Review: The Romeo Club - Rebekah L. Purdy

The Romeo Club
Rebekah L. Purdy
Series: N/A
Genre: Young Adult, Romance
Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars
Word Rating: Predictable
On Goodreads

When I first got a copy of The Romeo Club for review, I was really excited to read it. The book sounded very promising. And while it wasn't a bad book, it fell short of what I hoped it would be.

The Romeo Club centers around Delyla, who is pretty and popular and has been approached by her brother and his friends -- who she calls the Nerd Herd -- and asked to make them attractive and appealing to the girls they are trying to impress in exchange for giving her enough money to buy her dream prom dress.

One of the things I liked about the book was the dialogue between Delyla and the Nerd Herd. It was well written and free-flowing and in general just good banter. Her dynamic with the other characters was pretty well done and I liked that aspect of the story.

I didn't like Delyla's character, however. Later on in the book, she becomes bearable but in the beginning I just find her annoying and whiny. For one, she goes to great lengths not to tell her boyfriend about what she's up to. It's not like planning to give your brother some advice about how to dress and talk to girls is a bad thing. I get that her personality is very socially-conscious and that she wouldn't want to be seen in public with that group of guys, but she really didn't have to lie to her boyfriend as much as she did. I just found Delyla to be shallow and annoying, especially the first half of the book, and it was really hard getting through her inner monologue. Also, her plans for sabotage? I thought she was being really selfish and that it should not have worked out as well for her as it did.

Also, the storyline with Trey was so predictable. I could literally tell from the first mention of him how the story was going to play out. In general, the plot was pretty predictable and it was so easy to know exactly where this book would go. Which isn't a totally bad thing, because sometimes you want a cute, light read where there aren't very many surprises. And Rebekah L. Purdy isn't a bad writer, so it was easy to get through and pretty well-written (I mean, I didn't much like Delyla's style of narration, but that's just because of her character). I just wondered if I should bother wading through Delyla's annoying behavior just to read the ending I knew would happen (although I kind of wished it wouldn't). There was one plot aspect that I didn't see coming, and that was the neighbor's dog subplot. And it's not that I didn't see it coming in that it surprised me. It's just that there was literally no point to it, so I didn't have a prediction for where it would end up leading to. It didn't do much to further the story and while it provided a few comical scenes, I think it was slightly confusing and not necessary. Maybe if she cut it down to one or two scenes it wouldn't seem like it was intended to be important and then just cut out.

Okay, so I know I just talked about how I didn't like the main character and how I thought the plot wasn't very new and refreshing, which is why I didn't totally like it, but that being said, it isn't a terrible book. It's very easy and quick to get through so if you're ever bored and looking for a cliche love story, it's cute and pretty satisfying in that regard.

- Noor

Have you ever helped out a sibling for a favor in return?
Let us know in the comments!

Review: The Shock of the Fall - Nathan Filer

The Shock of the Fall
Nathan Filer
Series: N/A
Genre: Contemporary, Mental Illness, Adult
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Word Rating: A+++
On Goodreads

Wow. I picked this up to read casually on a trip from Edinburg to London and I completely forgot where I was going because I read and thought about the book for those eight hours.

The blurbs are a bit gushy and a bit much, but this novel definitely is remarkable.

Obviously, the most powerful thing about it is the realism that Filer employs. In much the same sense that Mark Haddon employed a very realistic depiction of Christopher in The Curious Incident, Filer presents Matt with utter sincerity. His understanding as a mental health nurse is readily apparent with his straightforward representation of not only the patients but the staff and the institution as well. Both have their ups and downs and the struggle is not tamped down. Filer doesn't seem to have any agenda other than capturing the essence of the system. I didn't feel pushed to over-sympathize with the sometimes indecent practices against the patients, for example. There is a strong sense of the shackling that patients have on them . . . confined to a place because they cannot function in society, doomed to take pills with a hundred side effects, some for the side effects themselves and they can't do anything, about it. Matt admits "I don't hate these people. I just have not having the choice to get rid of them." and that about sums it up.

The way that Filer approaches his themes on death and mental health also begin to linger and they feel sincere and poignant coming from Matt. (Thankfully, there is a good sprinkling of humor to keep you off your feet.) Furthermore, there are small things that add to this picture Filer paints. Simple drawings along with an array of fonts add to the feeling that the text is inside Matt's mind and the reader is experiencing the world as he would. It's terribly confusing with letters and rambles and diary pages thrown in all at once until you realize it should be there. In addition, the story itself isn't always straightforward. Matt reflects a lot and gets lost in his train of thoughts quite often.

But holy Poseidon. The writing. Filer could write about drying walls and he'd probably find a thousand interesting and heart wrenching things to say. Go to the Quotes section of the Goodreads for a glimpse of what I'm talking about.

