Mini Reviews

It happens from time to time - everything seems to be going along swimmingly when all of a sudden you miss a week of reviews.  And then another week goes by...and then another.  Pretty soon you have a stack of books that you've read with no reviews to go with them.  The muse monster just got away from me these past few months.  I have a number of books with a very tiny amount of notes to go along with them, so I'm going to try something new here: mini reviews!  First up...

Title: Wild Swans
Author: Jessica Spotswood
Pages: 304
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Source: Netgalley
Goodreads rating: 

When I first read the description of this book it reminded me a lot of Practical Magic, so it was obviously a must read for me.  (The Owens aunts are, like, ultimate goals.)



Anyway, Wild Swans is about a girl who comes from a family of "cursed" women.  They all burn very brightly and quickly; there's immense talent, but they either die young or run away to escape the family.  I was so ready to love this family of badass ladies, but right off the bat had some trouble.  I didn't really connect with Ivy, who, in a family full of excellence, feels very ordinary.  When her runaway mother decides to come home with her two other daughters in tow, it forces Ivy to deal with the feelings of abandonment she's felt her entire life.  The major thing I didn't love about Wild Swans was that it felt like a whole ton of info dumping and that took me out of the story completely.  Unfortunately, this one didn't live up to my high expectations for it.

Title: The Only Thing Worse Than Me Is You
Author: Lily Anderson
Pages: 352
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Source: Netgalley

Goodreads rating:

 I was a little worried this was going to totally overdo the 'GEEK! NERD! DOCTOR WHOOOOO!!!!' angle because Doctor Who is actually mentioned in the description of this book.  I used to be a big Doctor Who person, so I know that they can be a tad overexcitable.  But this was just the right amount of references and nerding out.

The Only Thing Worse Than Me Is You has one of my favorite tropes ever: enemies to lovers.  Trix and Ben were so great.  When she came to the realization that she was being a hellbeast it was perfect because, especially at that age, you practically never realize you're being one.

The cast of characters were all super enjoyable.  I loved the groups of boys and girls and the dynamic of them coming together.  The romance development was great and the mystery aspect was really well done.  I can't wait to see what Anderson has coming up next.

Title: Every Exquisite Thing
Author: Matthew Quick
Pages: 272
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Source: Publisher
Goodreads rating: 

This was a pretty solid read for me.  It felt like a combination of TFIOS (without the cancer), The Serpent King, and Catcher in the Rye (ugh).  This is flat out a coming of age story.  It's Nanette's senior year and her English teacher gives her a book that sparks a change in her.  She's tired of doing what is expected of her (she doesn't want to play soccer anymore, even though she's one of the best on her team) so she takes inspiration from this book and quits.

 

She befriends the author of said book who then introduces her to another little misfit and totally changes her life.

Quick is very good at making you feel what Nanette is feeling.  When she's falling for Alex, the misfit poet with big dreams, you do too.  When she starts seeing Alex's behavior in a different light you're like, girl, run.  That boy is too much.  I loved how understanding Nanette's parents are of her need to deconstruct her whole life, very supportive.

I loved the Pat Benetar mentions and the sneaky Ed Sheeran reference.

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So that's it for my first round of mini reviews.  Hopefully I'll be back to regular size reviewing soon!