pressurre from the people in his small town to be more of a man, do sports and other gender-conforming crap.

This book really focusses on Regan's story and how Luna's transition affects her, as well as the stuff she's going through at school.  Her family live in quite a small, gender-conforming town, so obviously that doesn't help them in the slightest.

As a character, Luna was quite underdeveloped, which was a shame considering the point of the book is her decision to transition and how this affects her relationship with Regan.  And the only thing we really learn about Luna, is that she is totally and utterly self-obsessed, and yes, I know that makes me sound like a complete arsehole because transgender folk have to deal with a whole level of life-crap that I can't even begin to comprehend, but she was really annoying.  She was like, 'It's all about me!  ME!  ME!  ME!'  I don't recall her showing a single shred of kindness towards Regan, other than when Regan was doing something for her.  

So there.  I'm a terrible human being.

NB - if you want a book about a transgender girl where the MC is totally relatable and just makes you want to weep, try If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo.

Because Luna is quite underdeveloped and the story is told from Regan's POV, I would hesitate to call this a trans book.  We don't see anything of Luna's thoughts or hopes or fears - only how her transition affects Regan and forces her to  deal with small-town smallmindedness.

There was also a really interesting relationship with Regan and Liam/Luna's parents - their mum has recently set up her own (successful) business and their dad is doing less well career-wise, so they are both challenging gender norms too.

Despite Luna's intense annoyingness, this was still a decent read.  The plot rattles along quickly and the sparse narrative flows really well, so I ended up finishing it in an afternoon.

3 stars

Save the Date by Morgan Matson

I really quite liked this book.

Morgan Matson's books can be a bit hit and miss - The Unexpected Everything and Amy and Roger were pretty bland, but I really liked Since You've Been Gone and Second Chance Summer.  This one, I really liked.

It was a really interesting look at family dynamics and what happens once the kids in a family grow up and move on to have their own lives, and what happens to the youngest kid (the MC, Charlie) when all of their siblings have moved on.  It's also about the assumption some parents have that they kind of 'own' their children's lives.  The Grant family is huge and close and Mrs Grant has found fame drawing a comic strip based on her children's lives, which is all good until they start wanting their privacy and for their lives to not be splashed across national newspapers.

So the lack of privacy brings tension, but not as much tension as the bonkers wedding that's due to take  place.   Charlie's sister is marrying her childhood sweetheart, which is lovely and everything, except that imagine everything that could possibly go wrong with the organisation of a wedding and then triple it and you're nearly there with how badly wrong one weekend can go.

Basically, Morgan Matson wrote a screenplay.  I could totally see this book becoming a screwball comedy, Father Of The Bride style.  It was very visual, but also fairly emotional.  Charlie annoyed me a tiny bit because she just seemed to live inside this weird little bubble where she wanted to keep her family exactly as everything was when she was a little kid, but in all other respects there were some real feels in the story.

And just as an aside, what is Morgan Matson's obsession with giving her leading guy character an old-man name.  Roger, Bill, Clark, Henry, Frank.  Is this an American thing?  These are old man names, right?  I mean, Roger?  That's my friend's dad's name and he's nearly seventy!

And the crossovers were a little bit odd.  Characters from the author's other books make little cameos, but I never really liked any of her other characters enough to be constantly wondering what they did after the book ended.  Their cameos felt shoehorned in and I think were there more to please the author than her readers.

Other than that, this was well worth a read.  You kind of always know what you're getting with a Morgan Matson book - she knows what she's doing and she doesn't dick around with her formula.  It was a decent read and I imagine I'll read her next book too.

3.5 stars

Joyride by Anna Banks

Eh.  This was okay.

There were aspects of this that I liked.  I liked the way it shined a spotlight on the plight of families who've been split up by immigration laws.  I can't even begin to imagine the horror of that happening, but the author does a pretty good job of showing its effects.  And it deals with racism and poverty, which, let's face it, are always relevant topics.

I liked Carly and how loyal she was to her family, even though her family was pretty toxic to her.  Her brother wasn't too bad, although he was quite controlling, but her parents putting all the emotional blackmail pressure on her to be earning money to smuggle them back across the border while she was still in high school was not great.

Arden was a bit of a dick.  Okay, maybe not a dick, but I wasn't a huge fan.  He was the rich kid who doesn't get enough attention from his parents and who acts out as a result.  He pulls pranks and fine, if he wants to waste his own time doing what I thought were some pretty uninspired practical jokes that's his business but the bit where he got totally obsessed with drawing Carly into his stupid schemes was a bit creepy.

And the bit where he came over like the knight in shining armor was a bit tedious too.  It's not really a spoiler, but he gets Carly a job that's a lot better than the one she had, like she was incapable of getting a job for herself.  PLUS the only reason he got her another job was so that she would have more time to come out and prank people with him.  Actually, scrub what I said before - he was kind of a dick.