I can't pick a favorite but it's so varied. You can have "Hello, my name is your potential. But you can call me impossible." or "If it rains outside, or if you stab a classmate's shoulder with a compass needle . . . that is weather." or "The girl with the red hair . . . is called Annabelle. Try and remember that if you can. Hold on to it . . . keep it safe somewhere." A lot of it is poignant only in context so I urge you dearly to read this book it is very very good in terms of writing.

Because of such unique wording and musings, Matt's character comes to life on the page, which is something very minor but very important. The characters are so vivid, I constantly wondered about the origins of the story itself. Matt being haunted by his dead brother constantly, for example, and Filer does so well to place you in Matt's head that the feeling is absolutely painful. One bit that always gets me is this: "It is dark, night time, there is mud in my mouth, in my eyes, and the rain keeps falling. I am trying to carry him, but the ground is wet. I lift him and fall, lift him and fall, and he is silent. . . . Please. Please. Talk to me." And "He could speak through and itch, the certainty of a sneeze, the after-taste of tablets, or the way sugar fell from a spoon." Gosh it hurts.

My main concern, I suppose, is the common one The 'mystery' really is implied quite early on in the novel and though the big reveal takes place two hundred and fifty something pages in, you'll probably have figured it out. And it really didn't bother me much, considering I felt, at the very least, it allowed the novel and Matt's life to have a more linear passage. Furthermore, there is a similar case in The Curious Incident, and the same thought came to me: it's probably meant to be this way. I find it hard to believe Filer, whose writing otherwise is perfectly sharpened, would have botched up the underlying 'mystery' if he intended it to truly be a mystery. But thinking about it made me consider a few other predictable things in the novel. A small thing for this kind of work but it's a fair warning.

- Marlon

So . . . trust doctors? Dentists?

Let us know in the comments!

Early Review: Sell-By Date - Melissa F. Olson

Sell-By Date
Melissa F. Olson
Series: Scarlett Bernard, #0.5
Genre: Fantasy, Paranormal
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Word Rating: Awesome!
Release Date: April 22, 2014
On Goodreads

**Sign up for Melissa F. Olson's email newsletter, The Scarlett Letter, by April 21st to get a free copy of Sell-By Date!**

When I found out that Melissa F. Olson was releasing a short story that follows Molly and Scarlett's first meeting, I was instantly excited. I'm a huge fan of the Scarlett Bernard series (read my review of Trail of Dead here), and receiving a copy for review was a very exciting thing.

As stated before, Sell-By Date follows when Molly and Scarlett first meet. For those of you who are not familiar with the Scarlett Bernard series (IT'S AWESOME. GO READ IT.), Scarlett is the main character and she is a null: a person who negates magic within a certain radius. Nulls are a concept that I find kind of difficult to explain but Melissa F. Olson does a great job with it in Dead Spots! Molly, on the other hand, is a vampire with whom Scarlett lives.

The thing I really enjoyed about this story is that we get a look into Molly's head. Molly is kind of an elusive character throughout the series and being able to understand her point of view really adds to the series as a whole for me. The short also provided a lot of vampire mythology, regarding emotions, that I found especially interesting - I had never really thought about whether or not vampires felt human emotions in the series until I read Sell-By Date.

The short also provides a bit of Scarlett's personality before Dead Spots. The Scarlett we see in Sell-By Date feels like a much gentler Scarlett than in the books. I always think of Scarlett as this sarcastic, strong woman but this was a good reminder that she does have a gentler side.

Overall, I really enjoyed Sell-By Date and it got me even more excited for Hunter's Trail! (Which doesn't come out until September. Sob.) This is a series I highly recommend to lovers of paranormal and mystery!

Stuffed Animal Saturday [12]

Stuffed Animal Saturday is a meme that we post here at We Live and Breathe Books to showcase the book we're currently reading with one of our favorite stuffed animals and discuss our stuffed animal's opinion (well, it's really our opinion, but that's besides the point). We hope you enjoy our quirky feature as much as we enjoy writing it!

Hi guys! I know I haven't posted in a while, but now that college and future plans have all been figured out for me, I will be back regularly! This week, Sally (my American Girl Doll) and I have been enjoying Shredded, by Karen Avivi! Sally has always been an avid reader, but never before has she read about girls who fearlessly ride BMX. So far, she's liking the characters (Sally is all about independent women) and can't wait to see how the book turns out.

Sally loves strong female leads just as much as she loves romance, and she knows that this book is so far combining both fantastically.

Cover Cosmetics: Branded - Keary Taylor

As the end of the semester, and my first year of college, approaches, I'm finding myself with less and less time for fun things like blog posts and sleeping. Fortunately I found some time to put aside for one of my favorite things - makeup! The cover I chose for this post is Branded by Keary Taylor! I really love this cover, as I mentioned when I reviewed the book, and I thought it would be a good one to use as inspiration.

The cover:

The makeup:

I chose to do a neutral, flesh-toned color for the lid so that the outside would really pop. The blue I used was to match the background and I imitated the shattered looking wings at the top of the cover by sponging on a few different colors.

- Kiersten

What did you think of this week's look?

Let us know in the comments!