Despite this, the writing was pretty good.  I was a bit unsure about the POV switch between the first person (Carly) and third person (Arden) - it would have been better if Arden's POV had been first person, but other than that the writing was pretty solid.

All in all, though, this just seemed to be a whole bunch of dickish people crapping all over a nice, albeit, slightly doormat-ish girl.  I wasn't sure whether I wanted them all to back the hell off of her, or for Carly to grow a pair and tell them all to get lost.

2.5 stars

Cracked Kingdom by Erin Watt

This was a pretty satisfying end (I think, although it totally wouldn't surprise me if Erin Watt eked out another few episodes from this group of characters) to the Royals series.

The Royals series has been a completely surprising hit with me.  The characters completely lack diversity, the male characters are all alpha males and the plots read like pages taken from a soap opera writer's reject bin.  Despite this, the stories are beyond engaging and the characters are just brilliant.  I can only imagine that this is the last Royals book and it was a satisfying ending.  We pick up where book four left off, where there's been a car accident (I won't spoiler it and say who) and Hartley is now suffering from amnesia.

That's right.  Amnesia.

Just when you thought it couldn't get any more like Days Of Our Lives, they trot out amnesia as a plot device.

And yet, I still found myself reading.  I just can't put these books down - they're like literary crack.

So Easton now has to woo her back and remind her how much she really likes him.  Obviously he manages to almost-but-not-quite screw things up, but I don't think I'm spoilering things too much by saying that things work out okay in the end.

The intervening plot is totally like a soap opera, thought.

I really, really hope Erin Watt writing team continues writing.  I find their stories engaging to a fault (the fault being that I basically ignore the rest of my life while I'm reading them) and they are genuinely entertaining.

4 stars

One Small Thing by Erin Watts

This wasn't Erin Watt's best work, but it's still a highly entertaining read.

Beth's sister died three years ago, but her room is still kept exactly as it was and her space in the cloakroom is still kept aside for her.  Beth's parents circle her, controlling her day to day life and making decisions for her so that she has little or no autonomy.

Chase is fresh out of juvie and determined to make a fresh start.  When he and Beth meet, they have an instant connection, but when Chase's troubled past is revealed Beth has to decide whether she is going to carry on obeying her parents or follow her heart.

If you can't guess where this book is going just from the synopsis, then you must be pretty dim.  Luckily, Erin Watt doesn't leave it long into the book before revealing the horrific connection between Beth and Chase, and concentrates mostly on how they try to work their friendship/relationship out, despite their snarled past.

I did like how the romance was paced and the connection between Beth and Chase.  They weren't my favourite couple ever, but they did seem to have some chemistry.  The thing Erin Watts is best at is provoking a reaction in their readers, and they certainly did that here.

Beth's parents were a bit overboard int heir rules and restrictions and while Erin Watts' writing style provoked the right responses in me (outrage, irritation), there was a bit of my brain that kept going, 'Waaaait a second.  Really?  Would they really be THAT unreasonable?  Why doesn't she take some morre control over her life?'  Like their choice of university for Beth.  Her parents want her to attend an online university so that she can just stay livinng at home with them.  Which infuriated me at the injustice, but also made me annoyed; like why didn't she just decide where she wanted to go to university and pay her own damn tuition money?

I don't think I will ever not like an Erin Watts book.  This one didn't really hit the mark that their other workds have done, but it was still a decent summer read.

3 stars

Fall For Anything by Courtney Summers

Eddie Reeves is haunted by grief after the suicide of her father.  Completely unexpected, everyone thought that he was the ultimate small-town family man, although he had been an incredibly famous artist many years before.  Eddie's mother isn't coping and is no help to her, so Eddie is left to find the answers to her father's death by herself.

This is a book about grief and its forms, but also it's a mystery book.  Her father's death was so unexpected that Eddie feels she can't move on with her life unless she gets some answers.  With the help of her father's student/apprentice person, she goes on a road trip trying to put together the clues her father has left behind.

***Spoiler Alert*** Ultimately, Eddie doesn't get any real answers.  This has happened in other books by Courtney Summers that I've read and although it is an accurate reflection of real life, it makes for an unsatisfactory ending.  If I wanted real life, I'd read a newspaper.

Again, Courtney Summers has written a book with a generally unlikable MC.  Although I had huge sympathy in the way her life had been turned upside down, I couldn't really relate to Eddie.  Her narration was too vague and dreamy, she was involved in a love triangle (!) and she got involved with a guy who might as well have had VILLAIN stencilled on his forehead (although I didn't predict the extent of his villainousness).

i really want to love Courtney Summers' books like other people do because I really feel like I'm missing out.  But there's just something there - or not there - that doesn't sit right.

I think it's that her books have a complete lack of humour.  I think that's it.  I'm not saying that things like sexual assault or grief should be a laugh a minute, but I've seen other authors write about similar subjects with humour and compassion, neither of which I've ever seen in this author's books.  I read Nina Is Not Okay eaarlier this year - a book that deals with sexual assault and addiction - and it had me rolling on the floor laughing and weeping in rapid succession.  It's possible to write about serious subjects with humour.  Courtney Summers always seems to have the writing style of an East German housing block.  If her books were a colour, they'd be gunmetal grey.

I have another of this author's books waiting to be read, but i think i'm going to give it away and admit defeat.  There are other authors I like better out there.

2.5 stars

Cracked Up To Be by Courtney Summers

Parker Fadley used to head cheerleader, perfect grades, perfect boyfriend.  Now, she's on academic probation, is developing a nice little drinking problem, is being an arsehole to everyone she knows and just wants to be left the hell alone.

This was an okay-ish book about a girl who has had something really bad happen and is struggling to move past it emotionally.

Courtney Summers is a perennially popular author - I've read reviews of people going nuts for her books and rating them like they have literally changed their lives.  That's great, but I just don't get the same feels.  Even All The Rage, which had me jumping out of my skin with anger at the treatment of the MC, didn't grip me and leave me thinking what an awesome book I'd just read.

I really rate Courtney Summers for the issues that she tackles in her books - she seems to be able to home in on exactly what a nightmare it is to be a teenaged girl sometimes.  However, I'm not really sure about her writing style.  Her plots seem to meander a bit and her characterization is patchy.  I don't have to agree with the protagonist of a book, but I do have to be able to root for them (even when they're evil).  I just don't seem to care about Courtney Summers' characters that much.  I know she's famed for writing unlikeable girls, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't care what happens to them.

A real problem I had here was that I could see exactly what the 'big issue' was that had screwed Parker up so badly, but the book took an incredibly long time in actually getting there.

This was an okay book, but it didn't rock my world.  I'm not sitting here still thinking and wondering about the characters.  In fact, I had to double check Parker's name before I started writing this review, and that's never a good sign.

2.5 stars

Look Both Ways by Alison Cherry

I started reading this book hoping for a fun summer read with a cute f/f romance.

What I got was a whole blotchy mess of queerbaiting and some of the most unlikeable characters I've ever read about.

So, part of the premise of the story is that Brooklyn, our MC, is going to a theatre camp over the summer as she's trying to find herself.  She's always felt like she's standing in the shadows while the rest of her super theatre-driven family are firmly in the spotlight.  She has never really clicked with their theatre lifestyle, and that's fine, but if that's the case then why did she choose a theatre camp to 'find herself'?  Wouldn't she have been better off in literally any other summer camp?

Because quite apart from Brooklyn not really being into theatre, the theatre people in this book seem to be the biggest pile of ultra-pretentious arseholes I've ever read about.  I can't even bring myself to look at the book again to get some examples - they made me cringe so much I just want to completely forget about them.  Ick.

The other strand of the book is that Brooklyn is trying to find herself, you know, *mouths* sexually.

Brooklyn has always assumed herself straight, but literally as soon as she tips up at at Allerdale she tumbles into a big old crush with her roommate Zoe.

The book plays to a couple of bi tropes that I'm really not a fan of:

 1) That bisexual people (and especially bisexual girls) have a voracious sexual appitite.

and

2) That bisexuality is basically just experimenting and eventually you'll pick a side.

The voracious sexual raptor, Zoe, the roommate / love interest, is in an 'open relationship' with her boyfriend.  Except it's not really an open relationship, because he's only cool with her shagging other girls, not guys.  So this is just another way of hammering home that a f/f relationship is somehow lesser, not as valid, not a real relationship.  She also tries to pressure Brooklyn into having sex, which is so not cool.

But more disturbing to me, somehow, is the sexual experimentation thing.  Look, I'm all for people experimenting, finding out who they are, or just deciding not to decide, or not putting a label on themselves, or whatever.

What I *don't* like is when a book is specifically marketed by the publisher as being a book about bi girls when one of them ends up straight.  She's not bisexual!  She's straight!  The message this book gives is: Girls.  You may *think* you're bi, but eventually you'll need to make a choice and let's face it, in the end you're going to choose cock.

Bleeugh.  This book was well written I guess and there were a couple of semi-hot make-out scenes, but ultimately it just really annoyed me.

Oh, and Spoiler Alert:  Brooklyn does find herself in the end.  And the person she finds is a big dull dud.

1 star